Mistress Diana was working the front counter of the apothecary when the man came into the shop. He was a man of average height, with sandy blond hair and a full beard. He wore the plain brown homespun cloth of a villager, but not in a style that she recognized as one of the local towns. He also wore the dust of a long road.
"How may I help you, sir?"
"Good Lady, I have urgent need of your most potent remedies. A woman of our village was attacked, and I have come for something to stop the infection that has set into her wounds. I also seek a way to remove a curse placed upon her by those of Sater."
At the sound of the name, she stopped and looked up from her parchment. "Excuse me, please. I will be right back."
Diana disappeared through the door into the back of the shop. She returned a moment later, accompanied by an elderly man in long robes of deep green.
"I am Brother Marvik. How was she attacked?"
"Sir, we aren't entirely sure. Her husband returned from the fields to find the deed already done. She had been repeatedly violated, and her unborn child ripped from her body. Our priests were able to save her life and stitch her many wounds, but an infection has set in now."
"Where did they take the child?" asked Diana, her voice breaking.
"Ma'am, they didn't. We found the child mutilated and dead in the corner of the room."
Brother Marvik turned to Diana with a grim look. "Please bring the Knight Commander. I think he should hear this."
Diana nodded, wiped the tears from her eyes, and ran through the front door.
Brother Marvik turned and began pulling containers from the many shelves on the wall behind the counter. "Is there anything else I may get you, my son?" he asked without turning.
"No, sir. Not unless you have something that will erase memories."
Brother Marvik stopped and turned to face the messenger, his arms full of vials and his eyes wet with tears of his own. He slowly shook his head.
* * *
The Knight Commander listened in silence, his stone-like gaze fixed upon the messenger as he finished the story.
"...and that is why we suspect a spell or curse is upon her," he concluded. The messenger sat nervously in front of the Knight Commander. Retelling the story was obviously still powerfully upsetting.
Knight Commander Berican turned to his right. In the corner of the room stood a young man of about twenty, dressed in brown leather armor under a cloak of deep green. He wore calf-high leather boots and a long sword at his side. At the Commander's nod, the young man strode quickly from the room.
"Thank you, sir," Knight Commander Berican said. "The apothecary should have things ready for you by now. We appreciate you telling us what you know, and we will have our man follow to deal with these monsters."