Young Writers Society

Word Count: 1008

Chapter 2.2

Lorne exchanged a look with Emrys and Vena before quickly standing and turning to peer into the darkness in the direction of the abandoned, destroyed village. It had gone eeriely quiet around them and it made Lorne incredibly uncomfortable. He felt like something was wrong.

"When did Sage leave?" he asked, turning back to the fire. Emrys frowned and shook his head but Vena had a considering look, like she was thinking about the question untently. "Emrys? Alvena?"

"He went off alone an hour or so ago," the elf woman said, frowning. "I had assumed he needed to piss...but he hasn't come back." She set the arrow aside and stood. "That is concerning. Come, let's look for him."

Lorne nodded, eyeing Issy and Cass when they also stood. Issy elected to stay by the fire with Cass, which left Lorne, Emrys and Vena to go searching. The three of them turned to head towards the village.

~*~*~*~

The village was eerily quiet when they entered it, and disturbingly empty. Lorne eyed their surroundings carefully as they walked, Alvena in the lead with Emrys right behind her. Lorne was at the rear, glancing behind himself every now and then to make sure nothing was creeping up on them. There was a disturbingly anticipary vibe to the area, like something was waiting. For what, Lorne wasn't sure.

"I don't like this," he muttered, eyeing a nearby empty and half-collapsed building. He thought it might've once been a house...before the village was salted and burned. "I don't like it at all. It's too..."

"Quiet?" Emrys asked softly and Lorne nodded, dragging his gaze back to Emrys. The older man squinted at him. "Yeah, I don't like this either."

"Shush," Vena hissed and they both turned their attention to her. Lorne had jumped slightly and, honestly, he couldn't blame himself. Everything about the village was setting his teeth on edge--and his nerves. It made him likely to startle at every single shadow. And, of course, there were a lot of shadows. "I don't see Sage. Do either of you see him?"

Lorne shook his head and Emrys sighed. "I don't see anything, Vena," Emrys said, moving to her side when she stopped. "Nothing except crumbling buildings. The place is desereted."

"We haven't even seen or heard those wraiths again," Lorne said, coming to a stop on her other side, crossing his arms. "It's creepy.. really creepy."

Vena hummed thoughtfully and glanced first at Emrys, then at Lorne. "Just because you cannot see something, Lorne, does not mean it is not there."

"Well, I like to be able to see and touch something," he hissed, scowling around at the decaying buildings. He studiously tried not to look directly at a partially decayed body half-buried under a collapsed and burnt wooden wall. "This? Not being able to see the wraiths? It disturbs me."

Vena laughed humourlessly. "Wraiths disturb everyone, Lorne."

"I rather think that's the point," Emrys added, wryly. "I don't like them either, Lorne."

Lorne huffed, blowing out a long, heavy sigh. "Fair enough." He sighed again and turned to look at Vena and then past her at Emrys. "So. Can you see any sign of where Sage might've gone or where he might be? Footsteps? Anything?"

Vena glowered at him. "We have not even looked yet."

"Then let's look already."

They exchanged looks, nods and then separated to search the immediate area to start their search. It didn't take long. Lorne avoided the body and went a little ways past it to scour the ground for tracks. He didn't find any, so he began to check inside some of the buildings to see if Sage had gone into one of them. Each and every one was empty.

Lorne frowned, listening to Vena and Emrys moving things about as they also searched for any sign of the wayward dragon. He couldn't remember what Sage had gone off to do. Was he hunting? Had he wanted some privacy to take his dragon form? Was he bathing in the river? Or was he off doing his buisness? Lorne didn't know, and he wasn't sure if he'd ever figure out what was going through the dragon's head at any moment.

Lorne moved a piece of broken furniture, considering his options. Sage might have gone to bathe in his true form. That was definitely a possibility. They were close enough to a river after all, and they were still close enough to the lake for Sage to fly back...but also, there were marshlands to the south west. Lorne remembered seeing them on an old map back in the palace. It was a while ago, so he wasn't sure if he was remembering the map correctly.

He moved another peice of broken debris and jerked back in surprise when he revealed a skull staring back at him, unattached to anything and charred black by smoke and fire. Lorne swallowed and gingerly lowered the broken wood back into place. He'd really rather not know what happened to the poor guy. And it was concerning--they hadn't really seen any bodies earlier and now Lorne had discovered two in a short amount of time.

"Fuck," he muttered, rubbing a hand over his face and grimacing. "I did not sign up for this... Gods, I really don't like..." He glanced at the broken wood--a charred and collapsed table, apparently--and then away. "Fuck."

Lorne swallowed and moved away from the broken, burnt table. He headed for a half-burnt counter and leaned on it, staring down at the wood. There was a good reason why he'd left home. He'd never liked war or fighting, never liked to see people hurt and dying and dead. The blood, the gore, the horrors of violence like that... It had all made Lorne feel rather ill. And that his father had expected him to... to...

"Ugh," he groaned, rubbing at his face again. "I hate this."

He took a deep breath and then pushed off the counter, turning to look around the room. The building was empty, so he strode back across the room and out into the street, deliberately avoiding looking in the direction of the table hiding the charred skull.