Fantasmical • The Many Trials of Elyn Tusit

02. Trial of the Dead (Dark Fantasy)

WattpadDarkFantasy

You are invited to join a mysterious group of people who can travel to the underworld on a whim.

Elyn's sandal caught on a rock, and she stumbled. Grazing her palms as she grabbed a tree to stop herself from falling further, she cursed her father for sending her on this errand.

The goat she was chasing turned to look at her. He let out a blep before disappearing further up the incline.

As much as she liked goats, Gerish was starting to get on Elyn's nerves. He had already taken her too far from home and if he wasn't careful another farmer would snatch him up.

Elyn made it to the top of the hill and narrowed her eyes. Gerish was nowhere to be seen. There was no vegetation here – nothing for him to hide behind.

Gerish called again. Time Elyn didn't stop to doubt her ability to catch him. Gravel scattered under her feet as she ventured forth. She cleared the top of the hill and started down the other side, coming to a halt when she noticed an elderly man walking towards her.

"Is this yours?" he asked. He had Gerish at his heels, acting unusually polite for a goat.

"Yes." Elyn forced a smile. "Thank you for catching him. He is rather fast."

"I didn't catch him. He simply stopped running when he saw me."

Elyn did her best not to frown. "You enchanted him?"

"No. I know no goat magic."

The man's glassy eyes looked past her. Elyn turned to see what he was looking at. A group of robed strangers were standing on the hill's peak. She had no idea how they had climb there without her seeing them first.

"We should really be going now." Elyn went to attach her rope to Gerish, but the old man stopped her.

"This goat has decided to join me and my companions. I promised he could come with us to Hydis."

"Hydis?" Elyn paled. "Sir, you can't take Gerish to the underworld."

A woman stepped forward from the group. "If Gerish has decided to come, he must come. The Dead will be expecting him."

"But-"

"If he doesn't go, the Dead will come to visit him. Haunt him. You may come too if you like. I am Valk, and that is Eep. We are Hydiesh; we entertain the Dead."

Eep – the old man – led Elyn and Gerish back up the hill. She glared at her goat, but she doubted he cared about the trouble he had caused. But she couldn't let her goat be haunted and she couldn't leave Gerish to the Hydiesh.

She linked hands with Valk and Eep. Two others placed their hands on Gerish's horns as the Hydiesh arranged themselves into a circle. They began to chant, and a bright light burst forth from the centre of their ring.

For a moment everything was dark.

Then there was music and chatter, warmth, and the smell of burning meat. Elyn opened her eyes and found herself in the middle of a great hall. Tables covered in food lined the stone floor, a band was playing on a crooked stage, and fire burned behind the cracked windows.

The Dead were everywhere. Their forms were not wisps or decaying corpses, but human figures. Most were transparent, their bodies luminous. They laughed and smiled and told jokes to one and other as they enjoyed the banquet.

Elyn looked for her goat and found him sitting at a table, somehow holding cutlery as he dug into a platter of food.

"You must entertain the Dead." Valk leaned closer to Elyn so she could be heard over the music. "They will only let you leave once you have amused them. It doesn't have to be something grand. They are easily pleased."

Before she could stutter her reply, Valk had left Elyn to talk with one of the Dead. Elyn pursed her lips. The other Hydiesh were performing poems, playing instruments, or rolling dice with the Dead. Eep was waving puppets around, his grin stretched from ear to ear.

Deciding it was best she stayed with Gerish, Elyn joined him at the table. She tried to recount her story of how she had come to Hydis to a nearby ghost, but he failed to find the humour in her tale.

She rolled her bracelet around her wrist. An idea came to her then, and she clamped a bead between her fingers, uttering the required words to bring the story trapped within to life. But her enchantment failed. Her beads would not answer her call in Hydis.

"Have you been to Dun'sel?" she asked quickly. When no one told her that they had, she launched into a retelling of her adventure in the city – how she had turned a fountain into a flowerpot and accidentally marked her forehead.

No one seemed particularly interested in that story either. Elyn slumped back in her chair. If only she could do something simple like Gerish. The Dead were more than entertained by his sudden ability to eat and every time he bleated, he was rewarded with a wave of laughter.

A small figure latched onto her arm. "You are new," the Dead said.

Elyn's concerns about her beads left her as she met the child's eyes. "Yes. This is my first time here."

The ghost frowned. "You can understand me? No one ever understands me."

She pointed to the ghost's necklace. "You are from the K'shelk village. I recognise your signet. I speak K'shelk - it is a lovely language, and your village is not far from mine."

"Will you tell me of? Are our cows still well? I am new too, and I miss home."

"The last time I was there, your cows were very well."

Elyn smiled as the Dead made herself comfortable on the table. She answered every question she was asked, then launched into her favourite myth. She might have stayed there for hours had Valk not come to collect her.

"Not so terrible, is it?" Eep said as they linked hands again.

"No," Elyn smiled. "It is not."