500

Of Nightmares

Peeling birch bark underfoot gave way to soft damp soil as they entered the clearing. Beneath a moonless sky the ground seemed blackest pitch compared to the silver stands surrounding them. Marooned in a sea of trees the two young men stood back to back brandishing their flaming torches.

It seemed that hungry eyes pierced the gloom in all directions.

Panting heavily the tallest of them broke the silence.

'Where are you from?'

'The village beyond the Hill' replied the other nodding towards the east.
The first rolled his eyes. He knew the village and his father had told him how dim-witted and guiless its residents were.

'Listen to me.' He demanded. 'My people know about these things. These monsters.' His eyes darted furtively from tree to tree. 'I will tell you a story, one that will save our necks this very night.'

Inhaling deeply he continued.

'They are the Martrothardir. Beasts with the head and fore limbs of a wolf and the hind parts and horns of a ram. Their eyes burn a firey red and their tongues are forked like a serpents. My people have been outwitting them for centuries since we first moved to the Valley. '
A branch snapped in the darkness pausing the narrative momentarily. 'My ancestors were surprised to find such fertile land untilled then, when the first winter fell, we realised why.'

The other shorter man continued to listen, concern growing on his face.

'The foolish idiots who lived in the surrounding hills awoke these fiends before we arrived and its is left to us to protect us all. Luckily they are terrified of fire. We will see the sun rise once more as long as our torches remain lit. '

They stood in silence a while both attempting to peel back the black cloak that concealed their assailants.

'Your are right about one thing.' The shorter man from beyond the Hill began. 'Flame will see us through until morning but in regard to the rest of your story allow me to correct you.'

The tall man from the valley bit his lip and shuffled his feet anxiously.

'We know them as the Kabus Yaratiklar. They are ethereal spirits of the woodland with only one foot in this world. They protect the forest from those they perceive as a danger to it.'

'Wait one minute...' interjected the Valley man. His torch wavered and the darkness seemed to tighen around them.

'Please allow me to finish.' The Hill man said continuing over the Valley mans complaint.

'We lived in peace here for many hundreds of years. We did not enter the Forest out of respect. But then outsiders came with sharp axes and simple minds to tear up trees and scar the earth. Now the Kabus hunt us all to redress the damage done.'

The tall man from the Valley could hold his tongue no longer and looking over his shoulder directed his venom at his companion.

'Who are you calling simple you under-grown imbecile!' His face burned red with indignation. 'Your childish nonsense will not save us tonight. It is I who will have to get us out of this mess!'

'Mess? It was your ancestors stupidity that caused this mess to begin with! The childish lies they tell to mask their guilt is laughable.'

The Valley man could no longer endure such insults. He spun quickly and struck the Hill man from behind knocking him to the ground and allowing his torch to fall to the damp earth where it sputtered out. Falling to his knees he straddled his victims chest pummeling the mans face with his fists into a fleshy pulp.

Eventually the Hill mans body stopped moving and the bloody bubbling from his throat abated.
The only sound that remained in the clearing was the slow panting of the Valley man which gradually lessened in time with the fading of the last flickering torch.

Alone in the black the tall man from the Valley felt something he'd never imagined before close in on him and silently swallow him whole.