8.1

The same [Silence] spell that they used to sneak their way here was cast on them by Helen before they started their discussion, none of them wanted to risk agitating the villagers with their conversation and to be so suddenly interrupted like earlier.

John was the first to speak, “Is it me or they are behaving weirdly?” his eyes glancing at the villagers who shot weird looks at them. “The way they were swarming Scywell earlier… It’s just… Very disturbing.”

“They are scared John. It is understandable since they just had their leader and anyone who could even come close to protect them taken away,” Gobbert said with deep sympathy.

“That is true but…” he wanted to say more but quickly concluded himself before he derailed the conversation “Maybe it is just me, but when hostages were taken by undead…it is far too unusual, I don’t think that is normal…”

“I think I understand where you are coming from.” Angeline placed a hand on John’s shoulder, agreeing with him before explaining to everyone. “The lich had no reason to take those people away from the villagers. If it wanted hostage, the lich should have taken everyone in the townhall hostage and set its base here.”

Exactly!

“Here’s what I think. From the undead’s standpoint, the villagers do not have much value especially when you can see how far the townhall is away from the ruins…” Helen raised a finger, pointed to the map where Kershent Village was, then dragged it to an area that was marked with multiple tombstone sketches.

“Graves of the dead…” Angeline uttered, “That’s where the ruins where we are supposed to investigate.”

“Exactly, my thinking is that it wants to fight anyone who wanted to save the hostages with an overwhelming advantage. And look at the terrain, the ruins are located on an uphill. It won’t be much of a problem for us, but it definitely does makes things more difficult.”

“This is not a regular lich if it knows how to take human hostage.” Gobbert placed a hand under his chin. “And geographical advantage too...”

“…Why does this lich have to be smarter than the ones we learned about? Ugghhh.” Randolph complained as he began to count the various weapons he had on him, making sure that his preparation was complete before going into battle with the undead.

“What is your call, Scywell?” Helen turned to the leader of the team.

Scywell who was quietly listening to them closed his eyes to think for a moment before he spoke, “We’ve agreed to keep John safe, so he should stay with the villagers. If anything serious happens while we are fighting, he will be safe from the lich. Then, of course Angeline would stay behind as well, since she would know how to deal with the villagers.”

Randolph gave a cheeky look at John and elbowed him lightly. “Try not to do something too crazy while we leave you two here, eh?”

Helen gave Randolph a dirty look before she looked for something in her pocket, “Angeline, do you have your holy water?”

“Yeah, a few vial’s worth.”

“You know what to do if something happens.”

Angeline nodded.

“Then it’s decided, we will subdue the lich, hopefully before reinforcement comes, that will make things easier. John, make sure to stick with Angeline, I’m counting on you.” When Helen concluded her part, she began to cast a few protective spells on Scywell, Gobbert, Randolph and herself, with that, their meeting was over.

After Scywell announced his departure to the villagers, gave a few words of confidence, affirmed them that he would return in no time, the four took off.

And that just leaves John and Angeline with the hundreds of fidgety, compulsive, fearful villagers.

Even with what’s said and done, along with this mission, the image of a lonely longing Angeline staring at him from the ball dance earlier still lingered in his mind whenever he tried to make eye contact with her.

“So it’s just the two of us…a-again.” Angeline looked at the ground, her face was heating up before she looked at John. “W-what did you think about the d-dance earlier? Did you find it n-normal?”

“I had fun. I got to see how you are like when you aren’t caught up in, you know…” he made small twirl with a finger, “All of this stuff, saving people and all.”

“You aren’t disappointed!?” she yelped in surprise. “I-I mean… I thought you would be mad because I left earlier…and I couldn’t find you anywhere after that.”

“Nah, I was attending to something else. I did enjoy it, the dance with you.”

“Hnngg!” upon hearing his words, she buried her face in her two hands.

“Angeline?”

“I’ll go check with the villagers and see what I can learn. Don’t worry, I-I am not being bashful!”

He tried to stop her but Angeline had already dashed to where the group of villagers were and began asking them questions with a face that constantly switched between work professionalism and embarrassment. When she stole a glance and saw that he was observing her, it only frustrated her and caused her to protest at him watching her.

“This girl…” John shook his head and chuckled at how distracted Angeline was when he kept looking in her direction on purpose.

After he had a good laugh for disturbing her, he decided to look around the townhall to understand the cause for the lich to not use this place as its base.

Even with what Helen had said and pointed out, somewhere inside of him still don’t get why an undead, like a powerful lich have left any survivors on purpose.

Most of the undead, if given the chance, would comply to their desires of harming and converting the living into one of them.

Maybe it is different when its real life, not everything is according to what I read… Scywell and Gobbert did say it is normal for the villagers to be this panicky.

John shrugged, he was not about to argue against the experienced hero or his party members. Afterall, Scywell had seen more battles than the times than the times John had taken his weapons training class, the hero’s opinion should at least count for something.

Sniff, sniff.

John nose twitched at the rustic smell of the townhall gotten into his nostrils. Aside from the stone pillars that held the tall roof above everyone, the place was mostly made out of dense oak wood for its structures. The smell of wood only got stronger the further he walked from the main hall where the villagers gathered, just by the sheer smell he was able to come to the conclusion that this townhall was not a frequented place.

“It’s a pity that this place hasn’t seen much use…” John lamented, his hands moved to a dusty sofa, confirming his assertions. “Maybe it’s unfinished???”

He then wandered into a wide corridor, cobwebs and dust had gathered by the very beams, mosses grew in wooden columns of the walls to the point where some of them had started to rot. Still, John see no signs of why the lich specifically avoided to set up a base here.

What the two soldiers at the entrance said to Scywell hadn’t made any sense to him either.

First, they claimed to know the streets of Kershent village were filled with undead but there was none when they arrived—if one disregarded the skeleton summoning traps.

Secondly, they knew where the villagers were but not the mage who was his friends’ informant, for people who claimed to be guarding the village, it was awfully complacent of them.

Then comes the villagers themselves, the grim expression that they had, their unrelenting frenzy when they swarmed Scywell out of nowhere, it uneased John so much that he almost drew his weapon earlier.

Back when everyone was so focused on the skeletons that were rapidly spawning on the outside, John was the first to quickly surveil the room to make sure everything was safe before they entered.

But…

He did not notice their presence despite being in the same room as the villagers that numbered in the hundreds, he had assumed that the villagers were hiding until the child’s voice rang in his ears, only then did he actually first notice the hundreds of people that his quick surveils failed to register in his head.

And their behavior too… Even if they are that scared, there is no reason to rush at Scywell.

He shook his head at the chaotic scene that he was replaying in his head, he was overthinking about the gravity of their situation again.

So, instead of being drowned out by his worries, John focused his attention to the lofty spaces that the corridor have to offer.

“They have so much space back here, but none of it have seen much use. This place looks like it can host the entire village,” John said to himself. “It’s kind of a shame that they don’t use it much.”

When he reached what seemed like to be the end of the corridor, he was greeted by a giant pile of rubble in a hall similar to the one at the front. The size was identical, only that this hall had one third of its celling destroyed, allowing glimmers of moonlight to shine their way through.

“Why gather broken materials here?” John said as he moved closer to inspect the massive pile before him. Wooden planks, chunks of stone, broken furniture, roof tiles, metal rods and broken glass, just to name a few, where what caught his attention before he came to the conclusion to why the townhall saw a lack a of upkeep and maintenance.

The townhall was in the process of being demolished, which was why it had a gloomy atmosphere to it.

Creak!

A sudden noise from the floorboards before him cause John to jump backwards, he drew his short sword and quickly turned to the direction where the creak came from.

“Who is there?” he addressed to the empty space before him in a low voice, but there was no reply, only the darkness. “I do not mean harm—"

Creak!

John’s ears and head twitched at the noise, like a watchful beast awaiting locating his next prey, his back straighten in anticipation for the being that caused the creaking. He had a solemn gaze as he tried looking around the rubble from where he stood.

An animal? Collapsed structure? He wondered as he cautiously walked towards the spot, the grip on the short sword he had tighten as he gotten closer.

Then he saw it, an unlikely character in this unlikely place.

“A child…?”

A boy half his size, a child who was no less than six years of age, with his childish frail arms trying to lift a large plank of wood off the ground with the non-existent strength he had.

Why isn’t he with the others…?

When the boy exhausted himself from trying to pull the plank of wood, he stopped kneeling on the ground and stood to his feet in search for a tool to wedge in the small gap between the plank and the floor surrounding it. First he tried a small stick before it snapped, then the boy took a rusted rod from the rubble pile, but it was brittle and snapped just like the stick.

“I don’t think that’s going to work…” John slipped, causing the boy to turn to him with widened eyes

“!!!”

The boy’s gaze was a fearful one, upon seeing John, the boy did not flinch nor did he moved, it seems that the mere sight of John had shocked the poor thing into paralysis.

John looked to his hand and discovered what made the boy so fearful, “Um… Oh right, my weapon!”, he quickly sheathed his short sword and spoke in a gentle voice while he showed his empty palms to the boy. “It’s fine, I don’t mean any harm, see?”

“…” the boy’s fearful eyes softened, then he gave John a soft nod.

John gritted his teeth awkwardly as the child continued to look at him, he could not help but to wonder why was a child all alone back here when everyone gathered at the well-lit hall.

“Are you lost?” John asked.

The boy simply shook in reply.

“What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be with the others…” in response to that question, the boy pointed at the wooden plank the he had been trying to lift earlier. He pointed it, once, twice, thrice…and did not stop until John moved beside the child and looked at the wooden plank of interest.

The plank, although scratched and damaged from erosion, still remained firmly seated in its designated place where a rectangular groove was etched around. John immediately recognized it for what it was.

“This is a trapdoor, right? Where does it lead to?”

Upon hearing the word ‘trapdoor’ the boy began to move his hands energetically and tried to communicate with John to what he was trying to do with it.

“Woah, woah, slow down, I can’t understand when you move your hands everywhere. Can you tell me, in words, what you are trying to say?”

The boy opened his mouth, moved his throat but no sound came from him, he attempted to speak to John a few more times by mouthing the words but it was to no avail, the boy’s voice did not come. It was only when the boy pointed at his mouth and crossed his wrists together did John understand.

“Oh…my bad. I should have noticed you can’t speak…” he apologized to the boy. “I’ll try to ask you questions, and see if I can guess correctly what you are trying to say. If I am wrong, just shake your head, if I am right, just nod your head.”

The boy gave an affirmative nod.

“You are trying to open this trap door, correct?”

A nod.

Seeing the child being receptive to his words, John let out a relaxed smile, “Does it have food or any items you want inside? Is it a dangerous place?”

The boy scrunched his brows and tilted his head, thought for a moment before he shook his head disapprovingly.

“If it doesn’t have anything you want, then you must want to hide inside it?”

The boy shook his head again but stopped for a second and made a gesture where he pinched a small space between his thumb and his index finger.

“I don’t quite get that… Does that mean a small part of what I said is true?”

A nod.

“Okay. I’ll repeat the sentence, stop me when the part you think its true comes out. If it doesn’t have anything you want, then you must want to hide inside…” John stopped when the boy placed a hand in the air while nodding furiously to him. “You want to hide there?”

The boy squinted but then his eyes light up, he combined two of his arms, placed them side by side before making a forward motion with them, indicating a straight line.

“Hide inside, hide inside, inside…. Oh, you meant you want to go in because it brings you somewhere?”

The boy clenched both his fists at that and nodded his head at John’s correct assumptions. The boy then excitedly pointed to the night sky that was beyond the broken roofs, after pointing at it, he made an arching motion multiple times for John to understand what he was trying to communicate.

“The roof? No? Do you mean what is beyond the rood? So the sky… No wait, you mean outside? The trap door brings you outside, is that it?”

The boy began to nod so hard that his head might fall off, his large round eyes sparkled with joy as John confirmed once more that he guessed correctly.

John squatted to meet the child on eye level, gave a soft smile as he placed a hand on the boy’s head, “I don’t understand why you want to go outside. Right now, there’s a lot of monsters outside and my hero friend is out there making sure it would be safe before everyone one of you villagers in this townhall can be escorted to safety. So, until he defeats the lich, the monster who summoned the hoard of undead, let’s get wait by the front hall…?”

John stopped talking when the boy had a fearful look in his eyes, the boy’s trembling hand grabbed at his clothes while shaking his head, his other hand pointed at the trapdoor beneath them over and over, showing John what he wanted him to do.

“What’s the matter?” John asked the boy.

The boy looked deeply into John’s eyes and shook his head firmly, he crossed his fragile arms in front of his small figure, then pointed to where John came from, shaking his head while he repeated the crossing motion, implying that under no circumstances the boy would follow him back.

John’s heart sank at the sight of the terrified child, he can’t help but to feel bad for causing such a panic to this innocent boy.

“It’s fine, don’t worry, no one will hurt you, my friend Angeline is a nice person. I can ask her to share her emergency rations with you.”

John attempted to comfort him, but instead, it only made the boy tremble even harder. The boy released his little hand from John and now moved to the trapdoor and kept pointing at it with a desperation so great in his eyes that no normal child was capable of.

Once the boy was done pointing at the trapdoor, he returned to crossing his arms at the with all the strength he had and pointed at the hallway leading to the front.

He thinks it is dangerous there?

John, having understood that the boy wanted him to stay away from the front hall, took a deep breath to clear his mind. He placed his palms together as he he spoke to the boy again, this time, with a sharp gaze in his eyes.

“Okay… Let’s try this again.”

He had a hunch of what the boy wanted to tell him from how the boy was reacting when he spoke about going back to where Angeline and the rest of the villagers were. It was a possibility he considered after witnessing those villager’s unusual behavior, but now with the child before him with terrified eyes, he was certain, all that was left was for him to confirm it.

“You wanted me to open this trapdoor because it leads to the outside, yes?”

A nod.

“I assume you have a reason to go out despite knowing it isn’t exactly safe. And even more so not wanting me to go back,” John spoke in a neutral tone as he watched the boy nodded once more. “Is it because what’s in the front hall? The villagers, in particular.”

Another nod.

John’s face became grim and he swallowed his spit before he asked the next question.

“Are the villagers human? Are they normal people?”

This time, the boy shook his head with great resolution.

“I understand…” his voice became grim.

So they are undead in disguise… I thought they were on the verge of transforming into undead, turns out I was wrong...

Decided that he knew enough about the situation, John quickly went and dug his fingers by the sides of the trapdoor lifted the plank of wood with his strength. The boy quickly followed John and helped him with the little strength he had, it took him a minute, but eventually the rusty hinges around the trapdoor budged.

The trapdoor gave a light bang as it collided against the floor, revealing a crawlspace that was large enough for a averaged size adult to crawl through, had Gobbert been here, his friend would not be able to fit through this passage, it was only a matter of luck that John could fit in the limited space.

“They are undead, aren’t they?” John asked as he felt a draft coming from the crawlspace. “I’ve read somewhere that well summoned zombies can sometimes appear human, but a few hundred of them? Are you sure none of the people in front are alive?”

The boy cast a regretful gaze on to the ground before he shook his head hopelessly.

“And you know this because…?”

The boy made gestures pointing to his own eyes and a straight line moving from them, indicating that he witnessed the ‘villagers’ came to be.

“I see… You saw them spawning. That means Angeline… I need to get her out…” John placed a hand under his chin. “Just one last thing, to make things sure, when we were talking earlier, you haven’t heard any loud noises or screams from the front right.”

The boy had a confused look to why John was asking the question but shook his hands, indicating he heard nothing of the sort.

John gave a sigh of relief as the worse had not happened, “Thanks, that means Angeline is still safe, at least far the time being… Okay…think John, think…we need to get her away from the villagers without alerting them…”

The boy started to enter the crawlspace but stopped when he saw John muttering to himself and wasn’t following suit. The boy made an inviting gesture at John to urge him to follow but John shook his head softly.

“I can’t, not yet, not when Angeline is still in there. I need to go back, I have to, she’s my responsibility.” He chuckled at what he just said, thinking that the Angeline might misinterpret what he meant. “Don’t close the trap door when you leave, would you?”

With a forced smile, John left the boy alone to the trapdoor as he ran back to Angeline before anything bad happened to her.