Installment 24 [https://squirrel.dogphilosophy.net/Installment024.png]

Two bowls were brought from the kitchen this time. While Gruntle's face was in one, the others spooned the contents of the other onto their plates and began eating. As they nourished themselves, they got the assembled villagers to explain the situation in better detail.

The first disappearance had been about a month ago. One of the villagers had gone out hunting and just never returned. A group that went out looking for them the next day had found a broken bow and scattered arrows around a bloodstained and torn up patch of underbrush. At the time, they had assumed the poor fellow had perhaps mistakenly gotten between a bear cub and its mother. Other hunters resolved to be more careful, but a few days later there was another disappearance. After that, the hunters never went out alone.

It didn't stop the disappearances, but there was a survivor. He described his hunting-partner being taken by surprise at a moment when the survivor happened to be looking the other way. The momentary glimpses he'd gotten as the attacker ran off were of some large beast, bigger than a bear, fast, strong, with dark-grey mangy fur. It outran his attempt to catch up as it dragged its victim away. The hunter had eventually discovered his missing partner's remains, limbs and body savaged as though by a hungry carnivorous beast. The corpse's ribcage had been torn apart and the innards spread across the ground. Its heart was missing. The hunting stopped for a while after this, for obvious reasons. That gave them more than a week without further disappearances, until the beast had attacked Horace.

"When we found out the beast doesn't like the dark, one of our more stubborn hunters decided to try her luck hunting after dusk. She's gone out and come back safely for the last three nights. Obviously kind of hard to hunt in the dark but she managed to set up some traps and brought back some rabbits last night," said Rose, looking worried. "I hope she's okay. She was back earlier the last few times. Haven't seen her yet tonight."

"If the beast doesn't like to be out in the dark, it must be hiding somewhere," Al considered. "Where could it go that isn't dark at night?"

This turned out to be a real mystery. The village had become very conscientious about extinguishing any lights that weren't in use and keeping lights away from the forest, so there shouldn't be anywhere in the village itself that it could be hiding. The next nearest populations were Silveroak a day's walk to the north and Turnipseed nearly as far south. The beast appeared to be quite fast but it seemed unlikely it would be spending a large portion of the daylight hours sprinting nonstop from either of those places to Henhaven to hunt villagers, and then sprinting back again before dark. Besides, if it had been hiding in Silveroak surely someone would have noticed people going missing. As for Turnipseed, about two weeks previously one of the Henhavenites had subjected themselves to the bandits' "toll" to get to Silveroak to seek help, and they'd run into someone from Turnipseed there the same day, coincidentally putting up their own call for help with a different matter. They didn't talk much - apparently people from Turnipseed aren't well-liked for reasons that were obscure, but it seemed Turnipseed wasn't being devoured by a beast either..

"Is there anywhere out in the forest itself where someone might be?" Al speculated aloud.

"Oh! Like a crazy old hermit consorting with supernatural forces from a cottage hidden deep in the woods!" offered Wikwocket.

"I was thinking more like a logging camp, or a hunting camp. Hmmm...or a bandit camp? Now that I think about it, didn't they seem awfully, I don't know, casual about Gruntle being there? Do you think they've had dealings with some sort of beast before?"

Bote considered, examining their memories of the encounter. Finally, they shook their head.

"I don't think so," they finally said. "To me, there seemed to be a hint of fear in all of their eyes, but none would admit it because that would make them seem weak to the others. Nearly all of them focused their attention on Gruntle as the biggest threat. I believe their leader was more intent on trying to seem in control of the most dangerous one present as quickly as possible. A bluff, rather than a familiar situation."

"I suppose so," Al said, skeptically. "Still, it sounds like that's the only lead we've come up with so far."

He sighed. "I really don't want to go back out there tonight."

There was a clatter as Gruntle's spoon was dropped and he stood to his full height, watching the door to the outside. His ears swiveled and he sniffed the air.

Al reached for his mace.

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"The beast? Are we in danger?" he asked.

"Nah," Gruntle replied, calmly crouching back down and reaching for the bowl the others had spooned their eggs from. "Sounds like someone hurt bad. Smell a lot of blood. Probably die soon."

He began idly licking the bowl.

Even as Bote - followed quickly by Al and Wikwocket - headed for the door, there was a dull thud from outside, followed by a dragging sound. As Bote reached for the handle to open the door, something slapped weakly against the outside. A strained voice called out quietly.

"...found it...help...help..."

"Gertrude!?!" shouted Rose, leaping over the counter as Bote opened the door.

Gertrude lay in front of the door on her stomach. It was a wonder that the huntress was still breathing, let alone still blindly trying to slap at the now-open door with her right hand. Her left arm lay flat against her left side. Bits of broken collarbone were visible sticking out of where a fist-sized chunk of flesh and muscle had been torn away. Long claw-marks ran down the left side of her back. Fresh blood oozed through, slowly forming scabs from each wound. Her head turned to the right, eyes open but unseeing through pinpoint pupils. Unaware of her surroundings now, she continued trying to speak between shallow, rapid breaths.

"The old keep...found it...help..."

Ignoring the gathering crowd, Bote knelt. They gently placed their right palm against the clammy skin of Gertrude's temple.

"Be at peace," Bote said with a calm smile. "We have arrived right when we are needed."

They muttered a quiet prayer, and a warm glow spread from their hand to suffuse Gertrude's entire body. For an instant, the gawking crowd was blinded. Gertrude gasped.

In a blink, the wounds had stopped bleeding. A patch of pale new flesh had replaced the destroyed shoulder. Gertrude's breathing steadied. Her eyes returned to normal and with an effort, she turned herself over onto her back, ignoring the squelching noise from the blood-soaked ground.

"What happened? Who are you?"

Everyone had to wait for the cheering to settle down before Bote could answer.

"It seems the ineffable plans intend for you to live," Bote explained, still gently smiling. "You may call me Bote. I and my companions have come to help. That's Al, that's Wikwocket and...well, there is one other but I think perhaps you should rest and tell us what you were trying to say before you meet him."

Gertrude sat up. "The old keep! It's hiding out in the old keep up on the hill, south of the village!"

"What old keep?" asked Rose.

"You know, the one that Lord?...Baron?...uh... I can't remember his name. The tax collector! His keep!"

"Oh?" asked Rose. Some confused muttering passed among the rest of the villagers followed by a few sounds of recognition. "Oh!" Rose said, her eyes widening. "I'd completely forgotten that was there."

"So had I," said Gertrude. "But I went to check on my snares tonight and found someone had taken everything I'd caught. I whacked my way through the underbrush with my hand-axe following the trail of disturbed ground and broken twigs left by whoever did it. The trail led right to the keep. There were lights inside and nobody answered when I pounded on the door, but it opened right up when I pushed on it. The beast was waiting there for me on the other side. It grabbed me and we fought, I don't remember exactly what happened. I know it bit me and I managed to chop it a few times in the side with my axe. Somehow I pulled free and ran for the woods. I thought it'd come after me, but it didn't."

She looked nervously southward down the road. Nothing moved in the dim moonlight.

"What sort of lights?" Al asked suddenly.

Gertrude frowned. "What?"

"At the keep, you said there was light inside. What was the light coming from? Were there lamps or torches or candles?"

Gertrude gave him a look of perplexed annoyance. "My attention was on something more urgent. What does it matter?"

"I think what Al is really asking," explained Bote, "is whether there might be anyone else in the keep with the beast."

"Exactly! No matter how cunning the beast is, I wouldn't think it's running around replacing torches and lighting candles on its own. Even a lot of enchantments need to be renewed regularly. If there's someone there, it might not be the beast we need to worry about most."

This seemed to spark a memory for Gertrude. "I...think I did see someone, just for a moment. The beast reached out of the opening door and grabbed me to pull me inside. There was an open door at the other side of the foyer where we fought. I thought I saw someone run by in the hallway with a candelabra. I remember being angry that whoever it was didn't seem to even acknowledge what was happening."

She thought for a moment more. "I think there were torches. In sconces next to the door to the hallway. They had a red flame."

Al yawned. "Sorry. It hasn't been as bad for us as it has for you, but it's still been a hard day. It'd be nice if we could go confront the beast before sunrise but we're in no shape to do it. We're going to need some rest and some time to prepare before we set out for this keep."

"Well," said Rose, "this makes two valuable services you've done for us even before you face whatever is up there. As long as the Biggest Coop remains, you'll never have to pay for food, drink, or a place to sleep here again."

"Two?" asked Gertrude.

"They got rid of the bandits on their way here!"

"By themselves? Just those three?"

"Four!" announced Wikwocket proudly. "Say, would you like to meet our beast?"