The frozen lake stretched out like a vast, unending sheet of white, the stark expanse broken only by a few lonely trees along the shoreline. The cold was biting, the kind that seeped through layers of clothing and settled deep in the bones. No one was out on the lake, after all, you had to be a madman to be out when it was so cold, but that did not stop Eirik. Hunched over a hole in the ice he had cut through earlier in the morning, his breath visible was in the frigid air as he muttered to himself.
“Damn this cold,” he grumbled, rubbing his gloved hands. Eirik was no stranger to the harsh winters of Chetuvia yet this year was especially rough on him. It's why he was more than happy to stay at home and help his wife weave some clothes so that when winter ended, they could head to the local market and sell their goods. Sadly though, such a wish never came as he decided to get drunk at the local tavern. He hadn't spent a lot when he first arrived, just spending a few copper coins for a cup of ale but before he knew it, he was as drunk as a lord and down three whole silver coins.
When he got back from his night of partying, his wife was not at all happy with him and that is why he now found himself sitting on the ice, nursing his head from the hangover while he tried to find something of value in the water. A sturgeon was worth a couple of copper coins, so too was a pike, but sadly he hadn't found anything at all.
\He sighed, peering into the hole where his net went through. The water below was dark and uninviting, reflecting his sullen mood. “Not a single bite,” he muttered, adjusting his woolen scarf. Eirik’s breath formed clouds in the frigid air as he glanced at the sinking sun. He knew he couldn’t stay out much longer; the cold would become unbearable soon. But just as he was about to pack up and head home to his angry wife, his net gave a sudden, unexpected tug. His head snapped towards his net, his heart leaping with hope. “Finally, something!” he exclaimed, standing up and pulling on the net with all his strength. It was heavier than he expected, and he had to brace his feet against the ice to keep from slipping.
Maybe it's a catfish Eirik thought as he pulled with all his strength. Johan had caught a massive one, almost the size of his whole body, a few months ago and the fishmonger gave him five whole gold coins for it. If he was able to get one like that, his whole family would be financially good for the next year or two. With a great pull that he swore popped his back, Eirik pulled the net from the water. Catching his breath from the strenuous task, he quickly looked towards the net to see what he had caught when he stopped. Tangled inside the net and not the massive fish he was expecting to find, was instead a human skeleton. He stared at it for a moment, not fully comprehending what he was looking at. When he did finally comprehend what he was looking at a full ten seconds later, he stepped backward, almost slipping as he did so.
“By the gods,” Eirik whispered, a gloved hand over his mouth. Years prior, when he was just a young lad, he had the displeasure of seeing a body just like this.
At the time, the village drunk had been stumbling his way home when he had the misfortune of slipping and breaking his neck on the ice before sliding into the water below. No one was sure where he had gone and assumed he had skipped town to avoid paying his debts but when summer rolled around, his now almost skeletal remains drifted to the shore. He had been in the crowd as the town guard and a priest loaded his body into a coffin and looking down at the skeleton in front of him, he felt the same nauseous feeling.
Without much of a warning, he turned to his side and vomited. The bile burned his throat, and the retching left him weak and shivering in the cold. He wiped his mouth with the back of his glove and forced himself to look at the skeleton again.
“I need to get this to Garrick,” he said to himself, trying to steady his trembling hands. Carefully, he untangled the skeleton from his net, his fingers numb from the cold and the shock.
***
The inside of the Apothecaries shop was hot, something that Eirik appreciated as he stood shivering in front of it, a burlap bag hanging from his shoulder. Because of the rush, he was in and because he didn't know what else to do, he grabbed a large empty sack that was left on the pier and stuffed the skeleton inside. This was in part so he could transport it easier but also so that he didn't have to look at it. Just thinking about its appearance made him feel nauseous again.
Just as he felt as though he were going to vomit again, the door behind him jingled as Garrick walked in. Garrick was the town’s foremost apothecary and had been brewing potions and examining the weird stuff people would bring him longer than Eirik had been born. Even now, at the ripe old age of 77, he still ran the shop although time would tell before he had to give it away to his apprentice.
“Ah, Eirik! I have seen since you brought your son in for the Mason’s Cough, bless his poor soul. What brings you here at this hour?”
Eirik swallowed hard, trying to compose himself. “Found something in the lake,” he said, his voice shaky. “Thought you might want to take a look.”
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Garrick’s eyes narrowed as Eirik walked to the counter and placed the burlap sack down. Once it was settled, he opened it and showed him the skeleton inside.
For a moment, there was silence. Garrick’s eyes widened slightly, but he quickly composed himself.
“...Where did you say you found it?” Garrick asked, his fingers gently probing the bones.
“Tangled in my fishing net,” Eirik replied, trying his hardest not to look at the bones.
“This skeleton has been preserved remarkably well,” Garrick murmured, more to himself than to Eirik. “It looks as though it hasn't been under the water for more than a few days, there’s no sign of decay on any of the bones.”
Eirik watched as Garrick continued his examination, not understanding what he was talking about. “What do you think it means?”
“Well, it means either someone dumped it there, or it came in through the river”. Garrick replied, his brow furrowed in concentration. “Thank you for bringing this here. I’m just going to give it a quick examination before I notify the town guard.”
“O-ok Eirik said as he began to head out the door, hellbent on getting away from the body but just as he was about to close the door, Garrick stopped him.
“Wait, Eirik,” Garrick called out. “One more thing. Did you notice anything else unusual when you found the skeleton? Anything at all?”
Eirik paused, his mind racing back to the moment he pulled the skeleton from the icy water. He shook his head. “No, nothing else. Just the skeleton.”
Garrick nodded. “Alright. Thank you again, Eirik. I’ll take it from here.”
Relieved, Eirik stepped out into the cold night, pulling his wool scarf tighter around him. The air felt fresher now, less oppressive, as he made his way back home, eager to put the unsettling discovery behind him. Back inside the shop, Garrick looked down at the skeleton in the sack before yelling into the shop.
“Elara! Come here, quickly!”
A moment later, a young woman appeared from the back room, wiping her hands on a rag. This was Elara Ventani, Garrick's apprentice and niece. “What is it, Uncle?”
“That fisherman, Eirik, just came by and dropped this off,” he said as he opened the bag more, “come take a look at what he found.”
Frowning, she set down her rag and walked around the counter to see what her uncle needed. Once she saw the bones inside the bag, her eyes widened considerably. “He found a body in the lake?”
“Indeed he did and that's not all. For a skeleton to be so well-preserved, it would need to be in the water for a very short time. Yet, there’s no flesh, no clothing, nothing to indicate who this was or how they ended up in the lake.”
Elara leaned in closer, her brow furrowing just as her uncles did earlier. “Do you think it could be someone who drowned recently?”
Garrick shook his head. “No, the bones are too clean for that. Would you mind prepping the table in the back so I can examine it better?”
“Of course unc- I mean master,” she said with a quick bow before taking off to the back. He sighed as he watched her round the corner. She had been like this ever since she began her apprenticeship here two years and although he didn't mind when she called him uncle, she still needed to learn to call him master. Shaking his head a little, he closed the bag and heaved it over his shoulder.
He felt his back pop a little bit, feeling good rather than it hurting before he made his way to his workshop. His workshop was large, five meters long and wide, and filled to the brim with everything he might need daily. He passed by jars full of herbs and specimens he had collected over the years while from the rafters, plants hung down droopily. In the center of the room, and already prepped by Elara, was his examination table which had a clean white cloth spread over its surface.
He laid the burlap sack down and, with Elara's help, gently lifted the skeleton from the bag and placed it on the cleared surface. The skeleton was surprisingly still together, its ligaments still intact. Garrick carefully examined the skeleton, his fingers tracing the bones slowly.
"Elara," he said quietly, "fetch the tinctures and a few clean cloths." She nodded and hurried to gather the supplies. Garrick's eyes narrowed as he scrutinized the ligaments, noting their unusual preservation. "This is extraordinary," he muttered. "These ligaments should have deteriorated long ago, yet they remain…why?" Elara returned, placing the items on the table.
"What do you think happened?” she asked as she stood next to and looked down at the skeleton. Garrick did not respond as he grabbed a magnifying glass and looked and looked at the skeleton's right hand. Much of it was covered in markings and even as he held the magnifying glass to it, he could see even more carved into each marking. He knew the moment he saw they were religious yet for some reason they looked familiar. He thought about it before he turned to his niece.
“Do you think you can run to my room and grab my prayer book?” he asked as Elara looked at him confusingly.
“Your prayer book? Why do you need that?”
“I think it might help me understand what happened to this man.”
She nodded, though still confused, and made her way out of the workshop and to his bedroom. Once she rounded the corner, he grabbed a hammer and chisel and looked down at the skeleton.
“Now, let's see what's inside that head of yours,” he said as he leveled the chisel against the skull and began to swing the hammer but just as he did so, he felt something cold. It was a weird feeling, even more so since the workshop was sweltering hot. He looked around, wondering if maybe Elara opened a window or something or left a door open but no, nothing was. It was only when he looked down that he realized why he felt so cold.
On the table, the skeleton was looking directly at him, a dark red flame burning where its eyes used to be. He barely processed what he was looking at and wondered if his age was truly getting to him at this point when he felt something hard smash into his face, sending him sprawling into the counter next to him. That would be the last thing he would ever see.