Seven
By: Samuel Ade
Tags: Literature, Fiction, Imagination, Short Story, Story

‘I’ve told you it wouldn’t work! They’re coming! We should’ve spent our money to hire the usual mercenaries, not some ridiculous witchcrafts!’ shouted a furious-faced man, with a hint of fear in his eyes, almost blaming the fat leader who sits in the carriage with his head protruding out of the window.

‘Shut your hole and listen,’ said the fat man, softly.

Right after, thudding sounds could be heard from all over. Bodies were falling from the surrounding trees and bushes. Seven bodies, to be exact. A frightening high-pitched scream, which unlikely was from a human’s mouth, transmitted from afar, as though it was moving away from the scene.

‘Is that…it? The witch’s doing? Look! One is fleeing!’ the furious-faced man shot his arrow, and it hit right on the left-back of the fleeing man. He fell dead.

‘Let’s go, it’s overcast, I think the rain will follow soon. We can’t lose the daylight either.’

The merchant company moved along the dirt path in the middle of the thick, moisty forest. Gryd, the fat leader, sighed softly and went back into his carriage. The problem of bandits had occupied his mind for the past two years. His income had been declining because of these bandits. Mercenaries from all over the country had been hired, but none was effective. Those bandits were experts in this terrain. Most of the mercenaries weren’t used to a misty forest with limited visibility like this.

‘Do you not think there will be repercussions, maybe that demon who killed those mercenaries will need something from you in return?’

The man who shouted before was his brother, Rodrick. He wasn’t really fond of the idea of using witchcraft from that unknown witch. He thought those kinds of deals, even though his brother had paid the witch generously, still demanded something that would result in misfortune or even a curse.

‘How come? I’ve paid the witch. It should not be a problem. Let’s not discuss this matter any longer, brother. Your chirping gives me a headache.’

Rodrick went silent. He was too tired to debate with him, again. His brother loved gold too much. All these years his ambition was still the same; to be the richest man on the entire country. If he didn’t know any better, he would think that his brother’s love for gold coins was bigger than his love for his wife.

The next year, Gryd’s business was booming. His wealth grew exponentially. This made him work even harder than before. Months he went away far from his family to expand his business. Even Rodrick was physically too tired to keep up and had to come back home to rest.

On a summer’s day the next year, Gryd decided to visit his family since he had just made a massive deal in his business and wanted to celebrate. His six children and wife were so happy with the news of him coming home. They held a huge party, and invited the whole town to celebrate. People were smiling and laughing, and not a sight of the gloomy and depressed face could be seen.

But, near dawn, Gryd’s youngest started to get sick. His mother thought he had eaten too much last night, and made him rest. His body was boiling hot and he felt lethargy all over. Unfortunately, the evening of that day, he died with his eyes opened, blood was coming out of his eyes’ sockets. Gryd was devastated.

A month had passed, Gryd decided to take care of his business again and was going to go, when his eldest, this time, went sick and suffered the same symptoms as her youngest brother. They didn’t want to take chances and called a doctor immediately. But when the doctor was on his way, she died.

The same thing reoccurred the next month, it was Gryd’s fifth child.

Rodrick was furious. He was absolutely sure this was the curse he was talking about.

‘I told you! I told you it was a bad idea!’ He shouted. Gryd, who was in grief, didn’t even react. He simply stared at his child’s dead body. He buried his child next to the other two, under an oak tree, on a hill not far from his house.

After burying his child, he asked Rodrick to accompany him to the witch’s hut. He wanted to seek answers.

When they arrived at the village in which the witch lived, the hut was already gone. There was only a patch of empty land with tall grasses covering the place in which the hut used to stand. He asked around, but nobody knew any witch. According to the villagers, that place was always been a patch of land covered with grasses.

‘This is impossible. You remember it was here, don’t you Rodrick?’

‘She was a witch, brother. What did you expect?’

For a week Gryd couldn’t sleep nor eat properly. He walked around the house like a madman, talking to himself. Three weeks had passed, he now looked like a skeleton without flesh.

‘Husband, you should rest and eat more. We are worried about you.’

‘How could you worry about me? Our children could be next! It’s almost a month, Martha. Are you not frightened?’

His wife had been crying almost every single night. She tried to hide it from her beloved husband, not wanting to worsen the situation.

‘Martha, tomorrow is exactly a month after our child died. What should we do?’

‘Let’s pray, husband. Let’s ask God’s forgiveness! I will invite a priest to visit tonight. We will pray together, husband. I am confident God is merciful!’

After saying this, Martha ran towards one of her servants, asking them to go to the priest’s house.

‘Oh Martha, believe me, God has abandoned me…’ Gryd murmured faintly. ‘There is only one way out. I caused this curse, I shall end this too.’

Gryd, with a stick to support his weak body, rode a horse for hours to the forest where the demon killed those bandits. He left his horse on the entrance of the forest and walked inside.

‘I have come; I am what you wanted.’

He took out a rope, climbed a tree, and tied it to one of the branches. The round knot he put around his neck. He stood on that tree’s branch, and took out a dagger.

‘I shall wash this with blood and soul. Please leave my family be.’

He stabbed his own stomach, and pulled his guts out. Then his body fell, hanging under the branch, held by the rope which smothered his neck. Blood was dripping from his belly, and his guts were pouring out to the ground, some still stuck on his body.

His family looked for him all night until morning came. But what they found, shockingly, was Gryd’s second eldest, laying on the field soulless, with blood dripping from his opened eyes.