Read Online In The Shadow Of The Beast by Harlan H Howard - Free Book Online

so...alive.
    It was then that something large, moving so
fast and so quietly that he didn’t even register it coming out of
the dark, crashed into Sigourd with a bone jarring, teeth
clattering impact. The world spun away from Sigourd in a flash,
consciousness taking flight, and then a second brutal impact as he
hit the ground with a pained grunt.
    The something loomed over Sigurd, who lay
upon the floor in a tortured daze, struggling against a darkness
that crept inexorably over him.
    He looked up to see what thing had
bludgeoned him from his feet, his vision swimming with the mad
verticality of the rock faces. there was something else there too.
A glistening smile of razor fangs in a mouth salivating with the
anticipation of the kill. That wicked smile seemed to hover there
in the murk of Sigourd’s delirium, floating above him disembodied
and dreamlike in mocking delight.
    Sigourd’s end loomed over him, an
ignominious demise for the heir to the land of Atos, slain down
here in the damp and the darkness of these warrens within the
world.
    And then Cal was there, his sword dancing
before him, a cry of rage and defiance upon his lips.
    The old soldier threw himself between that
glittering wicked smile and his liege lord. In a brief exchange
that Sigourd was only dimly aware of, Cal’s sword danced a duel of
death with the faceless attacker. The polished steel of the old
warriors blade striking sparks as it clashed with talons that cut
the darkness before the looming shadow. That glittering smile now
vanished into the greater darkness of a hulking mass.
    Cal was an expert with the blade. Be it
knife or axe or sword, he maintained a masterful discipline with
them all, and had used them all to cut short the lives of more foes
than he could begin to count. Across countless battlefields
littered with the maimed and the dying Cal had managed to slice and
stab and sever his way through every conflict. He was one of the
finest killers in The Regents stable.
    It counted for nothing.
    The exchange was quick, and its brutal end
seemed quicker still as those talons battered aside Cal’s blade,
and tore out his throat in a rushing geyser of blood that sprayed
across the floor of the cave. Sigourd could feel the hot richness
of Cal’s life’s blood splash across his face.
    The faithful retainer fell to the floor
beside his lord, gurgling bubbles of blood from a throat that
wasn’t there anymore, replaced instead by a vicious ragged wound
rent in the flesh of his neck.
    Like a sliver of moon appearing from behind
black clouds, that razor smile appeared once more to hover over
Sigourd. He reached out feebly to try to grab at that teasing
smirk, to snatch it from his sight.
    Somewhere distantly he could hear Isolde
crying out as she struggled with her captors.
    ‘ It saddens me no small
measure that tonight will not be an end of you, young prince,’
spoke the glittering smile in a voice as cruel as the bitter cold
of midwinter, ‘but soon enough. Do not fear death, half man. It is
but a small step in the direction of the greater good.’
    Suddenly, Sigourd was struck another hammer
blow, this time across the side of his head. In that instant
everything flashed like the white of that malicious floating grin,
and Sigourd knew no more.
     

CHAPTER 5
     
    The final
word...
     
    In the red sky racing clouds swirl like
clotted blood down a sink hole, moving through the vast expanse
above with unnatural speed.
    Eyes in the dark glitter from the shadows,
many pairs of golden eyes that watch from the unlight between
arthritically twisted trees.
    The thing, the nameless dread is nearly upon
him, but he is done running. He will face down this horror even if
it is to be his doom.
    He stops to face his pursuer, a shadow
racing across the desolate wastes like a wraith, it gains with such
inhuman rapidity.
    He can make out details within the dark blur
that rushes toward him, a hood covering a face he cannot see, hands
that are thick with muscle