A dark fairy tale about traps, lures and falling for shadows.
When you see an eldritch dark horror made of shadows by the side of an old cursed trail that no one dares to go, you expect it to be less charming as it tries to trick you with deceitful...
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Art by James Fenner (@JMFenner91 on Twitter)
I opened my eyes and the blurry scene in front of me came into focus. The thugs were all cowering in fear, their hands over their ears while they stared wide-eyed at the forest. It took a minute for them to gather their wits back and their boss finally snapped to attention.
"Alright, we need someone to go in there to find out what happened." The boss ordered firmly. "Zuck, you go and check, will ya?"
"Yeah, I'm not going anywhere near those woods." The Second-in-Command replied, shaking his head. "What if there's more than one guy there? What if it's a whole bunch of them waiting for me to show up? I can't be running right into their trap, all willy-nilly like that. That's just stupid."
"I'm paying you useless gits to protect this cargo and that's exactly what you are going to do, you stupid mutt!" The boss countered angrily. "If it's bandits, like you said, then this is precisely why I need you to go there and check!"
"Technically, you haven't paid a single dime to anyone yet. You said we need to sell all this shit before we get any real money, remember?" He argued, crossing his arms stubbornly over his chest. "And what good will it do if I go there and get my head chopped off, huh? What cargo am I protecting if I end up eating grass? I'll tell you what good this will do, you'll have three less men to share the profit, that's what. Mighty convenient for the two of ya left alive, doncha think?" He accused with quite the glare. "You won't even have to share anything at all, you'll just scam that stupid kid there and have all the bounty to yourself."
The Boss huffed in exasperation. "If it's really bandits there, then none of us will have any profit left to share, you moron!" He snapped, shaking his fist at the cowardly henchman.
"You make the kid go, then. He's the lowest in the chain of command. He should go first." He suggested and they both turned to their youngest crew member, who had been standing further at the back, staring past us with eyes big as two saucepans and one trembling finger pointed towards the forest.
We all turned to look at what he was pointing at. It was the silhouette of a man who was emerging from the shadows at the border of the forest. The man was big, burly, with a menacing stance, and he also looked a lot like...
"Is that Brutt over there?" The Boss voiced what I was also thinking. Muscles bulky figure was easy to recognize, even in the dark and far away. He seemed to be holding his stomach with one hand and had a bundle or a satchel in the other.
"What's he doing?" The boss asked, squinting his eyes.
The Boss gave a few steps ahead to have a better look, leaving me and the kid behind. "Oi! Brutt! What's going on?" He shouted, giving a few more cautious steps towards the forest, followed by his reluctant second-in-command henchman.
"Bandits," Brutt replied with a strange-sounding voice and raised the hand that was holding the bundle, only it wasn't really a bundle he was holding.
It was the old man's head.
"They killed him," Brutt said, showing the head in his hand as he staggered towards a large tree near the forest's limit. "I fought them and killed them all, but... the last one... he got me too." He removed the other hand from his stomach and all of his guts started spilling out.
Everyone froze at the sight, looking alarmed.
"They didn't want us getting their treasure." Brutt gurgled and sputtered out blood through his mouth while his intestines kept slipping down his legs. "Doesn't matter... anymore. They're all... dead now." He collapsed on top of a pile of rubble at the base of a large tree. Secon-in-command, who had been the closest to the scene, could see better what the pile of rubble was.
"The treasure!" He yelped, pointing at the pile that Brutt had died on. The bandit's treasure was right there, at arm's reach.
He ran off to the back of the wagon and quickly returned with a couple of empty sacks tossed over the shoulder and a few more in his hands.
"Zuck, what the hell do you think you're doing?" The Boss asked while Zuck advanced purposefully towards Brutt and the pile of gold.
"I am going to get my hands on that treasure, that's what I'm doing." He answered as he stalked past us with purpose.
"What about the 'I ain't getting anywhere near those woods' talk then?" The Boss retorted, mimicking Zuck's way of speaking in a sardonic tone.
"You heard the corpse, the bandits are all dead and that treasure is up for grabs." Zuck fired back, speeding away. "But if you want to wait for god knows how long until you sell all the crap in the wagon to get what's yours, be my guest. I'm getting my share right this instant."
They watched as Zuck ran to the pile of gold, shoved Brutt's body away as if it was just a mild inconvenient obstacle, and began shoving fistfuls of coins inside the bags.
"Look at this! There's gold and gemstones and pearls and so many fine things! We're done for life, boys!! There's richness beyond our dreams in here!" he shouted excitedly between manic laughs.
"Well, seems like we don't need to worry about this wagon being stuck on the road anymore." The Boss commented to the kid. "Maybe you should go help Zuck gather that treasure up?" He proposed, this time sounding a lot more like a suggestion than an order.
"Are we really going to abandon all of our stuff in the wagon, boss?" The kid questioned, eying back and forth from the wagon to us.
"I guess it's easier to carry sacks of gold than chop this giant tree or push this wagon through this rocky patch, boy. We can run off on the horses with our sacks of gold, I suppose." The boss reasoned. "We just need to make sure to pack the most we can in those bag--" he had turned to the forest to point at the treasure and stopped abruptly, gasping in surprise.
"What the... Where's he gone?"
I turned to look for Zuck, but he was nowhere to be found.
There was nothing there anymore, not Zuck or Brutt's corpse, the bags, the gold... it was all gone.
