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"What's
that?" Nearra asked.
"Thank the gods. It's some kind of building," Nearra
said. "But it's a mess."
The structure might once have been a farmhouse, but its
best days had long since passed. The timbers supporting the roof were
blackened from fire. Holes riddled the walls. The door hung on its
hinges, barely clinging to the doorframe.
Davyn put his shoulder to the door, and shoved it open.
They all crowded inside the entry hall.
"At least it's dry," Catriona said, casting off her
sodden cloak. "I'll light a torch."
Thankfully, Catriona's traveling pack had kept her
torches dry. After a few strikes with flint and steel, one blazed to
life. Catriona set a second torch alight and handed it to Davyn. "You
all stay here," she said, "I'm going to have a look around."
"I'm coming with you," said Davyn, passing the torch to
Elidor. Catriona rolled her eyes but she didn't object.
"See if you can find a fireplace," Sindri called after
them.
"Right," Elidor said, "we wouldn't want to burn this
'mansion' down when we build a fire."
The building had once been two stories tall, but its
second floor had collapsed. Rubble filled the structure's central
stairway. Davyn and Catriona exchanged a worried look, then edged around
the rubble into the adjoining room.
They entered a large chamber. A wide stone fireplace --
big enough to cook a whole pig inside -- took up most of one wall. Long,
cracked timbers spanned the room's plaster ceiling. Several of these
beams had snapped and crashed down to the floor. Others hung half-broken
from the ceiling.
The far side of the room had once been a wall of windows,
but the wall had collapsed, leaving a tangled jumble of wood and
plaster. Mist peeked through the cracks in the rubble.
Next to the wall crouched a shadowy shape. As Davyn and
Catriona came closer, the figure turned. The light from Catriona's torch
cast long shadows across the thing's lion-like face. Its eyes blazed red
in the darkness.
With an incoherent snarl, the beast charged.
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