Ødeleggeren

"There's another village up ahead. We should get there at nightfall." Eoghan carried Venn through the forest briskly. They were unaware of the eyes watching, scanning them from the foliage.
 
The pair moved quickly. If they had the... plague, they wouldn't be dangerous yet, Gods willing. The man gestured silently to the ragtag group that huddled behind him. They had escaped, but just barely. Some of their number had been taken as they ran. Children were eerily silent in frightened adults' arms. With one more look at the path, the man signaled for the able-bodied to meet up with the boy and his burden.
 
The two were hiking through the greenery, admiring their lush surroundings, when there was a slight rustling in the bushes. Looking up from his trudging feet, Eoghan gasped involuntarily when he found himself staring into the face of a pair of villagers. Twins, in fact. "Whoa!" He exclaimed as the two block the path in front.

"I suppose you were heading towards Foghill." Said a cool voice behind them. "So what if we were?" Eoghan said as he turned around, put on the defensive from the stranger's odd question and calm demeanor. "Don't. It's taken by the sickness" The stranger scoffed at them.

"There too?"

"Most definitely. We are all that is left of the Village once known as Foghill."

"Just three of you?"

The man laughed in a deep timbre, "There are more. You don't think I'd reveal myself unless I had some assurance, do you?" He snapped his fingers and made a rising motion with his hands and a score of archers popped out of the foliage. "How naive do you think I am?" He asked rhetorically.
 
Venn sat as still as she could atop Eoghan's back. For a moment she forgot that she couldn't fly to safety and the arrows pointed at him worried her more than the arrows aimed at her body. Her choked caw reminded her. "Don't hurt Eoghan!" she said, trying to climb down from his back. She lost her balance and fell in a tumble of cloth and limbs.
 
Eoghan could feel the small bundle on his back squirming out of his reach, yelling for his safety at the archers protruding out from the underbrush. He felt her disentangle herself from his back despite the moves he made to keep her there and fall on the ground and he turned around in a flash, kneeling at her side. "Venn! Are you ok?" He asked, barely keeping the panic out of his voice.

The other man laughed at the pair's antics and motioned for the men in the bushes to stand down. "Are you two ok there?" He asked. He gestured to Venn laying in a heap, "Maybe we should take this one back to our camp and check her over."
 
"Venn is not hurt. Venn has a cold foot, is all." She flapped her arm at the offending limb. A dark shape bloomed on the pale skin. "That is new, Eoghan?" she asked. She bent over to peer at it. Her face crinkled in disgust.

The man who spoke for the others pulled those beside him back. "She's taken!" He motioned to retreat. "No one touch her-no one!"

Venn glared at him. "Venn is not taken anywhere, man. Venn is right here."
 
"Wait! Don't leave! Please, we've been on the road for so long. We need somewhere to stay." Eoghan started to stand, "We promise to keep to ourselves and do whatever you need us to. It's been a horrible day and a half for the two of us, and there have been too many strange things happening. I mean, Venn wasn't even human unti...!" He trailed off, a worried expression coming across his face. He knew he had said too much.

"Wait, Human? She wasn't... It couldn't..." The man's face became less hard and a more urgent expression crossed over. "First ten, keep watch. Second ten, follow me back to camp and above all, make sure that she touches nobody."
 
Before she could stop him, a man wrapped Venn in a thick blanket and slung the bundle over his shoulder. She scratched at the woolen fabric, but her hands were nothing like her talons and the fabric didn't tear. She screeched in frustration and flopped about helplessly as the improvised bag jostled on the man's back. "Horrible day!" She shouted. "Today is a horrible day! Eoghan, run!"
 
There was a sharp cry from behind Eoghan as his companion was scooped up. The boy turned around to see Venn wrapped up in thick cloth, slung as a sack of potatoes over a large, burly man's shoulder. "Hey! Set her down!" He yelled at the brute carrying her. The large man just scoffed and walked after his leader, despite Eoghan's incessant shouts for Venn's freedom.

"Don't. It's for your own good, boy." The leader of the group snapped, "My name is Eoghan. I'll thank you not to call me boy." He snapped back. The unknown man gave a sharp laugh that surprised Eoghan, "You've got some spark to you, I'll give you that. That's not going to stop me from calling you what I want though."

Eoghan grumbled to himself, he was less than amused at the treatment the older man was giving them. He had basically kidnapped them. "You could set her down, she wouldn't touch anyone anyway."

"I don't think I'm going to take that chance, but thank you for offering." The man said brightly, flipping the way his words would normally be heard.
 
The bouncing of the bag continued for some time. Venn yelled about it occasionally, but nothing changed. Finally, she turned her attention to her hands. She copied the movement Eoghan had showed her, again and again pinching and grabbing at the fabric.

Without warning, the fabric dropped. Venn looked up dazedly from the ground where she lay. Faces peered back at her in a wide circle, all too far away to touch. "Venn is done being in a bag." She stated, to no one in particular.
 
Eoghan was surprised if not shocked at the size of the camp. "This is all from Foghill?" He gaped at the sheer volume of the people displaced by the illness. "No." The man replied, "We've taken in others, but only after a full body check. I'm not going to let the comfort of one compromise the safety of many."

"What happens to the ones who don't make it?"

The man looked at him with a haunted expression that told him everything he needed to know.


When Venn was set down, Eoghan rushed over to her side and glowered at the brute who had carried her over, "Are you alright?" He asked, bringing his focus back to her.
 
Venn leaned against Eoghan. "Venn is alright. Is Eoghan? Was Eoghan in a bag?" She turned to the faces around her and glared at them. "Was Eoghan in a bag?" She demanded. Her foot shot pain through her again. She called softly in pain. The dark patch burned like snow, only worse.
 
"No Venn, I wasn't. I walked." Eoghan hugged her close but pulled back when she cried out. "Are you ok? Did I hurt you?" He asked frantically, pain was the last thing that the crow-girl needed right now.
 
"No, you didn't hurt Venn. Foot is being terrible." She tried to pretend that nothing was wrong, not to show that she would be easier prey. More water dripped down her face. Her breathing was uneven, and made her whole body shake. "Venn wants...wants to go h-home." She cried.
 
"We can't go back there. At least, not now." Eoghan pulled her in for a hug once again. He could feel her shake against his body, her tears staining the once-dry cloth of his shirt. "Don't worry, it's going to be alright."

The leader of the group watched the pair embracing on the ground for a few seconds before clearing his throat in a loud manner. Eoghan jumped away from his friend startled, with a sheepish look on his face.

"Maybe it would be a good idea to have her foot looked at before you start touching her and possibly infecting yourself."

Eoghan looked back down at his feet, "Yes, sir."

"You realize we're going to have the Drae look over you both."

"Yes sir."

"Enough of this 'sir' business, my name's Verge, so call me that."

"Yes, s... Verge" Eoghan caught the word on his tongue before it flew out, "Erm, Verge..." He started to say, "What is a Drae?"

Verge chuckled, "The Dragens-Salig, or Drae, are a group who choose to be the emmisaries of one of the Wyrdfolk. On the reverse are the Draegens-Tofa, who are chosen by the Wyrdfolk. We don't know which of them have one, but we do know Dagaz does and that's who I'm going to take you to. She was the one who told the prophesy that kept us from... Well, killing you both."
 
Venn blinked at the water in her eyes. "Verge was going to kill Eoghan? Is Verge broken head? Eoghan does not need killing!" She plucked at the jacket and was able to pick it up the second time. She pulled it tight around her like wings. Cloth flopped over her hands as she waved them around. "Now look at Venn's foot, broken head, so Eoghan can stop his worry."

Verge held his hands out, palms forward. "I need you to stay still. Venn, was it?"

Venn froze. "Yes."

He moved slowly, with the patience of one who knows small children. Wrapping his hands in a strip of cloth, he then picked up Venn's foot and rotated her ankle. The look on his face was grim. He took a roll of fabric from a pouch at his waist and bound her foot tightly. Venn resisted the urge to bite him.

"She's infected." He didn't look at the girl as he spoke. "I don't know how long she has. If you do not touch any marks of the plague, you may be safe, but I cannot guarantee anything."
 
"Hold!" A voice boomed from across camp, reenforced by some mystic, unseen power. "Verge, how many times have I told you not to frighten little girls with harsh reality" The voice had come from a shorter woman at the other end of the camp. She had been standing at the opening to a tent with odd signs on the side and door, but in the span of a sentence she had moved up to the crow-girl faster than Eoghan had thought possible.

"I'm Dagaz-Tofa, honey. But you can call me Dag." She told the scared Venn, "You poor thing, scared out of your wits by this big old meany here when you've already been through so mu... Hang on..." She had gone in to give her a hug, taking care to avoid the curse marking, when she pulled back for a second and took her hands instead. "Hon... You weren't human until the other day, were you?
 
Venn blinked up at her. "Another day, Venn is a Raven. Now this day, Venn is not a Raven. Venn is a girl. Probably." She fingered the edge of her bandage, but kept her eyes on the woman. "Did Eoghan tell Dag? Venn has been in a bag, missed some things." she said. After a moment, she added "Terrible, terrible day."
 
A caring half smile crossed Dag's face, "It's going to get a lot worse before it gets better honey." She pulled the little girl into her arms a little closer in an effort to comfort her. "I wish you knew what you two had to do." She let her go and looked sadly in her deep, black eyes, "You two are in for a tough time." With those words of comfort, she got to her feet and beckoned to the pair. "I suppose it'd be a good idea to show you what danger you're in, wouldn't it?" She took Venn's hand and, after making sure she was standing, she took Eoghan by the arm and started to drag him into her tent with Venn following closely.

She took the pair into her living space, sat them on some cushions that she had laying around in a small circle and looked directly at Eoghan. "You should know that there's a prophesy about you two." Eoghan looked down and chuckled for a moment before responding, "I was told about that, actually. Verge said it was the only thing keeping them from killing us." Dag's head tilted to one side, "He told you? Gah, that's just like Verge to steal the one thing I get to do around here anymore." She let out a small sigh of exasperation, "I don't suppose that you know it word for word, do you? Hah! I still get to do that part!"

After the buzz of realizing she could tell the pair the prophesy wore off, she closed her eyes and settled into the cushions a little more. "Now, this isn't written in our language. Only Wyrdspeak. Our language and Dragon don't exactly mesh grammar-wise. We have letters they don't and they have sounds that are much easier to say with a reptilian mouth."

"So bear with you?"

"Pretty much, yes."

The room seemed to flicker as she brought out the scroll containing the prophesy, Eoghan could have sworn that he saw the lights of one or two candles blink out of existence before them. Then the world went quiet as Dagaz-Tofa started to speak.

"Misguided fools can come and go,
But sometimes threats can grow and grow.
But there are things that you must know:
That much, you should understand

More than one world flung in danger,
Death-plague brought on by a stranger.
Once a plainsman, once a ranger,
Now lost in another land.

A farmer, Sih and raven's plea
Bound in form once, but now free
If something is not done quickly,
Then sickness will expand.

Three sects disagree on this,
Their eyes simply seem to miss.
All arguing will be remiss
If they don't stay this hand

One is working tooth and nail,
Convincing people without fail.
One brother will not hear the tale,
They find it rather bland.

Two is staunch and reprehensive.
He finds the very thought offensive,
Opting rather to be more pensive
Dooming them to the man

Three is gone to get more power,
Threat increases by the hour.
Circumstances grow more dour.
Will someone take a stand?"

As she spoke, her dreamlike state enhanced. The words she said almost flew in melody from her lips. By the time she was done, Eoghan was so transfixed he almost forgot to listen, but he knew he had heard every word as clear as day.

"So?" Dag asked, "Does that help outline your responsibilities?"

"Yes. It does. Thank you, Dag."

"Oh, pshaw. 'Twerent nothing." She said with a smile. "I don't have many other things to do around here other than read what's gonna happen, so I might as well do that well, right?" Eoghan smiled back at her, "I suppose you're right. Thank you, Dagaz-Tofa. I'm very glad we met." Dag gave a small snort, "Aw, now stop that. You're going to make me blush." She said back, blushing.

Eoghan took a step out of the tent, blinking at the sudden influx of light. He motioned for Venn to follow him out into the now setting sun. "Come on Venn, it's getting late and we'd better not overstay our welcome."
 
"Venn thinks that there was no welcome, Eoghan." She peered at the sunset, squinting until her eyes were completely black. The night was going to be cold. It was going to be cold and it was nowhere near home. Her fingers pulled Eoghan's jacket closer, but the cold still reached her. She tried to clack her beak in frustration, which only made her feel worse. Turning as carefully as she could while still moving with an angry speed, she found a passage between tents. She deliberately stepped towards the opening. Her legs felt unsteady as she moved towards the edge of the camp.

"Venn is going this way!" she announced to the boy as an after thought. She didn't stop her clumsy progress until she had reached the forest. Even then, she kept moving, leaving behind the place of the terrible day. Finally, when the camp was beyond hearing, her legs gave out.
 
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