The right arm moved the bow back and forth in sharp, mechanical lines. The left hand gripped the neck of the violin with aggressive force. The entire posture seemed incredibly unnatural. It did not look quite right at all.
The crowd noticed the strange behavior as well. The townsmen and the demi-humans exchanged worried banter with each other. They also called out directly to the musician.
"You look incredibly tired up there," a tall male townsman shouted. He crossed his thick arms over his chest. "You should take a break."
"Your arms are entirely too stiff," a female demi-human said loudly. She had a long bushy tail covered in orange fur. Her tail wagged slowly back and forth in a highly uncertain manner. "Are you feeling sick tonight."
"You need a hot drink of water," an older merchant suggested from the back of the crowd. "You look completely frozen solid on that wooden box."
The person wearing the blue hat did not answer any of the questions. The person did not acknowledge the crowd at all. The musician just kept dragging the wooden bow across the strings.
The banter in the crowd slowly stopped. The people grew genuinely concerned for the safety of the performer. The mood in the small courtyard shifted rapidly. The townsmen stepped closer to the crate. The demi-humans lowered their furry ears flat against their heads. The orange tail of the female demi-human stopped wagging completely.
"Sir," the tall townsman called out again. His voice sounded much more serious this time. "You need to step down from the crate right now. You are going to lose your balance. You are going to fall and hurt yourself severely."
The person in the blue hat ignored the warning. The mechanical playing continued without any pause.
Lucid stood silently at the back of the crowd. He watched the right arm of the musician move up and down. The sound of the violin filled the cold air.
'The music is slightly out of tune,' Alice remarked quietly in his mind. 'The pitch is incorrect. The tempo is also failing.'
Lucid nodded his head slightly. He heard the terrible screeching sound of the bow hitting the wrong strings. The music sounded awful. It grated against his ears. The beautiful notes had turned into a chaotic mess of noise.
"Hey," the older merchant yelled loudly. "Stop playing that terrible noise. Get down from there before you collapse."
The musician finally stopped playing. The wooden bow ceased its violent motion. The right arm dropped heavily to the side of the body. The violin remained tucked tightly under the chin. The person stood perfectly still on top of the crate.
The crowd fell completely silent. No one spoke a single word. Everyone stared up at the figure in the blue hat.
Suddenly, the head of the musician cracked violently to the side.
A loud, terrible snapping sound echoed across the silent courtyard. The sound resembled a thick wooden branch breaking in half. The neck of the person bent at a horrific and completely unnatural angle. The head rested entirely sideways against the right shoulder.
The crowd reacted instantly to the terrible sound.
The people were completely horrified by the impossible angle of the broken neck. The tall townsman screamed loudly and stepped backward. He threw his arms up in front of his face in a defensive posture. He bumped heavily into the people standing directly behind him. The female demi-human shrieked in absolute terror. The sound tore through the quiet night air. She covered her face with both of her hands and dropped to her knees on the hard stone pavement. Her orange tail tucked tightly between her legs. The older merchant gasped heavily. He grabbed his own chest and fell to his knees right beside her. The entire group panicked. The townsmen shoved each other out of the way. They began to scatter rapidly away from the wooden crate. They ran down the dark side streets to escape the terrifying sight.
Lucid pushed his way violently through the fleeing crowd. He shoved a panicked townsman out of his path. He ran directly toward the wooden crate.
The sudden violent movement of the head caused the blue hat to fall off. The hat tumbled silently through the air and landed on the stone ground.
The moonlight hit the face of the musician perfectly. Lucid stared at the face. The eyes were wide open and completely blank. The skin looked pale and lifeless. The mouth hung open in a silent shape. It was not the regional governor. It was not the drunken bard.
Lucid recognized the face immediately. A massive surge of panic gripped his chest. He stopped running and stood frozen in front of the crate.
"Jake!" Lucid yelled at the top of his lungs.
The panicked townsfolk ran in every direction. They screamed in fear. They shoved against each other to get away from the wooden crate. A tall man tripped on the edge of the stone pavement. He fell forward onto his hands and knees. He quickly scrambled back up to his feet. He ran down the narrow dark alley without looking back. A demi-human woman dropped her basket onto the ground. The small fruits inside rolled across the cold cobblestones. She did not stop to pick them up. She ran fast. Her furry tail was tucked tight against her back. The older merchant stumbled backward toward the fountain. He held his hands over his chest. His face was pale. He turned around and hurried away into the darkness.
Lucid did not run away. He stood firmly on the cold stone road. He watched the crowd scatter into the surrounding streets. Within a few moments, the small market courtyard became very quiet again. The distant sound of the stone fountain was the only noise remaining in the night air. The water splashed continuously into the lower basin. Cold wind blew through the empty space between the tall stone buildings. It carried the faint smell of dry dust, old wood, and wet earth.
Lucid kept his eyes locked on the wooden crate. The figure in the bright blue hat was tumbling off the top of the box. The body fell sideways in a very awkward manner. It did not bend like a normal human body during a fall. The limbs stayed rigid. The arms hung straight down at the sides.
Lucid reacted instantly. He rushed forward across the stone floor. He crossed the short distance in three quick strides. He reached out with both of his arms. He caught the upper body just before it slammed into the hard cobblestones.
The impact pushed against his hands. The weight of the body felt surprisingly heavy. It felt much denser than a normal person of that size should feel. Lucid lowered his knees. He absorbed the momentum of the fall. He guided the upper torso down gently toward the ground. He rested the back of the figure against his own knee to support the dead weight.
Lucid adjusted his grip on the shoulders of the figure. The clothes felt rough under his fingers. The fabric of the jacket was thick wool, but the body underneath did not give or yield to his touch. It felt like holding a heavy log of solid wood or a block of cold metal wrapped in cloth.
The bright blue hat had shifted during the fall. It sat crookedly on the head, covering the upper half of the face and the forehead. Lucid needed to see who this person actually was. He raised his right hand toward the head. He grabbed the wide brim of the blue hat. He pulled the fabric upward very slowly. He lifted the blue cap completely off the head. He tossed the hat onto the cobblestones beside his boot.
The moonlight illuminated the face of the figure. Lucid looked directly at the features. The person had very fair skin. The skin was pale and completely smooth. There were no wrinkles or small blemishes on the cheeks. The eyes were wide open. They were a bright blue color. The blue eyes stared directly upward into the dark night sky. They did not blink. They did not move at all. They held no life or awareness.
Lucid stared into those blue eyes. He felt a sudden chill run down his own spine. He recognized the shape of the face, but something was deeply wrong with the appearance.
Lucid leaned his head closer to inspect the head of the figure. He saw a massive gash on the left side of the scalp. The tear started high up near the crown of the head. It ran all the way down the side of the skull, ending near the top of the left ear.
The gash looked wide and deep. Lucid expected to see red blood spilling out over the skin. He expected to see damaged flesh and broken bone inside the wound. However, there was no blood at all. The edges of the split skin remained completely dry. No liquid dripped down the pale cheek.
Lucid reached out with his left hand. He carefully pulled the edges of the torn skin apart to get a clearer view inside the head.