The Fairest Thing Chapter 21

''These are men whose minds the Dead have ravished. Memory fingers in their hair of murders, Multitudinous murders they once witnessed.''

- Mental Cases by Wilfred Owen, 1917

Chapter 21
"Johan!" Sabina cried as she made her way to him, defending herself frantically as she had been trained. "What are you doing here?" Johan answered, closing in on her, looking unmoved by the tide of battle turning, though she suspected he was hiding his concern as usual. "The Smurfs told me you needed my help, and your father's been attacked by Gerlach when Maenad was with me." "Where is Peewit?" "In the Main Hall with the Smurfs. I lost Maenad too, but I didn't see her go down." "We have to go find him," She saw fear crack Johan's stoic expression. She was growing more and more fearful herself. It was her first real battle, and she had seen more gore and violence than she ever wanted to see again, but she knew she'd have to see more, if any of them wanted to live. Johan pulled a foot soldier aside to deliver a message to Gerard to take up leadership of the villagers; his father was down and he was going to try and save him. The two raced to where Sabina had seen Edelhart fall, until the shrieks of women and children fell on their ears. The Main Hall. Johan wheeled Bayard around, then hesitated. "Johan, what about…" Johan swallowed hard, "If…if he's still alive he would want me to do this instead." And he spurred Bayard to the hall. Sabina followed. They reached the hall to see Lothar and a group of men ransacking it. No one seemed to be seriously injured, but Peewit and the Smurfs were nowhere to be seen. "Where is it? Find it you, dogs!" Peewit ran out of the hall, clutching a wooden box. "There! The imp has it, stop him! Don't let him take another step!" One of the men tackled Peewit and the other drew his sword. "No! Not again!" Bayard leapt in front of Lothar, who sneered and drew his own sword. As he fought Johan, the fallen prince called to his men. "Toss the box here, that has to be it! You'll regret the day you crossed me, boy!" An arrow pinged into Lothar's mechanized arm, but he only laughed and continued to bear down on Johan. Sabina panicked, but drew another arrow. If he would only hold still, I could get in a better shot. More soldiers with bows and weapons drawn started coming, defending their remaining leader, overwhelming the two youths. Skilled at swordplay, hand to hand fighting, and archery as they were, Johan, Peewit and Sabina were soon captured. "Keep these three alive  . I want to test this on them," Lothar said looking hungrily at the carved box in his hands, as the men bound the three and dragged them into the hall. The rest of the battle would soon be over, and there was nothing Lothar wanted more than to make his revenge a public execution. The Maenad ran until she was exhausted, deep in a wooded fen. She dumped Edelhart unceremoniously onto the ground, shifted, and looked him over. Still alive, but barely. Labored breathing, heart still beating, the smell of human sweat and blood piercing her nostrils. The werewolf propped the knight up against a large stone so that he could breathe somewhat more easily, though instinct and experience told her this was a losing battle. She examined their surroundings with with wild, frenzied eyes. A tall stump that dominated the fen shifted in her sight, sank into the centuries and became a pole, carved into the stylized likeness of a woman. One of the shrines to the gods here. "You…" she snarled, using the language the people here used to the best of her addled recollection… "You say you don't want me here to protect this place but you don't do anything to help...Secundus is dead and you don't care, you've never cared! None of you care! I destroyed this place and you never stopped me. Everything will be destroyed, the people, the wolves, the Legions, they're all dead…and you don't care!" She's gone insane…of course she has…she's a demon, trustworthy or not… Edelhart focused on Maenad to take his mind off the searing pain that came with every breath. She was ranting in a strange language and beating her fists on a dead tree. After all he had seen and done, was this really to be his last sight on Earth? A wild sow came from behind the tree and touched her snout to Maenad, who recoiled in horror. After all of the suffering you have caused, you dare call the Lady of the Fair Tears cruel? You only have a taste of what we have felt at the hands of your kind, you and the ones who came after you. Does it not wound your heart? You want revenge, don't you? As we have wanted revenge, for years upon years… It was a woman's voice, beautiful and as smooth as silk; echoing in Maenad's mind, though she knew it came from the sow. "He's going to die. Help him. Help us all," she hissed, wiping blood, filth and and tears from her eyes. I cannot help him. He has sworn his life to his God and He will not allow Me to make that decision. "No! No, no, no…" A boar appeared next to the the sow. Find a servant of The One, before he dies. Hurry. I cannot do anything for him after he is dead, either.