Sabyne entered the house quietly, head held politely down but eyes going wild.Yes, she'd never seen seen a Soma house before, but now she found herself actually inside one. The experience was somehow exciting for her, childishly so perhaps but thrilling all the same. Just seeing how a different culture perceived and presented something as simple as a home intrigued her. Maybe that reflected the mundanity of her own life, to find something this simple this interesting, but she'd ponder that thought more another day.
The Soma's house seemed more cared for than her own homestead, more looked after she thought. The baker, tinkerer and candlestick maker introduced himself, and Sabyne presented her name in turn.
"I'm Sab, Sabyne. From the Bader's. We look after the trees and such,"
Despite her interest in how the other half lived so to speak, the fact that this had now turned into a little social gathering of sorts couldn't help but put the Bader girl on edge slightly. She didn't really know these people very well, save for the odd run in here and there throughout the village goings on. They all seemed to be getting along rather splendidly though. The man she was assuming was a smithy of sorts apparently already knew Rusva from the way he addressed her, and the Baker's demeanour was already instinctively friendly by habit. So that just left her, and her rash. Wonderful.
Her feet took her elsewhere as if by instinct. Sabyne wandered over to a quiet looking corner next to a window. There she waited while Rusva busied herself with various apparent medicines. Hopefully this whole process wouldn't sting too much, she ended up being a bit of a baby with things that stung. Oh gosh. Was it hot in here? Her hands felt clammy. Leaning over, Sabyne pushed open the window shutters ever so slightly.
Almost as soon as those window shutters were opened something rather extraordinary happened.
For the moon went out, and darkness sputtered across and throughout Bebouwen. The ground turned dark, grew cold. A wind whined into the cabin the group lay within, choking out the fire and rattling the bones that sat within their bodies. It set hair on edge and froze the very air around them. It was as if the night itself had entered the room, seizing all joy and life the remained. The feeling was immense, and Sabyne could scarcely draw breath. She slouched down and fell to the floor, legs splayed before her. Her chest began to ache.
Eyes darted upwards, and from her hidden corner, she saw something. Someone outside, something, a figure. It was cast in shadow, as if a walking silhouette. They stood about two heads taller than Pas, and he was bloody tall to begin with, so whatever in the gods name this creature was, it was big. Something caught her eye by its side. Was that... a dog? No. In appearance, maybe? But certainly not in spirit. There was quite a few of them, all trailing by what must have been their masters side. What looked like black dust or sand was constantly seeping from the dog things bodies, particles being constantly blown away in a unseen-unfelt breeze. The beings were so black in shadow no distinction could be made in their features, just their general shape. One thing shone clearly in the dark-light of the night though.
It was almost like cloth, or at least some sort of fabric, that covered the Masters head. A veil of dark, hiding its face. The fabric moved as if in water, floating upon the air, dancing around the head of its bearer. The master and its pet walked past Rusvas cabin slowly, giving it no attention whatsoever. Sabyne guessed the being were either not aware of the groups presence, or simply didn't care about them if it was aware. The Master and its hounds moved as the veil did, float-ily and with what looked like no real physical connection. Their pace was hideously slow, and time pushed pins into her fingertips as it dragged itself on.
It moved slowly, and though it was hard to tell with both the movement of the veil and the eerie roaming of the Master, Sabyne could have sworn it looked like they were, cautious, perhaps. Or maybe more unsure. As if they were looking for something. They advanced forwards a ways, stopped, and seemingly just absorbed the place around them, taking in all aspects of the nearly empty quarter of the village. The hounds followed their master. Standing and sitting respectively each time they moved.
Then, they saw it. Whatever it was they must have been looking for. The Veil froze completely in the air, wafting tendrils stiffened in the cold air. Hound stood tall, eyes open and alert. Though difficult and tricky to determine, Sab forced her gaze to follow that of the creatures. After a moment or so of guesswork, she assumed they were intent upon the old Black Alder tree that sat rotted and broken between a crossroad. Sab and her sister had been asked to look at the tree once before, she knew it must have been very very old, but now maybe more so than she could have ever possibly imagined.
The Master moved once more. This time its hounds paced ahead, as if eager. They curled themselves up amidst the knotted bark of the roots, nestled themselves amidst the dying branches. Content they were in the decay, at peace with it. The Master remained standing, or... floating, whatever. Slowly, it reached out its hand. It was horrifically human like. As if emerging from beneath a cloak, a pale thin hand pushed outwards and towards the splintered trunk of the tree.As it approached, the fingers upon the hand seemed to extend. They grew, cracked and morphed into the very being of the tree itself. Seeping their demeanour too into rotted wood, merging with the corpse of the Alder. Knuckles clenched, and the hand wrapped itself gently around something.
Steadily, the hand began to retract. It retook its former shape as it did, and Sabyne could see through the cracks in his fingers what lay in the masters grasp. It was a very small skull, belonging to what couldn't have been anything more than a sparrow or robin or something. A hound whined, and to Sabyne uttermost horror, the Master actually hushed his pets. Soothed them a unheard sweet nothing. Sabyne shivered. She felt sick. Another hand revealed itself, and in its grasp it held the missing parts to the other. The Master tipped the small skull into the pile of bones that lay within the palm. She could only just hear the dull little thuds and patters the bones made.
And then, it spoke. The Master's language was indecipherable, yet she knew every word of what was spoken.
"Wake up Tait. I must make use of you,"
And before her very own eyes, the Skeleton came to life. There was no flesh or feather upon its body, but the bird was pulled into living by the Master. The Skeleton now a re-animated fowl atop him palm. It moved somewhat like a real bird, twittering and fittering here and there, but Sab could see the knowing in its gestures. Twas no normal creature. In fact she could have sworn it was trying not to yawn when it spoke.
"How long, has the slumber been? Is this the beginning?"
Its voice was small, as you might expect, and it trilled and sang out with every other note of speech. A Hound approached the Masters side.
"Later Tait. Go hence, find the Lake and apprise the sleepers,"
The little Skeleton Sparrow took a few deep breaths. Bones creaked a little as they stretched out their featherless wings, but after a moment of contemplation, they took flight. The bird dodged and danced through the Night air, up up and away it went. Until at last, the small flicker disappeared into the horizon, on its way to the gods know where. That left the Master once again alone with its Hounds. One of those pale unearthly hands silently caressed the head of a dog, stroking away the strange malting black matter as it did so.
"This place is ended friends. We persist,"
Then the earth shook, and that was all that it took for the dream to break. The Master and its Hounds disappeared within the blink of a eye. The moon returned to the night sky and Bebouwen re-awoke to its shattered dying state.
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