Lorelle and I cut across the final bit of treeline toward the small road that split the settlement in two. It led out to the forest on the opposite side of the town from the clearing that we began in. I was able to see an abandoned cart along one side that would serve as a good meeting point for us once we were all done with the perimeter check. As we neared the cart, I was able to distinguish two figures.

Damn, they beat us.

Jonah and Roy were waiting beside the abandoned cart on the side of the path that. We found three more scorch marks as we finish our check of the perimeter. The final one only a hundred paces behind us.

“It’s about time you two showed up,” Jonah called out as we neared the two waiting figures. “Get lost or something without your navigator?” Jonah smirked at his callback as we came to stop beside them at the cart.

“Not all of us were checking with an expert tracker who grew up in The Mine.” I untied the water bladder and took a long pull. “We were being thorough,” I said, handing the bladder towards Lorelle.

Roy puffs his chest out a bit. “She’s referring to me, ya know,” Roy says to Lorelle before Jonah could take the credit.

Lorelle gave a half smile after she finished another pull from the bladder. “Well considering she’s pretty good, I can’t imagine how good you are,” she said, joining in on the familial banter.

“Who do you think taught me?” I asked.

Roy smiled and gave a slight shrug. “With age comes wisdom.”

“You’re four cycles older, ” Jonah said, incredulously. “I’d hardly call that wisdom.”

“What did your wisdom find out on your side?” I asked Roy, refocusing our group while still getting the last word in with Jonah. Ha.

Roy pulled out a small beat-up leather journal and opened it; I followed suit.

“Five scorch marks two hundred and fifty paces apart, and ranging from three to ten paces into the treeline at each location on the left side,” Roy said, highlighting the very training I was referring to previously. “How ‘bout the right?” He asked.

“Same as yours.” I showed my journal, which had a drawing depicting the settlement and scorch marks, which were also reflected in his journal.

Jonah snorted at my simplification. “So another ten scorch marks,” he said.

“At least we know what the scorch marks are now,” I said. Jonah and Roy both responding with looks of confusion.

“They’re doors. At least they are what remains of doors that appeared,” I said

“What?” Jonah started. “ How do you know?”

“I saw it,” Lorelle said, her voice sounding a little more hollow than it did a few moments ago. “These doors of light open out of thin air and the creatures pour out.”

“How do they work?” Roy asked Lorelle.

“What kind of creatures?” Jonah asked at the same time.

“She has no idea,” I said for her.

As if a child...or anyone...would understand how a door of light opens and burns the ground or what the creatures truly were.

“We should go in,” I said to the group. Looking to Lorelle, I asked, “where was the attack thickest?”

“The main road. Everyone was rushing out of their homes and onto the road, trying to get away from the creatures attacking.” She pointed down to the road we were on and followed it up to the settlement. Jonah and Roy nodded along as she spoke, listening intently about the night before for the first time. “But there were creatures down the alleyways as well,” she finished.

As we walked into what used to be the settlement, I couldn’t help but be overwhelmed with a profound sense of loss. Every building within the settlement was burned down, with all that remained being the stone foundations and a few structural beams there and there, all charred. The air reeked of burned flesh and carrion birds could be heard, flying overhead. Though the smell of burnt flesh clung to the air, there wasn’t a single body in sight. Like Frigga’s, all that remained were drag marks leading down alleyways

Lorelle let out a gagging noise. I opened one of the pouches and pulled out a handkerchief. I handed her the strip of cloth to tie around her mouth and nose to help. Everyone else simply co tinted on. The Bastards are a bit more familiar with the smell of death.

As we walked down the main settlement road, we constantly had to move around abandoned wagons and collapsed segments of various buildings. However, for the most part, we were able to walk through the settlement together, with Lorelle and me between Jonah and Roy.

The ground was a dusty mess of ash with any death marks either burned away or buried under the debris. It was more than apparent that nothing could have survived this. Whoever is behind the attack intended for this to be a complete massacre.

“What kind of thing can do this?” Jonah asked again.

“I don’t know what they are now. But they looked like they used to be people,” Lorelle shared with Jonah and Roy.

“People?” Roy asked incredulously. “People can’t destroy the doors of Frigga’s with their bare hands. These things did.” He kicked a half-burnt bucket that was in his path out of the way.

“I said used to be people” Lorelle quipped. “They didn’t have any hair and it seemed like their tongues had been cut out,” she continued. “They made this horrible guttural sound when they attacked people, their blackened claws extended.” Jonah scrunched his face at the mental image.

“And they came through these doors of light?” Roy asked.

“Uh-huh,” Lorelle said, slightly distracted by a broken wooden sign. Most of the two rows of text were illegible, burned off.

“Ten scorch marks, ten doors,” I said, interjecting into the conversation. I looked to Lorelle “you mentioned earlier that the creatures wore a collar?” She nodded, looking away from the sign and continuing ahead.

If they are collared, then maybe they are nothing more than a tool to be used towards a greater purpose. But what purpose? Who would benefit from this kind of destruction?

“Collars would mean they belonged to someone, someone who can open doors of light,” I said, voicing my concerns.

“Which makes this problem a lot worse than we realized,” Jonah commented. I looked from Jonah to Roy, making instant eye contact with both, all of us on the same page.

Shit. This is bad.

“What about support? What’s the Crown doing? Are they only attacking settlements?” Lorelle asked. Poignant questions for a child and each one led closer to problems the Guild has faced since separating from the Crown.

“From what our spies tell us, there have been attacks similar to the settlements but on a smaller scale in cities throughout the country. Hitting markets during the early evening rush,” I shared.

“The king has even ordered for a greater number of guards to be posted at markets at all times now. But it would seem that the Crown only cares about the attacks on their markets. As no one has been sent out to the settlements to give them protection. I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t even know of all of the towns that have been attacked” Jonah said. “That’s one of the reasons why The Guild still exists. To protect those that the Crown ignores.” He finished smiling slightly with a feeling of purpose.

Throughout the conversation, I couldn’t help but note that Jonah and Roy were using extreme caution with the girl. No, caution was the wrong word; they were treating her with something closer to kindness. Being gentle with her. Including her in our conversation. Minding how close they stood by her. They were doing what they could to put Lorelle at ease. It’s one of the reasons I opened up to them all those years ago; and why we have always worked well as a sect of Bastards. Jonah and Roy may be large, scary-looking men, but they also contained within them a great kindness and sense of purpose in helping others.

“I heard my parents talking about a settlement attack once. A friend of my mother went missing that day.” Lorelle said. “But that was a cycle or two ago.” She paused for a moment, trying to recollect. “How long has The Guild been looking into this?” Lorelle asked.

“They started up what? Nine? Ten cycles ago?” Roy asked, looking over Lorelle and my head to make eye contact with Jonah on my right.

“Almost ten now,” Jonah started. “The attacks seem to happen once or twice a cycle. Never striking the same area twice.” He said.

“Never in the same Guild sect either. As if whoever is attacking is trying to imply they know about us too,” I said.

“Unfortunately, some of the settlements have been discovered too late and anything that would help us in finding out more is washed away,” Roy said pointing to one of the few Door scorch marks we’ve been able to find. It was between two destroyed buildings, leading down an alleyway. “So we are only guessing that they are actually connected from the missing people,” he finished, continuing to walk down the main road.

I looked to see what Lorelle’s response to our debrief of the attacks would be, to see that she had stopped a few paces prior, to stare blankly down the alley we had passed.

“This is the last place I saw my father” Lorelle said, sadness enveloping her voice. “We were sneaking down the side alley, trying to get away from the main attack,” she started walking down the alleyway as if pulled by a rope. I followed a few steps behind, with Jonah and Roy staying on the main road

“A creature saw us and turned to attack. Father stayed behind to protect us,” Lorelle said, stopping beside two large blood marks halfway down the alley.

Suddenly Lorelle fell to her knees. I quickened my step to come to stand beside her, a bloodied ax on the ground in front of her. There were several death marks in the immediate area. A sob shuddered through Lorelle’s body as she gripped the ax and pulled it close to her chest, hugging the memory of her father.

He died fighting for his family. Lorelle had mentioned only one creature being, here but a door must have opened shortly after they left. Reading the scuffs and marks on the ground her father took several of the creatures down with him. I looked to the side of us to see the destroyed remnants of a wall. It was splattered with black blood.

Lorelle had said previously that her father used to be an enforcer at Frigga’s, back when she was a child. Enforcers typically received some sort of training, either from a traveling Bastard or even going to The Mine. His training, our training, helped him take down countless of these things. But one Bastard wasn’t enough.

I knelt down beside her, just far enough away not to bump her. She sagged into me and I wrapped my arms around her, offering her the comfort she needed. It had to be the first time she was able to express her true feelings since she went to sleep the night before.

I stroked her hair as she wept on my shoulder. “I am so sorry Lorelle.”

After a few minutes of holding a crying Lorelle, I heard footsteps behind us. I looked to see Jonah approaching us. He stopped for a moment, waiting to see if it was okay to approach. I gave him a silent nod.

“I’m sorry, but we need to keep moving,” Jonah said, sympathy present in both his tone and demeanor. “We won’t get to The Tavern until close to nightfall as it is,” he finished.

I nodded my agreement. “We’ll dispatch another sect to process the settlement. We’ve got all we can for now,” I said. The follow-up sect will be able to pick things over and find anything worth salvaging that could be returned to families of the dead.

With a supportive arm around her shoulders, I guided Lorelle to the standing position. She held the ax tightly in her left hand and wiped away the tears streaming down her face with the other. Together we walked back to where Roy stood to wait for us.

The remaining walk through the settlement showed the same barren spread of death that Frigga’s and the first half of the settlement displayed. We didn’t stop to inspect anything else. Lorelle has finally succumbed to the worst day of her life. We needed to get her home.

When we broke through the final row of dilapidated buildings, Lorelle stepped out of my guiding embrace. She didn’t say anything, engrossed in her own thoughts. As we walked through the field towards Tarik and Ella, Jonah once again took the point in our journey, knowing exactly where to go to find the rest of our fellowship. Lorelle fell behind me and continued to be silent, looking at the ground but didn’t seem to care where she was walking, or going. Roy trailed behind us and ensured she stayed with us as we left the village behind.