บท 5: In the Spell of the Night
A loud crack woke me up. Drums and singing filled my ears, as if a hundred people were celebrating. But how could that be? I was alone. Had a group of people wandered here during the night? Perhaps it was a band of bandits or a caravan passing through to the next village?
I rose from my makeshift bed. The room of the hut was foggy, and my vision was limited. With caution, I approached the door and opened it slowly.
What unfolded before my eyes took my breath away. Instead of the forest, I found myself on a bustling marketplace. Everyone was celebrating, radiating happiness. In the distance, I recognized my former friends, entering a tavern. I decided to follow them.
But before I could take a step, someone placed a hand on my shoulder and held me back.
"By the gods, Cedric, we searched for you everywhere. Have you been with the redhead again?" spoke the familiar voice.
I remained silent. The desire to confront him and ask why he had betrayed me couldn't be realized. My body no longer obeyed me, and I could only watch helplessly as I replied, "Which redhead, Arthur? You know I prefer brunettes."
Arthur laughed. "True, like in Mineton, when you disappeared with three and we only found you two days later."
Laughing together, we entered the tavern and greeted the others. Despite my resistance, I realized that I was only a spectator in this scene. Was it again a premonition, or were my dreams so real?
After a few mugs, the scene was familiar again, but this time, something was different. The maid was again on my lap, and her tear-filled eyes revealed a deeper despair. Confused, I wondered why she was suddenly crying. When I managed to look around, I froze at the sight before me.
Everyone around me was weeping, their faces distorted with sorrow. They stared at me and repeated a word that sounded like a sad refrain: "Why?" The plaintive wailing penetrated my consciousness, becoming more desperate until it was hardly understandable. The faces of the people blurred into a mass of burning skin in pain, and then everything went dark.
Drenched in sweat, I opened my eyes, gasping for air as if I were suffocating. I lay still for a moment before mustering the strength to get up. Before me lay my unusual friend, the skeleton.
With my oath in mind, I set out to find a suitable spot to bury it. Initially, I found none, but after more thorough searching, I discovered an idyllic location. Surrounded by trees, the ground seemed soft enough to make digging the grave easier.
Digging proved more challenging than expected. I kept encountering roots, and my hands were soon too exhausted to dig deeper. The soil covered me completely, and I even tore my fingernails on some fingers. Yet, the efforts paid off when the hole was finally deep and wide enough to lay the skeleton to rest.
As I took it out and gently placed it in the grave, I found it fitting to say a few words. No one should leave unnoticed. After brief contemplation, I spoke:
"Under the God of the Sky, I swear to guide the lost soul of Silverthorn to its rest. With the Spear of Justice and the Torch of Memory, I will preserve its stories. May its light shine in the darkness of forgetfulness."
With these words, I shoveled the earth that I had spread around the hole back into the pit. The skeleton gradually became less visible, and after a while, everything was covered, with a slight mound as a sign.
Feeling hungry after all the hard work, I decided to eat. I had found a lake when searching for a suitable place. I walked towards it now, carrying the remains of the rabbit and my spear. I attached the rabbit to the tip of the spear and waited in the water until the fish swam towards me. After a short time, I had three impaled fish lying at the edge of the lake. I found this tactic quite effective, so I decided to use it more often.
Strengthened by my meal, I explored the collapsed building. I was delighted because luck was on my side – it turned out to be a storage for tools and resources. Exactly the things I needed most at the moment.
In the debris, I found an axe, two saws, and several logs. Additionally, I came across a shovel made of poor-quality iron, which probably would have been more useful to me earlier.
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