July 2023 ver.

“Is this the place?” Devin took in their surroundings. It seemed normal enough to her with folk milling about for their morning tasks. Outside the fact that every person they passed jolted in shock as they walked into town. Which wasn’t a great feeling after the last time they garnered so much attention.

“Excuse me, miss?” Rowan jogged over as he called out to a middle-aged woman beating her bedding. “Is this Lexington?”

She glanced to each of them nervously, “Y-yes, it is. Are you… travelers?”

“We are,” he stopped at her fence, placing some weight on it, “do you know where we could find somewhere to stay?”

The woman morphed from surprise to elation, “Oh my, yes! Keep down this street until you see the butcher’s then take a left. It’ll be the third building on the right.” She winked at them, “Tell Oscar that Bethany sent you!”

The corner of her cousin’s mouth curled, “Will that get us a discount?”

She laughed, “Perhaps.”

Rowan returned, quite pleased by the interaction. The three kept observing the townsfolk as they went. Eventually the mage commented, “Not much hustle and bustle for a town similar to Terring. Those rumors must be scaring off all their visitors.”

Devin threw in her two-cents, “The people here seem to be acting strangely normal for supposedly being terrorized by a banshee though aren’t they?”

“Yeah, but what I want to know is,” Avery added to her notes, “where are all the kids? There’s always kids running around, or at least out with their parents, back in Terring.” Her and Rowan took another gander. Only one child out and about.

“Hm. The rumors did mention something about the banshee taking children, but then why isn’t it more… depressing here?” They all shrugged and entered the inn. They’d have to ask around.

For once it was only an inn with no commons area. A desk was to the right with someone face down on it. They snored lightly. Rowan approached, attempting to not be too loud or quiet, “Hello?”

The old man bolted upright anyway, “Hello!” They could see the realizations seeping into the innkeeper’s graying head. He stroked over his beard, “Are you here for a room?”

Their cousin leaned an arm on the desk and lifted his fingers, “Two please.”

“Excellent!” The other flipped a book open to scribble into, “I’ll book you for two and four.” Another expectant look. “How long will you be staying?”

“We’re not really sure, at least two nights.” He was tapping the toes of his boot on the floor behind him. “Can we play it by ear from there? Also uh, a woman named Bethany said to mention she sent us to an Oscar?” He gave the old man his most innocent smile with the information.

A blink, then humor lit his eyes, “I would be Oscar, and did she now? Good to know.”

Rowan slowly fished for what he was seeking, “Does that make us eligible for some kind of discount…? Perhaps?”

The innkeeper chortled loudly, “Oh my, no! Bethany has merely been trying to get me to hire her husband for some carpentry work. I couldn’t possibly afford to discount anyone right now.”

Rowan’s good mood fluttered away and he muttered, “damn it,” to himself.

The other man’s amusement was still fresh on his features as he inquired of their visit, “What brings you youngsters to our humble town? You don’t look like typical merchants. Surely you’re not here to find jobs in the mines?”

It was their turn to offer some awkwardly amused smiles. The eldest kept handling the interaction, “Uh, no… we didn’t even know this was a mining town. We’re actually here about the banshee rumors.”

Oscar started at the word, “Banshee? What banshee?” He voiced denial, but the way he wrung his hands suggested he was well aware, “There’s no banshee here.”

The mage gave him a tilt of his head and then a disappointed sigh, “Oh? No banshee? Well…” He stopped his leaning to turn to her and Avery with a shrug, “You heard the man, no banshee. I guess we don’t need to stick around here after all.” The old man was quickly growing panicked behind him. Enough to climb out of his chair. Rowan waved over a shoulder, “Was nice to meet you, Oscar, you can strike us off the boo-.”

“Wait! Please wait! You… win.” She felt kind of bad Rowan manipulated him so mercilessly. The old man sagged and dropped when they stopped shifting toward the exit. Rowan strolled backwards to slide an arm back onto the counter. “There is a banshee. It’s been running me out of business. The second anyone hears about it they usually flee town if they can.”

Her cousin was greatly satisfied with his cracking of the other male, “Well, we’re hoping we can help you with that problem.” He shimmied off his bag to present to Avery, “You two drop off our stuff, Oscar and I are going to chat a while. Oh, and bring what’s left of the boar.” He tossed the keys to her. The young man offered a hand to the elderly one, “I’m Rowan, by the way.”

They did as they were told. She stopped at two and Avery went to four. Devin stared at the contents of the room. It was tiny. The bed was tiny. It was immediately to her left and to the wall. The only floor space directly in front of her was just wide and long enough to accommodate opening the door and the length of the bed. There was at least a small window, but it was so high up she couldn’t get a glimpse of anything through it. She tucked her stuff under the bed, sans what they had the meat wrapped in. The shorter their stay the better.

She rejoined Avery in the hall and he was scowling. He clearly wanted to say something to her, “What is it?”

No sense beating around the bush, “Could I bunk with you?”

Devin scoffed at his nerve, “Why would I ever agree to that? Even if I was okay with it, in what space are you going to ‘bunk with’ me in? There’s only one bed and I’m not even sure I can fit alone on it.”

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Her brother slouched, “Yeah, that’s kind of why I’m asking. I don’t normally complain since it saves us money, but I always share with Rowan.” She hadn’t thought about it, but he did. “Whether the room is a double or not.” There definitely was only one bed a room here. Her head started calculating some dimensions. Particularly Rowan’s height and broad shoulders. Avery would end up on the floor. She rolled her eyes, “Fine.”

Avery was uplifted, “Thank you!” He switched his stuff to her room before they returned to the front.

They overheard Oscar exclaiming something, “Y-you really shouldn’t do that, young man! It’s quite dangerous at night, and your companions are too young to be handling a banshee.”

Rowan’s posture was extra cocky, “Don’t you worry about it, sir. We can handle ourselves.” He gave him another brush off of a wave, “We’ll be back in a bit.”

x x x

“They think it’s a woman bandits kidnapped?” He nodded in reply to her question.

Avery got a little more specific, “So these bandits were coming around regularly, started this banshee problem, and then they finally fled to leave the townspeople to deal with it? This town has terrible luck.”

“Well, that’s the problem with places like Terring, Rallen, and Lexington. They’re small enough that it’s typically peaceful all the time, but big enough to attract attention. It makes them sitting ducks at the first sign of trouble.” He gave a shrug that said it was simply an unfortunate fact of life. “I’m not really sure if ‘bandits’ is the right word since the old man kept calling them ‘ruffians’. They were definitely harassing people into paying them to not have their goods destroyed or worse though…”

They had burned some time bartering with the townsfolk over the last of their boar haul. Now they were enjoying a meal at a nearby establishment and getting Rowan to spill the details of what he’d learned.

Her brother was chewing rather thoughtfully before swallowing, “And what damage does the banshee do exactly?”

Rowan was picking at his food, more concerned with propping himself up with an elbow on the table, “Well, that’s the funny thing. It’s decimated their income since travel is down and they say the sound of it wailing is nightmare inducing, but other than that… no one seems sure it does anything. All those kids we didn’t see before? They’re not missing; they’re lethargic. Which it’s common for banshees to mess with children if they’re linked to a person who was a mother, but by all accounts it was a young woman that was taken who hadn’t had any kids yet. No one seems to agree with what’s wrong with them either.” He struck out a hand, “Not that I expect a layman with this sort of problem to actually know. My money would be on it feeding off of them.”

“And they’re not doing anything about it?” Devin scowled, “That’ll eventually kill them, won’t it?”

“Hard to say. It depends, but probably. If that’s what’s happening.” He sighed out the rest of his energy, “Unfortunately, a little death is what it takes to get people to take action.” The young man then dragged fingers down his face, “Pun not intended.”

“What’s our next move?” Avery pushed his cleared plate away.

Rowan straightened to cross his arms, “It doesn’t come out until around sunset so we do have some time to fill that we should probably spend resting. Although, it might be worth talking to the woman’s sister. She could give us a better idea if the banshee is her or not.” The team nodded and stood. A few coins were tossed on the table.

It was mere minutes to walk across town to the aforementioned woman’s home. The potential younger sister of the banshee. She was the one to answer when they knocked as well. When it was explained why they were here, she was willing to show them into her home. The four settled at the table in the heart of it. Apparently she and her sister had shared the place. They moved here to escape her elder sister’s husband. A marriage that had soured quickly after tying the knot. Interesting, but it didn’t seem relevant to her.

“I’m sorry. I don’t really know what I should tell you about Cassie.” Rowan reassured her it was fine and prompted her with a few more questions. Her sister had problems, but she wouldn’t have considered her to have anger issues or the vengeful type. All the town knew was that she had been taken two months ago and the night wailing began a few weeks following. They had no idea if she had actually been killed or not. There was no grave. No body. No way of knowing where she could have possibly died since she was never seen or heard from again. It was also confirmed once more that the woman in question had no children.

“Hm. Well, thank you for letting us talk with you, Miss Wilkins.”

“Please, Katie is fine. It really wasn’t any trouble. It’s been… lonely without my sister.” Her fingers interlocked atop the table. “It’s also been difficult to keep up with everything that needs done by myself.”

Their cousin settled a hand on hers, “Yeah. We lost some family when we were young and it’s an adjustment to say the least. It doesn’t really stop hurting, but it does get better. Based off what you’ve said, however, I don’t think the banshee is her. She could still be out there.”

It was meant to be comforting, but she hung her head, “Sometimes I wonder, if that’s actually worse. Even if she’s not this banshee, she might end up one anyway. Gods know what she’s going through.”

The mage squeezed her hand, “I wish I could tell you that isn’t a possibility.” He really did try to avoid handing out false hope. “But don’t forget, there’s also a possibility she’ll be able to come back to you someday. She might be different if she does, but she’ll still be her.” She appreciated his attempts to cheer her up, at the least.

Katie then offered, “I’m not sure if what I made will actually feed four, but would you care to stay for dinner? I did… unintentionally cook for two again.” Her attention wandered as she addressed it to the room.

When their host wasn’t looking, Rowan’s focus lowered briefly. Devin bit the inside of her cheek. The mage then released the woman’s hand to find his neck, “Ah, we just ate… but… I could stay a little longer. Maybe help out a bit? You said you could use some help, right? I’m not good for much, but I used to help my mom around the house some.”

Katie was surprised, but elated, “You would really do that? I can’t afford to pay you…”

“Of course, and don’t worry about that. Helping out is the reward.” Sure it was. He looked to the siblings, “You guys go catch a nap while you can. We’ll probably need to be up all night.” The young man was then smiling at their new acquaintance, “And I’ll stay here until the light is low enough for us to start hunting around.” A shrug. “Even if it’s only a couple hours.” Was he serious? She clenched her fists around the bottom hem of her dress. Her instincts said to rip into him. She couldn’t bring herself to in front of this woman they barely knew.

Instead she averted her gaze, ‘Whatever.’

Thankfully, Avery voiced the obvious, “Is splitting up a good idea? Shouldn’t you rest too? Wouldn’t it go faster if we help? And where are we meeting up? What time? What’s to stop a nap from turning into sleeping half the night?” His voice squeaked. “Wh-what if the banshee gets one of us?”

Rowan slumped like each question was mortally wounding him, “I’ll come get you when it’s time.” A pat landed on Avery. “Don’t worry so much.” He gave him a little shake too. “It’ll be fine. Get some rest. You’re not used to all the traveling yet.” Their cousin got up to pull the younger male’s chair out for him.

Her brother was as uneasy with the decision as she felt, but she hauled herself out of the seat with a sigh, “C’mon, Avery, let’s just go back to the inn.” The declaration stunned him. Still, her lead was accepted and Rowan gave them a reassuring smile. She replied with a glare as they left.

They were booted out the door. The fledgling scholar struggled with the illogical choice, “Did he really throw us out to spend time with a stranger?” He couldn’t stop holding his hands up and out in front of him as they walked. He just couldn’t grasp what happened. “When we’re in the middle of a job?”

“Yeah.”

“A job that could kill us?”

“Yeah.”

“I-Is it because he thinks he can have sex with her?” The fact her brother caught on really spoke to just how overt Rowan had been.

Another even more exasperated, “Yeah, Avery, that’s exactly what’s going through his head.” She didn’t want to keep talking about this.

His pitch went even higher, “Why does he think that’s a good idea right now!?”

Devin spat her explanation, “Because he’s a pervert. I’m honestly surprised he didn’t have his arm around her to cop a feel while we were still there.” He certainly took an eyeful.

Her brother was crushed, but sought out the bright side, “I guess I won’t have to share a bed with either of you this way.”