Warlocks Index – Previous Chapter
Voices called to me from the darkness. Indecipherable, warped, and distant. I drifted through a forest of darkness, directionless light flitting without direction around me. A sense of absence and loss plagued my mind. I felt something was just out of reach and was nudging me forward. I turned and looked in to Graciul’s face as he gently pushed at me.
It was still dark with only a slight lightening of the sky toward sunrise. We quickly and quietly gathered our belongings, mounted the cart, and slowly made our way back to the main road. Graciul took position behind me as I took the reigns, bundled in a dark coat and blanket against the cool air. The darkness of the forest was barely visible against the darkish sky, and it felt more like a place of dread from a nightmare reaching for us. It felt colder the closer we got. I felt for the crystal hidden within my coat, the hard lump offered both comfort and danger.
The world was unsettlingly quiet. There were early birds from behind, the crunch of the wheels, the soft pounding of hooves, and a soft hush of a breeze, and yet it was unsettlingly quiet, my senses heightened by fear. Time was in conflict with itself as it seemed an age while we crept along, but all too soon the trees were upon us.
I felt Graciul lean over my shoulder, his voice low and gruff. “Go.”
I snapped the reigns and the horses burst forth. The road ahead was barely visible yet the trees made for a dark outline, like walls. The rattling was uncomfortably loud, and the huffing of the horses seemed to resounds throughout. My teeth were clenched as I tried not to bite my own tongue. I had no idea how Graciul faired as I dared not take my eyes from the road ahead.
We rattled through the darkness and I was beginning to think that our ruse had worked, and that we had caught our opponents unprepared, when I heard a call from my left. I braved a quick glance to see a young man, struggling to put on clothes, flash past, and that was it. We raced our way through the trees as the morning light slowly grew, and came out the other-side unscathed. I made sure we had some distance before I slowed the horses to a more reasonable pace.
Catching my breath, I turned to see Graciul in place behind me, scanning the tree line and a concerned look crushing his brow.
I was still running on anxious energies and probed his concern with an obvious statement. “That went well.”
Without taking his eyes off the trees, he replied simply “So it seems.”
To say that his response left me feeling better would have been a lie, so I turned back to our road ahead, and our home, from which there were several pillars of smoke rising into the sky. Dark smoke, not typical chimney smoke, darkening the morning dawn.
*****
The silence under which we travelled the final leg to what had been my home for many years was like a heavy cloak around my shoulders. I felt compressed and burdened. Fear and trepidation bubbled in my chest as I worked to keep my mind clear. The black sky above our destination was impossible to ignore, and it seemed to have a personality of its own. One full of hate and aggression.
That sense of dread increased, threatening to consume my mind entirely as the village details resolved into clarity. The blackish clouds came from one corner. A familiar corner. Behind the walls that sheltered my abode there was noise, commotion, and the source of the dark shroud blackening the sky.
As numbness slowly claimed control of my mind and body, I mindlessly allowed the horses to lead us to the gates, my mind and eyes locked, glazed, as I stared. I barely realised that Graciul had slipped next to me and taken the reigns as we finally entered the open gates. Conversations were distant rumblings in my ears, like being underwater, and I began to notice the rising ringing in my head, and the encroaching grey at the edge of my vision.
I shook myself in time to hear the local gate attendant direct us to the main hall. The streets were empty, and the crunching of the wheels sounded louder than they should have been. The silence was almost total except for the subtle sounds of commotion coming from the burning side, sounds that came in waves as we passed by buildings.
I slowly became aware that Graciul as taking a long way round, rather than a direct route. I glanced at him and his typically grim neutral expression seemed more grim than usual, is expression alert and taking in everything around us. Their concern brought me further out of my distraction as I started paying more attention.
The streets weren’t just empty, they were cleared. Typically, there would be items such as displays, planters, seating and tables, and other daily life items left in the streets. Now, apart from the occasional table or abandoned box, the streets were unusually clear of obstructions. Some of the houses had even closed their weather shutters. With the smoke red sunlight tainting the sky and casting a bloody shade to empty streets, everything felt wrong and dangerous.
Then were rolling into the rear entrance of the main hall, usually reserved for official carriages and deliveries. The small grassy retreat adjacent to stables currently looked nether-worldly under the glowing red sky. Also present, with a makeshift mask of cloth over his face, was the Prefect. With his face half hidden, it was difficult to see his full expression, but much was said by the look in his eyes. He was troubled and concerned. Whether with or for me, I could not tell.
Reflection of a Ham 