Hooves clopped on a dusty ground, sending dry dirt flying into the air as Lianne, Amra, and Faolin galloped ahead at a rapid pace, toward north again. They were traveling on a vast plain that seemed to go on forever, as far as the eye could see. It was a sunny afternoon and a refreshing wind blew on a cloudless sky.

"Let's slow down!" Amra yelled at the others while pulling the reins of Sol, slowing down to a peaceful trot. They had decided to divide their traveling to passages of faster and low-speed riding to preserve the horses' energies. They tried to maximize the distance they could travel within a day, to hopefully finally find some mountains that the seer in Windermore had mentioned.

Lianne and Faolin both slowed down to a trot too, silently easing into the new pace. The scenery had started to change from the usual bareness to shrubbery and small trees.

Lianne took a deep breath of the fresh air as she slowed down. She noticed a sweet scent lingering from somewhere over the trees that now framed their pathway. The wind ruffled the branches of the trees, echoing silent crackling and swooshing in the otherwise calm scenery.

The way the branches curved almost into a loop reminded Lianne of a tree near Amra's parent's place. It was a huge old tree with a wide trunk and branches that circled around in interesting formations, providing shelter on top of the house. Whenever it was raining, she and Amra used to go sit under the tree and listen to the raindrops fall on the branches. They both loved the sound, and after they headed back inside, they always got a hot herbal drink and Amra's mother's cake to eat.

"I would give my left foot for your mom's honey cake," Lianne said to Amra, remembering those rainy days, the happy memories of childhood.

"So would I. Well, maybe not my foot, but a finger. I miss it so much," Amra said with a wide smile.

"I would give my foot, and the other one for a loaf of fresh bread," Lianne added with a dreamy voice, already tasting the treats, her mouth watering.

"What? You would give up your ability to walk for some bread and cake?" Amra laughed while glancing at Lianne amused.

"Yes, definitely," Lianne answered while laughing. "But only if I could get them whole," she added while letting out a satisfied hum, just imagining the taste of them in her mouth.

"You're silly," Amra said while slightly pulling the reins of Sol, to correct her path.

"Nah, I'm just hungry," Lianne grinned.

"Look at that!" Faolin suddenly yelled while riding closer to Lianne and Amra, pointing something in the distance, east of them.

A cloud of dark smoke rose on the horizon, behind the small trees. It rose into the air like a thick black cloud of death trying to reach the skies. Something bigger than a regular campfire was burning. A flock of birds circled around the sky as if they were expecting something.

"Where is that coming from?" Lianne wondered.

"From there," Faolin replied, pointing at the smoke again.

Lianne immediately glared at him, her eyes squinted, not amused. "I meant from what is that coming from."

"That I do not know," Faolin replied seriously, not picking up on Lianne's unamused expression.

"Should we check it out?" Amra asked, looking at the other two.

"Maybe," Lianne shrugged her shoulders. "We should check if someone's in trouble."

"As long as it doesn't mean trouble for us," Amra said, reminding Lianne of their agreement about keeping clear of danger.

"We should take a look," Faolin said and urged his horse, Myrin, to start galloping on ahead. Lianne and Amra did the same, following him towards the black smoke rising up to the sky.

As Lianne, Amra, and Faolin got closer to where the smoke was coming from, they saw a bonfire in the distance, burning on the plains. People had gathered around the fire, but nothing seemed to be especially wrong, even if it was an odd place for a bonfire, in the middle of nowhere.

When they got even closer, they saw a couple of goblins and dwarves huddled near the fire. Behind them were two wagons. One was a simple one, and another was painted with bright colours and decorated with different fabrics. A flock of vultures circled around in the sky above the fire.

That's when the stench hit their faces like an impenetrable wall. The stench was sweet and nauseating, a mix of rotten and burned flesh that immediately stung their noses, quickly bringing tears into their eyes.

Lianne, Amra, and Faolin hastily pulled their capes in front of their faces, to shelter them from inhaling the worst stench. Amra gagged but was able to hold everything in for the moment, even if the stench was trying to penetrate through the fabric. Lianne pulled her cape as close to her face as she could, trying to breathe through her nose. Her hunger was immediately gone.

"Oh, yuck. It's the scavenger's fire," Lianne said disgustingly.

"Really?" Faolin asked, immediately curious.

"Definitely. I feel sick," Amra said with ragged gasps.

"What else could make that stink," Lianne replied, her every breath heavy.

The scavengers were usually goblins and dwarves that collected bodies, stripped the corpses of anything valuable, and then burned them on the fire. They were like a cleaning service of the death.

The scavenger groups could be identified by the horrible stench that surrounded them. They usually collected as many bodies as they could until they had enough for a big fire. They took the people's belongings as a payment for helping their bodies leave this world, sending them to the afterlife. They were not evil or thugs. They never killed anyone, just helped clean the bodies away.

Lianne felt a lump forming in her throat as the smell of burning flesh and the rotten stink of decomposing bodies hit her properly. The charred flesh painted the smoke black, making the air even more stagnant and unbreathable. Through sheer willpower, she kept her cool, and her dinner down.

The group of scavengers just stripped one of the corpses, a middle-aged man, of everything that seemed worth anything. They took his boots, trousers, and jacket. They searched him all through, taking some coin from his purse and a valuable-looking pocket flask. When they were satisfied that he didn't have anything more, they just took a good hold of the body and tossed it in the fire.

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The body caught fire immediately. The dry clothes quickly went up in flames, and his skin started to turn black. The flakes of ash rose up with the hot air and then later floated down like dark snowflakes, spreading out into the distance.

The scavengers took another body, a young-looking woman, and started stripping her down too, collecting everything that seemed valuable. A stack of corpses was waiting behind them. Lifeless bodies on top of each other, waiting for their opportunity to burn.

When they were close enough, Amra stopped her horse and called out to the scavengers. "Hey! Can you help us?"

All the scavengers stopped at what they were doing and turned to look at the strangers warily, but with open curiosity. The scavengers were never hostile towards strangers unless they were attacked first. Most people just didn't want to interact with them because of the stink that followed them everywhere.

"What do you need?" a dwarf who only had one eye left, called out to Amra, inspecting her intentions at the same time. He had a black beard and weather-damaged skin that looked rough and wind-beaten. His clothes were typical for a scavenger, dirty with some wear and tear.

"Do you know if there are any towns nearby?" Amra asked, her voice muffled by the cape she kept over her nose and mouth.

"Not that I know of, but there's a roadside inn two days travel ahead. Not a town though," the dwarf said while waving his hand, gesturing towards the distance.

"Has anyone gone by here lately?" Amra still asked, but the dwarf shook his head.

"No traffic here. I don't think there's a town anywhere nearby."

"You know if there is water anywhere near here?"

"Nah, haven't seen any."

"Alright. Thank you. Carry on," Amra said to the dwarf, waving her hand as a farewell.

"Excuse me, can I ask you a question?" Faolin asked before they could leave, riding to the dwarf. Myrin neighed and tried to back away from the fire, but Faolin kept the reins tight, steering the horse closer.

The dwarf looked at Faolin, inspecting him first, and then nodding. "Right, go ahead."

"Why are you doing this?" Faolin asked, pointing at the fire and the bodies lying in wait.

"We make a living," the dwarf shortly answered, a bit puzzled by the question.

"What do you usually find?" Faolin asked interested.

"Well, sometimes a bit of money, jewelry, decent clothes, and those sort of things. We even once found a silver candlestick. It was hidden in one man's undergarments," the dwarf answered politely before he grinned and laughed. The scavengers had a bad reputation, but it was because they handled dead people. Most thought it was a bad omen. Otherwise, the scavengers were very friendly and polite.

"So, is this a trade of sorts?" Faolin still asked curiously.

The dwarf nodded. "Yes, it is. We do things for money. We sell what we find."

"How can you cope with the stench?"

"We're used to it. It's not that bad anymore."

Faolin pondered the dwarf's answers. Then he nodded satisfied. "Thank you very much for answering my questions."

"My pleasure," the dwarf said while waving his hand as a farewell and continuing on working with the others.

Faolin waved to the scavengers. He turned his horse around and rode to Lianne and Amra, who were waiting for him, ready to get away from the stench.

"Have you never seen scavengers?" Amra asked Faolin.

"I do not think so," he shrugged.

"Let's head out. I think we're done here," Lianne said while urging Luna to quickly move away from the scavenger's fire. The heat started to get unbearable and the stench stinging, making Lianne's eyes water even more. Amra and Faolin trailed right after her.

Lianne looked at the repulsive pile of corpses as they rode past them. There were two wagons full of lifeless bodies. They were lying on top of each other like sacks of grain, their limbs tangled together. The bodies had already started to rot, making the stink even more piercing. The bonfire would be burning all night at that rate.

Suddenly Lianne gasped and stopped her horse quickly. She saw something familiar in the pile. Lianne jumped off the horse immediately, still covering her mouth and nose, fighting the nausea that tried to push itself to the surface.

"Lianne, what are you doing? Stay away from the bodies!" Amra yelled with a muffled voice, stopping her horse too as Lianne ran to the pile of corpses.

Lianne looked wide-eyed at a woman that was lying on top of the pile of corpses. Lianne recognized her. It was the same old woman she and Amra had met before. The one who had been with Thorad and who had talked about the Shadows.

Lianne stared at the woman paralyzed. They had just met her a while back, and now she was lying dead on top of a pile of corpses. Beneath her were the other people from the same group. They were all dead.

"Amra, don't you recognize them?" Lianne asked.

Amra rode a bit closer and looked at the bodies for a moment. "Oh, yeah..." she silently gasped behind her cape.

"We just met them a few days ago...and now they're dead..." Lianne said, staring at the woman unceasingly.

"What happened to them?" Amra asked hesitantly while Sol neighed, trying to back away from the corpses and the fire.

The woman looked almost the same as before, except for the slight bloating of her body. Her hair was still the same shade of ash that Lianne remembered. She had a relaxed expression on her face as if she was just in a deep sleep.

Lianne knelt next to the woman. With trembling hands, she pulled some fabric of the cape to cover her fingers. Then she lifted her hand, and with a faint touch, she opened the woman's eyes.

Lianne wasn't sure what she was expecting or wanting to find, but when she saw that the woman's eyes were dark like they had been before, she let out a deep relieved breath. She had already anticipated the eyes to be transparent like Faolin's prisoner had.

Lianne quickly glanced through the woman's body but didn't see any kind of wounds or other reasons for her death. If her death had been natural, then what about the other people? Why were they all there? What happened?

Lianne quickly patted the clothes of the woman, to see if she had anything with her. One of the scavengers, a rough-looking goblin with only one ear left and half of his teeth already gone, realized that Lianne had knelt next to the pile of corpses. "Hey, you! Get away from it. Those are ours! You don't want to be stealing from us!"

Lianne disregarded the warning. "Do you know how these ones died?" she asked instead.

"How should I know? We found them along the road a day ago, lying next to that wagon with two dead horses," the scavenger explained, looking at Lianne warily as if she would still rob the bodies.

Lianne thought for a moment. Then she swallowed, trying to keep herself from vomiting. Her stomach was in knots. Her heartbeat was so fast that it thrummed in her ears. She wanted to ask one more question, but at the same time, she was afraid of what the scavenger might answer.

Lianne closed her eyes for a moment, concentrating on keeping the nauseating feeling away. Then she turned to the goblin and asked. "Were there any beetles where you found them?"

"Nah, I saw nothing like that," the goblin answered confidently with a shrug.

Lianne nodded at the goblin, her heartbeat calming down. She trusted that they would search every place carefully, not to miss anything valuable. If there had been any beetles, the marks of Yugtrass, the scavengers would have noticed them.

Lianne once more glanced at the woman, then got up. "They didn't have the mark," she said mostly to herself before turning to Amra and Faolin. "Let's leave this place. I can't stand the smell any longer."

"Suits me well," Amra said while looking at the corpses disgusted.

"I don't think I can eat for a while," Lianne said as she got back on her horse, tediously climbing up while still covering her face.

As soon as Lianne was on her horse, they all started to ride fast away from the stink that lingered heavily in the air. The horses gladly grew the distance between them and the fire, leaving the scavengers behind to do their work.

Lianne rode ahead, her other hand still covering half of her face, to keep the stench at bay. She was galloping fast but wasn't really concentrating on the ride. She had too many thoughts circling around in her head. If the woman and the others hadn't been killed by Yugtrass, then how did they die? Was it a natural cause, or had their bodies just gave away?