Judith Slays Holofernes, Pt XV

Shedim are about the size of a tall adult man, and similar to humans in appearance, but they possess raptor talons rather than feet, and wings that they can use for flight, or to shatter the bones of their opponents.  They usually travel in flocks of at least nine (and up to sixty, perish the thought), but this one was alone, and seemed half-starved, at that.

A true Slayer would have had no difficulties dispatching something in such pitiful condition, but it required the both of us to fend this one off.  And that’s all we managed to do- drive it up into a cluster of scrubby trees, where it hissed and spat obscenities at us. My ward turned to look at me, hand wrapped tightly around the staff I’d given to her earlier, expression questioning.  I knew she was waiting for my instruction, for some sort of guidance. I looked away, focusing instead on the wretched creature above our heads.

Its features were fair, and its skin seemed made up of pearlescent scales.  It might have been beautiful, once, but now it was covered in dirt and had bones so sharp they seemed poised to cut through its flesh.  One of its tattered wings hung awkwardly, and I realized that if it had full use of them it would surely have flown away by now.

“Where is your flock, Shedim?” I asked at last.

“What do you care, Human?” it growled in perfect Babylonian.  I glanced at my ward, but there was no confusion on her face, in spite of the fact that I knew she had only one tongue.  Interesting. The Shedim gave me a crafty grin, and I could see its fangs. “Maybe they’re out hunting, soon to return. And when they do, maybe they’ll pluck your eyes from their sockets for trespassing, and feed them to me for my troubles, oh yes.”

I shook my head.

“I don’t think so.  I think they left you to die when you became injured.”

“Never!”  It shrieked, fury etched in every line of its face.  “We would never abandon one of our own!  We are not like you humans.  Family is everything to us.”  Its eyes turned sharply to my ward.

“You,” it said, and for a moment its glittering gaze went unfocused.  When it spoke again its voice had an echoing quality, as though coming from deep within a well, and I could not help but take a step back.

“You will be/are/have been the Slayer,” it intoned.  “You will be/are/were the death of death. Of the flock killer, the gods killer.”  It threw back its head and laughed, and when it finished its gaze was clear again. “This is why I survived,” it crowed.  “To see this moment, to see you.”  It looked at me and added, “We will not live to see it finished, but you will.  Taste its blood for me, Watching One. Now be on your way. I’ll be gone soon enough without your help, little Slayer-in-Training.”

“You’ll not hurt my people,” she spoke for the first time since we’d found the tracks, and her voice shook only a little.

“I’ll not hurt anyone, Judaean child,” the Shedim said, tiredly.  “Go away and let me die in peace.”