The Farmer's Wife #009

The sun shone brightly overhead as they walked along the dirt path. Matthias looked at the ground as they walked, averting his eyes from the day's glare. Deep ruts had been worn in the the road by the passage of many carts, but now the road was overgrown with weeds and patches of grass, and the ruts were beginning to fill with soil.

Anya was leading. Anat knew his work well; she was walking more lightly now, as though a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She was carrying a pack with her most valued possessions in it. There had not been much in the farmhouse worth taking. Matthias knew the look of the place; he had watched funerary rites performed for childless widows and widowers in places much like it. It had been a house, a roof over her head, but it had not been a home for a long time.

"Where does this road lead?" asked Thanos, the faintest hint of his enernal suspicion showing in his voice.

"The forest." She pointed, but the gentle undulation of the land blocked any view they might have had of what lay ahead. "My-... Some of the farmers used to log there in the winter, and sell the wood in the village."

Matthias nodded. The winter on the plains was less harsh than further north, but harsh enough that no crops would really grow, and that firewood would fetch a good price.

"No-one has been there for years," continued Anya. "They said it was getting... darker. Angrier. More dangerous."

"Were people hurt?" asked Anat. "Accidents? Illness?"

"No, but the place made them afraid. They spoke about... about bad dreams."

Thanos' eyebrow rose critically. "Farmers and loggers scared away by bad dreams?"

Anya shrugged. "I have never been there myself, but I have seen grown men go white with terror at the mention of the place."

Thanos frowned, but nodded and continued. "How far is it from here?"

"Half a day's walk."

The old man's eyebrow raised again. "You're leading us there to arrive at nightfall?"

She nodded, either oblivious to or deliberately ignoring his tone. "There is a cabin at the end of the road. For the loggers. We can sleep there tonight."

Thanos nodded, and they walked onwards in silence.