It was not long until Elena and Carlos found Bill’s words to be true. While it was not the same for every campfire, there were several places she was sure should have soldiers, but certainly no longer did. The question was, what had happened to the men? It puzzled the both of them for a bit, until finally Carlos kneeled down and shouted towards Elena with urgency in his voice.

“Oi, found something here!” The steel in his gauntlets rustled against the grass as he picked some to bring closer to the light of the fire. “Smells odd. Dark color too, all over the grass. Damn, this isn't good."

Elena leaned over his shoulder, wrinkling her nose at the familiar iron smell. “Blood,” She agreed, snagging a few pieces from Carlos’s handful of grass to study for herself. “Seems quite fresh, too. Could be a wound from the battle, but its best we stay cautious. Keep an eye out for more.”

Carlos nodded in agreement and stood up, brushing the grass from his hands as he followed her to the next campfire. This one, mercifully, had a few soldiers milling around it, some of which tossed and turned in a fitful state of sleep, other simply staring wordlessly into the dancing flames. Not a single one reacted to the two heroes striding into the firelight, until Elena firmly grasped the shoulders of the closest man with an impatient shake of her head.

“Anything to report?” She questioned him as the soldier stared at Elena with drowsiness in his eyes.

“N- no, nothing here, Lady Elena. Some of the lads have been… a bit off since the battle, but we were just going to get some shuteye soon, try and sleep it off. Usually works with the battle jitters.”

“I see. A bit off…” Elena muttered, and then her fist clenched in realization. “One more question. Have any of them refused to speak? Or spoken strangely?”

The man seemed rather perplexed at her question, but eventually he answered. “Not… that I can think of. Some of the men are a bit quiet, but that ain’t to say they haven’t spoken a single word. I think they’re just a bit freaked out, from seein’ all that stuff in the mud.” He gave those words some additional thought, and shuddered in horror. “My, my buddy Jeffril, I swear he was the liveliest sonova’ bitch you’d ever meet. One minute he was joking and hollering next to me, and the next…” His voice came out quicker and quicker as the story continued. “The next… he was sinking into the mud. Just starin’ at me, no jokes, no smiles. He just stared.”

Elena blinked and tried to push her own uneasy feelings deep within her stomach as she firmly clasped the man’s shoulder. “Aye. I understand. How about you get some sleep. Once the morning comes, we’ll have another chance to strike back at those bastards.”

The soldier nodded at her words, answering her with grief in his eyes. “Yes, Lady Elena. We’ll get them tomorrow.”

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

By the time Elena and Carlos left the group of soldiers, their questions regarding the situation had multiplied nearly tenfold.

“Well, if this nightmare trend continues…” Elena muttered to Carlos, “this might be something new altogether. For a moment I thought it might have been the rats, but I can’t see any signs of them.”

Carlos nodded in understanding, remembering her summary of the Drassington incident. “So that’s why you asked about any soldiers refusing to speak, to see if any of them were stuffed with rats.”

“It’s not a surefire method, but it was the best I could think of.” Elena explained. “The ones I encountered in the city did speak a few times, but anyone could tell that they sounded extraordinarily strange. Most of the time, when I encountered them and from what I heard from others who saw them, they chose to remain silent. Frankly, I don’t know whether to be happy about this or not. On one hand, every time I think about those poor men in the city guard, I get nauseous, but on the other hand, if it happened again, at least we would know what to expect.”

“Maybe we’re just making a mountain out of a molehill,” Carlos suggested. “What if all those missing soldiers really did go to take a leak at onc-“

His voice cut off as a strangled coughing and retching noises came from the far side of the campsite, followed by Jim’s voice bellowing for Elena. The two heroes dashed back to the main campfire, fear of the unknown gripping their heart.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Ellie’s eyes widened as she beheld the third abandoned campfire that she had walked past. It was strange. The first one she passed by, she had thought nothing of. The second one piqued her curiosity, but Ellie ultimately concluded that they must have all needed to go find a tree or something.

The third one, though?

It couldn’t be a coincidence, and Ellie’s weird-things-are-afoot-o-meter was being set off.

Still, despite her curiosity, Ellie forged ahead and eventually found her way back to Galler’s side, where the gnome was resting with his back to a large rock while the soldiers he had been talking with slumbered.

“Evenin’, Poncho.” He greeted her with his hand slightly raised, his eyebrows quirking up as he picked up on her unsaid questions.

“Odd stuff happening, is there?” He murmured, stroking his chin in thought as Ellie sat beside him. “Abandoned campfires, strange stains on the ground… could be nothing, but…”

Galler nodded to himself, and then hoisted himself to his feet with a slight grunt of exertion. “I don’t like it. If something strange really is afoot, I’d prefer that we would be safe in Mavier’s camp, not in this one. Plus we’d be prime suspects for tomfoolery, seeing as we just showed up.”

Ellie nodded in agreement, thankful that her big brother was a smart fella.

And thus, the two short newcomers to the hero’s camp disappeared into the inky darkness of the forest.