Even after scrambled eggs and bacon plate, Hewin still felt hollow. Ash insisted Hewin's stomach worked properly and Hewin tried to let these feelings go away. But he knew, with every crouch and swallow, that there was a void imprisoned in his guts trying to rip him apart.

Hewin stood in front of the Fat Hare inn and looked around. Varnutum was in a very different shape than when he had left to get himself almost destroyed by Ver Shaet. It had a palisade, crude but functional watchtowers with confident-looking guards trained by Falyar. You're so dumb, Hew. You rushed to Dan Kat to save them and in the end, you were the one who needed saving, Hewin shook his head and patted his shadow horse on the forehead.

Then a scream from behind punched his sensitive Lynxarian ears. He turned to see a little boy with a terrible scar across his face pointing at him with one hand and clinging to his mother with the other one.

"What happened to you, little one?" Hewin wanted to come closer but the boy began to scream even louder and his mother took him in her arms. Hewin noticed tears on her face as she began to back away from Hewin, her muscles tense. Hewin did not understand and instinctively kept walking toward them.

"Stay where you are!" Falyar bellowed at Hewin.

"But...what is...I don't?" Hewin mumbled as Falyar approached him.

"You, you did this, Hew!" Falyar explained sternly.

"But how is that possible, when? I wouldn't harm a kid, Falyar!" Hewin got back his resolve.

"But you did, boy. You tried to kill him while you were possessed by the black smoke," Falyar lowered his voice.

Hewin fell to his knees: "I am so sorry, Falyar. I failed you all. I don't remember anything after I fell from the tower. Only dark dreams haunted me. It was Ver Shaet who did this, he infected me with darkness," Hewin sobbed.

Falyar shook his head: "I know, Hew. But in the boy's eyes, you are the demon. There is no way around it, you must understand."

Hewin still sobbed: "But, perhaps if I explain it to him. Perhaps he can forgive me."

"No," Falyar raised his voice again. "You will not go anywhere near that kid. Let him be. He will never forgive you. Even so, you can save him. If you help us fix somehow this catastrophe that is upon us, then there is still hope for him."

Hewin wiped his tears and slowly nodded. Falyar offered him his arm and help Hewin to stand up. Then he patted him strongly on the back: "Come, Hew, let's help the guys with digging the ditch, that will help you to regain your strength back!"

After two hours of shoveling and digging, Hewin heard a familiar voice: "Who wants to rest a bit, we can switch with you. And we brought snacks!"

Hewin turned his head immediately towards Shenian. She carried a basket of vegetables and was accompanied, to Hewin's surprise, by a shy-looking Lynxarian woman. Shenian gesticulated something complicated at the woman and she gesticulated with a hint of a smile back.

"Shen! You're healed!" Hewin shouted happily. A moment after, a carrot landed in Hewin's face.

"You fool!" Shenian cried at him and then she tackled him. "You left us! How has that worked for you, ha? If you'll leave us again, I swear I will find you and strangle you with my own paws!" she scolded him while punching him in the shoulder. Finally, she hugged him strongly.

"You are your father's daughter, you know that Shen?" Hewin exhaled and began to clear his fur from mud.

"Soldiers, soldiers on the road!" Hernan announced from the eastern watchtower.

***

The survivors of Varnutum gathered around the sorry group of soldiers. There were two dozen of them, breathing deeply and pale in their faces. Several of them were bandaged, one was limping and another missed a few fingers on his hand. They must have been through hell, Hewin swallowed dryly.

Ralka brought them a jug of water and they drank in big gulps.

"You can rest now, this is a safe place, for now at least," Falyar spoke.

An older soldier with a square jaw and grey beard looked at the villagers: "Thank you, kind people, for sheltering us. We are what's left of the Aquelin garrison, others are either dead or worse, became undead," Then he searched among the crowd: "Who is the mayor of Varnutum now?" Nobody replied but all the survivors instinctively looked at Falyar.

Another soldier, the one with three fingers chopped off, snorted out loud: "You must be kidding me, a cat is running this place? The world must be really ending."

Falyar breathed in but the bearded soldier gave his comrade a nasty slap across the face: "Shut your damn mouth, Elvin! This is the only place with living people in it for miles and miles, so they must be doing SOMETHING right! We left our post, we failed to defend the garrison. Who are we to judge, hm?" He gave Elvin a terrible stare.

Elvin rubbed his red face: "I am sorry, sir."

"I am sorry for my men, they are exhausted and battered from our run from one infested place to another. We saw there was no cloud above Varnutum, so we came here. My name is Gravlan," the bearded soldier extended his hand to shake Falyar's.

Falyar nodded and Gravlan sighed: "I am afraid I bring bad news. We traveled through the day but also at night, we had to fight the undead on several occasions. But we were also able to see the movement of those damned black clouds. Our cartographer calculated their individual paths," he swallowed and looked worried at Falyar: "Three of those clouds are headed directly here, and they will reach Varnutum this night."