The Farmer's Wife #004

The early morning sun shone over the brothers as they walked along an overgrown dirt path. On either side, fallow fields stretched into the distance.

"Are you certain this is the way, Valdis?" asked Anat. "These fields have not been sown nor even cleared for a full season."

"It is hard to be certain, but I see no other place where it might be."

"I do not wish to waste the day chasing winds, Brother Valdis," interjected Thanos.

"It is near here, of that much I am sure."

Thanos nodded begrudgingly, and they continued on through the fields.

Matthias looked around. The place looked... wild. Even fields left fallow for a season were at least kept clear of overgrowth and debris, but these looked... abandoned. Weeds and scrawny bushes grew everywhere, and fallen fence posts lay here and there on the path.

As Matthias wondered about this, a farmhouse came into view in the distance. It looked scarcely better-kempt than the fields that surrounded it. As they drew closer, it became clearer that there was something wrong. The front door had been torn from its hinges and lay in two pieces on the ground outside. The wooden walls were gouged and splintered as though torn at by many claws.

Thanos looked askance at Valdis, who closed his eyes for a moment, and then nodded back in silence. Matthias saw the three's stances change; Valdis loosened the strap that bound his silvered mace to his side, and Thanos loosened his sword in its sheath. Even Anat made sure that his short apothecary's knife was loose in his belt. Whatever they had felt, it had come from this house.

Matthias found himself wishing that novices too had the right to bear the weapons of the Church.

They approached the house warily. There was a... feeling to the place. It seemed... alien. Matthias thought back to his first days as a novice, listening to the droning of the most senior of the Purgatori. Unease without cause. One of the Signs of Darkness. He looked around; he could not see a single animal around the house; not even flies. Another Sign. Ygn's darkness was heavy on this place.

As they approached the house, a woman stepped into the doorway. She was wearing a simple, rough dress, and her long brown hair was in disarray. Dirt was caked to her face, her arms, everywhere. The palm of her left hand was wrapped in a rough woolen bandage.

Anat and Thanos looked at Valdis, who nodded, and, gesturing for Matthias to follow him, approached the woman cautiously.

Some of Ygn's most powerful creatures could seem almost human, if they wished. If any of the group could detect such a facade, it would be the Purgator Valdis, or the Purgator-in-training Matthias. As they approached the woman, Matthias searched his mind for the lessons he had been taught, and scanned the woman for all the signs he could recall. Her eyes were clear and alive, though it looked as though she had been crying. She was pale, but not unnaturally so - odd for a farm girl or a farmer's wife, he thought, but not a sign of an illusion. The signs of aging on her face, though mild, were clear.

As they drew near, Valdis stood aside and nodded Matthias forward. He stepped to within arm's reach of the woman and bowed slightly towards her. She looked at him as though in shock. "Blessings of the Silver Crown to you, sister."

She hesitated; when she spoke, her voice was hoarse, cracked. "And-... and to you, Purgator."

She held out her hand, palm down, and he took it in his. It was not cold, as the flesh of an illusion should be. Looking her in the eye, he drew the Silver Blessing on the back of her hand with his thumb; she did not so much as flinch. She was human, or else too close for it to matter. He turned his head and nodded to Valdis, who returned it, and then, gesturing to the others, stepped forward.

"My lady, I am Brother Valdis, servant of the Silver Crown. We felt that you may be in need of our aid, and are come to offer it."

The woman looked around her slowly, and said hollowly, haltingly, "I am Anya. Wife of Regan. And... mother of Eugen his son."

Thanos and Anat had reached the three; now Thanos spoke, gesturing at the damage to the house. "What happened here?"

The woman spoke as if she had not heard him. "My husband is... tending the fields. He... will return at midday to eat."

"What field is your husband tending?"

She stared confusedly at Thanos. "I... beg your pardon?"

"All of the fields we have seen are unkempt and fallow. Which field is your husband attending to?"

The woman blinked a few times and looked around, confused, before looking back at Thanos. "I... I'm sorry, Justicar, I don't... understand what you mean. My husband is dead."

Thanos frowned, and looked across at Anat. The old man took the woman's hand gently, laid his hand on her forehead, and looked into her eyes. "Shock," he said after a moment. "She needs to rest."

Thanos nodded. Anat took the woman's hand, looked her eyes, and slowly and clearly said, "Anya, I am Brother Anat, a Beneficar. Will you come and sit down?"

She stared at him, blinking, and then slowly nodded. Gesturing to the others to follow, he led her inside.