A Bullet Or Two

Chapter 4.1: A Night in Alder Creek

Alder Creek was a developing village on the northern outskirts of Mabbotshire county. It lay a few miles south from the mountainous border separating Farhilm from Forsesnow. A small opening between the ridges - the only Mountain Pass to the north - was visible from across Peter Schippart's farm, lined with rows after rows of Alder trees and oaks.

Delilah and her party – two new boys built like cattle wishing to earn some coins from Darragh – had met Peter at the closest station at midday. Jonnie was on annual leave, as Baron had put it. Yet, the young Baroness knew that that excuse was only to protect the delicate loyalty of his guards. In fact, Jonnie was to remain without work until her coronation rehearsal. Stripped of any pay as a disciplinary response for botching the Cornswald delivery. A punishment that Delilah had caused. Something her guilt refused to let her forget.

Separated from quite possibly the only gentleman Delilah did not feel unsettled by, she found herself in the company of Douglas and Keith. Two brazen boys who were disconnected from their families' finances.

Too many days spent in too many taverns and ruining too many girls. They were two more boys whose families were indebted to the Franklyns' favour. Their pleas for money were pathetic – their letters to which Delilah read were entitled and lazy. Assertions of their importance, their family lineage, and future endeavours had only made her laugh. They would do anything to have their money back.

However, with no Jonnie and no other options, she responded. Replied with the best proposal she had. The most convenient for her.

Two days of your time will be required. Be at East Station no later than sunrise a week after next.

Baroness D. Franklyn.

Of course, she needed Baron's permission beforehand, to which she resolved by saying it was more practice for assuming her role. Baron lapped it up like a starving hound. Her words were the most tender of meat. Delilah had avoided anything to do with becoming Baroness over the past year. This, she thought the Baron would believe, was her finally giving in.

Once the introductions were over, Peter guided the group to a horse and cart, and, for a good hour, they traveled to his farm, arriving by mid-afternoon.

Throughout the journey, Peter repeated his gratitude, thanking her over and over and over again for coming to help. The shock she saw take over him at realising the future Baroness would be helping him had worn off. The flushed heat that overtook her body when he fell to his knees thanking the goddess for Delilah's presence had only recently swept away. Replaced by a deep-seated dread at the sight of sheep intestines sprawled outside the barn.

"They got this one last night. She must've been around the back when I put 'em away." 

Keith paled beside her and shakily swept his copper fringe back. The smaller of her two companions, Delilah could only assume he felt the same stomach curdling that twisted inside her at the blackened blood seeping from the corpse. Delilah gulped. She needed to remain calm. Strong. She could not let the boys see her weak. See her struggle before the job had even begun.

"The black stuff...well...I think that's the poison." 

Creatures of darkness and decay. One wound from a Nightwig was fatal without treatment. Their claws were laced with a poison so potent that once it reached a vein, the entire body was contaminated. Bas would welcome you to his land in less than a day.

Delilah had no doubt it was Nightwigs and quickly excused herself. Her resolve unravelling the longer she inhaled the scent of rot. 

The two boys remained with Peter at the sheep's corpse, ordered to examine it for any tell-tale signs it was Nightwigs, which Delilah had explained to them on their train journey. Missing livers. Thin claw marks. Flakes of flesh. Any other indications that the rodents were the cause and to keep her companions occupied while she returned to the house. 

Unable to hold down her vomit much longer, she found a quaint patch of pansies and regurgitated her afternoon snack of buttered bread.

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Delilah sat at the wooden table, peering out onto the farm as the sheep found their resting places for the night. Stroking over from the east, a deep purple hue gradually replaced the pink, orange, and red that coated the sky.  Dusk was approaching and with it would come Bas' subjects. 

The rodents she would save Peter's farm from.

Peter's farm was not the biggest she had visited, many others possessed more acres, more crops, and more animals. But it was cozy and well kept. Far from easy to find oneself lost in. Outside in the corner of the window, the barn she had visited less than an hour ago lay no more than a couple of paddocks away from the farmhouse. 

Dispersed around its entrance, Peter, Keith, and Douglas were herding the livestock inside, away from the shredded ewe.

The paddocks themselves interlinked, protecting the sheep from whatever lurked in the woods lining the stead. The wooden fences eventually wrapped around the barn, guiding the livestock back to safety inside where the men could not. Feeders and Waterers scattered in pairs throughout the fields - more than she had ever seen on any larger farms.

She could tell Peter treasured his little corner of the Quartered Kingdom. Barely having explored the lands other than to the barn, Delilah thought back to the few beds of pansies she soiled. Vibrant pink and purple petals, mimicking the hues above, traversed the path leading to the house's doorway. Recently trimmed, the flowers remained inside their frames and bloomed regardless of the closeness of Autumn.

And with the looming arrival of fall came the litter of leaves. To which, Peter appeared to have swept into neat, equal piles along the paddock fencing. Extra protection from the lurking night.

From her perch inside his dining room, Delilah felt her heart slowly calm as she admired the acres. Pushing back her dread with the charming views, a contentedness washed over her. A welcome feeling after the hurricane of nausea that had swept through her only thirty minutes prior.  

Peter's wife soon reappeared from the kitchen with a plate of biscuits. "Ginger nuts. To help with the sickness."