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</div><br/><br/><i>"I want you up front, Riot. Ride out a short ways ahead of the column...fifty yards or so, just don't go out of sight. If you see anything, I want you to raise your hand and I will come up to you. There is clearly...something...that inhabits this Grass. I don't know what it is...or what that apparition was last night. But I get the feeling we may need to be more vigilant than we have been." He paused, looking the man in the eye. "And don't tell the others what we found - just that his body was recovered. I don't want to cause any more panic. Understood?"</i><br/><br/>Will Riot nodded his understanding, and when Holger told him not to tell the others, he also understood; others were the women. No doubt Red, with his unique perspective of the world, had seen the goings on in the front of the column. It didn’t matter, though; it seemed Red liked his solitude and Will wasn’t one for idle chatter with other men.<br/><br/>He hadn’t felt too comfortable getting up close and personal with the corpse, but after he agreed to keep his mouth shut about the body and to ride up front, he began to second guess what he thought he saw. He scanned the grass and path beyond, riding ahead of the column and feeling a lot like a worm on a hook, just waiting for the big ol’ bass to come out of nowhere and snatch him off the hook. He let his breath ease out of his lips and calmed his pounding heart. Surely, in the light of day, nothing would attack them…<br/><br/>Would it?<br/><br/>He continued to lead, occasionally pausing to look off to the left or right, enough to see the horizon and ensure he was in sight of the soldiers. If something came to get him like it did their dead comrade, he was certain that a raised hand would only serve to alert those following to take cover and protect themselves. Still…it was generous that their leader had offered the thought that he would ride up himself and see what was needed, or what it was the scout saw.<br/><br/>Riding along, he thought over the things that he had seen. He couldn’t remember some details; for instance, was the place where the flesh ended cut sharp, or was it jagged, as if thousands of tiny mouths had nibbled at the man’s flesh. Was there bone where the body had been eaten away? He had been so astounded by the untouched nature of the clothing and armor that he hadn’t really looked at what ‘wasn’t there’. At first he had thought that a sudden wind or storm might have stripped the man’s flesh away, but that would have left damage on the gear as well…and insects, like a swarm of locusts, would have not only left a few tell-tale bite marks but might have also gotten crushed by the man’s flailing about.<br/><br/>And then there was that strange, oblong clearing around his body, as if some kind of blob had just smashed him to the ground. But there again, the armor and clothing had not shown signs of damage. Will sighed. ‘I should have looked longer,’ he thought to himself. ‘Next time I will.’ Then he shivered at the gruesome sight he had seen and changed his mind. He hoped there were no more ‘next times’. The man had died a horrible, painful death, and he wouldn’t wish that on anyone.<br/><br/>He raised his eyes, scanning the grasslands again, before checking the road before them, then took a moment to take a sip of water before continuing. This was going to be one hell of a journey, and it would give him a lot of interesting stories to tell his children and grandchildren. If, that was, he survived.