THE HIGH TABLE

FREAKER

My fist slams down heavily on the table, making the coffee cups jump on their saucers. My words are harsh and threatening as I point to a vast green area on the map: Greenknights Forest, right beside the charming village of Shieldhaven

“You’re nothing but a bunch of useless bastards. I don’t know why I bother paying you. If this forest isn’t cleared by the end of the week, I’ll break every last one of you.” I flex my impressive muscles beneath my shirt. “We’ve been at a standstill for two days.” 

“I swear to you, boss, strange things are happening in that forest.” I walk over to the foreman who has just opened his mouth. I grab his wrist and start twisting it, forcing him down onto his knees.

“I don’t give a fuck what’s happening out there. What I want is for you, you worthless piece of shit, to get your men back to work.” I feel his bones creaking beneath my grip. I am seconds away from wrenching his shoulder out of its socket. “Work on the golf course starts in ten days. And I guarantee you that by then, every tree marked for remova will be gone. I’m warning all of you: it’s either them or you."

"I’m going to show you how a real man cuts down a tree.” I storm out of the office, slamming the door behind me. On my way out, I seize a heavy axe, a length of chain and a serrated knife. Everything had started well. The initial clearing work had gone ahead without any trouble. But for the past week, one accident has followed another. Equipment has been stolen and several men have been seriously injured. They claim the forest is haunted. They say its guardian protects it and hunts down anyone who dares to harm it.

An old man in the village pub had warned me. The forest bears its name for a reason, he said. A knight haunts these woods, killing every wicked soul who enters them

 I couldn’t give a fuck about some knight. The project covers a hundred hectares, and we have barely completed ten percent of the work. Some of the trees will be preserved, but those that spoil the view or stand in the path of the golf course have to be removed, about half of them altogether.

I reach the section where the men had been working. Saws, helmets, shirts and lunch tins lie scattered across the ground, signs of the panic that swept through the worksite. And yet my men are big, tough and always ready for a fight. They had already started cutting into a sturdy oak. I pull off my shirt and spit into my hands. Then I raise the axe and bring it down with a single powerful, well-aimed blow.

I feel the bark split beneath that first attack. I strike again. The dull thud echoes through the depths of the surrounding woods. Evening begins to fall. I deliver one final blow, then shove against the trunk. The tree groans before crashing heavily to the ground. I stare into the darkness gathering between the trees. “Whoever or whatever you are, I’m waiting for you, asshole.”

DAN S-J

For hundreds of years the woods have been a place of no entry for all people with bad intentions. The sacred ground where I myself fell in a battle 500 years ago became my grave and anew home. The nature poured new life in my flesh and made me their protector I was in a hundred-year slumber as suddenly the roots covering my body started to creak and rattle, sensing danger.

 I was awakened, because someone was trying to do horrible damage to the trees, the stones, ponds and all living around. I stood up and began searching for the source of this disturbance. I found men with horrible animals made of iron, that were digging to the ground and eating away the forest bit by bit.

I felt pain, I felt anger and I needed to do that what I was there for. Save the forest even if it would mean that I get hurt. My only strength was my own supported by the green bacteria in my system for quick regeneration. Towering at 6 feet 4 inches... exactly looking the same as the day, I fell here in a battle in the age of the renaissance.

 I began my work. First sending a few warnings and tearing some of the iron beasts apart. But as the men kept coming back, I targeted my anger at them and hurt some of them badly, being nearly invisible for them as my skin was adapted to the wood’s surfaces.

The men went away and I got back to my resting place. Knowing that they will not come back. This all would soon change as merely a week after they have gone another one appeared and mercilessly cut down one of the younger oaks at the far border of the wood as the night began to set in. I was forced again to do my tasks and went to the forest floor to the place where I stood in the darkness of the woods, as my body filled with anger, sorrow and the feeling of guilt for not being there when it happened. I stare at the human with my emerald, green eyes.

FREAKER

 Despite the coolness of the night, sweat drips down my muscles. I take my shirt and wipe myself, slowly passing over the bumps and hollows that form a Herculean landscape beneath my skin. I smile and say aloud, "That's just what I thought. What a bunch of wimps, letting themselves be impressed by legends. I'll make them pay." It had been years since I'd held an axe. But the pleasure of proving my strength made me appreciate this moment. I even have a partial erection. I fear no one, and especially not ghosts. Yet suddenly the atmosphere changed. I don't know how to explain it. A kind of tension in the air. The trees stir, as if giving in to anger. Branches crack, leaves rustle with a light friction sound, and roots seem to move beneath the ground like horrible snakes

I shake my head. I'm not going to give in to superstition. I'll cut this other tree. I pick up the chain and hang it around my neck. I grab the saw knife and begin to saw the small branches that prevent me from reaching the trunk.

Sap flows onto my hands. giving off a metallic smell like blood. A heavy silence spreads along with a deep darkness. I continue my work, but I feel watched. I stop and glance around. And there, a few steps away, two emerald, green points stare at me. "Damn, those bastards want to test me. Scare the shit out of me." I'll show them who I am. "Hey assholes come out if you have balls."

DAN S-J

I hear you, I watch you, I smell your cold sweat. Seeing all the damage you have done. I let out a deep growl still hidden in the dark. You turn towards me and shout thinking that your fellow humans want to play a joke on you. "Be careful what you wish for thief." I say with a raspy low voice, stepping out of the dark to reveal myself to you.

FREAKER

A growl followed by a harsh voice comes from the woods. Fuck! This has to be some kind of joke. They’re taking the piss out of me. Too scared to work, but brave enough to come out here and taunt me. That voice belongs to Peter Flanagan. I’d bet my right hand on it. The bastard still hasn’t gotten over the money I docked from his wages. He must be with the O’Rourke brothers, two Irish assholes just like him. I take the chain in one hand, ready to swing it. I step into the moonlight flooding a stretch of land already stripped of its trees. “Come out, Flanagan! Come and collect your reward, you sack of shit; and bring your friends with you!”

 I spread my legs, swell my pecs and tighten my abs, ready to send all three of them to the hospital. But the strange man who emerges from the shadows isn’t one of my workers. He is shirtless and muscular, and his eyes shine with an eerie light. An Icy air wraps itself around me. There is something supernatural about his appearance. I quickly pull myself together. I’ve beaten men far bigger than him. “Who the fuck are you, asshole? Get out of here if you want to stay alive.”

DAN S-J

"Alive? Like the trees you cut down? Like the waters you poisoned? " I say with anger in my voice. Stepping on the plain and looking around as my anger grows clenching my fists. "You are the one who ordered all this?" I raise my voice. My chest heaving as my tall frame is hit fully by the moonlight. "You shall be punished!" I say as I stand a few feet across of you.

FREAKER

WHO THE FUCK IS THIS WEIRDO? My mind hesitates. Maybe he is a madman who escaped from an asylum. Maybe he is one of those fucking environmentalists who make my job harder every day. Or maybe he is just some young asshole who thinks he can impress me with his size and bodybuilder muscles. Now that he is only a few steps away, I realize he is a giant. But I am bigger and heavier, and so far, I have never met anyone stronger than me. “Punish me, you fucking pussy? I’d like to see you try.” I drop the chain at my feet. Then I stab my knife into the bark of the tree I was cutting while giving you a defiant smile. “Come on, man. Let us do our job, and go fuck your grandma.”

I rush at you and grab you around the waist, squeezing with all my strength. I am surprised by how hard your muscles feel. My fingers can barely press into your flesh. Sweat runs down my back from the effort as I try to break your spine. You do not even groan. I only hear a strange cracking sound coming from your vertebrae.

Let’s see what you think of this. I smash my forehead into your face. It feels as if I have hit a solid block. The impact leaves me dazed, but I am pleased to see that I have broken your nose.

Your blood runs down onto my skin. I usually enjoy that. But yours is thick and sticky, like honey. It even has the same colour. It clings to the hair on my chest, and the feeling is unpleasant. When I recover, I let you go and step back in horror. The same strange substance continues to leak from your wound. “What the fuck is this stuff? Where did you come from, another planet?”

DAN S-J

We stare down at each other then you charge for an attack. Bare handed you wrap your arms around my waist. I feel the squeeze and grin my face in discomfort while I try to stand in place tensing my torso up. You don't see the pain, but I do feel your strength. Then you ram your head into my face making me dazed for a second. I slide my left foot back to keep my balance. Raising my head up and looking at you. My eyes turn green, making me look like one of your kind.

"Attacking and then asking questions?" I growl out as my chest fills with air. "That substance is resin as I don't have blood in my veins." I look into your eyes as you wonder what I am. "I am the chosen protector of this forest. I fell here in battle 500 years ago. And now I have to deal with your kind AGAIN!!!!"

I growl out loud. Then fall to my left knee and swing my left arm like a pendulum and blast my fist into your chiselled abs.

FREAKER

I am still wondering if you are making fun of me. Five hundred years. Resin instead of blood. A knight. Bullshit! I never see the punch coming, but the fist you drive into my abs is real enough. It crushes through my abdominal wall and sends a shock of pain through my stomach and intestines. The agony is unbearable. I fall to my knees, unable to breathe. Fuck! What is happening to me? I am used to taking punches there for fun, just to prove how tough I am. And now this asshole drops me with a single blow.

Everything spins inside my head. Slowly, I recover. Knight, my ass. Then I spot my chain lying beside me. I grab one end and force myself back onto my feet.

I twist my whole body and swing the heavy chain in a wide arc. The steel links whistle through the cold night air before smashing into your ribs. I immediately pull the chain back, turn in the opposite direction and use the momentum to strike again. This time, the heavy links slam across your massive pecs with all my strength. “Let’s see how your five-hundred-year-old body deals with that, asshole!”

DAN S-J

 I see you in pain after my fist hits your abdomen. Giving me a feeling of satisfaction. I watch you fighting the pain while I stand up , preparing for the next attack. I don't see the chain until it rattles my way hitting my ribs and cutting a wound open. I growl and his in pain as I lean my arm over the wound. But as I do that I feel a deep burning pain in my chest as the chain hits again.

 Biting into my chest making me fall on my knees and hands, feeling the burn the caused to me. Breathing heavily. Tensing up my shoulders and back.

FREAKER

My blows worked. I watch with satisfaction as the heavy chain tears into your crocodile-like skin. More of that strange green resin flows from your wounds.Several drops have landed on me. They stick to my skin and chest hair, then begin to harden. A stiff shell forms over my flesh. The feeling is really unpleasant. I throw the chain over the back of your neck. While you try to grab it, I move behind you and catch the loose end. The chain closes around your throat. I grab both ends and pull with all my strength, trying to drag you backward.

But you resist. Fuck! You are the strongest man I have ever fought. I plant my boots firmly on the ground and pull even harder. My muscles swell, and thick veins appear across my forearms, shoulders and chest. “I’m going to break you, you filthy freak!”

DAN S-J

I try to catch my breath and slowly rise up. All of the sudden I feel the cold of the chain around my neck. I grab it with both hands and try to pry it off. In that exact moment you find the loose end and pull on both ends of the chain, making it sink deep into my throat as my hands try to push it forward and away from me.

Feeling your strength overwhelming me as I struggle to breathe. I make two steps back, holding the chain. Pressing to my feet and jumping up with my back turned to you in the hope to knock you down to the ground.

FREAKER

You are chained like an animal, and you fight with all your strength to resist me. But for now, I am the one in control. I pull with everything I have, convinced that I am stronger than you. I still do not understand what you are. Then I suddenly remember a country fair my parents took me to when I was a kid. There was a freak show with a bearded lady, conjoined twins and many other strange people. There was even a giant taller than you. That is what you are: a freak. Some kind of tree-man. Maybe I could make a lot of money if I captured you alive.

Suddenly, you jump backward into me. Your massive, muscular back slams violently against my chest. It is covered in sweat and sticky resin that clings to my skin.

Being pressed against you, I can also smell your strange scent: pine resin, damp earth, old leather, woodsmoke and a faint trace of rusted iron.. I stumble backward and feel a sharp pain across my chest. Your resin acts like hot wax, ripping away the light hair covering my pecs. By reflex, I place one hand on my chest. I let go of one end of the chain, and the pressure around your neck weakens. “I’m going to drain every drop of resin from your body; you sack of shit! Then I’ll sell it to my men so they can wax themselves!” I realize my mistake too late. I have just given you the chance to break free.

DAN S-J

It takes some good impact, but I manage to make you lose control of the chain. I use the opportunity that this moment offers. I swing my legs and turn around my left hand sliding over my chest. The resin is still leaking a bit. But my wound is nearly healed as the resin hardens. I pick a handful of the resin. "You will pay dearly for the destruction. " I say as I smear the resin all over your face while driving my knee hard between your thighs. My body over yours. Watching your slow demise.

FREAKER
“You fucking bastard!”

I barely have time to shout before your knee crushes my balls’! That is not worthy of a knight. The resin runs through my beard, hardens over my eyes and flows across my lips. I feel as if I am being turned into a statue made of hard candy. The sticky substance forms a hard shell over my skin. When I try to tear it away, the pain is horrible. It rips out my hair and even pulls away pieces of skin.I stagger backward, broken by the pain between my legs. Your secret weapon caught me by surprise.I have always hated nature. But now hatred and rage completely take over.

I can no longer open one of my eyes. My eyelashes are glued together, and my beard has become as hard as glass. I wipe my mouth with one hand, but that only spreads the fucking resin across my fingers and forearm. There is so much of it that I begin to feel helpless.My movements are becoming slower. My arms and legs feel heavier with every second, as if the resin is slowly paralyzing my body.

But I am not finished yet.I reach the tree and rip the serrated knife out of its bark. If you are really made of wood, then I am going to deal with you the old-fashioned way.I charge at you. My feet are still working.Using all 120 kilos of my weight, I slam you against the tree behind you. I seize your arm and crush it against the trunk. Holding the serrated blade in my left hand, I drive its teeth deep into your forearm. Then I begin sawing through it as if it were nothing more than a branch.Green resin sprays across my chest and face, hardening on my skin. I do not care anymore. I just want to finish this. “You’re going to end up as firewood, asshole!”

DAN S-J

I see the resin hardening over your face as it was eating parts of it and taking them away from you. Your eye closes as the resin hardens. The pain in your face as my knee hits your balls lets me know that my moves might be slow but effective.

I don't realise you reached for a knife and stand up. As I do so you charge at me and push me backwards until my back hits a tree. You grab my hand and drive your knife through my skin. I scream with pain. My scream breaks the silence of the night. Hope you realise I am all human after all. The pain forces me to my knees as I look at you.

My arm is getting heavily damaged. My breath getting faster but heavier as I am not able to scream anymore. My other arm reaches a sharp stone on the ground. With a swing I dig the sharp edge of the stone in-between your ribs on your left side hoping to puncture your lung with that blow.

FREAKER

Your screams make me hard. So you’re still an human. I feel the serrated blade tearing through your thick skin, but it takes all my Herculean strength to move it back and forth. My other arm is trapped inside a thick green shell. If you keep spraying me with that resin, I will soon look like a knight in armor. The Green Knight, they will call me..I focus on my work while keeping you pinned against the tree. Jets of resin regularly strike my shoulder, neck and chest. My whole body is becoming stiff. My muscles are slowly disappearing beneath that treacherous shell. But once I have killed you, I will remove it with some kind of solvent.

Suddenly, a terrible pain tears through my left side. My body freezes. I look down at your free hand. You are holding a sharp stone shaped like a spearhead. Its point is buried between my ribs, and it is covered in my red blood. I try to breathe, but only one side of my chest seems to rise. A wet, burning sensation spreads through my lung. When I inhale again, the air refuses to come.

I open my mouth, but all that escapes is a broken gasp. Blood fills my throat and runs between my lips. My grip weakens. The serrated knife slips from my hand. “No…You fuc….” My legs give way. I fall heavily onto my knees in front of you. Unable to support myself, I grab your waist and cling to your body. My forehead presses against your stomach as I struggle to stay upright.

 Each breath is shorter than the last. My vision darkens at the edges, and for the first time, I understand that I may be dying. But even now, I refuse to let you go. I lock both arms around your waist and squeeze with the last of my strength. Every muscle I can still control contracts as I try to crush your spine and break you in half. “I’m taking you… with me… you monster.”

DAN S-J

After my hand swings in I feel a warmth on my skin. Your blood, warm...deep red...alive. I look at the state of your face which looks surprised. Your gasps get more desperate then blood rushes out of the corner of your mouth. Your hand leaves the knife stuck in my wrist as you fall on the ground.

Your head leans on my stomach as I look down at you. My hurt arm paralysed due to the damage taken. Then your arms snake around my waist and put on a tight grip. I bite my lips as I am trying to overcome that pain once again. Your strong arms tighten steadily like industrial clamps starting to crush my ribs. Pain shooting into my torso. Anger rising.

In an attempt to save myself I reach for the knife stuck in my wrist. I pull it out and with one quick jab I drive it into the left side of your neck. "Your iron shall be your own demise!" I grunt out as I turn the knife around. Drawing last of my strength trying to withstand that deadly grip of your arms.

FREAKER

Is it the fear of death that gives me this final burst of energy? Or is it the rage of finally meeting someone stronger than me? I crush you against the tree that seems so important to you, wrapping my arms around your waist like a python. Blood pours from my wound in a long stream, and I can barely breathe. I no longer have my legendary strength, but there is still enough left to make you suffer. Your face twists in pain. You struggle and try to escape, but I hold on.

Then the blade that has destroyed so much trees and  forest betrays me. You are holding it now, as if it belongs to you. I try to pull away, but it is too late. The serrated edge sinks into my neck.My arms release you. I stare at you in shock, my eyes wide as the shadow of death falls over me. My good hand presses against the wound, but it is useless. My warm blood mixes with your green resin. Hi metallic scent is mixing with your animal musk. I do not even know your name. It does not matter anymore. There is only one thing I want now: to escape. To get away from this cursed forest.  

Life is draining out of me as I drag myself toward the middle of the clearing. I want to die standing, like warriors or heroes die in the movies. But my strength finally gives out, and I fall to my knees.

The worksite is still deserted. The machines are silent. Hard hats, saws and pickaxes lie scattered in the mud. Suddenly, something begins dripping onto my body. Resin is falling from the branches above me. It runs over my skin, thick and sticky. My feet harden first. Then the resin spreads over my legs and groin. Soon my chest and arms are trapped beneath a shining green shell. It climbs toward my neck and chin. It forces its way between my lips, seals my eyes and fills my ears. Finally, it closes over my entire head.I can no longer see, hear or move.I have become a statue.No one will ever understand how I died. But one thing is certain: the sight of me will frighten anyone who dares to enter this clearing.

Greenknights Forest will remain safe for a very long time. No worker will ever agree to return to a place that claimed the life of the terrible Freaker—the terror of every man who ever worked under him.

THE END

Published: 2026-08-20, viewed 91 times.