Finally returning home, I sighed a little in relief at the sight of the house.

  So much for being quick.

  My right shoulder was a little stiff, but I didn’t bother moving the large stick that was causing the discomfort. I was almost finished. I’d be able to put the stick, and the half carved deer, down shortly.

  It was the middle of the night. The full moon was peering through clouds, and although it wasn’t raining at the moment I could smell it on the wind. It’d likely start raining soon.

  The house was dark, even the so called living room. Which meant Lujic had either not lit a fire, or it had gone out already. Odds are it had simply gone out, since the boy was usually studious about keeping the fire going for his sister. It was late enough that he was likely fast asleep.

  Like most humans they went to bed rather earlier. Not long after the sun finished setting. Odds are he had been asleep for hours. I blamed their inability to see well in the dark.

  As I approached the house however… something made me pause.

  Looking around, I studied the farmstead. What had I noticed? For some reason something had seemed off, but I couldn’t tell what.

  The fields looked fine. The dirt paths looked unbothered… The grass, and nearby hills and trees all looked the same too.

  The house maybe…? I looked back at the house, and the barn, and wasn’t able to find any difference between it and my memories of it. Though maybe the…

  Blinking as I realized it, I frowned at the sight of the front door. It was half open.

  Stepping forward I lowered the deer and stick it was tied to. Placing it down onto the ground I slowly approached the house and walked alongside it a moment, as to stare into the window.

  It had shutters, but they were half open too. I didn’t find it odd before however simply because they weren’t able to close all the way. They had been broken before we had got here and found this place. So it had not seemed odd to me.

  Inside the house looked normal. Dark. Cold, maybe even.

  No signs of anything wrong.

  Reaching behind, I grabbed hold of the small knife at my waist. It was the one I used to cut and clean stuff I ate, or chop small pieces of wood with. Hardly a proper weapon, but it was better than nothing at the moment.

  Slowly approaching the front door, I took a few deeper breaths… and realized finally what had tipped me off that something was wrong.

  There was a strange smell in the air. One I didn’t recognize. Not from the house, this area, or from the kids or myself.

  Was it a person? An animal? I didn’t know, but now that I really recognized it the smell was distinct.

  Reaching the front door, I reached out and slowly pushed the door open. I opened as carefully as I could, but it still creaked a little. Scanning the inside of the house, I noticed the strange smell was now a little more potent.

  Someone had been in the house. Someone else. I could smell leather, metal, and bad breath.

  A man, maybe.

  My heartbeat slowly grew louder as I entered the house… and strained my ears to listen.

  I couldn’t hear anyone breathing. No shift of weight on the floor. And although the smell of a stranger was burning my nose, I could tell it was not fresh.

  Walking deeper into the house, I felt my stomach grow heavy as I realized something even more serious than a possible intruder and enemy.

  I couldn’t hear anything. The house was as quiet as could be.

  Not only did I not hear whoever had come into this house uninvited… I also couldn’t hear the sound of Lujic and Ginny. At all.

  And as I slowly walked down the hallway, the cold fact I couldn’t hear them become more and more obvious… and upon reaching the bedroom, I went still as I stared into an empty room.

  Lujic and Ginny were gone.

  Lujic being missing from the house would be weird, but not unbelievable. But Ginny? The poor girl could barely walk to the kitchen without having to sit down and rest.

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  Had they left? On purpose? Or was that strange smell, the smell of what I could only assume was a strange man, the cause of this?

  Had it been their uncle maybe? They hadn’t outright said he had been killed in the fighting… Though I had assumed so, since they hadn’t asked to go and find him.

  Entering the room, I studied the beds… and noticed the odd way the blankets were shifted around. Ginny’s were half on the floor…

  Studying the bedding, I wondered what had happened. If they had simply left, on their own, why did it look as if they had jumped out of their beds in a hurry?

  Hurrying out of the room, I was careful as I checked the rest of the house. A part of me wondered if maybe the two kids had hidden themselves, and were still in hiding even now.

  It’d make sense. If a stranger broke in, they might have just hid… as to keep themselves safe…

  Yet as I checked the small house, it became clear they weren’t here inside of it. Nor was anyone else, either.

  I left the house to go check the barn. Hurriedly opening the barn door, I came to another stop from surprise.

  The chickens were all gone.

  Hesitating a moment, I slowly walked into the barn and looked for any sign of anything alive. Human or otherwise.

  I found none, and left the barn. I felt a strange apprehension feel me as I wandered back towards the front of the house… and slowly looked around.

  I felt as if I should be running somewhere. To hurry. As if my life depended on it.

  But I had no idea where to hurry to. Or why I should in the first place.

  There was no one here. Unless someone was off in the nearby trees, hiding quietly. But the smell in the air wasn’t strong enough to justify that in my opinion. Outside of the house the strange unknown smell was weak and barely noticeable now. It was being carried away by the wind, and I was growing used to it.

  “Lujic…?” I dared to speak, and for a few heavy heartbeats I went still and listened to the world around me.

  Other than the rustling of leaves and grass from the wind, I heard nothing else.

  “Lujic!” I said louder, this time loud enough that even if a human was hiding in the nearby tree-line they’d be able to hear it too.

  Once again my answer was only silence.

  Groaning I hurried back into the house. “Lujic? Ginny!” I shouted as I checked the house again. I even checked in some of the cupboards.

  No one and nothing. No answer. No responses.

  I was alone in an empty house. In an empty farmstead.

  Feeling sick, I found myself standing in the living room. I slowly spun, looking all around me as if for answers… but had no idea what kind of answers I even needed.

  What if it had just been their uncle? Maybe he had picked them up and left. That would have explained the chickens being taken too. For food.

  I’d not fault them. It’d be for the best, even. They were not my children after all… and they should not just be with their own kind, but their own family.

  But…

  Remembering the way the blankets were all strange, I couldn’t help but feel uneasy.

  Maybe they had simply jumped out of their beds in joy. At hearing or seeing their family member.

  But how had he found them…? We were several days away from that battlefield. Plus this farmstead was rather deep into a thick forest. Even if one followed the river, as we had done, it wasn’t like they’d just be able to find this place that easily. The only reason we had found it was because I had smelled something odd on the wind. An unnatural stink. It had been the smell of the rotting and overgrown farm plots.

  Though… stuff did happen randomly, sometimes. Just pure happenstance and…

  “What if it wasn’t their uncle?” I dared to whisper the harsh truth that I’d been trying to ignore.

  What if it had been the owners of this farm? Or another one of those soldiers? Though why they’d take the kids…

  Hurrying out of the house, I stepped out onto the dirt… and looked around at the ground.

  It took a little while, since I had to let the clouds shift and move as to get enough light, but I eventually found what I figured I would.

  Footprints. And not just human ones either.

  Stepping over to the group of prints, I knelt down and immediately recognized the tracks of a horse. Maybe even two or three.

  I hadn’t noticed them earlier thanks to the dark, and my slight panic. But I was calming down now. A little bit, at least.

  So it hadn’t just been a single man. There had been a group. That explained the strange smell. It was a mixture of many scents.

  Honestly it made the chance of their uncle being the one to have shown up the more likely scenario. Though I wasn’t sure how right that was, since it might just be my own hope overriding common sense.

  “What should I do…?” I wondered. Was there even anything I could do? If they were on horses I’d likely never be able to catch up or find them even if I tried. In the dark, out here in the forest, I’d not be able to track them well. The ground here was mushy, but not so much their tracks would be obvious for long.

  But…

  Glancing back at the house, I felt suddenly tired. I almost felt as if I hadn’t slept in days. But I knew I wasn’t actually tired. I wasn’t actually exhausted. It had taken me longer than I wanted to catch that deer, and it had been a little annoying carrying it here… but it hadn’t been exhausting.

  If I don’t at least try to find them… I’ll never be able to know what happened.

  Without knowing I’ll always wonder. Every time, right as I drift off to sleep from now on, I’ll ask myself what had happened. If they had survived. If their uncle had actually found them, or some other strange man or enemy.

  Standing up, I stepped away from the footprints and hesitated. I had been about to follow the path, to the south. To follow the few prints I could see.

  “What do I do?” I asked.

  No one answered, of course, but my heart did.

  So… following my heart…

  I stepped forward, and broke out into a run. Leaving the empty farmstead behind.