A sigh escaped his lips before he straightened up and knocked on the door. The sounds of movement within were immediate and suggested that the resident was expecting someone else. The look on the man’s face when he opened the door confirmed it.

“Fresk. To what do I owe the pleasure of your company.”

The man didn’t hide his grimace any more than usual, standing squarely in the doorway to ensure he wouldn’t misunderstand.

“We need to talk.”

Therace narrowed his eyes and simply stared at him for a while. After a few moments, he finally responded.

“Well, go on then. What do we have to discuss?”

It took a great deal of control for Fresk to hold back a sigh. Dealing with the cook was unpleasant in the best of times, and the past month had been far from ideal.

“I doubt either of us want this conversation to be overheard.”

The man stared at him for a while before relenting. He turned, walked into his home, and sat on his couch. His hand unconsciously reached out to lay upon the book to his side while he grabbed a cup from the low sitting table before him.

Fascinating that. The book, that is. Recent break throughs had allowed parchment to be bound in a leather case to help prolong its lifespan. The results spoke for themselves, yielding parchment that didn’t furl or fall out of order.

Time would tell whether the extra cost was worth it. For most at least. For Therace though, the cost was the reason to buy it. Just one more reminder to his guests that their family was much wealthier than everyone else. The man was much less subtle than his wife if the small changes in decor in her absence could be interpreted as intentional, various expensive items strewn about with little rhyme or reason beyond them now being more obvious and potentially in the way.

Or he was just sloppy.

Fresk chose to stand, not giving the man the satisfaction of asking to sit. It was quite obvious that the cook was feeling particularly venomous today.

“I’ll try to be brief. Your father-in-law has been concerned by the creature’s absence.”

A scoff followed by an unnecessarily loud slurp of tea.

“It does that. Disappears for days or weeks at a time with no indication of why.”

“Oh, but we both suspect there was a reason this time. It is no secret that you have been cooking with it. It was also quite obvious to everyone present last week that it had been enjoying those sessions with you. Almost as obvious as the suspicion it felt towards us before it left.”

He waited for some feedback from the cook, but nothing came.

Very well, if I have to say it then I’ll say it.

“Your father-in-law and I suspect it knows of the mission Larese took Mirri on. Hence our concern.”

Another scoff and obnoxious slurp were the immediate response.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“Worried for his precious townspeople, is he? If so then he had better make a decision. If it’s gone then now’s the time to run.”

The cook’s inability to understand anything not spoken explicitly was likely intentional. It was obvious to Fresk that the man was annoyed or even angry. He hadn’t left his home in days and the general state of the place spoke to an equally disorganized mind. Were the two of them close or on good terms, he might have tried to help the man.

But they weren’t.

“It is not us he worries over. The beast is clever enough to suspect us, that much is clear. It has also demonstrated superior ability and tactics to what even I initially suspected. It could easily track down your wife and son if it was so inclined.”

Finally, he got the man to look at him seriously. It was obvious that Therace had thought as much on his own. Hells, it was likely that the mood he was in was the result of such introspection and his interpretation of fault.

“We all worry for those we love and care for, especially with monsters at our doors. Your point, Fresk?”

His name was spat more than spoken. Any play at civility was long since abandoned by his host by now. But if that’s what it took then so be it.

“The first evacuations will take place tomorrow morning. One family every morning now that the mill is nearly finished. I will personally keep watch to ensure it doesn’t arrive at an inopportune time.”

Therace narrowed his eyes once more.

“You want me to be in their number? To lead it to where Larese and Mirri have hidden?”

“No,” a firm and immediate response that seemed to concern the man even more. “You, me, and Mr. Collis are not allowed to leave. A few others have either volunteered or been asked to stay as well, even after we’ve finished construction. Some of us have to stick around to operate the mill and keep it here.”

Therace stood up from the couch, hands immediately going to his hair as he made for the kitchen. Twice he turned around, pacing back to his cup before finally reaching his apparent destination.

“Have you grown so cold, Fresk? I thought that you viewed this town as family. Even if I have been far from welcoming to you, these people took you in despite… everything.”

He couldn’t meet the man’s eyes. Therace was right, of course. This was quite cruel of him in a way, but this situation was no longer about getting everyone out alive.

It was about saving whoever he could.

“Most of us will die. That is almost a certainty. It’s why they’re all being sent to different towns. Why we’re staying behind to distract it. My only hope is to save some of them, Therace. The better we distract it, the harder we work, the more likely they are to live. The more likely your family is to live.”

The man had gotten something stronger than tea from his kitchen after Fresk spoke. There were no attempts at subtlety, no bravado from the man as he drank straight from the bottle on his walk back into the room.

“You’re asking me…” he began slowly. Fresk had judged the man accurately it seemed. “You expect me to sit here and cook with it even more. Distract it even more. While you send our people off to almost certain death? For what? A hope that it’ll be so distracted by the steady stream of fleeing civilians that it forgets to go looking for my wife and child?”

He understood after all. The situation they were in was simple. Simple, yet horrifying.

“The way I see it, there are only two outcomes here. One where it already left to hunt them and one where it lurks in these woods still. If it’s the former, then the escapees get a chance at freedom and life. If it’s the latter, then at least Larese and Mirri are safe for as long as possible.”

Fresk walked up to the shaken man, placing a hand on his pulsating shoulder.

“No one else has to know. So long as you, me, and Mr. Collis do a good job of directing, encouraging, and distracting. But you’ll have to help out much more if they’re to have any hope.”

If looks could kill, then Fresk would have dropped dead then and there. If Therace had been unpleasant to him before, then the anger in his eyes could only be described as murderous now. But, if anyone deserved it, then it was the man who’d suggested this plan in the first place. Fresk wouldn’t tell him that his anger wasn’t well placed.

“You’re crueler than I expected. To throw lives away so calmly. To tell me when you could have kept it to yourself. Damn you, Fresk.”

He didn’t have a good response for the man and simply moved towards the door.

“The mill has to be finished. We both better get back to work.”

He opened the door and stood there, waiting patiently. It didn’t take long for Therace to find some working attire and join him, the bottle notably absent.

It was a quiet walk to the work site.