In my short time in Gelvurt, I had noticed quickly that it was a small settlement, made up of a town center, mostly consisting of a market center, and scattered homes of farmers and their fields.
The Velbrun Keep, my inherited home as the local lord, was located about a mile away from the center of town, surrounded by stone walls and modest defenses.
A place for both my family and the people of Gelvurt to feel safe in times of trouble.
“Five children, mostly boys, have turned up dead, my Lord.”
Orion, the local general store owner, had filled me in on the situation. For the past few months, there had been rumors of something moving in the darkness around the homes of Gelvurt’s people.
Corpses of animals, mostly livestock, had been found eviscerated. The villagers had sent word to the Velbruns, but my arrival was the closest thing they had to a response.
It was a month ago that children began to go missing, instead of simple cattle.
I placed Dalton down into the proper beds that the keep had been furnished with, wrapping him with one of the warmth enchanted blankets I had purchased.
Turning around, I nodded to Orion, “What do we know about the creature? Has the local healer or any of the hunters examined the remains?”
The general store owner, the most trusting of my arrival, nodded, “Marge, a local alchemist, examined…one of the children and we have plenty of testimony from hunters who examined the livestock.”
I made a motion to continue, “And?”
“The monster has claws, my Lord, and they punctured cleanly through the skin and muscle of the cows. From tracks, we’ve gathered that it’s bipedal, but…nothing beyond that.”
I nodded, “Whether by stealth or magic, it’s escaped the notice of the local guard. There’s a lot of land to cover here in Gelvurt.”
Orion nodded. He was Certillian, with a light tan darkening the paler skin of his heritage, and had dark hair that was tied off into a tight ponytail.
I looked out the window of the room, down to the courtyard of the keep, where the people of Gelvurt had retired for the night. They had been here when I arrived, the women and children seeking shelter.
“What are our numbers? Local militia?”
“The captain is, unfortunately, not available, but he has trained eight capable swordsmen that patrol.”
I frowned, “What is keeping the captain?”
“Mourning, my Lord. One of the children was his.”
I closed my eyes, feeling for the man. Without Lydia, I was already at the edge of fading into a shadow myself, but if the lights of my children ever flickered…
“Guh,” Natakia sniffed at a crawling beetle that she had smacked at. Daka giggled at the sight.
It would break me.
“Alright, I’ll need two of the guards to accompany me, the better they are familiar with the area, the bett-...”
Orion frowned, “My Lord?”
Something was niggling at the back of my mind. Something that he had said.
I turned back to Orion, “Why did your alchemist only examine the first child?”
He sighed, sounding exhausted, “Mourning, my Lord. The week after the captain’s son died, both of her sons went missing and were found dead soon after.”
That set off an alarm somewhere in the back of my head.
I frowned, “The parents of the other children, who were they?”
Orion’s eyes widened, “The local postman and the tavern owner.”
I considered the new information for a moment, before shaking my head, “This is no monster idly seeking easy prey.”
“M-My lord!?”
I settled a fierce gaze at him, “This is an attempt to intentionally cripple Gelvurt by targeting the children. I want eyes on my children while I’m gone, understand?”
The man nodded and I was off.
Gelvurt was quiet at night, especially now, but that did not mean my hunt was free of distractions.
“So, you’re the new lord, huh?”
Dresden and Kingsley walked alongside me, both of them equipped with their rudimentary arms and armor, the metal implements clanking lightly against each other as they walked.
I turned to Dresden, the younger of the two, “Yes, I am.”
Dresden gave a nod, considering me, “Pretty active for a lord. I don’t think I ever saw our last lord leave the keep before he got posted elsewhere, you know?”
I really didn’t.
Kingsley pointed, distracting Dresden from any other questions at my silence, “There. That’s the Conroy home, where the last attack happened.”
He was an older man, most likely served in the war to some extent. From what I had been told, he was an old friend of the captain’s.
The Conroy abode was posted on a slight hill, with a small fenced backyard with a few pigs roaming about. I approached it, noticing one of the windows was shattered.
Kingsley spoke up, noticing my focus, “Ole’ Conroy said he heard a loud shatter and screams before the thing drug his boy out. Didn’t get a good look at it, though.”
I nodded, examining bits and pieces of the glass on the grass, “Why are these shattered outward?”
Dresden shrugged, “Thing crushed through the window to get out, yeah?”
I nodded, “That means it got inside somewhere else.”
Still, it had left from this spot. I crouched, flexing my body as my vital energy began to move and shift, the beginnings of my Scourger Bloodhound Technique.
With my last moments before the technique took hold, I said quietly, “Guard me, I’m catching the scent.”
And then everything went dark, my sense of smell expanding as I took in the smells of the grass, the old smells of blood, and…something that was off.
It was barely there, but it smelt faintly of cleaner liquid, something I had smelled frequently in alchemist labs and places that needed to be devoid of contaminates. Certainly not the smell of a monster.
I got the direction of the stench, heading into the forest, and allowed the technique to fade.
“-uch do you wanna bet this guy is in over his head?”
I stood up, turning to both of them and ignoring the idle chatter from Dresden, “I’ve got the stench, let’s go.”
“How often are these woods patrolled?”
Kingsley shook his head, “We don’t. The hunters are out here most days and report any strange sightings back to us.”
I frowned. It made sense, especially if they only had so many guards to spread out, but things could fester in places like this if not routinely checked.
“So, uh, you mentioned this thing might not be a monster?” Dresden’s blade was out, held with a skillfulness that made up for his hint of attitude. Honestly, it was refreshing to an extent.
I shook my head, “It isn’t a monster, at least, a dumb one. This one went after the pillars of the community, wanting Gelvurt crippled, but not evacuated.”
“Any idea of what it could be, my Lord?” Kingsley’s own blade, heavier than Dresden’s, was held ready.
“If not a human dabbling in darker arts, than possibly a Peak Troll. It might have come down from the mountains, possibly chased by a predator. They’re smart, but if it was involved, it wouldn’t have left corpses.”
No, the corpses were around for a reason. It started with livestock, to stir rumors, and now children to strike while the iron was hot. What scheme was at play here?
I had been following the stench for about an hour now, routinely using Scourger Bloodhound Technique to stay on track.
I heard a branch snap in the distance, my eyes darting to a distant bush. In the blink of an eye, my Vulture Axes were ready, my form dropped into the familiar weight of the Dancing Star Stance.
“Something’s coming.”
The two guards readied their weapons, dropping into their own stances.
For a moment, the bush continued to shake and stir, before a small animal hopped out, a gray furred rabbit that sniffed at the air, before looking at us.
Dresden’s stance fell, his voice light, “Oh, come on, it’s just a fucking bunn-”
And then a dozen more rabbits hopped from the same bush, the lead one opening its mouth with a dry, cracking scream, revealing a set of inch-long serrated teeth.
“Holy fucking shit!”
The monstrous rabbits charged, their dull eyes focused on us and us alone.
