'Don't look, Lillian. Never look into the eyes of a Sin-Eater, you will be as cursed as he is and will forever languish in darkness.'
Lillian Elmes remembers the warning her mother gave her about the town's Sin-Eater only too well.
How could she n...
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'You!' thunders the Major.
If I am at first uncertain to whom he directs his ire, I am in no doubt when he charges across the room and accosts Daniel, shoving him roughly against the wall, his hands on his throat. Daniel struggles against him, his eyes wide as cogwheels, but Major Smallman's grip tightens.
'You charlatan!' he spits. 'You Devil! How dare you!'
'Major, I've come to help,' Daniel pleads, but whilst I see shock in his expression, I also see that hardness he has about him. That righteous indignation that this is how it must be.
'Help? Help?' The Major's face draws close to Daniel's, his skin as purple as the blackcurrants from our harvest. 'What can you possibly do that you have not already done? You curse this place just by being here. Foul demon that you are! No more! I will see you drop lifeless at my feet, so help me Lord, I will!'
His efforts increase, slamming Daniel so hard against the wall that it dislodges several small, framed pictures hanging there and they drop to the floor, glass smashing about their feet. Daniel grasps at the Major's hands, attempting to claw them from about his neck but to no avail. His face turns an alarming colour, and I am sure that Major Smallman means what he says and will indeed squeeze the breath from Daniel's body until he is dead at his feet.
'Major Smallman!' I cry, laying my hand gently on his arm. 'Major, please, stop!'
He turns to me then, this man I have known since childhood, and he blinks as if seeking to clear fog from his vision. Deep lines furrow on his forehead.
'L-Lillian?' Confusion cuts through the haze. 'Lillian, can it be you?'
I smile and inch closer.
'Yes, Major, it is I. Lillian Elmes. Your good friend, Richard's eldest.'
His eyes widen, mouth wordlessly chewing air as he seeks to make sense of my presence here, but I can see his struggle.
'Major, please, if you will, release Mr. Carver here before you do something you regret.' I give his arm a light squeeze.
