First line of defence, information. I
didn't find any with the rats, and the news briefs are a bit too brief for my
tastes. Time to look elsewhere - and that elsewhere was an abandoned tent on
the edge of town.
With Ed in tow for backup (he's been a bit
bored, babysitting the jurors) I decided to explore Doc's tent. Probably thanks
to his hasty departure from the mountain, Doc and his ghoulish band left their
ragged-ass home behind, with everything still inside. I figured it might be
worth a quick check. At the very least it might tell me something about the
Non.
I was, sadly, wrong. The tent was (we've
since taken it down and shoved it into a shed) empty, save for a few mundane
doctoring tools in a box. Scalpel, hammer, a lot of cloth bandages, some dirty
gloves, and a few bottles of foul-smelling yellow liquid. Edmund believes
they're antiseptic; I think they're piss. Neither of us wants to confirm our
suspicions, so we dumped the contents in the Potos River and called it a day.
Yet the tent's emptiness was, in its own
way, a bit telling. Aside from a rickety table, which I suspect was used for
'examining' patients, there was no furniture. Doc seemed to be using the Cedric-Driscol-Bernard
Thing as a bed the last time I saw him, so I suspect he doesn't give two shits
about the comfort of his minions. The same probably goes for Titan Blue, the
massive elephant-which-almost-certainly-wasn't-an-elephant. I dunno, though, 'cause
I never saw it unmasked.
(Speaking of which, there's been no sign of
the big'un in the forests of Pubton. If it's still there, it's hiding really
well.)
Of course, these Non fellas might not even
need furniture. When they were attacking Pubton during the winter, the lot of
them seemed quite content to sit on the shield protecting us and leech away at
it as a giant, uncomfortable lump. I assume they're able to change shape, since
I've seen Kierkegaard and the Omega Corps change, but… well… hell. I dunno.
Maybe they're more like liquid normally, and thus can rest without having to
sit down.
This is all conjecture, of course. I don't
know what the hell I'm talkin' about. Maybe they're made of cake, and they feed
off the fetid souls of three-year-old goats. Anything's possible.
As much as the lack of information
depressed me, Ed pointed out one solid fact while we were searching that gave
me some grim hope.
"'tis true we know naught, /
Of that I can'st lie;
But them we have fought.
We know they can die."
Yes. Yes, they certainly can. Thank the
gods for it.
Tomorrow I do a thorough check of the walls
with Evangelina and Harold. I hope they're up to the challenge of repulsing an
attack… because the Non are coming. I just know they are.
Sincerely,
Dragomir the Guard
WHEN WILL DIARY COME BACK?!? :( *sob*
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