Tales Of Grimea Read Online Free PDF Page A

her head. Instead she focused on
the scurrying man. He was terrified and yet instantly recognizable.
“Markus? What are you doing here? What’s going on? Claudis meant to
say these words, but only managed to gurgle. She found it
unreasonable to address the scene around them. Part of her
discredited it entirely.
    “Claudis! Oh Claudis, what have they done to
you!” He began to back away, and the woman realized that she was
walking towards him in a fearsome manner. She began to reassure
him, then to stop, thinking it best to stay still with injuries
like the one on her right leg. She was unable to stop. Unbidden,
feet shod in black moved on regardless of her will. With horror,
she realized that there was no control in her. She began to drool,
yet could not stop it.
    “Now,” hissed the sinister voice that had
been whispering, “Go forth and kill the human, my undead beauties.
Feast on flesh fresher than yours, feel jealousy ferment in
you.”
    Undead? That couldn’t be. Just now, Claudis
had been going to get some honey. Then her arms raised
involuntarily, and she saw three things. Firstly, the Markus
backing away from her, leaving his hat behind on the grass near the
tree, was older than she remembered. Second, she was the only one
going towards him, with everyone else heading somewhere behind her.
Lastly, her flesh was rotten with maggots where her hands should
have been human and rosy. She still didn’t understand what had
happened exactly, but the woman tried to get her head around
it.
    She was dead. A dark force was using her body
against her will, and it had managed to give her wrong directions.
Instead of going after whoever owned that clear bell like voice,
she was going to kill her husband. Something clinked, and Claudis
realized that there was a white ring still around her death
infested neck. Ever practical, she focused on the task at hand. No.
    With everything she had, the woman tried to
fight the voice’s control. It hissed in delight. Behind her, she
could hear the two voices clamoring against one another.
    “Your gods do you no good here, girl. You
should have given up last time.”
    “Merla guide me, take my hands. Slim lights
grow bright when they know what has been done and what is to be,
for the river flows towards good and the depraved shall seek
nothing but love.” This was a prayer of a goddess outside the
niners, rarely worshipped in this part of the country. The woman
who stated it did so with conviction, and lights shone from behind
Claudis. White and blue, it was. It brought warmth and pain and
strength. She could hear fire and blades and bones being crushed
while sighs filled the air. The old man’s voice gained urgency, and
he focused on his spells. Thus the two battled.
    Then Claudis focused on her own battle. She
let the large one behind her rage one, praying for the priestess to
vanquish her foe. The wind howled and lighting appeared out of
nowhere, pitting light against dark as it sheared the world in
half. Still she tried to stop moving those murderous limbs of hers
without success. In desperation, the woman focused on her right
arm, willing it to hold on to a nearby branch. The strategy
succeeded, but only momentarily. Her husband was dazed with shock,
and tripped with a crack and a cry. He crawled for dear life, but
she would catch up with him. Scenes of their happy life together
flashed, and the woman realized that for this man, she’d give up….
Yes. Exactly like he’d said the night before, although it must have
been years ago. He still came to visit her, and she still saw a
ring upon the terrified man’s finger despite the ashen streaks in
his hair. He still came here, when the moon shone bright. She knew
it instinctively, as if her cold body had remembered. For him…
    As the fighting behind them intensified
between priestess and foul magician, Claudis focused on her arm
again. Every struggle against the forces holding her in their grasp
caused the pain in her head to