Beethoven - Scourge of Vampires [ONC 2022]

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Bernhard had no option but to lean out of the window. The carriage careened along the rutted road, bouncing and tossing Bernhard and the Maestro like rag dolls inside the cab. It didn't feel as though the driver had any control. The creatures had paused from their attack after Beethoven had splashed that first one with Holy Water, but he doubted that would hold them off for long.

With the great man gripping the hem of his coat, Bernhard struggled to find purchase. The beasts were circling and they would soon renew their attack. He counted three of them. Huge, bat-like wings flapping, holding them in the air. He couldn't let the horror of the creatures distract him, however, and he clambered up to see something equally horrific. More so.

The carriage driver still sat upon his seat, reins held in unfeeling hands, but the body swayed to and fro with abandon, no longer driving the carriage. The body. Of the driver's head, Bernhard could see no sign and, ahead, a corner in the road approached. Without anyone driving the carriage, they would not make that corner, the horses racing forward in terror.

"The driver is dead." His hands gripped the top of the carriage as he glanced back towards the Maestro. "If we don't get those horses under control, the entire thing will crash. But I won't be able to fight and drive at the same time. You have to climb up, too."

"Or, and it's just an idea, we sit back down, prop ourselves and let it crash?" Beethoven looked the outside of the carriage up and down and grimaced. "If you haven't noticed, those things can fly!"

The Maestro gave a tight, apologetic smile and shrug. Bernhard couldn't expect someone of Beethoven's breeding to take to such exertions as well as he could, but sitting within the cab of the carriage would prove no more safe than fighting the beast atop it. He shook his head, tugging his coat from the Maestro's hands and began to climb.

If nothing else, he couldn't allow the horses to become injured. If the carriage toppled while attached to the horses, they may very well snap their legs. Apart from not wishing to see a horse suffer, a cavalryman would never countenance such a thing had he any choice, they needed the horses to continue the chase of the Vampire Lord's carriage.

Even now, driven by an expert at the reins, that carriage had begun to pull away. Though the horses of this carriage were running fast, they ran erratically. He needed to gain control, then he could consider fighting the wizened, bat-like creatures that even now had started to regain their confidence. Atop the roof of the carriage, Bernhard had little time to draw his sabre and make a desperate slash towards one as it flew near, testing and teasing its prey.

With slow movements, he edged towards the seats at the front of the carriage and retched as he saw the blood-soaked corpse of the driver. He didn't even have enough time to cross himself as another creature screeched past. Bernhard ducked in time, but the blade of his sabre scythed through nothing but air. Dropping to the seat, he pulled the reins from the driver's limp fingers and, as he did so, the driver's body toppled to the side, falling from the carriage and tumbling away into the darkness.

His boot pressed upon the footbrake as he pulled the reins tight, but the horses resisted. They had their heads, now, and fell upon animalistic instinct. An instinct to run from danger and not stop until their hearts gave out, or their hunter gave up the chase. He could smell the burning of the brake shoes as they scraped against wheels, fighting against the power of two, frightened horses, and Bernhard knew the horses would win, if he could not bring them under control.

Something dropped onto the roof of the carriage, behind him. With a tug, he managed to veer the horses around the sweeping corner, but at a cost. He felt breath upon his neck. Without thinking, he jumped, grabbing the sabre hilt tight in his hand, and tried to land upon the strut between the horses. One foot landed, but the other slipped.