January 18th 1830
Frozen wilderness, United States of America, Border of Canada. Iroquois Longhouse
Personal Journal of Leon Wagner.
Tenth Entry.
Afterwards, the rest of a day seemed all a blur. A hellish nightmare that would never end.
We collected the dead, and helped the wounded for what seemed an eternity. Most died of their wounds. There was nothing we could do. We carried the slain out that morning in rows upon rows stretched and wrapped across the snow. It was then I could see the entire cost of my selfish failure and idiocy.
Sixteen.
Sixteen butchered, mutilated and eaten. Men, Women, And children. As if these people hadn't already suffered enough thanks to mine. Half of the tribe. An entire portion of this generation. Just....Gone...And it was all my fault. In that moment. I had never so longed for death myself. Soon it seemed my wish was granted.
The other warriors and even a few women carried me out into the snow with tears in their eyes. Kicking and beating my skull unrelentingly. Wanting to kill me in turn for what terror I had brought upon them all. I wanted to let them finish me. I deserved it. But Gliding hawk intervened yet again. Carried out on a makeshift stretcher by one of the surviving mothers.
"Stay out of this old man!!!!" Mountain wolf's widow screamed. Enraged at the her father in law's interruption of justice.
"Everyone....Please.." This will not solve anything. Gliding Hawk said aloud in the cold. The light of the blood red sunset hitting his stern remorseful face. Mountain wolf's widow sternly replied in anger at the old warrior's interruption.
"MY husband is dead!! He is dead because of this invader!!!! This man helped kill him along with my parents!!!! He must die for bringing this masacare upon all of us!!! And you would have use leave him be??!!! How many more of us must die for them!!!!????
Gliding Hawk sighed in grave disappointment. He struggled to find a sound argument against her words. The aging, broken warrior then gestured for the mother beside to help him stand and hold him atop his feet by the arms. She was weak and injured, but still stood strong to assist her elder however she could.
The former chieftain then looked directly upon the angry mob and his grief stricken daughter in law holding a knife to my throat. Even if his body was now broken. His strong words would carry all that he needed to say for his people to hear. And right now. They needed them more than ever.
"This man did not kill your husband Adisila...."
"I did."
The mob grew silent as the grave. Gliding Hawk continued.
"My brothers. My sisters....We.. have lost so much tonight. Friends. Family. Loved ones. All gone. Even my beloved son. He thought as you do now Adisila. That we shouldn't trust the words of a man who come's from their land's across the sea. But this warrior was sent here to end a problem. Incredible as it sounds. Not start one even if this terror had nothing to do with him to begin with. Gliding hawk looked upon each of the warriors and then Adisila scowling and biting her lip in tears. Not taking her eyes off her husbands killer.
"Our problem." Gliding hawk sternly said. "Our responsibility that we let fester and boil in our very own home. A disease we left untreated for to long, thinking it would spread upon other's, never imagining it could affect us. Only now. This disease has come back to it's source. And this...."
Gliding hawk gestured to the fallen pile of his tribe in pure sorrow. The flies already beginning to swirl.
This is the result of our arrogance and fear. We have only hastened our demise tonight as a culture for the sake of vengeance and distrust. We may never recover from this tragedy we have helped bring upon ourselves. Suffering has now become a part of our peoples lives even further. It will stay with us always. But how we respond determines everything. We must stand tall in order to finish what we started even in the face of tragedy one last time.
It must end. TONIGHT. The time has come to put a stop to this madness when no one else would bother. Not even us. Things have gotten so bad. They had to send this man from the other side of the globe! Just think about that for a second.!!! He risked so much in coming here to help us end this problem we have ignored for far too long!!!
Gliding hawk then grunted in pain. His caretaker wanted to lay him back down. But told her to help him carry on. He must do this all the way to the end.
Please....My friends Let it be the last noble thing we ever did as a proud people. Not as cowards. Not as weak remnants. But as Iroquois. Hunters. Leaders. Warriors. That is who we are. That is what we always were. And we must be so again. Before there is nothing left of us to be able to do so.
We need this man. I have seen his courage and compassion first hand. He saved your son's body from being eaten by the creatures. He saved me from freezing in the river. He may have created the trail for the creatures. But it was a trail we all helped plant the seeds for. If any is to die tonight for betraying our people. Let it be me.
Adisila above me hesitated. I could hear the grinding of her teeth in rage. I could feel her knife shaking as her grief filled hand holding the cold steel tightly against my skin began inching away slowly, fighting against every thought of vengeance she wished to indulge. She released her hold. Leaving me kneeling before the mob in silence. But her next action I feel far more ashamed of.
The woman then ripped off the spare buckskin shirt I had been given by her now dead father from the attack and stared down at me with pure hatred, towering above in a cold uninviting rage. A rage even more intense than mine of vampires.
You.
Don't.
"Deserve this."
You will kill the beast with the men tonight. She scowled. Her gaze frightening and cold as her husband. Then, you will leave these lands as soon as it is dead. And if you even think of coming back...." Adisila then pointed the knife down at my head. She wasn't used to weapons. But she clearly was serious about using this one.
I will kill you. Along with him.
The mob backed away leaving me alone kneeling in the snow shivering. The rest of the tribe, Adisila, and the woman helping Gliding Hawk went back into the longhouse leaving me alone with him in the snow. Darkness slowly began to creep in all around the two of us murderers and outcasts. With the fall of dreaded night once again starting to return and trap us both in it's newfound isolated shame left outside the longhouse in the cold.
I heard the footsteps of Gliding hawk's caretaker walking back out into the snow alone. This time heavier. She was carrying something new. She assisted Gliding Hawk and set him down right in front of me. I clenched the snow in my fist into a ball. Not wanting to look them both in the face for what I have done. I had thought so little of how my presence being here would affect so many. Now I knew. Would I have left Gliding hawk and his son behind to die and be eaten if it mean saving so many others knowing what I do now? I...I do not know what I should have done. But whatever option I might have picked. It would still be the wrong one.
I tilted my head up slowly with tears in my eyes to be greeted with a strangely comforting face I was undeserving of. A familiar calming presence that I hadn't felt in so long. One that was exactly like that of my mother. It was the woman with the purpled necklace I had saved earlier. The one who had fed me and shown compassion when everyone else was too afraid. A faint gracious and remorseful smile formed across her face as she wiped away my tears. She then looked downward slowly to the items wrapped in a cloth. In her hands....
My sword.
My gear.
And my rifle. All bundled together. Waiting to be used.
I told her with my voice quivering that I didn't deserve to wear them anymore. I had brought so much harm against so many innocent people. People I had sworn to protect. They had suffered so dearly because of me coming here.
The woman knelt down and reached over her hand. Clutching it calmly to my shaking wrist.
"We have always suffered." She said with a soft sad voice to me. "Tonight is no different."
I looked away. Wanting to think she was lying about me not having caused all this and that she was just being nice against her own good. Fully believing that her words would be completely different towards me if her own children were killed and butchered in the snow. But I wouldn't dare bring up a horrendous reply to her. Instead...
"Why would you say that?" I asked her confused and unable to process how she could possibly still be so focused in light of all that had just happened. She responded calmly and unshaken as she unwrapped and began to dress me in my armor as if I were a frightened child that only needed guidance.
"Because we can not afford to give into despair. What good would that do? Giving up is easy. Living is hard. But it is all we can do anymore. Live and make it to one more generation. We have persevered this long because we will not allow our sprit to die and let ourselves be forgotten as if we were never here to begin with. That is our greatest strength. And it can be yours to if you let it.
"We will stand and not give in."
She clamped my armor plating and shoulder pieces together. She had cleaned them spotless while I had slept.
"You will fight and not give in."
She fastened my boots and gauntlets quickly by their straps.
"And tomorrow when these beasts are gone and our valley knows peace once more. We will all still be here living to see the light of another day together. So don't you dare tell yourself anything different."
She finally brushed aside my blonde hair and donned my helmet atop my head, leaving me barely able to see her kind inspiring eyes through the narrow metal slit."
You saved me and my children and I can never thank you enough for that." She said without a shred of boastfulness knowing how many of her friend's families hadn't been so lucky. "You did something good child.
"Now go and do something great."
The woman then slowly placed my belongings before me in my lap, with Gliding hawk topping it off with his own personal bow and arrows to aid in my hunt in his place. I turned to face him.
"I am afraid I can not be your guide this time my friend. Gliding Hawk said with remorse consuming his voice at the thought of his warriors days now being truly well behind him.
"I will remain here with the others and help however I can and await my punishment come morning. Half the men will guide you in finding the beast deep into the forest. They hate you. But they love their families far more. You will all slay this monster tonight with them by your side and victory will at last be ours, even for a brief moment. You can not do this alone. And neither can we. We must all work together to survive now. There is no other option. Nor should their be.
Gliding hawk then handed me his tomahawk. Knowing he would no longer need it.
"She is right you know. Gliding Hawk said calmly with a slight smile. You have done something noble even if other's do not see it that way. But more will suffer if we let this beast's cold heart continue to beat. It is now our burden as well as yours to share. Perseverance is our greatest strength. And it can be yours to if you let it.
"Will you?"
The two then stood calmly in silence and ventured back inside to help rebuild the longhouse and stay close together for the coming chaos. I sat there in the snow completely covered in armor, unable to move or think. Only wanting them both to stay but I knew it could not be so. But as the mother entered back inside she turned to face me one last time. Nodded in sheer gratitude and concern for me. And vanished back inside closing the door to be with her children. Casting me back in the dark and leaving me with both of their vivid words stuck in my soul.
Everything that had happened over the past few days had led to tonight. This moment. This choice. Right now.
I slowly reached for the bow. Feeling the tense strong string just waiting to be fired.
My mind began to race. My heart began to beat outside my chest. I wanted to cast the cursed objects aside. My body would not listen.
I loaded my rifle and sharpened my sword hastily. I had no control over what I was doing. I am afraid. I am more afraid than I have ever been in my life. I had lied to myself all along In thinking I was fearless. But it was then I realized. My fear needed to fuel my actions. Fear of dying. Fear of failing. Fearing for losing all these people it was my job to protect unless I fought and won. Fear controlled me. And I let it.
I am now writing outside the ruined longhouse with the other warriors standing beside me to disembark into the forest. All ready, determined and armed to the teeth. A walking arsenal. We were not prepared for the beast before. Now we are. My six reluctant companions will accompany and lead me to the beasts lair. There we will end this tonight once and for all. Failure is not an option. We will not come back until the job is done. And I will not write again unless I have succeeded.
Our brief moment of calm is coming to an end around us. I hear the heartfelt cries of surviving men saying their goodbyes to what is left of their families promising to return alive. I myself am sitting alone, watching the darkening sky above me. The snow fall has returned once again to these ancient lands. It is colder than ever before, but I strangely do not even feel it anymore. This task has all my attention now from this point on. Nothing else will bother me. My ink has begun to freeze in it's very bottle. So I will have to finish writing this page soon. There is work to be done and I mustn't delay any longer. There will be nowhere for this demon to hide from us this time.
We will find him. We will trap him. We will burn and destroy his cold unfeeling heart with every shred of energy we have left as a small army with the voice and rage of millions. No matter what happens to me.
It all ends tonight.
And. We. Will. Win.