Chronicles of the Penitent [fiction, part 4]

Mercy..." Thorne whispered quietly as they approached the rotting corpse, suddenly aware of the incredibly nauseating smell as they drew near.

She's only a child... Thorne realized. Her body was twisted unnaturally, her shoulders almost completely twisted around in an unnatural angle. Her stomach as torn open and her entrails feasted upon by some unknown animal. She would have been fair-skinned, but death had stolen away her beauty, leaving only the bloated, blue-green hue of a corpse.

"Dead for some time now." Gregorio spoke somberly, "Mauled by the beast, it seems. The manner of death matches the constable's description."

"No child should be doomed to die so horribly." Thorne spoke, when he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He began looking around, his eyes darting among the trees around them. The cold, insidious fog had crept up around them, rising ever so slowly, concealing the very ground they walked on.

Thorne felt his body tense as he felt the cold grip of fear strike his heart. They were vulnerable, he realized, even as the mist rose to shroud the forest in a ghostly haze making it difficult to see anything past a few meters. Gregorio seemed to feel the same way, flipping his dagger into his palm and holding it ready.

"It would seem that even nature conspires against us, friend." Gregorio spoke, breaking the oppressive silence around them.

"Get ready." Thorne warned him, even as he drew out his axe, "Something's watching."

The two stood still, with nothing but their breathing disturbing the eerie silence that surrounded them. Gregorio said a quick prayer even as he held his dagger up, weaving the tip back and forth, keeping his stance light.

Suddenly, a frenzied burst of fur and claws and teeth came from nowhere, the mist swirling with it's passing. Gregorio let out a cry of pain as he dropped to the ground, his thigh bleeding from a large claw gash.

"Gregorio!" Thorne whirled around to face the beast. It was easily the size of a horse, and vaguely wolf-like in appearance. It stood on all fours, but it's limbs ended in what looked like hands with wicked black talons rather than paws. Coarse black fur covered it's back and it's limbs, and it's face resembled a man far more than it did a wolf. Cruel rows of razor sharp teeth lined its gaping maw, it's eyes wide in sadistic anticipation of another kill, even as it circled around them with strange loping strides.

"Many, many more things to eat." it spoke, it's voice soft and pure like a child,
even as it's eyes betrayed it's malice, "Come to play with us tonight?"

-----

Joanna frowned a bit as she raised her skirt slightly, making her way through the muddy graveyard soil. Gathering herbs to make poultices and love potions were one thing, she thought, but tromping around muddy graveyards are a different thing altogether.

"The things a witch must do." She complained to her silent companion even as her footing almost failed her on a patch of mud. Kwairen only gave her a smile as he followed, his surefooted steps finding the driest path in whatever mud they crossed.

Around them, the graveyard was a somber sight. Lopsided tombstones and markers dotted the landscape, and weeds choked the life out of whatever little vegetation that grew in the place.

The two companions found their destination soon enough. It was a somber looking grave, with freshly dug earth covering the grass, and a simple tombstone marked with the name of Jonas Ervin in solid block letters.

Kwairen looked at Joanna, and stood quietly off to one side of the grave.

"Well now, Jonas." Joanna smiled, as she knelt down to take a handful of grave dirt in her hand, "time for you to wake up."

Taking the dirt in her hand, Joanna closed her eyes and sent forth her will, calling for the soul of Jonas the slain. She began to sing, her voice cold and crystal clear, resonating with the anguish of the fallen, the despair of the unavenged. Kwairen looked at her, watching the weave her magic.

Joanna's song continued as she sprinked the grave dirt over Jonas' resting place, calling him, urging his soul to rise, fanning the flames of revenge and hate, calling for him to aid them in finding his killer.

"Arise fallen one." Joanna intoned, breathless as she shaped the song into her will, feeling Jonas' spirit respond, seeking her out, fueled by the tragedy of his demise.

With a peircing wail, a shadow of a man drifted over the grave, hovering silently in place.

"Who promises me vengeance?" the shadow man's voice was distant, almost inaudible.

"I, Joanna du Winter, the Witch of Crawford." she replied, her lips in a satisfied smile.

-----

"I know this." The Confessor spoke his eyes never leaving the priest's, "Creatures like these do not strike without reason. They are borne of hate and damnation," his eyes narrowed, "Who would have reason to strike against the townsfolk? Who have you condemned with your foolish judgement?"

The priest clutched at his collar, trying to loosen the Confessor's iron grip. "I... I know nothing!" he cried.

"You lie!" the Confessor roared, his voice echoing throughout the abandoned church, "I see guilt in your eyes." he slammed the priest down into a pew, his fist squeezing the collar even tighter.

The priest's eyes were wide as the confessor looked into him, his mind flooded with an incredible burden, as if his very soul were being measured. Everything he has done, his doubts, fears, and secrets spilling forth from the chambers of his consciousness, brought forth, stripping him naked of all his pretenses, parading his weakness and his vulnerability.

The Confessor held the priest down as he watched the priest's eyes open wide in shock, his face growing pale as the Confessor employed his gift of Remorse. Tears came, unbidden, streaking down the priest's face as he stopped struggling, curling up into a fetal position, sobbing quietly.

"No more..." the priest begged, his voice wracked with sobs, "please..."

"Then tell me what I want to know."

-----

Got some action coming up in the next installment. :p I hope you guys like it! I'm surprised I've gotten this far. I expected to write a short story, but the way this is going, it might be far longer than that. :D