Unrelenting Schisms

The morning after Claud had received the talisman, paper, and instructions from Father Doe, he had set off to deliver the things to Koby. They had bothered him, though they seemingly did nothing but sit on his table all night, and he hoped to be rid of them as soon as possible. But Koby's cart hadn't been where he said it would be. Claud spent as much time as he could looking for it, but he had work to do, chores to be taken care of, lessons to attend. And so when he was in town, as often as he could, he looked for the boy and his cart. The days crawled by, and at night the eerie thing sat on his table and seemed to have a troubled energy around it that crept into Claud's dreams.

That morning Claud got up, took care of the various chores that needed to be done first thing, and then set off for town. As he neared the huddle of buildings, much to his surprise, Koby was there, walking towards him. Afraid the boy would bolt, having already been seen on the open road, he waved to him when they were still a fair distance apart.

Claud noticed almost immediately that Koby looked different, was acting different, and his response seemed evasive, vague. Most notably his body language and demeanor seemed to imply that he was at ease, which was so radically opposed to the scared, frightened boy he'd seen and talked with about two weeks prior. Had Koby simply been that shaken by the vampire attack the night before? It wasn’t unreasonable, surely one might be in a state of nervous shock for some time after such an attack, but his very personality seemed different. No matter, Claud had an assignment to fulfil.