Ch 2 A Homecoming
But fate had not
This plan for him
There was no one there
To welcome him.....
Rannel stretched in his saddle, weary to the bone, he had really pushed it the last few days to get home to his family. He turned and looked back to see how grey was doing. The poor beast was having trouble keeping up with the others. He was truly glad to have found Shadow, his new mare.
She was smooth gaited and spirited enough to be a joy to ride. He was starting to wonder why she was a cull, their loss he thought to himself.
He looked ahead at the turnoff for his land, frowning, he wondered what was wrong. One of the men should have been posted waiting to send word of his return.
He only grew more uneasy, the farther he went up the road, there were always a few cattle by the fence near the road, with a stream so close by, the grass was always lush and thick even in the heat of late summer.
Only because he was looking so closely did he see a series of odd lumps in the pasture up the road. He urged the horses closer, but they started to become uneasy. Stopping he tied them to the fence and climbed over, running up to the nearest, the stench suddenly hit him.
It was the carcass of one of his cattle, it had been sitting out in the open long enough, that he wasn't able to tell what had killed it. Holding the edge of his shirt over his mouth he walked on to the next two. These had been butchered, badly butchered, whoever had done it was extremely wasteful, leaving a lot of the meat behind.
Rannel didn't know what to think, if someone killed some of his cattle, his men would have at least cleared them from the fields. At least now he knew why none of the cattle were anywhere near the road.
He quickly ran back to the horses leading them past that point on the road, once past they calmed down and he remounted, making better time. By this time he had forgotten his weariness and was starting to get cold chills down his spine, even so, he didn't rush in.
Before he came within sight of his house, he opened one of the side gates and led his horses to a stand of trees where he tied them loosely, if he didn't come back they would eventually get loose. Then he remounted Shadow and rode back to the road, refastening the gate behind him.
Now he knew something was wrong, not that he didn't before he thought to himself,
No smoke rose from the chimney and the dogs should have come barking at once, after smelling a strange horse. Now there was only silence, he saw the first of the dogs, laying across the path between the barn and the stables. He didn't even hear the sounds of his horses.
Dismounting quickly, he tied Shadow to the fence surrounding the kitchen garden and slowly went inside, all his senses on alert. When he smelled the stench of death in here as well, he dropped his caution, running through the house he called desperately for Marren and Graella, but there was no answer. Finally in the pantry he found them, Marren's small hand reaching out from underneath Graella's body.
He fell to his knee's and stared blankly, for a moment feeling nothing until the despair and anguish welled up and he screamed pounding the wood of the door beside him.
When he came to himself again, he pushed back his pain, his growing anger, and the weariness that had returned with a vengeance. Vengeance, now that's a word, he thought to himself.
Forcing himself not to see who he was touching, he gently lifted his wifes body and rolled her over, she looked to have been dead for a several days but, because they hadn't been outside, he was able to tell that they had been stabbed with a large knife or a sword. He touched her face with a shaking hand then pulled himself up and walked out through the back door to his tool shed.
Whoever had done this wasn't interested in taking any of his tools, though it looked like they had been looking for something. He pulled a shovel from the pile of tools and walked past the garden to the large tree near the stables. Pulling off his tunic and undershirt, he started to dig, tears still running down his face.
It was early evening before he was done, one grave, they would be together. Rannel staggered back to the house. Sheets he remembered dully. He found some clean sheets in the linen closet and brought them back to his wife and child, wrapping them together securely and tying the whole.
He couldn't have borne seeing the dirt covering their faces. Suddenly his strength deserted him, he would have to finish tomorrow. He went to the well in the back yard with a bar of soap and washed the stink off himself, he wouldn't have cared, but he knew Shadow wasn't used to the scent of death and he had to handle her and the others.
It was when he was leading grey into the stables that he found the first of his missing men, Jadreth he thought dully, he backed up and came around from the other side, leading grey into the nearest stall, he brushed him down and gave him a ration of grain and water., He did the same with the other three before walking back to Jadreth.
The man's arms were gashed as, if he had been cut when his arms were held in front of him. I can't deal with this tonight, he thought to himself. Pulling himself together he grabbed the man's feet and pulled him back out the stable door. At least, I let most of the seasonal worker's go for the winter he thought. There were only four more men to find, four more graves to dig.
There was no way that he would be staying in the house tonight, not with his family waiting in the pantry. He grabbed his packs and opened one of the stalls, near the horses. Piling the hay in one corner, he pulled out a blanket and rolled up, exhaustion taking it's toll, he was asleep within minutes.
The next morning he awoke, for one sweet moment he didn't know where he was, then the memory of the last day came back to him. Anger kept him warm in the chill morning air. They would pay, he thought to himself. He checked the horses, then forced himself to eat some of the journey bread he pulled from his packs. If he got sick he would never find them.
He decided to see if he could find the other four men, it took most of the morning but he found them, the last one in the house a bloodied butcher knife in one hand. He touched the man's shoulder gently and closed his eyes. Then he looked at the knife, it was bloodied halfway to the handle, a surge of intense satisfaction filled him. Nevil got one of the bastards.
He carefully dug the graves laying his wife and child in last, the five men surrounding them in their last sleep. Taking some boards from the shed, he marked each grave, his brothers would eventually carve stone markers for them.
Afterwards he cleaned up and washed himself off at the well again. Then he made his way to the little stone shed at the back of the barn.