The Sceptre of Samnos

Vantarestin Part 2

    The next couple of days were spent passing through a region of rough terrain in which mounds of crumbling rock larger than houses were separated by narrow, treacherous gulleys filled with heather and scrubby bushes. The tiny specks of birds could be seen far overhead, making the sky seem vast and endless, making them feel small and vulnerable, and the only sound was the occasional cawing of a crow from far away, carried on the still air. They found themselves shivering with a nervousness they couldn’t identify and they hurried along the ancient road, eager to put this strange, haunted country behind them.

     They had their meals on the road, taking comfort from the man made surface beneath them, tangible proof that other people passed this way now and then. It was just after their midday lunch, the second day after entering the badlands, that Lirenna cried out and pointed off to their right, where the crows were circling about something hidden from view behind a rocky hillock. “Probably a dead animal,” said Shaun, rising up in the saddle to see better. “Just a goat or something.”

     “Maybe it’s a man,” said Diana, searching for a way off the road. “Hurt…”

     “It’s not a man,” said Shaun. “There’s nothing out here. No homesteads, no miners. There’s no reason for anyone to leave the road here.”

     “It wouldn’t take a moment to go see,” replied the cleric. She’d found a place where the road had partially collapsed, forming a ramp down to the uneven ground, and had dismounted. Shaun jumped down from his horse and joined her. “Okay,” he said, “but let’s be careful. You could twist an ankle easy as anything down there.” The others dismounted as well, and Matthew stayed to look after the horses while the others scrambled down to the boggy, heather covered ground.

     It took them some time to find a safe path to the corpse, and found it wedged in a narrow crevice between two large boulders, covered with crows who cawed angrily and lifted into the air as the travelers approached. It was human, little more than a skeleton, his clothes reduced to a few rags by the scavengers that had picked it clean. One of his legs was broken, and Diana gave a soft gasp of horror as she imagined what must have happened. The man picking his way across the boulders, losing his footing, falling and breaking a leg as he fell badly. He might have taken days to die, his cries echoing out across the empty, barren country while the scavengers edged ever closer, patiently waiting for the moment when he would be too weak to fight them off any longer. No-one said anything, but the same thought was in all their heads. He might have still been alive when they started to eat him…

     “Poor man,” said Diana softly, edging closer and saying a prayer over the corpse. “I wonder who he was. What in the name of the Gods was he doing, off the road?”

     “I imagine this would be a good place for bandits to hide their loot,” said Thomas, looking around curiously. Shaun looked up in sudden interest and reached for the remains of the man’s jacket, grimacing as he pulled it from under the desiccated corpse. Dried tissues glued it to the bones, and Diana frowned in disapproval as he gave it a couple of jerks to pull it loose. There were beetles and spiders in the pockets and he grimaced in distaste as he reached inside. The others watched with interest as he removed several small, personal items. A folding penknife, a firelighting kit in a small tin box, two lengths of string, needles and thread…

     He found a piece of folded paper, the folds partially gummed together by the damp and the mold. It would have to be praised apart very carefully if they weren't to destroy it in the process. Shaun, after brushing off dirt and cobwebs, carefully lift one corner to see what was on it. His eyes widened with excitement when he saw that it was a map, showing an area seemingly a few dozen miles across. A treasure map? Leading to bandits’ treasure? Diana was also staring with interest. A clue to her holy mission? She leaned forward with the others to see it better. Shaun tried to open it more, but the paper began to tear. “Careful!” warned Diana. “Be careful!”