Casmir stood staring out the large open window of the finely furnished chamber, his eyes fixed on the grim silhouette of the royal castle looming upon the tall hill. The lord had urged him to carry out the task without delay, but Casmir chose to wait until midnight. He was in no rush.
His thoughts drifted to a memory, one whose return was as strange as it was uninvited.
A treachery of ravens tore through the dark sky, their cries loud and foreboding, with the hunter riding quietly below atop his dauntless mare. The night was heavy with cold, and the rocky path underfoot felt ancient and unwelcoming.
"We're close, Gruch," he murmured to his horse, his voice nearly lost in the wind. His gaze lingered on the thick forest ahead, as a gust chilled him through the leather of his jerkin.
This contract was different. A monster that speaks was his mark, and though Casmir abhorred dealings with such beasts, the price-a staggering three hundred crowns-was too enticing to decline. And he was a man with no home, the coins mattered, every bit of it.
The first disturbing sight appeared before him. A corpse lay sprawled at the forest's edge. A woman in blue velvet, her face shattered, her entrails exposed and half-devoured by a pack of wolves, who now scattered at the scent of him. Even the wild feared him.
He dismounted, taking Gruch's bridle in hand as he moved past the grisly remains. The foulness clung thick in the air.
Two more men lay butchered nearby. Their torn garments and insignias told of noble lineage. Wolves and vultures had already had their feast, but enough remained for Casmir to read the signs. Missing limbs, deep claw marks, twisted bone-none of this was the work of a common monster.
He checked their purses. They were heavy with coins. Wealthy nobles they must have been. That much was certain.
He knelt by one corpse and examined the claw wounds with a practiced eye. Too savage for a leechkin, they only seeked blood. Too wasteful for a banehowler, they delight in the flesh of men.
A shade, perhaps. But of what kind?
Mounting his horse once more, he continued deeper into the forest. Gruch snorted, her muscles tense with fear. The deeper they went, the more violently she tossed her head.
Casmir held tight the reins, calming her with a charm, whispering a spell into her ear. The mare slowed, but unease remained thick in the air. He felt it too. Something was watching.
Then, they saw it.
Ahead, atop a rocky hill, stood a decrepit mansion of grey bricks. A figure floated before its tower, silhouetted in the moonlight.
Gruch neighed loudly, trembling.
The floating form was that of a woman-they are quick adapting-cloaked in black, pale as death, with thick black veins marring her cheeks. Its black eyes burned with malicious glee, and a terrible grin revealed rows of jagged teeth.
Casmir dismounted, tying the reins around a nearby tree. "Stay," he ordered. Gruch, loyal to the end, obeyed.
He approached the hill, passing beneath a rusted iron gate. The air was fouler here, the stench of decay so thick it clung to the skin. So vile you could taste it strongly.
With a flick of his fingers, he drew the Sign of Raq in the air. A burst of wind blew open the gate with a groaning shriek giving way to the rows of bodies scattered around. Corpses once living but now beyond recognition. The courtyard was a mess of gore-blood-slick stone, bones gnawed clean, and the flayed corpses crumpled in unnatural poses.
From behind the tower ahead came a shriek. Not of fear or pain, but rage-a raw, soul-rending wail that cracked through the air like lightning. Enough to make a man lose his sanity.
It appeared before him, stepping from the shadows. Slow, bold, as a predator mocking it's prey.
"I've seen monsters with better faces"
"Ain't that charming" its' smile, wider than it was. "Mine will be the last those golden eyes will ever see"
"I've heard that tale one too many times" He muttered, unimpressed by her warning. "They were just passing through" his voice calm, his expression unreadable.
"No one threads through my forest," the creature replied, her voice layered with dozens of others, male and female, young and old. You could barely tell which for which.
He studied it. "You're immune to my gaze. Not a Specta."
No reply from the beast. Just the tilt of its head.
"Tarak?" he guessed.
Its smiled wider.
"Spharax?" This time his fingers twitched, poised to draw his sword.
A slow shake of her head. Only one more species of its kind left to be mentioned.
Casmir's hand moved to the hilt of his sword. "Then that means you can only be..."
Its tongue slid from its mouth-long, wet, and razor-edged. A Centrig.
It vanished in a gust of wind, reappearing an instant later with its hand gripping his neck. His boots left the ground. Its hold on his throat firmly kept. Its scream was a battering assault, rattling the marrow in his bones, a banshee wail that threatened to burst his eardrums.
Its grip tightened, his bones creaked. He struggled, almost gasping.
With a grunt, he summoned the Sign of Faen. Flame erupted from his palm, blue and bright, scorching its face, but not enough to kill the beast. It dropped him, howling in agony.
"Pain....pain...pain..." It screamed.
He landed on one knee, rolled, and sprang up. It charged him again, its claws outstretched.
He crossed his fingers into the Sign of Xath. A forcefield shimmered to life around him. It struck it hard, one hit and it was hurled backward by the force of the shield.
Its flesh blistered where the fire had kissed it. It screeched, now fully monstrous. Claws erupted from its fingertips. Its hair floated around its head like a halo of shadows.
It lunged again. Angry, hurt, pained.
Casmir evaded. He ducked, rolled, and grabbed his blade laid lying on the ground. He twirled, bringing it up to intercept its next swipe. Steel clanged against claw. He pivoted, blade hissing through air.
He Missed.
It countered with inhuman speed. Its claws grazed his chest, slicing the leather. Too close for comfort.
Blood ran. Not so much of it.
He hissed, twisting his body, and struck back. The blade sliced across its arm, black ichor spurting from the wound. Like any monster it bled the color of the night.
The monster laughed.
Casmir leapt, blade high. "Even now you cling to your wit. I admire your misjudgement"
Her scream hit him midair-an invisible shockwave. He tumbled backward, crashing against a stone wall.
"Curses"
He rose with a grunt. Blood dripped from his mouth. He would no longer hold back. He has had his fun for the night.
It came again-shrieking-laughter twisted by bloodlust.
"Die"
A jagged sound that pierced the stone-cold silence, echoing off the ruined walls like cruel memory returned to life.
He waited.
Motionless. Breath low. Eyes focused at the mark he was paid to kill. The air around him trembled with anticipation, thick with the stink of bad blood and rising magic.
Then-at the last breath-he ducked. Silent as a dying star.
The creature's claws tore through empty space where his throat had been a heartbeat before, whistling past like a scythe through dry wheat.
With a sharp pivot, he spun. Muscle locked, body coiled.
Momentum met steel.
The full force of his weight drove the silver blade in a wide arc-low, rising, cutting. The beast was deprived a chance to react.
The sword struck true, fast.
Its bone parted like wet wood. Its scream was cut short, severed as cleanly as its neck. He stood tall, staring at the head rolled across the blood-slick stone, eyes wide, mouth still twisted in a grotesque grin.
Its body crumpled with a thud-lifeless, twitching.
But its smile remained.
Even in its dying moment, it smiled.
Then the head twitched. Lips peeled apart. A voice hissed out, like rot from a wound.
"You think this is all life is to you, sorcerer?"
"A killer wrapped in coin"
Casmir said nothing.
He simply stood, the blade now dripping in silver-lit blood, eyes unreadable.
"Something out there waits for you, butcher. Something more."
The voice faded like smoke. Her features slackened-jaw slack, eyes dull. Truly dead now.
He looked up.
The sky, dark and endless, offered no comfort.
The moon hung full and bright.
Midnight had come.