Chapter 14: Nitt - Part 2

The two crossed the gate without much problem, the place seemed abandoned and without guards, but as soon as they spent a little time standing still, the smell of rot bothered their nostrils and then Christopher put his hand over his nose while grumbling.

"What a garbage smell..."

His expression showed disgust, the smell was of rotten eggs and garbage that seemed to spread around the place without having a specific source, just being there.

In addition to the bad smell, the place as well as the abode of the lady of the green was strangely silent and there was still the sound of water, but different from before, the silence now was uncomfortable, there didn't seem to be any life in that place, they didn't see people or animals around. there, only the silence of their own breaths and footprints.

Arthur frowned at the smell, but soon answered.

"Go look for the house, I'll take a look at the fence to see if any broken parts let an animal in… anything call me, don't face anything alone."

Christopher was uncomfortable with the attitude, but he again looked at his wooden sword and sighed, seeming to consent.

"Okay, be careful, if there was something that attacked, it might still be here."

It was a fact, there was no trace of anything else there so the doubt remained while Arthur nodded in agreement."

The two separated, while Arthur went for a walk around the fence, Chris went towards the houses trying to find Lirian's.

All the houses were made of wood, but they were still well made, on the outside they looked well cared for, with no signs of claws or cuts on the doors or broken windows, they looked like ordinary houses.

Christopher approached one and noticed the same thing, no signs of trespassing or damage.

The blonde went to the window of the house and noticed closed curtains, which prevented him from seeing the interior of the house, the same applied to other windows in the surroundings of the house that there was no sign of a garden or scratches on the door.

"Not this one..."

He leaned his ear against the window trying to hear something, but time passed and no sound of footsteps or conversation was inside the house, just absolute silence, he was sure there was no one there, at least not someone he couldn't identify.

Arthur was a little further away already getting close to the fence where the mansion was, looking at the corners there were still no signs of a break-in or fight, as he approached the house there were no signs, until he arrived in the backyard of the house.

Looking closely, the fences seemed intact, but as he walked a little further he noticed a small gate at the back of the mansion, one much more protected with iron bars and chains, but he noticed something strange in both the chains and the wood, the that made him frown and move closer to see what caught his eye.

Coming a little closer, he could see that both the fence and the chains had marks a little darker than their original color, they seemed to be older or rotted, while the rest remained in its natural color.

The dark marks were small, a little bigger than Arthur's hand and appeared spherical, which caught his attention.

But something else stood out, looking at the surroundings, the dark marks disappeared and all he could see were some marks of footprints on the ground heading to the house, there were several footprints, but he could not understand if they were many people or just one person going back and forth frequently.

Arthur looked at it doubtfully, but soon noticed the land around the mansion was a little darker and apparently drier than the rest of the place, being more like brown sand than dirt.

He squinted, doubting what he was seeing, but soon he heard something.

"Arth! Hey Art."

Soon he recognized that it was Christopher who called and then he walked back towards the houses, still giving brief glances along the way he followed and after a short time, he saw Christopher, in front of a wooden house, seeming to stare at him.

"What is it?"

The blonde saw Arthur approach and then turned to him, as Arthur approached, he said.

"I think I found it, most houses don't have a garden, this one doesn't either, but there's something I found strange."

"If it doesn't have a garden, it's not the house we're looking for."

"Listen to what I say first and watch this."

Christopher pointed to the wooden door and Arthur saw the front of the house, he noticed the wooden door in front of him.

In it there were drawings, they seemed to be made by children and adults, with drawings of clouds, sun and a happy family that danced on a sunny day, there were four dolls difficult to identify their appearance because they looked like anthropomorphized animals and on top of each one of them there was a letter .

[K, A, D, M...]

Arthur squinted his eyes and brought his face closer to the door, he paid attention to the initials and said.

"That K is probably Kaila, she didn't say the other sister's name... but the other two look like a bigger man and woman... maybe Daddy and Mommy... but..."

"Yes, it fits what Miss Lirian said, but there's something wrong there, don't you think?"

Soon after, Arthur raised his body with an expression of doubt and then confirmed with his head.

"It doesn't have Lirian's initial..."

"Maybe a middle name?"

"No... unlikely, because in the letter her sister had called her Lirian, she said she didn't live with her father, but the drawing looks old so maybe something happened to him at that time, but still, it should have big sister, there is no way to erase something on wood without leaving a trace."

Chris would lower his eyes and move closer, running his fingers over the designs and letters.

"Apart from the fact that they seem to be a much more childish drawing, also the letters, look nothing like what was in Miss Lirian's letter, everything fits the description, but it's still strange..."

"Did you look for more houses? Maybe it's a coincidence."

"Yes, there are none that have anything like it, besides..."

The blonde walked around the house and took Arthur to where the family's backyard should be, but when they got there, there were no signs of flowers or fertilized land, Arthur saw in front of him the same brown sand that was in the backyard of the house.

Approaching there, Christopher said.

"This is not the only house with this, but plantations here are gone, in some houses all I found was this same sand on a large scale and here it is too small to be a plantation of wheat or other vegetables, it looks more... "

"A garden"

Arthur interrupted while watching the same sand, he took a few steps around the house and all that was around was that pile of sand that mixed with the ground, even after the interruption, Chris continued.

"It has what once looked like a garden, but the door looks wrong, there must be something she hasn't told us in this whole story."

"I also found this in the backyard of the mansion, I found it strange but it didn't seem to be a big deal. Looking back now, it all seems to have been caused by a single person."

"Or creature..."

Arthur's phrase made Chris' eyes heavy, but then he looked at the house and continued talking.

"The windows are all closed by curtains, they really looked like they were hiding something, so we have no reason to doubt that... but he said he found a well locked gate with strange marks near the big house, should we go there first?"

Right after the blonde's sentence, Arthur walked towards him while looking at the windows.

"If they're in danger, they won't feel a broken window, if they're hiding, at least they'll reveal themselves to explain to us what's going on..."

"Do you want..."

"We have no choice, it's the window or the door and we have to be quick if there's still something here, we have to hurry..."

Chris looked with a certain disbelief, but soon he heard Arthur's sentence and squinted his eyes still fearful, but soon agreed seeing that the two wouldn't have many options.

Both walked to the window of the house, the curtain prevented them from seeing the interior, but soon Christopher took the wooden sword from its scabbard with the burnt side, wielding the sword and tightening its hilt, seeming to remember the situation of carrying that equipment.

"What do you feel?"

It was Arthur who questioned, but Christopher waved the weapon as he held it and then aimed it at the window, aiming precisely at it as he positioned his body properly for a thrust.

"My body still hurts if I move it too much, I don't know if a wound or burn will get worse, but what I said to Lirian was true, Arth. In order not to be a burden, I will fight."

With a quick movement he advanced and struck the glass window, the sword had difficulties, but it crossed the window, making a loud sound, breaking it and making shards fly and enter the house.

Some of the glass flew out but did not reach the young people, leaving one side of the window open and seeing that, Arthur approached, unlocking it and opening it as he moved the curtain so that they could enter.

Após abrir caminho para que os dois passassem, Arthur sacava sua espada e sorria de canto de rosto, o que chamava a atenção de Chris que observava confuso e logo falava.

"O que foi?"

Arthur continuava a sorrir e então se virava colocando a espada de ferro repousando sob seu ombro enquanto encarava Chris, o silencio continuava até que Arthur soltava um curto riso e falava.

"Não é nada... vamos entrar logo."