The Dark Moon, Respite of Madness

“At the village wells, you can hear the bells. From mountain skies you could hear their cries. 

Those in the army could only deny as they felt their loved ones die. They that were there had gone when he had come. 

For the New lord came with sword and flame. Roth was burned and lost forever.” – voice of a Herald

“Daddy! Wait for me!” Said Yllane after which she latched on to me. 

“Honey, I really have to go now. Papa’s friends are going out on a patrol and they are waiting for me. Let go of me and I will tell you all about it tonight together with Armin” I told her while trying to untangle her arms from me. 

“But mommy says its dangerous” 

“How can anything be dangerous for your daddy? I actually think they are more scared of me” 

“Why are you scared of mommy sometimes then?” 

“Hehehe, because if I’m not careful then she would eat you, my darlings!” Tickling her as I say this, I finally get her off me. Now I quickly have to get to the door before she tries it again and after I reached it, I waved her off. 

“Bye my little darling!” 

“Bye daddy!” And then I closed the door. 

I made my way to the west gate where the other guardsmen should have gathered by now. 

Extra patrols have been organized as mad ones have started showing up. 

“Sarmin, you’re late. If it wasn’t that everyone didn’t want to go we would have left without you. That would have been three days in the stocks? More maybe?” said the leader of the patrol. 

His name was Gwilherm and if he hadn’t have more money than he is useless, I would have told him to shove it up there. Ironically enough, those two are the reasons he is still only a captain. 

“Whatever, you don’t seem to have suffered from it” 

“No, but some people might have. A previous patrol had gotten engaged with a group of mad ones. Some fled when the guards didn't start dropping. The patrol left it to us to find those as their duty was finished, bastards” 

“Smart ones too. Mad ones only flee if there are more of them to return too. Otherwise they would just fight until their deaths” said an old buddy of mine, Jirmus. 

“And we aren’t given any reinforcements?” I asked the captain. 

“Don’t think it will be necessary. With me we will go clean and easy” Add arrogant to his pile of shortcomings. 

“Guess that means Gwilherm is our vanguard today boys!” Jirmus shouted over his shoulder. Leaving a bewildered Gwilherm behind and many more smiling men in front, we set out through the west gate of Roth.

Slowly my mind woke up. I look around me to see the cave. Taking a deep breath I bite through the pain as I sit up. 

Waiting for my mind to clear I look over at Vera. 

She twists and turns with an occasional grunt as she moves her broken leg. 

Her leg was starting to look bad though. I could see it starting to look red and swollen from where I was sitting. 

Seemed like an infection to me but it should still be preventable at this stage. 

Getting up, I went outside to see if Yorn was there. What I did find was a decent pile of still wet wood left out in the sun to dry. Carefully walking to the front of the cave, I tried to make a fire pit. 

My injury made it much harder but I still managed in the end. After having a look at my side, which looks worse if anything, I returned to inside the cave and went to rest next to Vera. 

I wasn’t asleep when Yorn came back though. 

“Nice pile outside. Awfully wet though” 

“Good morning. I would have liked to see you find something better Sar” 

“I am injured if you had forgotten” 

“And the same for me. I can only count to 7 fingers now” 

“At least you can count. I have known many dogs who can’t.” 

“Look, I don’t know what you have against guardsmen but it seems like the best idea for me” Yorn said to his defence. 

“Don’t sweat it, nothing wrong with guard dogs. But lets say we were to stumble across the city of Lorthen, would that also be fine?” I asked him. 

“As long as they have maidens galore. Anyway, the only reason I came to see your ugly mug was to tell you I found a river nearby. If you leave the cave, go west and then follow the dawn sun. That’s how I came there at least” He told me before going outside again. 

Stretching myself, I followed him. 

“Should we scout for nearby settlements or just accommodate the cave some more? I would suggest that we’d scout but with Vera and me injured like this, we can’t have any one person leave for a long time. Not to mention we should be wary for any nearby mad ones” I told Yorn. 

“It would be nice to have something to return to if there was indeed nothing nearby but we should always be able to follow the river” He mumbled to himself. 

“Vera is also showing the early signs of an infection” 

“What? Damn. Guess we have to try to get rid of that before it really sets in. Worst case we have to remove her leg with a sword” 

“Yorn, have you by any chance refilled your canteen?” 

“Oh, yes. Here” Handing it over to me, I take a big gulp. 

“Thank you. What would you say any about going over to the river to refill the other canteens?” 

“I don’t know. I have only just returned from there” Yorn complained to me. 

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“It will be a good opportunity to set a few traps too. If the army taught me anything, it was how to get your food through any means necessary” 

After making sure Vera was still unconscious, we went west where we will rest. Following game trails and going around bushes and trees when there weren't any, we came to the river. 

I dunk my head in the water and took a few gulps. 

“Aaaaaah, that was refreshing. Hand me the canteens” As I refilled them, I had a quick look around. 

Yorn took a seat next to me as I worked. 

“You see that?” He pointed at something. “Those are wolf tracks and a few deer as well. I wouldn’t doubt that if we placed a few snares further off, we could get some hares” 

I took a good look at what he was pointing. “Seems like just deer to me” 

“No, there at the uneven ground is where they drink. Seems to be quite a lot of them too” 

“You do have your sword with you, right?” I nervously asked him. 

“Never left it” With a nod I stood up and looked for a suitable place for a snare. 

When I did finally find some suitable spot, the sun had gone down considerably. 

“Hey, Sar. Look at this” Yorn shouted when he noticed me. He held a long stick in his hand and had a few arrows without fletching next to him. 

”A bow?” I guessed. 

“What else you dimwit. Its for you as I need a few more fingers for it otherwise. I need to dry the cord right now before I can finish it but that will take a few days at most.” 

“Then you won’t have to come to my aid anymore when I need a manly saviour! Thank you” 

Yorn suddenly got into a coughing fit at the mention of his manliness. 

“Yeah, sure. You’re welcome” Grinning ear to ear I went ahead on the route we took to get here. 

“Wait, take the bow already. You can then either use it as a weak quarterstaff or just carry it for the moment. Least you can do” 

Accepting the unfinished bow with a grunt, I continued on. 

Yorn was behind me when we heard some rustling. 

“Did you hear that?” bringing my voice to a whisper I turned to Yorn. 

“Seems to come from next to y…” 

He didn’t get to finish his sentence before I got tackled. 

“Shit” As I looked into the eyes of the mad one before me, the lingering fear of a horrible death returned. I hadn’t even noticed it was gone before I looked into its eyes. 

Then funnily enough, it scratched my left one not a moment later. 

Submersing the fear, I began to frantically kick the thing to get it off me. A good few solid hits later I finally manage to get it away from me. 

Seeing the unfinished bow beside me, I grabbed it and smacked it across the mad one’s face. 

Slightly stunned I nearly managed to get up when I hear one behind me. Jumping away from both of them, I accidently let go of the bow. 

“Shit. What do I have?” Giving a quick glance at my equipment, I see that my favourite knife hasn’t fallen out yet. 

The others have though. 

Taking a look at my opponents, only the one that came at me from behind had a weapon. The first one looked like an ordinary peasant except for its tattered clothing and pure black eyes. 

Seems like whatever those sorcerers have done is either spreading to some villages or the poor sod was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. 

I really don’t know what's happening up in the north. 

The one with the axe had clearly been a soldier before. With only a knife in that regard, I ran. 

I tried to do that in a circle so that I could get to Yorn, who no doubt had some fighting him. Obviously, with a few mad ones on my tail, I didn’t do a perfect one. 

I smacked right into one. It didn’t fall but its weapon and shield were rendered useless. Yorn taking advantage of this ran his blade through the things eye, killing it. 

Taking its sword, I took up position next to Yorn. 

“I had two of them following me” 

“At least the one with the shield is dead” Yorn commented. 

“Incoming!” I yelled before dodging the charge of the unarmed mad one. 

“I will take the peasant one” 

“Want to swap otherwise?” 

“Sorry, but I’m not going to die just yet” I told him. 

“Engaged!” I heard Yorn shout in tune with a clang. It’s rather hard to keep something that doesn’t care for hurt away from you. The only reliable way is to further hurt it. 

Taking the unarmed mad one’s fingers off as she tried to scratch me, I kicked it away from me for further distance. 

However, from my peripheral vision, I saw a blade coming at me. 

I can’t dodge this one because then Yorn could get hit. Taking the blow blade on, I nearly fell due to pain in my side. As it was, he only shield bashed me head first. 

For what seemed like the longest time, I could only see white. Then black spots appeared all over my left eye and I lost coherency. 

My sense and vision only returned when I saw the mad one’s body fall. Nearly crumbling on the ground in exhaustion, the unarmed mad one looked at me. Then it ran. 

Hearing a wet slice and something splashing on my neck, Yorn spoke to me. 

“Another one with a shield? Damned unlucky. Amazing you managed it by yourself. Doesn’t look like a peasant though” 

“No the mad peasant fled” I told him among whispered breaths. 

“Fled? I didn’t know they did that” 

“That’s because they only do that when there are more to return to” The last word I heard him say was ‘shit’ before I collapsed. I could faintly sense being carried but most of it was beyond me.