Seven deaths

Two dwarfs determined to avenge their brothers deaths.

                A puff of black wings rose from the trees of Muhr, as a thunderous roar echoed from the land below. “Who goes there?” Malkar demanded, grimacing in pain and rubbing his side with hope to cure the wound that had aroused him from his slumber.

                “It is I brother, sorry to have waken you, but something terrible has happened,” said the voice of Tula, his scrawny body trembling, and his hand enclosed around a sharpened stick.

                Blinking a few times, Malkar relieved himself from his state of drowsiness and spoke to the small man in front of him. “Terrible you say, but how could that be. The night is at peace and my brothers are fast asleep.” Silence filled the woods, the glow of the moon illuminating the sorrow of Tula’s face.

                “Yes, that I know brother, but that is indeed the problem.” Interlocking his fingers, he stared at the muddied ground. “Returning from the woods, I noticed a strange figure looming in the darkness. I assumed it was a male for its stout figure, but all I could really tell was it had a mark of lines and swirls engraved upon its bare chest, which I believe belongs to. . .”

                “Eor,” Malkar whispered. “The bringer of death.”

                “Yes.” Tula agreed, bowing his head and placing his hand on Malkar’s broad shoulder.”Our brothers are no more.”

                Without a seconds hesitation, Malkar ran to his brothers, each of the five bodies lying around a dying fire. He shook them each with an equal amount of ferocity, their pallid skin cold and lifeless under his touch. “W-w-why?” he stuttered raising each of their eyelids, but only finding glazed marbles underneath. “S-s-so m-much we w-went t-through.” He choked, pressing his hand, knees and head against the ground.

                “There, there. You were a good leader, and look on bright side you now have five less to lead.” Tula chuckled, washing away all his sorrow.

                “What a dastardly thing to say Tula! Why have you suddenly turned so cruel?” He sniffed, using his beard to wipe away the tears on his cheeks.

                “I’m sorry, but it’s true. It is just you and me now.”

                “That may be, but it is by no means necessary for you to say what you said.” Malkar scolded.

                “It won’t happen again, I promise.”

                “Good.” Malkar said rubbing his puffy eyes and walking back to his tree. “Gather your things, we will be off before the sun rises.” He said, bending over to pick up his possessions and place them in a leather sack. “Move why don’t you, I may have five less to lead, but I am still in charge of you.”

                Tula stared at Malkar with confusion, his thick eyebrows furrowing and crimson shirt ruffling in the early morning breeze. “But where are we going?”

Malkar looked around the enclosed meadow, throwing the sack over his shoulder and trying to swallow away the pain in his throat, caused by his endless tears. “To avenge the death of our brothers, are you truly that stupid not to know?” Malkar said harshly and propped his hat on top of his graying hair.

“Oh . . . But shouldn’t we go when the sun has come up? It is far too dark to go in the woods at this hour and we don’t even know where to begin.”

“Would you like to be discovered Tula, and captured by elves or eaten by trolls? The night is our only cover and without it we have no chance in getting to the home of Eor.” Walking towards the trees, he motioned for Tula to come. “Now we have wasted time, it is a good thing I know where he lives.” Taking one quick glance back at the deceased dwarves, Tula followed Malkar with nothing more than the clothes on his body and the food in his belt.

They trudged through the thick woods, fallen trees and wild moss complicating their way. Cursing under their breath, they struck at flying bugs and cut at tall seas of grass. “We must be close,” Tula said, pausing to catch his breath.

“Not too far,” Malkar answered and pulled a canvas canteen out of his sack. “About thirty minutes I would say.”

When the thirty minutes had ended, the two came across a fork in the wood. “I’m guessing Eor lives that way?” Tula said and pointed to a path rugged and dark, with thickets of dead trees and meatless carcasses lying in their branches.

“You would think that, but surprisingly it isn’t. It is the one on the left.”  Pointing to the path, it glowed with the rays of the early morning sun. Its smooth trail covered with patches of grass and lined with bushes of roses and berries. “But may you be warned, looks can be deceiving.” Tula observed the paths with a troubled expression, his stomach seeming to fill with a substance as solid as lead.  “So let us not stand and stare but continue the final steps of our journey.”

Harsh winds blew against them as they stepped onto the path, their beards billowing like the sails of a ship. “What’s happening?” Tula shouted, the paths landscape evaporating under their feet and forming into a trail of dead trees and cawing crows.

“I told you looks can be deceiving.” Malkar shouted back. “But we must keep going or we soon be swept away.” Running toward Malkar, Tula grasped his hand and together they ran through the path. “His house is just over yonder.” Swirls of branches and dead bodies flew up from the ground and into the clouded sky, halting the two in their tracks.

A branch full of knots and disease swept Malkar violently of his feet, his butt crashing to the ground and his enormous belly jiggling from the impact. Tula gasped in surprise, fighting the winds to bend down and help his wounded brother. “Malkar?” he said gently and slapped his brothers wrinkled face, a pool of blood leaking from his cracked skull and matting his hair in crimson clumps. “Wake up.” Tears began to fall from his horrified face, the blood rippling and flying away in red capsules.

“HALT!” boomed a deep voice. “Leave my guests alone.” The winds died to an audible whisper, Tula hunched and sobbing over Malkars body. “How happy I am to see you and so glad you brought your brother. I am so sorry that I did not get here sooner, for he might have been spared.” Eor glided out from the trees, a sheet of darkness hiding his body, yet the mark gleaming fiercely from his chest..

Tula glared at him, his eyes gray fires. “All six of my brothers dead because of you.”

“Do you have no idea who I am? It is my job to bring death to the innocent.” He said.

“But why, what pleasure does it bring you?” Tula inquired, stepping up from the ground and facing Eor.

“Pleasure, you think I enjoy doing this?” He took a step closer to Tula, his hands escaping from the darkness and showing their talon fingers.

“Well I assumed you must, for you do it so often.”

“It is my job, but that does not mean I enjoy it. My master sends me. I am an assassin under his rule and the death of your brother was by no means intentional. My winds got a little carried away. We haven’t had company in so long and they forgot how to be good hosts.” Tula stepped back frightened, the darkness around Eor turning a red hue.

“But do you know why you’re here? Do you know why I spared you and your brother both?” he paused, rolls of fog filing out from the trees. “I wanted you both to be my partners and if you decline you will die.”

“I-I. . .” His lip began to quiver, shrieks of unknown creatures filling the morning air. “No.” he said bluntly and reached into a pocket of his belt.

“Suit yourself.” Raising his hands to the clouds he moved them in small circles, thunder erupted and boughs of lightning penetrated the sky with blinding light. “And I do enjoy my job.” With a snicker, a beam of white light plummeted to the ground and struck Tula, jolting him backwards and making him stiff with electricity. He fell to the ground and lay next to his brother, their deaths only ten minutes apart. The wind picked back up and Eor disappeared, his snickers echoing throughout the woods and the lands around it.

 

 

Author's Note

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