The needle slowly pierced the skin. At a carefully judged depth and angle, it drew the torn flesh together. The fine sheep-gut thread soon closed the ugly wound, and a deft final movement finished the stitching.
What should have been a hideous, centipede-like wound actually looked rather neat now. It would almost certainly still leave an ugly scar, but at least it would not keep getting worse.
She looked at her handiwork with some satisfaction, even rising a little onto her toes without meaning to. The patient before her gave her a grateful smile. The simple, honest farmer thanked her over and over, then reached behind him. He had probably brought her some fruit or dried meat...
The cold scrape of metal slipped into her ears like a venomous snake. It crept down to her neck and kissed it lightly, bringing goosebumps to her skin.
For some reason, the simple, honest farmer had become a man with the fierce, commanding eyes of a hawk. He stared at her with murder in his eyes, a sharp short blade in his hand.
"You did a fine job, doctor. I ought to thank you properly... How about I send you to meet Aifas a little sooner?!"
Before she could scream, the sharp short blade plunged straight into her chest. Her strength drained out through the wound along with her blood. Her legs gave way, and she fell to the floor, too weak even to moan or cry out.
The man calmly wiped his blade clean on his own clothes. Outside the window came the roar of burning houses and the villagers' screams. Iron-shod hooves ravaged the little village without restraint... Without a moment's hesitation or a trace of mercy, they would soon turn this place into a wasteland of death.
Overwhelming fear and grief made her struggle desperately to rise. Her mind was full of bewildered, chaotic emotions.
For some reason, the man suddenly crouched down and covered her mouth. Unwilling to die like this, she opened her mouth and bit his hand hard. She could distinctly feel her teeth sink into flesh. At the same instant, a short cry rang out beside her ear. Fingers suddenly clamped hard around her cheeks, and the sharp pain made her jerk upright...
...
It was like lifting her head above water. Blinking her bleary eyes, Talina stared in confusion at the man before her. He was the man who had sneaked back to see his wife, only to be caught by the cavalry. Now he was looking at her anxiously.
The piercing screams seemed far away, yet the despair in them felt terribly real. Firelight reddened the view outside the window. Talina turned her head in stunned disbelief and saw the village burning...
One after another, mounted men caught the screaming villagers and drove spears through their backs. Curved swords swung, slicing heads from necks with ease. A baby, still struggling faintly, hung impaled on a spearpoint. Nearby flames cast a red glow over the rider's twisted face and pointed ears. His eyes shone with an animal's aggression and a thirst for cruelty. Even the teeth in his mouth seemed smeared with blood.
The galloping riders hurled torch after torch among the cottages, quickly setting their thatched roofs alight. Those who had not escaped screamed in despair. They hammered desperately at doors and windows, only to be driven back by the flames again and again.
Bodies rapidly warped and twisted in the blaze. Boiling blood and organs burst from them like bursting balloons. The village that had been so peaceful by day had become a hell on earth.
The terrifying sight nearly drove Talina out of her mind. Her mouth hung open, but she had no idea what to say. Even her hands and feet had gone cold and numb. She was like a stupid sheep frozen by fear, able only to close her eyes and wait for death.
"Talina! Talina!! Get your things! We have to run!!"
A violent shaking brought the terrified girl back to her senses. The man held a small bundle of cloth in his arms, with a plump little face nestled inside. Large patches of blood even stained the man's face, and he gripped a blood-soaked billhook. Clearly, getting here had not been easy.
"We've got to run! They came charging into the village and started killing people. I don't know where they came from. All I know is that they're the Hols! We have to run! They don't mean to leave anyone alive... Run..."
The man was clearly panicking too, his words tumbling out in confusion. The girl immediately stood and slung on her little pouch of materials from the cabinet beside her. After a moment's hesitation, she also tucked the finely made short blade into her belt. Then the two of them crouched down and slowly crept out through the door.
"My woman is waiting for us in the grass at the village entrance. Keep quiet... Once we're in the woods, we'll be safe..."
The man picked up a longbow leaning beside the door. A bag of arrows hung at his waist. A Hols soldier lay in the yard with his head split open. A red-and-white mixture flowed from the hollow of his skull, and the strong smell of blood made the girl frown.
She lowered her head, carefully concealing herself in the patches of grass around the house. Never in her life had Talina been so grateful for that grass and her own laziness. If she had been more hardworking and cleared it all away, they would now be exposed to the eyes of those terrifying killers.
The groans of the dying and desperate screams were everywhere. The dreadful sound of blades entering flesh made them both tremble. Yet the child in the man's arms was fast asleep. Unlike most children, he was not frightened by those agonized cries at all. His tiny body curled within the cloth bundle, his breathing smooth and even.
It made the man even more careful. If the child woke now, it would cause them terrible trouble.
The village where they had lived for so many years had become a terrifying place of death. The people lying beside the mill, beside the waterwheel, and on the ground were all villagers they had seen and lived among every day. Now they were nothing but corpses...
Death was like a little butterfly circling them, ready to brush against their bodies at any moment. Never had it felt so real and so tangible...
There was no time for grief or anger. All they could do now was run. Intense fear gripped both their hearts. All they could do was flee... Flee this place that had become hell.
PS: I downloaded a Warhammer Fantasy mod today. It seems pretty interesting. The mod installer on the Chinese Mount & Blade site is incredibly convenient. You don't have to give yourself a headache over it at all. o(￣▽￣)ｄ
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