“A Bhàs”

By Galvez, Oliver.
September 13th, 2022
TECHNICALITIES
A Bhàs even though it can look like an oeuvre of the Middle Ages, it is based on the
Renaissance works of William Shakespeare, mainly from The Tragedy of Macbeth and The
Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. It is neoclassical and romanticism at the same time, it
talks about humans rather Gods, but tries to remain based on the classical Greek styles and
conventionalities.

THE STORY (1,171 WORDS)

They were held captive, his wife, his son, and daughter, by the count. Under the promise and
extortion of him killing his brother, the count of Eochid, who threatened his power in the
region. He must infiltrate the castle of Eochid and cut his head and come back with it. He was
just given a boat and a sword for him to kill the other count.

He was not alone. His experience in the battle camp backed him all the time. He fought in the
war of the orchids, between the kingdom and the barbarians of the north, he was one of the
mercenaries of king Máel VI. It is not that he is not important. He is a retired mercenary, who
held people ransom and once fought with a demigod and killed him, he could cut its neck off
and hold his skull as a trophy.

Of course, he had to go in the boat to the castle that was on an island, in the middle of the
northern sea. He went off in September. He traveled five days in the raft until he was stranded
on a shore. He walked for hours on the island until he saw a home. A home with people in, a
woman and child. He asked the woman where he was. After the woman responded, he knew
that he was in the place he should be. He asked for the location of the castle. She gave him
instructions; around the dead tree, under the hill, he can see the castle. He went on walking
through the dead tree and walked under the hill, for hours he walked. He found the castle
during the dusk. The castle was guarded. He wouldn’t be able to get in and kill the count. The
terrain, the walls, the quantity of guards, it would take an army at least 10 months for entering
the castle, and only if we consider a roman legion, if another army wanted to, they would get
killed, or it would take them 5 years or even 10.

Therefore, he camped not far from the grounds of the castle. He thought of waiting for the
perfect moment in which he could attack and kill the count. He made a fire and laid down.
Waiting for the next day.

But, during the midnight, when he woke up, he got hit on the head and fell unconscious. It
was a witch, who was planning to make him a ritual to Paymon, demon of the wests. When
he woke up, he tried to fight, but the witch had casted against him, he could not make a move,
though he could move his lips and tongue.
Given two hours of him trying to reach for his things, unsuccessfully, he felt tired and fell
asleep again.

In the morning, the witch was back in her hut. She turned on a fire and put a pot over it. She
put water inside the pot and started steering some leaves and species she got in the forest. She
took a poultry breast and chopped it off. She cooked her food and, by midday she started
eating it. When she entered the shed where he was being held, he waited for her to come
nearer. Eventually, she sat down in front of him. She told him her plan. But he tried to plead
with her not to do so, not to be killed like a chicken for a pagan God. He offers the witch a
deal, she helps him to get inside the castle and he will give her riches from inside the castle.
She wanted none, she needed none, so she rejected the offer, and went back talking about him
being her offer to Paimon. He tried again, he offered her to come back, but under the
condition that she helps him to get in the castle, he said why he was there and that he had to
finish his quest.

She, after thinking a while, accepted. But in the case that he disobeyed; she would go for his
oldest heir. He confirmed so. The witch released him from the spell that stranded him. She
explained to him that there was a crack open enough to get inside the castle and explained to
him how the castle was. He agreed.

In the dusk, he would get into the castle. Only one guard was inside the chamber. They were
talking about the banquet the count would be having due to the birth of the count’s heir that
happened two days prior. The count was in the banquet chamber, and he would be having a
speech in the throne hall. After hearing this, he cut off the neck of one from behind and
chopped the neck of the other.

Then, he arrived at the throne hall, deserted, everybody was at the banquet. He was put behind
the throne, waiting for the count to sit down and kill him when he could, then run away.

Two hours after he had put himself, the count, his wife with son in hands, guards, and
ministers entered the hall. He gave his speech. Talked about how grateful to God he was
because of his son and his wife’s fertility, the prosperity of his county, and that he will be the
next king. When everybody started clapping, he appeared from behind the throne and cut the
head of the count with his sword. He grabbed the falling head. When the public found out, he
had run away from where he came, the guards chasing him. Somehow, he managed to lose the
guards and escape through a crack he had entered through.

He went back to the shore where his boat was and embarked back to his land. There he was,
with the decaying head of a nobleman on a trip back home.

Five days later, he would arrive back at the land he was from, he went to the count’s palace,
where he was received with the liberation of his family. He could go back home to work on
the land he owned, plus, due to the outcome of the quest, all his crimes against the county
were pardoned and he was given 10 gold pounds and a land parcel to restart his life. Because of
the good life he had, he forgot about the promise he made to the witch. In a matter of months,
the witch, very patient, appeared in his home as a magpie. When the man saw the magpie, he
thought it would steal something, so he tried to scare her out. But the magpie started talking.
She said that he must pay his lease of time. He, frightened, backed. The witch took her normal
form. She said that since he did not pay his lease in time, he had to be punished in the way he
agreed, so she took his son and went away. The man, devastated, could not do anything but
cut his chest off and bleed out for shame and anguish.