Sir Fredrick's Discovery of the Damned Village

I, Sir Fredrick son of Dal, knight of King John, Ruler of Edinbrough, do hereby solemnly swear by Mary and all the Saints that my testimony is the truth and nothing but the truth. If I should fabricate my account in any way, may the Good Lord Almighty strike the ground on which I stand.

In the Year of Our Lord 1354, I, Sir Fredrick son of Dal, was ordered by King John, Ruler of Edinbrough to scout the lands in the West for enemy outposts and to report back by the end of the year. I traveled many months over hills and mountains, fields and meadows, swamps and forests.

The incident occurred on the fourth day of the sixth month. My steed, Galigus, and I were growing weary. The resources I had at the beginning of my journey were all but depleted, and Galigus was displaying signs of anger and impatience. I did everything in my power to keep him calm, but years of experience told me it wouldn’t last for very long.

Sleep did little to improve our spirits. I prayed to God Almighty, asking Him whether it was His divine will to press on or return back to the palace. Yea, as I was on the verge of turning back, I saw a cabin not too far away. Joy overtook my soul. I gave Galigus a pat on the cheek and great words of encouragement. I was certain the Good Lord was rewarding me for my devotion and persistence, but it was foolish of me to presume the will of the Mighty Father.

I dismounted a few steps away from the cabin. I instructed Galigus to stay before walking the rest of the way.

“By order of High King John, Ruler of Edinbrough, I demand food and shelter for me and my noble steed!” I shouted.

I do not know for how long I stood there, but it was enough to make me impatient. I knocked on the door three times and shouted my demand again. Yea, I still got no response from the Lord of the Cabin.

“I must warn you, that not giving shelter to any Knight of Edinbrough is a Capital Offense,” I said. “If you will not let me in, I shall come in myself. Is that clear?”

Their silence gave me no other option.

I readied myself to break through the door, but then I heard a low voice from the window.

“Please, don’t do that,” it said, the voice belonged to a man. “Verily, Sir Knight, I urge you to leave this place as fast as you can.”

“Ridiculous!” I scoffed. “If you don’t let me in, I shall come back with an order for your arrest. Is that clear?”

“As long as you go far away from here, I care not what you do,” said the voice. I tried to look through the windows. I wanted to see the person I was talking too, but they were so filthy I could not see a thing.

“Please, Sir Knight,” the voice continued. “Do not take my words for malice, but as words of kindness. I am a humble man who fears God and King. For your wellbeing, please, I implore you, get away from here and never return, least something very bad might happen.”

“Is that a threat, sir?” I asked him, ready to draw my sword out of its sheath.

“Tis not a threat but a warning,” and the voice refused to say anything else.

I was not going to let this insolence rest. After all, what would it suggest to the rest of the citizens of Edinbrough if word go out? I gave the door a few firm kicks, but when that didn’t work, I broke the nearest window with the hilt of my sword. The glass shattered into a million pieces, and I heard a great cry from within. The shattering startled Galigus, but he still held his position. I stepped over the windowsill, and at last I was inside.

The inside of the cabin was quite ordinary. The furniture was small, a size suited for a nave. I heard the closing of a door deeper within the cabin, no doubt it was the insolent Lord of the Cabin himself. I thought he was hiding from me because he didn’t want to face the swift hand of justice, but that was the second foolish presumption I made that day.

“Hiding will not save you, my good sir,” I said to him. “You have committed a crime against the Kingdom of Edibrough! You must answer for your crimes!”

As I waited for him to respond, I searched the building even further. There was a fireplace in the center of the room. The logs were caracole black, yet the flames were still hot. The logs rested on a metal rack, and beside the fireplace was a metal poker. In the neighboring room was a table with four chairs surrounding it, and three candles on its surface.

“You live here by yourself, good sir, or are there others?” I asked the voice, but they still refused to speak. On the back wall of the dining room there were three windows, and underneath the windows was a fine collection of pots and pans. I heard the clucking of hens outside. Turned out he had coop back there. I lifted one gummy pot and examined it for a few seconds. I told the voice that we could negotiate a deal if he just came out and faced me like a man, but the Lord of the Cabin was persistent. I knew the door they were hiding behind was somewhere, but I was in no rush. I was going to find him sooner or later, it was just a matter of when.

I walked back to the center room with the fireplace, went down a short hallway and came to a locked door. There were no windows, so breaking in was impossible. I assure you, only an act of God could break that door down.

“If you wish to confine yourself in there, so be it!” I told him. “You can thank God I’m in a good mood, otherwise I’d have burnt this cabin to the ground a long time ago.”

I turned around to walk back to the kitchen, but the voice behind the door stopped me.

“Pray sir, treat yourself to my hens, but please leave before sundown,” he said.

I stood right in front of the door and asked him what happened after sundown, but he went all silent again. It wasn’t until I charged him by the Living God did I finally get an answer from him. 

“Before I begin, I swear to God that I’m telling the absolute truth. An evil enchantress put a curse on our town. Every thirty days, when there is no moon in the sky, we turn into horrible beasts!”

I thought the man was making a fool out of me, but he assured me was not. I found his story hard to believe, but I gave him the common curtesy of letting him finish. He informed that he had been keeping track of the days since his last transformation, and his count was thirty days exactly.

“Where is this enchantress?” I demanded. I still did not believe him, but I wanted to know more. “And why would she cast a curse on the whole village?”

“Why do witches do anything?” he shouted. “I have told you everything I know to the best of my ability. Now I beg you, in the Name of God, please leave!”

I laughed at him, thinking if he wanted me to leave, he should have refrained from telling me, what I presumed, to have been a farcical fairy tale. This was the third, and final, presumption I had made that day.

“Laugh all you want, but my conscience is clear,” he said. “I have done all I can to warn you, and I shall not feel sorry if you should fall into harms way tonight.”

I stopped laughing and reminded him that lying to a Royal Knight was an even greater offense, but he would not speak to me anymore. It mattered not, I was determined to enjoy the comforts of his cabin either way.

The day was coming to a close, but that did not stop me from enjoying one of his hens. I had to do everything myself, of course, from chopping its head, plucking its feathers, gutting its innards and roasting it above the fire.

I watched the sun go down and the sky turn a bright orange. I took a moment from roasting the chicken to feed Galigus a with few apples and carrots that I found. His head bopped up and down, and he gave out a sigh showing that he was content. 

My chicken was not ready until the sky went from orange to a soft blue. I swear it felt good to eat something that was not cold, moldy bread. The warm chicken was enough to sooth my dry throat. I followed it down with some warm ale I found from a barrel in the cellar.

Since the man had confined himself in the only bedroom, I had to sleep on the floor in front of the calming fireplace. Or at least, I was to fall asleep, but I heard a loud boom explode from the hallway. I stood up at once and drew out my sword.

“Sir, are you okay?” I asked.

I heard a loud groan. It sounded like he was under attack. It did not make any sense to me, but I had a duty to come to his aid.

I came to the hallway and saw the door that I had so much trouble trying to take down was ripped off its hinges and lying on the ground. Despite my confusion, I did my best to show no fear. The man was still moaning with pain.

“Who goes there?” I yelled, but the man’s attacker did not respond. I started to believe the attackers were bandits, but I could not explain how they were able to break down the door when I could not. My mind conjured two explanations. Either I had overestimated my strength, or they had the help of a special tool. Turned out I was wrong on both counts.

You see the door was brought down not by bandits, nor was anyone attacking the Lord of the Cabin.

Now before I continue, I must reiterate my oath to tell the truth and nothing but the truth. I reminded you of this, only because what I’m about to write down will test your belief in my tale. What I witnessed goes beyond all laws of nature, and the very will of God itself.

I was a few steps from the room, when an unholy abomination crawled out on all fours. Its features were putrid, enough to make any fair maiden faint. Its from was that of a man, but it was anything but a man. Its skin was gray with little mounds execrating a clear liquid. Even normal features like a mouth and eyes were distorted beyond recognition. The bottom half of his mouth sagged on the floor, its tongue stretched over flaccid teeth. Although its eyes were pale white, I could still feel its gaze staring at me. The only normal feature was the brown hair on top of what I assumed was its head.

“Stay back, fowl daemon!” I ordered, but it was clear this thing did not fear my blade. It rushed towards me, preferring to use its hands rather than its legs. It gave out a haunting howl, and I replied with a cry of my own. I lunged my sword down, and I sliced it half from the top of its and down to its tongue.

There was so much blood. Some of it sprayed on my clothing, while the rest poured on the floor.

I made sure the creature was dead before making my way to the bedroom. The whole room looked ransacked. Drawers were pulled out, clothes were all over the floor, and the bed was just a pile of twigs and feathers.

A horrifying realization came over me. That rancid creature wasn’t a daemon, but the Lord of the Cabin! He was telling the truth after all. The cries of Galigus prevented me from feeling any shame or regret. Without my royal steed, my quest, and my life, would have ended in failure.

I rushed outside.

I heard multiple screams and wails in the distance. Verily, I say it sounded like the pits of Hell had opened up, and all the tortured souls were set free to create havoc. I did not blame Galigus for being afraid, for in all honesty so was I.

I mounted myself on his back, held the reigns in both hands, and with one kick we were off.

The path was extremely dark. I had no lantern or candles, so I had to rely on the moon to guide my way.

The screams and wailing grew louder. I did not know how far the village was from the cabin, or how long it would take for the cursed townspeople to get to me. All I cared about was getting as far away as possible.

At first the villagers appeared one at a time. Although their appearances differed greatly from one another, they still had the same blank, white eyes.

A boy with a hunched back jumped out of the bushes, and almost sliced Galigus with his nails long enough to have been blades. He gave out a gargle cry, I tried to kill him, but I missed.

Next was a lone woman whose body looked like it was stretched from end to end. I dare say she was tall enough to put Goliath to shame. Thankfully, her long tree-like limbs were a weakness I could exploit with ease. She could move them, but because of their length she didn’t have complete control. I was able to dodge the swipe of her arm with no trouble at all. She growled with frustration, but I was long gone before she could attack me a second time.

Next came an elderly woman who was bloated beyond belief. She was one big pile of fat. The only thing she could move, were her tiny eyes and arms. Her body took up the entire road, so I had to go uphill to avoid her.

Unfortunately, this prompted a frog like tongue to latch itself on to my body. I took out my sword, ready to slash it off my armor, but I was taken aback by the owner the tongue belonged to. It was a skinny boy with death in its eyes. He reeled himself on to me like a fisherman reels in his catch. I did not want to harm the boy, but I knew he would kill me. I gave a prayer of forgiveness before whacking the tounge clean off. Blood sprayed in my face. The tongue lost its grip on me, sending the boy tumbling to the ground.

I took a deep breath. With one small tug of the reigns, we were back on the path again. I was filled with a small sense of relief, but it wasn’t meant to last.

The road was filled with those vile townspeople, and I had no choice to but to kill the lot of them. It took all of my will power to suppress the guilt of slaying innocent men, women and children. I keep telling myself that they were going to kill me, but I cannot avoid the fact that they were innocent people under the witch’s curse. To describe all of the monstrosities that tried to take my life would take too long, so forgive me for being light on details from here on out.

I plowed through the townspeople like parchment. My sword was soaked in so much blood, that it no longer gleamed in the moonlight. Their prying fingers never pierced through my armor, but Galigus faced far worse. Some of the beasts were able to leave their mark on his once smooth flank. The scars have yet to heal.

Through the grace of our Lord, Galigus and I finally burst through the crowd and escaped with our lives intact. Despite our escape, we were not out of the woods just yet. The horde was still onto us, and it turned out that some were just as fast, if not faster than any of our prime Royal Horses.

I came back to a familiar stone bridge. Once we crossed over, the villagers wanted nothing to do with me or Galigus. It was if the bridge was like an invisible barrier between us and them. I must have collapsed on the ground, for the next day I woke up in a bed of grass with Galigus looking down on me.

I came back to the palace grounds as fast as I could, which bring us to the present.

I end my testimony, by reiterating my oath. I have not once told a single lie, and the good Lord has yet to strike me down. He knows I am being honest. I have marked the village and the bridge on the map, but I implore you never to go there, at least not during the night. Do not make the same foolish mistake I did. All travelers and merchants should be warned as well. Better yet, destroy the bridge, or create a wall around the village for all I care. No one should see the same things I did that night, no one, absolutely no one!

In all that is good and holy stay away from that cursed village.

Your very life may depend on it.