Paul Willson Fantasy

Hugo stood on the deck of the Venetian galley. He was full of religious zeal and excitement. He could see the coast of Syria and could not wait to fight the Saracens.

He had left Amiens to go on crusade at the behest of the Bishop of Amiens. There was very little in Amiens for him. His eldest brother was to inherit everything and his second eldest brother was betrothed to another noble family without an heir. Being the third son, he was to neither inherit nor marry into wealth. His options were crusade or the church. Even though he was religious, a life in the cloth didn’t appeal to him. He liked women too much. If he was going to marry, he needed to find his own wealth and maybe even a title, going on crusade could do that. His grandfather went on crusade so by going himself it made his father proud of him for the first time in his life, so much so that his father bought him new armour and weapons.

Jerusalem had been lost to the Saracens a few years before. This affront to Jesus Christ could not stand. Crusading was a calling from God and Hugo was glad that it was he not his brothers that God called to go on crusade through the bishop. He joined the crusading army at Ecry-sur-Aisne and Hugo was proud to be part of a large contingent from Amiens. As the Crusader army marched through the German speaking states many Flemish and Germans joined them. All proud to be marching under the Pope’s banner and the holy cross.

After months of travelling, the army arrived in Venice where the crusader army split up for unknown reasons to Hugo. The pious sailors took some of the crusader army to Constantinople, the rest to Acre. Hugo later heard the heretic Byzantines, behind the wall, betrayed them and they were forced to attack and thanks to our lord God the city fell. However, Hugo later heard that the crusader army also attacked the faithful city of Zara. For this the crusaders felt the anger of his Holiness the Pope and were excommunicated.

Why did they do this? They were going to the Holy Land to save Jerusalem and the Holy Land from the infidel Saracens not to attack God fearing cities.

Arriving in Acre Hugo felt closer to God like never before. He could almost feel the light of Jerusalem calling him and he wanted, like nothing else, to attack it. He was sure this was God’s purpose for him.

It was summer when Hugo arrived in Acre and the summer in the Holy Land was nothing like the cool summers in Amiens. The air was dusty, the sun burned down an intense heat that even the shade offered little relief. Hugo’s woollen clothes became soaked with his sweat. Night times were stifling making it hard to sleep. The food was different too. The meat wasn’t so different but it was less succulent. There was also new foods Hugo had never tasted before like dates, oranges and a bitter fruit called lemons. He enjoyed the sweetness of the dates and oranges but the lemons were far too bitter to eat.

The people dressed differently than in Amiens too. They wore light cotton. It was a luxury in Amiens but here even the poorest wore it. At first Hugo resisted changing his clothes but as the summer wore on, he relented and found wearing cotton made the summer easier to bear.

A few impatient weeks after Hugo arrived the decision was made to survey the road towards Jerusalem. Patrols were sent out, knights on horseback, followed by archers, men-at-arms and spearmen on foot. Hugo rode out near the front. Priests blessed the soldiers as they left the city. The early morning sun shone off the knights’ armour.

After two days of travel the men began to notice their movements were being watched by Saracen soldiers in the distance. They then harassed the larger Crusader force in small numbers which were easily chased off. The further from Acre they got the greater the number of Saracens got and the bolder they got too. With each attack a few men were lost. Four days travel from Acre the Saracens attacked in numbers at night while the scouting party camped at an oasis. Many knights and foot soldiers were slain. The Crusaders fought and defended as hard as they could as wave upon wave of attack came at what seemed like every side in the confusion of the night. Eventually, all the crusaders could do was break out and run leaving their horses, equipment, food and more crucially water in the camp.

Hugo was one of the lucky ones many were cut down from behind as they ran. Hugo ran further and further into the desert as the sun rose at dawn, his throat was dry from thirst. He looked around looking desperately for a town or village, be it Christian or Saracen.

After walking and stumbling in the intense heat, Hugo fell to his knees to pray. He rose unsteadily to his feet and he carried on.

After for what seemed like hours Hugo spotted a rock formation and his heart rose as he got close as he saw a holy cross engraved on the side. Hugo was in no doubt God had answered his prayers. Finding the shade Hugo collapsed to the floor.

It was dark once more when Hugo woke. He felt that God had rejuvenated him. He felt strong again, no, stronger than he had ever been. God’s love had saved him!

“So, you are awake Frankish Crusader,” a stranger in Arab robes said. Hugo looked at the man in surprised. Despite his dress, he didn’t sound like the Arabs he had fought. He’s accent was strange, he guessed he was German because he sounded like the Germans who joined the crusade. “You were close to death. If I haven’t found you, you would have died. The desert is a dangerous place.”

“Merci,” Hugo said gratefully, “you truly were sent from God.”

The stranger laughed, hollowly,

“I’m sorry but your God has forsaken you, just as Odin has forsaken me,” he said nonchalantly. “You will curse me for it, but I saved you from death but you now will walk the path between life and death. You will never get old; you will never love. You will have to give up everything you knew. But you will live forever unless someone blesses you with death by piercing your heart or removing your head. I have been waiting for that day for three hundred years. My scout party would have done that for me but the woman who made me like this fed on them. For some reason, I shall never know, she made me like this. I then I fed on those she didn’t devour. I was so hungry,” he said with sadness, looking in the distance.

Hugo looked at the stranger like he was mad. Seeing Hugo’s expression, the stranger took out his dagger and plunged it into Hugo’s stomach. Hugo gasped in surprise and pain, looking_­ in horror at the hilt of the knife protruding from him. Confusion then swept over Hugo as the realisation dawned on him that he was still alive and not even bleeding. The stranger laughed at Hugo’s reaction and Hugo then grunted in pain as the stranger retrieved his dagger.

“Who are you? What did you do to me?” Hugo asked, unable to comprehend what was happening to him.

“I am Sven Haraldsson from Norway. I was a warrior but now I am someone who will never die, no one will sing skals of my heroics, and there is no Valhalla for me. Just existing and the eternal pain if I don’t feed on the blood of the living and this is what I have done to you, Frank. You can see it now as a gift but you will soon hate me just as I hate the woman who did this to me. Now I must go. It will soon be daylight and I need to feed. Wait inside this Christian place and rest. Dusk tomorrow night you too will need to feed.”

With that the stranger vanished. Hugo stayed where he was. When the sun began to rise at dawn, the sun felt brighter than it ever had. His eyes felt like they were burning inside his head. He blindly found his way inside the church and the relief of the darkness. He fell asleep.

Hugo woke. A horrible pain was emanating from his stomach. A pain like he had never felt before. He could feel the pointedness of the teeth in his mouth, his breath was ragged. He knew he was hungry. His hunger was almost bestial. He needed to feed, and it was the only thing he needed to do, nothing else mattered.

He left the church as the first stars rose in the sky. His senses seemed to be heightened. He could see clearly in the dark like he could see in the day, he could hear sounds in the distance and his sense of smell was stronger and he could smell people. Hugo knew now he was a hunter and humans were his prey.

Hugo began running. He ran faster than he ever had yet it felt natural, the kill to come felt natural.

Hugo arrived at the oasis where he fought two nights before. He found the Saracens who had slain and scattered his comrades. They were eating, playing music and singing. What he was about to do should have been like revenge, but Hugo felt nothing other than the need to feed.

He watched them in the darkness, waiting, waiting for the time to kill. His mouth felt like it was watering, but it was dry when he wiped it.

When the song finished, Hugo pounced. He fell upon the Saracen closest to him. Hugo’s long claw-like nails ripped the Saracen’s throat, stopping any scream and his superior strength pulled him into the darkness where he fed on the Saracen’s blood until he died.

This Hugo did, two or three times more until his hunger became close to sated, but not quite. The Saracens began to notice that there was something wrong, that their brothers-in-arms were missing. The Saracens found their swords and armour, angry that someone was using their tactics against them and set off in small groups, torch in one hand and sword in the other. A mistake on their part, an opportunity for Hugo.

Hugo followed one group. He left each member on the desert floor bleeding, unable to move and feeding on them one by one. He could hear some of them pray as they lay on the desert floor, others cried. Their fear drove Hugo on, their fear meant he savoured their blood and as he devoured it, he felt their lives leave their bodies.

Hugo suddenly felt sated, and he rushed back to the church. The animalistic instinct left him and the realisation of what he had done and what he had become became a weight that felt like it was crushing him. Hugo began to weep, the horror he felt became worse when he began to pray, and he felt nothing. He was in the Holy Land and God had left him. He knew he was no more than a demon with a thirst for blood.

The following night Hugo returned to Acre. His arrival coincided with a new, strange affliction in the city. Prostitutes, drunks, and the homeless began to die. The people turned to the bishop until he too was afflicted. His young acolyte who he was abusing was arrested and burnt. Hugo knew he should have felt guilt, but he didn’t. He just knew he had to be careful.

Hugo preyed on the citizens of Acre sparingly and instead spent his time preying on the surrounding villages. He even visited Aleppo and Damascus until he met others of his kind.

They were hospitable, they allowed him to hunt with them, but they made it clear it would be wise for him not to return. He learnt many things from them. How to hunt with discretion, how the wealthy are less suspected than the poor, how wealth can bring your prey to you and most importantly how to hunt during the day.

Since the day he met Sven Haraldsson, Hugo had killed and feasted on human blood. The hunger he felt when he needed to feed was nothing like he had ever felt before. It was a primordial need, impossible to ignore or resist. The pain he felt when the hunger took hold was torture and only human blood could relieve him but when he was sated, he felt remorse which made him weep, plead to God and curse Sven Haraldsson for making him this way.

Before returning to Acre, Hugo decided he needed to become a trader. He decided to become a trader in religious artefacts. He knew crusaders would pay handsomely for them and it gave him an excuse to travel to Jerusalem. He came as a crusader to save Jerusalem from the Saracens, yet he had never been there. His months in Damascus and Aleppo made him proficient in the Saracen language which meant he could buy what he needed.

Hugo raised funds by stealing from traders crossing the desert. The tell-tale smell of camels helped Hugo to find them. He feasted on the traders and took their camels and goods, taking them to Jerusalem where he sold them and used the funds to buy Christian artifacts, real and fake.

For Hugo life became comfortable he opened a shop and built a large house on the outskirts of Acre. Hugo became adept at controlling his urges. He would feed regularly so he would neither starve kill. He started with prostitutes knowing if any of them died they won’t be missed. As his business grew, he had feasts and parties with higher and higher members of society. Hugo’s confidence and charm enabled him to feast on married women and men in intimate situations. The scandal that would ensue ensured no one would say what happened to them and the euphoria Hugo gave them as he feasted on them ensured they returned. Hugo’s life became content as much as it could be.

That contentment began to unravel. Rumours began to swirl around Acre that unnatural and evil acts were occurring in Hugo’s house and people were questioning why in the twenty years Hugo had lived in Acre he had not appeared to have aged. Another rumour amongst both Christian and Saracen traders of a demon that stalked the desert. A minor noble whose wife Hugo regularly feasted on became suspicious of his wife and followed her to Hugo’s house and surprised Hugo as he feasted on her. The man charged at Hugo with his sword forcing Hugo to kill him. The lord’s wife ran and headed straight to the nearest church to confess. Hugo found her as she left the church and killed her. Hugo left the bodies in the desert and began planning to leave Acre.

Although Hugo could move physically fast, he could not plan fast enough for it was too late. The priest saw Hugo kill the noblewoman and as soon as Hugo had left, went to report the confession and what he had witnessed to the bishop of Acre.

One week later, Hugo felt that he had gotten away with killing the noble and noblewoman. He returned to feasting as he always did. However, at the dead of night, he was attacked by a large retinue of men in his home. Led by the bishop who shrilly denounced him as a demon. He sent the men forward.

Hugo killed a few but a large number of blades came at him, and he could not stop them all and they pierced his flesh. Each time a sword pierced his flesh Hugo lost some strength and speed. Soon the numbers began to tell, and he was overcome. Hugo was bound, and the bishop uselessly sprayed holy water on him whilst praying. Hugo was taken out of the house where a cart with a stone coffin was waiting. Hugo could feel his wounds healing but not fast enough to help break free before being placed in the stone coffin.

Hugo’s mouth opened and screamed silently in horror as the stone lid came down upon him. In the darkness, Hugo could feel the coffin move slowly. He could hear nothing through the stone. Hugo pushed and clawed through the stone lid. His wounds felt close to being fully healed yet despite that he knew he still wouldn’t be able to free himself and worse of all he could feel himself getting hungry.

Hugo roared in frustration and pain. He needed blood and he needed it now but there was no way he could escape. The coffin Hugo was in stopped. He tried again to escape without success.

Hugo stayed in the darkness. When hunger and pain rose inside him, he tried to escape, when it died away, he slept. This repeated over and over again. Hugo had no idea how long it happened but all he knew was pain and darkness, that was until the lid of his coffin inexplicitly opened and Hugo saw bearded men speaking the Saracen language.