Deathspell (Peter W. Dawes) - Peter Dawes Page 0,2

into action. He composed himself enough to hobble to the other side of the room, reaching for a chair and sliding it back to barricade the door.

I blinked, bewildered. “Father, what are you doing?”

“We haven’t the time for me to explain, Christian. We need to get you out of here.”

“I don’t understand.”

My father ignored me, shuffling to the trunk yet half unpacked. He plucked a linen bag out from inside before he started tossing the remainder of its contents onto the bed. “I want you to get to your brother’s house. Do you hear me? Run as fast as you can and tell him what happened. He’ll keep you safe.”

“What about you?”

My question went unanswered. A change of clothing, length of rope, and my good cloak found their way into the bag before he moved onto the next trunk. I furrowed my brow as he swung it open – it was my father’s personal belongings and while he always demanded to keep the trunk with him, he very rarely unpacked it. I fumbled for words while he pulled out a cylindrical case made of bronze, encrusted with gemstones.

He slid it into the sack and tightened the strings to shut it. “Take this,” he said.

“Take –” I jumped as the sound of an adjacent door being kicked in sounded down the hall. My father tossed the bag at me and reached back into the trunk, pulling out a sheathed sword. Another banging noise echoed, this one making even my father startle. He closed the distance between us and reached around my waist, securing the sword into place. I shook my head the moment he pulled away. “Father, please tell me what’s happening.”

“I can’t, son.” The noises were coming closer. The look in my father’s eyes turned deadly serious. He clutched me by my shoulders, leaning close to place a kiss on my forehead before pulling away. “Run. Hide. Sleep in the trees and tie yourself to a branch if you have to. Find your brother, but make sure you’re not followed.”

Tears stung at my eyes. “Father, please, I don’t understand. Some man hurt Old John and now you’re –”

“Yes, I know. I’m not making any sense. We all have a past, my son. One day you’ll understand this.” Our eyes met and in the two beats which passed, an expression crossed my father’s face I’d never seen before. His hand drifted to a simple gold chain he’d worn around his neck for as long as I could remember, a medallion hanging from it which bore an interlinking series of triangles engraved on a small oval. Before another thought could be spared, he lifted it over his head and secured it around my neck. “Don’t ever take this off. It’ll keep you safe.”

I shook my head, fighting a losing battle against the urge to shed more tears. “Please, don’t make me leave you.”

A final banging noise directed both of our attentions away. The footsteps sounded close to the room and then stopped, forcing a moment of tense silence my father finally broke. His Adam’s apple bobbed when he swallowed and a wheeze accompanied the next breath he exhaled. “Out the window with you right now. I demand it,” he said, twisting me around by my shoulder. I faced the window, still clutching dumbly onto the bag given to me by my father and stumbling forward once he gave me a push.

My fingers fumbled with the latch for the window shutters. They kicked open once their tether was loosened, a strong gust of wind entering the room and extinguishing two of the candles which had kept the area lit only seconds before. The night looked pitch black with neither a star, nor the moon visible in the horizon and yet, he expected me to be able to find my way out of the village. I glanced back at him, pleading with my eyes.

His mouth opened, but a loud bang at the door interrupted him. We both jumped, and Father coughed with vigor as the chair flew forward and the taller of the cloaked men emerged into the room. His lips curled in the unholiest of grins when his eyes and my father’s met, his voice bearing an accent I didn’t recognize. “There you are,” he said. “You’ve been a hard man to find, Richard.”

“You would’ve done well not to try,” my father said as the strange man closed the distance between them. The light which Father’s recent illness had stolen returned to his