Far Horizons: Tales of Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror. Issue #16 July 2015 | Seite 39

Taran and Dawit drew their weapons and
established a perimeter, with the smooth wall of the
cave at their backs. They cleared enough room so that
Simon and Jhamed had space to stack their packs and
sit down on the sandy floor to wait. Their arrival had
generated enormous interest and a crowd gathered.
People pushed and jostled to get to the front. Eyes
were gouged and brittle bones were broken in the
crush. Dawit had to threaten them with his axe to get
them to stand back. He scratched a line in the sand
with his foot. “Cross this line and you shall feel the
mercy of my axe on your wretched skulls! Stay behind
the line and you shall be freed this day.” The crowd
eyed his axe and chattered nervously. Everyone stayed
behind the line.
Simon was lost in his thoughts. The dungeon
and the people seemed to be in a mist. Everything was
a blur. He vaguely heard Dawit’s orders to the crowd.
His focus though was in his mind. He was close to the
Sword now and it was aware of him. It filled his mind
with images. There was so much information that
Simon could only grasp snatches of it. He saw a great
warrior. There was a huge battle, with much death
and bloodshed. He felt warm, bloated, and happy.
Another figure was there; he was dark and cowled.
They fought. Now the dark figure held a still-beating
heart in his hand, and he threw back his head and
laughed. Simon saw his face. Even though he laughed,
it was expressionless. It was pure white, unmarked
by beard or blemish, by eyebrow or lash. The eyes
were black as coal and showed no emotion. There
was coldness in those eyes, colder than the heart of
a glacier. Then Simon felt absolute coldness and saw
the actual heart of a glacier, and even though it chilled
him to the marrow it was like a blacksmith’s furnace
compared with those eyes. He felt a momentary flash
of hope as he saw the faces of humans, only to be
dashed to despair when he saw the face of a hideous
crone, with hooked nose and rotten teeth who cackled
and mocked. He felt hope renewed and he knew he
was the bearer of that hope. Come for me. I am ready.
Together we shall be invincible. I am so weak. I must
feed soon. Simon shivered with cold and felt so weak

that, had he not been sitting down, he would surely
have collapsed. The crowd buzzed and jostled, but
they were but vague murmurs and shadows in the fog.
He didn’t know how he could go on. He couldn’t even
stand up.
The fog parted. The crowd and his friends
remained hidden in the mist. Yet, out of the fog, a
figure walked, clear as on a sunny day. She was the
most beautiful girl that he had ever set his eyes upon.
She was tall and slim, with a tiny waist and small
breasts that were falling out of a simple red gown. It had
once been a beautiful dress, but now it hung in rags. Her
hair was long, straight, and jet-black. When he had last
seen her, it had been clean and perfumed. Now it hung
in lank, greasy strands. It still framed an elfin face of
such pure beauty that it made his heart lurch. Her eyes
were the purest blue, shining like jewels against the
milky whiteness of her skin – still evident even amongst
the brown stains. Her lips were still voluptuous, despite
their lack of rouge and the dry cracks that crossed them.
Around her neck, she wore a simple necklace with a
small silver locket that he knew contained a lock of
Manfred’s hair. Simon’s heart lurched. He felt such love
and joy as he had never known before. The fog cleared
and he jumped to his feet and took Juliana in his arms.
He held her tightly as if he never wanted to let go. “I
have come back for you.” He sobbed into her hair. No!
You have come back for me! She is nothing. We are
the Trinity. Simon could not understand why he felt a
sudden pang of jealousy.
There was a new confidence about Simon. He
didn’t know where it had come from, but he liked the
feeling. Taran and Dawit seemed to treat him with
much more respect. Jhamed was still Jhamed, but he
seemed to be happy about it. Juliana melted into his
arms. He liked that feeling. He wanted to tell her how
much he loved her, but decided that must wait until
later. He stood tall and addressed the crowd. “My
friends; please listen to me. I am Simon the Red.”
Where the hell did that come from? I like it! “My
friends and I have come to free you and release you
from the yoke of the Witch Queen. Will you help us?”
For a brief moment, there was silence as the words

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