Chapter 184 - Malachi
It took Rosa well over thirty minutes to reach the place the blacksmith had mentioned, even though she’d tried maintaining a brisk pace to keep warm on the chilly night. Trudging through the darkness, she found herself thinking it might have been worth keeping Father Abraham around, if only for him to serve as a human lantern. It would certainly have helped her avoid a few near-tumbles on the way.
The first sign of habitation she found northwards was in the form of a decaying, timeworn fence enclosing a vast field on the right side of the road. The dark masked how far it stretched, but it was clear that it hadn’t been used actively for a considerable period.
Soon, she spotted a farmstead that looked to have been untouched by human hands for years. Still, it was the first place that might count as a ‘home’ Rosa encountered, and the blacksmith had made no mention of continuing past it, so she ventured off the beaten path and headed towards it.
As she approached, her eyes swept across the farmstead. At its center stood a stone well, and beside an old barn lay a heap of rusted tools. If this was where that Malachi person lived, Rosa doubted they were a farmer.
That brought up some questions about what such an individual would be doing living in such a remote location. The elderly woman who’d told Rosa about Malachi had also issued a warning about them being dangerous, though the nature of that danger remained a mystery. It could range anywhere from them being a knife-wielding maniac to a terrible cook, and Rosa really didn’t know what to expect. The entire situation had her on edge.
The unsettling atmosphere of this place didn’t help with her unease, and it felt like something could jump out at her at any moment now. The farmstead didn’t just feel abandoned. It felt forsaken. At first, Rosa had thought it was the visions playing tricks on her senses, but with every step closer she got, that impression became more entrenched.
She paused as she caught a flicker of movement between two buildings. Whatever it was had a tail, but was it just her imagination, or did the tail have spikes?
Normally, she would write that off as another product of her visions, but this place made her reluctant to dismiss it like that. Though it would be just like her ‘freeloader’ to exploit that uncertainty and use it against her.
Reaching behind her, Rosa unstrapped her klert, clutching the wooden instrument tightly. She remained vigilant, ears cocked for any unusual sounds. After a while, she resumed her slow approach, making her way towards the structure that appeared to be the main building. A dilapidated homestead that belonged in the types of tales you told children to keep them from running off into the woods in the middle of the night for fun. When she reached the entrance, she extended her hand to knock on the timeworn planks of the door.
Then she waited.
Unsurprisingly, there was no immediate response. Even if someone was home, a knock at the door might not rouse them from their slumber. She tried knocking again, this time with more force. For once, she didn’t mind a touch of rudeness. Strangely enough, she felt more exposed standing here in front of the house and waiting than she had standing out in the open.
Several more minutes elapsed as she tried knocking a third time. She was starting to worry that there either wasn’t anybody here or that this wasn’t enough to catch their attention.