King of Dust

Chapter 06

The wagon rolled to a stop and Urien knocked on the wooden part of the wagon with his fist twice. "All right, you goblins. We're here."

Yra grabbed a parasol he kept by the door and opened it before stepping out of the wagon. The tall, piney trees of the Starkovian woods blocked most sunlight, but a sunburn for someone like me, or Yra for that matter, was one of the worst things imaginable. His parasol blocked the rest of the light and he slipped a pair of dark shades over his eyes.

"What a hellhole," I heard him mutter.

I clasped my fur cloak around myself, not the ugly, enchanted one, and pulled the hood up. It wasn't enough to shield my face entirely, but hopefully it would protect me from the majority of the little flecks of sunshine. My stomach rumbled and I frowned. I was getting hungry.

When I stepped out of the wagon, I took in the broken, beaten three-story house that towered before us. Paint had started to peel off of the wood paneling that protected the house from the elements, and the stone masonry that held the house up was chipped and weather-worn. Iron bars covered every window. As I looked upon it, my brain twisted and contorted trying to remember something. The house was absurdly familiar, and yet I could not place it. I was on the tip of remembering where I had seen it before, when—

"Help! Please, help us!"

I turned my head to the origin of the sound and found a young girl, barely older than ten, peeking out from behind a felled wagon on the side of the road. Her hand clasped tightly around the hand of a little boy, who sucked his thumb and wailed in between breaths. Urien pulled his cloak over his eyes and his mask over his mouth to not scare them with his demonic visage and turned toward the children, who jumped back at his movement. Astrid gasped in worry and rushed to the children, crouching down to better communicate at their height. Her robes settled on the dirty ground and she put a gentle hand out for them. "Oh, goodness. What's wrong? What happened?"

The older girl picked her brother up from the ground, cradling him in her arms and rocking him in an attempt to get him to hush. I pulled my hood further over my face. Children tended to know what I was in an instant and were terrified of me. Astrid, on the other hand, was mom-shaped and wonderful with children. Yra hated them. He casually began to look at the details in the architecture of the house and Urien stayed put.

"There's a m-monster in our house," the girl shuddered. As if on cue, the rusted gate that barred us from the front of the house screeched ajar, blown by the wind, I presumed. The trees roared and bent in the gust and then settled as if the wind had never blown in the first place.

"What kind of a monster?" Urien asked. He approached the children and pulled a notebook and pencil from his satchel. His 'inquisitor' was showing.

"I d-don't know. I haven't seen it. All we hear is the h-howling," the girl trembled. She, too, began to cry at the thought. "Terrible, t-terrible howling."

"Shh, hush, now, it's okay," Astrid cooed, taking the girl's hand. "What are your names?"

"I'm Rosmarie, and this is my brother Viggo," she replied.

"Well, Rosmarie, where are your parents?"

"I—I..." Rosmarie began, but then collapsed into sobs.

"It's okay," Astrid assured. "You're safe now."

"Mum and dad trapped the m-monster in the basement, but th-they... and my baby brother!" Rosmarie looked frantically skyward, toward the third floor of the house. "My baby brother Vide is still inside!"

Urien finished jotting notes into his notebook. "Stay outside. Astrid, stay with them. We're going in to take care of this."

"I-I'm going with you!" Astrid interjected.

"These children can't stay out here by themselves."

"We'll be okay," Rosmarie assured. "I'm going to take my brother into town."

"It's a long walk," Urien said.

"We've made the walk before. I know where to go and we have an aunt that can take us in. Please." She squeezed Astrid's hand. "D-Don't let my brother die."

The children began their long walk into town, and Astrid crossed her arms as she stood. "See," she said to Yra. "I told you there was something weird with this house."

As we stood in front of the house, the air became eerily chill. The beginning of a Starkovian rainstorm blew in and fog swirled around our feet as the sun drifted behind clouds. Urien called his raven to his arm and muttered, "Those children were a trap."

"I-I don't understand," Astrid replied. "They need our help."

Urien's raven circled the house a couple of times, returning with a resolute caw and Urien growled in irritation. With hesitation and cautious, quiet steps, he approached the house. Yra rolled his eyes and followed, not daring to be so quiet. I moved naturally like a mist, so I knew I was not at risk of making any sound, and as the fog began to suffocate us, Astrid stepped behind me and took me firmly by the arm to not get separated.

Two large, oak doors barred us from the entrance of the house and the gate that led to the porch screamed out in defiance as Urien moved past it. So much for stealth. Urien's eyes scanned the porch, looking for anything that may harm us.

"That was stealthy," Yra quipped.

"Silence,"Urien demanded in a loud whisper. With cautious fingers and a slow, deft hand, he pushed the front door to the house open.

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