laneys.info Beware of Yankees, drunks, and loose women.

The four knights hadn’t been digging for very long when Alister’s shovel struck something solid.  He and William began clearing the dirt from the lid of a coffin just as Lericanin also struck an object with his shovel.  Soon, all four men were lifting the two coffins up from out of the earth to place them side-by-side on the stone floor of the old church.

Sceva placed his shovel’s point into the seam where the lid met the side of the coffin and looked at his companions.  Lericanin stood with his hammer at the ready, while Alister prepared a wooden stake for him to strike.  William unsheathed his sword and Alandria stood by with two ropes that she had knotted for binding their hands and feet.  “Ready,” Sceva asked.  Everyone nodded.  “1…2…3.”

He dug the shovel’s head deeply into the seam and pried back with all his might.  The lid flew off, revealing a young man of about twenty-four in the simple clothes of a peasant.  His eyes flew open, burning with bright flame against the pale grey skin of his face.  He opened his mouth in a roar of rage that turned quickly to a choked silence as Alister positioned the stake over his heart and Lericanin swung his war hammer down onto it with such force that the stake almost disappeared into the creature’s chest.  Dark, black blood welled up from around the wood as they tied his hands and feet.

Lericanin leaned over the coffin and looked the creature in the face.  “Wake up.  Time to die,” he taunted.

“I don’t believe he asked for wake-up service, Lericanin,” Sceva said.  “He looks a little upset.”

“I’d ask to speak to the manager, if I were him,” Alister joined.

In the same way, they paralyzed and bound the second vampire, an older man whose clothes spoke of modest income and light labor – probably a merchant.  Both vampires, though they could no longer move, fixed their heated gaze on every move the five companions made.

“Now what,” Alandria asked.  “I thought they would be dead now, but they’re not.  Their stares are creepy.”

“The sun isn’t bright enough in here,” Lericanin said.  “Guys, get the horses and more rope.  We’ll have to haul them out into the open.”

Alandria tossed the longer ropes over the wall, where Sceva and Alister tied them to the horses.  William and Lericanin tied the other ends to the feet of their captives.

“Okay,” William shouted, “we’re all set in here.”

“Okay, here we go,” Alister shouted back.

As the horses pulled, the two vampires were lifted over the edge of the wall and into the direct rays of the setting sun.  The merchant was the first to rise into the light, his paralyzed body smoking and blistering as he died.  The other rose stiffly, catching a foot on the edge of the wall so that he pivoted up at the feet to face directly into the sun.  As the light fell across his face, a scream escaped him.  Human lips never uttered such a sound, a ghastly shriek that belied the unnatural throat that produced it.  The flesh began to crisp around his eyes and nose and the smoke began pouring out of his mouth like a man’s breath in the depth of winter.  The smell was repulsive, like the burning of rotten meat that should have long ago been devoured by worms.  The damaged, burning torso gave way and released the wooden stake as the horses continued to pull, and the vampire’s body writhed and fell across the top of the wall.  Freed of his paralysis, the creature tried to escape the sun’s unrelenting persecution, but was still held in place by the ropes on his hands and feet.  Eventually, it ceased struggling and hung quietly on the wall.  The two figures were still audibly sizzling as the five mounted their horses and rode back to the road.