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What's in a Name?
By: Tina Morgan
"Do you mind?"
Cedric asked.
"Why, yes, I do," the demon replied.
Cedric grumbled, rolled over and sank back into the ground. A tapping
on his coffin had made him open his eyes and crawl out of the earth for
the first time since his death. If only he could still wield his sword;
he'd make the demon who’d awakened him flee in terror. Or could he? Demons
couldn't be hurt by mere metal could they? No, it was the ghouls who
didn’t like steel. Oh, how he wished his brain wasn't so foggy. Still what
did he expect? He'd been dead for.... for... oh, for a very long time!
"Go away!" he yelled through the dirt.
The demon beat an insistent tune on his coffin. Cedric opened his
eyes a third time. That demon! Confused, he paused. Maybe he hadn't been
dead that long if the demon was beating on his coffin. He thought the wood
should have rotted to dust by now.
"Come on out, Cedric. I want to talk to you." The demon cajoled.
"No! Let me sleep."
"Really, Cedric. I thought you were a knight of the old code. Surely you
realize that isn't polite."
Still puzzled about his coffin's disappearance, Cedric pulled up out of
the ground to glare at the demon. As he did, two young lovers ran laughing
through the woods. The brown haired man ducked behind a tree and called to
his friend to find him. A long-legged blond grabbed him as he darted to
the next tree. The two men fell to the ground in a passionate embrace.
Cedric stared at their strange clothing while trying not to see what they
were doing. When an older man and woman strolled down the path, he thought
the two men would hide but they remained locked in their embrace.
"Okay demon, how long have I been asleep?" he asked with one eyebrow
arched.
"About six hundred years."
"I didn't plan on waking up for at least a millennium. Anyone I might
have wanted to haunt is long dead. Why are you bothering me?"
The demon dissolved into a puff of smoke then reformed into a beautiful
woman. Cedric frowned; there was something wrong with her figure. It took
a few seconds before he decided it was the demon's tail sticking out from
under the petticoats that spoiled the picture. The demon glanced down and
saw his tail twitching. With a lilting giggle, he grabbed the offending
appendage and twirled the end.
"Why are you doing that?" Cedric drifted halfway back into the ground.
"I'm really not interested. Demons can be either sex, and I wouldn't trust
you not to turn into a man right in the middle of things. Plus, I doubt if
my equipment works properly anymore, if you know what I mean."
"Really, Cedric, you can be such a prude. Live a little." The demon
cackled wildly at his joke and fell off his boulder. Instead of hitting
the ground, he sank down into it, much like the knight. "Live a little?
Get it?"
"Good millennium," Cedric retreated to the bottom of his grave. He shut
his eyes and tried to go back to sleep but he couldn't stop thinking about
the demon. The demon continued to laugh at his own joke, annoying Cedric
tremendously. Exploding up out of the ground, he towered over the still
laughing demon.
"All right. How did you do it? How did you beat on my coffin? It's
dust."
"I wished it to be solid." The demon looked at him like he was
explaining the presence of air to a small child. "Really, you are such a
boring prude. I think I woke up the wrong knight."
"You did. Now let me sleep." He started to sink into the ground again
but the demon turned into fog and spread himself over the grave. Cedric
couldn't go back without passing through the demon. For some reason, he
felt reluctant to touch the demon's vaporous form.
A large smile appeared in the center of the fog. "There's only one
person who can make me go away."
"Who?" Cedric rolled his ghostly eyes.
"Elizabeth."
"Elizabeth who?"
"The witch. You know, the one who kept you from getting your ass killed
at Northumberland. Lot of good it did you. You look absolutely awful, what
with your head bashed in and your chest crushed like that." The demon
reformed and sat on its boulder again. Its nubile, male body was washed
pink with the late afternoon sun.
"Put some clothes on!" Cedric roared.
"You really are a prude." The demon sighed and gave a feminine flutter
with its hands.
"That's enough!" Cedric dropped into his grave.
"Oh, Cedric. Do come out and play." The demon lay down and floated into
the ground, still in a bare male form. The knight opened his eyes to see
it only inches from his own decayed body. "Get off of me!"
They both rose up out of the ground to sit on top of Cedric's grave. He
refused to look at the demon who was enlarging his male organs to obscene
proportions.
"Oh, come on Cedric, you have to help me." The demon turned into a
small girl and batted her eyelashes at him.
"Help you do what? Can't you just let me sleep?" He smothered a yawn.
"I'm tired."
"Call Elizabeth for me, and I'll leave you alone, I promise."
"I would imagine Elizabeth is quite dead. But since she died after me,
I have no idea where she is." Cedric struggled out of his rusted
breastplate. "That's awfully heavy for spirit armor. I'd rather wear
chains."
The demon waved a hand, and the knight fell on his face from the weight
of chains shackled to his wrists. The demon fell backwards off the
boulder, holding its stomach and cackling.
"Mfph, gufmph," Cedric struggled to raise his head. Turning to the
right, he spit out a clump of dirt. "Get these off of me!"
The demon reverted to its true form as tears ran down its ugly little
face. The little brown and green mottled creature ran circles around the
downed knight. It poked him with a long bony finger. Cedric shuddered when
the skeletal figure touched him, but the demon insisted, "Call her."
"I don't know where she is!" He tried sinking into the ground but the
chains stopped him. He struggled frantically. "Let me go!"
"Call her."
"Let me go first."
"Your word of honor."
"Fine! Just let me go!"
"Say it."
"I swear on my grave if you will let me go, I will find Elizabeth. But
then you have to let me go back to sleep afterwards!" Cedric roared.
"Deal."
The chains faded and Cedric floated uncontrollably up into the air. He
grabbed the top branches of a nearby tree and pulled himself back down to
earth.
"You might want to put the breastplate back on." The demon handed it to
him. With poor grace, Cedric slipped it over his head and buckled three of
the four side straps. The last strap hung loosely, ripped away from the
front of his armor when he was killed.
"Fine, fine, get out of my way." Cedric stomped off a few feet before
stopping and turning to look at the ugly gnome sitting cross-legged on his
grave. "Do you have any idea where Elizabeth is?"
"I don't have a clue. I was trapped in there before she died." The
demon shrugged its shoulders and pointed to the boulder. Cedric noticed
that a third of the boulder had split off and lay beside the path the
lovers had used. He glanced over at the two male forms still entwined on
the forest floor. Shaking his head, he walked away. Things had certainly
changed since he was a knight.
Walking through the forest, he thought he would enjoy seeing the dappled
light playing through the canopy. Instead he stumbled over roots that
weren't there when he was alive. How was it he could travel through the
dirt without any problem but the tree roots made him trip? Puzzling over
the phenomenon, he wondered just how he was supposed to find Elizabeth. At
a loss for ideas, he began to call her name.
"Elizabeth! Elizabeth! Where are you?"
A ghostly specter rose up out of the ground. A middle-aged woman with
an elaborate dress glared at him. Cedric found it difficult to meet her
eyes. It just didn't seem right looking at her armpit where she held her
severed head. He wanted to look where it should be perched on her
shoulders.
"Stop that caterwauling. You're going to raise the dead."
"Madame, I am the dead, and I have been raised. Now if you'll excuse
me, I must find Elizabeth." Cedric informed her.
"You might try mentioning her village or birthdate. There's lots of us,
Elizabeths here bouts." She gave him a dark look and turned slowly as she
returned to her grave. Cedric shuddered. So that was what the men he had
beheaded in battle looked like. Must be awfully uncomfortable walking
around like that. He shuddered again and began to call Elizabeth of North
Baileywick.
A small hand tapped him on his armoured thigh, and he turned around to
see a small girl. She gave the impression she was looking at him though
her body was so charred he wasn't sure. On second thought, he wasn't sure
it was a little girl.
"Sir, that's my name. What did you want?" The voice sounded like a
little girl.
"So sorry, I'm looking for a different Elizabeth. She's a bit older
than you. She was a druidess," Cedric said. Surely that wasn't a secret
any more. The living were fornicating with the same gender, being a
druidess couldn't still be taboo, could it? For some reason, he thought
the child smiled.
"I think you mean my great grandmother. I was named for her." She said
proudly. "That's why I was burned at the stake. They thought I was a witch
too."
"How awful!" he said. "Do you know where your great grandmother is?"
"Sure. I talk to her all the time." She slipped her blackened, bony
little hand into his and led him toward a stream. He resisted the urge to
pull away from her. He felt no flesh on her hand, only bones. Why did that
stupid demon have to wake him up? He liked the afterlife much better when
he was oblivious to it.
Three women sat at the edge of the stream with their feet in the water.
They didn't look up as Cedric and the little girl walked right past them.
He glanced back at them again. He had thought the other people had simply
missed seeing him arguing with the demon, but the little girl walked close
enough to touch them. They chatted away and looked right through him when
he paused.
"Come on." The girl pulled at his arm.
Cedric followed her to a large oak tree. Again, he thought she smiled
up at him but he couldn't be certain as only bits of charred flesh clung
to her skull. In a cheerful voice, she called "Gran Lizbet, Gran Lizbet,
please come talk to me."
The air shimmered, and a soft breeze touched Cedric's cheek. A ghostly
apparition slowly coalesced in front of him. Large brown eyes formed
first, and they widened in surprise. Wide lips came next, and they spread
into a smile. Even before she had fully formed, she began to speak.
"Cedric? Is that really you?"
"Yes, my lady." He bowed formally. Looking back up at her, he could not
help but say, "My lady, you look as lovely as ever! Why do you show no
signs of your death?"
Elizabeth looked down at the little girl and jumped, startled. "Lizzy,
really! Will you stop?"
Lizzy giggled, and her form shifted to look like a beautiful, healthy
seven-year-old girl.
"Really! Have you been tormenting the Christians again?"
"No."
"Don't lie to me," Elizabeth said with a stern frown.
"Yes," the girl scuffed the forest loam with the toe of her brown boot.
"Honestly, Lizzy! I think you've taught them a lesson already." She
looked up at Cedric again. "The Christians burned her at the stake. She
likes to show them their handiwork."
Cedric raised his eyebrows but politely did not comment.
"Oh, that's right, you converted didn't you? Sorry." Elizabeth
grimaced, her pert little nose wrinkled, and he fell in love with her all
over again.
"My lady, I'm sorry to disturb your slumber, but I have a problem I
believe only you can help me with."
"Of course." She smiled demurely. "I still owe you for saving me at
Northumberland."
"No, no, you returned the favor by keeping me safe in battle."
"Lot of good that did, when your horse fell on top of you right as you
left the field."
"But I didn't die in battle." He gazed down at her.
"But I failed to keep you safe." She frowned.
"Can I leave now?" Lizzy asked.
"Get. Go torture the other Christians. Leave this one to me." Elizabeth
shooed her away. Taking Cedric's arm, she led him back toward his grave.
"You know, I used to come put flowers on your grave every spring. That is
until I married."
Cedric cleared his throat. "Where is your husband?"
Elizabeth wrinkled her nose. "Don't know, don't care. He wasn't a very
nice man. And you know the saying 'until death do us part...' Oh wait,
maybe that's too modern. Have you been out of your grave often?"
"No. This is my first trip out. I was sleeping but then, well, this
problem came up."
"Oh, the one you thought I might help you with?"
"Yes."
When he didn't continue, she looked up at him expectantly. Cedric
stared straight ahead. They had stepped out of the woods and onto the path
that led past his grave. He could just see the demon running in place in
the middle of the road. A woman in skin-tight, grey breeches had her foot
on the boulder and was tying the strange white shoes she wore. A bizarre
black object covered her ears and he could just hear the uncanny noises it
was making. The demon stopped jogging and began to pantomime carnal acts
with the woman. Cedric turned red and covered Elizabeth's eyes.
"Really Cedric, you can be such a prude." The demon chortled and
stepped away from the woman. It gave Elizabeth a disdainful look.
"Do I know you?" she asked.
"Of course you do," it growled. (Shifting into a wolf form, it
truly growled at her.)
"Oh, yes! I remember you! You were trying to raise the dead. I
locked you in a rock or something." She walked past Cedric and stood next
to the woman who was stretching her arms and legs. Elizabeth leaned close
to listen to the noise coming from the thing on the woman's head. She
began to gyrate strangely. Cedric frowned at her. "Really Cedric. You've
been sleeping too long. You've got to get out and see the world. Some of
the new music is really cool."
"Cool?" he asked. Elizabeth laughed.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Enough of the old folks' reunion!" the demon
snapped. Elizabeth jumped back to avoid its jaws and smacked it on the
snout.
"You always were a hateful creature."
"So? Give it back," it said.
"Give what back?" she asked.
"You know what!"
"No, no I don't think I do." She shook her head.
"You little...."
"You will not use such language around the lady!" Cedric roared.
"Lady? She's a witch!" the demon yelled.
"You say that like it's a bad thing." Elizabeth smiled at him. She
turned and kissed Cedric on the cheek. The knight flushed. "He was trying
to stir up trouble so I trapped him in that boulder. Apparently when the
workers were clearing the path, they moved it and it broke. It used to be
over there."
He didn't look where she was pointing. He could hear the two lovers
and he really didn't want to see. Elizabeth giggled. "Honestly, Cedric.
You'd think you never saw two people having sex."
"No!"
"Things have changed." She shrugged. "I think it's a good thing."
"Let's get back to our problem shall we?" the demon said. "Give it
back."
"No."
"If you don't, I'll, I'll..." it stamped its foot and grew fifteen
feet tall. "I'll make you pay!"
"How? I'm dead." She smiled.
"I won't let your friend here go back to sleep!"
"You gave your word!" Cedric felt for his sword and realized he'd
left it in his grave. Not that it would have done him any good anyway.
"I'm a demon. I lied."
"You know," Elizabeth said. "You've had the power to free yourself
from that rock since I died. All you had to do was say it."
"Say what?" Cedric asked. The demon shrank down to its original size
and form. Tears welled up on its cheeks, and it looked up at them with a
mournful expression though its glowing red eyes ruined all appeals for
sympathy.
"Its name," she explained.
"Its name?"
"Yes. It can't leave the vicinity of the boulder until someone says
its name," she said.
"What would you do if you were free?"
"Make all the little mortals pay for her stupidity. Spread disease,
make war, cause people to fornicate on top of your grave." The demon
glowered.
"Why should she set you free then?" Cedric asked. Then his face
brightened with sudden comprehension. "Why are you still here?"
"I forgot."
"Forgot what?" Cedric asked.
"My name," moaned the demon.
Elizabeth and Cedric burst into laughter. She fell to the ground and
rolled around holding her sides. He hit the ground with a thump and wiped
the tears from his cheeks. Furious, the demon turned into a puff of smoke
and shot back into his boulder. Jumping to her feet, Elizabeth ran over
and said a spell over the rock.
"There, that should hold him." She smiled and offered Cedric a hand up.
He struggled to stand against the weight of his armor.
On his feet again, he smiled down at Elizabeth. Glancing over at
the rock he nodded and said, "You know, that demon's about as stupid as my
cousin..."
Elizabeth clamped a hand over his mouth. "Don't say that name!"
"Why not?"
"That's his name." She pointed to the rock.
"Oh."
She looked down and lightly clasped his hands in hers. Smiling
shyly she blushed and glanced up at him. "Are you going to go back to
sleep?"
"I don't know." He smiled down at her, admiring the freckles over
the bridge of her nose. Her blue eyes met his, and he took a deep breath.
"I think maybe I'll stay up for awhile."
"Good," she said. "I have a lot to show you."
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