Burnt village, guilt and..

It wasnt even a couple of hours after leaving the inn that Mira came to the remains of a burnt human settlement, a farming village by the looks of it. Aramis tried to dissuade her from visiting the foul place, but Mira felt it was her duty to pay her respects to the fallen.

The place was even worse than she had imagined.

The ground was still littered by the churned corpses of once living beings, animals and humans, and the buildings fire were long smoked out. The calamity must have happened weeks, if not months ago. Not even the carrion animals festered the place anymore.

Mira rode by, uttering just a prayer for the deceased. The Sun Goddess, as if hearing her words, darkened the sky, and started to lightly pour rain over the dark memory. The paladin did nothing to protect herself from the Goddess blessings, and neither it occurred to her that it was a sign A’hiriya still blessed her.

Aramis took it worse. He looked visibly ill, and couldnt pass by the place fast enough.

They rode in silence for the rest of the morning. At Mira's insistence, they stopped to eat lunch. "Tell me about the villages that are still standing." She asked him, and he named the handful that survived the passage of Marus troops, the lucky ones that didnt meet goblins or orcs. A few were still there, but slaves of some inhuman race or another. "Only the fell nobles" as Aramis called the nobles that joined the demon "have their settlements intact, and even these..."

"I know. Now tell me about Marus allies" The brisk cut was like a bucket of water in the conscience heavy squire. He nodded, and began to describe the goblins, the orcs, and the many infernal allies Marus brought from his pit. Mira had lost many battles because the Demon Lord brought some unknown foe from the pit, and speaking to Aramis with stark honesty was a rare chance.

Their conversation continued after they resumed traveling, there were numbers and holdings that Mira could use, as well as which Nobles were actually betrayers, and which were being **** by Marus evil plots. Mira was quite surprised by the number of the last, but her demeanor remained that of a grim warrior studying her enemy.

"Wait" she suddenly called.

"What is it?" Aramis asked

"Did you hear that?" he hadnt heard anything, and said so.

"No, there is something going on. Come." The paladin strings her bow, dismounts, and start entering the nearby woods.