Hi everyone, sorry about the hiatus. Everything I had written after this chapter was deleted and on top of that, I've been suffering from a severe case of writer's block. I think my hiatus will probably continue, but hopefully I can get this fanfic back up and running in a month or so! Thanks for reading!
"Oh, god," Ani whispered when she saw the guard's body. Flies flocked to the exposed stump of his neck and gathered, feeding. She reached for Verdi's hand and gripped it tightly.
Amandine nodded grimly and sat on her haunches next to the body. "Flecks of salt along the bruises," she said as she gestured to the obvious chain-link-shaped bruises. Even Rhiannon shuddered.
"It's not right," the rebel muttered. "He may have been an Endovier asshole, but we should bury him. It would attract unwanted attention anyway." Amandine nodded and stood, wiping her hands on her shirts even though she hadn't touched anything.
"Wait," Verdi said, pointing to the guard. "There's something in his hand." Rhiannon stepped forward. Sure enough, the guard's cold hands were clutching a folded piece of paper. Shivering, she bent to prize his fingers apart and quickly plucked up the paper.
"It's from Lord Andreas…" she trailed off as her eyes scanned the paper. She looked up at Amandine. "He writes, 'I know all about Izak and his dirty rebel cause. So, as penance, Endovier will burn to the ground. To Hell with all of you." Her knuckles turned white.
"How would he know a rebel would find this?" Amandine whispered. She snatched the paper out of Rhiannon's hands and read it. "And why would he give it to a guard?"
Silence. The forest had gone completely, utterly silent. Even the flies were gone.
"What's happening?" Verdi whispered, letting Ani hold his hand even more tightly. The silence was suddenly loud with the sound of apprehension. Every sound they made seemed magnified.
And then they saw it. The guard's head. It had been stashed away, tucked beneath the roots of the adjacent tree to which his body rested. It faced them with blood-red eyes and a gaping mouth.
The eyes blinked.
"What -!" Ani cried out as she backed away from the head. Amandine and Rhiannon slowly drew their daggers and watched the head.
With a nod, Rhiannon remarked, "That's black magic."
"Rhiannon, I think they should go," Amandine hissed, jerking her head at Ani and Verdi. Rhiannon ignored her, instead walking calmly up the head.
"I wonder what –" Rhiannon began to muse, but then the head cleared its throat.
Ani gasped, recoiling at the sight of air being sucked into the severed throat. That wasn't natural – who would put black magic on a dead person? That seemed wrong beyond belief. And black magic on a brutally killed one…
"Ugh," moaned the head, rolling its eyes around wildly. It had a surprisingly steady voice, especially considering it was nothing more than a head and a few inches of throat. "Why did I have to be decapitated?" The head suddenly seemed to notice them.
Ani gasped as it fixed its eyes on her. "You!" it cried, nose twitching as blood began to flow out of it. "Was it you who killed me?"
Rhiannon laughed. "We're lucky this magic is bad. You, my friend," she said, addressing the head, "are very funny." She flipped her dagger in her hand. "But black magic is black magic!" She stepped forward, curling her fingers into the head's hair. The hair came out in chunks along with bits of flesh. Rhiannon dropped the head in disgust, shaking the hair off her hand.
"Rude," muttered the head. "You want to kill me – again! – when I have for much information for you."
This time it was Amandine who laughed. "You can't possibly remember who did this to you," she said, still grinning. "You were reincarnated after you died, remember?"
The head glared at her and licked its decaying lips with an air of surliness. "You have no idea what I could tell you, little rebel."
Rhiannon and Amandine shared a surprised glance. "Usually," Rhiannon explained, turning to Ani and Verdi, who were still starstruck in the background, "when black magic is used to reincarnate people, they can't remember anything before their reincarnation. So really," she said, looking at the head curiously, "I'm surprised that this head even remembers we're rebels."
"I'm not as dumb as you think," the head grouched.
"What can you tell us?" Ani asked, nervous at addressing the head.
It blinked slowly. "Well," it began, "I can tell you who killed me, where they went, and who reincarnated me. And that's just the beginning! I could also tell you about my past, before I became a head; I was once a man, you see, with a body and everything! I worked –"
"Alright, we get it," Rhiannon said irritably. "Now tell us who killed you!"
The head rolled its eyes again. "Fine," it muttered. "A young woman, younger than all of you, who was very skinny with brown hair. I don't remember her eyes but – say, she looked just like you!" The head twitched its nose in Ani's direction.
"Delphine!" she whispered to Verdi. He touched her shoulder gently, allowing her to slump against him. So it was true. Her sister had murdered this man.
"She choked me with a gritty chain. Come to think of it, the chain wasn't metal at all. It was white like sugar… no, like salt." The head paused. "Oh yes! After I was killed – my head was still attached at this point – the woman ran off the way we came with the chain." It jerked its chin to the left, through the bushes where Amandine had originally found the trail.