X. Saga Hwaet ic Hatte?- iii.

Sensing the presence of a formidable opponent, one experienced and attuned to the ways of the wise, the demon of the charming New England village continued to sound in a language familiar to those who had first discovered another haunt long ago. "Gumena to gyme, Ic ful gearwe wearp, Hwa min fromcynn, Eall  of earde!" The snow began to sink in degrees; the waters not being absorbed nor rising as in a sudden flood but instantaneously heated into a rising vapor by an intense heat then dissipating as a sour, stench of decomposing mist near the ground, revealing the surrounding trees of the hilltop as well as the fate of those who had proceeded before them. Standing dead on their feet, it was as if their corpses were still alive. Their brittle bones shattered, most of them soon collapsed to the ground but several whose eyes were of ice had kept themselves alive by feasting on the flesh of those who had died beneath the drifts. These were no mere Zombies! These agile ghouls leapt swiftly on the two adventures. Two of them threw the guide from the open horse drawn carriage. Prim evaded the grasp of another. In accordance with an ancient medieval rhyme, an infinite multitude of cannibalistic sparrows descended from the sky pecking and shredding and tearing away bloody chunks with their ravenous beaks, devouring the ghouls to their bones. Savoring the mortal's challenge, the demon intervened. "Ac ic mipan sceal, Degolfulne dom, Siofaet minne, Saga hwaet ic Hatte?"  The guide remained on the ground, his mind insensate to everything happening around him. Familiar with the language of an arcane book, Prim answered the riddle. Heretofore invisible; therefore, wingless, having flown once through the heavens, now earthbound and unable to rise or descend again, the powerful and immortal demonic ghost momentarily took form in a translucent, hexagonal swarm of icy air. This was the only instance that the elucidator of the eerie could recall having recorded in his eldritch notebooks of an otherworldly demonic ghost being banished altogether entirely from the material realm of existence.


©2018 by L.P. Van Ness. All rights reserved.


Note The introduction of  "Ghosts of de le Sang" and parts I-X  [ genre: eerie fiction ] were published on this blogspot in October of 2018 and will be revised for print and include parts XI, Xll and the dénouement at a latter date.