Enna Is a Land God- Book:2

Broken Spirits

It was a long wait through the night. Eventually the mayor's family fell asleep again, but he himself stayed awake, talking with Lagdon and Draxly about the estate and other such things. Mostly small talk. Shill tried staying awake but the poor man was exhausted from travel and eventually fell asleep against a wall where I draped a throw blanket over him.

No more screams were heard and eventually the sun began to rise and fog began to disperse. I was unsure if the fog was needed for the specter to attack, but Wallace claimed that it only ever struck when the fog was thick.

Wallace let his family sleep, waking only his wife to tell her that he was leading us out into the town. I could see in her eyes that she took that to mean 'we are going to see whom we've lost this time'. she merely nodded and set about tidying the room, promising breakfast for when he returned.

The village was pretty quiet when Lagdon, Draxly, Wallace, Shill and I left the mayors home and made our way through the square. We started by heading in the direction we believed that the screams had been coming from. We were not the only ones either. Pale and shaky kobold nervously left their homes, heading the same direction as us. Many seemed to panic when they set eyes on myself and the boys, but Wallace wasted no time explaining we were guests. He did not bother going into any farther detail.

"Are the attacks always near the tree line?" Draxly asked quietly, not wanting to be loud. I could understand. It felt like the world was holding its breath as we made our way east, toward the side of the town closest to the forest.

Wallace shook his head. "We thought that at first as well, and had everyone move to the western most side of town when the fog rolled it. This was back when it was not an every day occurrence. but we quickly realized that it was pretty random what houses or people were targeted. There seems to be no rhyme or reason behind it."

We had just turned a corner and the crowd of kobolds had gotten thicker when a sound I prayed I never again would have to hear wrang out, causing Wallace to let out a curse. It was the wail of despair. A sound made by those who had lost that which they loved most in this world.

Parting the crowd was not hard with Lagdon in the front of your group. But had the hobgoblin not been at the front I would have been able to see over the kobold's heads. However, I decided that this was not a scene I would have wanted to see soon either way.

We emerged at a two story home, the house butted right up to the road and its neighbors touched it on either side, and it looked clean and quiet. It did not look like a murder scene. On the front step sat two women, one in a green dressing gown weeping uncontrollably into the arms of the other kobold female, she in a patched shirt and what looked to be work pants. The two women looked to be from different stations in life, but tragedy had no class system. Not here, not now.

I heard the air rush from Shill's lungs, relief so evident in his face that I was surprised that  I had not noticed the fear that had been present before hand. There was another gasp near by and a third woman parted from the crowd and dashed forward, throwing herself into the kobold's arms.

"Addy." Croaked Shill, embracing the woman who was clinging to him for dear life.

"Oh Shill, you are home!" She gasped, still quiet as no one wanted to intrude on the grief still here.

"I had thought..." Groaned Shill, flicking a hand toward the building where the two women wept.

Addy, the Kobold that I now realized was Shill's wife, shook her head. "No... The children and I stayed with Freena last night. She is due to give birth any day and wanted me there to catch the baby if it came to that. We have been there the last week." she looked over her shoulder to the grieving woman. "Poor Luka. Oh Shill! The Specter has gone too far this time!"