The Harrowing Storm Part 1

Here is this weeks story, sorry its late. also there wasn't a story last week. I was sick...again. but a little thing like the hospital isn't going to stop me from writing the stories i love.

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In Castle Harrow, owned by Lord Harrow, was a young man named Arthur Harrow. The castle was built on land given to the Harrow family for their years of service to the king of the land. Young Arthur was a knight and at an early age completed his knight training two years faster than other noble children from the surrounding areas. Arthur was as charismatic as he was strong. This combination served well both as a fighter and as a noble. He often impressed his father’s friends with clever remarks or insight into the world. Though seeming wise and worldly, Arthur had never been in a real battle nor had he left the castle more than a few times. Usually he only left the castle to go to other castles with his father. All his learning was from books, royal messengers and castle gossip.

The kingdom thrived, as did the Harrow land. Besides the castle, the land had a very small village. The village was useful for farming, trading and being a buffer between travelers and the castle. Lord Harrow didn’t need to feel bad for turning away lost travelers from his castle when there was a perfectly good village just down the hill. Arthur had been taught to look after the village and in turn the village would provide a service to the castle. Since Arthur would one day take over the piece of land, he needed to know important things like managing a castle and dealing with advisors or the village elder. Though Lord Harrow looked after his people, it wasn’t because he was nicer than most nobles, it was simply because he had to protect his investments. His castle looked after the village in the way a gardener looks after a fruit orchard. So Arthur learned not to get too attached to any of the villagers, as it would be strange if a farmer was attached to an apple tree. Everything had its place.

One day, while talking with his father, a messenger brought word that a villager had died, they found the body in the forest torn apart by an animal. This was probably the work of wolves and this wasn’t the first time either. It was said that the poor fool went missing last night, but because of a storm that same night no one could go look for him until morning. Lord Harrow ordered any wolves or wild animals near the village be killed. In a situation like this villagers experienced with hunting would be paid by the Lord to kill the dangerous animals. Arthur thought the situation was a little strange, as he never heard of a wolf attacking someone during a storm, on top of that, no adult would go out into a dangerous forest at night, when a storm approached. The villagers knew better. Though this was all strange, it could just as easily been wolves, so he dismissed the thought from his mind.

As time passed the reports of dead villagers continued, there was even talk of the deaths being caused by a monster. Lord Harrow dismissed these claims, saying that just because the hunters couldn’t find and kill this wild beast they make up stories about a monster so as not to bruise their pride and peasants will believe anything. The deaths weren’t taken too seriously either, because on average a villager would go missing every couple weeks. Three or four missing peasants wasn’t call for alarm, especially in such a dangerous time. Arthur remembered his father say one time over lunch. “When I was a young lord, I remember when we would lose three or four peasants a week”

The trend continued though, it was always when it rained and always at night and the tale of the monster became more descriptive and talked about. Much more concerned than his father, Arthur went out to the village to talk to some locals. After a few minutes of villagers bowing and groveling when they saw Arthur, he was eventually able to get some answers out of them. As a side note, Arthur didn’t really enjoy the groveling peasants as much as his father did. After talking with everyone he could find, he learned that the stories matched up and some had even seen the beast, or rather beasts. Whenever it rained, shadow creatures that moved like apes came into the village. They were a little shorter than humans, but had glowing purple eyes. Purple eyes that would shine out of the mist and rain, then before you knew it, someone was being dragged into the forest to be devoured. It sounded like a nightmare, and unfortunately for the villagers, it was all too real.

Arthur returned to the castle and tried to persuade his father to send extra protection to the village when it rained. Even if it wasn’t the work of monsters, something was killing people. After being refused repeatedly by his father, Arthur took upon himself to investigate. There was going to be a big storm coming in three days, biggest it had been in a while. So Arthur gathered, weapons and some armor and tried to make a plan. He would wait that night in the village and see for himself what really was attacking the village, then he would put a stop to it. Arthur, fitted his armor with straps so he could carry a crossbow, two swords, a throwing axe and a shield, as well as dagger he kept in his boot. He would be ready to fight a bear, a pack of wolves or if need be, shadow monsters. The time had come to see what Arthur was made of and see if he could truly protect his land.