An Argument of Fairies by Cory Huff

Author:Cory Huff [Huff, Cory]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-09-02T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

Death

Thomas tried to lead Sophronia into the woods. He could see pretty clearly where Liam had emerged from. Liam had pushed his way through the greenery, breaking tree limbs, leaving foot prints.

Liam pushed forward, stumbling but insisting on being out front. He’s getting in the way, thought Thomas. Liam stumbled forward, muttering about his dead friends and the monsters that he thought he saw. He had obviously seen something horrific. Thomas remembered that the Knights taught Squires that battle did strange things to a person’s mind.

Sophronia kept trying to help Liam. Catching him when he stumbled, only to be pushed off as Liam continued to strive forward. “We shouldn’t be doing this,” he muttered. “We’re going to get killed. Those things are going to kill us.”

“Liam, perhaps you should stay back? Just give us directions and we can find the bodies,” said Sophronia.

Liam stared at her for several seconds, not appearing to comprehend what she said. Then he turned around and kept walking.

After about 30 minutes of walking in the woods, Thomas realized it smelled like a butcher shop. He also realized he could hear a faint, low buzzing noise. Liam slowed down, and stopped next to a stream, looking down. He drew a sharp breath and shuddered. “It's right around this bend in the path,” said Liam.

Thomas loosed his sword in its scabbard and walked around the bend. What he saw made him stop and gasp. There was carnage everywhere. Dead bodies, hacked to pieces, limbs lopped off. Stomachs and chests with gaping wounds that spilled viscera. The blood was dry and crusted. The buzzing sound was flies. Thousands of flies were hovering over the bodies and crawling over them, seeking food and places to lay their eggs. Thomas became suddenly, violently ill, emptying his stomach.

“Oh, Creator,” whispered Sophronia. Her stomach heaved and her vision spun. What could cause this kind of damage? Who was this cruel? This savage? She had been training, learning how to fight, to defend herself. Was this what she had been training for? Other than that woman who attacked her at the house, she had never seriously injured anyone. She had never drawn more blood than a few punches.

What was this?

Her training was a lie. Everything she had been telling herself about how to survive was a lie. The grizzly, horrific scene in front of her put the truth directly in front of her: violence was a horror that she wasn’t prepared to deal with, let alone stop.

Liam walked forward. He wasn’t stunned by the shock of the violence. He was already numb. He had woken up in the middle of it. He had crawled through it.

“That.” He pointed to the burned, mangled body of one of the creatures that killed them, “That is one of them.”

Sophronia looked over. Liam was pointing at a hacked apart body. Thomas stood up, wiping his mouth, and walked over to where Liam was pointing. It looked like a … like a hacked apart body. It was impossible to tell anything about the body, it was so damaged.

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