“What the hell is this?” - Veran yelled.

“We didn’t see them at first because of the moss. But there are claw marks all over the house and others as well.”

He wasn’t lying. Some had just grazed it, but you could clearly see how four deep slices had cut the wood. Too big to be a wolf’s or a bear’s, too consistent to be sword slashes.

“You seen marks this big before?” - a soldier sad in amusement.

“Don’t know what kind of bears they have in these lands…”

Veran took his eyes away from the cuts in the wall and went outside without uttering another word. He went outside his body on edge. Suddenly he wasn’t worried about Vladislav’s men that much. Who knew what beasts hid in this forest? Everything in the village reeked of violence. It was a smell you learned to recognize when you’ve fought long enough.

The general took a deep breath and started walking to one of the larger houses. Inside, a group of soldiers was already going through the rubble, trying to find out more about the village. But most importantly - whether its inhabitants had left something valuable behind. Once the men found out there would be no fighting today, they took a collective breath.

The house was made of a single large space, with a fire in its middle. People in this part of the land still held their pagan beliefs, but they were not that different from the rest of the country. They needed warmth and spent their evenings close to each other. Everything left of that harmony was buried under a pile of broken boards. A soldier pulled a small wooden figure depicting a woman from the floor.

“Take a look at the toys they’ve got here. They even carved this one with breasts.” - he said as he examined the figure. It wasn’t a masterpiece, but it was clearly a woman and a gifted one at that.

“Oy, toss it here.” - another one said and raised his arms to catch the figure flying his way.

“Hey, be careful with that!” - a third soldier yelled.

“Calm down. It’s just a piece of wood.”

“It’s not a toy, you half-wit. It’s an idol. She’s a goddess.”

“Oh, come on, you can’t be one of those people.” - the soldier yelled and threw the idol back to his friend.

“What? Is it a bad omen if we play with it? Your sort believes in these?” - he said mockingly.

The young soldier snatched the figure out of his hands and cleaned it up with his sleeve.

“You a pagan, boy?”

“What I believe in is my own business.”

“Here, you want to clean that too.” - the soldier said and tossed him another broken piece of wood from the ground.

The young soldier held his tongue, but his fists were ready to take flight. He turned towards the other man and pulled his hand back to take a swing at him. At the same moment, the sound of heavy footsteps came from the entrance. Veran walked in and saw the angry eyes and clenched fists.

“What’s going on here?”

“Nothing, sir, cleaning up the rubble.”

“It doesn’t seem like you’re doing a good job of it. Get at it.”

“Yes sir.” - they all said in a chorus.

“You boy, come with me in the back.”

The younger soldier followed his general behind the house in silence.