Shin
None of them had heads or their entrails. My hand crept up to my neck and stayed there. I swallowed back the vomit that was already on its way out. My other hand was already my dagger. I looked around waiting, ready to attack anything that dares rear it ugly head. After a while I relaxed, there was not a single soul alive in this homestead except the two of us. Hellan had turned her face away from the gore scene and she was looking down towards the village.
'You don't think?...'She didn't have to finish her question. we crossed the gate and got onto the paved road of the village. It was quiet, no birds sung, no animals called, even the wind was strangely calm. We got to the village square and Hellan puked everything she'd eaten today. She turned around and held her stomach. I stood there the grip on my neck becoming tighter with every breath. The whole village was slaughtered and butchered. Again no head could be found, I let go of my neck and started rubbing Hellan's back.
They seemed to have put up a fight as some of them still has their weapons in hand. Whomever did this must have been a decent fighter, but what were they after. Nothing made sense, this village bordered Nurr's territory. Even if it was small, some of the continents most powerful were in a city next door, how come none of us knew about this?
Judging by the smell that was around and the drying blood, it must have happened, close to if not, on the princesses' party. A lady still had her rings and bangles, so they were not burglars, the cattle and birds corpses were still around, so they were not cattle rustlers, only the head and the entrails were missing. This complicated the matter thousandfold. If they were burglars, I'd be done with them by tomorrow, if they were cattle rustlers we'd prepare for barbecue but we were facing a...I didn't even know what we were facing.
After hurling for a while, Hellan calmed down. She was a great fighter but she must have never seen the battlefield. I gave her a reassuring smile as she wiped her lips. She had her hair in a ponytail but there was a hair at her forehead that refused to cooperate. The plan was to sneak into Edith's place on foot from here. It was a bit of a distance but we'd have made it by the end of the day. Uncle always tells me, there's no need to plan, plans always fails. the sun was slowly claiming the land for its own and we were far behind schedule.
I walked to the closest body and noticed something weird, I walked to another and another. Whomever cut the bodies up isn't the same person who cut the head off. And whomever cut the head isn't the one whom killed them. They had many wound differences, this might be what did them in. I exhaled audibly, we were dealing with more than one psychopath. I had also noticed something, some of them still had parts of their lungs and heart. The only parts that were completely gone were those that stemmed from the gut. I was starting to put it together but every breakthrough sickened me.
'Shouldn't Brand keep her people safe?' Hellan was now looking better than before. 'How could this happen right outside her door?' I could understand the girl, I was also asking myself the same questions. I walked to another body this one was young, I looked away. The scene was messing up with my head.
'Was it like this the last time you were here?' I asked keeping my voice low but loud enough for her to hear.
'I don't know, I never saw the village, or anyone' She was now looking at the young boy. I saw anger flash in her eyes. 'We should go back and come with a larger number and find these snakes!' she was seething. Coming with a larger number of people was a good idea, but it came with a lot of complications for me.
'We could do that, but the men who did this must have already gone into hiding, second, this is Brand's territory, entering with our soldiers to investigate will take a lot of time, especially if she's in any way connected' I was now looking at a mother who protected her daughter to the end. 'And what excuse will we use? we shouldn't be sneaking into ones home, especially not when she still hold grudges against us. The point is Edith will cover everything up to save her skin.'
'Then what should we do? These people were innocently murdered!'
'The right thing to do is to send them on their way' My answer caught her by surprise. I understood her, she was talking about justice for these people I was talking about sending them on their way. 'We should prey for them and hope they find peace on Ketra's shelves.' She looked at me with a question filled look. 'That, is the right thing to do, at least for now'
'But...' She was still not convinced.
'We should burn their bodies, then look for their killers' I added reassuring her. 'Get the wood from their houses, I'll work on their bodies.' She was reluctant at first but walked away silently. I took off my trench coat, folded my sleeves and stated collecting the bodies starting with the young mother and her child. I treated every body with care, these people were warriors, they fought the attacker to their last breath, they deserved the respect of a soldier.
I carried everybody to the village square. careful not to drop them or let their hands and legs drag on the pavement. Hellan took down most of the houses and pilled the wood into dozens of pyres. We worked well past the scorching hours of the day. It was as the sun set, that I placed the last body on a pyre and covered it with a blanket. I took a step back, smelling like a slaughter house pit. The blood, sweat and bodily fluids mixed on my body forming a new smell I didn't fancy. Hellan was covered in dust yet she still looked beautiful. We used oil in each pyre so the fire was easier to light.
Four hundred males, five hundred females, and seven hundred children. This was the number of people living in this village, the number of bodies we burned. In this village, where anyone who knew its name was already dead, only two souls stood watching the fire build up and become stronger. The smoke was getting thicker by the second and the heat was quickly becoming unbearable, yet none of us moved form our spot. None of us spoke as we watched the bodies turn to ash. darkness claimed the sky but the fire illuminated the whole village. It was only after the fire settled down did we bother moving.
'Should we go back?' Hellan's voice was soft it almost sounded like a lull. I shook my head.
'We can rest here be on our way tomorrow morning' I saw the hesitation in her face. I also didn't want to spend the night in a village where we'd just burned everybody but I needed to get my blessing back. I felt that if I missed this chance, I may never see it again.
'We can stay in the barn' she said while rubbing her arms. The smoulders of the fire still cast a red glow. It looked menacing in the dark. If it was before, I'd be happy to feel the warmth of the sun leave but now, I was afraid of what could be hiding in the dark. I turned and followed Hellan back to the barn. I needed a shower.