Dwarfs and Dragons: Chapter 3

“Pfeiffer?”

At the sound of his fathers’ voice, Rael sucked in his breath and leaned hard into the side of the great hut.

“Yes, sir, that’s the name my parents gave me.”

“Do you go by anything else?”

“Most people just call me hey you, or sheepherder… I prefer Pfeiff.”

“Well then Pfeiff, let’s get to point I don’t want to keep you from getting a well deserved night of rest.”

“Thank you sir, but I don’t know where to start.” The boy confessed. The crackling fire consumed the quiet that followed as it came to life.

Rael looked to the stars. Following them over the horizon to the low dancing moon, it was nearly the deepest hour of the night before it gave way to morning. He hadn’t been awake this late in his whole life, it was invigorating but he caught a case of the yawns each time the conversation lulled.

Rael’s shoulders relaxed and fell easily into the wall. He felt sure he’d complied with his fathers’ order, right up to the moment he’d tucked and rolled at the base of his windowsill he was certain, now the shadow of doubt crept in.

After convincing Ezekiel he could do what he’d done every other night in his fathers’ absence. His father’s arrival home didn’t suddenly make him less able to manage on his own. Seeing the wisdom in Rael’s reasoning the elder conceded quite easily. Truth be told he much preferred his quiet alone time.

Rael had even gone to bed with the intention of trying to wait for his father to return, but after tossing and turning for what felt like an eternity, he’d followed the call to spend time with his father at all costs, even if the time was stolen…

He’d riggled his way through the window with a clear conscience and took off toward the main hut under the cover of darkness. His father had been missing for… too long.

Nothing, especially not a sheepherder, will keep me away.

…

“I see,” Darius was saying. “Well, would it help to start somewhere unrelated? Start with any detail about the time surrounding the anomaly? What seems most important to you now? Think on those kinds of things maybe…”

Rael pressed his ear back to the thatched wall.

“Well,” Pfeiffer’s voice shuttered, “I… sir I.”

“Call me Darius for now.”

Call me Darius?… Rael’s temples sizzled, his eyes turned to slits sizzling into the distance. He pushed deeper into the thatch and waited for the response. His mouth almost watered with anticipation.

The fire crackled and popped as though it felt the same way. Impatient for more.

“Well, sir, Darius I don’t know how to tell you what I’ve seen because I don’t have anything to compare it to. I’ve tried to think of better ways to describe it to the village folk but as soon as I open my mouth, words fail me and they laugh me to the side. Mostly, they’ve accused me of making up a story because I’d fallen asleep and lost sheep to the wolves…” He mumbled into silence and heaved a heavy sigh. “They don’t know that those sheep are like friends to me. They are my company most days. They listen to the music I make when I’m bored, they play tag and hide and seek with me when they are.” Pfeiff heaved a heavy sigh.

“I guess I’m tired of trying to explain things only to be called a liar or get laughed at and brushed off. The Boy who sounded the alarm over nothing... They’ve even accused me of making up the story because I want attention, as a village orphan and all. I even tried to convince myself that maybe they were right and I’d only had a nightmare about the monster I witnessed, but it came out of nowhere, and I know what I saw.”

“You know Pfeiff, Part of being a quality leader is building up that discernment. I know it comes at a cost, and it isn’t always easy but you seem well on your way. I imagine maintaining the herd is a lot like watching over a village. As much as the adversary might burn you at the moment, but just remember, that group pointing and laughing depends on you and your service more than they realize, they would have had to move around more often without you maintaining that post so diligently. You handled yourself with dignity Pfeiffer, which shows you have the makings of any great leader we’ve known. Those naysayers and talebearers will look back at their conduct eventually and believe me, they won’t like what they see. Bear it out.”

Rael’s cheeks burned in spite of the cold, wet breeze blowing through. A ping of shame and embarrassment struck him between the shoulders. He’d joined in on the jokes about the simpleton shepherd with too much time on his hands, alone in the field making up stories to cover his backside. The boy who cried wolf. It had a ring to it… The burn deepened as the image panned out to show his father standing behind the scenes, watching his boy jeering, his face full of disappointment.

In the end, hearing Pfeiff’s plight left Rael feeling poorly over a series of previous choices to join in with the crowd and poke fun without gathering the details. He didn’t like to feel as if he were in the wrong, which made him like Pfeiffer even less.

His father was right… it wasn’t pleasant to see himself from the other side.

The voices beyond the wall grew crisp as he crawled beneath the first window ledge.

“Well, I can’t help you given what I know now, which is next to nothing. You hold the missing pieces I don’t have yet, Pfeiff. I want to know what you saw, it’s okay to take your time, but assume I want to hear what you have to say, forget all the others. Tell me whatever you remember first.”

“Okay, well I have to start at the beginning of the day then.”

“Today?”

“No, the day the sheep were taken.”

“Alright, I understand, please continue, I won’t interrupt again.” Darius conceded.

Rael’s hand came down hard on a thistle. He grimaced and was doing his best not to make any noise. It seemed every move came with a new obstacle. First the raised roots, then the steep decline underfoot when he’d least expected. Now this thorny thing... He bit down on his lip and tore the injured hand away from the ground, shaking it into the cold. He limped along, determined to get to the far side of the great hut without being detected.

How could they expect him to sit back and wait? He should have been the first to spend time with his long-lost father! It was only fair. He pictured Ezekiel shaking a finger at him. Life isn’t about fairness boy, it’s mostly about more important bigger things packed into a bunch of smaller choices that lead to movement, or shifts in some way that brings fairness along with. It was strange how often the wise man’s words seemed to become more applicable overtime.

Fair or not, why should he be the last one to spend time with his own father? He was his son, didn’t that mean anything?

Why didn’t anyone seem to care what he wanted? Why did the stupid Sheepherder suddenly matter so much? Was Rael the only one who remembered him being the laughing stock? Everyone else was so onboard with his story being made up lore until Darius had mentioned far away places full of unimaginable things… Now suddenly, the fear that had been pinned on wolves, and rightfully so, Rael thought to himself. Suddenly, it was opened up like a basket of vipers. One mention of leaving the valley and traveling into the unknown and suddenly everyone is listening to the village idiot?

Rael became distracted, his eyes drifted over the silhouette of the woodline. Maybe there were things no one could explain out there. And so what?

Maybe Pfeiffer was about to mess up his story and reveal the truth to his father. Rael smirked into the darkness, light shadows from the fire poured in and danced around him. Maybe the only one who had taken the sheepherder seriously was his father, because he hadn’t heard the rubbish that came out of him. Now he was going to embarrass himself in front of his only alley. Darius was a good man, he wasn’t a fool so he would see right through a false story. Rael cozied into his new found position. His ears perked as Pfeiffers voice broke the silence.

“I hadn’t eaten that day.” Pfeiffer’s tale pierced through the soft serenade of crickets. The symphony of the droning cicadas swam uphill, following the current of the wind from somewhere in the valley below. It was peaceful, like a lullaby, sadly, exactly the tone Rael didn’t need. He nearly drifted off.

The scent of fresh pine drifted over the cool air. It was pleasant and took the edge off the dew gathering over everything. A sparkling blanket came to rest over the valley. The droplets danced and glittered like frozen fireflies. Again, Rael drifted into comfort, his eyes slowly closing the blinds as he fell into a light sleep.

A spike in Pfeiffers’ tone jolted him back. He came too with a start and diligently placed his ear to the outside wall. “I didn’t notice I was hungry until after I’d already taken the sheep down to the grazing fields. It was about midmorning, so I didn’t have any worry over any of them wandering into the trees. They never row far and I knew it would only take me a short treasure to skip up and snag some bread out of the storage and cooking caboo.” Pfeiffer rambled so fast Rael had to stop crawling some of the words didn’t seem to fit. He press his ear to the thatch and listen hard to catch the overflow of words. “I crawled into the baking kitchen through the window, I don’t do that often and I won’t ever do it again, but I hadn’t eaten all day and I didn’t want to shirk my duties and become lazy because I didn’t have the energy to tend the flock. So, I’d stuffed a loaf of day old bread into my satchel along with an apple and was working on wrapping a juicy peach into a cloth rag, when I heard voices.”

“What kind of voices?” Darius broke in.

“Oh, just, the women who’d been baking the morning haul I would guess.”

“Ah, I see,” Darius sounded disappointed. Rael raced over the final stretch, bent low to the ground, and slid into place beneath the large window facing the meadow below. The fireplace Darius had decided to use was right at the other side of the open pane. Rael knew the layout by heart. He had a pretty solid idea of which areas of the great hall were the most favored during the past cold season while hiding out and listened to town meetings. In his fathers’ absence, it had been the only way for him to gather information. People had treated him differently since Darius had disappeared. But they never suspected an eavesdropper, and they never checked. And because of that, Rael knew everything they talked about. Most of it was boring, meaningless, and now false since his father had returned unharmed.

“Go on.” The leader prompted. Rael breathed a sigh of relief, the voice was loud, and clear through the opening. Much better.

“At first, I couldn’t leave because I was afraid they would hear me, and then once they started talking I didn’t want to go because I’d never heard about the thing they were talking about.”

It was wordy, but Rael got the gist. He had heard the village people talk about a lot of things, especially after Darius had gone away. They were always whispering and shaking their heads in his direction. He’d gotten upset more than a few times about it, all of them acting as if his father was dead before finding proof of it… He zoned out and came too with a shake, realizing he might miss an important piece of the story.

“They were whispering about a foul smell that had been haunting the banks of the wash stream at different times of the day. Sometimes around midday, others right as dusk was taking over the horizon. They sounded unsure. You know how they talk sometimes, I have heard them say a lot of things that ended up not being the way they said it. But the idea of such a horrid smell got me thinking, wondering what could have caused such a disturbance. By about midday I found myself wandering with the herd closer and closer to the treeline leading to the wash banks. I didn’t want to be far off in anyone needed assistance.”

“That was noble of you boy. Good, good.” Darius inserted.

“Well, thanks, but it’s not the end of the story yet,” Pfeiffer mumbled before continuing in an even tone. “I can remember the moment the wind shifted. I’d chased one of the yearlings to the edge of the trees. When I stopped running, I noticed it was hard to breathe, the air had changed. There’d been a steady breeze one moment, then the next, nothing. It was sticky and feverish for a moment before a stale cold wind, thick as stew poured in. It was… I don’t know how to say what it was like, but it felt like being in the dark and knowing something is watching from somewhere you can’t see, but you can tell they see you because the little hairs on your neck are pricking up… Sir, I mean, Darius, have you experienced this?”

“Yes…” Darius drew out his answer. “Yes, I think I might know the feeling you speak of but I want to hear your take. Please continue as if I’ve never.”

The leader paused before finishing with, “Pfeiff, I have to imagine you know how fire works in your line of service, if you are chilled, make use of the hearth.”

“I’m not cold!” The boy assured him.

“You’re shivering,” Darius drawled. “You can move closer to the fire if you’d like, just scoot your stool where you want it boy, don’t be shy about it that’s what the fire is for.”

“Thank you, I will. So, I waited at the tree line and all at once, what one of the baking ladies said came to life for me. It smelled like death. Like if I was to imagine something dead, the smell I smelt that day would be what came to mind. It was the worst smell I’ve ever smelled.”

“That sounds awful indeed. Did you find the source?”

“No, it found me and the flock before I ever saw it. I had the lamb in my arms and I was taking it to join with the others and lead them closer to the village, up the knoll a ways, just to be safe. It was strange what happened next. The whole valley got darker, the sun was out one moment and the next it was almost as if the shadow of a cloud consumed it, I hadn’t seen any clouds but it was possible that maybe I’d missed them over the canopy of the woods.” The sound of wood scratching over wood filled the space, Pfeiff must have taken Darius up on his offer to move closer to the fire. Rael nodded in agreement with the inkling.

“Well I looked around and there were clouds alright, they moved in so fast it didn’t seem possible to me. But once they’d descended on the valley, it was like, they stayed put and didn’t move at all. I decided I should take the sheep back to shelter until the storm passed over but then something else caught my attention. The wind was dead, it felt stale, like old bread left in the sun too long. It was thick and hard to breathe it.”

Rael held himself from peaking over the window ledge. He wanted so badly to see Pfeiff’s face. He couldn’t picture the expression that might go along with the tone.

“Something that sounded like thunder rumbled around the forest but the sound…”

“Something sounding like thunder? What do you mean by that?” Darius sounded puzzled. Again Rael fought the urge to peep over the edge for a look. His legs danced with anticipation. He was already pushing his luck.

“I mean, it sounded like it was coming from the forest, not from the clouds, and besides, there’d been no lightening. Actually, now that I’m thinking about it, or, talking about it I guess. I… well, I am almost sure the cloud covering grew darker each time the sound reached around me, like, the opposite of lightning. The sheep noticed it too. Especially the younger lambs and the oldest rams and ewe’s in the flock, They would start to cry out and run into each other trying to escape from something none of us could see.”

The fire cracked and popped around them for a moment, the crickets poured comfort in around them.

Pfeiffer sighed. “I smelt the smell the women had spoken of. I felt sorry for doubting them, it was as bad as the time we found that dead calf out in the sun. The one the buzzards had eaten their fill of for at least a hand full of days, maybe two.” Rael wrinkled his nose into the dark. Even the thought of the smell was offensive. He pictured the bald-headed scavengers gliding in slow circles and shivered the fresh breeze seizing his senses. Nothing but pine and pasture land. The sweetgrass full of blossoms and little critters had a scent of its own. Rael couldn’t imagine it smelling any differently than it did at this moment. It smelt like home.

“Anyway, then I heard a raddling sound. It sounded like the bone necklaces Ivory used to make so we wouldn’t waste any piece of the animals we ate… It sounded like that but it was more, rigid and cracking. Like if I was moving or walking like this.” Feet thumped to the ground and creaked over the wooden floor. “But if each time I moved my bones popped in and out and rubbed against each other. Does that make sense Darius, sir?”

“It makes perfect sense and sounds perfectly awful. You were out there on your own?”

“I’m always out there on my own sir, Darius I mean.”

“Are you ever afraid?”

“Well, no, I’m not ever really alone, I never really felt that way about it. I have the animals, and the trees are almost alive when the wind is running its fingers through them. It’s almost as if I can’t tell the difference between their sounds and that of the river running through it. There is always so much going on in the valley and woodline. There are some rabbits, a family of them I’ve watched from the time they were babies until the next season when they are full-grown with babies of their own. They are friendly, they don’t seem to wonder about me and the sheep much they will wander right between the older ewes legs for blossoms if they are ripe enough.” The boy chuckled, he talked easily about the valley, as if he and its contents were good friends. Rael felt a prick of envy run through him.

“That’s good, that’s very wise of you, you are a brave boy Pfeiffer. Your parents would be proud of you, I imagine both of them are looking out at you full of joy and appreciation for the help you are to this village. I know I am, I am grateful for you stepping forward and telling me what I couldn’t know without your assistance, so please detail carefully what happened next, did you see the creature that was the root of these awful things?”

“I did.”

“Can you tell me what it was like? Where did the sounds and smells it unleash, where did they appear to come from? The clouds you mentioned, were they smoke? Or did they carry rain?”

“I can’t be sure if they carried rain, I didn’t feel any drops but they lingered and built like clouds, not smoke.”

“Very well. And the beast, tell me anything that you can think of over its appearance?”

“Well, I was herding the sheep to the side of the valley closest to the village and just when we came to the lowest point in the valley before it started to climb, I heard this, screech, like the mixture of the cry of a coyote and the scream of a cougar.”

Rael had only ever heard these sounds once or twice, and always from the safety of his home. They always seemed far off. He pictured Pfeiffer alone in the field with nothing but his stick, suddenly three sheep lost seemed like nothing. The shepherd was brave, he’d give him that.

Rael snuggled in closer to the wall. He pressed his ear to the barrier and closed his eyes as the story unfolded.

“This shadow, swallowed up everything around me. It came with a sense of doom. Like, the fight was already over before I even knew one really existed. I think the experience engulfed me first, stopped me in my tracks for a moment. Then the sheep followed suit and stopped, frozen up and uncertain which direction to run. All at once they started spinning in their tracks, it was chaos, they were running into each other, and then freezing up, and starting over. I couldn’t keep them calm, I kept calling and woahing them. But they started to bump around and scatter. So I picked up one of the new lambs and shoved my way to the front while it bleated and got their attention. They started to calm and follow after but I can tell you my heart was beating a mile a minute, I had a hard time climbing the side of the hill with that little thing over my shoulders. But the flock was filing in along behind me. I decided I made up the shadow because there was nothing in the sky above us outside of the clouds that had been there. I was halfway up the hillside when the screech came again and I saw the trees just behind us shaking like they were grass in a heavy windstorm.”

Rael’s eyes shot open, the picture forming in his mind gave him chills. He blinked into the dark, trying to see through to the forest tree-line beyond it. The entire thing was a shadow, it added to the idea racing through him. That’s the forest he is talking about… it’s right here… what if what he is describing is still there?

He gulped and pressed his ear back to the wall.

“I felt, fear, just, pure fear. I’ve never felt that before, I usually spend warm summer nights out in the valley under the stars, the sheep love it, I think it’s more pleasant than trying to eat under the midday sun. That way they could stay in the cool huts when the sun got the hottest. It never made me nervous. I knew whatever was out there was more afraid of me than I was it. That’s something my father used to tell me. I always felt like I was out with him, tending to the fold. Keeping the town alive in a way. He was a real hero to me. I could have really used him that day.” Pfeiff sniffled.

“I, felt like he’d left me there, I felt alone for the first time sir, Darius. I felt small. I felt like I was defenseless. It made me feel like one of the sheep. I started to trip over my feet and I let the lamb fall into the grass. When I spun around to push myself off the ground I froze. There was a shadow, that was darker than a shadow. At first, it blended with the treeline but the longer I looked the more it clashed. It was bluer than it was black. There were piercing wounds in its flesh that were bright red like it had been in such a hurry to reach us it had thrown caution to the wind and torn its loose skin on sharp branches and thick brambles. The figure was skeleton thin but when it rose from all fours to standing on its hind-legs, it was as tall as the poplars around it.”

Pfeiffer’s voice faltered.

“I know it’s hard to believe, but I wasn’t sleeping and what I saw was like no wolf I’ve ever seen. In fact, there didn’t appear to be any fur on its body. It was skin and bone, and when it went down onto all fours again it was almost more terrifying, its hind legs sat higher than its front half so his head and neck sat in an odd way on the frame. What appeared to be arms, crawled out in front like little feelers on a wolf spider. Its eyes were so dark, darker than dark. So dark they radiated an angry black like it was light but the opposite, radiant darkness I’d have to say, that’s the first time I’ve thought of that!” Pfeiff was clearly excited over the new detail. “They were hollow almost like they went on forever.”

The sound of the stool legs dragging over the wood floor and onto the stone hearth broke in. Once it had settled and grown quiet Pfeiff started again.

“It was so cold, I felt cold on the inside like my insides had frostbite. It was biting cold, I can’t explain. Every nightmare, every scary thought, every imagination of something in the dark I couldn’t see stalking me seemed to resurface and surge in at once… All of those poured into me as if I’d been an empty bowl until they all tumbled in and sloshed around. If I am completely honest, and please don’t repeat this part, but I lost control and wet myself… That hasn’t happened since I was a small lad. Right after my parents… you know… Well, I felt like curling up in a ball on the ground and just giving up. It was over. But then I heard the little lamb I’d dropped crying out just up the hill from me and I realized, as small and helpless as I might have been, they were that much smaller and more helpless by quite a lot, there isn’t much you can do with hoof and dull teeth for chewing grass…”

Rael found himself nodding along it made perfect sense, in spite of himself he was liking the boy more and more as the story unfolded.

“So I lifted myself up, snatched the little guy, and started running toward the village hoping that the sheep would follow after, and most of them did. I looked back as I reached the edge of the low outer wall, only to find five of the sheep were stupefied. They were just sitting frozen on the hillside, eyes stuck to the shadow that was moving unnaturally from the tree line into the tall grass. I tossed the lamb over the wall and slapped the hindquarter of the first three who’d crowded in and become confused at the barrier. They needed a little bit of prodding but in the end, they leaped over after the lamb, following its cries while trying to get away from what struck them. As soon as they disappeared over the other side the others followed suit until the last of them were taking the leap.”

Pfeiffer took a deep breath. The chair scraped and bounced unevenly over the rock hearth.

“Careful there, boy, there’s such a thing as too close, don’t get yourself burnt or covered in soot…”

“Oh, sorry, thank you, sir.” The chair stopped moving. “So, at that point, I turned back. The midnight-skinned stalker was circling the remaining sheep. But it wasn’t in a hurry. It almost seemed to be trying to rustle them up and scare them more. I only made it to the first one before it let out a final screech. The wind started swirling in gusts, it was so strong it threatened to sweep me off my feet more than once. I struck the first one on its rump with my herding staff as I rushed past, toward the next one stiff in its tracks. It was like they came back to life from a complete freeze as I came into contact with them. The first cried out and ran faster than any sheep I’ve ever seen toward the wall and cleared it without stopping or slowing its pace. Sir, I turned back to find the monster not a stone’s throw from me staring straight into me. I could almost hear it taunting me, teasing me, testing me to try and outrun it. It felt like it wanted me to run. But I stood my ground. I thought of my parents, how they would have acted. I wasn’t just protecting the sheep anymore I’d jumped in front of them waving my staff. Sir, Darius, this thing was determined and focused on me I don’t know what I was thinking. I just knew I couldn’t stop or back down.”

It sniffed the air between us. It made me sick, the sound of it. I had been so scared at first I hadn’t noticed how strange its form was. The back legs were longer than the front, and they snapped from one position to the next as if their bones were grinding against each other beneath the loose hanging skin. When it stood on its hind legs, the looseness was gone, it had razor-sharp talons. They ended in sharpened tips, and while it sniffed above my head, its long fingers felt around and clawed and chopped at the air.”

Rael pulled in as close to the wall as he could. His fathers’ footsteps approached the open window, his shadow fell over and filled the center of the pane of light.

“I slapped the next Sheep on the rump and it reacted the same as the first. The creature let out a growl and took a step forward. I wanted to cry sir if I’m honest, but instead, I let out a roar and took a step forward, somehow, I just knew if I showed any fear or unsureness it would swoop in at me. So I screamed at it and lifted my arms in the air it was almost like a battle cry. The creature screeched too and the sheep still remaining seemed to shiver and run straight toward the beast. It was like they were under its power somehow they followed after and disappeared into the treeline… I couldn’t do anything to save them!”

“It’s okay that you wanted to cry Pfeiffer, that just shows what bravery you hold inside you, you’re actions were honorable.”

“You believe me right? I couldn’t make this up Master Darius.” Pfeiff ended in a mumble.

“I believe you,” Darius turned, his shadow receded from the window. “I am going to tell you a secret. You can’t tell a soul what I’m about to tell you.”

“I won’t.” Pfeiffer eagerly replied. Rael turned green beneath the window ledge. He exhaled and frowned into the darkness, even a new breath and good story couldn’t stave away the jealousy he felt over his father telling someone else, a shephard boy no less, secrets.

“When I went over the mountain with the hunting party, we saw things I didn’t think anyone here would understand but something tells me you’ve seen something equally as jarring on the other side of the spectrum. What you saw, sounds as though it were full of dark, what I saw, was pure light. Life and abundance, enough for everyone in our village to live wonderfully off of until, forever…

Rael’s ears perked. The wispiness of his fathers voice caught him up.

“I can’t even imagine what that might look like,” Pfeiffer’s voice was as heavy as the air he’d described.

“I think it might be time for you to step from the duties you’ve held for so long. We will find someone new to tend to the flock for a while. What you’ve been through would be a struggle for a grown man, you are but a youth. You need to experience a change in scenery I think. Yes!” Darius sounded excited. “That’s it. We will find this thing boy. And you will help!”

“Sir?” Pfeiffer questioned. “I’m not sure I understand what you’re saying?”

There was a tremor in his voice Rael hadn’t noticed before.

Either way, he’d heard enough… Here he was sneaking around for time with his long-lost father only to find the village errand boy had his full attention and confidence! He huffed quietly into the night air, looking out into the distance. At the moment his annoyance peaked something in the distance caught his eye.

What’s this?

The voices droned into the background as two golden orbs resurfaced and quickly disappeared into the quiet night.

Rael rubbed his eyes, pushing the disbelieve away for a moment. Long enough to imagine the outline of something as tall as the trees. Oh no, you don’t. He pulled a fist-sized rock into his hand and crawled away from the window. Not on my watch. The boy threatened as he trotted to the forest line.

To Be Continued…