Prologue
Smell was different in the woods that morning. The smell of pinewood was replaced by a foul stench of something burning. Something was amiss.
A forest fire? It couldnt’t be. There were no animals running nor is the ground dry enough to catch fire.
Lucas went to a nearby hill to get a better view. What he saw was a pillar of smoke, rising a dozen feet into the air. Even from a higher ground, he could not make out what was burning. He didn’t have to see clearly to know. He has seen this before. Running purely on instinct, he started making his way towards the smoke.
This is unusual. There’s no birds chirping. Something scared them away. Or someone.
He stopped in his tracks, readied his crossbow and hid behind an oak tree. The footsteps he heard were coming his way. They were not the heavy, surefooted steps of a soldier, but gentler and more erratic. He listened carefully, trying to make out how close that someone was. He heard a twig snap a few feet behind his back. He jumped out from his hiding place, aiming with his loaded crossbow at his would be attacker.
Except it was not an attacker, it was a woman covered in blood and dirt. She halted, stared at him wide eyed, gasping for air. Regaining her composure just for a second, she opened her mouth to speak but ended up collapsing. He could see an arrow protruding from her left shoulder, blood trickling out from the wound. Even though the scene before him shocked him, he got his senses back rather quickly; he pulled the poor girl behind the big oak tree that gave him shelter just moments before. Checking if she still breathes, he felt a familiar sense of dread. Relieved she was still alive, he raised his crossbow and went the same way she came from.
After walking, what seemed like a few minutes, he came upon a clearing. It was littered with dying embers of burned down houses and around a dozen corpses.
A village. Or it used to be.
With his still loaded crossbow and a careful step, he went to scout what was left of the village. Walking around, the only thing he could hear were his footsteps on the wet ground and the crackling of burning wood. Other than that, he was surrounded by ominous silence. Lowering his gaze to the ground, he could see the bodies of the villagers. Some were charred beyond recognition, others butchered. Some looked as if they were sleeping.
He knelt down next to a woman laying on her side, to check if she had maybe survived this horror. Once he turned her on her back he saw her throat had been slashed so deep he could see bones. Her eyes were still wide open, gazing up in pure terror and shock. He closed her eyes with a gentle move of his hand, shocking himself in the process.
Why? The woman means nothing to me. Just another dead body amongst countless others I’ve seen.
As he was getting up, he noticed something in the woman’s hand. He bent down to open her hand; he had to pry it open as it was clenched so tightly, breaking her fingers in the process. What he saw in her hand sent shivers down his spine. He grabbed it in a haste, he was sure he had to leave.
Immediately.
He followed back in his footprints, careful not to leave any other trace behind. Once he got to the forest, he ran back to the oak tree, slipping a few times on the leaf covered floor. Seeing the girl still unconcious, he put his finger under her nose; her breathing was weak but steady. He put her frail body on his shoulders and took off towards his cabin.
