We discussed our next moves over lunch. If the chimera could talk, it wasn’t; if the townspeople knew anything, they weren’t telling.
“Both times, it escaped into the forest.” Sky mused.
Aeolus turned his attention from the food to the table. “Should we head that way and see if we find anything?”
Helia shook her head. “That would be foolish. The woods here are massive, and the chimera is fast. It could be staying miles away.”
“We heard that farmland was attacked outside the city…maybe we should talk to the farmers instead?” Suggested Aeolus.
“Ya talked to some in the market, though, and got nothin’.”
Aeolus went to defend himself. “They might be more willing to talk now that we’ve been involved in the attacks.”
The ever-calm Sera suggested, “How about this? We send Millie to scout the forest while we split into three groups and speak to the local farmers.”
Aeolus was the first to respond, “Sounds fair.”
“Fair enough.” Azure agreed.
Sky shrugged. “Sounds good to me.”
Reluctantly, Helia stated, “Better than the forest.”
They all turned to face me, the only one who hadn’t answered.
“Sure.” I agreed. They couldn’t split into groups of two without me. Most of our search had been fruitless, and I wasn’t hopeful the farmers would tell us anything. This might be attributed to Sera and Aeolus being the ones asking. The problem was less them and more their shadows. Sky and I depicted far less frightening figures.
We naturally fell into the following groups: Sera and Helia, Aeolus and Azure, and Sky and I. There were a dozen or so farms on this side of the river outside the city, so each group pulled out a map and picked four or so farms to investigate.
Sera and Helia picked the ones near the forest, so they could send Millie to scout the woods. Taking pity on me, Aeolus and Azure picked the four farthest farms. This left Sky and I to the riverside farms closest to the city. We decided to meet back at the city gates in the afternoon, giving ourselves just enough time to enter the city gates, eat, and bathe before dark approached.
Sky and I walked a path alongside the river, which wound underneath the aqueducts and between farms. We passed the occasional farmhand pulling their carts full of unsold wares down the track and back to the farm. The first one we questioned was an old, dirty, red-faced, and huffing ball of a man who refused to greet us, much less answer questions. The second and third, young men with an enviable fitness level, were much friendlier. Both had heard the screams of the disappeared individuals, and had information about robbed farms near the forest border.
“They don’t come ta this side, though.” One of the farmhands, with bleached hair and sun dark-skinned, clarified, “I haven’t heard of any’a the farms near this river here bein’ attacked.”
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“Could you tell where the screams were coming from?” Sky asked.
The farmhand nodded. “Sure I can.” He pointed towards the city, “they started near the city” he moved to point to where the forest was “and then went in that direction.”
“Was anyone informed of this?”
The farmhand’s head bobbed. “Yeah. The ones who’ve disappeared have been homeless or common whores. The city folk,” he said the last part like it was a curse, “only care about themselves, see, so no one cared.” He spat on the ground and grimaced.
“Is there anyone around who might know more?”
The farmhand’s eyes were defocused as he thought. “The Fabius family migh’ know more. They were the first ones ta notice and warned the rest of us..”
So Sera and Helia would know more then.
“Well, thank you for your time.”
“Yer welcome.”
“Before you go–might I ask why you decided to talk to us about this? We were asking around in the city and got nowhere.”
The farmhand bared his teeth as he gave a grim smile. “Because ya came out here ta ask.”
Sky nodded. “Again, thank you.”
“We appreciate it.” I joined in with my first words of the conversation.
He gave a genuine smile this time. “Yer welcome. I hope ya can help those poor souls.”
“We will do our best,” Sky promised.
We waved goodbye as we outpaced the farmhand and continued down the path. We passed a few others who ignored us or said the same things. Most of the farm owners we spoke to had nothing else to add.
One of the farm owners, however, refused to meet our eyes. Sensing he knew more than the others, Sky pressed for more answers as I observed. His home was decorated with more valuables lining his walls, and the farmer had plumper cheeks. A whole basket of mushrooms sat near the sink, ready to be devoured. Something about it seemed off.
As we talked, I subtly directed Sky’s attention to them, having seen no mushroom growth anywhere. His eyes widened slightly at the sight, unnoticeable if I hadn’t been looking. As soon as he was able, he changed topics.
“Why, those look delicious!” He exclaimed, walking by the sink to inspect it closer. “Where did you get these? Don’t they grow deep in the forest?”
The farm owner’s gaze jumped from Sky to the mushrooms, and he paled slightly, eyes wide with panic. “My son picked them in the forest.”
Sky grinned in a friendly manner. “Oh? That’s an impressive number–how long did it take your son to pick these?” He picked one up and turned it in his hand, inspecting it.
“He’s very good at finding them.”
“Really?”
The farm owner nodded. “He comes back with baskets full. We sometimes sell them at the market.”
“I’ve heard these can be sold for a fortune. How often are they at the market? I’ll let my friends know.” Sky pressed.
The farm owner refused to say any more on the matter, made excuses, and all but pushed us out the door.
As it was the last farm on our list, we returned the way we’d come and started walking.
Once we were out of sight, I turned to Sky and said: “He knows something.”
Eyes sharp, Sky agreed. “Good catch on the mushrooms. He got nervous when we asked about them. They have to be connected. But how?”
I shook my head. “I have no idea.”
“Hopefully, Sera and Helia will be able to get something out of the Fabius family.”
“Hopefully…” I had the sneaking suspicion that they wouldn’t.
Finished with our task, we returned to and then waited a short way from the city gate for the others, practicing drawing techniques with sticks in the dirt.
Aeolus and Azure were the first to arrive, so we dusted ourselves off and rose to greet them.
“Sky! Hayden!” Aeolus called, a bit too loudly, once they were closer.
Sky stepped forward to clasp arms with Aeolus. “Aeolus! How did it go?”
Aeolus shook his head, raising his empty hands. “Nothing. They confirmed they’d heard rumors but refused to elaborate.”
I looked past him to see the armored and weaponized Azure ready to protect his charge and thought the reason was apparent. To anyone who didn’t know him, Azure was a terrifying man. To anyone who did know him, you still wouldn’t want to get on his bad side.
“We heard a little more than nothing,” Sky explained, “it sounds like so-called ‘undesirables’ are going missing from the city and brought to the forest,” he brought a hand up to his chin in thought and continued, “there was a farm owner who knew more than he let on. He panicked when we asked him where he got a whole basket of mushrooms from, trying to claim his son picked them.”
Aeolus mirrored his posture. “The forest ties them together, right? People disappearing into the forest, mushrooms from the forest? Maybe he or his son saw something?”
“That’s what we were thinking. We heard from someone else that there was a family near the woods that might know more.”
“So we’re waiting on Sera and Helia now.”