Fairy Tale Assassin - Chapter 1

God, help me!

My lungs burned as I blindly turned down another dark alley. Groaning at the pain in my throat, I put my hand up by my neck and felt the slick wetness.

Did they stab me?

Immediately, the thought exploded, replaced by the agony that filled my shin. Clamping down with my teeth to suppress the howl inside me, I grabbed the spot on my leg that struck something in the darkness. My stumbling fall slammed me against the edge of a heavy table. I’m on my knees, winded when my hand landed on a piece of wood in the muck.

A weapon?

Instinctively, I clutched the wood shaft to lift, and it slipped away. I felt around in the muck to find the wooden shaft, which I retrieved as shouts from behind me forced me to my feet. The dusky light coming from the street showed me a tool was a foot long with a weighted curved blade at the end.

A sickle?

More shouts from another direction forced me to stumble forward.

Still, it’s a weapon!

A flicker of light coming from the partial moon shows me the barest outline as I come to the end of the building. Rounding the next corner, my body bounced off thick boards hidden in front of me. The foul smell of manure overpowered my senses. Reaching out, I discovered the fence of rough wood I ran into. The growing number of voices getting closer started to wear on me.

“Fuck!”

I don’t recognize my own voice. But before I can think about it, I heard a nearby snort. Looking over at the faint outline of a large animal hidden in the shadows, I considered going into the place as the sounds of my pursuers came closer. But the overly muscled cow moved toward me, and I backed away. A big-ass bull would kill me just as quickly as the bastards coming for me. Panic filled me when I heard someone’s voice nearby.

“Findeth yond Covan, putteth a stake through his undead heart!”

A damn Shakespeare play!

That thought vanished since I knew these bastards weren’t joking around. The anger in their wild eyes when I first encountered the growing mob almost made me pee my pants. The stake through the heart comment motivated my tiring legs.

I pushed myself away from the fence. Hurrying to the darker area behind the closest structure I can make out, I slow my pace when I could no longer see. Then, I use one end of the wooden shaft I’m holding to probe the area. Then I stepped into the darkness. While I’m catching my breath, my head turns to account for the positions of the people hunting for me. It’s hard because of my ragged breathing. Worse, the ache in my shoulder really hurts, and I felt my hands shaking. But the crowd noise and shouts faded for a moment. Looking up at the sky, I mumbled out my thoughts.

“Why won’t they give up? They’re acting as if I killed someone.”

As I thought back to my encounter, I changed my mind. The multiple pale faces I saw under their torch-lights showed fear. They acted like they think I’m a damn vampire or something.

The stench of the place was getting to me. When I moved to the end of the building, I reached a small pond, and the horrific smell caused me to vomit at once. As I backed away, my retching almost dropped me to my knees. Then I heard a shout from somewhere close.

Damn it!

I ran around the shack. I’m not sure if they saw me, but I blindly kept moving while looking for a way out of the area. As I’m stumbling around the place, I discovered small piles stacked with the carcasses of various animals. Working my way around the dead remains, my feet kept kicking around bones and rotten animal bodies. Then I fell into a pit filled with a massive pile of bones. The nausea and terror swept over me, threatening what’s left of my sanity. Finally, I pushed away from the rancid pile and got to my feet. My brain insisted the foul-smelling place was some type of rendering plant.

It’s probably why the crowd hasn’t come this way yet.

A glance back showed me two figures holding lanterns who were coming my way. The light appeared too far away for them to see me, but it allowed me to see an open area ahead of me. My aching legs pleaded with me to stop, but I kept moving forward. My breathing sounded like a freight train, which I’m sure my pursuers would hear.

Coming out into an open area of grass, I can see a dark outline in front of me. It extends from my left to right as far as I can see. Getting closer, I realize it’s a wall. A damn tall wooden wall stands in front of me.

This sucks!

Well, I’m too old to quit and too scared to give up. I told myself to just figure it out. My initial confidence quickly waned as the wall seemed to grow taller as I came to it. My heart dropped when I saw my obstacle to climbing over. Even in the dim light, I recognized the wall consisted of tall shafts of foot-wide wooden spikes. They’re stuck in the ground and extend up at least ten feet above me. A basketball player would have trouble touching the tops of the spikes even with a trampoline jump.

Who the hell has a wall around their town?

A quick glance back showed me the lanterns continued in my direction. Hurrying along, I followed the wall of spiked wood until I noticed more lanterns ahead of me. I’m trapped between the lights heading to this area. Since I’m sure this wall extended all the way around the town, I realized I had only one option. I must go up and over the top.

I fell back against the wall and sighed at my luck. Obviously, this isn’t the Earth I’m used to! Or at least not since before the Renaissance age. A town with wooden spiked walls tells me I’m in the past. Just don’t ask how I got there. My brain fed me snippets of ideas while I ran through the village. However, I also grunted out my frustration because I have only confusing questions. Logically, I want to know the reason people want to kill me. Also, I want to know where the hell I am. But first, I must live.

Looking at the mob on either side of me, I noticed the crowd seemed to grow in number. Icy fear filled me at the thought of them catching me. Mobs burned people alive during the time of fortified towns. I know that much from history. Since I can’t hide from the coming mob, I need to focus on going over the wall.

Finally, realizing I still held the sickle in my hand, an idea formed in my head. Since the end has a thick metalcurved piece that runs out from the shaft, the design might be more useful than I thought. Using my hand to inspect the bound poles dug into the ground, I realized they’re connected by a crossbeam. I used my tool to probe above me and felt for another crossbeam. Then, I sank the sickle’s metal end into the top wooden crossbeam. Pulling myself up with the weapon, I floundered around until I got my feet on the lowest beam. With one hand on the next crossbeam, pull out the sickle and slide it between the pools just below the spikes. As I got to the top, shouts erupted from below.

“Make hast, the undead escapes!”

Now, I’m sure I heard curses as well. It only made me move faster. Carefully swinging over my leg to avoid my junk getting impaled on the spike, I see the first man to reach my location. He held up his oil lantern, and I saw his ugly face filled with pockmarks. On top of his head is a three-cornered hat, and he wore a frock coat, like I remembered in those paintings from the American Revolution. The man hurriedly pulls out a sword and swings it at me. As I get my body over to the other side, I pulled the metal blade up and away.

Unfortunately, my joy was short-lived as my foot slipped on the wood piece. Before I had a chance to think about it, I fell to the ground with the metal blade still in my hand. When I landed smack on my back, I heard the air leaving my lungs.

In a stupor, the pain filled me as I couldn’t breathe. Somehow, I turned myself over. A gathering crowd on the other side of the fence struggled to climb it. Struggling to my feet, I felt like my palm was on fire. It’s also slick from blood. The weapon nearly fell from my hand. Shaking my head at my injury, I let my legs carry me away. Darkness soon covered me as I stumbled along. As the sounds of the mob faded, my lungs burned for air, but fear kept me moving.

Soon, my jog becomes a swaying trot. Finally, it turned into a wobbly walk. But ahead in the shadowed night, I saw the line of trees. When I got past the first few trees, relief filled me since the brush getting denser.

Cops with dogs would have a hard time finding me here! Wait, why would I think that?

The thoughts immediately faded as my energy dropped like a rock as I pushed through the tangle of vines and brush. Finally, I stopped and listened for my pursuers. While my ragged breathing made it hard to hear anything, no human voices came to me. As I recount my terrifying time inside the village in my head, I slid down next to the trunk of a tree. Placing the metal tool across my thighs, I leaned back against a tree trunk. My stomach grumbled in hunger while my throat begged for water.

Maybe I’ll survive now.

My mind returned to the weird things that happened. Memories came across in fragments. I know I’m not in the right place. But I don’t understand how I arrived. The strange clothing, language, and a village with no paved streets definitely showed me I’m not in—where—well, whatever place I used to call home. Strangely, I’m calmer than I expected, considering I didn’t remember my name or home.

Covan!

That’s what one of the people trying to kill me called me. But it’s not enough. I don’t carry memories of much and those images that remain don’t come from this place. That much I’m sure of.

It’s a delayed shock!

That’s what I told myself, even though my instinct screamed I’m wrong. However, the adrenaline slowly subsided. That brought back the pain from the injuries on my body. My neck and palm carry a deep ache while my legs remain wobbly. Worse, I can’t see anything around me, but there’s no way I’m building a fire. Listening to the sounds of the surrounding forest, my fear slowly faded when I finally caught my breath. Still, the villagers who wanted me dead remained too close for my comfort.

Looking up through the trees, I caught sight of a few stars. However, they didn’t look familiar. Despite that, I focus on the brightest star, which is lowest on the horizon. For some reason, a piece of memory told me to follow it so I didn’t wander in circles. Struggling, I rose from my position and started to follow the star.

Slowly, the forest sounds came to me as I pushed on. After what seemed like miles of walking, I stumbled into a clearing. Before I stepped into the open area, the scent of smoke grew. Bent over with my hands on my thighs, I struggled to remain on my feet. Realizing the smoke would probably lead to people, I debated my next steps. Finally, I noticed the faint trace of an animal path amid the starlight. Since the trail heads toward the star, I followed.

The growing scent of cooked food mixed with the smoke caused my stomach to growl again. Slowing my pace, I eventually caught the faint yellow flicker of a fire amid the dark forest around me. Quickly, I crouched down and listened. Carefully, I followed the path which led me to the fire. Eventually, I overheard muffled and indistinct voices. After halting, I moved off the path between two trees where I can partially see the campfire. Crawling along, I finally heard his voice.

“Come, my dear. Thee should eat. This meat keeps thee strength up,” a gruff voice came from the camp. “You’ll needth it for the next few nights before the full moon.”

The man’s tone gave me the creeps. Aside from the damn Shakespeare lines, his voice carries an eerie, menacing vibe.

“I’m not hungry!” a female voice replied in a near whisper.

Fear filled her tone despite the defiance. The man’s sinister chuckle came over the brush to me. Their exchange made me curious, so I decided to get a better look. After silently crawling closer, I frowned at the man’s lewd comments. Not that I have delicate ears, but this guy acts like the woman wants to hear his raunchy bullshit.

When I finally got a good view of the camp, I stopped. Even though their still several dozen paces away from me, it’s easy to observe the man who’s dressed in a green smock and brown pants. His face is angular with a heavy beard. He stared at the girl with dark, almost black eyes while he sat on a log. His expression reminds me of a wolf ready to pounce on its prey. While he munched on the leg of a cooked animal, I saw the rest of it impaled on a stick by the campfire. My hunger came back, but I prayed my stomach stayed silent. The man’s longbow and quiver filled with arrows leaned next to him. He’s probably a hunter, so I know my odds of surviving get really low if he attacked me.

As for the girl, I couldn’t see much since she had her back to me. Her red cape had the hood pushed back, and I noticed her red hair simmering in the campfire’s glow. She visibly shivered, even though it wasn’t cold. Her head kept dropping to avoid his lecherous gaze.

“Well, thee won’t consume my food. Yet, thee body breeds excitement.” The man licked his lips. “Your grandma gave thee to me until we get to the city.”

The man threw the gnawed bone in his hand as he stood with a smile. He pulled off his shirt. Thick hair, like a beast, covered his powerful upper body.

“Come, my little Red! Off yond riding hood. I’ll useth thee liketh the girls in the brothel. You know well such things!”

The statement made my jaw go slack while I watched the woman slowly stand. She reluctantly pulled her red cape off. Out of nowhere, a strange name comes to mind. I don’t know why, but I seem to know the woman.

Red Riding Hood?