The breaking waves told them they were getting close. The waves were small, regular, and in the stillness of the night sounded like thunder in spring. Tanner turned and checked for any light behind them once more. He saw none.
“Carrion, that road is close?”
“Just above the high tide mark.”
“No houses on this little peninsula, but how about further north?”
“Not for a while.”
“We need an excuse to be here.”
“Calm down! I know that as well as you. Listen, we’re not going to just walk into the city like we’re stupid. We’re going to observe. Hide. Learn. But you know all this.”
Tanner calmed himself. “Okay, let’s get to shore.”
They guided the boat into the last of the waves and let them push the boat onto the sandy beach. Together they leaped into the knee-deep water and pulled it onto dry land. Their eyes were accustomed to the dim light and as they looked around there seemed no place to hide the boat.
Carrion said as he pointed, “Go down that way. I’ll go the other.”
Tanner headed north, but found no shrubs or anything else to conceal the boat. He returned, to find Carrion already there. “Nothing.”
“Okay, we’ll pull it up near those little sand dunes, turn it over and cover it with sand.”
Tanner said, “I’m not trying to be funny, but what if we bury it and lose the location?”
“That’s a fair question. We’ll mark the location. A storm can blow in and change this whole beach.”
The boat was heavy on land, but between the two of them, they managed to get it well up on the shore. They scooped sand out of a shallow hole and turned the boat over into it. The oars and supplies they were not taking with them went underneath and then sand was scooped over the entire boat.
The task took most of the night. When finished, Tanner had expected to depart for Breslau City, but he was both sleepy and tired, as well as cold. They agreed to sleep beside the boat. They brought three heavy blankets apiece, hardly enough to keep the cold at bay.
When the sun came up, they awoke, and the temperature immediately climbed. A single glance around the area showed them their work during the night was not enough to conceal their only means of returning home. The boat hull was only partly covered, and it was visible from a distance. The disturbed sand from their digging was obvious.
Carrion said, “Good thing we didn’t leave it like this.”
“Probably didn’t matter, from what I see. There’s nobody around here.”
“Grab an oar and we’ll use it to smooth the sand. The wind will take care of it after that,” Carrion said, as he swept more sand on top.
Tanner used the oar to smooth the sand. It wouldn’t fool anyone within a hundred paces, but they saw no footprints in the sand, no houses, and no indication that anyone lived or visited the peninsula. They walked directly to where they determined the road would be, finding an area of rock where loose boulders littered the ground.
“Our marker?” Tanner asked, already selecting several.
They made a pyramid waist high, a marker that could be seen from a distance. It told where the boat was hidden. To anyone else, it would mean little.
Another similar marker was constructed beside the road, far enough away that unless a person looked for it, they wouldn’t see it. It blended in with the surroundings so well that it almost hid. Carrion went to the side of the road, just a few steps away it, and quickly stacked more rocks. A smaller indicator, but a beacon to locate the others.
Carrion said, “We’ll cross the road and walk parallel to it. That side of the road is higher. Keep your eyes ahead and stay low.”
“How long until we reach the first village?”
“Mid-morning at the latest.”
They skirted the road, using whatever cover offered itself. They saw nobody and the road remained as empty and unused as it was in ill repair. They saw no wagon tracks, footprints, or indications that people had used the road in days. Or ten days.
However, as their hopes diminished of reaching the village, buildings appeared ahead of them. The road continued right on through the center, with three buildings on one side and five on the other.
The ground was rocky, broken, and dark gray. Here and there enough soil had accumulated for tufts of grass to grow after rain and turn brown as the relentless sun beat down. The land was far from flat.
Off to their right stood mountains white with snow at their peaks. They were not the rounded mountains Tanner was used to. Instead, they stood tall, their slopes seemingly vertical, and the jagged horizon reminded him of the teeth of a dragon.
There were a hundred places to conceal themselves as they moved closer to the shabby buildings. The wood siding had warped and twisted in the heat and the sun until gaps large enough to slip his fingers inside were more common than not. Tanner wondered why the people didn’t repair them with a few nails but realized they allowed air to enter. A small breeze would help cool them.
His mind turned to rain as his eyes shifted and looked for any sign of it. When had it rained last in this godless place?
Then he looked for signs of a dog. Barking dogs warn farmers of intruders. Their job is to protect, but he saw no sign of them.
Carrion had paused at a small rise where they could lay behind the nub of a hill and watch. Nothing moved. He saw no cows, pigs, chickens, or sheep. On the beach were four boats in various states of disrepair, none capable of floating long enough to reach deep water where it would certainly sink.
“I don’t see any sign of life,” Tanner said.
“I think this place is deserted. Let’s move closer.”
They ran to the edge of what looked like a tool shed and peeked around the corner. Nothing moved, not even the flutter of a curtain. They listened. Only the wind rustling sounded. Not a bird singing, an insect buzzing, or chipmunks chattering.
“String your bow and cover me,” Carrion said without turning his head to make sure Tanner did it. Instead, he slipped noiselessly around the corner and sprinted to the rear of the nearest house. He paused, his ear to the wall.
Tanner had an arrow ready. His eyes roamed over the entire area and all the buildings. A stretcher for fishing nets stood beside a small pier. The nets were torn and hung in streams of string.
Carrion ran for the next house. He moved on after motioning for Tanner to remain on watch. After checking the outside of the houses on the near side of the road, he crossed and examined them, pausing only a short while at each. Then he walked out into plain sight and waved for Tanner to join him. Tanner ran to his side.
“I don’t believe anyone is here. Sand is piled on the steps, nothing that I see tells me people have been here for a while,” Carrion said, as he led the way to the nearest door and lifted the latch.
Inside was dry and smelled of a space unlived it. They entered and found everything intact, but covered in layers of sand that had drifted in through the openings clearly seen from the inside as streaks of light. Pots, furniture, tools, and beds. All unused.
The room had none of the smells of a room lived in. No cooking odors or scents of people sweating or breathing. It was void of the normal smells of life.
They went to the next building, another house. Inside they found much the same, but in one of the chairs sat a woman. Her skin had dried, by the fluids draining from her body, leaving it a husk. She was a mummy wearing a round hat to shade her face from the sun. A knife handle protruded from her ribs. At her side lay the remains of a dog, another knife in it.
After exchanging looks but no words, they left and surveyed the area again. It had taken on a pall as if the clouds had lowered and turned the day darker, but there were no clouds and the sun remained bright. The change was in Tanner’s mind.