The next morning the grounds around the village windmill were a nightmarish sight. The plants and earth around the mill had been drained of all vitality. It had turned dark and withered to the point it could not even rot. The earth was cracked dry almost becoming sand. A tent had been erected in front of the mills opening. A stack of bodies lay almost like firewood on one side of the tent. Inside the remains of the mill the bodies separated from there hearts were placed on a large unlit pyre. No insects dared to approach the feast in fear of the thing working tirelessly inside the tent.
A gloved hand reached outside the tent and pulled in a charred body. The pail mage had on dark clothes and a leather apron. He moved unsteadily using stored moonlight to help him walk properly without aid. He placed the burnt corpse on a table and began cutting out what was left of its heart. The tent smelled of blood and sweat. A basket of human hearts was sitting on a table opposite the butcher. Next to it a basket of silver crystals. Wrapped in a blanket sitting on a chair was the body of Cat eyes closed facing the working mage. Finished with his work, Albie placed the heart in the basket and threw the burnt husk out the back of the tent into the remains of the mill. The traveler took the body and laid it carefully on the pile.
A vicious coughing came from inside the tent. The Traveler rushed in to find Albie hunched over coughing black liquid onto the sand floor of the tent. The dark hared mage walked in and began rubbing the ailing mages back.
"It's almost noon Albie," said the Traveler. "It won't be easy, but you should try to get some sleep."
"How?" coughed Albie. "It hurts so much. It burns. I don't want to take anymore lifeforce from the village. The work is the only thing keeping me together."
"I said it won't be easy," said the Traveler. "But if this is what you want to do, I can't stop you."
"Tomorrow is the last night of the full moon," said Albie. "every night waisted is a weaker moon stone. The sooner I get this done the better."
"If you insist little moon," said the older mage.
The pail mage finished coughing and grabbed the body of Sam a seven-year-old boy whose head had been caved in. As best Albie could tell the solders had clubbed his young neighbor to death with the buts of their muskets. Albie remembered Sam as a mischievous boy who would try to steal honey from him while he was asleep. He had treated the boy for countless bee stings. The times Albie let him he always gave it to his crush Merry. Anger welled in his chest enough to blunt his pain.
The anger felt better than the sadness. Albie's anger was hot. Hot enough to give him something to focus on other than the wounds he shared with cat. Sadness left him hollow. Just him and the constant and unchanging feeling of being shot and bayonetted as his life forced left him to combine with Cats in the cycle. So, he tirelessly worked through the day until he had recovered the heart of all his friends, family, and neighbors.
Albie sat under the moonlight taking hearts out of the basket and turning them to moonstones. The older mage came by with a few strips of jerky and hard bread. The star mage sat across from Albie. A pained look was in his face as he offered him the food.
"You haven't eaten anything today," said the star mage. "Eat something, try night to cough while doing it."
Albie who realized he was hungry after seeing the food placed the newly made moonstone into its basket and reached for the food. He took a strip of meat and began chewing. He swallowed and his stomach growled demanding more. He placed a large strip of jerky in his mouth. His lunges wheezed and he coughed. The cough did not escape his lips, but he could taste the rotten black fluid in his mouth. Then he felt the jerky squirm in his mouth and his life drain. Albie spit out the rancid meat and watched it move under its own power on the sand. The star mage did not seem surprised by the tiny abomination crawling to him. He simply stood up and crushed it beneath his boot.
"That flehm is liquid unlife," said the Traveler. "Most food will do that if it touches it. It will also sicken the living and make the dead hungry. Be very carful not to cough while eating. I thought it was best you learned about it now than when I wasn't here… I hope you can… enjoy the rest of it."
The Traveler stood up and walked back to his cart. Albie stared at the lifeless black worm that was once a piece of beef jerky. Where it had died the earth recovered from the damage, he had done to it. He reached out with his magic and found that once again the soil held a little bit of life. He drained the soil and carefully ate the rest of his food before returning to work.
By the end of the night he was done. He had 213 moonstones in his basket. The size varied but the smallest was from the Gill the towns youngest baby only the size of a fingertip. The largest was Romans and was a little bigger than his clenches fist. They were all fully charged by moonlight. Albie was wondering how he would use them all when the Traveler appeared.
"If you are done," said the older mage. "let's begin the funeral."
"yes," said Albie grabbing the musket to help him stand. The two men walked to the mill's ruins. The tent had been moved away. Inside the mill were the bodies of the rest of the villagers. Mounds of kindling wood and charcoal filled the remaining space. Were the older mage got all of it from Albie did not know but was grateful that he had found so much fuel.
"This is not something an outsider should do," said the Traveler handing a torch he lit in a nearby fire.
"Yes, this is mine," said Albie taking the torch in hand. He looked into the mill where Cats body lay. Albie through the torch into the kindling. "Rest well Cat. I have some work to do but once I do, I'll come right home."
The fire spread quickly throughout the mill. Meat burned and smoke escaped through the top of the mills stone foundation like a great chimney. Albie walked back to the traveler and watched the smoke rise into the night sky.
"Albie," said the Traveler.
"Yes," responded Albie.
"Can you wait until the bodies are ash before beading off," asked older mage. "I would like some time to get some things together for you."
Albie paused he was eager to step off on his way to the royal palace. It would help keep his focus off his pain.
"I have a few Grimoires that you can read while you wait," Declared the star mage. "Three of them you can take with you. You don't have to worry about returning them. I'll get them back eventually."
The thought of new grimoire was tempting to Albie. New magic had always been exiting. When thinking about his next move he started to think about his plans he realized his magic was not great for fighting. He could do horrific things to one ore two people he could touch. But how would he fight a company off musket men? Create a bunch of unliving he didn't know how to control and let them have at it? What would keep them from turning on him. He needed new tricks if he wanted to fight the army. Tomorrow was the last night off the full moon anyway his powers were going to dwindle until the new moon came and went. Setting off with half an idea where he was going, having no plan and weakening as he went was not a good plan. Spending a day or two to figure it out was a good way to start this adventure. Albie looked at the older mage.
"I think I can spare a day or two to plan," said Albie.
"Alright let's pitch your tent and get you those books," declared the older mage. "I'll get you those books and you can set off tomorrow night when the fire finishes its work."