It was nearly May, which should have been the most vibrant time of year in the Duchy.
Farmers would be shouting at their oxen, plowing furrows in the fields. Women, with baskets full of freshly baked wheat cakes, would be calling for their husbands. Barefoot children would be chasing each other across the meadows while tending their flocks.
Yet now, all Roland and his Knights saw was a deathly silence.
"Brother."
Leo Sun reined in his horse. His mount pawed nervously at the ground, snorting repeatedly.
All color had drained from his young face, his gaze fixed on a corpse in a ditch by the roadside.
The man's body was twisted into an unnatural position. His skin had turned a grayish-black and was beginning to swell.
Most horrifying of all was his wide-open mouth, from which dark, clotted blood was oozing, matting half his face.
"This is the Blood Cough," Roland said calmly.
The arguments from the clan council hall before their departure echoed in his ears.
