[Nogrod]

Herbert had decided to give it a try. I feel nothing…

He took Dimmy’s figurine. She was his cousin who was always the centre of
attention when there were people around. Whenever she was present no one ever noticed him but only to hush him to be quiet or get out of the way.

He finally managed to break her figurine in his fist even if it did hurt. He didn’t have the strength and hardness of skin in his slender fingers as Mr. Hearst. It annoyed him. But it was still quite easy as he felt nothing but physical pain.

Okay… then for something completely different…

He took a deep breath.

I must be able… I must be… I feel nothing… I feel nothing…

He picked a small figurine and took it with him outside the pillbox. The sun was setting and a cold breeze caught his woollen pullover making him shiver as he climbed over the trench and up to the field. He could see their house, or what was left of it, behind the fields. It was still smoking and few spots of bright orange and red still glowed in the ruins.

He walked silently towards it pressing the figurine in his hand.

It was Neill. Or Nilby, as people used to call him. A strange person whom we would have loved to have as his uncle, or now as he had lost his own, as his father. He was the only person whom he had actually made friends in his whole life. Nilby had saved him from the bullies not a few times, calling his tormentors “rascals” and “naughty-boys”. That might have been just ridiculous but considering his presence it was the most threatening approach. The bullies were afraid of his burning eyes and grey brows, even if he wasn’t that old in the end.

It was during their evacuation from the front. The train full of evacuees and their livestock had stopped into a small station for resupplying and Nilby had accompanied him to the thickets to have a pee.

Then the fighters came.

Herbert heard their sound first and then all people were calling the alarm. Nilby took him to his arms and started running towards the treeline panting heavily as he went. Herbert caught a glimpse of the planes as they came over the treetops and started firing their machineguns. People were falling down as the cracks and bursts of the bullets ran forwards in exactly straight lines. Then he saw one line of the bullets to come straight towards them.

“Nilby!” he managed to cry.

Then he felt falling down to the ground and the adult body falling on him. He still remembered how Neill had crawled a little forwards to cover his head with his own torso from the bullets. Then there were a few nasty snap-like voices and he felt the man on him to yank aside. And there was that terrible pain in his left leg.

He had ran away. Screaming with pain and horror. And he hadn’t looked behind him.

It was only when his mother had tied the bullet-scratch in his leg he saw some people carrying a stretcher with a bloodied cloth of linen thrown over whoever it was under it that he realised that he had left Nilby there.

Herbert had received a letter from him a month later, from the central hospital nearby, as they had already settled to this dreadful place. He had never dared to open it.

Now he was pressing Nilby’s figurine firmly in his small fist already sweating. The fire had been extinguished but there were still the spots where the ashes glowed deep red. Approaching them was nightmarish as the air got hot and the smoke smart his eyes.

He threw the figurine into the glowing ashes after a long hesitation and turned to run back.

But he couldn’t. He fell to his knees and sobbed bitterly.


*~*

Finding Di’s eyeballs from the brim of the well the villagers were startled, anguished and confused.

"Well, kiddo, I'll play along. Here's my opinion on everybody:they're all wolves! Lynch them all! ... Or why don't you just lynch me? I've been all but proven to be a wolf!" Rikae yelled taking a few steps so that everyone could hear and see her.

From the gasping crowd the phantom emerged and took the lead.

"Don't speculate as to why there was only one kill. And don't believe Rikae if she decides to tell you. I will tell you myself- but later on today." He gazed around confidently.

"And don't vote yet. I have special lynching instructions that will be given to you later on today. And make a list of every villager and give your thoughts on them. Follow those three rules I gave you."

There were some murmurs on why everyone should obey him, a common sheepherder, and why was he acting like the mayor of the village. But in the end more than half of the village obeyed.

As the queries grew louder tp finally opened his mouth on the issue.

"For now, vote for Nilp. He's a Werewolf. Yes, I'm certain, so don't even ask."

And the villagers voted for Nilp unanimously, Gwath and Rikae notwithstanding.

“Now then. We only need to kill him.” the phantom said pleased with himself and how the village had followed him.

“Let me do it myself. Give me a knife pal.” Nilp suggested suddenly and looked beggingly to the sheepherder. “I’ve had my enjoyment already hearing the votes one after another: Nilp, Nilp, Nilp, Nilp, Nilp, Nilp… That’s quite enough for me. And I’ve always had some suicidal tendencies…” With that he flashed a smile revealing his canine teeth sharp as razors and big as those of a werewolf.

“Oooohhhhh!” went the crowd.

“No no! Kill me!” Rikae jumped to stand beside the ever growing werewolf.

“Don’t listen to her” people shouted in a crowd.

But before anyone had time to realise Nilp had taken the lumberjack-axe from Rikae’s hand and hit it hard to his own forehead. He hit himself at the exact moment his body started to change. The blade of the axe fell inside his body as his body bursted outwards growing in size. Then it all exploded.


*~*

Alive:

+ A Little Green, a fortune-teller - folklorist - herb-grower - unofficial therapist, advisor and midwife, most presumably a witch, the gammer (the eccentric mother of Lommy & Mac)
+ Shastanis Althreduin, astrologer/fortune teller, gaffer (Greenie's husband, father of Lommy & Mac)
+ Isabellkaya, a gammer who loves asparagus and throwing knives (Shasta's sister)

+ Thinlómien, a bird tamer, adult (married to Nilp, Macalaure's sister)
+ Eönwë, Rikae's unofficial helper-person, 22 (their son)
+ Kath, tavern owner, 20 (their daughter, Brinn's life partner)
+ Satansaloser 2005, Lommy's assistant, 17 (their daughter)

+ Rikae, a lumberjack, adult (married to Macalaure, Roa's sister)
+ the phantom, sheep herder with Legate, 21 (their adopted son, Di's brother)

+ Lhunardawen, healer's apprentice, 20 (Cailín's daughter, good twin of Durelin)
+ Durelin, poisoner 20 (Lhuna's evil twin, daughter of Cailín)


+ Roa_Aoife, school teacher, adult (mother of Legate, Brinn and Kit, wife of Nogrod, sister of Rikae)
+ Brinniel, Greenie's apprentice, 21 (Legate's sister and Kitanna's twin sister, Kath's life partner)
+ Legate of Amon Lanc, sheep herder with tp, 19 (brother of Brinn & Kit, Sally's boyfriend, Agan's ex-bf)

+ Lalaith, chocolate maker, adult (sister of Nerwen, mother of Aganzir, Volo's daughter)

+ Mormegil, adult (son of Volo, husband of Celuien, father of Gwath and McCaber)
+ Celuien, a candle maker, adult (wife of morm, mother of Gwath and McCaber)
+ Gwathagor, a highwayman, 20 (McCaber's big brother)
+ McCaber, a henchman, 18 (Gwath's little brother, dates Aganzir)


The dead:
Eomer of the Rohirrim, adult (Cailín's husband, Lhuna's and Dury's father); An innocent beheaded by the werewolves on Night1
Nogrod, the judge, adult (Roa's husband, father of Legate, Brinn and Kit); An innocent torn in two by werewolves on Night1
Nerwen, the healer, adult (sister of Lalaith, Volo's daughter); An innocent nailed to the oak-tree on Day1.
Volo, the guy who knows everything about staying alive, the gaffer (Father of Nogrod, morm, Nerwen and Lalaith); The seer mutilated and eyes pulled off on Night2.
Kitanna, a tavern wench 21 (Legate's sister and Brinn's twin sister); An innocent ripped into pieces and thrown into the well on Night2.
Aganzir, the little match girl, 15 (Lalaith's daughter, dates McCaber); A werewolf burnt alive on Day2.
Macalaure, apple farmer, adult (married to Rikae, Lommy's brother); The ranger overpowered by four werewolves in a fight and torn to pieces on Night3.
The Ka, a dog whipper (a fatherless and ageless little child of Lalaith); An innocent impaled to a spear her doll in her hand on Night3.
Cailín, guinea pig breeder, adult (Nilp's sister); A werewolf melted into a candle-wax and burnt on Day3.
Diamond 18, dissolute, 11 (phantom's pre-teen littlesister); The seer eyes picked out (once again, what a bore...), throat slit and thrown into the well on Night4.
Nilpaurion Felagund, a house-bound sandwich-maker, adult (married to Lommy); A werewolf committed a suicide when the whole village turned against him on Day4.


Night5 has begun.

Hush everyone... except those who have a license...