Chapter 13: Almost Missed [1]

Flakes of moonlight fell on the village of Lother. It shone on the roofs and windows as the night fell deeper. It captured the silent beauty of the village. Three moons smiled in the night sky, teasing the land below with its breathtaking beauty.

The people of Eudoria named the moons after the gods of the sky. The protectors of Eudoria. The blue moon was Creon after, the red one was Amor, and the violet one was Echos. The merciful ones who had saved Eudoria from the threat of extinction.

The light of the moon fell on the bed of a wasted esquire. His bruised face, covered with patches of black, made him look like a dead man. Taking care of him was a little girl, along with some busy attendants and healers. The little lady squinted her eyes, looking at the bruises of the wasted guy, and down to the chest, she looked.

The little lady could not help but hold her chest, feeling guilty and shameful after hearing the entire story. Little tints of blush peeked on her face as she looked at the esquire.

On the nearby sofa, Liszt slept in peace, his light snores echoing in the room. He had himself cradled with a soft blanket draped over him by the serving maids. The eldest son of the Knight’s family planned to guard Ciera until a drowsy spell struck him before he knew it. The young man still couldn’t fight the calls of the night, forgetting his self-imposed duty.

In another room, the calming moonbeams fell on the little boy sitting on an old chair. His eyes on the moons. Two of his hands resting on his chin, two little dimples appearing as he gazed.

An old lamp lighted by a magic stone joined Klive on his moon gazing. Beside him was an odd-looking velvety book. He stepped back, brought the heavy book with him, and sat on a chair. He moved his eyes around, checking for anyone’s presence. There was no one. Slowly, he opened the wooden-laden book that her nanny had left behind before she vanished.

Klive’s eyes glittered as he stared. A book of mystery. A magical book containing thousands of thousands of stories… though, only for him to see and… to feel.

When someone other than him tried to open the book, they would only see rough blank pages.

According to the Knight and Madam, they met Klive’s first nanny in one of their adventures. They found her in the middle of a forest during a monster campaign. Her body was bruised and bloodied. She had no weapons or body protections. She only had an old wooden book as accompaniment… Yes, only with an old wooden book in the middle of a forest filled with monsters. They even thought she was mute.

The little boy’s eyes blinked as if he had understood something. He closed the book and stood up. He carried the strange tome and then strutted towards the garden. Standing there outside the office where the meeting was about to take place, he then waited.

...

The night went deeper and deeper. The proud moons found their place and stood at the peak of the skies as if claiming its star-ladden throne.

The aroma of tea and coffee roamed the office room. It was one of the simple luxuries that the knight’s family liked.

The Knight and the Madam talked with their trusted aides and attendants. The talks revolved around the new plans the Madam wanted to put in place for the village. The papers written by Ciera during the meeting had covered the big oak tree table. The attendants passed the papers from one to another.

A few people also chattered about the worrying report of the esquire. Each of them waiting for hunter-turned-esquire Auburn, the one who’d hopefully enlighten them of the actual situation.

The Knight’s soldiers scrunched their foreheads after hearing the news from the outskirts. They wished their worries wouldn’t bore fruit and instead burst like a bubble.

Bam!

Several eyes zoomed on the huffing man, who rammed the door open. He was a black-haired young man, and he wore a tail coated butler uniform, a monocle covering one of his eyes. It was the esquire who cursed Davin to high heavens, the one called Auburn.

Though he was late, everyone understood the importance of his findings tonight. So no one complained. Those who study monsters were well-respected in this kingdom. The knowledge they own was essential for the decision-makers, helping them determine the best course of action if monsters were involved.

“Lord! Madam! It’s-it’s a c-crisis.” Auburn barged into the office room with an old document in his hand. The trusted men and women of the knight’s family curiously look at the newcomer. Taking a deep breath, Auburn tried to complete his words. His usually well-ironed coat had turned crooked.

Huff, huff…

“D-d-de-death wolves!”

Auburn's words shifted a lot of gazes towards him. Some turned scary-sharp while others turned languid. Many of them could not believe what they just heard. Or rather, they wished they heard it wrong.

The Knight and the Madam scrunched their eyebrows. The previous easy-going chatters in the room shifted from harmony to pessimism.

A lady walked towards the Auburn patting his back to ease his huffing. She led Auburn to an open chair before giving him a cup of tea to soothe his nerves.

The lady wore a simple blue dress that allowed her to move easily. Although she wasn’t as eye-catching as the Madam or as charismatic as the knight, the lady exuded an aura of dependability. Her black hair cascaded over her shoulders, her very presence soothed the tension in the room.

“Calm down brother and take a sip.” The lady hummed. Turning her head to the Knight and Madam, she then nodded, “Please.”

“Thank you, sis.” Auburn let out a long-suffering sigh.

“My pleasure.” The lady called Leine giggled. He stood beside Auburn, protecting him from the daunting stares.

The Madam took over and walked towards the middle of the crowd. She clapped and everyone in their seats. She looked at Auburn and said. “Please carefully explain from the beginning, Little Auburn.”

Esquire Auburn took another sip of tea that her sister had given to him. Straightening the folds in his tailcoat, his expression soured. He cast a gaze at the Knight and the Madam.

Auburn gave them the old document he brought and started his narration with a deep breath. “At first, I thought the scats brought by Davin were ordinary droppings from wild animals. I thought he was only playing a prank on me. I initially concluded that it was simply from a pack of dire wolves.”

The people in the room raised their eyebrows because of the sudden revelation. Though dire wolves were not one of the apex monsters, none of them thought of those freaks as simple. Dire wolves were extremely cautious, cunning, and intelligent.

They also cause massacres in villages but were far easier to handle as compared to death wolves. They were not even sure if they could easily handle the dire wolf's pack. And what if it was really from Death wolves?

“The droppings of a wolf would be around 2-4 cm dire wolves would be around 5-8 centimeters considering their size,” Auburn explained with clear details. The scats brought by Davin were also only stinky and covered in animal hair. A few ladies frowned after hearing the ugly description.

“It had some animal bones and its size was something expected of dire wolves, I thought it was already acceptable proof. It was until… I met the little Klive outside just a few hours earlier.” A chill ran through Auburn’s spine. If not for the Klive, he’d missed a simple detail that could have sent the entire village into a slaughter fest.

Auburn slowly explained his conversation with a wistful little kid sitting in the gardens as if he had been waiting for a long time. He was careful enough to not exaggerate or miss a detail about his conversation with the little lord, Klive.

Auburn couldn’t help but recall what happened and shudder.