Chapter 73 -- Tragedy

The village of Nok Naturally didn't have many inhabitants, numbering less than a hundred. Due to this number, the village was always very quiet and peaceful.

However over the last two days, that piece and quiet became abnormal. The whole village gave off the feeling of a ghost town.

People still walked the streets and did their business, but no one smiled or laughed. An aura of sadness covered the village like a blanket.

Even the animals looked depressed as the horses plodded along with long faces (pun intended) and hung heads.

One didn't need to look closely to realize that the village lacked men. The only male people left were either over 50 or below 20 years of age.

Everyone knew that tragedy had struck, they just didn't know it's specifics. On this particular day, groups of women could be seen entering the village hall. 

Gia walked to the hall with a crestfallen Olivia. She had to force Olivia to come to the meeting, and to eat. Olivia had even asked Gia to take care of Zaylee for a few days.

One should remember that Gia is the woman that was present when Zane was born, she was also present at Zaylee's birth .Of all the villagers Gia was the one Olivia trusted the most.

The two women walked into the hall and took their seats in the front row. They were rather early so the hall wasn't full yet.

"How are you holding up?" A woman asked as she walked towards Olivia and Gia. She was on the short side with brown hair tied in a ponytail.

Upon seeing the woman, Olivia snapped "My husband isn't dead Elizabeth."

Unlike their husbands, Olivia and Elizabeth didn't specifically dislike each other, however their husbands had unknowingly poisoned them against each other.

Elizabeth furrowed her brows "Don't you talk to me like that!" she snapped back.

Gia wanted to say something but Olivia stopped her by showing her hand.

"Why?, because you are a wife to the 'chief'!?" Olivia half shouted while putting air quotes on the word 'Cheif'.

"No because you aren't the only one grieving. We all lost!" Elizabeth shouted with tears threatening to break free from their eye prison.

"You...." Olivia wanted to refute, but stopped herself as Elizabeth's words sunk in.

"You are right. I'm sorry" She said, proceeding to hug Elizabeth. Olivia, Gia and Elizabeth were actually childhood friends.

They were even with Olivia the day she found Owen injured after fighting the man who killed his father. Those three women had been through a lot together and Elizabeth's words reminded Olivia of that fact.

Gia joined in their hug and the trio had a minute long group hug. They then sat down on the chairs of the front row.

"I don't know what I'm going to do, without Owen i can't raise Zaylee alone" Olivia sniffled.

She could keep the farm going, however she would have to sell some of it as it was too big to take care of on her own.

By selling part of it, she would get a lump sum of money. However that money would soon run out and she would need to work. Zaylee was only a month old, she needed her mother's full attention.

"We are here, we will help each other" Gia said. Gia's brother had also gone with the group of men, she wasn't married. However like the others, her brother was the bread winner.

As she didn't have any children, she could easily live on her own with their farm's income.

Elizabeth on the other hand had two children and her own father to take care of. Her father was over 80 years old and couldn't do any work anymore.

However her husband's father, the previous chief, had left them a lot of money, so she wouldn't need to work for the next 10 or so years.

Hopefully by that time her father would be dead so she could have less mouths to feed when she starts working.

That was all on the premise that the men all died though.

Eventually, the hall filled up and the meeting started. Unsurprisingly it was Elizabeth who called for the meeting.

"Good morning everyone, we all know why we are here and i won't waste any time. So I will only ask what we should do" she said.

"What CAN we do?" one of the women said, she had red eyes and extremely large bags under them. She had obviously been crying. 

"If the men failed, what makes you think we can do anything?" Another one shrugged. They had lost all hope after not seeing the men return for two days.

"That's where our problem lies. It's not only the men who can fight you know, you act like there aren't any women Mages" Elizabeth said.

"Okay then 'chieftess', let's get our spears and venture out to the mountain" someone said.

"You know that's not what she means!" Olivia shouted as she stood up.

"The fact remains Olivia we can't do shit about this situation. You probably noticed that we haven't been attacked since they set out, maybe they accomplished the mission but..." that woman stopped her sentence, she didn't need to continue.

"Mother!" A boy of around 10 years of age burst into the hall before running to Elizabeth.

"I told you not to disturb me when i am busy Tommy, what is it?" Elizabeth said.

Tommy was her youngest son while his sister was 13, both were preparing to go to hunting school, but with the recent events, Elizabeth wasn't too sure about that anymore.

"They're back!" he said "I saw the men coming from the forest" he shouted once more after seeing the confused gazes of everyone in the room.

That's when the boy's words finally reached the women and their tears turned into those of hope. 

Tommy was well known to be a troublesome liar, but today no one even questioned the credibility of his words. If he lied, the others wouldn't need to get involved because his own mother would kill him.

Without wasting time all, the ladies ran out of the hall, extremely unladylike if i might add. Looking at the direction of the mountains they rejoiced at the sight of their coming husbands, sons, brothers, fathers and baby daddies.

They all then ran to meet the men but their happy smiles turned nervous when they noticed the expressions on the returning expedition.

The men actually looked like how they did a few minutes ago. Right then, everyone knew that someone had died. Those who hadn't set their eyes on their loved ones felt their hearts stopping.

Since Olivia and her friends were at the front of the hall, they came out last.

"Where is he?" Olivia mumbled as her eyes scanned through the group with extreme speed.

"I can't find William" Elizabeth said to no one in particular "Where is my husband!?" she shouted.

Surprisingly, all the men in the middle of hugging their loved ones stopped and glanced at Elizabeth, then at Olivia, whose tears were already dripping from her chin.

The men then all looked behind them, at the mountain they came from. The five women who couldn't find their loved ones also looked in that direction with fearful eyes.

Coming out of the forest were four men, one of those men was William. Elizabeth sighed in relief but then her eyes moved to the object William and the other men where carrying.

It was a body, Olivia fell to her knees as she released a gut wrenching scream. She couldn't mistake her husband, even in that sorry state.

What was left of Owen's body lay unmoving on the shoulders of the four men.