She paused at a moment, stooping over and poking the earth. The dirt gave before the soft pressure and as she lifted her finger, she noticed a white crystal mixed in with the dried earth. Curious, she tasted a small portion.

            “Are you done?” Keirn asked impatiently.

            “Yes, sorry,” Kait said, standing and hurrying to catch up to the others. It was weird, but she could have sworn the ground tasted salty.

            They continued into the desolate waste, judging their direction by the sun overhead. It seemed that northerly headed straight into the epicentre of the emptiness. Even the forest ended at the edge of the earthy waste. They could see grass swaying hypnotically in the distant, curving around in a great circle about them and vanishing out of sight.

            After an hour the three travelers crested a small ridge and saw below them what looked like a tiny little hamlet. It sat squarely in the middle of the waste, as if the dirt itself had come sweeping out of the tiny stone and brick houses.

            “Finally,” Keirn muttered, picking up his pace as he descended towards the small houses.

            “Wait, I thought we were trying to avoid villages,” Kait called.

            “Whatever, they probably have an apothecary or someone who can fix my hand,” Keirn grumbled.

            Kait cast a concerned look to Calos who only shrugged.

            “Fine, apparently some pitiful little scratch takes importance over our wellbeing,” Kait said, following dejectedly behind her brother. However, there was a growing sense of unease in Kait’s gut. That worry only worsened as they drew closer to the village.

            The houses stood quietly though there was still plenty of daylight remaining. While Kait hadn’t expected farmers to be out ploughing dirt, she had expected some sign of life. There was a distinct lack of smoke from cooking fires and chimneys. No shadows flitted from doorways at their approach. No forms huddled over the stone well. Only the houses stood, petrified sentinels keeping watch over what became increasingly clear was a ghost town. As the three got closer and closer to the buildings, Kait noticed Keirn’s realization slowly sinking in. Though he quickened his strides, his shoulders became more stooped and dejected with each step that brought him towards the empty hamlet.

            It was without welcome or fanfare that they strolled into the village. Instinctively they drew closer to each other, hands drifting down to their respective weapons. Calos said nothing, though he appeared far more alert with green eyes darting from empty windows to barren doorways. Kait reached around for the comfort of the fletched feathered arrows in her quiver as she tried to ignore the sound of the wind whispering through the empty shells of the town.

            Keirn just continued on, his right hand clutching his left as if he were concerned that it would fall off. He marched until he reached the very center where the old well stood. The wooden cross beam was gone, as was all the apparent wood in the village. No doors filled the entries, not a single shutter or window pane covered the empty eyes of the homes. It was all just cold stone. Keirn circled the well, perhaps looking for the bucket, and once he found that there was nothing, he just slumped against the stone.

            “Are… are you okay?” Kait asked.

            Keirn ignored her, closing his eyes and taking many ragged breaths. He clutched his hand tightly to his chest again, his face lined with half-suppressed pain.

            “Here, let me take another look at it,” Kait offered, holding out her hand.

            “I’m fine,” Keirn said.

            “You don’t look…”

            “I said I’m fine!”

            He stood, shoving his hand into his pocket and looking at the empty buildings. Calos emerged from one, shoulders shrugging indicating he had no idea what was going on.

            “I think we should probably look around for anything of value. Stuff we can trade or things we can use as fire wood. We may even stumble upon a few answers while we’re at it.”

            “Do you think we’ll be staying here for the night?” Kait asked.

            “Probably,” Keirn said, looking at the sky. “Safest place at the moment at any rate.”

            Keirn headed towards a nearby two story building. Calos headed off in another direction. Kait looked at the hollow windows lined with dry dirt, all cold and empty. She quickly hurried to her brother’s side.

            “Probably be faster if we split up,” Keirn said.

            “True, but if we aren’t going anywhere then we aren’t really pressed for time,” Kait replied, adjusting her pack so she could feel the straps tighten around her. Keirn shrugged and kept walking.

            They entered the structure. The first room they stepped into was quite spacious, taking up a large portion of the main floor. Judging from its location and the spacing of the rooms, Kait guessed this likely served as the village’s inn. There were no counters, tables or chairs though. Just the rough-hewn walls and the bare stone flagged floors. They poked around the main floor but aside from a thin layer of dust, found little of interest. They discovered a large hole in the ceiling that appeared to be the only access to the second floor, but there were no stairs or anything else that could be used to climb up.

            Likewise, the entrance to the cellar had no means of climbing down. There was just a large hole in the floor nestled near the back of the main room. From what little light that poured in from the empty holes in the walls, they could see that the cellars had been cleared completely out as well.

            An inspection of the kitchen proved different, however. Unlike the other rooms, this one was a complete mess. Stone slabs lay cracked and broken on the ground amid a pile of tin cups and plates. Broken glass was strewn everywhere, as if someone had come through and smashed all the glasses in the building against the floor. They found bent and twisted utensils too, but everything was either battered or broken. They sorted through the rubbish but were unable to find anything of value.

            Dejected, they left and searched the next building.

            This one was smaller, simpler one floor structure quite typical of a small country house. As with the inn, there were no windows, doors or even a roof but there was plenty of junk lying on the floor. They found twisted farming tools, clay pots and tin pans, an assortment of iron rods near the humble fire place and numerous unidentifiable objects made of simple metal or clay.

            Kait was sorting through a pile of twisted metal that may have once been a lantern when her brother began making weird sounds. She looked over towards him. He had been sorting through another pile of garbage but now stood hunched over, hands on his knees and breathing raggedly. A few coins were discarded around his feet.

            “What… what was that?” Keirn gasped. He looked over towards her, a piece of metal held loosely in her hand as she stared at him in concern. “What did you just say?”

            “I… didn’t say anything,” Kait whispered, dropping the metal. “Are you okay?”

            Keirn shook his head, raising his good hand to his forehead. She noticed it was beading with sweat again.

            “I thought… I heard… I think I need some air,” he said, turning and leaving quickly.

            Kait walked over cautiously to the pile he had been looking through. She sorted through the items with her boot but found nothing that looked remotely dangerous. She was surprised her brother just left the coins: it was very uncharacteristic of him. After she felt sure that there was nothing poisonous that could have accidentally been contacted, she left the small house.

            Keirn stood leaning against the stone wall. His eyes were closed, but he was breathing calmly again.

            “Are you sure you’re okay?” Kait asked.

            “I’m fine,” he said. “Let’s keep looking.”

            The rest of the houses yielded similar results. Not that Kait was searching as much as keeping an eye on her brother. She was getting worried over his odd behaviour and he seemed to be more preoccupied with his hand than before.

            After a few hours of fruitless searching, they returned to the well to find Calos standing there looking anxious.

            “What’s wrong?” Kait asked.

            Calos motioned for them to follow him. He led them to a large two story building made completely of brick and stone. Bars were built into the windows and the stairs were hewn bedrock. A metal door stood open, the handle having been bent and a large rock abandoned by the steps.

            Calos pointed at the rock, himself then the door before quietly leading them inside. This building was just as empty as the others, but appeared to have been built without any thought for decorations. A large iron door stood shut at the end of a short hall, but Calos lead the siblings up the narrow stairs to the second floor. There, the Fadens were greeted by a gruesome sight.

            A single skeleton lay upon the floor, a rusted and dinted sword lodged between the lower ribcage and protruding past the spine. A few other items lay within the remains, a few boot clasps, a large belt buckle, a thin metal hoop and a single heavy iron key. Calos then motioned to the rest of the room.

            What this building had been made for was beyond Kait’s understanding but what its final function was all too clear. The floor of the second story was predominantly covered in iron grating. The grating was built over the locked room on the first level and through the grill Kait could see piles of bones beneath.