I stepped out and flopped onto the bench, where Yadalee glared at me from the other end.

"Cain, what's going on?" she demanded.

"I don't know, but we can smell blood and ash. Let me focus; I need to see through Freki."

She looked confused and wanted to say something, but I ignored her and sank into the void, letting it pull me through.

My vision split and I watched Freki rush through the grass and hop over roots. He ran next to the road but not on it. For a while, the road continued, and nothing could be found, but then he veered right and deeper into the woods. Tree trunks raced by as the wolf darted between them. Freki dived into the shadows and stopped beside a bush.

It took a second, but he pushed his head through a white spot off to the side and revealed a beast with orange and white fur.

A fox, one tall enough to fit into large dog territory, sniffed at the ground and desperately pawed at something buried there. Freki moved out of the shadows and slowly moved around, unknown to the busy beast.

Once he got to its far side, I finally saw what the fox was pawing at.

That's a small hand.

It was difficult, but I willed to Freki to do what I wanted. Whether he understood or not, I couldn't tell, but there was a twitch in the connection between us.

He stayed inside the shadow realm, the fox's figure outlined like a sculpture of black and white lines.

He got close enough to hover over the large puddle of white stretching out beneath the fox.

Now.

Like a viper, he dived through and closed his large fangs over the fox's neck before pushing it to the earthen floor with his paw. The fox froze as Freki bore down against it.

I opened my eyes and found Alice and Devon waiting.

Shaking my head, I stood up and stretched. "Freki didn't get too far, but there was a detour."

"Detour? What did he find?" Alice asked.

"A large orange fox, the size of a big dog. It was pawing at the ground, and when Freki shifted positions, the something turned out to be a half-eaten hand, looked like a child's."

"Did he kill it?"

"No, Freki has it pinned down. Are we heading over?"

"Volk has ordered the caravan to halt until we give them the go-ahead."

We started jogging down the road, not going too fast. The new stats were helping immensely, and by the time we veered off the path to dive into the woods, my breathing had remained relatively stable.

"Over there, just between the forked tree," I directed.

Devon led the way, and we passed the landmark and came to a stop near the gap between the trunks, where Freki growled at the large fox.

As I took a step closer, the unexpected happened.

"Please! I no threat! Let me go!"

What? Did that…

"A talking beast?" Alice asked as she cocked her head.

"Please, call him off! I'm no threat! Release me!" the strangely high-pitched voice pleaded.

It came from where Freki held the fox down, and the fox was looking directly at us rather than at the wolf.

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"Can you understand us?" I asked.

"Yes! Yes! No more. Please. Please."

I shared a hesitant glance with Alice and then looked to Devon. "Uh, is this common?"

"Usually? No. For us? Yes," he replied.

Well alright then.

I moved to stand next to Freki and crouched low, keeping one hand on my axe. Meeting the fox's eyes, I waited to see if it would attack, but it barely moved.

"You have a name, fox?"

"White-paw!"

Seeing the terrified fox made me feel bad, but then I glanced over to where the child-like bones stuck out of the earth.

Do I really blame him for scavenging for food?

"Why are you digging up the corpse?"

Surprisingly, White-paw stayed silent, his eyes darting away from mine. Freki breathed, and the fur underneath his tongue curled into shriveled strands that wisped smoke. With it's side turned, I noticed it was male. Though the voice made it hard to tell if I was to judge it off human standards.

"Answer me."

"I… need food. I must."

He looked skinny enough. With his ribcage protruding from beneath his fur, and the sunken skin around his neck, the fox looked starved.

"Do you know how that corpse got there? And why the air smells weird?"

I glanced back at Devon, and he subtly nodded. Turning back to the fox, I waited and had Freki ease up an inch, granting the beast some breathing room.

"There… evil magic. It was wrong, bad. The humans tried to flee—too slow," White-paw met my eyes. "Evil humans. Bad humans kill sleeping humans."

"You think it's the same people who trapped Rock-splitter? The ones who messed with the chains?" I asked Devon.

"Possibly. Fox. Are there survivors?" he asked.

"No. No more. All buried. Evil humans call monster. Big monster!. It's all I know, I promise!"

A short whine escaped the fox's throat, echoing through the silent forest.

"How exactly did the villagers die? What killed them?" I asked calmly.

The fox was cooperating, so I had Freki ease up, just enough that the fire inside his throat wouldn't accidentally torch more of the fox's fur. Even with the extra room, the fox stayed still as a statue. Its eyes flickered between the four of us but eventually locked onto mine.

"Only the humans who ran into forest. I hid, stayed low. They… chests explode, big holes."

Exploding chests? What kind of magic does that?

"Could you lead us to where the evil humans were when they attacked?" Alice cut in.

White-paw subtly shook his head. "No, I didn't see. I stayed away from the evil magic."

I turned to face Devon. "Do we release him?"

Another whine, smaller, more afraid, whimpered into the ground, but the fox continued to stay still.

Devon tapped his foot and drew White-paw's attention. "Have you ever attacked a human?"

"No! Never!"

He glanced at me. "He's done no harm. Leave it be. But the children's bones are off limits."

"I understand!"

I ordered Freki off, and the fox froze before swiveling his head between us. He hesitated but got up and darted away. Inch by inch, the fox's head turned back around. His amber eyes flickered from one person to the next, while deliberately avoiding my wolf.

"You can go, fox."

His ears flattened while his tail drooped between his legs. Without another word, he darted away and disappeared behind the thick trunks.

"Are we sure about letting it go?" Alice asked.

"It wasn't a monster, nor did it show aggression toward us. There was no reason to slay it."

"Did it look like it wanted something for a second? I'm surprised it stopped," I said.

"Maybe. Doesn't matter. Let's dig up the bones. I want to inspect the rib cage."

It was a morbid scene, digging around the protruding limb. The hand wasn't entirely decomposed. Small chunks of rotten grey meat were left between the arm bones and fingers, so the smell forced us to cover our noses with our shirts.

Rot and filth filled the air the more we dug up. Eventually, we excavated enough that Alice and I used a spare scrap of fabric to pull the body out of the hole.

As we lifted the remains of what looked to be a little girl and set her down, Alice reached back into the hole and began removing the remains of an adult skeleton. They shared the same hair, both in length and color, as well as the material and make of their dresses.

"The mother?" Alice asked as she stood up.

Devon crouched down and examined the adult skeleton. "Most likely. Look at the placement of the hole."

"Explosion from their chest. Their hearts exploded?" I said.

"Strong enough to reduce their ribs to shrapnel. Did you notice anything else?"

I frowned and cautiously bent down. I ignored the child and examined the adult. Beyond looking like a horror movie prop, I couldn't find anything else.

He shook his head. "Smell, Cain. Use your instincts."

I glared, but he remained unbothered.

Fine, I'll just inhale the corpse fumes.

I lowered my hoodie and tentatively took a whiff. I tried not to vomit. Against my wishes, I kept sniffing and noticed something—rather, the lack of something.

Bending down further, I sniffed at the dirt and then hovered over the hole from where the corpses came from.

Oh.

When I looked his way, Devon nodded and turned to Alice, motioning to the corpses.

She didn't hesitate and removed her cover to sniff the air. It took a few seconds, but she crossed her arms.

"Considering the evil humans. Does this mean a ritual?"

"Maybe. Blood sacrifices are common. I've never encountered a spell that can explode the heart and exsanguinate the victim before. But if they sacrificed an entire village's worth of people, that's a lot of power to use for whatever they want."

He gently picked up both corpses and placed them back in the hole. Alice and I helped recover the pair with soil and packed it down.

Devon stood up and wiped the dirt off his gloves before returning the way we came. "Onward. We have a village to explore."