Somewhere in France
Van Helsing sat back and watched the world go by through his window. The train was surprisingly smooth and provided a great view of the surrounding area. Sitting across from him was Carl, the friar he somehow always managed to bring along with him on his missions. Carl was very helpful though, he had a vast knowledge of weaponry and monsters from years he spent in his books. Van Helsing has complete faith in him to create the perfect weapon and how to kill the creatures he hunted. It was quite possible that Carl was the only person Van Helsing completely trusted, considering he kept quiet his darkest secret and was the only living person who knew.
Carl sat there rambling on about the history of Ireland. Van Helsing only picked up on a few things he was talking about: ancient Celts, the different invasions, the take over by the Protestants. Carl had stopped talking about whatever topic he was on at that moment and looked at him.
"Are you even listening to me?" Carl asked.
Realizing he was actually being addressed, he snapped alert and looked at Carl. "Sorry, I was…distracted by the uh…view." he replied, like a child caught in school daydreaming.
"This is important. Now…," Carl leaned forward to show him a page in the book he was holding, "…here's what we know about the Dullahan. The Dullahan is a headless rider who rides upon a black horse. He normally carries his head in his right hand. The head itself is the color and texture of stale dough or moldy cheese, and quite smooth. A hideous, idiotic grin splits the face from ear to ear, and the eyes, which are small and black, dart about like malignant flies. The entire head glows with the phosphorescence of decaying matter and the creature may use it as a lantern to guide its way along the darkened laneways of the Irish countryside. It is also said that where ever the Dullahan stops, a mortal dies. That's all we know, this book really doesn't have much and very little information on the Irish legends have reached us."
"Why is that?" Van Helsing asked.
Carl just shrugged his shoulders, "Possibly because no one was really interested and these legends only really survive in the remote areas in the countryside. When the Irish were converted to Catholicism, the legends were all but forgotten."
Van Helsing gave Carl a confused look, "If so little has made it out, how did you know about the 'Fairy Queen' reference?"
"Yes that. Well, so many of the legends meld into one another that they often have multiple names or it's multiple creatures that share one name. The 'Fairy Queen' reference is one of those things." Carl offered, "But the description is the only consistent thing among them."
"Any information on weaknesses, how am I supposed to kill it?"
"I'm not sure, there's a mention of some type of metal that may work, but it didn't specify what kind." Carl paused for a moment as he continued the thought in his head, "My resource wasn't a very good one on this mission, perhaps it's time we start doing field research again."
"Well, I guess that once we're done with our assignment, you'll have to spend some time doing just that." Carl seemed pleased at the notion of gathering the information for once instead of reading it from a book.
"So Carl, tell me about this town, any specific reason why this Dullahan is attacking them?"
"There's nothing special about it, it's a small town by the Boyne. Most of it's citizens are sheep herders, some fish, but other than that, there isn't much to it."
"So why would a creature such as this attack such an insignificant town in the middle of nowhere?" he mused. Carl had no answer.
Coast of France to Dublin, Ireland
The train took them to the coast of France, where they departed and took a boat across the Celtic and Irish Sea to Dublin. They walked through Dublin trying to find someone that would sell them a horse. The city was busy with activity and no sign of anything out of the ordinary in this part of the country. Van Helsing had the strange sense of being home, like everything seemed to begin here. He heard Carl say something beside him and he realized he was standing in the middle of the road.
They had found some horses and packed their things on them and continued on their way through the final part of their journey.
Ballyclonmor, Ireland
The sun was setting by the time they arrived in view of Ballyclonmor, they could see the tiny lights of the town starting to come on and the shadowy figures of its residents. As they made their approach, they could hear a bell ring from a tower that sat at the edge of the town. They watched as the people scrambled around frantically, some were running into the buildings, some were gathering in a large group near at the entrance of the main road that led into the town.
"It seems that once again, your reputation precedes you. We can only hope they don't try to kill us right away so that we may explain ourselves." Carl said with very little enthusiasm.
"Come now Carl, you need to start looking at the brighter side of things. Perhaps it's a welcoming party." He said, trying to not only reassure the friar, but himself. Gabriel had resigned himself long ago to the fact that he was never welcomed wherever he went.
"I am looking on the bright side of things. The dark side would be they would just attack the moment we entered the town and decapitate us. And then they could do all sorts of things with our bodies, they could…"
"Carl!" Gabriel couldn't take his depressing ramblings anymore, it was bad enough that they were going, once again, into an unwelcoming town but to have Carl conjure up the various deaths in his head wasn't helping his mood.
"I'm sorry, it's just that when I'm with you on these missions, I can't help but think these things." Gabriel could do nothing but roll his eyes and smile.
They had reached the large group of men gathered in the road. They all had some sort of "weapon", mostly large pointy sticks and pitchforks. Only a few had actual weapons. Van Helsing and Carl dismounted their horses, Carl stayed close to his horse in hopes that it would protect him from bodily harm. Van Helsing didn't want to hurt the people, but he made sure he kept his weapons close at hand just incase he need to have a little show of force. One of the men carefully approached, making sure he kept his pitchfork between him and the strangers.
"You're not welcomed here, leave before we have to hurt you." Said the man, he had a very heavy Irish brogue. There was definite fear in his voice.
Van Helsing did his best to be patient with them, they were only trying to defend themselves. And considering what they've already been through, he was impressed with how well they seemed to be taking his presence, "I've come to solve your Dullahan problem. I'm not your enemy but your ally."
"How do we know that you aren't the problem itself?" the man said suspiciously.
He was about to respond when someone called from the back, "Because he has a head on his shoulders and not in his hand." The mass of people parted slightly as the new man made his way forward. When he reached the front, he looked directly at Van Helsing. He was young, in his mid twenties and quite tall, standing just short of Van Helsing. His hair was dark brown and he had bright green eyes.
"Besides, it wouldn't be very smart of him to kill seven of our people and then just show up into our town." The man turned to the crowd of people, "He is not the one that's killed our friends, maybe he can help us." There was a murmur filtering through the crowd, most didn't want to fight so were willing to give the strangers a chance but there were still some that didn't trust them.
The younger man extended his hand towards Van Helsing, "My name is Connor Fitzpatrick, I'm the blacksmith and I welcome you to Ballyclonmor."
"Van Helsing, professional monster hunter. And this is my friend and colleague, Friar Carl."
There was a loud gasp at the mention of his name, "What proof more do you need Connor, the name of Van Helsing is the name of a murderer." came a shout from the back.
"Then lock your door if it'll make you feel better, I for one think that the stories have been greatly exaggerated. Besides, you didn't see this thing up-close, there's no way that this man is the Dullahan." Connor cried back.
Gabriel stood there, surprised and impressed that at least one person was willing to give him a chance and defend him against his own people. But he also picked up on the comment Connor had made and the tone his voice had taken.
He's seen this thing close up.
Another man in the crowd had said something to Connor in a different language which infuriated Connor. He looked as if he was about to attack the other man but was stopped by the firm hand of Van Helsing pressed against his chest.
"There's no need to get angry over this." he said to Connor, the tone of his voice indicating that he would intervene and it wouldn't be pretty.
Out of nowhere, a loud crying noise rang out. It seemed to be coming from everywhere. It was a woman's voice, wailing in pain for the loss of someone she cared about. Van Helsing drew out his tojo blades and took a defensive posture, anticipating an attack. He could see Carl out of the corner of his eye looking quickly around for something to come flying from the air.
"It's the Banshee, she cries for another's death!" a woman yelled.
Van Helsing was surprised to see that the townspeople did not run nor did they look frightened. Confused, he turned to Connor, "What is the Banshee? Why hasn't she attacked?" he asked.
"She's not going to attack, that's not what she does. She only warns of imminent death, the sound you hear is her keens, her mourning cry. Someone is going to die within the next day." He answered.
Just as suddenly as it had started, the wailing had stopped. The people looked sad, once again they had to worry about who would be next, each one hoping it wasn't them.
"Go back to your homes, there is nothing more we can do now." Someone had shouted. The people dispersed and glancing at Van Helsing as they walked away. Gabriel retracted his tojo blades and relaxed a bit. Carl came and stood next to him, not sure of what to do next.
Connor looked at the two of them, despair laid heavily on his face, "Let us hope, Mr. Van Helsing, that the Banshee did not foresee your death. May your hunt go well." He pointed to the forest on the hill behind them, "That is where the Dullahan dragged his seventh victim several nights ago. You might want to start there."
"Thank you for your help. I'll do all that I can to rid you of this menace." He said, trying to give some hope to the young man. Connor only nodded and then walked off.
"Well, that was an interesting start." was all Carl could say.