Robin Teegarden

ENGL 205

3/5/16

Audrey Gradzewicz

Monsters in the Dark

Marlow’s sword hacked into the stone statue. It may look like an angel, but this monster

had taken 30 of his men already. His eyes burned as he stepped back to survey the three

beheaded statues, their shoulders scraping the red-brown stones of the ally walls. They were

reaching blindly forward now. He blinked for the first time in three minutes, and when he opened

his eyes again, the bodies of the angels were collapsed on the ground, then they disintegrated into

dust as he watched. He closed his eyes and cycled through the visual orbs in his mind. These

were the last ones that had made it to the surface. He knew that these angels would be back, but

it would take them some time to get back.

He sighed, and replaced his sword in its scabbard. Turning he walked back to the

entrance of the alley, grabbing another sword and a halberd, sheathing the former and leaning the

latter on his shoulder. At the entrance he sighed, took a breath, and drove the butt of the halberd

into the cobble stones of the alley entrance and bowed his head in thanks in front of the weapon.

“You sacrificed yourself to keep this city peaceful, thank you.”

1
 Marlow sighed again, and turned to walk back to his house, head bowed. He trudged

through the cobbled back streets, avoiding the crowds, for they would make him feel like he had

failed more people. He had closed the door that they had opened, and banished the last ones to

their plane, but he had lost many of the people who had followed him in that campaign.

How was he going to tell the families?

Marlow’s clenched fist slammed into the stone wall beside him. “Why. . .” Why was I not

prepared? How could I be prepared? He looked around. no one was in the deserted back streets

at this time of day. Why would they be, especially on a day as bright and lovely as today.

* * *
Marlow woke to hot breath over his bed. “Good Morning, Kyloth.” He said without

opening his eyes.

“I know you want to sleep, but today you are working with the specialized units.” The

voice rumbled, shaking the bed and the room. Marlow opened his eyes and looked at the gigantic

dragon head, lying beside his bed, its golden scales glinting in the morning sunlight from the

open wall, and the emerald cat’s eye looking at him. Across the room a wood door led deeper

into the house.

A soft purr from his other side made him grin. “And good morning to you too, Keselth.”

He reached down and lifted the small dragon into his lap as he sat up. After a few minutes he

started to get ready for the day. Stepping behind a screen, he opened a drawer in a large dresser,

pulling out small cloths, a tunic and trousers, and putting them on. All were varying shades of

2
brown. Stepping out he looking into the small mirror on the wall. His black hair hung straight

down just past his shoulders. Taking a leather strap, he tied his hair up into a ponytail.

“Finally ready, Master Marlow?” Kyloth asked.

“Yes, let us get going.”

Kyloth withdrew her head from the side of his room and Marlow followed her out. When

he got outside, Kyloth extended a leg and he walked up and onto her broad back, up her neck,

and onto the top of her head. Settling himself between her horns he patted her horns. “Let’s get

going.”

She spread her wings and launched herself into the air. Circling the massive house once,

she flew out over the city. Marlow looked down at the city, the red stone that it was made of

glowed in the mid-morning sun. Kyloth weaved between spires, and people looked up and waved

as she passed overhead. They knew that Marlow was riding on her back, and he stood up and

waved back and the people cheered. He was known to be kind, just, and fair, and he did not stand

on formality when the situation did not call for it.

They flew to the north side of the city, and landed on a huge tract of hard packed dirt. A

few meters away a dust cloud rose high into the air. Inside was a mass of moving bodies, horns,

hooves, and other extremities. Marlow jumped from Kyloth’s head and moved into the heaving

mass of bodies. A giant spiders leg shot past his face, followed closely in the opposite direction

with a huge hairy fist. The dust was so thick that he could not see 5 feet in front of him. He

grinned. “Now this is practice”

3
 He ran forward, jumping over a flying tail, and sliding under a horse’s body. Turning

sideways he avoided a set of talons. A hoof grazed his back as he rolled between two fighting

bodies. Shouts muffled by the dust filtered through to him as he dodged another giant fist. He

leaped and cartwheeled over a creature with a human upper half and a snake’s tail. In the air he

got to a thinner part of the dust cloud he could see some shapes around him, the hulking form of

Minotaur, the long snake bodies of Lamia, centaurs rearing and kicking, Harpies lashing out with

wing and claw, and the half spider, half human Arachne. Marlow knew that there were many

more than he couldn’t see.

It’s about time to bring this session to order, he thought. Landing, he dodged around some

hindquarters, over a lashing snake tail, and under another fist. Judging that he had reached about

the center of the melee, he covered his mouth with a piece of cloth, and rocked back on his heels

to avoid a stabbing spider leg. Taking in a deep breath he shouted “LINE UP.” The melee lulled

for just a second as every ear heard the shout.

Suddenly bodies were no longer fighting, but hurrying to line up in orderly rows and

columns. Marlow saw a passing Arachne and vaulted onto his back as he passed. “You were

fighting well, Ardeth.” Ardeth glanced over his shoulder to see why he had gained a weight and

who was speaking.

“Thank you, Lord Marlow.”

Marlow dropped to the ground as Ardeth came to a stop in the middle of the rank of

Arachne, and walked to the front, nodding and otherwise acknowledging greetings from the

people he passed. “Now I know that you guys like to have fun” he said as he reached the front

4
and turned to face the assembled ranks of half human half beasts, “but we need to work on

improving on your weaknesses.”

Keselth, the small dragon, flapped doggedly over to Marlow carrying a heavy leather

satchel. He took the bag and she curled up on his shoulder. “As such, I have taken the time

yesterday to create groups of people and what they need to work on.” He held up the satchel.

“Captains come here and I will give you each a packet to assign people to working groups.” He

smiled at the groans coming from the assembled people. “I know that it is hard, but it will help

you improve.”

Kyloth snorted and rolled her eyes to the far end of the field where some figures were just

coming into view. “I also brought some help. It will make the work more fun and interesting!” as

the group drew closer it became apparent that it was a large group of kids being led by several

people in robes. The crowd cheered.

The groups gathered and the children dispersed between them to help complete a myriad

of tasks. Marlow worked his way through all of the groups, advising, participating, and

connecting with the kids and the soldiers. One group of minotaurs and children were working on

stacking stones to make small towers. The size of the stones was smaller than the minotaur’s

fingers, and they were having trouble stacking the stones. Another group made of centaurs and

children were having a sideways walking races. All of them were getting their legs tangled and

falling over, and everyone was having fun.

5
 This lasted all day and the tasked were completed and mastered. The robed wizards

teleported the kids and half humans back to the city as Marlow rode Kyloth back. “Today was

productive.”

“It was.” Kyloth said “I think everyone enjoyed it immensely.”

“Were the kids a good idea?”

“They were perfect for the tasks that many of the groups were working on. I’m sure that

both the soldiers and the parents appreciate you having them taken care of.” Kyloth tilted her

head slightly, jostling Marlow. As he sat up to something brushed over his head. Instincts made

him duck back down, and curiosity made him reach up and grab. His hand felt stone and he was

no longer on Kyloth’s head. Looking up he saw he was hanging onto the foot of one of the

gargoyles that sat atop one of the churches. He knew for a fact that they were not enchanted and

had been warded to prevent such things from happening.

The gargoyle looked down to see the weight it had gained and snarled. It spun in the air

and Marlow could not hang on. Still spinning he tried to get a sense of where he was going to

land. By the time he got a fix on where he was landing the slate roof was only 100 feet away, and

he was too late to try to slow down. In the few seconds he had he maneuvered so that he would

be rolling down the roof to reduce the damage to his body as much as possible.

Impact.

The roof collapsed from the force hitting it, and so did the wood floor below it. He went

through two more floors before one held. Marlow tried to move out of the path of the falling

6
debris above him, but one of his legs was not responding so he was only half way off the pile of

rock and wood before the rest of the ceiling and floors slammed down around him. As the floor

gave way the carpet of the room ripped, and as he fell through he managed to grab a strip,

preventing him from falling to the floor below.

Marlow managed to swing to the side of the rubble pile, but as soon as he hit the floor he

collapsed, his right leg folding weirdly. With the adrenaline still pumping through his veins, he

started to take stock of his injuries. He tried to move his left arm, but it was not responding. It

felt like he had shattered the top part of his bone from landing on it. On the other hand he had

dislocated his right hip, and that was going to be a problem. Feeling his chest, he had at least one

broken rib. He was lucky. It had not stabbed into his lung, and no other bones had broken. Aside

from that he had several jagged pieces of stone and wood sticking out of him in various places

and countless cuts and bruises.

Laying back, he steeled himself for what needed to be done. Using his right hand, he

grabbed his right leg and violently rammed it back into place. He let his breath hiss between his

teeth.

Suddenly a scream echoed through the house. He looked to the door of the room to see

the disappearing hem of a maid’s skirt. The scream continued to echo through the halls as he sat

up and arranged his leg into a more recognizable state. As he finished, a huge shape appeared in

a window of the room, opened the window, reached in and scooped him up, carrying him out of

the second floor of the building, and into the night as screams continued to echo through he halls

of the house.

7
 Looking up he saw it was a statue from the colosseum, three stories tall, a legend

remembered in stone. But this one was moving. The colosseum was as protective of their statues

as the church. This one carried twin swords, one of which was sheathed to carry Marlow.

“Who . . . are . . . you?” Marlow managed to crock out between the jolts of pain he

experienced as the statues feet landed.

“Rest. Your questions will be answered later.”

* * *
Marlow woke in a strange room. sitting over him was one of the statues of the many gods

that the church worshiped. “Diath?” he groaned through parched lips.

“I am his likeness, yes.” The statue motioned to another figure in the room. A nun stepped

into Marlow’s view holding a cup, and held it to Marlow’s lips. “Drink.” Marlow sipped

gratefully at the water in the cup, and immediately felt stronger. As he sat up, the nun backed

away, bowing.

He was in no pain. He threw away the thin cover on him, and discovered that all of his

cuts, bruises, and broken bones were gone. Not a trace was left. His arm had been healed and

there was no bruising from it.

“I know you have questions, and I am willing to answer them, but first there is a story

that may answer many of them.” The statue of Diath said. “I will start with something that you

may or may not have realized. There is a hidden war happening even as we speak. This war is

taking place between the humanoid statues and the non-humanoid statues.”

8
 “Are you from this plane of existence?” Marlow asked.

“Yes.” The statue of Diath said. “we are not the same as those Time Eaters.”

“Time Eaters?”

“You know them better as Weeping Angels.”

“How did you come into existence?”

“Now that is a more complicated question. I do not have an answer for that, but I have a

theory, the creators of the statue leave just a small piece of life in all the statues they craft. This

also feeds into the reason for the war. The statues that are made in the close likeness of a

civilized creature also take a little bit of soul. Those statues that were not made in a close

likeness of a civilized creature do not have this and are looking to fill this void by killing those

that have a slice of soul.”

“So the statue of the founder of the Ten Swords clan has been fighting with you?”

“Yes until a few nights ago, when he sacrificed himself to save a group of new statues.”

“Did anyone actually see him go down?”

“No, the new statues were too busy running.”

Marlow sat back and laughed. “There is a legend in our clan. It talks about how the clan

was created, but one part that I really enjoyed when I was young was how the first leader would

stand behind, protecting, holding back, and stopping any force while a group of innocent people

9
ran away. A few days after they were sure he had died, he would come strolling up to wherever

they had stopped, smiling. He was very good a defying all expectation, and making it out alive.”

“How does that help our situation?”

“I am assuming you want me to coordinate your troops and the clan head used to be your

general. He was very good and lead you to many great victories. Now you hope his blood will be

the same. I would guess that you have seen my work. The clan head was many times better than

me.” Marlow looked into the statues eyes. “He will be back. No one can beat his will to survive,

and his skill with weapons.”

10