Hersch
/\_/\ <( O.O )> ^^ ^^
It had not always been so. In older centuries, when the kings still rode with banners and iron, the road through Blackmere had been a proper road, paved in stone and wide enough for carts, riders, and processions of priests. It ran north toward the walled cities and south toward the river ports, and once it carried wool, salt, wine, and pilgrims in equal measure.
But roads, like kingdoms, do not keep their glory forever.
Now the stones lay broken beneath reeds and stagnant water. The marsh had swallowed the ditches, then the shoulders, then half the path itself, until only two dark tracks remained, vanishing into fog and thorn. Travelers took the eastern route instead, adding two days to the journey rather than pass by the ruins of Blackmere Abbey.
Now the stones lay broken beneath reeds and stagnant water. The marsh had swallowed the ditches, then the shoulders, then half the path itself, until only two dark tracks remained, vanishing into fog and thorn. Travelers took the eastern route instead, adding two days to the journey rather than pass by the ruins of Blackmere Abbey.
The abbey had been abandoned for nearly a hundred years.
Some said the monks perished in the winter the river froze solid from bank to bank, when wolves came down from the hills and the bells rang for seven nights without cease. Others said no wolves had been needed, that something was found beneath the crypt while repairs were being made to the lower vaults, and that whatever was uncovered should have been left buried in darkness.
There were other stories, too. There were always other stories.
That the abbot had hidden a relic of terrible power. That a traitor nobleman had sought sanctuary there and brought a curse upon the place. That plague had entered the gates disguised as a beggar and left none alive to close the doors behind it. The tale changed from hearth to hearth and from generation to generation, but the ending did not. The monks vanished, the abbey fell silent, and no one remained to say with certainty what had happened within those walls.
Only the bell remained
