A Knight's Night

do 02 september 2010 20:13:54

I don't know why I am here, it all happened so fast. One minute I was lying on a table, filling myself up, having a great time, and the next I'm walking around here with a sword pushed into my hands. Heck, I don't even know what we are looking for, they tell me we need to hunt down some kind of beast. I've heard the rumors for weeks now, and every day the monster grows more powerful. We walk slowly through the city streets, the knight-captain ordering us around as usual. Fearless, demanding, but I'm sure that at the first sign of the beast he's the first to run away. We never could've had a bigger coward as a captain, but then again, when you're the magistrate's son you can climb up in ranks a lot faster. I guess that's the way life goes.

A bone wrenching and sudden noise. Everyone's on their toes. A few of us are shivering to the bone, but are standing strong. We looked into an alley where light just disappeared, almost as if it's the opening of a cave into the depths of hell. The streets are a menacing place to be at night, luckily I find myself with fellow knights at a time like this. Our coward captain orders us to check it out, one of the new kids is shaking like hell but he goes in first, his lantern swinging to all sides. Another one follows the dim light as we get ready to go in too. Of course, our 'fearless leader' goes in last as we all move through the narrow alleyways. A sound again, and suddenly we heard our comrade scream out in terror. Something happened! We move in fast, and we see him hanging over a small fence, his neck slashed open. The other knight was nowhere to be seen, he must've run off. Or worse.

One down, one missing, five more to go. This is going swell.

"We" decide to split up, the captain is with the other two, so a fellow knight and I will move on. We walk slowly, minding our step when we suddenly see some eyes. We blink once to look a little closer but they are gone. It scared us, but we have to go on, we need to find that beast. As we walk, I can hear my comrade breathe heavily when he is suddenly pushed forward and falls headfirst into a rake. I step back, take a good look around with my sword in hand, but there is nothing to be seen. This killer is swift and silent so it seems. Have to be extra careful not to fall into his traps or be stabbed in the back. I swallow the sorrow building up for the knight that just fell, but I have to continue.

I move forward, all alone, and to make matters worse, this part of the city has been abandoned for a few years now. It has fallen into decay and everywhere I look I see wooden houses giving away. I hear another scream, followed by the captain's. I head over there quickly, my heart racing as my chainmail armor swings to all sides. Something bad has happened, I'm sure of it. When I arrive I can see their lantern lying on the ground, with a pair of feet close to it and disappearing into the dark. I pick it up to light more of the surroundings when I see another comrade crushed by a large wooden beam. It must've given away, breaking and crushing this poor soul underneath it. But where is the captain, and the other knight? I look around, and see the lifeless body of the last knight. Something must've stabbed him in the back, at least a few times. I continue to move through the alley and try to find the captain. A trail of blood can be seen, he's injured! I speed up my pace and end up in a small square. Close by, somewhere in the dark, someone or something is stumbling and gasping for air while making a nasty gurgling sound.

It's the captain, his eyes wide open and a scared look on his face. I grab him and sit down, his head in my lap. His eyes try to find mine, but he's been blinded by fear. He's fighting for his life, but to no avail. With a neck wound like that death is but one heartbeat away. I look at the sky and curse at God, the men fallen tonight were not ready yet. I lay his head down, and pray for his safe arrival to heaven. Picking up my sword I hear another sound, the same we all heard before. I turn around, peer into the dark when I see the eyes again. The beast! It's there!

I run over, when I suddenly heard a cat's meow. I stop, see a small cat walk out of the shadows and into the light, when I realize what happened. I pick up the cat and start thinking about what I will report. It seems the dark is the real enemy, it would be best if we would put up some more lights around here. I still wonder what happened to that one knight we couldn't find, there was a well nearby, could he have fallen into it?