Albie woke up to the cold night. He looked around himself in the darkness to see the burnt ruins of his village. Behind him the windmill had collapsed in on itself. His small shack was just a charcoal frame. The surrounding houses all looked the same. Chard stones and ash.
Albie coughed as the pains in his chest and back returned. Albie remembered he needed to find his wife. Albie tried to stand but found it difficult with the pains in his chest. The young mage reached for something to help him steady himself and found the musket that had been dropped by the large soldier earlier that day. The Bayonet that had pierced his shoulder still attached his blood dried on the blade. With a grumble the young man used the weapon to help stand. With the muskets help Albie stood up leaning heavily on the weapon as he began limping to the Miller house. The dirt village road was lined with the dead inhabitants. A wind would blow and the smell of burnt flesh would fill his nose. Albie counted and checked the bodies for Cats. Cat was hurt. Albie limped on pushing the idea of Cats death to the bottom of his hart. Albie checked the body of Tulip the baker woman. Her ring finger had been cut off and her gold sun binding ring was gone. Her young daughter Lil had been stabbed in the neck. The blood had soaked into her dress. The husband would have been in the field. He might have escaped. Albie remembered growing up with Ted and Tulip. Ted wouldn't have run if he thought Tulip and Lil were in danger. As he walked down the sort road to the Granary where he saw more friends dead. Fingers cut and sun rings stolen.
Crawling along the dirt path he arrived at the burnt remains of the granary. The Granary was attached to the Miller family house. It had been the largest building in town. A two-story house made of strong timber and coble stones. It was now a burnt husk. In front of the broken granary double doors were the bodies of the miller women. One of them had brown hair and a blue shirt. She lay face down. Someone had removed her pants. A large howl was open in her upper chest. The body also had a stab wound through her back that had pierced her heart. Albie let himself drop to his knees letting go of his walking stick. The wounds he saw and the wounds he felt matched perfectly. Gently the young man grabbed the women's shoulder and rolled her into his lap.
Cats face was bruised. Blood and dirt caked her lips. Someone had stolen her half of their moon charm. The front of her shirt and slender legs were dirty with blood. Albie hugged Cats head into his chest and began to cry. The pain in his chest switched from the wounds to a deep pain in his hart as he sobbed so hard, he failed to breath. When his breath ran out, he coughed as though his lungs were filled with fluid. His pained lungs would fill with air again and he would continue sobbing.
"Bammm!"
Albie felt a new pain in his chest. Looking down through tear clouded eyes to see a new howl in his chest. A musket ball had lodged itself in Cats head. Albie felt his lungs fill with fluid. He tasted blood in his mouth. He coughed and blood flecked out onto Cat. Albie lost strength in his limbs and hunched over Cat. A dealing of cold and powerlessness licked his entire body.
"I guess its not so bad you left your musket," said a voice from behind him. "The captain said no survivors. Would have been unfortunate if this one had survived."
"Shit Sargent," said a familiar voice. "That's the sick one I stabbed before those bees came after me."
"You double goofed then Wallis," declared the unfamiliar voice. "Still, dead now, grab your musket so we can get back to camp."
"Fine," Said Wallis. Who walked next to the dying mage.
Albie felt the large man walk next to him. The cold helplessness that blead out of him was replaced with a desperate plan. As the Man reached for his gun Albie grabbed the man's hand. The soldier's skin was warm at the touch. Albie felt the light of the moon at its zenith channel into him. Wallis grabbed the mages hand and tried to pry it off his but was unable to remove the cold hand. Albie channeled moonlight into the big soldier and used its power to drain the life energy from his helpless victim. Albie felt the life force of the solder flow into him and he used it to nit his lungs back together enough that they worked again. The grief-stricken mage then put his other hand on Cats body and began forcing life energy into her corpse. It was a thing the Traveler always warned him against but that didn't matter right now. He had to try to bring her back. The solders life should be enough as compensation. Cats body began to move. A gargled wheeze escaped her lips. Her lifeless eyes looked at Wallis.
Wallis screamed in fear as he felt a coldness seep into every bone in his body. The woman with a howl in her chest and face was moving and looking at him. His attempt to remove the other mans hand became more frantic. At the same time his effort was becoming progressively difficult. The great man fell to his knees. As strength blead from his legs. The other soldier rushed to help his fellow.
"Wallis what's wrong," shouted the other solder. He looked at Albie and saw his red eyes and pail skin then he saw the dead woman moving. "Monster!"
The soldier rose his weapon for a swing. Cat escaped Albies Grasped and jumped upon the scared solder. She bit into the mans neck releasing a spray of blood all over the dead girl. The solder lost his footing and landed on his back eyes wide in shock as Cat took another bite out of him. Pieces of flesh escaped the wound on the side of her head. Albie still draining Wallis looked in horror at what he had done to his wife. He drained the large solder until the man stopped breathing. The life energy with nowhere to go began closing the flesh in Albies chest. The moon mage looked at the older he had grabbed hold of to see the husk pf a man dried like a raisin. His eyes terrified and bulging out of the too small sockets. Albie let go of the mans hand and looked back at cat eating the other dead solders remains. He grabbed Wallis's musket and crawled to his wife.
"Cat?" asked Albie in a shaky voice. "Are you back Cat? It's me Albie. Say something, please."
The starving corpse paid no attention to its former lover only interested in eating the muscle off the chest of its victim. Albie crawled up behind her and wrapped his arms around her pulling her off. The beast only groaned in disappointment as it was pulled off its meal. Albie knew what he had done. Cat was not inside whatever this was. He had made what was left of her into an abomination.
"I'm sorry Cat," sobbed the young man into the creature's ear.
Cat did not respond to him only reaching for more of its grotesque meal. Albie sobbed and apologized as he used the power of the moonlight to retake the life force from the cold body. The energy he took was wrong. It felt cold and hollow. It was not was different than when he had given it to Cat. The incoming energy made him feel sick. Cats movements slowed to a stop as the energy granted to her was removed. The life energy gone Cats corpse once again came to rest. Albie coughed violently as black sludge escaped his mouth. He felt no Strength in his body, but tonight wasn't over. Through his tears Albie called upon the moonlight to give him strength.