Authors: Ian Haywood
But instead of a safe return back inside the house, two swordsmen rode past the elderly couple below, simultaneously swinging their swords through the air until the cold steel blades met the soft flesh of the helpless man and woman, sending their lifeless bodies crashing to the ground.
One of the attackers backed up his horse and stood majestically over the two bodies for a few moments before suddenly looking up towards the window as if he had spotted the two of us spectating from above. He held his sword aloft and pointed it directly towards us confirming that he knew of our whereabouts.
As he did so, one of his comrades swiftly rode up behind him with a flaming torch in his hand and turned to see exactly what the swordsman was pointing to and without a second’s hesitation, he galloped up towards the house and began to set it alight which instantly sent me into a state of panic. I shouted to the man next to me to direct us out of the house before it suddenly burst into flames with us in it, but I received no reply.
Instead, the young man just turned and without saying a word, ran out of the room and I instantly followed in close pursuit, speedily running down an old wooden staircase and past the quickly spreading flames towards a large oak door that when opened, led the pair of us out into the back garden of the house.
We both ran towards the front of the house which was becoming increasingly difficult to see due to the smoke that was coming from the flames.
I noticed the people who had survived the attack frantically running through the streets in a desperate attempt to find some kind of trace of their loved ones and I watched as some of them were fortunate enough to be reunited with other surviving members of their family, but heartbreakingly too, some faced nothing but grief as they spotted the bodies of theirs.
The young man next to me displayed the same immense grief as he noticed the lifeless bodies of the old couple in front of us and he instantly dropped to his knees before cradling the dead woman in his arms.
I could see blood running quite heavily from under the woman’s body as the young man lifted her off the ground and I noticed tears beginning to run down the young man’s face as he kissed the dead woman on the forehead before placing her gently back to the ground.
An incredible feeling of both grief and anger began to mix inside him as he finally began to understand the full extent of what had just happened around us.
“My God!” he shouted towards the sky above us, “Why did you forsake us? How could you just sit back and do nothing while these barbarians kill my parents? What have they ever done to deserve to die like this? They worshipped you and taught me to worship you too, but I swear down right now, my allegiance to you is over! I am already in Hell!”
I felt helpless as I watched the young man trying to come to terms with his loss and I stretched out my hand to place upon the grieving man’s shoulder in an attempt to comfort him, but as I was about to touch him, a young pretty brunette lady ran towards us and immediately embraced the young man, completely ignoring me as she did so.
“Maria,” the young man sobbed as she held him tightly, “look at what they have done. I thought I had lost you too! Without you, I have nobody!”
“Don’t you worry,” the brunette replied, “I am always here for you, I promise. Luckily my mother and I were in our cellar when we were attacked, but the Tavern is now fast becoming a pile of ashes. As soon as we could get out, I thought of nothing else but getting over here as quickly as I could to see if you were okay.”
The two embraced each other tightly and they also kissed in such a way that immediately revealed that they were obviously a lot more than just friends.
I took this moment to regain my bearings and to fully comprehend what was happening in front of me right now.
After all, the last thing that I remembered was lying in the alleyway next to my flat after being attacked by a complete stranger and now I find myself standing in a village that I had never seen before witnessing the aftermath of a vicious barbarian attack placed upon it.
Then suddenly from out of nowhere, I noticed something slowly edging towards the three of us and as I turned around to see what exactly had caught my eye, I was shocked at the sight of an incredibly well-built and intimidating figure of one of the barbarians who had attacked the village moments before with a sword in his hand, clearly ready for attack.
I immediately shouted to the young couple that their enemy was working his way towards us, but incredibly they did not respond to my warning, but instead continued to hold each other. I just stood in disbelief at their lack of urgency and once again I shouted - a lot louder this time - and yet again, there was no response. It seemed that no matter what I said or did, everyone around ignored me.
The swordsman continued to move closer completely undetected and all that I could do was slowly back away from the intimidating figure coming forward, but as I did so, I tripped on a large stone that was lying on the ground, sending me crashing down onto the young man‘s dead parents.
But to my complete astonishment, I did not fall onto the lifeless bodies, but instead I physically fell straight through them and lay on the ground in bemusement at what just happened.
Not for the first time tonight, I had to confirm to myself that I wasn’t gone crazy so I nervously held out my hand to touch the dead woman beside me and yet again, my hand passed straight through her as if she just wasn’t there.
At last, the young couple turned around after finally noticing their potential attacker sneaking up on them and with no thought for his own safety, the young man immediately took a lunge at the prowling soldier, sending the two men crashing to the ground, with the young man landing on top - and as the two men collided, the force of their bodies meeting sent the sword flying out of the attacker’s grasp onto the ground close by.
The young man immediately spotted his enemy’s error and made a hopeful dive to retrieve the sword, but I could see that the soldier was a well-trained and incredibly agile fighter as he was just as quick to reach the sword even with all the armour that was on his body.
Incredibly, both men held the sword in stalemate, with neither of them showing any sign of letting go as they began their struggle to discover which one of them would successfully claim it and achieve the upper hand.
The soldier had incredibly strong arm muscles and a grip to match and he was now comfortably beginning to show signs of overpowering the young man to reclaim ownership of the sword.
But from completely out of nowhere, the brunette girl Maria ran towards the two grappling men and without warning, jumped into the air and kicked out at the soldier who now had the sword in his hand with every intent to use it. The young man tried to get to his feet in order to help Maria against the extremely bigger and stronger soldier, but alas he was too slow.
And what happened next confirmed my fears.
The soldier held the sword aloft and with one quick flick of his wrist, sent the sword flying quickly through the air until it nestled deep into Maria’s chest, who could do nothing more but just look down in shock.
As Maria dropped to her knees, both men looked at each other for a moment before her killer made a dive for the sword that was still lodged inside the beautiful dying girl’s chest.
The young man also made an equally determined leap for the sword too and the two men once again wrestled each other for superiority, both of them gripping the sword firmly around its handle in stalemate.
I never did find out who the winner was as an almighty flash suddenly appeared from nowhere, temporarily blinding me - and when I did finally manage to regain my vision, I realized that everyone around me had disappeared and I was now lying on the ground in the alleyway once again.
The light continued to blind me, but it was now accompanied by footsteps becoming increasingly louder as they approached and then the light suddenly deviated away from my face and illuminated a different part of the alleyway to my left, revealing the lifeless body of my foiled attacker.
It was at this moment that I heard a man gasp in disbelief and I soon discovered that the footsteps I heard were those of two policemen.
The one holding the torch spoke out as he shone the light on me once again.
“Can you hear me? Are you okay?”
I nodded and the other policeman stepped a little closer.
“What’s your name?” he asked, looking concerned at my present state.
It took every ounce of energy for me to answer him.
“Naomi.”
Even though every part of my body was either shaking or hurting, I was so relieved that two policemen were with me in the alleyway, but being the only person there alongside a dead body didn’t exactly look good for me and it wasn’t long before I was helped into the back seat of a police car to be taken to the local police station to be questioned about what exactly had happened before they had arrived.
The alleyway had been so quiet when I was first dragged into it, but now it was a hive of activity as more and more policemen appeared to make sure that the newly discovered murder site was securely cordoned off from the public in order to preserve any crucial evidence within it.
CHAPTER FOUR
Even though it was the early hours of the morning, an ever increasing crowd of onlookers, most of which were on their way home after a night out at the local clubs, had assembled at the entrance of the alleyway, hoping to catch a glimpse of what all the fuss was about, lapping up the excitement that was filling the air.
The majority of the onlookers showed some kind of sympathy after hearing that a dead body had been discovered in the alleyway, but a small number of drunken louts found it amusing to try pushing their way past the policemen watching guard in order to gain a better look at anything gory.
But their attempts in doing so only made them look more foolish than they already did as the number of police officers at the scene far outnumbered the drunks and it wasn’t long before order was returned and the men quickly sent on their way – one or two shouting some kind of comment towards the police as they disappeared out of sight.
Tape had been placed on both entrances of the alleyway and police officers were speaking to the local residents, asking them not to use their rear exits into the alleyway and at the same time, also asking if any of them had seen or heard anything that could help them with their enquiries.
But incredibly, not one person could come forward with anything of great importance, meaning that the police would now have to heavily depend on the results of the forensic examination of the scene and the Coroner’s report.
And while the forensic team were busily getting on with their work, the Coroner was yet to arrive on the scene and even though it was obvious to anyone inside the alleyway that the victim was clearly dead, it had to be confirmed by the Coroner before the body could be taken away to be examined more thoroughly to confirm if the victim had met his premature death naturally or by foul means – therefore officially starting a murder investigation.
The need for torches and artificial lighting inside the alleyway was fast coming to an end as the sun began to rise above the buildings surrounding it – and as it did so, the horrific reality of the murder scene became more and more apparent.
A few of the policemen on the scene had served on the force for quite a number of years, but the amount of blood that was becoming more visible around them shocked every single one of them proving that no amount of police training could ever prepare any serving officer adequately for the horror of anything like this.
But even though the alleyway was awash with blood, there was not one drop inside the most crucial piece of evidence available to them - the victim himself.
As the Coroner finally made his way through the cordon and into the alleyway, he instantly began examining the lifeless man’s body on the ground and as he did so, immediately noticed how unusually pale and thin the corpse looked for someone who had supposedly died only a few hours ago.