Felix and Kane intro

“This is going to make life complicated for a while, Kane,” Felix said, hunched over the body at his feet.

Above him, Kane grunted.  “Probably,” he said.

“Certainly,” Felix replied, a note of finality in his voice.

She was young, no more than seventeen, and Felix thought she would have been pretty under different circumstances.  Her hair, almost white, splayed about her like a halo, and her blue eyes stared at the treetops, empty.  Felix’s own eyes, however, were drawn to her neck, where a wicked gash ran just under her chin.  Felix stood up, replacing his wide, black hat.

“It’s already complicated,” he said.  “There isn’t any blood.”

“Or tracks,” the other grumbled.

Felix looked around the forest; a soft green light filtered down through the treetops, the creek they had followed down from the mountains gurgled along, and the birds were in full chorus.  If not for the corpse, it would have been a perfect spring day.

“We could always just go; avoid the next town,” Felix said, but he knew that wouldn’t happen even before Kane glared at him.

“We won’t be doing that,” the large man said.

Felix sighed, leaned down, and closed the girl’s eyes.  “We won’t,” he said.

Kane threw his head back and laughed, his whole body shaking with mirth.  “If it was that easy to convince you, you were planning on staying anyways,” he said at last.  “Have you finally realized that you do believe in doing right?”

Felix glowered up from under his hat.  “Hardly.”  Once again, he looked down at the girl.  “I just know that if I don’t look into this, it’ll eat at me wherever we go.”

Kane nodded.  “I also wish to see her murder resolved; you are concerned about doing the right thing.”

“Not at all.  I just have to know.  The regular questions, like who she is or why she was killed, I could get over.  It’s the strange things, like how her throat was cut without spilling any blood on her clothes, and how her corpse made it out into these hills without whoever brought it leaving so much as a trace that will stay with me if I don’t figure them out.”

“What shall we do with her?”

“Hmm?”

Kane sighed.  “The girl, Felix.  We can’t just leave her here.”

Felix started walking to where his horse was tied to a tree.  “Well what do you propose we do?  We can’t very well carry her about with us; not only would it be inconvenient, but I’m sure that the townsfolk wouldn’t exactly welcome two strangers carrying around the corpse of a local girl.  As it is it’s going to be insanely difficult to figure this out without getting singled out as the killers ourselves.”

“We could bury her,” Kane said.  “It shouldn’t take too long, with two of us working, and this glade is as pretty a resting spot as they come.”

“Why?  She won’t notice, and the day is already drawing late.  I was hoping to sleep in an actual bed tonight, and have some decent food.”

Kane made his way over to his own horse and unpacked his camp shovel.  “Don’t you have any respect?” he hissed.  After Felix merely stared at him, Kane spat.  “Well, I’m going to give her a proper burial.  Bad enough that she was murdered without being left for the wolves by the only men able to help.  You can go on to the town; I’ll catch up.”

Kane stomped over to a spot at the base of a towering oak tree and began digging.  Felix sat on his horse for a minute, watching, and then he sighed.  After dismounting, he hung his coat and hat on a nearby tree, unpacked his own shovel, and fell to the work next to his friend.

Kane grinned, and Felix said, “Stop smiling at me.  The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can get to town.”

“Ah.  Nothing else, then?”

“You topped your previous record for longest single speech by ten words.  From that, I reasoned that this task is important to you.”

Kane chuckled and shook his head.  “I’ll make you into a good man, yet,” he said.  Felix grunted, and the two men continued digging in silence.

It took well into the afternoon to finish, and a few moments longer for Kain to carve a simple epitaph into the tree she rested under.  By the time he carved the last letter, clouds had covered the sky, and a light drizzle was starting.

“Where did this storm come from?” Kain asked.

“I’m not sure, but it feels unnatural.”

“A wizard would further complicate the issue.”

Felix barked a small laugh.  “Wizard or not, the rain is adequate to soak through my clothes.  If you are quite finished with the girl’s death rites, may we move along?  I somehow doubt we’d be fortunate enough for two wayfarers to find and bury us if we drown in the rain where we stand.”

“There is nothing more I can do for her here.”  Kain put away his shovel and climbed back on his horse.  “I do hope we find a place to rest soon; if we do not, your grumbling is bound to kill one of us.”