“Should we try to bring them on board?” Hypatia asked.

“Are we sure they’re not going to attack us?” Benkin followed.

“Doctor, thoughts?” Cid asked.

“Hard to say, vampyres don’t exactly need air to function for long periods of time.”

Hypatia turned to Gabriel, “Is that true?”

“More or less, though if we don’t breath too long our bodies can begin changing as a result.”

“Really?” Benkin asked.

“Oh yeah, but that’s over my head when it comes to why that happens.”

“Kel, Ben, Gab, if you could help me get the deceased on board,” Leonidas said, waving them over to the edge of the ferry. Lifting the corpse up and turning them on their back, they could see they had found dead man with extensive mutilation of the body.

The neck had been bitten deep into, removing much of the flesh behind, leaving the spine and windpipe exposed. The torso was ripped open, organs removed, and several small rocks that had clung onto the dead man’s clothing had fallen back into the recess inside.

“What was the point of the rocks?” Hypatia asked.

“I’m thinking they were trying to sink the body into the water,” said Maeryn.

“I’d agree with that one,” said Leonidas.

“Poor thing,” said the ferryman, shaking his head as he turned away from the macabre scene and looked back to the other shoreline. “This is just getting worse and worse.”

“You’ve seen this before?” Silvius asked.

“Aye, seen a few lost souls wading along these waters in my time. Usually it’s someone who had more than a few drinks than they should. But this something entirely different. Won’t be anyone left here in these parts to kill if this keeps up.”

“That’s a shared sentiment,” Jeanne said before looking back at the deceased.

***

Reaching a town a few miles down the road, The Wolves found a tanner applying oils over the hides suspended and trying in the sun. The woman spotted the group and grabbed a rag to dry her hands before walking up to them. “Good morrow,” she said, hesitantly after spotting Benkin holding a large wrapped dropping item over his shoulders, “is there anything I can help with?”

“The local sheriff or reeve,” said Cid. “We found a man floating in the river.”

“Shepherd preserve us, not another one,” the tanner replied. “You can find the reeve in her office, largest building in town, can’t miss it.”

“Thank you,” Cid said before gesturing the others to follow.

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In the middle of town was a tall three-story building, crafted from dark woods and sporting golden colored terracotta tiles all over the roof. The shutters were opened and faint plumes of smoke lifted from inside and lifting up to the sky. Townspeople moved in and out, tending to various errands. One spotting the group looking at them perplexingly. “Is there anything you need?” the person asked them.

“We’re looking for the reeve,” said Cid.

“Right,” the townsperson said, “I’ll let them know you’re here.”

In a few moments a woman walked out, around in her fifties, with brown hair with peppered spots of grey, lines of worry and laughter distinguished her face as she immediately spotted what Benkin was carrying.

“I’m Judith, the reeve here. And I see you found another poor bastard from the river?” she asked, looking at Cid directly.

Cid nodded. “We found him while taking the ferry. The gentleman over can …”

“There’s no need,” the woman said. “This is the third dead body we’ve found in less than a month,” she said gesturing them inside and pointing to a table were Benkin could place the body.

“Do you think it might have something to do with the bandits over by the cave?” Jeanne said, nudging her head back to the river.

“That was our first thoughts. But honestly, Mason and his boys have been there before I was the reeve around these parts. And we haven’t seen them out and about for some time. And we try to stay out of their business as much as we can.”

“You allow bandits to operate without recourse?” Silvius asked.

“They have a crew about half the size of this town. And they have who know how many years experience in fighting. Most of the people here would use a sword to plough a field than plough a man’s flesh. On top of that, we don’t have the resources to take on a bandit crew of their size. So we’ve come to an agreement; they leave our people and traders alone, we don’t bring the heat on their people.”

“How well has that worked?” Cid asked.

Judith shrugged. “It’s get things in good order for the most part. Especially since with the war on, a lot of bandit crews have been trying to carve out territories for themselves and act like they’re their own kings.”

“How wonderful,” Jeanne said, chagrining.

“That was until the group recruited two new members. That’s when the bodies started turning up.”

“They would happen to have unusually pale skin, would they?” Cid asked.

“You mean like a sucking vamp? Yeah, whiter than the moon. And about as lively as one, too.”

“Have they been back recently?” Cid asked.

“What, are they friends of yours?”

“Oh no, the opposite.”

“Well … I’d prefer not to rock the boat. But I can tell you they did arrive back from one of their excursions recently. Looked a little worse for wear, too. And since then things have been … quiet. Very quiet.”

“You think something happened?” Cid asked.

“Who knows. But I’m not going down there, not if you paid me a five king’s ransoms.”

“After we get some food and draught in us, we should be more than enough to tackle the problem,” Cid said with a calm smile.

“Well the Golden Mutton is a short that way,” Judith said, pointing to a building a short distance from where they were. “It’s an inn and tavern, in case you need both services.”

“Thank you for that,” said Cid. “Now, if you’ll excuse us.”

Taking their leave, the group moved back out to the main square as Cid turned to the group. “All right, thoughts?”

“I think the town is in league with the bandits,” said Kveldulf.

“You think so,” said Silvius, “I got the feeling she’d rather not have them around.”

“Better to dance with the devil you know than dance with the devil you don’t,” Kveldulf noted.

“I say we burn the place and see what the bandits do,” said Jeanne.

“Is this a real idea or simply you wanting to burn stuff?” Cid asked.

“Both,” Jeanne replied.

Cid took a long breath. “Let’s put that on the maybe pile in case we need to go with that plan.”

“So what is the plan?” Benkin asked.

“Maer, you and Jeanne go scout out the place, Kveldulf, you and the doctor will stay here while the rest of us find a place to rest our heads until we move in,” said Cid.

“Should we maybe look for the inn?” Hypatia asked.

“I’d prefer not,” Cid replied. “I don’t them farther than I spit, currently.”

“And you don’t spit far to begin with,” Jeanne said.

“Precisely, now let’s move out.”