Book 2: Chapter 3

Cyil had circled halfway around the town’s wall when he was startled to hear weeping off in the distance, away from the town. Cyil looked towards the sound and could barely make out the silhouette of a lonely shadow on the side of a small hill. Cyil gulped. “Is that a ghost?” He grew terrified at the thought.

Stories he had heard from the older folks back in Fayburn made ghosts out to be violent and scary, but although Cyil hadn’t ever met a ghost before, he felt that the figure on the hill was simply sad and not evil. As Cyil looked on, the sobs grew in intensity and after reaching a crescendo, they temporarily died down only to suddenly explode in intensity after a while. Although the figure was a good distance away from the town, the light wind carried the crying voice quite a distance.

Cyil looked from the town wall to the crying figure and back to the town wall again.

“I still have 10 hours left,” Cyil said and began to hover to the crying figure. He wanted to see why the figure was crying.

Cyil quickly made his way over and when he got to the base of the small hill, he noticed that rows of rocks had been lined up in a neat orderly fashion, circling the hill and spiraling towards the top, where a short and stout oak tree crouched under the moonlight. Cyil looked from stone to stone and he gasped; he had seen these stones before and knew that they were none other than grave markers!

Each stones was of varying sizes, some more elaborate than the others, but they were all evenly spaced out. Parallel to each stone, a small lump of earth poked out from the ground indicating that the ground had been tampered with.

Now that Cyil was so close to the figure he could hear that the voice belonged to a woman. In between the incomprehensible wailing, Cyil could occasionally make out words such as, “my daughter”, “cruel Nakrul”, “sin”, and even a name- “Arina”.

Cyil quickly guessed that the woman had lost her daughter and was now mourning her. Cyil had seen this scene on two occasions when he was still in Fayburn. The first time had left him feeling spooked while the second time had left him feeling sad. On both occasions, Cyil did not know the person who passed away too well, but he felt sorry for the people who were crying. They seemed to be in so much pain.

As Cyil encountered this situation a third time, he still felt sad but was moreso indifferent.

“If she has just died then perhaps I can inhibit her body. I would prefer a male body, but…” Cyil felt odd to be considering a female’s body but he knew he couldn’t be picky. Baccaus had told him he had 24 hours to find a body but once that 24 hours was up, Cyil didn’t know what would happen and didn’t want to find out.

As Cyil thought up to this point, he decided to stay put and to listen for more information on the girl named “Arina”. Cyil wanted to know how long ago she had died and what was her cause of death. Baccaus wasn’t too specific on what “without serious wounds” meant but Cyil used his imagination to guess it meant they still had all their body parts attached. Hence, Cyil needed to know Arina’s condition.

Cyil crept closer to the woman and was 2 rows of stones away when he plopped down next to a stone to listen and wait.

The woman talked, a cried, and at times, did both things at once.

It wasn’t until a while later that Cyil could finally piece together a rough sketch of the story; he found out that Arina was from a blacksmithing family and that she had decent talent as a blacksmith, despite being a girl. Arina had always been a proud girl and as she grew to become a woman, her pride became stronger. She would never yield in the face of adversity nor would she claim to be inferior to men. Arina was beautiful, probably the most attractive female in town, but she didn’t tend to her looks and choose to solely focus on blacksmithing. That was her life from when she took up her father’s profession at age 9 to when she died at age of 16.

When Cyil heard the reason behind Arina’s death, he was in disbelief. She had poisoned herself and the cause that propelled her to do so was because she had been forced against her will! Her father noticed that Arina had not yet woken up to stoke the furnace with coals and it was already late into the morning. Arina was never late, but when her father thought about what had happened to her the day before he understood. It wasn’t until the crying woman, who was Arina’s mother, brought Arina lunch when she discovered her daughter’s cold body along with an empty vial.

As Cyil heard all of this he couldn’t help but to feel angry. He was angry at the man who did this to Arina and angry at the injustice in Nakrul; suddenly, Cyil felt a strong desire to smite the villain who could do such a horrible thing and his thirst for strength increased. Cyil knew he wasn’t strong enough yet but he would train and become strong, just like his grandpa.

By the time Cyil had gathered all the pieces of the story behind Arina’s death, he noticed that 2 hours had already gone by. Now that Cyil knew Arina’s story, he didn’t feel as awkward if he should inhibit her body. Perhaps he could bring joy to the parents who were suffering. As this thought crossed Cyil’s mind, he frowned.

Perhaps that wouldn’t be too good of an idea, Cyil thought and couldn’t help thinking he would just be an imposter.

Swirls of what ifs thoughts contaminated Cyil’s mind. He hadn’t had to think on such heavy matters before, nor had he had to make such a difficult decision. He had always just smiled and went along with what felt right--with what his heart told him to do; but now, he hesitated and couldn’t tell right from wrong. Cyil felt like things weren’t so simple as good and bad and that’s what made things hard.

Just as Cyil was lost in thought, he heard heavy footsteps approach from behind. Cyil froze, afraid he had been discovered, then he quickly realized that he was a rock and sighed in relief.

Cyil could see that the person walking past him and to the crying woman was carrying a large brown woven sack that was stuffed to the brim. This person was someone Cyil was familiar with. He was one of the men at the meeting in the forest and someone Cyil could put a name to. He was Ekraq! But what was he doing here and what was in that brown sack?

As Cyil’s eyes followed the sack he saw that a body could easily be stuffed in there. Could this person be the “he” that was discussed in forest? Cyil didn’t know, but he knew a man wouldn’t be carrying such a large sack to the cemetery for no ordinary reason. Cyil decided to wait and see how things would play out. By now he had nearly discarded the idea of going into town to find another body, because it didn’t seem too viable to find a body there nor was it safe for a hovering stone to be moving about in a crowded area.

Ekraq walked up to the woman who had stopped crying and was wiping her snot and tears on the sleeve of her shirt.

“How did it go?” the woman asked in a hoarse voice.

“Fine. The mayor made sure to take care of the evidence and arranged for a clear passage for me to come here.” Ekraq answered the woman in a flat tone.

As the woman heard this, she rushed up to hug Ekraq who dropped the sack he was shouldering with a thud and returned her embrace.

The woman quietly sobbed into Ekraq’s shoulder and he stroked her hair.

“We have to hurry,” Ekraq said after a moment. “You head back first. Make sure you enter the town from somewhere other than the main entrance.”

“Why,” the woman was surprised. “You aren’t coming?”

“We shouldn’t be seen together tonight. Besides, I have something else I need to do.” Ekraq gestured to the sack and it was only now that the woman really looked at the sack. When she saw how large the sack was, she gasped.

“Why?!” The woman asked once more with a shocked and horrified tone. “You said the mayor took care of the evidence, so why is that thing with you?”

The woman had been told by Ekraq about what he was going to do but he had not told her he volunteered to personally dispose of the body.

“Just listen to me and go back. I’ll be home within the hour and explain it to you then.” Ekraq’s tone gave the woman a fright. She had never heard her husband speak with such force.

The woman nodded and slowly descended from the hill. Cyil watched as her figure grew smaller and smaller and gradually disappear into the shadows.

Ekraq quickly began his work once his wife was out of sight. He knelt down and kissed the stone then carried the sack to the top of the hill where he untied the long rope that was used to close the mouth of the sack.

After that, Ekraq emptied the sack out and with a thunk, a body rolled out from the sack.

Cyil had guessed it but when he saw the body, he knew that that person was the “he” that had been mentioned by the group in the forest.

Ekraq then quickly formed a noose with the piece of rope he had and fitted it onto the neck of the lifeless body. It was only now that Ekraq paused and stared at the line of rope in his hands.

Ekraq stared at the rope for a long while, but finally sighing he slung the rope across a thick branch from the oak tree that was bent forward at its trunk, as if inviting Ekraq to toss the rope.

Cyil watched in horror as Ekraq pulled on the end of the rope to lift the body up by the neck and afterwards, leave the body swinging in the air by tying the end of the rope to colony of tree roots protruding from the ground.

When Ekraq was done, he left without looking back.