The Farmer's Wife #007

The Brothers left, and Matthias was alone again. The lightness Aleia's blessing had brought was beginning to fade away, and the shadows in the corners of the room were once more growing deeper by the moment.

Matthias turned, looked around the room. The house was scantly furnished, and what furnishing there was was simple and bare. A table and five chairs, three broken; two iron pots, beside the fire, one large, one small; a single wooden board as a shelf, with two plates, two bowls, and one cup - the other resting on the table where Anat had placed it.

He turned to look out into the corridor, but there was little to see there. As he looked out, he heard a faint noise behind him; he turned, and saw the woman sitting hunched forward in her chair, sobbing very quietly, her face already wet with tears.

He walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder. She started, as though she had not known he was there. He picked up the still-warm cup and placed it in her hands. "Here. Drink." He did not know what was in the infusion, but he trusted Anat's work implicitly. He had seen the old man work miracles.

She brought the cup to her lips and sipped the warm liquid. Staring blankly into space, she said, "Eugen. Eugen..."

"Your son?"

"Y-... Yes."

"Where is he?"

She seemed hesitant to answer. "He... he's missing. He'll be... he'll be back."

Matthias frowned. She didn't seem confused. She seemed... secretive. "I'm sorry, my lady. He was Taken."

Suddenly she looked up at him, shocked, horrified. "No!" She stood, grabbed his shoulder and shook him. "How do you... You can't! You mustn't..." Her grip slackened and her eyes moved from his face to stare at the wall behind him. She slumped back down onto the chair.

Matthias' mind raced. Anat had said to keep her calm; he had done the opposite. He quickly changed the subject, as best he could.

"What do you do here? How do you feed yourself and your son?"

She looked up at him again, this time almost with relief. "My husband used to farm, but since he... died... nothing has grown. No-one will buy the land. There is too much... darkness here."

Matthias nodded, and she continued. "There is a small village, that way?" She pointed southeast.

Matthias nodded. It was were they had stayed the night. "I know it."

"I... do things for the villagers. Cleaning. Darning. Caring for children."

The woman would not meet his gaze. She was still young, and beautiful in her way, and Matthias knew enough of the young widows that came to the temple for help to guess that those were not the only services she offered. It was sad - terrible - but it was the least of the evils this new, dark world had to offer. He touched her shoulder compassionately.

She looked up at him, gaze suddenly as sharp as steel "Your gods are dead."

It took him by surprise, and for a moment he struggled to answer. "They... they are... unavailable, yes."

"They are dead, or they have abandoned you."

He frowned. This was not the shock-addled woman who had greeted them at the farmhouse's door. The words were steel, and in his heart he knew that there was truth in them. He stood, trying to form an answer, and saw something glint in the woman's eyes. It looked like... hope?

He shook his head, and finally found the words to reply. "The general may fall or flee, but the soldiers may still carry on the fight."

She smiled disconcertingly. "But perhaps the general knows something the soldiers do not? And any weapon that can pierce the armour of a general may easily strike down a common footsman." She looked him up and down, from his shaven head to his plain black cassock, lacking the red trim of a true Purgator. "Or a squire," she added derisively.

He heard footsteps behind him, and suddenly the woman's expression changed; she went from steely certainty to helpless sobbing in a moment. Matthias frowned, and turned to see Anat and Valdis entering the room.

Should he tell them? He looked back at the pitiful, weeping woman hunched forward in the chair, and knew at once that they would not believe him. He stayed silent as Anat and Valdis walked to the woman's side.