Chapter 1(a)

The uneasy quiet that had settled over the village of Awktowon was suddenly pierced by a blood-curdling scream. A young halfling girl came stumbling out of the shambles of what had just a few hours ago been her home. She filled the late afternoon air with that awful noise when she saw the body laying a few feet from the lane that served as the main thoroughfare through this little village. She started to run toward the body and fell down hard into the mud, but she made no attempt to get back up, choosing instead to crawl the rest of the way to her lifeless mother. The girl was bleeding from a wound on her right shoulder, but the screams that escaped her lips had less to do with the pain and more to do with the shattering of her little world. At only eight years old, she knew little of the outside world and had never seen death before. She had no way of being prepared for the horror that she faced this day. She finally made her way to the body of her mother. Seeing the back of her head smashed in, the young halfling lost what little control she had been maintaining and began to wail uncontrollably. She was crying, not only because her mother was dead, brutally murdered, but she was also crying out of guilt.
When the bad creatures had been destroying their village only a few hours ago, her mother had hidden her and her siblings in a special cubby hole in their hovel. Wemael did not want to be separated from her mother and had begun to cry. Her mother begged her to be quiet, just as one of the marauders crashed his way into their home. He yelled a lot, but Wemael could not understand what he was saying. When she looked out from her hiding place, she saw the creature dragging her mother out of the door and she could not stand that, and cried out to her. The creature stopped, looking back into the hovel trying to locate the source of that cry. Her mother begged the creature for mercy, asking that he spare her children, but that was the wrong thing to say. When the creature heard the word "children", an ugly smile formed on his face. He dragged Wemael's mother back inside, demanding that she reveal where the tasty morsels were hiding. She refused, which infuriated him. He responded with a powerful blow to the side of her head, but in doing so, he let her slip from his hand. She darted straight for the door, hoping to get this evil creature outside and away from her babies. She thought that if he had to chase her down, he might forget about the children. She did not get far. Wemael saw his face twist in rage and watched him draw a large hammer from his side, and lunge after her. Her mother made it about halfway to the lane, when that hammer connected with the back of her head. The force of the blow crushed her skull and sent her flying into the gutter beside the lane. Wemael had seen all this because she had slipped out of the cubby hole again, hoping stil to be with her mother. She watched with sheer terror, as her mother landed with a thud at the feet of another of these wicked creatures. When she landed, she splashed mud onto this other marauder's boots causing him to laugh an ungodly laugh. He was soon joined in this hateful amusement by the hammer wielding creature. After what seemed like forever to Wemael, the first creature remembered the children and headed back to the ruined hovel. Wemael scooted quickly back to the cubby, believing that she was safe, but the marauder had seen her slip inside and so found the children. He did what came natural to him, and soon, all but Wemael lay dead at his feet. He had grazed her shoulder with a crudely made axe, sending her crashing to the floor. She did not move, mostly out of fear, but also because somewhere inside her she heard a voice telling her to stay down. This time, she listened. The marauder might have continued his slaughter, in spite of Wemael's lifeless pose, but his laughing companion called to him that they were leaving. He left the hovel wearing the ugliest satisfied look on his face. Wemael remained almost perfectly still for hours, fearing that the evil creature might return and finish his ghastly work. When she finally did decide to move, she did it with almost complete silence. She had to stifle the tears that were threatening to burst forth as she crawled over the bodies of her brothers and sister. She wanted to weep for them, but feared that the family's attacker might still be around. She was successful in not making a sound until she reached the door and saw her mother.
Now she lay weeping on her mother's back, sobbing softly, but deeply. Other than the heaving of her body caused by her mourning, she lay still for some time. It wasn't until the sun had slunk away, ashamed to have been witness to the day's horror that Wemael stirred. She heard noises coming form the entrance of the village, and she scrambled away from her mother's body reluctantly. She got as far as the water barrel just outside her front door, when the source of the noise appeared in front of her mother. She was able to scoot behind the barrel; certain that who or whatever was there had not seen her. After a few minutes, Wemael stuck her head out just enough to catch a glimpse of this new intruder.