Marata POV

Marata wasn’t sure if she was so methodical as a result of her years spent Earthspeaking, or if she had become so proficient with Earthspeaking as a result of her methodical and cautious nature. Whichever of the two it was, though, Marata observed and investigated every last bit of the surroundings of the den. Since coming to this far-flung corner of the Holy State over twenty years ago, she’d enjoyed the frequent rains and resilient nature of the flora and fauna of the Martanimi. That there could be constant rain and flooding bogs and marshes, as well as dangerous creatures living most everywhere was something that she had long since acclimated to. Beyond that, she had come to enjoy it.

Unfortunately for her investigations, though, the magically hardy and quickly renewing nature of the jungle did not lead to permanence. She could tell that there had been some sort of combat around here, but only barely. There was a severed root here, a nearly buried charred branch there, and some partially buried and shattered bones scattered around. There wasn’t enough for Marata to create a full and complete picture of how the keelish/wolfstag war had played out. Of course, the keelish had emerged victorious in the long term, but had there been massive casualties on both sides? How many wolfstags had there been initially? Where had their final stand taken place?

For the first time, Marata wished for the cobbled roads and artificially controlled weather of the capital. Viertaal could be stifling to live in, but as a constable, her job had been made to be immeasurably easier by the infrastructure and bureaucracy that had long been implemented in the ruling of the country. Beyond that, the Called cobblestones were created to better retain information that could be accessible to her and the rest of the constabulary…

With a shake of her head, Marata refocused on the task at hand. There had obviously been combat here, but too much time had passed, and the jungle had reclaimed most of the clues to be found in the surroundings of the den. Korali had stayed close to her the entire time, and though she hadn’t asked him anything, he understood as soon as she looked at him. He shook his head, confirming that he too hadn’t seen anything of note. With a sign and a sigh, Marata began to lead the rest of her motley band of “soldiers” to the den’s entrance.

Now that she had approached the entrance itself, Marata was shaken by just how huge the hole was. She’d seen plenty of wolfstags in her nearly fifty years of life, and the most impressive of them were long-time Soul Companions of the men and women she’d worked alongside in the constabulary. Those beasts had been massive, over four feet tall at the shoulder, and with their crowns of antlers, they’d been nearly six feet tall. The entrance to the den before her was made for wolfstags over five feet tall at the shoulder, with the seven foot tall ceilings occasionally showing deep scores from the antlers of their passing occupants.

Even with how surprised she was, though, Marata made sure to carry herself with confidence. No need to scare the two children accompanying her and her husband by showing her fear. Everyone in their little village looked up to her as a True Speaker alumnus of the Red Abbey, though she knew how little that truly meant in the face of the power that those High Speakers could demonstrate. She forced herself to enter the den, and was immediately struck by the smells. With a conscious stream of effort, she ignored them in favor of what she could see, something she’d learned on particularly gristly scenes. In the back of her mind, she heard quiet retching from Salman and Ahkte, but she continued to ignore it.

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Forcing herself to be analytical, she could see numerous keelish footprints, unblemished by the rains outside. Large, larger than any she’d seen before. The prints were pristine, almost seeming to be fresh. A usual keelish’s foot was about as large as an adult human’s hand, though that had been proven wrong by the other specimens that had been slain thus far. The usual keelish stood about two to three feet tall, with a mouth full of sharp teeth and small arms built for holding small things. They weighed about 40 pounds, and were dangerous in groups or to the unprepared. The keelish in this swarm, though…

The keelish they’d killed thus far had been bigger than any Marata had seen herself, though she’d heard about some specimens getting as large as the ones they were hunting. These beasts were four feet tall, and probably weighed upwards of 100 pounds apiece. The creatures weren’t worth much, even though they were so large. Their scales weren’t worth creating armor from, their fangs and claws weren’t large or strong enough to be worth anything, except for maybe an inferior arrowtip, and anyone with access to an Earthspeaker could get them to Call iron out of the surrounding earth to create a much better blade with just as much effort. On top of that, the meat, while edible, was gamier than anything else she’d ever tasted. So, to save on firewood and keep the camp sanitary, Marata and all the other Earthspeakers around had buried the bodies deep enough that the smell wouldn’t bother them.

Those 100 pound keelish, their feet were about a foot long and maybe half that wide. The tracks she was seeing now, however, were nearly two feet long and at least a foot wide. The keelish leaving these prints couldn’t be called keelish anymore. They were something far beyond that, something like a higher being–Marata cut off her thoughts. She hadn’t seen any keelish walking with these kinds of feet. She couldn’t begin to expect that there were actually creatures this big, something like this so close to her home, and she’d never seen even the smallest hint of their presence.

Cutting off her attempt to convince herself, though, were Varali’s words about what she had seen. She’s sworn that the keelish she’d seen were massive, over six feet tall. Marata had acted like she’d believed her daughter, but in reality, she’d doubted what Varali had said. Maybe, though, she hadn’t been mistaken. Marata continued walking down the path into the den, and though the light was weak, she could muster enough of a Flamecalling to light the way forward.

It only took her a couple of steps into the darkness to see something that initially confused, but then frightened her completely. Farrah’s body lay dumped unceremoniously next to her companions’. In the midst of them was a terribly huge keelish. Its shoulders were broad with muscle, and from the tip of its tail to snout, it must have been at least nine feet long.

The second she saw it, Marata began an Earthcalling to protect herself, but she quickly realized the keelish body here was dead. It was… horrifying. As she looked back, Marata could see Korali’s shocked, pale face. He’d seen it as well, and he looked at her, only barely keeping down the panic that glimmered in his emerald eyes. She fought to control herself as she gave the command, “We need to take this thing back to camp. You three, keep an eye out on the jungle, I’ll carry this.”

Then, with the three hunters keeping an eye out, Marata began to Call on the strength of the earth to carry the huge, intimidating monster.