Volumes of Sin

Volume Two - Chapter Six

The Speaker walked along the roadside, a rough un-travelled road, one for those who didn't want to be found. His nag remained where she fell, he hadn't the strength or energy to bury her. Laughing and whistling to himself the Speaker continued his trudge, with a pack slung across his back whilst all manner of oddities hung from the sides.

It was a shoddy piece of work made by converting his old tents and saddle into something resembling a bag, the Speaker only needed it to last a few days, its job was to hold his wine satchels, they were what he really needed. Wine was the only thing that could warm his old bones. Ashen haired and sallow-skinned, the Speaker hated looking in any reflection, this wasn't how he wanted to remember himself. He wanted to remember himself as the strong youth he had been, he was far from that now.

Past trees and broken rock the Speaker continued to move, uncaring of the world around, any dangers that popped out would be welcomed by him, they would be a welcome end to his journey, more pleasant than what he had planned. Taking regular breaks the Speaker drank as he walked, only carrying a few morsels of dried meat, the rest he left to rot with the nag. As soon as one satchel was empty he threw it away, he was already far too used to losing things.

Having found a nice area the Speaker set up camp, ready for this days journey to end. It was a glade slightly off his chosen path but more open with signs of previous use, it was always easier to start a fire in the grave of another, it was a task he no longer found as easy.

Roaring fire before him the Speaker wondered if his new friend would be able to join him this night, he liked having an impassive audience, but he didn't expect him too, he wasn't expecting to find any company on these roads. Using a wooden stick the Speaker slowly turned and roasted a hare, stuck in a trap forgotten by the glades previous occupants, he wasn't one to turn down an easy meal. Staring at the hare the Speaker chuckled under his breath "There's more meat on you than me," thinking himself senile in his old age the Speaker laughed at himself, he was even talking to his food now.

Wine in one hand and hare in the other the Speaker watched as a gloomy and cloaked figure slowly walked into view. The Speaker couldn't help but widen his eyes in surprise, he hadn't expected to see this friend again. The lone figure strode forward and once more sat before the Speaker, this time with his hood down as his facial features lay exposed, his bald head gleaming in the fire light.

The Speaker had seen the runic and ensorcelled skin on his friend's arms, but seeing him sat there scared him. What manner of man could endure such torture? Runes constantly shifted across his skin, pulsating like veins of a great tree as they spread their roots, nausea filled the Speakers stomach as he watched on in horror, unable to pull his eyes away, just two predatory eyes stared back at him.

"Mo-Gers child be damned." The hare and wine discarded the Speaker cried aloud as he dropped to his knees, ignoring the blistering heat that threatened to burn him at any moment, his words steadily growing louder as he repeatedly shouted, "I didn't know. I didn't know."

Casually leaning forward the cloaked figure leant over the Speaker, causing him to shrink and cower in fear, not daring to move. A grizzled and large hand returned from the Speakers side as the cloaked figure slowly bit into the hare, his teeth easily tearing through flesh and bone as his predatory gaze never once left the Speaker.

The Speaker had seen many things in his years of travel, men walking with signs of affliction as a result of blights or curses, or those having to live with strange mutations from wizards machinations, but the man before him was something different. He knew of an old tale, one of a 'gift' passed down from man to man, this tale was the oldest he knew and one that he never dared to speak of. It was his late teacher who told him the tale, lying on his death bed he had made the Speaker swear to never repeat his words.