Smoke rising from the village

In the distance, he could see smoke rising from a cottage. Two weeks on the road, without proper rest or cover from nature's elements, has made his back a bit sore even though he has spent most of his days the last three years on the roadside sleeping.

Skymmning did not care where he slept. As long as it was warmer than the outside, he would be happy. When the boy continued down the trail, he got closer to the rising smoke. They saw a clearing and fields before them.

The fields in front of him were covered with snow, making them reflect some of the sunlight. Spring has yet to melt the snow up here in the north of Finland.

The boy opened his mouth, "Hey Skymmning! You see that we could be sleeping soundly tonight!" the horse ignored him and continued with its pace forward.

"See, there are houses. They might even have a stable for you to sleep in." Said the chipperly on the back of the horse.

As they drew closer to the houses, which littered the vast open grounds of this part of the forest, he noticed how none of them had smoke rising from the chimnies even though it was still winter.

"Hey… Skymmning, doesn't this look suspicious… Look at those chimneys. There's no smoke rising from them." Said the boy as he furrowed his brows. The horse trotted proudly on the snowy path, ignoring the boy.

As they passed the first house, the door to it was slightly open. He continued towards the next one, passing it as well. The door was closed, but he rode on towards the billowing smoke in the distance.

As he was about to ride past the last house on the way to the forest, a gust of wind passed through him and opened the door of the house. He stopped Skymmning, which made the horse neigh in disapproval.

"You know… I don't care." said the boy as he dismounted.

He strolled towards the house and proceeded to walk inside it. Where he found… Nothing, it looked pretty clean, no bowls or other utensils. There were no signs of a struggle, and it was as if the owners had cleaned up the house before leaving.

He went on his knees and inspected the flooring while searching for the cold storage. He found a small handle that opened up a small hatch inside. He saw nothing of interest, so he climbed down the small ladder and hunched down so he could fit in the small compartment.

He saw four racks full of jars, which he opened, smelling their contents. One was pickled herring. Which he snatched, another seemed to be some kind of mushroom… which he looked at for quite some time before taking.

After some time, he came out the doorway with a couple of jars in his hands, smiling, "Look what I found, pickled herring!!!" The boy said excitedly, but the horse had had enough of his bullshit, so it snorted, which made the boy frown.

"Why are you like this!!! You make me look crazy!" The boy screamed in frustration at the horse.

Some people looked at them not too far away behind the tree line. They looked at each other for a while before their eyes returned to look at the boy. He placed the jars inside the saddlebag and mounted the horse before they moved towards the rising smoke.

The tree line got closer to them, and the broad fields they just saw began to recede while the three-line started to close in on them. But the boy was persistent to see what the smoke was all about. The trail ended, and they now stood in front of the vast Scandinavian wilderness.

He looked to his sides to see if there was some sort of trail into the forest that might lead them further in, but it seemed that they had to venture forth without one.

Not that they could discern if they were on a trail or a road earlier because of the snow that covered the ground, making it hard to see what was just earth and what was gravel.

But now, there wasn't even a path through the three-line, which would have indicated a trail or path of a kind. The boy tried to go as straight as possible towards the rising smoke that could be seen rising deeper in the forest.

The trees were close together, making it hard to navigate with a horse. But soon enough, they saw a small clearing in front of them where they saw a big fire, but no one was near it. His gaze wandered around them before Skymmning came to an abrupt stop. The boy being cautious, readied his musket and attached his bayonet.

He got off the horse and began to move towards the fire slowly. As he got closer, he got a whiff of decaying and burning flesh, making his stomach turn, and an audible gag escaped his mouth.

He fell to his knees and tried to gather himself. Moments later, he took out a handkerchief holding it against his mouth and nose before he began to make his way up to his feet. He looked at the pile of burning corpses.

He looked at it for a while before turning his gaze downwards at the melting snow at the edges of the pyre and began to look at the surrounding snow. There were footprints in the snow leading to the pyre coming from the forest. And as he looked into the woods where the footprints led.

He saw a figure standing there. The boy quickly jumped to his left, and as he was airborne, he heard *Bang*, *Thud* he landed on the snow, not feeling any pain, so the bullet missed, and it got lost in the woods behind him.

He aimed his musket towards the figure and pulled the trigger *Bang*. He did not think much before he scrambled up to his feet and ran towards Skymmning, who seemed happy to leave.

"HEY!!!! YOU STAY THERE!!!" He roared.

The date is the 22nd of march 1697.