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Story of the Demon of St. Runius
by Father Laurentius
t
all began when the watchmen on the watchtower saw a pillar of smoke coming from
the Isle of Man. That oaf, Duncan, was the first one there to receive the news,
and he did it in his normal style; verbally abusing the watchmen for the mistakes
they had not made. When the real lords of the island are gone, they have nominated
three persons to take care of the covenant. These three, Belisarios, Duncan and
Hector, take turns, each lasting a week, and for that time they are the highest
authority on the calf, concerning the military and maintennance.
he
guardsman alerted others, and after some looking, they actually saw a rowing
boat near the stones and rocks separating the Calf from the Isle of Man. The
grogs equipped themselves and boarded the ship left for us by the magi, and I
stepped on board as well as Duncan. We approached the boat and saw a man's arm
coming over the side. Since the boat was so near the rocks, it was impossible
for us to approach it with our ship, and after a while of planning Duncan
removed his arms and armour, dived into the water and swam towards the boat.
t
the boat he realized, that the man was badly hurt but still alive. What surprised
him the most was that there was also a little girl there - although at the ship
we had no idea that he had found her there. We only saw him taking the man's large
axe and using it as a peddle, he started propelling the rowboat towards the shore
of Calf.
n
our ship, however, things were a little different. Another rowing boat appeared,
full of men in armour and weapons. They shouted at us to let them board our ship,
but since we had so many people already on board, we told them to follow us to
the shore. They then asked us to throw them a rope and haul their little boat
to shore behind us, which we did.
t
the docks they quickly stepped on the pier, still fully armoured and with weapons
on their belts. They also were wearing blue and red livery, with a symbol probably
belonging to Ulvarsson. Speaking norse to me, their leader, a tall man with long
blond hair to his shoulders, rudely exclaimed that the boat we had found was
theirs, and that they wanted it and all what was in it back. They demanded the
child back, which was very odd to me, since at that time I knew nothing of the
boy. I told them politely, to wait at the docks, even though their attitude towards
me or anyone else on the island was quite far from politeness. I saw the hammer
of Thor hanging from many of their necks, betraying their devotion towards Aesir,
the norse religion.
walked towards the infirmary, praying to Lord that the man would turn out to be
alive, and that he would recover fully. On the other side of the island, Duncan
had climbed the cliff up, and yelled and howled to the guard there to bring the
stretchers and more men for carrying the wounded man in them. As efficient as
his method may be, he only makes the distance between himself and the rest of
the grogs grow, and soon they will start to hate him instead of respect. I pray
he will notice the err of his ways and start the long road towards salvation.
hen
I entered the infirmary, Caitlin, the mute woman who had taken up the job of the
healer and midwife, greeted me, and then brought me to the boy, Jon. He was
roughly two years old, and had been on the boat with the wounded man, Robbie,
as I later found out. A moment later, the guards came with Robbie on the stretchers.
We took him in, bound his wounds, and I performed the holy sacrament of Unction.
After this, the man rested peacefully in his sleep.
efore
he left, Duncan showed me a letter he had found inside Robbie's helmet. It was
written in latin, and was from Sir Murdoch Coyle to a sister. In short, it asked
for sister's mercy to take care of they boy, Jon, and rise him in understanding
of the God's Word and to be a good christian. It also told that Lagman Ulvarsson,
a local norse noble, wanted to get to the boy, and probably seize his life as
well as all of the Coyle family. The warmongering heathens! If they only knew
the true God, and heard the Word! They should forget their old ways and embrace
the true faith, only then will their sould be saved!
hile
I was tending to Robbie, Duncan had marched to the docks with the guards. The
norsemen were growing tired of waiting, and were huddling together, mumbling
and showing their discontent. Duncan tried to talk with them, but only their
leader spoke manx, and very poorly. They again insisted that they should have
the boy and then they would be off. When I returned to the docks, they were
nearly furious, and still demanded the boy. After a moment, we told them to
pack their belongings and leave, since they would not leave with anyone else
on this island. The laws of the land may not protect Sir Coyle himself from
their strange politics, but we would not allow them to murder an innocent boy.
The left, cursing us and promising, that their lord, lagman Ulvarsson, would
retaliate.
he
wounded man, Robbie, was not able to speak, so we wanted to give him some time
to regain his health. Duncan, the pompous fool he is, wanted to go in and address
the man himself, roughly questioning him and giving him hard time. When I
intervened and asked him to leave, he declined, and threatened me with my life.
He claimed to be the master of the island, while the magi were gone, and did not
need any priests to advice him. I left and walked to the chapel, where I prayed
for his soul. I sometimes can not understand the pure evil in the man, who has
been working for the holy cause in the crusades! I wish the Lord will cleanse
him of his sins, but I fear, that his burden is too heavy to bear.
fter
getting some incoherent mumbling from the man, the blatant simpleton came knocking
on my door and barged in, even though I instructed him to leave. He followed me
to the chapel, still roaring and wanting me to help him. Since he had clearly
shown me earlier, that he neither needed or wanted my help, I asked him to leave.
I hope my decision was not a false one, for I fear what me might do; maybe my
actions will further distance him from the Church.
he
next day, Duncan and Belisarios collected a few men and boarded the ship. They
headed to the lands of Sir Murdoch Coyle, wanting to have first hand experience
on what was going on there. They took young Alister, Finn, Paul and Thomas with
them, as well as that poor Alistair, the mediocre bard who has delusions of
grandness. I wonder if he knows that pride is one of the seven deadly sins?
They also took a few horses on board.
ater
I heard that they had encountered a small band of Ulvarsson's men, raping a maid
near the burned house of Coyle. The men bravely engaged the heathens, and
although it costed the life of the byzantine mercenary, Belisarios, they saved
the girl. Two of the norsemen surrendered, when their numbers were dramatically
decreased. One of the norsemen escaped, but the other one was brutally
slaughtered by Duncan - who else.
've
tried to locate the demon possessing him and causing him to do all this evil,
but have met no victory. It bothers me that a man of his actions is allowed to
be called a leader, and instruct the other, inexperienced soldiers. What if
they pick up his evil habits too? I must address the magi of this problem,
and speak to the covenfolk in my next sermon.
he
mercenaries who were earlier led by Belisarios, asked me to bury their commander
in the church yard. First I wondered about their reasons for this, since they
haven't been devout christians in the first place, rather succumbing to the
drink, women and games of chance. Nevertheless, the man was a christian, and
deserved a proper burial. The rest of his band promised to attend the mass more
often.
he
next day I went to the infirmary, and talked to the man. I learned that Duncan
had been earlier there, bothering the man again. I learned that the man was
sent by Coyle and was heading to the convent of St. Runius, where he was supposed
to take the boy, to be taken care of by the nuns. The convent was near Douglas
on the Isle of Man, and I wanted to complete the will of a man, who was so
savagely caught up in the politics of this merciless island. I asked Emmett to
talk to Duncan, since I could not take this trip alone; he was supposed to
gather the men for that journey.
was expecting a lot more trouble from Duncan, but this time, he actually did
the right thing initially. The ship was boarded by almost the same men as in
the trip to Coyle's estate. Duncan, Alistair and of course, Belisarios, were
not with us this time. We sailed to Douglas, and walked to the monastery from
there.
ust
as we were entering the convent, we heard discussion from inside the walls. A
nun exclaimed to a man that he could not be armed inside those holy walls, and
that he should leave. From his speech we heard that he was a norseman himself,
and decided not to go in directly. Instead, we walked a while back, then off
the road, and sent Emmett in to inform the Abbess that we had arrived with the
boy. He is a good man, not proud of himself, and generally trusts people. It
comes natural to him, and it is not faked. I wish more of the covenfolk would
take up his path, and live up to the teachings of our Lord.
mmett
walked in the convent, under the disguise of a servant for a clerk in Douglas,
searching to purchase vellum from the convent. The norse guard was suspicious,
but let him in, since he had no real reasons to suspect Emmett of anything. Emmett
asked the nuns to speak with the Abbess, and was granted an audience. There he told
the woman that we had the son of Sir Coyle, and wanted to bring him inside, like
his father had wanted. The abbess, Mary Paul, instructed him to return after dark
from the back door, so that the guard would not see us and intervene.
fter
Emmett's return, we followed another road around the monastery, and almost walked
too far. I think it was Paul, who noted a dolmen off the road, where we could wait
until the evening, away from prying eyes and still have our own eyes aimed at the
convent. After nightfall, we sent Alister and Paul, the two most sharp-eyed men
of the lot to scout the way.
hen
they got nearer to the door, they did not see any guards posted there by Ulvarsson.
Maybe the pagan does have some respect for the Church? Later, Alister and Paul
told us they had seen a cat-like creature, darting on top of the walls, but other
than that, there were no interruptions. We got safely inside, and the nuns led
me to the Abbess, Mary Paul.
he
is a bright young woman, originally from North England, just like myself. I
enjoyed my conversations with her, since I seldom get the chance to meet other
men - and women - of the cloth. She had been posted in the convent of St. Runius
by the Bishop of York, partly because there were no other qualified women, and
partly for missionary work. The grip of the celtic church is still very strong
over this land, but the catholic church will overcome its strength eventually.
he
nuns took over the boy, and offered us a place to lay our heads down, since it
was already dark and Douglas was a long walk away. We expressed our gratitude,
of course, but the Abbess had another request. She was afraid of the Ulvarsson's
men, since they had been already asking questions about the boy and intruding
in the monastery! Those fiendish heathens, don't they know that the house of
the Lord is a place of sanctuary, and nothing good comes to those who bear arms
and cause trouble in it? Perhaps the bishop could take this matter into his own
hands, and perhaps pull some strings?
he
men took up guarding shifts during the night, so that there wouldn't be any
surprise attacks; we had to be sure the boy was safe. In the dark of the night,
they saw a small creature, like a small man, who had four arms, and no legs.
At the time I thought they had napped off during their shifts, since the
imagination can be running wild during the dark hours, and the common folk often
makes up all kinds of strange rumors. I wish now that it had only been a dream,
since the hideous creature showed off later.
n
the morning, I had a talk with sister Mary Paul, and she asked us to stay in
the convent for the time it took for Bishop's men to arrive. The poor woman was
still afraid of lagman Ulvarsson's men, quite understandably, if I may add, so
I agreed. It served our best interests to preserve the sanctity of the monastery.
After the breakfast the nuns had their matins, but one of the sisters did not
show up. This was rather strange. Why would a nun not participate in the prayers?
Where could she go?
asked the Mother Superior to instruct the nuns to search the convent, and my
men to search the premises and outside the walls. The missing nun was nowhere
to be seen. Strangely there were a few tracks on the courtyard, like handprints.
The strange part was that there were only two prints in two places, one set was
between the main building and the walls, and other near an old celtic sacrificial
well. The Abbess had ordered it to be sealed, but the latch was broken.
he
body of the young nun was found inside the small well. After informing the
Mother Superior about it, the nuns took the body and started the preparations
for her funeral. The mood was dramatically dropped.
e
started the search of the culprit, but found nothing. Evening came, and with
it the darkness. The bishop's men had not come, and we stayed another night.
The men organized another night of guarding, and met with success. They saw a
dark shape entering the guesthouse through its window, and the men sleeping
inside woke up to the rustling. The beast was climbing in the ceiling, and
dropped down on the old sentry, striking him hard. Our men were upon it in an
instant, and struck the beast mortally, so I was told. The monster scuttered
away, using darkness as a cloak, and disappeared into the night.
he
men were in a state of alertness for the rest of the night, searching for the
beast and its tracks, but found nothing. In the morning we searched for it again,
but found nothing. The old celtic sacrificial well reeked of evil, and I wanted
to get rid of it; it might have very well be the lair of this foul creature.
When I proceeded to bless the well, there was a screech, and the four-armed
monstrosity came leaping over the convent wall, screaming "Saint Runius!".
uckily
I was surrounded by strong and capable men, who were able to hold back the thing
while it came towards me, murder in its black eyes. It wounded a few of us with
might and main, but perhaps the worst damage was done by a stray arrow from
Paul's bow, which lodged itself in Emmett's knee, cutting through sinew and
flesh. I believe it was young Alister, who ran the beast through with his sword,
ending its unholy life.
s
I tended the wounded, the men who were unhurt took up guarding positions once
again. After a short while, there was knocking at the front gates, and a voice
announced the arrival of bishop Roderick's men. Our spirits were elated; the
gates were opened, and the sergeant quickly took charge of things, assigning
his men, experienced warriors, to took up our positions, as we explained the
story to him with the Mother Superior.
ur
work was done. The sergeant and his men had good news, Sir Coyle had survived
the lily-livered attack by Ulvarsson's men, and was recovering. Bishop's men
took Coyle's son with them, and both the Mother Superior and the sergeant thanked
us for our contribution in this grave matter. They also told us they'd put a
good word with the bishop because of all this.
t
was time for us to return to the Calf. After the short walk to Douglas, we
boarded our ship and returned to our homes. The wounded men were escorted to
infirmary, and I visited them daily, until they were fully healed again - with
the exception, Emmett, of course. The knee of the poor man never truly recovered,
and still, even at this day, he walks with a limp.