Kill The Beast by Graham Bradley

Author:Graham Bradley [Bradley, Graham]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: DreadPenniesUSA
Published: 2017-02-14T06:00:00+00:00

~5~

Gautier found himself wishing he had a means to contact the remaining villagers who were fighting elsewhere in the castle—he estimated them to be thirty in number—but he only had this handful for what was sure to be a grueling match against the prince, or his beast, or both. On a gamble, he pitted his own confidence against the frightful description of the monster. Gautier was the greatest hunter in all of France. This thing would just have to be another trophy.

Outside the master’s chambers in the west wing, Gautier and Danielle noticed a pair of open double doors to their right, leading into a drawing room that had been full of musical instruments on Gautier’s last visit.

“Hold on,” Danielle said. “Why are there so many more bodies outside this room?”

Down the hallway, Gautier heard a sound that was a cross between a bear’s growl and the mating call of a mature stag. Henri looked in that direction as well.

“Does it matter? Your monster is this way!” Henri jerked a thumb after the noise.

To Gautier’s dismay, Danielle darted into the open room. Of course, he thought. Without knowing why, he followed her, letting his eyes adjust to the dim light of the chamber.

He made out the shapes of a dozen beds lined up in two rows, with the heads of the rows against the walls to either side of him. Each bed held an occupant. Upon close inspection, Gautier noticed that the beds had mechanical restraints made of iron, engraved with strange sigils that made him uncomfortable to look at them.

“Their eyes,” Danielle breathed. “This is where they do it to them.”

Gautier took one of the candlesticks and brought it close to the head of the nearest bed. The occupant’s eyes were held open by some apparatus with thin metal pincers, and though the skin around his eyes hadn’t yet turned that sandy black, the pupils had grown past the color around them, and the whites of his eyes were so bloodshot as to look red. Hovering in the air just above the man’s face was a small puff of black dust that swirled incessantly, floating and twisting of its own accord, and Gautier got the impression that it was working on turning the man into a thrall of dark magic.

“We have to get them out of here,” Gautier said. “Or we’ll be facing more of them soon.”

Danielle had been examining their faces, and when she saw the patient lying before Gautier, she gasped. “Philippe! That’s my brother!” She pawed at the various springs and latches on the bed’s contraptions until one of them clicked open and she was able to release her brother’s restraints. A small whimper escaped her full lips as she pulled the device away from his eyes, and the small black cloud extinguished straightaway.

“Ungh,” Philippe moaned, blinking rapidly. “Danielle…”

“I’m here, Philippe!” She helped him up into a sitting position and threw her arms around his neck. He didn’t immediately register that she was there; he had the air of a man waking up from a tavern bender.

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