The Legend of Endeavor

    My home village of Stennam lay some twenty leagues from the base of the mountains and I would be there within two days. My pace and my heart beat quickened.
     As I approached the main town of Carlsham, on my way to the ford that crosses the Galmoth River, a sense of unease came over me. Something was not right. I had not seen a single person. Where were the farmers? No one was tending the fields. Where were the children? No one was playing; there were no carts carrying goods, nor women washing their clothes by the river. "It must be a feast day." I told myself as I tried to make some sense of the strange quietness. Even so, I raced to my village with every ounce of strength that my battle weary body could muster, the air getting heavier with every pace as I pushed myself on.
    When I arrived I stood there aghast, dumbfounded at the sight that greeted me. There was destruction all around; many of the village buildings had been destroyed, cottages left derelict, livestock pens empty and barns burnt to the ground. I ran to my house with panic starting to build within me. All I found was the shattered remains of what was once my home. My head screamed at me, find my family! I searched the ruins of my house, my hands tearing through the rubble in desperation and were now cut and bleeding. After looking though the shell of my home I moved outside and checked through what was once my wife's herb garden. There was nothing, not a single clue as to what had happened here. I became more frantic with my search and I began scratching and scrabbling though everything, my heart beating wildly and my pulse thumping. I desperately wanted to find something but I was terrified as to what I might discover. I moved a door that lay awkwardly out of place in the garden; it looked as if it had been torn from its hinges. Beneath the door was a pile of stones. I threw the door aside with all my strength, it crashed against the garden wall, sending splinters of wood flying. I looked down once more and saw a marker that had been knocked over, it lay beside the stones. I felt sick to my stomach knowing, before I had seen it, what I was going to find on it. I knelt and with a trembling hand I picked up the marker, brushing away the earth that covered the lettering. I read the crudely scored letters, my heart lurching. R.I.P Mother.