A couple of knocks came from the door. "Come in," a raspy voice said from the inside. The noise of men simultaneously talking greets him, their attention falls on him.
"Chief Rondor. Elders." Mr. Degget salutes as he takes off his farming hat, his gaze circling to the slightly darkened room as the strong scent of coffee tickles his nose, books left in disarrays in shelves and papers towering in the floors and corners, and the men crowded the round oakwood table, settled at their own chairs.
Once Chief Rondor sees his face looming of serious trouble, he stops scribbling on his papers. "Seeing you here, I suppose you bring bad news. Nowadays, those never ends." He straightened his back, ready to hear another complaint or request. "So what is it this time?"
"The fishes in the river - from the bridge down to the arc are disappearing. " Mr. Degget started his report. "I've been monitoring these past three days - I tell you, the fishes are gone. Earlier too, we managed to catch but it'll barely last for two days for a family of four." He meant his family.
Not a complaint, but a report. A negative report. The old Chief placed his pen down and removed his reading glasses as he blew a long sigh hearing the news. "Before, it was the boars and chickens at the barns. The second week is the wild deer we hunt. This time, it is the fish." Chief Rondor listed the past incidents. "Death spread even to the water."
The patterns are clear, Mr. Degget desperately tries to shove his thoughts further back in his mind, however, the series of unfortunate events tells only one thing. "We need to prepare to flee." Mr. Degget upright told.
"Now, now, let's not rush to any conclusion. It might be an attack by a wild animal." He softly tries to calm the spreading terror inside Mr. Degget. A few days ago, people from the barn began storming his office complaining of their livestock being caught dead in the morning. They're demanding help on guarding the barn, and people start questioning the causes spreading the possibilities of nightly creatures. Chief Rondor, wanting to avoid the clear blooming of hysteria, shut their dread by focusing them on the latest harvest.
"Let's form a search party then, let's hunt down this wild animal you speak of, and kill it. It took many of our livestock, it can't continue." An Elder suggested. Mr. Degget agrees except for one thing.
"I can assure you, no wild animal causes this much shortage of livestock, blood, and death."
"I suggest you speak your words carefully, Bimer. Your speculation might create fear in our people." His gaze lowered and darkened, telling Mr. Degget's from telling nothing more.
"Sir, fear already resides in our people! Even a child would know - it is not a mere speculation, it is what the facts are pointing to!" Mr. Degget firmly stated. "People notice what these signs tell. They are not stupid, they know!" The room fell into stillness. "What we need to do is plan the next action or all is lost when we act late."
"Then are you saying beasts are here? In our land? It has already been five centuries, there have been no sightings nor incidents related to the beasts in those long years. The grave of merciful Saint Aniveiyn blesses us with protection to our village, it is highly impossible to be invaded." Their local Priest reminded Mr. Degget as the Elders agreed.
"I do not mock the Saint's Blessings," Mr. Degget cleared the uprising misunderstanding. "However, we're standing here having these signs that tell us that we are in fact, infested with creatures of the night!" He pointed at the pile of papers beside Chief Rondor. "The beasts are here and we are defenseless!" He firmly declared. "We have no arms to protect us, not enough men to fight those creatures, and all we can do is flee." Mr. Degget's declaration instantly set the mind of the council. Their fear is out of the box. Chief Rondor can no longer contain them.
A loud silence filled the room. "If the beasts are truly here, fleeing is out of option. The woods will only scream of death." An elder calmly speaks holding his long cane for support. Chief Rondor silently agreed. They have not found the nest. Beasts are known of their erratic behavior, they will settle anywhere and quickly change their nest if alerted of danger.
"Also I just heard from the barn another horse that carries a wagon found dead this morning."
Exhaling a deep exasperated and exhausted sigh, Chief Rondor asked the elders. "What does the rest of the council say?"
"I suggest we call for help. We already sent a Trader to a neighboring village last week, didn't we? If we send a letter to him, he might be able to call for help at the palace." One elder suggested.
"Will the palace answer our needs? We are in the far outskirts of the kingdom's land, we gave them no money, only our harvest." Another elder responded.
"We're under a contract by the King's words. If they do not want to starve their beloved Capital, they will." Chief Rondor told the land's value. "When was the last time we communicated with the Trader?" Chief Rondor looked over his shoulder.
"Four days ago... His letter states he entered the woods returning from the mission." His aide answered.
The horrendous truth chokes them. Chief Rondor clasps his hands together firm and tight, leaning it against his forehead and shutting his eyes hard. It only takes a day and half passing the woodland back to their village. Yet four days have already passed. That is a long time that now brews with death.
"We will send a messenger as soon as the sun rises tomorrow. No more leaving the houses at the first bite of sunset. Bimer, have the weaponry and carriages ready. Priest, we'll have to strengthen the Saint's Blessing tomorrow. We'll be needing that very much." Chief Rondor quickly gave his orders.
"How about planting the next batch of potatoes?It is scheduled for this season." An elder beside him asked.
"I'm afraid we'll have to postpone it until we resolve this problem."
"What if the palace won't help us?" A question that bothered the old mind of an elder.
"Then we might as well surrender our souls to the God of Light with our own hands." Chief Rondor forthrightly claimed. "The lord of our kingdom will provide help... They have to."
"This meeting is dismissed." The elders left one by one, until only Mr. Degget and Chief Rondor were in the room.
"Sir, let me be the messenger." Mr. Degget blurted. "I mastered the woodland, I can make it out before dark in no time."
"Felicia will kill me." He immediately responded.
"My wife will understand the reason. Sir, this cannot continue. If we don't act fast, we will suffer the upcoming winter." He knows that better than anyone. The ratio of food to be sent to the capital and their stocks, including the number of families the food needed to be distributed to, won't last long. "I'm a trained soldier anyway, I can do this - let me do this." Mr. Degget insisted, his eyes burning with determination.
"This is a very dangerous mission to do, Bimer. We don't even know where the beasts nested in the woodland, even if you are a trained soldier seeing a beast and fighting it, is an entirely different matter."
"Sir, no one in the village is better than I for this mission."
"I'm sorry, Bimer. But I don't want to lose another friend to those monsters." Memories of his cruel past as a soldier flipped like pages inside his mind. "Mostly, I don't want Felicia to lose her husband, and Anton to lose his father." Chief Rondor wanted Mr. Degget to weigh the consequences of the situation, using his family to change his mind.
A few minutes passed, and no one uttered anything, letting the noise of the children playing outside be the only noise they could hear. Still, Mr. Degget looked directly at the eyes of his Chief, determined of his decision. He won't back down. He wouldn't. He knew the weight of his decision, because he is a father and a husband. He, more than anyone, wanted his family safe even if that meant putting himself before the servant of death.
And Chief Rondor understands those unspoken words.
He leaned back to his chair, giving up on rejecting his request. "Fine, I'll let you. I'll pick your subordinates tomorrow."
"I will not fail you, Sir." Mr. Degget lowered his head with his farming hat, relieved of his Chief permission.
Exiting the Hall his eyes spotted a familiar silvery hair on the training ground carrying a basket full of cabbages and holding a sack of the last batch of sweet potato, she watched the young men learning to master wielding a sword. "Ruina, what are you doing here?" He asked, appearing at her side.
"The elders needed my help earlier at the field. They told me, one of the horses in the barn was caught dead this morning." Ruina showed the basket mounted on her back. "They give me these. It'll help feed the chickens." Mr. Degget softly smiled at her.
Their attention drifted to the sound of swords slicing the air. "Anton told me before about wanting to learn how to use a sword." She said simply. "Why don't you teach him, Mr. Degget? I'm certain he'll be happy to know you were once a soldier at the palace."
"One of these days, I will. Just not now" He answered, his hand reaches for his shoulder and still feels the soreness of the muscles contracting to each other. "Besides, there's no one better at teaching how to handle a sword than the Chief."
Ruina only remains silent, continuing to watch the fluid movement of the sword taking the images of them in her mind. "How about you? There's no discrimination of gender in holding a sword."
"Holding a sword brings conflict, and conflict ends in chaos. I despise chaos. It takes and takes and takes." Ruina honestly remarks in a quiet tone.
Mr. Degget understood her hatred towards conflict, their mind travelled to the first day they first met. A night of blood bath and to witness death no child should experience.
"Nevertheless, sword or nothing, I am ready to lay my life to protect your family, Mr. Degget. I'm forever in debt to you for saving me."
"Don't be so cheeky just because you're young and strong." Mr. Degget ruffled Ruina's already messy hair as he started marching away. Ruina, wearing a blank face shortly followed behind as she fixed her hair. "And last time I checked, that family includes you."
"What did you report to the Chief, Mr. Degget?"
"Nothing of sorts you need to worry about." He confidently answers, hinting no terror at his voice. Mrs. Degget said the same words. Yet, truth always reeks. Ruina smells it. "Just trust us adults to fix it." She pressed no more, as she silently followed.
The sky is darkened by a blanket of stars, a night for a sleeping village from the outskirts woodland disturbed by the cicadas singing their loud buzzing songs and the roaring snore of Mr. Degget across the other room. Ruina bolts her eyes open in terror of screams of terror and fire haunting, a fist tightens to her sheets as her loud quick pant echoes her quiet room. Circling her gaze to the room she's resting, cold sweats soaks her clothes as she rises to no monsters around her. Ruina blew her sighs of worries and relief realizing she's safe.
She swings her feet off the bed and sets her gaze out on the starry sky, calming her raging nerves. It's been eleven years now since the old couple found her wounded behind a tree after escaping a horrendous night from her homeland. She's forever in debt to them - 'a debt must be paid in favors, when done, one must disappear.', that is the headmaster's teaching.
But even after she'll pay her debt, she doesn't want to leave them, because finally she has someone to belong to, she's not alone.
Her cold hands reached for the silvery moon tied in red string hanging around her neck. She clasped her hands together. Moon from heaven, please tell the Gods and Saints to bless us with your light and protection. Let no harm come to this village. They do not deserve an ounce of pain and sadness. She prayed.
The monsters are lurking, hunting their prey in every corner of the woodland and valleys - chasing after them. Playing them. Feasting them.
Ruina opened her eyes upon a thought. "Oh, I almost forgot..." Her quiet voice whispers in the night air. "Tomorrow is the Miracle Day." I should pray for that tomorrow again