Spears of Redriver

Part Forty-One - The Dead

"Let's get going?" Carthus forced himself up, leaning on his spear. His leg throbbed from the pain of the arrow and the burn that followed. He looked around at the dead valley around them, where remains of burned men and women littered the dirt. His gaze drifted to the dead assassins and then to Theo.

"Where are we going? What is our plan from here?" Enlief groaned as he stood, clutching his side where Tassos seared his wound closed and wrapped it.

"We have to find out what happened here...and why," Carthus replied, and limped toward the dead Spear.

"Of course, but we don't know where to start" the Nord agreed reluctantly.

Carthus ignored the man as he approached Theo's lifeless body. Tassos had removed the arrow that killed him and laid him out carefully, arms crossed over his hammer on his chest. The young man had coins over his eyes and left him surrounded by a ring of stones; they were meant to protect his spirit until proper burial. Carthus promised that they would come back for Theo's body when they got what they came for, no Spear would be left behind.

"We should hurry," Tassos spoke up. Carthus turned to him and followed the young man's gaze west toward the distant ruins of a village.

"We can start there," Carthus agreed and started limping in the direction, leading the way through the barren valley.

"That's better than no plan" Enlief agreed, following along with Tassos.

They marched for hours with the sun beating down on them as it sunk closer and closer to the horizon. Carthus kept limping on, and with the passing time, his leg stopped hurting as it grew numb. He glanced back at the others now and then. Tassos kept close to Enlief, with a watchful eye over the injured Nord who looked to be struggling with the pace and breathing hard. Whenever Carthus asked if the Nord needed to rest, he shook his head and kept on going.

When they eventually reached the outskirts of the small valley hamlet, Carthus stopped at the first line of stone fences that lined the fields. He sat on the neatly piled stones and stared into the growing darkness of the village, where several columns of smoke still rose into the dark sky. Enlief leaned on the wall next to him and spat blood to the side, as Tassos leaped onto the wall.

There were still bodies everywhere, charred, and smoking as if burned recently. The Maad looked over them one to the next with disgust. Why did this happen?

"Look there, they didn't all die from the fire" Tassos spoke up, pointing to a few bodies near the fence line. Carthus glanced over and spotted them right away, a few bodies less burned than all the others with arrows sticking out of them.

"What happened here?" Enlief asked, "it was a massacre!"

"And according to the Ordethi, King Feluthar caused it and wants it covered up from the people" Carthus replied sternly, his grimace turned to a furious frown.

"EEAAAAHHHH!" a shrill scream suddenly broke the silence of the valley, and all three of them jumped, startled.

"What was that?" Tassos asked, "is someone still alive in there?"

"That didn't sound like someone calling for help," Enlief coughed.

They all stared into the obscure village as it only grew darker. The sun was finally disappearing over the cliff face on the western side of the valley, and the shadows stretched out far past the three sellswords. The scream filled the air again, followed by another one, and another one. There were suddenly figures moving in the darkness, coming right toward them, each one at a full sprint. Their snarling grew louder and louder as the humanoid forms got closer and closer.