Myths of Power

As the two leave the Sickle & Scythe, Gailin looks around nervously for others who might see him with a leper. Seeing no one other than the normal rabble of the area, he steps out at a brisk pace, only to be pulled back by Richard. Gailin is forced to stop and looks back.

Richard shades the morning sun from his eyes with his hands. "Whoa there my boy. I'm not as spry as you are. I could have given you a match in my younger, healthier days but now..."

Gailin realizes who he is with and reluctantly resigns himself. " I'm sorry, I just.. just..."

Richard pats his hand again. "I know. Few people want to be seen aiding a man in my condition. I must say, you are being very brave by helping. You're risking any reputation you might have made."

"I'm not too concerned with reputation."

"Oh really? Your expression betrays you young man. Why are you helping? Does this have anything to do with...my daughter?"

They start down the street as face as Richard is willing to go.

Gailin lets out a sigh. "I suppose so. She's just so beautiful and yet so strange..." Suddenly aware of what he has just said, he pauses and looks down at Richard, embarrassed. "..I didn't mean... It's just that she..."

Richard laughs, a low grinding laugh that sends a slight chill down the spine of anyone in earshot. "Don't worry! It most likely comes from taking care of this old fool for so long." He smiles large enough for it to be seen through the bandages and thinks to himself; "What did that girl say to him last night?"

"So tell me sergeant.."

"Corporal..."

"... How is it you know the physician?"

Richard allows the pace quicken slightly. Gailin's face drops into sorrowful thought.

"My sister....When we were just kids, our family owned a small plot of land. We would sometimes wonder down to the river that ran though a small wood close by."

As they pass by a rather decrepit fruit stand, he grabs an apple, for too old to be placed for sale. The stand owner starts to object but then backs down when she sees Gailins insignias. With a deft and unseen manoeuvre, Richard grabs a coin and flips it backwards to be caught be the shopkeepers child. Richard turns his head and presses a finger to his mouth in a sign of silence.

"Did something happen?"

"We should have known better, I guess. But we were just kids." Gailin releases Richards hand and walks slightly ahead of him. He takes a bite of the apple on one the less rotten sides. "There had been a skirmish a few nights before. No one really knew what had caused it, or even who had been fighting, really. Our father had told us to stick close to home, just in case, but we want to do some swimming."

He finishes off the better parts of the apple and throws it to the ground. Children come racing out of the woodwork to scramble and fight over the rotten leftovers. Gailin turns around once again, ignoring the ruffians. Richard quickly grabs a few stale loaves of bread nearby and, again, exchanges them for payment in a few hardly seen moves. He breaks them up and quickly tosses the peices the the children.

Quickening his pace, he catches up to the corporal and grabs his hand once more. "Oh, sorry, William, I'll slow down."

"Please continue."

"While we were heading through the woods, we heard a strange noise and went to investigate. There were only small animals that lived there, so neither of us were scared. We should have been terrified."

Gailins grip tightens.

"Hidden behind a bush was a Wild. It attacked so fast, I didn't have time to react."

"Hmm.. Wilds attack on instinct alone. It must have wandered away from the battlefield afterword and wandered into the woods." Richard thinks
"It caught your sister?"

Richard can see a tear well up in Gailin's eye, although its clear that he was holding back his emotions. "Father heard our screams but it was too late. He dispatched the Wild but not before it did atrocious  damage to my sister."

"She survived the attack?"

"Only just. Father was afraid she was going to turn, so we came to Haladan to see the physician. There were, and still are, rumours that he can cure revenants. I know the truth..."