The knights had sent the pair of them - Eirika and a girl around the same age, who went by the name of Constance, on a mission. They were searching the village, looking for any signs the infection had spread out this far. What they found was dire, almost as dour as Constance’s mood in the harsh winter sun.
It seemed the village had been mostly abandoned in a frantic hurry. The streets were silent, all the stores were already boarded up and there was little to suggest people still lived here.
However, they had been lucky enough to be approached by the local doctor, who informed them that most of the village residents had fled after the first wave of deaths from the plague. She did tell the pair though, that she’d recently seen a sick child, suffering not from the plague but another affliction, one all three of them hoped was less lethal. The doctor let them know that the mother still called a farmhouse on the outskirts of the village her home but had no returned to the surgery with he child.
Eirika and Constance shared a concerned look. Words weren’t spoken, but the way her brows knitted together and the frown on her face spoke for her. Well, they’d found a lead at least.
They thanked the doctor and headed through the deserted streets, cloaks tightly bundled around their shoulders to guard from the vicious cold. It was a truly cheerless day and Eirika’s hands trembled in her pockets.She wasn’t sure she was fully prepared for what they might find, children being in danger had always been a sore spot for her. It was for that reason she couldn’t turn around and inform the knights; the fear of taking too long, of being too late gripped at her heart. The street opened up and the farm appeared in view.
As they approached, the pair took note of the barren fields that looked at a glance to have been devoid of crops for quite some time. The barns and coops were dilapidated too and no roosters crowed or cattle grazed. The place was so eerie, like something out of a ghost story.
She almost tripped over a child’s tricycle, laid out on the porch. One of the back wheels was missing and it was covered in a layer of snow. How long had it been left out here? Where was it’s owner?
“Are you okay, Constance?” Eirika asked softly before knocking on the door. The question was somewhat redundant, even without the haunting nature of their current setting, Constance had been deflated and morose since they’d left camp. Before she could reply, the door creaked open, revealing a dishevelled woman, probably in her thirties or forties. Her dirty blonde hair seemed matted and her eyes a watery blue were wide as saucers. Eirika cleared her throat and put on a gentle smile to match her tone.
“Good afternoon, ma’am,” she said, “we’re students from the Officer’s Academy. We’ve been sent to look around the village and see if there’s anything we can do to help. Would you allow us to come inside?”
