The first thing Gaius noticed was the faint smell of charring mingled with dead leaves and putrefaction. Not overwhelming but enough to perk up his warrior’s senses. His cloak began to weigh on him and he felt sweat trickling down the ridge of his spine beneath his tunic and lorica. Then he noticed something and held up his hand to halt the men.
Absolute silence.
The forest held its breath as not a rabbit, fox, or bird moved about or called. All sound had been sucked out of the scene. Gaius stopped at the entrance to the village, marked by a ram’s skull set upon a post, the empty sockets a grim warning. Gaius waited, listening as he scanned everything.
He counted twenty-odd stone dwellings with rough thatch and bramble roofs. They were all of varying sizes, scattered like a stray handfu
