Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

"Listen, whatever you do, do not leave anything open, lock everything and barricade the front doors and windows at night!

That's the least you can do to stop the headless, alright?" Isilt still in full armour, made certain to explain his family about the dangers of the apparition, especially since the massacre had occurred in the farm just across from theirs, it was friends that had been slaughtered.

The rider in white had been thorough, even going out of his way to massacre the ogres owned by the family, the monsters had not even fought back at all, moving back until they were cornered inside of their stable, for some strange reason, ogres feared the headless even more than people did.

"Don't worry Isilt, the man with no head won't come get us"

"And who do you know this?" he asked one of his younger sisters, Pitit, the oldest of the girls.

"I don't know…" she responded, it just felt silly to say that he had seemed nice when he waved her way, but even then, it was not actually the reason she felt like the headless wouldn't appear before this farm, a mere premonition perhaps.

"Just lock yourself in and run if you hear something trying to enter, our lord has decided to increase the amount of knights on patrol, thanks to the peace agreements, he can lessen the guard on the borders, I was told that a knight would be near at all times for each farm, so do not hesitate to scream for help… But only when outside, the headless can muffle sounds" lingering on to a few more details, it was time for Isilt to go back on duty, he would have preferred to stand guard upon the farm of his family, but he knew very well that it was best left to the knight returning from the borders.

Those knights were true veterans stationed closest to conflict, if the headless thought that the knights he had faced were bad, then he would be in for a nasty surprise with them, the knights one could find patrolling the countryside were typically young knights or old knights that had passed their prime, not weaklings by any means, but obviously not the most rugged of Alisart's knights, it would only be ridiculous to not appoint the most experienced to the dangerous areas.

Thanks to the peace treaty however, those men and women that typically spent their days pushing back invasion attempts would be going after the pale cavalry, the typically empty roads that split the fields of crops apart from one another saw much passage, valiant knights garbed in bright white cloaks, leaving no stone unturned in their crusade against the creature that had dared to lay its hands upon the farmers, lungs of the south.

Their enemy laid low for a while, only wild animals were found decapitated for months on end, it was a true obsession, endless headhunting, all that found itself in his way were either swiftly beheaded, or brutalised until they would allow for their neck to be sliced, judging by the amount of damage inflicted upon what was not taken, it seemed like the headless wanted the head and neck to be in a most pristine state.

Apart from all the wild theories and reasoning trying to be attributed to this undead creature's actions, the truth was that none knew what was the point of all of this, or if it even had any to begin with, the ocean's horizon was scoured everyday, but the dark storm still remained distant, no accounts of any other creature appearing elsewhere were made, the headless headhunter was all alone, a lone vanguard that did nothing but stalk the farmlands and surroundings.

Time passed without any other dramatic event, the farmers continued living as they usually did, tending to crops, tending to cattle, summer was still fully in place, seasons were long, the spiral-like sun sent down waves of its scorching light, the people of the Southern Shores were used to the warm environment however, even winter here was rarely very frigid, today, Pitit was making the short trip to a nearby well to get some water for the corneaus, there were a fair few of them for anyone to use.

Put a bucket upon the hook, lower it down, raise it back up and there you had it, one bucket of water, repeating this action three more times, although heavy, she was used to it by now, walking through a small path through tall wheat, filling their trough using three of them, the fourth intended for the girl and her family, putting it inside the farm and then going back outside, her mother was inside the house, butchering some fish that had been delivered recently, families of farmers were entitled to some fishes caught out in the ocean, but she was also preparing a boar that her father had caught impeding on the fields, it was too dangerous to go hunting these days, so it was a real boon.

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Speaking of which, father and sons were out on the fields, since it was close to harvest for this particular field, the former was demonstrating how to properly swing a scythe to the youngest, also out there to simply check on the crops themselves, there were always problems to look out for, be it invasive insects or wild animals trying to take a bite.

A few of her sisters were helping their mother, whilst the rest were busy grooming the corneaus, the few that enjoyed the animals especially were living their best lives recently, offering to groom and shave the wool off of the horses of the passing knights.

Pitit however, was not the biggest fan of either of those activities, the bovines were cute for certain, and it always felt rewarding to get to eat something you had prepared yourself, walking through the fields was relaxing, and cutting the crops with a scythe was incredibly satisfying, but really, nothing truly tickled the oldest daughter's fancy.

Lifting her straw hat, rubbing sweat off her forehead, sighing softly.

'What to do…' poking her head inside the house.@@novelbin@@

"Say mom, I noticed some redlemon flowers by the well, do you need some for tonight's dinner?"

"Ah… Now that you mention it, I am completely out, but be careful sweety, it's dangerous out there" the trip to the well was a short one, but the mother still extended words of worry.

"It's alright, I'll be there in a minute!" and with this, she had found something to do, pushing the hat onto her head.