Uri's band of men and woman packed the camp fairly quickly after that and we towards Theramill once again. The trip would take us east for a week, and then we would finally arrive in Theramill. I thought I would go straight to the ancient city with Uri and his men, now that the situation has changed. I didn't want to be alone in the deep woods with whatever that thing was out there. And how was no one able to explain how the two men were choked to death in the air? I was determined not to die, so I would travel as far as the city, and then I would leave. Somehow.

"Girl, You ever see something like that before? How did you know it was going to attack us?" Asked a man that Uri had recently took on to his army of bastards.

I shrugged. "Maybe I didn't say that."

"You did though." He argued with me.

I sighed annoyed this man was asking me anything when I don't even know the answer. "I don't know." I told him. He didn't say anything to me, he just stared at me for a moment. "Why did you tell Uri then to pull his sword?" He questioned me again.

"Why wouldn't you pull your sword when something is skulking in the shadows of the forest?" I asked him. He scoffed at me and moved his horse away from me.

Something told me we were going to meet that thing again before we arrived in Theramill. I told myself I would sleep in a group tent and keep my axe near to me, even if it wasn't very sharp, I was sure it would do enough damage to give myself a chance. I kept close to the group and when we stopped for water and rest, I was always nearest to the strongest fighters. Uri noticed this and pulled me to the side.

"Are you worried that thing might come back?" He asked me.

"Are you not?" I asked him back.

"Yes, I am. We will be in the village Broid. I don't want to lose half my men before we even arrive in Theramill." He said.

I nodded. "Well, we can all be thankful for that." I said relieved.

"Now, lets talk about that thing. Have you seen one before? You know, before you came to me."

Well that was one way of putting it, I thought to myself. "No, never." I admitted. "But when it was there, when it was looking at me. I just felt darkness from it." I didn't know how else to say it. "I don't know Uri, it used magic, have you ever seen that before?" I shook my head and shrugged my shoulders questioning him.

"Right, well, that is the perfect explanation for it isn't it? Magic. Magic isn't real, Bodil. Stories. "Uri shook his head and walked away from me mounting his horse and signaling the rest of the group to ready themselves.

Things were generally peaceful until the village came into sight. The sun was giving off its last light of the day, there was an unsettling silence as we approached the village. The usual hustle, or animal noise was simply not there. The gates were slightly open and unguarded. I looked at Uri beside me who was already noticing it him that things were not the way they should be. "Be prepared, somethings not right." He called back to the men. "Erik, get a group and go look around the wall it doesn't look like it stretches far. Leave the wagons, they wont be going anywhere. The rest of you with me." He ordered and then headed towards to village gate.

I hovered close to Uri and his men as we traveled through the village. It was empty. Not a single soul was here. There were plenty of buildings, and houses. A smaller trade center with wagons that were still stocked. Some with rotting meat, some with dirt covered goods. "What's all this, Uri?" One of his men asked.

Uri shrugged, "You can see as much as I have, you tell me, Jarvis." Uri said. Heading towards the center to the council hall here, a smell of death started to fill the air. The stench of rot among other things. I gagged covering my mouth and nose with my cloak. Others started to retch and object to the smell as we got closer to the village hall. "Uri, the smell of death is not something one usually walks towards." One of Uri's men said to him. "Are you scared, Olag?" Uri asked him, laughing.

The village hall came into sight, the front of the building faced a large yard that would usually be used for trade and celebrations, but this was also empty and full of rotting wagons. The ground in front of the hall was still mostly wet with blood, as if a great battle had been fought here. Uri and his men stopped and dismounted their horses, moving towards the hall doors.

I stopped where I was and waited for them to go into the hall. I could feel in my stomach that something was just not right.

"Well I guess we have found the source of the stench here."

I jumped off my horse, waiting as the others walked towards the halls doors. Looking over along the row of empty buildings and wagons, I could see a man leaning against the side of a house, his arms folded across his chest, looking right at me. His eye were icy blue, something about them seemed familiar to me. I started to walk towards him and he turned and left behind the building.

I could hear Uri and his men yelling about something inside the hall, I was to far away to make anything out though. I kept walking towards were I seen the man go out of sight, I was more interested in who he was, then what Uri found. Looking around the corner of the building he was gone. There was only an empty yard. I bent down looking for tracks from the man to see where he went to, unfortunately there were none. I stood up confused and headed back to my horse.

"What the hell was that?" Olag said to Uri as he rushed out of the hall doors, throwing up as the fresh air hit him.

"What in the deepest hells could have done that, Olag?" Uri shouted at him as he walked into the trade yard away from the building. "Burn it!" Uri yelled at the men.

I ran across the yard and mounted up onto my horse, Uri was watching me, "Where are you going, Bodil?" He asked.

"To the wagons." I told him. No point in lying. I didn't want to be here. "Yeah, we are all leaving. Whatever has happened here is over," He leaned against his horse, then turned back to his men, and yelled "I said burn it!"

"Uri, we should return home." Olag said as they were clambering onto their saddles.

"Home?" Uri asked. "Why?"

Olag motioned his hand towards our surroundings. "This, Uri. First the attack this morning, now we find a village who's halls are filled with parts of torn up bodies?" Olag was not a slave. If he wanted to leave Uri would have to let him. I was sure that if Olag does leave, others would follow his lead. Uri stopped for a moment to think.

The men had closed the doors to the hall and were pulling down the thatch they could from above them, someone lit the flames and the building started to burn.

"Who else wants to go?" Uri asked the men who were with us. To my surprise no one else said anything. When I glanced around, I noticed Erik he was looking at me, his features hard. I said nothing to him pretending not to notice giving my horse a nudge to start moving again.

I thought about the older man I had seen in the village center. I wonder if he happened to come into the village as well and was waiting for us to leave to continue to help himself to the vacant homes. The hall would be burned to ash by morning, and probably some of the buildings along with it. Again, something I just didn't care about. I could smell what was in the hall, the men talking about the torn up bodies of the villagers, burning it was the best burial these people would receive. I just wanted to leave, and I was sure that was the same for everyone else.

The sky was dark as we reached the gates once again. Now open wide we could see the wagons and the horses with the people we left behind. The sounds of chains clinking, and the whispers were all we could hear from them. No one was speaking loudly, almost as if they felt it themselves that something was wrong, the way sheep knew a wolf was near. Smoke from the fire started to fill the sky like a beacon of our arrival. "We keep moving." Was all Uri said as we left the gate. "We don't stop until day light."

The band of people starting to move away from the village, Olag, Erik and the other men who were in the hall spreading the details to the others about what they found.

I felt sad for the people who lived here as we left. An entire village of people either dead or had to run was something I was some what familiar with, thanks to Uri. I pulled my cloak over my head and around myself to keep warm, and then took out some of the salted meat I had on me and ate what I could. It was going to be a long night.