The houses in the hamlet of Torgrin's Dell began to warm as the morning sun crested the hill that flanked the Eastern side of the hamlet. The farmers who made the majority of the population had already been awake and outside for some hours, in order to get as much work done in the fields before the sun reached its noonday zenith and made labor too hot to consider. The straw hats that had earlier served to warm their heads from the pre-dawn chill were now fending off the heating rays of the sun as it slowly made its way up towards its rightful throne at the top of the sky.
They swung their scythes and threshed the grain, and all fell into the routine that had been practiced for years beyond memory in Torgrin's Dell. But today would be different.
The farmers looked up as they heard the rumbling sound. Their first thought was that of thunder, but the sky showed no storm signs. They did not have long to ponder what the source of the sound was, for it soon made itself horrifyingly clear.
A veritable army of wild animals, their eyes white and their mouths frothing in sheer panic stampeded down from the hilltop and made their way blindly towards the fields. The farmers tried to run, but few had the speed or even the youth to outpace the animal horde that fled the encroaching witherlands.
Most were injured, some were killed, not a one was left unaffected. The animals stormed through the hamlet, crashing into buildings and entangling themselves into fences in their rush to get away from the unnatural wastelands that were still a few miles off. Few of the townsfolk were outside at the time, but some of the elders had come out to smoke their pipes and watch the sun come up, and their legs were far too old and brittle to fully escape the horde as it passed through.
After the creatures had passed and left behind only the dead or wounded who had broken their own necks or legs in the stampede, Torgrin's Dell looked as though it had been through a war. The townsfolk, now more awake than they ever would have expected to be at this hour, came out of their homes to survey the damage and see which of their own had been hurt in the chaos.
They bemoaned the tattered state of their village, but none could have imagined what would happen to Torgrin's Dell at the end of the following week, when the witherlands came.
Hrrmph. This kind of loose storytelling isn't really my style. Best I could come up with.
Author
Topic: Zustashigėr (Read 18895 times)