Remnant Stars

Chapter 9: Evil Sorceress

Fortunately, the mill was a mere minute's walk from the cemetery. It was located by the river where it tirelessly pumped the water through its wheel and ground the grains to feed the insatiable hunger of the granary. Attached to the mill was a wood structure that doubled as a house and a shop from where the miller sold his wares.

It wasn't long before they were knocking on the miller's door, and from the sudden commotion that ensued, probably startled the poor guy. A man with a massive white beard peeked his head from behind the door and stared at them cautiously. But, when he saw Medea, his beard trembled as he swung the door open with great gusto.

"Lady Medea! Please, come in!" the man sure was energetic despite his age. He quickly invited them in and scampered off to another part of the house.

"Uh," The three of them froze as soon as they entered the miller's house. Their surroundings were littered with tattered clothes, upturned furniture and a chaotic mishmash of rotten food and other garbage.

The whole place smelled so bad that Gil was almost sure the miller was hiding a putrefying corpse in here.

"What the fuck, man! This is like damn hoarder's house!" Figment cursed out loud, his expression scrunched up in pure disgust. "Cover your nose already!"

Gil didn't need to be reminded twice as he pinched his nose and breathed through his mouth, but even that felt like he was ingesting some noxious gas that was poisoning his insides.

"Solamh, what is this?" Medea frowned as she swept her gaze around the disastrous scene.

"Ah, Lady Medea please wait! I can explain this!" Solamh's yelled back from another part of the house.

Gil stood still, not willing to step on anything that might go squish under his feet. Just the thought of that happening almost made him bolt out of the door and let Medea handle the rest. But, an image of her taunting him with passive-aggressive words while wearing that annoying blank expression caused him to stay rooted to the spot.

Sometimes pettiness overruled the more logical reasoning of a human.

They heard a distant door slam shut, followed by footsteps impacting the junk that littered the floor. Solamh reappeared, carrying something wrapped in layers of rough hemp fabric. The smell that permeated the entire place intensified and finally made Gil take a step back.

Medea scrutinized the wrapped bundle in Solamh's embrace, her hand finally moving to cover her nose. The black haired women, on the other hand, completely ignored the horrendous smell and hurried towards it instead.

Gil watched in awe as the woman wrapped her arms around the small bundle and pulled it away from Solamh. There was no hesitation in her actions, leaving even the miller in shock at her quick actions.

"No! How could this..." Tears welled up in her eyes as she tightly embraced the bundle.

The series of events clicked together in Gil's mind as he finally deduced the answer to what had just transpired. The smell, the messy house, and Solamh's behaviour all made sense now.

"Well, I'll be damned. He really was hiding a dead body in here," Gil muttered under his breath. Initially, the smell had kept him from paying attention to the wrapped up bundle, but now that he looked at it in more detail, its shape and size easily gave away the identity of what was hidden underneath.

Medea had, at some point, moved closer to him. A fact only made known to him when she tugged his sleeve and placed a finger on her lips, signalling him to stay silent. Gil nodded and returned his gaze towards the two figures standing amongst the heaping rubbish.