Andre's curse revisited

As the title says, is the beginning of a rewrite

Andre could only remember bits and parts of his past. An old father clock with sinister carvings, an unearthly beautiful woman with long hair black as night and vivid cruel green eyes, being stabbed from behind, a young man who looked much like himself and death were all he could remember clearly. All the other memories were like ghosts, faint and blurry, giving him nightmares whenever he slept. The last thing he remembered was waking up, wrapped in bandages with a young girl with short curly brown hair and warm blue eyes sitting beside the spare bed he was laying in. He knew not his true age, nor if his name really was Andre. Years later, after waking up to forgetfulness he grew to be a tall lanky, easily frightful man with long silver tinged brick red hair, wide black eyes, high cheekbones thin lips. Despite his cowardice nature, he was talented with blades small and large, and was faster than most men. With him, he always had his sword that was the only physical link to his past, other than the ugly scar a few inches away from his heart.

 

It was a cold windy night, the full moon an unnatural blue that hung in the sky like a giant blue eye watching the world below. It wasn’t the best of nights to travel, thought Andre feeling the night was cursed, but it had to be now he knew for the dream faded even now as he walked along the secluded country road, one that called to him like a long lost lover, to follow her wherever she went. Step by step he grew more wary and wished the dream had called another, but despite his thrashing heart, and shaking legs, and the fading dream, the feeling that it brought was stronger with each passing moment. Finally he stopped and there at the end of the road, was a tall tower covered with what seemed to be glimmering stars wrapping around the sides. This was the place. Without knowing exactly why, he began to run towards it. It wasn’t excitement that sped him along, but more like returning to a place long forgotten in the back of his mind. Within minutes he came to the tower and he stopped, gasping lightly,  his eyes widening at the sight before him. In the sky, the large blue moon was much like the sun, casting a strong light upon the world below, exposing the tower, and an old castle that was connected to it, crumbled and was smashed in some places. Around the castles were many smaller stone buildings in much the same state as the castle. The word home came to his mind, but surely these ruins were very old by the looks of it, and Andre knew he could be no older than thirty. An unearthly cold chill ran down his spine as he looked at the ruins before taking steps closer to it. Within moments there came a bone chilling cackle from behind him. He turned quickly but no one or thing could be seen. His eyes searched, but could find nothing. Yet his old scar began to pulse and throb painfully, stronger with each excruciating moment that passed by. It seemed eons before finally from out of thin air, what seemed to be an old woman appeared, with long shimmering cloak in one hand, and in the other a wicked carved sword with jagged fang like spikes that glowed with an ominous darkness. For a moment Andre’s heart stopped, his soul nearly jumping out of his skin, horrified that the seemingly sweet dream had led him to this.

“The last of the family has come at last, to die, die, DIE!”

The ugly hag waved the cloak in the air before wrapping it around her body, disappearing completely, her cackling becoming louder and louder. Within moments the hag’s sword appeared from nowhere, not giving Andre enough time to draw his own. He stumbled backwards, the jagged fang missing its intended mark, instead digging in the flesh of his forearm as he raised it to protect his face. He screamed as the blade ripped through his flesh, that stung and burned wildly as if the blade itself was on fire. As his rump hit the cold rocky ground, the leather bag hung over his shoulder came free and fell to the ground besides him, the sword appeared again this time to jab at his heart. He barely managed to dodge the attack by rolling away: For a long time he dodged and evaded the hag’s attack, giving him no time to draw his blade. Soon he was out of breath, and with each time he evaded the intended target, the blade would slash his arms, and legs. He gave out a loud cry and collapsed when the sword dug deep into his hip, blood beginning to gush from the open wound.

“My, my you’re giving up quite the struggle, unlike your dear brothers, ha” Croaked the invisible old hag, as she dug the blade deep into his left shoulder, pinning him to the ground painfully. As Andre struggled, the old hag took the cloak from about her body and let it fall to the ground below her.  She drew a long jagged dagger, much like the sword that dug into his shoulder, and raised it high above her head.

“Now, die prince!”

As the dagger came down, with what strength Andre had he drew the blade from his hip with his right arm, the blade pinning him digging deeper, and plunged the sword into the heart of the hag. A look of surprise came over the old woman’s face before she staggered backwards, looking to the sword dug into her heart before collapsing into a heap, dead. Andre gasped, and bit into his lip as he tugged at the evil blade lodged in his shoulder, with a scream pulling it out of his body. Blood gushed from his wound, as he crawled excruciatingly slow to his leather pack. In it were several rolls of bandages that would at least help with stopping him from bleeding to death. When he finally reached his pack, he felt too weak to bind himself, but with shaking hands he dug into it, before pulling out the bandages. Slowly, agonizingly he began to wrap his shoulder. By the time he was done he came close to passing out. But, he feared if he were to pass out he would surely never awaken. He pulled himself up, and picked up his pack, beginning to stagger back to the town he had come from. It was a two days walk, but it was his only hope; But he didn’t get very far before something began to tug at his weakened heart, towards the castle ruins, the opposite direction of the town. He looked to the looming ruin, his whole body shaking. Without knowing why, he walked away from the country road, to the ruins. His feet kept moving, despite the overwhelming feeling of wanting to lie down and sleep, till he was at the gates of the great castle. He raised his weak arms and pushed on the massive doors, them giving way easily. He walked into a massive marble hall, with cracked walls, covered with vines that looped that were large shimmering flowers grew.  Away from the blue moon light it was dark save for the soft light of the lunar flowers. It was strangely warm in the hall, as he stumbled along despite some of the large holes he saw in the walls. A large marble gold inlaid staircase loomed ahead in the dim light that went up and up, spiraling. It seemed impossible for him to climb, yet as soon as he came to the first step, he began to climb, a faint voice in the air calling him forward. For what seemed an eon he climbed, unaware of the pain except for a dull throb, and a misty light that kept him on his feet. When he came to, he was no longer on the staircase, but in a large room with old velvet hangings and faded paintings adorning the walls, soft carpet on the floor a bed in the middle, with a large wardrobe and a father clock.: A fully furnished bedroom covered in cobwebs, dust and lunar flowers. The voice came again, from under the bed it seemed. He went to the bed, and painfully bent down to look under the bed. There was something that glimmered in the dim light beneath the large bed, something the size of a grape. He reached and stretched out his arm, ignoring the pain, suddenly an overwhelming longing for whatever it was beneath the bed. He grasped it and pulled it from under the bed. It was a small ruby necklace with small flames burning from within that seemed to breathe as it lay in his palm. Strength began to return to him as he held the stone, feeling the skin stitching up everywhere he was stabbed and jabbed. With that, he held the stone to the still bleeding wound and without knowing what he was doing, words, ancient words spilled from his lips and the ruby necklace began to shine and shimmer like a great fiery star in the heavens, and power spilt through his body. But the light and power left as sudden as it had come, leaving Andre gasping from the shock of coming back to himself, the spell that had given him the strength to climb the stairs, to find this necklace, left him like a strong wind. He pulled at the bandage around his shoulder and saw it had healed completely, with nothing but a bit of pink skin where the gaping hole had been. The slashes on his arms had disappeared as well. He quickly pocketed the necklace, and ran from the room, frightened on what had just happened, yet unwilling to leave the necklace. He stumbled the stairs and ran back to find the sword he almost forgot in his effort to get to a healer, than to find the necklace. To his amazement, the sword was no longer lodged in the old hag’s body. Instead it lay on the ground, in a heap of dust and twisted bones that looked far from human. The jagged evil sword shimmered not far, a jewel in its hilt acting much like an eye that seemed to shift and move to whenever Andre moved. He quickly picked up his sword, brushed the dust from it and sheathed it, then kicked the evil blade away, shuddering at the very touch of it that seeped through his leather boots. And there was the cloak still. An invisible cloak he realized. Slowly he bent down to touch it, wondering if it would have the same evil feel as the jagged sword and was shocked to find the lightly shimmering cloak felt much like water rather than cloth. He picked up the flowing cloak, and was instantly taken by it. It would be handy to have such a cloak at dangerous times, to keep one safe on a dark lonely road occupied with bandits and the like. And it would protect against evil creatures that would try and kill him. With the cloak about his shoulders, his sword at his hip and his bag his shoulder, he hurried from the ruins. He didn’t want to chance being found by something worse than the old hag.

It was a few hours when he grew tired, and decided to start camp, the moon in the sky now no longer held its blue curse, and was pure and white as it was before. Andre figured it had been easily dyed blue by the old hag’s power, and now that it was dead its power had lost power over the moon. As he dropped his pack to start up, something large swooped out from the sky, grazing the top of his head. Quickly, he pulled the invisibility cloak over his head and looked up, squinting his eyes as now the night was darker and deeper without the light of the blue moon. Something above, perched in a low branch a few trees away from where he stood, shaking. It was a large shadow with massive horned wings, and bright red eyes that shone in the dark, silently, looking straight at him. Oh, god this is not my night, he bemoaned to himself. But the creature soon looked away and realized the cloak was working. And something else had caught its attention. Andre looked in the direction the monsters eyes had turned to. A small figure was coming down the road, from town. It could easily be a kid, he realized, though he wondered how any kid could be so stupid to walk alone, so late at night. Sure enough, as the figure closed in, Andre could see features in the dim moonlight. Suddenly the monster swooped from the tree towards the unsuspecting child. Andre groaned, before pulling the invisible cloak off his body, and screamed, making the flying monster swerve from the child and back towards Andre. His cry, startled the kid in the middle of the road, who thus preceded to scream high pitched, which brought the attention of the monster back to the kid. Andre ran with all his might towards the kid, in moments over taking them and body tackling them, the claws outstretched to snatch the kid missed and grabbed air instead. Quickly and brought the cloak over himself and the struggling child, who would not stop screaming. Once Andre felt that the cloak was securely covering the two that seemed to magically stretch, he covered the mouth of the youngling with both his hands, hissing for them to stay quiet. Through the clear cloak, Andre peered up into the skies and saw nothing of the monster. But just as he felt it was safe enough to remove the cloak, he noticed a few yards away on the ground was the hulking beast with its impressive horned wings tucked tightly to its body. Andre’s heart felt like it would explode, as he could hear the inhuman thing pant, a rancid stench reaching his nose making it itch. To sneeze now, or make any sound would serve a death sentence for both himself and the small form of the shivering child beneath. Whether or not the youngling saw the monster not far, they were smart enough to stay silent. Despite the cool of the night, and cloak wrapped over them, Andre began to sweat. Wondering if the monster would smell them out eventually, a thought came to Andre. Carefully he moved the hand clamped over the child’s mouth, and dug his hand in his pocket. The ruby necklace felt hot in his hand, which spread quickly throughout his body. Maybe if this thing had the power to heal wounds made from an unholy blade, it could also help save him from an unholy beast. He held the ruby tight in his hand, wishing hard for the beast to blow up, or for it to die, fly away, anything that would save the two from being ripped apart and most likely eaten alive. But unlike the moment he had found it, it didn’t react to his wish. And he feared saying anything for their lives. Andre’s heart leaped into his throat as he watched the beast take a step towards them, and then another. It let out a horrible scream, that like a death scream, which made Andre want to run for his life. But he stayed still, and held the child under him, that he could feel tense up as the scream ripped through the air. Another several moments passed before it sniffed loudly and its wings spread before taking to the air, circling the sky above them for another long moment before it speeding away, towards the ruins. It was still several minutes later before Andre felt it safe to move from under the safety of the invisibility cloak. Once he had unwrapped the cool cloak from their bodies he finally took a closer look at the young one he had saved. In the light of the full moon, he saw the shivering child sit up, with short hair, round chubby cheeks and small slanted eyes. It was hard to see much else detail in the dim moon light, other for the baggy and worn clothes that hung of the small form of what could either be a little girl or young boy, and the tears running from its widened eyes. It had been a while since he had been in the company of a crying child, and was unsure what to say, or do until he heard the distant cry of the beast in the distance. He stood and quickly wrapped the cloak around his shoulders before grasping the hand of the child, pulling them from off the dirt road and into the thick tree line, where it is harder for the beast to spot them from above. For a long time Andre hiked in the dark, beginning to sweat heavily, jolting in fear each time he heard the faint cry of the beast. Finally, after what seemed eons the cries completely faded into the dark of the night, as the sky above began to lighten with the moon setting in the sky. Andre let go of the hand of the kid and collapsed on the damp grassy ground beneath a tall oak tree, the child standing and staring at him. They had stopped crying, and had calmed down before they spoke softly.

“T...thanks you for saving me f...from that thing...” said the child, staring intently at the cloak around Andre’s shoulders that made it seem as if his head were floating there.

Andre smiled weakly up at the child as he gained his breath, and composure. “I’m Aluemira…are you a warlock?” asked the girl, fidgeting with her worn and coarse shirt. Andre scratched his head as he peered around in the brush, and dense woods wondering where he had taken himself and the girl, half wondering how Aluemira could be so stupid to travel on such a dangerous night, before he turned his attention back to the small girl and answered.

“Hardly, It’s just this cloak here,” He said looking up at the girl, unwrapping the cloak from his shoulders before holding it up for the girl to inspect. “Is something I won not long ago, from a witch in the strange ruins, not far from here.”

Aluemira slowly reached out to brush her fingers against the cloak, her eyes widening as she felt the cool liquid like cloth that sent tingles throughout her whole body. She scrunched up her nose.

“Ruins? I don’t…live to far from here, and I’ve never seen any ruins sir…”

“No…ruins?” Andre was beginning to wonder if it had not been only the witch that been cursed and his dreams enchanted, but the very ruins themselves. Though, surely they would stand exactly where he had found them. Right? The girl shivered a bit in the cool dawn air, rubbing her arms with her hands, drawing away from the magical cloth.

“Probably wondering what I was doing all alone before y-“Andre’s attention strayed quickly from the girl, the ruins, the events of the night when a wave of sickness hit him like a tidal wave, causing him to quickly rise to his feet. Aluemira continued to speak but Andre could no longer hear her words. Something in the dense wood was closing in on them. It wasn’t the same fear that he had felt with the winged demon, nor when he was being attacked by the heinous witch. It hadn’t been the gut feeling he had whenever there were bandits or robbers nearby. It was a sinking, awful wretchedness that made his skin crawl. Time to go. Now. He grabbed Aluemira by the hand, and led her from the oak, through the tall thick trees, swerving as he tried to remember where he had come from to lead back to the road. During the day, as the light began to strengthen, it would be safer to travel by the road, as the demons and monsters thrived in the dark of night, and the shadow of deep woods. And whatever it was that lurked in the trees that stalked them. By the time the sun had risen into the sky, bits of sun rays and patches of blue sky were visible from the treetops above, Andre was beginning to panic. Lost. Good job, old boy he thought to himself. And it wasn’t helping that Aluemira was beginning to become noisy.

“Where are we” Aluemira demanded after being fed up of being led around by the hand as if she were some baby. “Where are you taking me?? I have to be home in three days from now, or I’ll be in trouble. I-“Andre couldn’t take it any longer. He dropped the hand of the girl and stood tall over her. Even though by staying in one spot, felt the wrong thing to do he had to shut her up.

“Look, we will be at the main road in no time” Said Andre through his teeth, half lying “But It’s thick in here and I need to keep my attention on where we are so I know how much farther” continued Andre, eyeing the suspicious trees around him. Aluemira finally realized that the tall man before her was frightened by something and asked, “What’s going on, why are you-“

Swiftly Andre bodily tackled Aluemira to the ground, as an large deadly arrow whizzed just centimeters from the top of the Andre’s head that stuck deep into a tree, the dark feathers shivering from impact. When Andre recovered from falling to the ground he knelt, and quickly reached for his invisible cloak, but it was too late by then. Another monstrous arrow came from the trees, with widened eyes Andre realized he was able to see the arrow swerve through the thick tree growth, this time hitting its mark. It dug deep into the flesh of his shoulder, dead center, pinning him to a tree a few yards away from where the first arrow had lodged itself into. Aluemira screamed, as she watched blood well up from the wound, darkening Andre’s tunic into a deep red.

 

Author's Note

ignore grammar, and give me some feedback on how ya like it