PvP Dungeon Hunter

Life Continued In The Village

A roster crowed signalling the beginning of the morning. The light had entered the small hut as Landon was taking a bath from inside a large brown bucket. He reached forward to grab the small soap he had. It was a very confining space with barely any privacy from the bedroom, just a small wooden propped up divider. Landon remembered for a moment, hearing the conversations of his children. When they all use to gather here to bathe. Their home use to be so much more alive back then. He smiled for a moment as he closed his eyes and reflected on it.

Outside the village of Rusaver was already busy. From the small hole for a window inside the bath, Landon heard the little pigs and sheep that he owned interacting amongst themselves. The villagers busily moving around and deep in conversation which broke him out of his own thoughts.

“That girl, we shouldn’t have let her go in the forest. What if she is still alive and planning some sort of revenge. We should have put her down somewhere else and buried her away from the village.”

“You think, she is still alive? There is no way she could survive outside of the village without the seer’s blessing.”

“You know Landon and Cynthia wouldn’t like that or even agree.”

“It’s not about what they like, it’s about what has to be done.”

“I am not entertaining this conversation with you. She may have been a witch, but we all have suffered.”

Landon heard the steps as they both moved away. After taking the last scoop of water and throwing it over himself. He wiped his face. Despite Canta was no longer in the village that didn’t stop the villagers from talking about her. A lingering curse they called it, a plague, a contagion. Was Canta still alive? He wondered. It may not have seemed like the best choice at the time, but from the way in which he heard the villagers talk daily about her, it might be.  He hoped that she was alright. He stepped out the bucket, grabbed the worn towel, and dried himself off. He looked at his only worn tunic that he had washed last night before he slept. After making sure it seemed dry enough Landon put it on and got that dreaded itch from the time it touched his skin. He wondered if that boy that Canta was with had these worries about his clothes or the bard that came to the village long ago.

He stepped back into the bedroom and saw his wife still laying on the bed. It was made of a combination of leaves, grass and animal skin. It was flat on the ground.

Landon stood there for a moment, looking at her. He traced the angle of the direction of where her eyes were looking towards. It was directed where their children had once been. The small divider was still there and the bed which they shared, had remained there.

“Cynthia,” Landon called to her.

He was met with no response. She didn’t move in the slightest to register he was talking.

“You haven’t eaten in days Cynthia. At least come and eat breakfast with me now. Try not to think about it so much.”

“We could have saved our last child couldn’t we Landon? We could of?”

“There was nothing, we could of done. Cynthia, it was out of our hands.”

“What if we had gone with her.”

“We couldn’t leave.”

 “We could’ve left too. Nothing was stopping us. Even if she is cursed. She is our child. Landon, she is probably dead because of us.” her voice weakened.

“I don’t think our daughter is dead. I want to believe that they are safe.”

She lifted her head and turned towards him. “How do you feel so sure?”

“I prayed to the gods.”

“Did they answer you? Did they tell you why they cursed us and our daughter?”

Landon stood quiet as his gaze fell towards the window at the people passing.

“Tell me, Landon!”

“You must believe, but you must also have faith that good things will happen and that our daughter would live.”

“It’s hard to believe when the gods don’t speak.”

Landon slowly took steps towards her. “I would like to think that the seer didn’t send our daughter out to die rather to give her a chance to survive. We may never see her again since she cannot return, but knowing that she is alive and she won’t have to feel any form of prosecution, to me this is a better way for her to live than anything else that this village could give her.

I pray every night that she gets to fulfil her dreams, although I am not fully sure of what it is. A bard and adventurer, these are things she has always been fascinated about even our son before wanted to be an adventurer. Monster slayer, I hope she obtains this goal. The boy she is with he looks like someone that would not do her any harm and maybe look out for her. Those are my prays and hopes. Come have breakfast with me and stop whining about the things you can’t see. Our daughter is alive, that is enough to be happy for.”

Landon stood over Cynthia with his arms outstretched.

“You really think that she can escape fate?”

“Fate is something up for the gods to decide the course.”

Cynthia slightly shifted herself up off the bed and Landon gripped her in a tight embrace. Her arms shifted down his back as her head rested on his shoulder. He felt the tears trailing down his chest as no more words were said.

                                                                                  #

Landon was on his knees looking over his small farm. Today was suppose to be a harvest yet the numbers that he had were pitiful. The barley for its part had grown well, but the wheat was bare. He couldn’t survive off the barley, while he was lucky it had grown and it could be traded to make beer, it was not in demand. He contemplated what might have been the problem as he pushed his hand into the soil inspecting it before he got up. The curse, maybe? No, it couldn’t be, there had to be a reasonable answer to it all.

For the most part, everyone in the village had found it hard to gather anything from the ground itself as if mother nature was rejecting them. He looked at the remains of failure that he would have to throw away and thought about how he could rectify the situation. He had promised to barter it for soap and for many other small medical and household items they had needed and now it seemed that would be impossible. He barely had livestock and the ones that were here were only enough for them to survive on. Ceventia’s taxes would be coming soon and the village itself barely had enough to trade to get through the month.

There was not enough manure for the crops, maybe that was it, the soil it couldn’t be rich. Landon pulled his chin as he rested his hand on the makeshift wall that separated the livestock from the farm. He would have to do marling in order to get a better harvest. If he spread some of the clay on the ground it would make the soil richer that had to be the problem. The soil wasn’t rich. He thought as he rubbed the dirt off his chin. Who in the village would have the clay that he would need?

One problem after another the gods really tested his resolve. He was happy that his wife had been able to eat something this morning. It was a great turn around. She was so weak that it was better she stayed in bed for today and that may have been for the best. If she had seen this she might sink back into the same mindset.

“Hey Landon,” a voice called to him.

Landon turned to see a short man with a full beard looking at him. His tunic was worn and had almost the same amount of holes in it like his own.

He chuckled. “Adrian, what are you doing here? I didn’t expect to see you by the tavern tonight.”

“I had a bad harvest. We normally plant around the same time. Looking at it was depressing. I actually came to see if you had better luck, but it seems that I was wrong.”

“How bad is bad?”

“Well, I barely have enough to feed the family.”

“It’s that bad, yeah.” Adrian looked around before stepping a bit closer to Landon. “ I was thinking about hiding some of the stock I have for taxes to feed the children, but I would need your help with it.”

The words caught Landon by surprise his eyes darted to every hut nearby despite the fact that Adrian had spoken the words so softly. He, himself couldn’t make out everything but the words that stuck in his mind were hide and taxes. The baron was not a forgiving man, rather he was very harsh in keeping his deadlines. It wasn’t like the peasants had a choice of picking who their lord would be, like they did with their village elder. Everything was determined from birth in what their lots would be and now without trade, they couldn’t make any money. Before the seer was here the villagers use to leave the village, they had more trade, but all of this superstition and strings of bad luck made the villagers believe that they couldn’t survive without him. Everything was decided by him now and Landon can’t recall at any time had he seen the man but he believed in the village elder.

“Defy the Baron?” the words slipped from his mouth.

 They all knew the penalty for something like this Ceventia did not hide the penalties for not paying taxes, for fraud, and for consorting with anyone or anything they deemed or outlawed as an enemy. Even worship of the old gods was something that wasn’t allowed, but the villagers did it in their homes regardless.

“I know it is sudden that I brought it to you, but I need the help. There isn’t much time before they come and you’re the only one that I can trust. If you can help me, come around my house near midnight,” Adrian whispered.

He then spoke about the crops and how lucky he was to be able to donate some in a louder voice.

Before Landon could respond the two men were interrupted by the village bell being rung. Then the village crier was shouting for everyone to gather around. The two men looked at each other.

What was going on now?

Landon and Adrian walked across to the gathering spot outside the village elder’s house. They were joined by many and each voiced their complaint on their harvest it was the same as before all loud and all defiant.

“Martin you have to share with the rest of us.”

“I am sorry, I can’t.”

“How do you mean you can’t, people will starve.”

“ I can’t feed everyone without starving myself.”

“Bastard.”

The village elder stood on his step which was higher than everyone else. There were a few shady men near as well watching on. Landon had first considered them to be traders, but their hands, their clothes from what they wore to the marks on their bodies, and their facial expression dictated otherwise. He had not given it much thought since the men had generally kept to themselves and it wasn’t like the village had anything to take.

The sun was hot, but it did little to deter the constant bickering between everyone here.

“That’s enough,” the village elder spoke, “it seems the curse still lingers, it’s grown deeper into the soil. I know things will be harder for right now, but don’t worry. The seer has foreseen this and there is a plan.”

“I know the seer wouldn’t let us down!” someone in the crowd shouted.

“Yes, the men that have been in the village are a part of that plan. Do not fear anyone. We may struggle for the following week to pay our taxes, but we will never starve again. There is a path,” the elder said.

A path Landon thought what path was that?

The elder took a step back towards his house. “Don’t lose hope. Food, better clothes, and shelter are coming.”

He disappeared into his hut, leaving the crowd to discuss amongst themselves. What had started off as anger and bitterness for food came back to peacefulness. Now Martin wanted to help everyone because the seer had promised something in the future.

Landon wiped the sweat off his face and looked up at the sky something felt wrong but he didn’t know what. He felt a tap on his back, he turned to see Adrian.

“Don’t forget to come to visit me tonight.”