Kieran: Red Eyes in the Dark

The soldiers huddled around the campfire. Others slept in their tents or kept watch around the perimeter.
At the fire, one studied their orders while they stoked the flames with a stick. He looked around nervously, then huddled closer to the blaze and spoke in a low voice.
“I’m.. not sure what to think of our lady’s orders”, he said. “Level the whole village? As an example? Only because they sheltered a family trying to escape to the border? Doesn’t that seem a bit much to you all?”

“Orders are orders”, another said, spitting into the fire.
Some nodded assent, but the first one spoke again.
“Hadn’t you heard about the 12th platoon?” he said nervously.

“Jacques”, another replied “don’t tell me you are another one that believes those Red Eyes stories!”

“What’s not to believe?”, Jacques replied. “You’ve heard them too! Our Lady sent the platoon out to make an example of the beastfolk in the Eastern internment camp. Supposedly, they’d made too much of an outcry on their treatment. The platoon was sent to do away with all of them! Men, women and children, leaving no witnesses. The platoon went forth to carry out the order. They were a week overdue to return. A search party was sent out, and found their mauled remains.. No evidence of the bodies of their attackers, despite some odd peat smelling ichor on their blades, and only one survivor, his mind so far gone in shock that all he could say was “Red Eyes.. Red Eyes.. in the dark!”

“I’ve heard he still sits in the infirmary to this day, babbling and crying over what he witnessed. You don’t believe that Perrin?”

Perrin looked up, and spat into the fire again. Others looked away. “Believe what you want, Jacques”, he replied, “all I say is orders is orders, and what the Lady says, we do, and we’re paid well FOR it!”

The others nodded.

“I don’t know”, Jacques continued. “Maybe this is some kind of.. retribution.. maybe.. maybe we’ve lost favor with the gods?”

Perrin laughed. “The Gods!? We’ve got COIN, boy! That’s god enough for me. Now take your whining elsewhere! I’m sick of hearing it AND your fear mongering!”

The others nodded or mumbled assent, and Jacques left the fire to find his tent. As he made his way, he wondered where the guards at the perimeter had gone.

Perhaps they continued their patrol elsewhere..

In the treeline nearby, a figure cleaned his blade. The guards had been done for, but they nearly gave him away early. Not that it mattered to Kieran, but it had been of interest to have chance to hear the De Jardin soldiers speak at the campfire.

He pulled a dagger from his chest. It trailed a black ichor where blood would be.
One of the sentries had dealt him a blow, but it was not enough to save him his fate.
No need to hide the bodies. They’d have company soon.

Kieran laid his weapons down. This work, he would do by HAND, like the other times before..

Most times, the De Jardin would not know how their soldiers met their end. Many had been small battles, minor losses, barely worth notice.

The 12th though.. 36 men strong..

The one, their bugler, was young, and despite the many atrocities the De Jardin had committed, Kieran felt a moments pity. It stayed his hand. The boy survived, his mind.. did not..

Kieran thought back again to what he had seen these forces do, the horrors of war, and how it brought to the surface other battlefields he had seen. Other “mockeries” of life he had lived.

Now, it was time to let the illusion of humanity slip from him. To allow the monster he knew he was.. to be witnessed.

He felt the rush of heat as his form swelled. His skin darkened and cracked, revealing red flames beneath, and the odor of peat fires.

He strode forth into the camp, swathed in a haze of black smoke.

Perhaps he might find it in the space where his heart should be to allow Jacques to tell the tale.

Though the night was dark, and the camp fire had been banked, he had no trouble seeing.

The fires of his red eyes lit the path ahead..