The dawn came crisp and cloudy as the sun rose over the distant mountains. Staring toward her village, Celedryl watched the carrion eating birds circling in the sky above. Her friends came and stood next to her gazing in same direction. Moving forward resolutely, Ethan surprised her by gently putting his hand on her shoulder stopping her from going to the village. Turning angrily she looked at him and with a sincere smile; he gently shook his head no. Looking to her uncles for support, she could tell they did not want her to go. Turning with a deep sigh of resignation, she looked back toward her village knowing in her heart that the worst has happened. With tears in her eyes, she walked back to their cold camp to start a fire with Danielle quickly joining her.
“Guid day laddie how dae ye feel aboot taggin' alang wi Hairytoes an me,” Hobnobby inquired.
Before he could reply Hairytoes agreed, “aye it wuld be guid if ye tagged alang wi us.”
“Ah wuld be mair then happy tae go wi ye,” he said with aplomb. Ethan is a linguist in the navy so learning various languages always came easy to him. The two dwarfs looked at each other in astonishment.
“Sae be it laddie let's be aff with ye tae th' village,” Hobnobby beamed.
Wending their way through the tame cattle they inched closer to the village with still no sign of human sign life but the stench of death is near unbearable. The village consisted of houses, barns, outbuildings, a forge and a meeting hall all built with mortared ruff cut stone and high peaked roofs made of cut oak covered in thatch. The gables in the front of each house were made of the same material as the roof and the entire back wall is the fireplace made of the same stone as the rest of the building. In the front of each house a single solid oak door cut two inches thick with wood latches and iron hinges lay wide open to the elements as if all the occupants had rushed out of their homes never to return. The lintels above the doors are plain cut pine with the owners names carved into the wood some of them done in intricate patterns of lines and images of animals. Each house had two windows one on each side. Two of the three the largest buildings, the male and female bathhouses each have huge fireplaces that keep them warm and for the boiling of water for baths.
Designed in a concentric circle, with the bathhouses and meeting hall making up the center of the village followed by rows of houses positioned in a circle working their way outward in an ever-expanding circle allows for the addition of more houses and wells added in the space between them and the outbuildings. Outside the circle fenced in crops and pastures expand outward with barns built to store hay for the winter in the lofts, and for the times when it is brutally cold out, the cattle can use them for warmth. Many outbuildings contain building material, cold storage for meat, trade goods for next summer when the traders came north to trade and various farming equipment. A wall or palisade around the village was never built because there had never been a need for one before now.
Soon, they began seeing ubiquitous amounts of bodies scattered across the ground leading to the village. Many ripped apart, cloven in half, dismembered limbs lying about and spears standing upright in the ground with the heads of women and babies impaled on them. Some of the scavenger birds shrieked and flew away at their approach but others kept pecking at the carrion oblivious of the intruders. The grass at their feet is matted and stained black with dried blood. Their stomachs hurling what little food was in them they staggered on with tears in their eyes at seeing the carnage before them. Ethan who had known death while a special agent for the navy had seen death up-close and personal but nothing prepared him for this.
Wending their way through the bodies until they came to a particular house the two dwarfs went inside to return shortly with a sword and a large backpack. There facial expressions grim they handed Ethan both items. He slipped his arms through the backpack then strapped on the sword following quickly after the dwarfs searching the bodies intently looking for someone. Thankfully, a northerly breeze started blowing thinning the stench making it more bearable. Finally, they came to a body of a large man with long blond hair streaked with gray laying on the ground surrounded by a dark stain of dried blood from when he bled to death. Lying on the ground next to his body, a giant of an ork lay dead, with an ax buried in his chest.
Kneeling next to the body with tears running down their faces the two dwarfs began rocking back and forth making a lamenting sound that tore at Ethan's heart. He summarily guessed this had to be Celedryl’s father. The thought that she would never see him alive again saddened him, he had lost both his parents at a young age to a vehicle accident but he remembered them well and missed them dearly. He thought about Celedryl’s mother wondering whether she were alive or would they find her body here too.
Struggling to his feet in grief, Hairytoes placed his foot on the dead orcs stomach, grabbed the handle of the ax wedged deep in the orcs body and pulled with all his strength wrenching it free. Quickly looking for something to clean the blade, he found a discarded wool blanket lying on the ground. When he finished cleaning the ax, he shoved the handle into his dead friend’s wide belt. Hobnobby found a pull cart next to one of the houses and walked it over. With Ethan’s help, they gently placed the body in the cart. Carefully with all the reverence reserved for a king they cared for the body the best they could cleaning the face and hands free of blood with a damp cloth then covering the body with a clean fur blanket they found inside one of the nearby houses. Fortunately, none of the scavenger birds had gotten to him yet.
“We must burn th’ deid an’ look fur clothes, weapons an’ food fur a lang joorney. Eatin th’ sword ‘at ye hae wus Celedryl’s mither’s sword an must be returned tae ‘er. Now both her maw an paw hae bin killed by slimy dung eatin orcs,” the last he growled angrily. Ethan now had the whole story and felt sad for Celedryl.
Separating they searched for things they would need for their survival. They hated to do this but there need for survival far outweighs the unease they feel taking things from the dead. Ethan changed into a leather pullover jerkin, leather pants, belt, and boots. He put a spare set of clothes in his backpack with sacks of dried fruit and meat, eating utensils, small metal plates and a pot he found on a shelf. In another house, he found a heavy fur jerkin that would do nicely to keep him warm. In the same house, he found similar clothes and boots he thought would fit Danielle and Celedryl that he threw into a haversack he found.
Meeting back at the pull cart they loaded up their bounty including fresh meat that the Hairytoes and Hobnobby found in the outbuildings that would last two days so they would not have to hunt for fresh meat. Ethan took the sword off his belt and laid it next to Celedryl’s father.
“Laddie we huv the lest distasteful chore we must dae,” Hairytoes observed grimly.
“Aye Eatin 'at we dae,” chorused Hobnobby throwing him a pair of leather gloves.
Quickly finding another pull cart, they started the grim job of burning the dead. In the center of the village is a burn pit stacked high with wood for a bonfire already prepared for the fall festival due to start soon. The villagers never realized they were making a funeral pyre when they piled the wood high for the celebration of a bountiful summer. With the first load of bodies, they lit the fire stoically watching the flames lick the dried wood until the heat from the fire forced them to step back from it. Realizing the fire was ready, they unceremoniously began throwing the bodies on the fire. The orcs they would burn last in a separate fire not wishing to mix the ashes. The day proved long and arduous, a day that changed them for the rest of their lives the black smoke of death bellowing high into the sky stretching off into the distance signaling to all a village had died.