The next few days were uneventful. Even though Sniffer and Tiddles were out every night scouting the river area. There had been no other signs of a Spylore. The weather had turned, and winter was on its way with the first fluttering of snow. During the daytime, the townsfolk carried on with their usual business, and the town felt virtually normal, but every night, as soon as dusk hit, they would head to the central building and hole up again. The only place that remained open had been the bar, and that was because it provided food for most of the town.
“Maybe you have scared them off,” Holland said to Sniffer as he reported in after another night at the docks. It was the morning of the sixth day after Cindy’s death.
“If we have, it will be the first time I am aware of,” He said. “They are sneaky little bastards; I am sure they are still out there. The beast can still sense something in how he reacts, so they haven’t gone far. I think they are just being cautious. They are not stupid by any means. I will rest for a while, and I think we will go out towards their den and see what activity there is before it starts getting dark.”
“That sounds like a good idea.” Holland said, “Do you want me to send the town guard with you?”
“No,” Sniffer replied, “If they are still out there, which I believe they are, that will just give them more targets, and I don’t want to be responsible for them. I will take the beast. If anything happens to either of us, then that is on my head.”
“Fair enough,” Holland replied, “but I have never seen you with a gun. Did you need to borrow one?”
“No thanks,” Sniffer replied, “I could not hit a Spylore at ten paces, and if they get through the beast, then I am as good as dead anyway, whatever I have with me.”
He returned to the tiny house. Tiddles was already back in his usual spot, flopped on the broken couch. The temperature had plummeted, and it was cold with no heating in the house. Sniffer grabbed the blankets from the bedroom and entered the living room where Tiddles lay. He propped himself up against him. He was always warm, whatever the weather, and he eventually drifted off to sleep with the help of his warmth.
∆∆∆
He wasn’t sure how long he had slept before he was awoken by banging on the door.
“Sniffer, are you there?” A voice called.
He untangled himself from the blankets and opened the front door. Tiddles had woken and was stretching off as he opened it. The snow was falling heavily and had settled at least a few centimetres.
“What’s up?” he said, seeing Stevo standing in the door.
“There has been an attack.” He replied with panic in his voice.
Sniffer looked at the sky. He did not even think it was afternoon yet. “It’s not even dark yet,” he stated.
“Well, it’s happened. The bar owner, Sam, was tending some Keefir with his niece on the other side of town. His niece made it back to town screaming incoherently about a Wild One. Holland has sent some of the blokes out to check.”
“Shit, ok, give me a minute.” Sniffer returned inside, pulled his boots on, and grabbed his jacket. “Come on, boy, let's see what we can find.”
The pair of them followed Stevo through town towards the bar. They then took a side street and continued down it for two blocks, where they came to an open plot of land with three Keefir grazing lazily at a feed trough. Keefir’s were among the few milk sources these days and produced quite a high volume from all accounts. There was a group of crudely armed men standing over a body not far from the trough.
Sniffer walked over and could see the body of the bar owner lying face down in the snow. He had come to know Sam quite well over his short time in town and liked his company. The snow around his head had turned a scarlet colour. “Anyone saw anything?” he said.
“Nothing,” replied one of the men, “we only got here a few minutes ago.”
Sniffer turned to Tiddles, who was standing alert and watching out over the field. “You sense something, boy?” he said, “Go search.” Tiddles moved off across the area with his nose close to the snow.
At that moment, Holland arrived and looked aghast at Sam’s body. “I thought they didn’t attack in the day?” he said to Sniffer.
“They don’t ‘normally’. It is usually dusk or at night.” Sniffer replied. He bent forward and rolled Sam's body over. His face was mangled; it had slash marks running from top to bottom, and they continued down onto his neck. Looking at the neck wound, he could tell that is what had ended him; his artery must have been caught. The slash marks seemed reasonably deep and thin. “You should get the men back to town and call everyone into the stopover,” Sniffer said.
Holland instructed three men, and they hurried away to different areas of the town. “Where’s the girl?” asked Sniffer.
“She is with Doc”, Holland replied, “she is traumatised, screaming about Wild Ones. She was trying to get her to take some tonic to calm her down.”
“We may as well get the body inside. No point in leaving it out here to get covered by the snow.” Sniffer said.
A couple of the remaining men grabbed the body and started carrying it back into town. Holland and Sniffer joined them. Tiddles came trotting back a few minutes later and caught up with them as they arrived at Doc’s.
“Anything, boy?” Sniffer asked. He let out a low growl sound. “That’s strange,” Sniffer said more to himself rather than anyone else.
“What is?” Holland asked.
“Oh, sorry, not sure yet,” Sniffer replied.
They went into Doc’s and carried the body through to the back, where the other victims had been taken. Doc was in a side office with who he assumed was the bar owner's niece. She was crying inconsolably. Doc came out and pulled the office door behind her. “She has had some tonic at last, so she should settle in a few minutes and hopefully get some sleep,” Doc said.
“Thanks, Doc,” said Holland.
“I will check around town for any signs of them,” Sniffer said, leaving the building.
He did a town circuit and found no signs or tracks of Spylore anywhere. The only tracks that were on the snowy streets were those of people. He then headed back over to the paddock where they had found the body; something wasn’t right about this, he thought. He went back to the spot where the body had been lying. The snow was quickly covering the ground where it had lay, and the signs of the blood-soaked snow were starting to disappear. He looked across the field, observing the openness. Tiddles stood by his side, not doing anything, just watching Sniffer.
“I can’t see any tracks, only yours”, Sniffer said.
There was a low growl in reply, and Tiddles rolled his head.
He walked carefully around the area, and the only tracks he could see were those of the men in the field and the beast's prints where he had gone over the field. There were no others in sight unless the snow had already covered them. “And you didn’t find anything, boy?” again, there was a growled response in a low tone.
He turned and started heading back into town. He returned to the brick house and found Holland inside, speaking to Stevo.
“I want men out on the junctions leading to the centre”, he said, “and barrels lit; I don’t care if it’s still daylight.” He barked.
Stevo nodded his head and turned to leave. Sniffer waited for him to go, then walked into Holland's office and shut the door. Tiddles was sat outside in the reception area, getting fussed over by Martha. She had taken a bag of something from her desk drawer and was throwing treats at him. Tiddles was obliging by chomping down whatever it was she was feeding him.
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“I don’t think this was a Spylore,” He said, looking at Holland square in his eyes.
“What do you mean? If it wasn’t a Spylore, what the hell was it?” Holland asked.
“Not sure yet, but the beast didn’t react as I would expect there to be Spylore’s, and I could not see any tracks. I know it’s snowing, but I would have expected to find some indication of them.” He said. “I need to speak to the girl when she is feeling better and get a description of what attacked him.”
Holland looked at him, “Well, when I left Doc’s, she had not long since fallen asleep from the tonic, so she won’t be fit for a few hours.”
“Well, as soon as she is, I will need to speak to her to see if that’s okay?” Sniffer asked
“Yeah, whatever you need. I just want this hell to end.” Holland replied, shaking his head in disbelief.
Sniffer left the brick house after giving Tiddles a poke with his toe. He had walked out of Holland’s office to find him lying on his back to get more treats from the old girl, and Martha was obliging while rubbing his belly. “Flirt,” he said as he moved him out the door, smiling at the secretary.
Tiddles gave him as hurt a look as a beast could and then what appeared to be a smile, if you could class, being shown rows of sharp fangs a smile. They went to the town centre where all the townsfolk had been gathered. They had huddled inside the building where the families from the river now resided, and he hadn’t been here since it had been set up. The families all had curtained-off sections for each of them, and power from a generator was providing light, and there were even a couple of small electric oil by the looks of them, ‘what he would give to have one of those in the small house,’ he thought.
Sniffer walked to a table and drank from the provisions there. ‘It doesn’t look like I will get any nectar today,’ he thought. He had been visiting the bar early evening every day to grab some food and have a quick nectar before work. He had spoken to Sam and passed the usual topics with him about the weather, how the search was going, etc. He had been a decent fellow, always polite and smiling. Sniffer grabbed a chair near the door, and Tiddles sat beside him.
A few of the children came over, including young Jez. The townsfolk had gotten used to Tiddles wandering around, and although many adults were still very wary of him, the children were not. Their inquisitive nature and lack of fear allowed them to proceed without caution. They would come over to him and pat him and stroke him. Tiddles loved all the attention. He had a young girl now scratching him behind his ear and had a look of contentment on his face with his rather large tongue poking slightly out of the side of his mouth. Jez had even climbed on his back at one point, and Tiddles had found it amusing to stand up and give the boy a ride. Until Jez’s mother had seen what her son had done, shrieked, ran over, and grabbed him off his back.
Sniffer watched the families going about their business and whispering to each other about Sam and his poor niece. ‘For a town its size, they don’t half gossip a lot,’ Sniffer thought. As the sun set, he patted Tiddles on the head and said, “Come on, boy, time for work.” They got up and moved back outside, heading towards the riverside.
∆∆∆
Once again, the night had gone by with no signs of Spylore’s. Sniffer was getting a little concerned as they usually came back much sooner, but with the attack today, maybe it had been a Spylore, and they had started to act differently. The first signs of morning were creeping into the sky, and the clouds looked heavy. The snow had stopped falling in the early hours, but by then, it had left a fresh, clean blanket on the ground. As the sun rose, the morning calls of Wild Ones could be heard in the woods across the river, and with the pristine new snowfall all around, the township and surrounding area looked at peace.
They headed back to the town centre. A few townsfolk were up and moving, but after the day's attack yesterday, no one was permitted out of the central area without permission. The only people who left were those going to the brick house or a couple who had Keefir, but they were escorted by a couple of the town guards when they went. Guards were being posted 24 hours now, and the responsibility was shared between all the townsfolk. A woman Sniffer recognised from the bar was standing by one of the barrels as he approached the main square.
“Morning, quiet night?” he asked.
“Yeah, nothing at all.” She replied.
“Well, at least that’s a good sign,” Sniffer said. He stopped briefly and shared some pleasantries with her before heading towards the brick house, knowing Holland would be there.
“Nothing again,” He said as he saw Holland, “But I will head out to the den today if there are no distractions once I have had some rest.”
“Sure,” was all he replied.
Sniffer was about to turn and leave when he remembered. “Oh, where’s the girl? Will she be able to chat now?”
“She stayed at Doc’s last night, but I would guess so.”
“OK, thanks. I will go see her before getting some rest.”
He walked the short distance to Doc’s, and the door was locked. He knocked on the door gently, and after a few minutes, Doc appeared still dressed in her nightgown.
“You are early,” she said, smiling.
Her smile took his breath away, and he stumbled over his reply. “Morning. How is the girl?” he eventually got out.
“Distraught as you can imagine, she has not long since woken up,” Doc replied.
“Do you think I could have a word with her? Just want to try and get a description of the beast from her if possible?” he asked.
“Sure, you can try, but I am not sure what she will remember due to the shock of the incident. She appears to be suffering from trauma.” She said.
Doc let Sniffer in and showed him down a small corridor he hadn’t noticed. It led into a separate small patient area with a couple of beds. The girl was sat in a chair with a thick blanket draped around her shoulders, sipping on a steaming drink.
“Morning, I’m Sniffer. You have probably seen me around and in the Bar where your uncle worked.” He said. “I am sorry about your loss, but I have some questions. Is that ok?”
She looked up from her drink and looked at him with forlorn red-rimmed eyes. She had damp trails on her cheeks and had been crying again, “Sure,” she said.
“Did you see the beast that attacked your uncle?” he asked, studying her intently.
“Only briefly,” She said, not looking up at him.
“What did it look like?” he said.
“A Spylore, it was huge and attacked him while he fed the Keefir,” she said.
“Did you see it attack and where it came from?” he asked.
“Yeah, I walked towards the paddock to take Uncle a drink. I saw it sprint across the field and slice him. I screamed, turned, and ran back to town as fast as possible.” She stated.
“Ok, thanks,” he said to her. He turned to leave and signalled for Doc to follow him. They returned to the reception area, and he asked her, “Have you known her long?”
“I helped with her birth. Unfortunately, her mother bled, and there was nothing we could do to save her; her husband had died from an infection from a wound he got a couple of months earlier. So the only person left to look after her was Sam, her uncle; now he has gone, and she has no one. That would have been what seventeen years ago now.”
Sniffer appraised her slightly, “You don’t look old enough to have been a Doc seventeen years ago,” he said.
She smiled brightly at him, “Thank you, but I started training at a young age; my mother and aunt were healers.”
“Has she ever spoken to you about anything before?” he asked.
“In what way?” looking at him quizzically.
“Oh, I don’t know about anything.” He said.
“Not really. We only cross paths normally when I call in the bar, but I am normally too busy here most days.” She replied.
“OK, thanks for your time. Let’s hope for an uneventful day.” He said.
“I certainly do. The amount of death the town has suffered over the past few weeks is immeasurable. The whole town is on tenterhooks.” Doc replied.
He left the Docs and headed straight back to the brick house. Martha had turned up and was making a fresh pot of coffee. “Morning, Sniffer, would you like one?” she asked.
“Please.” He said he waited for her to hand him a cup, took Hollands off her, and walked to his office.
“You are back soon,” Holland said as he walked in the door, placing Holland's drink on his desk for him.
“Yeah, we have a problem.” He said. “I have been to speak to the girl.”
“Not another beast to deal with?” he asked.
“No, quite the opposite. The beast is already here.” He said.
“What do you mean?” He asked.
“She killed him.” He said bluntly.
“What? Never?” Holland looked at Sniffer in disbelief before continuing. “There is no way she killed Sam.”
“Oh, she did, and she may have got away with it if she had got her story right. The problem is that a few things didn’t make sense. First, the beast couldn’t pick up a scent in the paddock of any Wild Ones. Secondly, when I returned, there were no signs of tracks across the field. Thirdly, the Keefirs just stood there grazing; if a Spylore or other Wild One had been near them, they would have been panicked, skittish, and not so calm. Fourth point: the girl mentioned she saw Spylore slice him; Spylore does not slice anything. They tear them apart, and the wounds on Sam looked too clean. Also, when I went and visited her at Doc’s, she was still wearing the clothes from yesterday, and I noticed blood splashes on her clothes.”
Holland interjected, “I am not surprised she has blood on her clothes being with her uncle when he was attacked.”
“Yes, but she has just told me she saw the attack from a distance, screamed, turned and ran. If she had been near a Spylore attack, I could understand the blood, but she says in her own words that she wasn’t. I also would expect a Spylore to attack her; they would not just hit and run like that if there were two people close by, and there is no way she would have outrun a Spylore. The last point is, though, that Spylores will always bite and puncture their targets with their fangs as the killing blow, and there were no signs of any puncture wounds. I believe she has used the Spylore attacks to try and cover the murder she has committed.” Sniffer stopped talking and stood there.
Holland stood flabbergasted, and it took him a long minute before he spoke. “I don’t believe it; it cannot be true.”
“Go and speak to her yourself and ask her about the attack. If she says anything other than what I have just told you, she said that she saw it turned and ran; she lied to either you or me.” He said.
“I will go and see her in a while,” Holland replied, leaning back in his chair and looking up at the ceiling. He was obviously mulling over what Sniffer had just told him.
“Anyway, I need to get some rest. I will see you this afternoon.” Sniffer stated.
Sniffer left his office, placed his cup on the outside desk, and thanked Martha before returning to the tiny house. Tiddles, as usual, was already snoring. He shook his head, sighed, took his boots and jacket off, grabbed the blankets, and settled beside him.