The first sign the travelers had of what was wrong, was the corpse in the road.
Kain knelt down to examine the festering body. It was not someone he recognized, but the condition of the body told him all he needed to know.
Meanwhile, Seras was gagging at the smell. "Gah... what happened to him? Bodies don't usually smell that bad!"
Kain stood up, and said, "Before I left on my journey, rumor had come from the east, of a pestilence that had laid siege to villages in that area. Obviously, those rumors failed to prepare my former home for this plague." His own nose wrinkled in disgust as he stepped around the corpse. "It seems to rot the body from the inside out... pity."
"Pity? Why so?"
"Just a shame, when good blood goes bad."
Seras rolled her eyes as she followed Kain further toward Coorhagen.
_-=^=-_
Kain didn't even bother to assume his disguise as they entered the town. It was quite obvious by that point that no one was left in Coorhagen that would care about a Vampire or two.
But he did receive a shock when he saw a man dragging a cart of bodies. "Bring out yer dead!" the man cried over and over again, as he slowly dragged the cart along. His clothes had once been of fine quality - not the clothes of royalty, but of their servants. However, they were stained and ruined by blood and other, less pleasant fluids.
"Cedrik?" Kain asked, before he could stop himself.
"You know him?" Seras asked in kind, as the man approached them.
"Yes... a faithful retainer to my family, perhaps the only one we had."
At that point, Cedrik seemed to notice them. But instead of fleeing, he smiled at the sight of the pair. "Young master Kain! You have returned home at last! I knew that you would, I did. I'm sorry, but I haven't been able to clean up the town for your return, m'lord. So many dead bodies to be burned, and a few of them less than willing..."
Kain blinked at that, and examined Cedrik closely. He could see the sores and boils that indicated that Cedrik was also infected, but more to the point, he was also all but the vestiges of sanity. "It is... all right, Cedrik. I'm simply passing through as it is." Kain said, hesitantly.
"Of course, m'lord, of course you are. You never were meant for this town... I always knew that. You were too big and bright for Coorhagen." Cedrik glanced at Seras for a moment, and smiled. "And I see you've picked up a fine woman. You mother wouldn't approve of her at all, so I guess she must be a good choice, then."
Kain actually chuckled, while Seras sputtered in indignation. No, his fool of a mother never liked the idea of a woman that was in any way greater than herself. She never would have approved of Seras, who was far more intelligent and beautiful than his mother ever had been.
"Perhaps," Seras said, with a little heat, "you should consider resting?"
Cedrik shook his head. "Oh, no. I can't do that yet. So many dead bodies, you know. I have to burn the bodies, the Lord himself told me too. Burn all the dead bodies, I will... and we're all dead here, aren't we?"
That was all the warning the pair had before Cedrik pounced at Seras, swinging his hands like claws. However, one simple man, even driven by plague-induced madness, was little match for two battle-tested vampires.
Kain momentarily considered drinking Cedrik's blood... but decided that he did not wish to risk learning what infected blood could do to him. Instead, he simply ran the man through. "Rest now, Cedrik."
Seras shook her head, and glanced about the town, and the piles of bodies all over it. "This... is going to be remarkably unpleasant, isn't it?"
"Quite probably."
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Wed, 15 Jun 2005 19:33)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.