Georgiana had once seen farmers still drying grain during the off-season.
Compared with North Africa, Sicily, and Spain, the Low Countries were far more humid. Grain had to be dried every few days to prevent mold and rodent damage.
In countries with dry climates, however, people chose cellar storage. They spread a layer of hay in trenches or pits, then covered it with earth.
As long as a place was far from a riverbed, the soil was as dry as sand. Even without special preservation methods like natron treatment, a corpse would naturally mummify.
As the shovel swung, yellow sand and dust formed a wall that blurred her vision.
In the force of the wind, she seemed to see a human face, just like in a film.
Yet before she could make out whom that face resembled, the yellow sand lost its color and turned into white mist.
Before long, the mist gathered together and formed a doe. It looked very much like someone's Patronus.
The doe watched her for a while, then headed deeper into the forest, where there was a great lake.
Moonlight spilled over the mist-shrouded lake, making it look beautiful, but Georgiana was not about to smash through the ice and dive beneath the water like Harry Potter.
For some reason, the thin mist formed a "water-screen film," in which many soldiers were fleeing in panic.
Then a "shell" struck the ground very close to her. Two soldiers had no time to escape and fell together into the frozen lake.
They tried to seize the ice and climb out, only to find they could not. Not only had their winter clothes grown terribly heavy after absorbing water, but the ice also tilted upward—and they had no "Ron" to help them. Everyone on the battlefield was running.