Chapter 13: Nitt
Somewhere in the distance, it was completely dark.
The shadows seemed to move as if they were living people and surrounded a bed where a girl with braided hair was lying, she was hugging a stuffed animal while hiding her face, seeming to be afraid and trying to hide from these shadows.
Even though she tried to ignore it and wanted to believe it was just a nightmare, she continued to hear the shadows approach with a low laugh that was heard in that immensity.
The room seemed to gradually distort and the bed to sink, as she felt hands touching her stuffed animal.
While the weight pulled the toy down, she still tried to hold it, but her effort was in vain and their strength was greater, even if she forced her to close her eyes, she still felt the presence of the creatures staring at her, until she felt something touch her eyelids and forced her to open her eyes.
The child tried to fight against it, but her eyes were opened and then she saw five figures standing still watching her, they were completely black, except for a line that was noticeable in the middle of her face.
Gradually, the line lengthened and revealed a smile covered with teeth, which jumped out at the child, making it possible to hear only a sharp cry.
The view changed to two people walking in the middle of a grassy field, the end of the afternoon was coming and the two were facing a huge rock that stood out in the middle of the landscape, it was one of the closest objects before the village.
One of them held a kind of map and sighed in frustration, being revealed as Arthur who was next to Christopher who was now wearing a brown coat over his shirt, seeing the swordsman sigh, the blonde questioning.
"She said we'd be getting close to night, there's no point in complaining and she couldn't be more precise."
Christopher lifted his head as he placed his open palm just above his eyes as if trying to block out the light directly in his face, Arthur listened and looked down with memories of earlier.
In the house of the lady in green, she would take a paper and start drawing on it on the table, drawing as if it were a trajectory for them to follow based on the path of the lake, having some specific objects drawn, such as a stone, trees and a trail that led to the village.
"The path is simple, if you follow this route you will reach a valley, to confirm that this is where you should go, there will be an old wooden bridge over it, in addition to other scenarios that will be described in this simple map, the The most important thing is to get to the rock, because there is a small river that passes close to the village, it is from there that people get their food, so there may be a clue there."
Lirian spoke pointing to each object where they should go, Arthur and Chris watched while they were much closer to the table, Chris raised his head and questioned.
"When we get to the river, is there anything we can do to make finding the village a little easier?"
"Well, the river is essential, but the trees there are tall and thin, the road to the village is clear of them so you can find it along the land or by following the flow of the river, where there should also be a free and easy path. to follow to reach her."
Chris listened and nodded, but soon after Arthur questioned.
"Is it an ordinary village? Shouldn't he be a little closer to a city?"
"It should, but the city is a day's travel away at least, a noble being there allowed the village to be created so far away, but..."
"A noble?"
Arthur questioned with doubt while Chris also had his attention caught by that, Lirian looked at the cards while she still had memories, but then continued.
"The village, as simple as it is, would normally be attacked by wolves and other forest animals, but it is well protected by a nobleman who uses the place for study, I don't know much about him, but it was thanks to him that the village it has the minimum defense, like protective spikes and some guards, so I'm a little relieved to send you, but from what the postman said, something strange must be going on over there..."
It was new information, but soon Arthur had his hand on his chin looking thoughtful while Chris questioned.
"And how are we going to find your family, Miss Lirian? I mean, if we don't find anyone, which house should we go to first?"
"Well..."
Lirian had her hand up to her chin looking thoughtful, but soon she seemed to remember something and then she spoke.
"At my house... there was a garden with flowers in the backyard, it was my hobby with my sisters, and we also drew on the door with knives..."
She had a slight smile on her face and placed her index finger on the table as if drawing on it with her finger.
"We drew our family, the garden, dad... and we carved our initials on it... I doubt that mom has changed or bought a new one... but at least they'll be able to guide themselves around the garden..."
Lirian's sad face seemed to change little by little with the memories that came, her smile in the corner of her face gradually became bigger as her eyes sparkled while she had this memory.
Chris looked on with a slight smile on his face as Arthur remained serious but lowered his brows with reminiscences about family, then he left the table and spoke.
"You can leave it to us, we'll find a way to see if your family is okay."
"Thanks, boys."
Soon Arthur's vision returned to the dusk where they were and again he sighed.
"Yeah, she spoke the truth, shit."
The sun was almost setting leaving only the scenery of warm colors with the orange sky and few clouds that left a beautiful landscape, Arthur just looked bored and soon Chris passed in front of him walking calmly, but soon Arthur exclaimed.
"Hey, wait. Hey."
Arthur reached Chris and touched his unburned shoulder, the blonde looked back curiously and questioned.
"What it was?"
"Are you really okay? Have the burns stopped hurting?"
Chris understood the intention, but soon after he looked at his burnt hand with doubt, opened and closed his fist, noticing his skin in a strong reddish tone with some parts still peeling, which made him stop looking and then returning to speak.
"Stopped for the time being, now my burns don't look as horrible as they used to, it seems to be slowly getting back to being my skin..."
"I understand..."
It was a relief for Arthur who sighed demonstrating that, but then Chris narrowed his eyes with a thoughtful look as he spoke.
"Okay, you can talk."
"Say what?"
Arthur questioned doubtfully, but soon Chris sighed scratching his head, then he said.
"Miss Lirian's story somehow seems poorly told..."
Chris released the phrase to the wind, but when he heard it, Arthur stopped walking, seeming to think too, then he lowered his head and spoke.
"Yeah, there really is something there that doesn't convince me... maybe she didn't have direct contact or omitted some information, but in fact something seems wrong in that story..."
"Well... we're already here, so if there's anything we can help with at least to win the map, I think it's worth it, even more so if there are people with problems around here..."
"You're right, we're almost there."
Arthur again raised his finger as if signaling them to be silent, Chris answered and after a few seconds they heard the sound of running water passing nearby, a sign that the village was approaching.
And then Christopher would nod for them to continue following the sound of flowing water.
As they walked, the sound of the water increased until they could hear it clearly.
Going up in a slightly higher part of the field, both could see a river that flowed continuing the path where they were, heading towards a thicket of forests.
While Arthur stared at the surroundings, seeming to find something different, Chris continued to watch the river and soon commented.
"Who knew there was a river so close to our village, we are now heading east instead of north, but the path deviation is not that big."
"It's true, although we are delaying the journey, whether we want it or not to save time, with the map we will be able to find a place to sell this wild boar before it goes rotten."
Arthur saw the bottom and then went down through a small relief that was used as a slide to reach the wet part, Chris followed him then and the two followed the flow of the river walking.
It seemed that it would take a little longer, as they walked I saw that the river had crystal clear water, it was possible to see small fish passing by there and other larger ones, in addition to some clear pebbles at the bottom of the river that added to the sound brought a certain calm to the two .
Christopher approached the edge and Arthur stopped to watch the blonde, who lowered and brought his mouth close to the river, stopping to drink some water.
Sip after sip, Chris quenched his thirst and stood up, Arthur continued to stare and question.
"And then?"
"Nothing, looks clean to me. We can rule out the possibility of poisoned water, even more so with such a beautiful appearance, one of Miss Lirian's hypotheses has gone down the drain..."
"What a bad joke... but it wouldn't make sense for her sister to send a letter saying she wanted to leave there just because of some sour water, there has to be something else..."
Arthur looked around and noticed something between the trees, it seemed to be a large, strangely short wall and then he spoke.
"Hey."
Chris had his attention called and then he got up, cleaning his mess and then going to Arthur's side who pointed to the strange building further away among the trees.
Focusing a little more, Chris could see and put his hands on his hips.
"Yeah, looks like we're here..."
The phrase was released in the wind and the two walked again, a little further on they reached a dirt path, the trees nearby seemed to form a path, but there were still some stumps on the ground indicating that they were knocked down to make way. .
Following it, soon the two came across a wooden fence that had a gate in front of it.
As they got closer they saw a little more of the village, the trees let in just a few traces of sun to light up the place, in addition to there being some fences forming a separation between the forest and the simple and low houses, made of wood, but something different. stood out more in the landscape.
Near the end of the village, already reaching the part of the trees, there was a big house that seemed to be formed of two houses, its ceiling was high and its walls seemed to be of polished white rock, contrasting with the wooden walls of all the houses.
The windows had glass, but they were dirty and frosted, in addition to having a black liquid dripping from some corners of the wall, leaving the image of a clean house for an abandoned one.
Arthur stopped next to Christopher still at the entrance to the village where there was a small wooden gate still with the fences, it was a simple but effective defense against common animals.
Christopher pushed the gate to let the two in and so they finally entered the village, noticing a little more than 7 houses in the place besides the big house.
The environment exhaled the smell of something rotten, but there were no signs of animals or monsters, it was as if the whole place was non-existent and both felt something strange in the place, something else that made them understand that they had arrived at the place where they wanted, the Nitt village.