Cruor et Caedis Chapter III

Earlier chapters:
Chapter I
Chapter II

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Chapter III

Ís was shrieking. Ís was still shrieking. Nothing Jack had done helped in that matter.

Other didn't seem to bother about it too much, but Jack had the impression they didn't hear the shriek continuously. Late at night Jack stuffed Ís' mouth with a filthy rag, but that didn't help. Voice was so loud he couldn't sleep.

The next night Jack tried to sleep as far from Adon and Ís as possible, and eventually there was almost one kilometre between the two. And that didn't help.

Three full days without sleep and Jack could take no more. He raided their medicine supplies where there still was almost a full bottle of pure alcohol for cleansing of wounds. He drank it, and ate everything else. Even bandages. He started screaming himself, tried to make enough noise to drown Ís' voice. Finally he started to summon little... aides from another dimensions, and called for demons to inhabit any poor soul from his circus who happened to cross his path. He set fires and caused explosion. And finally, he collapsed.

But even that didn't help. Jack saw drunken dreams, or actually only one dream that lasted all through the lack of his consciousness. In that dream Ís was still shrieking.

Once he sobered up, he rose with murder in his eyes. He stormed to Adon and started beating Ís. Repeatedly, without mercy. "Nnnuh... Nnnnuhh", Adon was crying and shaking his head. Jack did not stop hitting. No, he would not stop it until there was silence. But he could not stop, for the voice pierced his skull. Insane, he suddenly saw his own face to appear where Ís' head should have been. That only doubled his rage.

He did not stop out of his own volition. His own face changed to that of his father. His beautiful father. His beautiful, perfect father that he had murdered. Now Jack stopped and fell to the ground and cried in foetal position. His father would not stop shrieking.

Somebody shook him gently. Jack opened his eyes, but could not see through his tears. "Who are you?" he asked.

"Don't you know me, it's Ennu. Are you alright, sire?"

"Your name is Ennu?" Jack sobbed. He didn't recall he had ever heard the name of this genderless person who wore pink even though they had known each other for years.

"Yes, Jack" Ennu said with alert, yet empathetic voice.

"Ennu, I... I cannot concentrate. I can't focus. I can't think, not until that horrible noise is gone..."

"... I understand. But you need to raise up. We need you. We have a matter in our hands of most troubling degree."

"What, what is it?" Jack said while he tried to raise his failing body and mind. Ís was still shrieking.

Ís was still shrieking, and Jack couldn't believe his eyes.

Ís was still shrieking, and now this.

Out of all places in the whole wide world... A competing circus. Rivals. And what a miserable circus it was.

First, they got no style. Second, they were ugly.

"Who are they? Some amateurs I see. Their stage hand look more like some savage militia!" Jack spoke, recovering from his mental breakdown with each word. Savage militia had driven off Cruor et Caedis many times from different towns where people were not quite ready for Jack's rather... exquisite show.

"I'm unsure... look there. They don't look like beginners to me. And they have a wolf" Ennu said.

"A wolf? What kind of circus they think they are? Sorry, I must laugh this off" Jack said and pretended to laugh. The laugh had just a little bit too high pitch.

"Anyway. You mean those in dark robes? And is their hunchback... dead? Ugh. They're a disgrace. What kind of a circus would save off their audience? We need to teach them a lesson."

"They seem to be searching for something. They're not performing here. Remember the houses you ordered us to investigate? In my judgement looks possible they after the treasures we found, sire."

"What? My ring! They're going to steal my ring! They must be stopped! Hide my treasure somewhere and kill everyone!"

Then Jack saw the zombie gracefully flying through the air after necromancer had cast a spell upon it.

"Oh... they do have some tricks up their sleeve after all. I must learn that one. The dead. Flying through the air instead of being buried in the ground. So beautiful."

Chapter IV