| The silence was the worst. By now, Jacinda knew the lands of the Seven Rivers as well as most people who had been born and raised here. She knew the sounds of the birds that dove gracefully over the rippling waters, the comforting whirr of the dragonflies, the soft snuffling of the underbrush...And more importantly when they stopped, when they withdrew before something dangerous. Something that she needed to kill, or reap.
But the terrified whispers in the last village had spoken of cleaned bones in the middle of clearings. Utterly dead silences in glades that had once been filled with life. And the one poor child who had escaped the last caravan...She winced at the memory alone...
The girl had seen nothing, hidden by desperate (and wise) parents in a travel chest that they had sealed just before the attack arrived. She had been recovered by cautious hunters a day later, covered in her own filth, too exhausted even to cry more. The reek likely saved her, as otherwise they might have left such a cursed spot alone, seeing the perfectly clean, fresh bones lying where they had fallen. Horse, ox, chicken, hound...
And human.
She couldn't talk, not even her own name, and they shook their heads and murmured that her mind was broken. When Jacinda tried to find something, anything that might help her guess what had done this, the girl had just stared ahead, shivering. Jacinda had sighed, and taken her up to the temple with a handful of silvers to see if they could take her in as a scullery. Kelsay had swept the little one up and given her a bit of old dried apple, just like a skittish horse, and Jacinda had turned back, lost in thought, before a whispered word stopped her.
"Buzzed."
Jacinda turned, eyes wide, staring into the girl's eyes. Those eyes closed, and she started shuddering.
"Buzz, buzz, buzz buzz buzz buzzbuzzbuzzbuzzbuzzbzzzbzzzzzzzzz-"
She started sobbing. Deep, wracking sobs, sobs that no child should have, and Kelsay looked up worriedly at Jacinda before hurrying inside to try and comfort the girl. Jacinda left a bulging purse behind, overflowing with golds and silvers. That little girl could be a priest, if she wanted, or anything else with that much dower property, but it was worth it. Now Jacinda knew what she faced, and that would be the difference between certain death, and maybe life. She would bet on herself against most anything, most days, but not this. Going up against this unprepared had killed adventurers smarter and faster than her, and she knew it to her core that she would have had no chance whatsoever.
Jacinda took some time making her preparations, including filling several glass bottles with an expensive clear potion she had purchased from a witch in a hidden valley in Jedinchel, getting her sling re-oiled, pulling her biggest shield from her mules, and finally stuffing her ears with tightly packed wool and having the local currier fit her with straps to keep the wool where it needed to be.
She set out, following the bone road into the fens between Kadara and the Sick. And there were bones aplenty, all spotlessly clean. She moved warily, taking her time, ready to spend all day, and the next, if she needed to.
That paid off, as she came across the first of them unawares, focusing on ravaging what was left of...She couldn't even tell. She could not hear the buzzing, but she knew it was there.
She slowly, silently, pulled loose her sling, fit one of the precious vials in it, slowly built up momentum, and then lofted it into them. She saw it shatter, and the flames rise, consuming them before they could even begin searching for her.
It took her days of careful work, resting after even minor injuries from the few that escaped the flames, living to fight another day rather than trying to be a hero.
Then she found the end of the bone road. And had to take a few moments to just breath. |
