Costello

In the darkness that came before there were no men only demons. They festered and spawned there and there was nothing to stop them. When the light came it racked them with awful pains and spasms and none could walk the land neither by day nor even in the night for the moon guarded the night and held back the darkness. But as all creatures do they adjusted. Some gain the ability to veil themselves in mist and shield themselves from the agonizing light. Others ignored the pain and walked about as before and still others delved deep into the mountains and caves to hide from this new menace.  It was after this time that to that land was given men. At first the demons feared the men as they feared the light for they saw something in the men that was like the light, or at least like the source of the light. But men will not act as they should and neither did these men. They were warned, all of them, that demons were evil and not to be touched or spoken to and for a time they obeyed that edict.

It was a man called Costello who first broke the wall of glass that held back the demons. He had no wife of his own for all the maidens of his clan found him hideous to look upon and vulgar in speech and dress. So he ventured out from there hoping to find another clan where he could acquire a woman that would take him as her husband. On the way he stopped to rest by a stream and fell into a deep slumber. He then dreamt of a woman, lovely in every way, who held him and called him husband and master. When he awoke he found he was right next to the stream and looking into the stream he saw what at first glance seemed to be his own reflection then it rose from the river and he saw that it was a woman. She was the woman of his dream, beautiful, dark and willowy, just as he dreamed her. But he never forgot his first impression that she was somehow his own reflection. She sat on the opposite shore under the light of the moon, shaking and dressed in only a black shift.

Costello shivered with the strangeness of waking from his dream to the same woman and with desire for her to hold him as she did in his dream. He called across the water but she shook her head as if she could not hear him. Costello ran to the nearest ford and plowed across, but when he came to the place where she had been she was not there. He thought he heard the echo of her footsteps and followed the sound into a cave. The cave wound and twisted downward but there was only one path and he was egged on by the faintest whisper of her clothing, soft patter of her footsteps, the memory of her lips in his dream. He thought to himself, she could be in need of assistance, perhaps I am the only one able to save her, and so convinced himself to keep on. The path was pitch back but very smooth and the slope was gentle so Costello never stumbled. Once a fragmented memory of his grandmother warning him against demons floated into his mind but he pushed that from his mind. Suddenly, without any warning he hit an unyielding stone wall. He could hear soft breathing somewhere to the left of him and he called out to her.

When she spoke he had the fancy that the voice was his own but in a moment it became distinctly feminine, low, and inviting. “Why have you followed me here?”

“I love you and wish to offer you any assistance I can”

“Do you love me or yourself?” she asked and again it seemed to Costello that she spoke with his own voice.

“My lady there can be no doubt of which.”

“I suppose not”

“Is there any way I can serve you?”

“Come closer” Costello quivered for that was how he truly wanted to server her.

He stepped forward but she was farther than he thought.

“Touch me” she said and this time there was a hissing darkness in her voice. And to Costello’s mind his grandmother’s words became clear.  ‘They will try everything they can to get you to touch them. They will call to you and plead with you but you must not heed them. If even one mortal should touch one of their kind the consequences do not bear thinking.’ And for a moment he drew back.

Then her voice came again, low and seductive and pitiful. “I’m just so cold.”

He reached out to her and the moment his hand touched her shoulder there was a flash of light and he saw that she was no woman but some kind of reptile with long sharp fangs and dark shifting eyes. He did not stop to see what it would do. He ran until he could run no more. Then he fell to the ground and slept. His dreams were troubled and full of dark women who changed to snakes. But when he woke he was whole and well and surprisingly to him, alive. For about a week he wandered, everyday expecting to fall down dead or change into some sort of half man. But when nothing of the kind happened he decided that the woman and the cave must have been part of his troubled dreams and continued on to where he knew his clan would be.

When he came near the camp he could immediately tell that all was not as it should be. The women were engaged in the ceremonial wailing that came with a death but the wailing did not undulate as it usually did when the women took the wailing in turns. It went on and on, many voices all in anguish. As he came nearer he saw that most of the camp was nothing but ashes and there was a charred circle around the edge.