[quote][color=f26522]"Ideally, we should make camp where you and Lady Mirielle could use your ah...expertise...to question Dromele. I understand that ascertaining people's claims is a core skill of people in your line of work. However, I will say that considering our lack of information regarding the current state of Sielse, wandering off without a guide hoping to find a good spot to camp seems equally foolish. I say we should let Dromele lead us to where the corpses are."[/color][/quote]



Dromle was understandably disturbed when Carnathia spoke about 'expertise'. He eyed the Captain's back, face contorted with fear, and he appeared like someone who prepared to jump off and rush toward the forest. But moments passed and he didn't make a run for it yet. He had seen a glimpse of what this party was capable of, and he wondered what was his chance of escaping them if a trained soldier could easily be intercepted?

Thankfully the man in charge was patient. And the lady who suggested interrogating him thoroughly couldn't seem to make up her mind, and so, once again Dromle finally found himself spared from a difficult predicament.

[center]***[/center]

After giving an affirmative nod to the lady, the Captain asked him. 

"How far we are from the victim?"

"Not too far sire, just two leagues more."

"Right." Camen said, now looking back at his parties. "Keep your eyes open, and look for movements in the trees." 

Thankfully their vigilance was for naught. After twenty minutes of uneventful ride, Dromele asked to dismount from the hose and guide them by walking. He looked strangely enthusiastic when his thin fingers pointed at a plot of blackened land. 

The site was a clearing located on the right side of the road. On there five poles stood sturdily but seemed to be placed irregularly. From this distance, Carmen thought they were scarecrows, but as they rode closer the smell became more nauseating, the Captain finally forced himself to confront with the grim reality. 

Camen had thought that Dromele's description was hyperbolic, but this... this was worse. Five bodies, tied to wooden logs with faces mangled beyond recognition either by rot or injuries. Their bodies were blackened, not by the natural decomposition, but rather by soot and charrings. 

They were tied on those logs, likely with wetted rope, with legs suspended a few spans above the ground. Some of the limbs and body parts had been skeletonized or went missing, probably picked off by wild animals. Hairs had been burned away, leaving only leathery-black skin beneath. Some were naked, while some were still robed with tattered blue clothing with patterns both Carmen and Mirielle knew all too well.

Their partially skeletonized faces told the same tale about the cruelty of their latest moment. All had their jaws wide open, and there seemed to be a handful of strange soot in their mouth. Some of the soot could be found in their eye sockets, noses, and cuts in their bodies. 

The soot was still emitting a faint trail of smoke when Carmen dared himself to inspect them closer. There was a moment of silence before the captain took a step back.

"Who did this? Why them? They were good people, they don't deserve this..." he wailed, taking off his hat and placing it in his chest, asking nobody in particular. But Dromele the peasant, did not waste a moment to clear himself of potential blaming. 

"I--I don't know sire. I found them three days ago and---"

Carmen tried to gather his courage and drew his sabre to cut the rope, releasing the priest's body from their restless bindings. Meanwhile, his mind wandered back to Helvetia, to the soldiers they spared, and to the hellish glade he was in right now.