The Coven's Source

Chapter Ten

We left them after Grigore strongly advised them to call a Weaver and we marched onwards, leaving the terrified people and the farmstead of blood behind. I thought that would be the end of it but, as we moved deeper into Miroslav's lands, more abandoned buildings and chewed crops began to pop up. We moved through a village boarded up with no one outside, only stiff silence reigned that muted even dogs, while another hamlet was completely abandoned. It unsettled me but I wasn't anxious until we stumbled across a large lake of blood in the middle of a road.

It stretched several meters, thickly congealed, old and festered by flies, and not a corpse could be found nearby in the long grass surrounding the road. It was just like the homestead; signs of death with no bodies to show for it or even signs of the bodies being dragged away, just holes. Hundreds of holes.

'I'd really like to know what's causing this.' Grigore murmured darkly beside me with his arms folded.

I did too but I couldn't sense anything again; no whiffs of monster souls or magic having been cast, just that thick fear that clogged at my throat. My fingers clasped about the ring dangling from my throat, one Grigore had given to me years before to quieten my song, keeping me safe from distant danger. I hoped it would still work.

We moved on and Petrov hung closer to us, not drifting too far ahead now as he grew wary. When night came, we were without shelter this time. Once again Grigore stayed awake the entire night and I slept close to him with my head on his lap and his hand in my hair. When dawn came, nothing had attacked us; no bandits or monster. Nothing had stirred and my magic still remained calm.

Finally we had reached the final day of our journey to Miroslav's city, the heart of these miserable lands, but, despite that sense of security looming in the distance and the growing number of people that turned villages into towns, the state of the people only grew worse. They became hostile with no offers of trade or services, children were kept out of sight and most people were armed; men with swords and bows, farmers in their lone farmlands and dead crops armed with their tools, and the outskirts of every settlement was locked up tight. But despite this obvious security, people were missing. We found too many farms or hamlets empty of people, the earth full of holes, streets full of blood and fields empty of crops. It put Grigore on edge and he kept me close, not letting me out of sight for even a moment as we passed through the hauntingly dead settlements.

We remained quiet but it was Grigore and Petrov who were most noticeably silent. They no longer headbutted pointlessly and instead were passive with each other, sharing thoughts and information of safe routes. Petrov would wait for us, telling us of any movement he'd seen or a settlement he'd spied in the distance, towns he was beginning to name. When we found a fat river churning through the undergrowth, swarmed by willows and wet marshy earth and home to swarms of midges and singing toads, Petrov and Kirill seemed to relax a little. They knew where they were now, naming the large river Rau, and walked with confidence. By dusk, Miroslav's city filled the valley below, a mass of stone darkened by growing shadows and surrounded by hills of gold and an ominous forest that traced the Rau's border.

'That's it.' Petrov said. 'Kirill's home is on the outskirts down near the Rau.'

Kirill took the lead now, eagerness to get home and begin the search for Mila propelling him faster than any of us. We followed worn down roads lined with thick swarms of grass and weeds that dipped down into the valley with a gentle slope. Despite the city looming, the roads weren't as busy as I thought they should be. While dusk brought out the worst monsters, they didn't creep so close to such a large human populous; the life, sounds and smells often were overpowering, meaning the valley was relatively safe, but those we did pass felt grim and scared, huddling close to their lanterns and their steps quick.