A walking corpse
His house was burning, and yet he could do nothing about it. At first, he felt the throbbing in his head where the mace was hit, but now, that was also a daze. He wanted to move, but couldn't; he had no strength, and more than that, he had lost a leg.
Maurice snapped back. "I shouldn't give in to hope," he hardened his heart. But still, he was hoping.
Ghosts hunted him, in his wake and his dreams. "It has to be nothing," he thought. But for a moment, he could see a shadow behind the girl.
"Tell me, girl," Maurice feigned ignorance. "How did this boy get sick?"
Anna didn't know why the man was suddenly curious, but she didn't care. If telling him will get her a horse, that is what she would do.
And she told him; how they found a wounded auroch, how they shot it anyway, how they hunted the animal, and how they killed it beside its children.
"There is nothing," Maurice was losing interest. But then, he saw the shadow dance, as if telling him to ask more.