Immortal Part 18

            I thought the fight was almost over and I only could hope that my team had won, when suddenly I was facing a horrible, distorted leering face. His face was gray and unpleasant. His eyes glimmering with an evil desire and I could only imagine what he would do to me. My hands, somehow acted before my mind had decided what to do. With strength I wasn’t even aware I had within me, I lunged the poker right at the heart of the creature that was threatening me. I think I might have taken him by surprise because I knew he was much faster and much stronger than I was, but the fact that I had attacked him seemed to shock him. He glanced down in horror at the metal pole protruding from his chest. With an angry yell I tore the thing from out of him and in one swift movement I swung it as hard as I could and hit him squarely in the neck. He went down like a rag doll and in one more strike his head was separated from his body. I held up my poker ready for another monster to come at me.

            “Come,” I heard Quintas bark with a panic tone in his voice. But when I spun to see him he was smiling at me.

            At first I tried to run behind them, but I was quite frankly, a robust human and didn’t move as quickly as any of my companions liked. Tavian finally grabbed me and threw me over his shoulder. As I was hanging uselessly from his back I had a couple of seconds to think about what I had just done and I was deeply disturbed by it. Had I really just killed somebody? I had done it without hesitation. I had done it with precision and violence and suddenly I wanted to weep. What kind of monster was I?

            “It’s good,” I heard Quintas say after what seemed a very long time and Tavian practically dropped me. For the first time since I had seen him he was panting and winded.

            “We need rest,” Tavian said, “And besides… dawn is approaching.” He pointed at the sky and all of us looked. Sure enough the sky was getting a little bit lighter and on the edge of the horizon a sliver of yellow light could be seen. The sun would soon be basking us with all of its glory.

            “This way,” Quintas said decidedly. “It’s but a short way.”

            They walked a little faster than I was used to, but I had no trouble keeping up. Although, by the time we reached our destination I was the only one that was breathing hard. I was embarrassed but if the others noticed they didn’t say anything.

            As we approached I hesitated. The sun was coming up fast and the headstones of the graves were starting to cast long shadows upon the dew ridden grass.

            “A cemetery?”

            “We need coffins,” Tavian told me. “We need rest.”

            Quintas approached the first crypt and tore open the door. It was a family tomb, obviously, and there were nine coffins that I could see. Quintas opened the first one and the smell of death and decay hit me full force. It didn’t seem to bother him though, and he carefully, respectfully lifted the corpse from the casket and placed it in the corner. He pulled a jar of dirt from out of his bag and sprinkled it sparingly within the box before climbing in and shutting the lid.

            Zhivvah and Tavian were moving just as quickly. Before closing her own lid on the confiscated coffin, she glanced at me, “shut the tomb door and wait for us. You should be safe. If trouble does come, which, during the day I doubt it will, wake Tavian first. He’ll be the safest.”

            She hissed as a ray of sunlight came through the open doorway and shone upon her skin. She slammed the coffin lid shut and I was left standing alone in crypt with three decaying carcasses.

            Quintas had opened the heavy stone door without hardly a thought. For me, I struggled against the weight of it for a good long while before I made progress.  I never did get it all the way closed before I gave up, but unless you were looking for it, it would be hard to tell that this tomb had been disturbed.  I walked across the cemetery to a nice shady tree across the way and settled myself down against the trunk.

            It really had been very nice of Zhivvah to look for food for me, but my nose wrinkled as I pulled out the hard, crusty bread and green cheese. The cheese smelled almost as bad as the tomb had smelled but I was getting very, very hungry and forced myself to eat it. Especially considering I had no idea where my next meal was coming from.

            I wondered if I had enough guts to wander in the pursuit of some water or whether I should just stay put. For a long time I just nodded off and on in the shade of the tree, but as the sun grew higher and hotter I knew I wasn’t going to be able to go much  longer without water and the more I thought about it, the more parched and dry my throat seemed to become. I tried to distract myself. But just like a small sliver, the more you try to ignore it, the more the pain throbs and pesters you until you have no choice but to address it. I wanted water.

            My body was stiff as I tried to stand. The sun was high now. It was after noon and I had been sitting under that tree for a long time. Add to that the physical exertion I had exposed myself to even though I was unaccustomed to a lot of exercise didn’t make for a good combination.  I hobbled around in a circle until my legs were working normally again and then I threw my leather bag over my shoulder and headed towards the dirt road that ran alongside the cemetery.

            I used my poker, my murder weapon, as a walking stick and I hummed to myself as I walked. I wasn’t sure where I was going, really. I just kind of hoped I would run into the 1408 version of a gas station really soon. Maybe a well or a river. So far, I hadn’t met any people, not that I really minded. I just thought it was weird. But then I had to remind myself that in 1408 the population of the world wasn’t close to 7 billion.  It was maybe somewhere around 500 million. Most towns and villages would be small and sparsely populated. It would, I realized, be small and cozy. Everybody would know each other and I would be a complete stranger. I would be looked upon with suspicion. Then I realized my clothes were going to be very out of place as well. In 1408 women probably didn’t walk around wearing blue jeans, a pink T-shirt or white tennis shoes.  I found myself regretting the decision to leave the cemetery but I also knew I really need water. I told myself I would walk just a little bit more before turning back.

            I wasn’t afraid of running in a vampire or anything like that but I became more and more paranoid about chancing upon a regular inhabitant that would warn all their friends and neighbors about the odd stranger that had invaded their little town. Would they declare me a witch? Would they decide immediately that I was of the devil? Instinctively I finally veered off of the road and took to the trees which lined the road. My footsteps were still irritatingly loud, but at least I wasn’t parading down the middle of the street. I cringed each time I stepped on a leaf or stick, like an alarm alerting anybody within earshot that I was there.