Flame of the Ainulindalë
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Wearing rat's coat, crowskin, crossed staves in a field behaving as the wind behaves
Posts: 9,308
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Bregoware
Sythric and Raedwald had both noticed the empty farmhouses. They were sharing the feeling of chill at the moment. Just before that, Raedwald had just told Sythric, that the brave Aethulf had died last summer, to an unknown disease. He had started losing his weight and hair first, then he started to feel cold, notwithstanding his rising temperatures. Then there was just the sudden end of everything. Raedwald had heard this from one of their mutual friends. Aethulf had died painfully, on his own bed. Sythric was just taking all this in, with these new bad omens of a deserted countryside, when he heard Eostre’s voice addressing him "Master Sythric, do we reach the river before Arnanaes? My memory of the map is, perhaps, not quite as great as it should be for this location."
Sythric looked at Eostre, changing his serious expression into a more comfortable one. “Well, master Eostre”, he grinned, kind of returning the compliment “We surely are reaching Aernanaes right now. Beside the town, there’s the river. And after river, Rohan proper.” He looked at Eostre questioningly, but as she didn’t reply, he continued, with a more grim expression: “As you see, the houses are quite empty. The town of Arnanaes seems to be evacuated. That is not a good sign. This land surely is at war, and I just hope, that those people coming behind us, including our families and friends from Bregoware, will meet these places as peaceful as we are meeting them.”
With that, he called Osmod to take the route a little more left. The center of the town would be there, and they surely should take a look at it. And anyhow, the ferry would be reached from there as easily as it would be, coming from outside the town.
The party entered the central road of the town quite soon. It was one of those towns to which you seem to be coming in, little by little, passing a farmhouse after farmhouse, and then very suddenly, you are at the center. That always surprises the wayfaring stranger. Sythric and Raedwald were no strangers to this place. It was so familiar, and yet, so unfamiliar. All things were at their places, but everything was out of place.
There was the smith’s shop, where Sythric had repaired his spurs so many years ago. The smith had been an old man – in his 60’s – and very helpful indeed, although he seemed to have no idea of the current prices... Sythric had had to persuade him to take a price that would have been at most half of what was taken normally around. Without his insistence, the smith would have been happy with a third of a normal price. The door was open and it was dark inside. Suddenly two big wild dogs run out from inside the house and curved around the corner, yelping as they ran. Sythric felt like stopping, just checking in, whether the old man could still be in there, being tormented by these scavengers. But no. They had a mission, and they would have to accomplish it.
Sythric felt like crying. He swallowed his tears, and tried to look forwards. There was the central square, just in front of them, and the town hall as well. All empty and deserted.
Last edited by Nogrod; 03-04-2006 at 07:17 PM.
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