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

yet gnarled like the roots of the old
trees. Brutal looking talons that will tear his flesh like a hand
waved casually through the gossamer of a spider’s web.
    The shadow is almost upon him, mere feet
from away and as it readies itself to pounce he catches sight of a
smile, a wicked, mocking grin that floats in the darkness of this
nightmare thing. A mouth full of razors, the guarantee of an
agonizing death...
     
    Sigourd awoke with a start, gasping for air
as if drowning. In an instant he is lanced with an agony that
reaches into his bones, his face, his head. The reality of his
injured state settling upon him in a flourish of pain.
    A hand lain gently across his chest, a
soothing voice in his ear gives him pause, ‘Lie still Sigourd,
you’ve been through much. Your wounds are not grievous. They
probably trouble a concerned mother more to witness than her
bruised son to bear’
    Sigourd’s head was filled with a splitting
ache. He struggled to focus on the person the voice belonged to,
realizing before long that he is in his bedchamber surrounded by
familiar faces. The voice is his mother’s. She sits beside him, a
look of grave concern upon her face. That look is shared by The
Regent, who stands next to his wife, his hand resting upon her
shoulder, his expression like thunder.
    Standing quietly and attentively in a corner
of the room is a housemaid, one that Sigourd knows has been in the
service of his family for many years, and someone else is there
too. Someone that he cannot see but knows is standing in the
shadows at the edge of his sight.
    ‘ What happened my son?’
asked theRegent, his voice leaden with concern.
    ‘ I-I’m not sure. How did
you know to look for me?’ came Sigourd’s pained
response.
    ‘ You were missing most of
the day. We used hounds to track your scent, they discovered you
lying unconscious in the catacombs beneath the castle. What were
you doing down there Sigourd?
    Sigourd was slow to respond, he felt like
he’d been asleep for a hundred years.
    ‘ They snatched her father,’
said Sigourd..
    ‘ Who son?’ asked
Veronique.
    ‘ There were three of them,
hooded and cloaked. That smile, it glittered like
moonlight.’
    ‘ What was that?’ asked The
Regent.
    Suddenly, another memory flashed through
Sigourd’s mind’s eye. Cal, his blade dancing before him.
    ‘ Cal was there too, he
engaged one of them. Is he....’
    The Regent shook his head, a great sorrow
darkening his aspect, ‘Cal is dead, son. We found him lying near
you with his throat torn out.’
    Sigourd settled on his bed, allowed his head
to fall back upon the pillow as the heavy pressure of those words
settled upon him like the weight of all the heavens combined.
    ‘ What happened down there,
Sigourd?’ asked Veronique again, urgency in her tone.
    Sigourd didn’t take his eyes from the
ceiling of the old chamber as he spoke, ‘Cal and I went looking for
Isolde. We tracked her into the catacombs and when we caught up to
her she was being hauled off by men whose identity I could not
guess at. I made to set her free but something came out of the
darkness....so quick, it moved like an animal. It hand the fangs
and talons of something from a bad dream. It had shape of a man but
was more beast in aspect.’
    Across the room, the house maid knocked over
a pitcher of water which clattered across the table where it had
rested, spilling its contents over the floor.
    She cursed quietly to herself, clearly
embarrassed by this slip she turned and curtsied low by way of
apology for the noisy interruption. Quickly she worked to clear up
the spillage.
    Frowning, The Regent turned back to his son,
‘come Sigourd, what’s all this talk of monsters that walk as men.
The intruders must have had a dog or tame wolf shadowing them.
There is no other explanation.’
    ‘ Can a dog speak? Can a dog
threaten in the language of men?,’ exclaimed Sigourd.
    At this The Regent fell silent, and a look
of the utmost concern crossed the face