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| _Rogue_
Posts: 1,511 Status: Duke Karma: +250 [+1] [-1]   |
Subject: The Beast of Helios | |||||
| Notice: Feaths and quills are used as a unit of measurement. One Feath = two inches or four cm (if my math for the metric system is right) One Quill is half an inch, or one cm (again, don't trust my metric math) The duke of the Helios region, Duke Marquee le Saris, was growing more worrisome with each passing day. The forest of the region was growing more dangerous. People were going in, and coming out in horrible shape, many of them dead. This was nothing unusual for the forest in Helios. The only problem was that it was happening far too much. The Duke Marquee soon came to believe that the wolves, which ran rampant in the Helios forests, were the cause of it. When the survivors started to give descriptions, it was believed to be one single wolf. It was soon called the Beast of Helios. The wolf however was illusive. Because it could not be found, the hunt of the beast gave way to the hunting of every wolf in the region. Fintan was one of many to take up the call for the hunt. He relished a good chase. Though he disagreed with hunt for sport, in a few cases, to protect humanity hunts were often needed. His three companions, Robert MacArthur of the Oric Highlands, Edward the Bold of Borine, and Minarebe the Mercenary from D'Hara took joy in coming with him on the hunts. The price for each wolf killed and brought in was two hundred gold pieces a head. To Fintan, it was easy money considering he had just lost his job as Lord Governor of Prechan due to a civil war resulting in a Royalist defeat. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The camp was filled with people, hounds, and horses. Everyone had shown up, peasants, nobles, hunters, farmers, and warriors. Even foreigners from the Arelian Empire, and even a few Trows, orcs and goblins from the Northlands. Despite them all being united for a common cause, they kept to their own camps. It seemed that international distrust could not be set aside for the hunt. The only place any of the hunters met for any amount of time was in the center of the camp where they pitted hounds against wolves to see who would win, in sport. One paticular day, Fintan, Ocringin, a Trow, and Yelshe a female Westlander were observing the fight, in which the Arelian Wolf Hound was winning hands down, drinking and discussing their own ideas on what had the region by it's...anatomy. "It is a rabid wolf of some sorts." Yelshe said looking over to Fintan as she sipped her wine. "Anyone who says differently is a fool." "It a demon, hooman foo!" Ocringin interupted hitting the railing they were leaning against with a yellow leather like fist. "My point is made." She said dryly, pushing the Trow's fist away from her before her drink somehow became contaminated. Fintan only shook his head. "A rabid wolf would die within a fortnight. This has gone on for at least two years." Yelshe shook her head while Ocringin looked satisfied. Atleast he did until Fintan continued his sentence. "A demon is just as unlikely. Demons do not feast on human flesh...in this life." "Then tell us, oh educated Arelian. What is it?" "Es, at be it?" "I would say it is something someone possibly mutated ...nothing more than a hoax." He said dryly lifting his mug to his mouth. "Then why are you on the hunt?" "Because I hope I am wrong and it is a pack of man eating wolves. Avalon knows those creatures attack for no reason at ...HA! Sixty pieces, Ocringin!" The wolf hound downed the wolf, it's muzzle covered in blood. "Daned Areien ounds...." The Trow counted out sixty pieces of what was possibly gold. It was not in any common shape, meaning it was more or less used by weight for the Trow rather than any actual set amount. After handing the money to Fintan, who poured it in to his pouch, the Trow went back off to the Trow camp. "How can you say it is a hoax?" Yelshe asked looking back at Fintan once she finally had a breath of clean air. "Oh come, Yelshe, be reasonable. A rabid wolf?" He looked over at her as the hound received it's needed medical attention. "While it does make more sense than our Trow compatriot's demon idea, it is not very logical. The surviving people would be rabid themselves, yet they are not. Aside from their wounds they are quite healthy. It is...." "THE BEAST HAS STRUCK AGAIN!" A voice yelled from the entrance of the camp. Fintan and Yelshe ran from the dog pit towards the front. A crowd had already gathered there. Fintan pushed his way to the front. The one attacked was a little girl, no more than maybe eight or nine. Her curly brown hair was matted with dirt, leaves, and blood. She had a giant gash on her right side. The local wizard stepped forward to heal her, but Fintan caught his wrist. "I need to examine her wounds to know what we are up against." "She will die if she is not healed." "No, she will not. The gashes are long, but they do nothing more than cut skin and some muscle. The bite marks are not deep enough to kill, or she would already be dead. And..." He placed an ear to her chest. "Her heart beat is steady. She is fine, perhaps a little shaken, but not mortally injured." "How could you possibly know any of this. You are not a healer!" The Westlanders chuckled at the wizard's response. "Because I use my brain for something more than holding my ego." He replied dryly as the Arelians snickered and the Northlanders howled with laughter. "At anyrate..." He ran his hand over a medal the girl wore. It had the tree of life on it. "This girl is Arelian, a Westland wizard is not going to use foul magic to heal her." He glared at the wizard. "Unless the parent wills it?" He raised his voice to see if the girl's mother or father would come forward. "I found a man and woman with her Mi'Lord...they were both dead...." The man who was holding the girl announced. "Then as Lord Governor of Prechan, I extend my right to place this girl as a ward of the state. She is under my protection now, Wizard." He took the girl from the man's arms, and made his way to his own tent. "Robert...bring me my equipment." He whispered to the highlander as he passed him. In Fintan's tent, he laid the girl down on his bed while he cleared his table. He could hear murmuring outside his tent flap. He knew the camp had gathered to try and see what he was doing. Once he cleared off the table, he threw a sheet over it and gently laid the girl down on it. Robert's voice shouted over the crowd as he fought his way though. Fintan removed his coat and rolled back his sleeves as Robert entered the tent with Minarebe and Edward behind him. "An' keep out ye buggars!" Robert shouted while throwing the tent flaps closed. "Here ye are Fintan." He laid the roll of equipment down on the table while the elf and half dwarf took a seat. "Thank you, Robert. If you would be so kind Edward?" He pointed beside Edward. Edward had seated himself next to a leather bound book and a graphite pencil. "I would be happy to, Fintan." Edward picked up the book and pencil, and opened to a fresh page. "Date, first year of the Age of Reason. Sixth week of spring, fifth day." Fintan spoke as Edward wrote down what he was saying. Minarebe and Robert looked just slightly ashamed, neither of them could read or write. "Victim, leave space for her name. Status, injured. Assailant, The Beast of Helios. Open parentheses, wolf, question mark. Close parentheses." Fintan removed a compass to measure the gashes on her side. "Her condition appears to be far from fatal. The markings on her left side, appear to be from a wild animal, possibly the size of a large dog or a small bear." He opened the compass and placed it gently on the girl's side, keeping watch on her to see if she awoke. Once he locked the compass to the width of the markings, he placed it against a ruler. He stared at what he saw. "They are seven feaths and two quills long...." He then measured the width. "And six feaths wide..." Fintan looked up to see shock on Edward's face, and Minarebe trying to figure out exactly how big that was by using his fingers at different spaces. "At highest depth, they are...." He checked his compass several times, then the girl's pulse. He looked shocked. "One feath deep." It was a wonder the girl was not dead, the claws should have pierced vital organs. Edward looked shocked as well as he wrote down the dictated words. "The cuts are jagged in the center, but get smoother towards the ends. Supposedly the creature's claws are slightly flat, possibly hooves?" "Wait...I don't understand...ow's smooth end cuts make the claws hooves?" Asked Minarebe, taking a break from grasping the reality of the situation. "The gash was done in a crescent like motion. It is shallow at the beginning, and the end, which is how I know how it was done. But it is jagged in the middle, meaning that as the creature's gash became deeper, it went to a more dull part of the claw. ...." He then checked the width of an isolated single gash. "The width of each single nail, is one quill by symmetry." He noted to Edward, before returning to Minarebe. "With that said..." "Symmetry?" "That means if each one is like the other." "Oh..." Robert was quiet, but he was listening closely, taking in Fintan's words and learning as best he could. "Robert, come help me bandage these gashes, I have learned all I can from them." Robert walked behind the girl and held her up, keeping her arms up as well so that Fintan could wrap the bandage around her sides. Suddenly, the girl stirred and awoke. She let out a terified shriek. "Shh, shh...it's alright, you're safe." Fintan whispered softly to her trying to calm her. "Mommy....Daddy...where are my mommy and daddy?" "They're....in the forest....with some other men." He couldn't tell her they were killed, he just couldn't bring himself to say the words. "What do you remember about why you were in the forest before you were attacked?" "We were looking to build a new home. Then...a monster came...said we have no right to be there." "It spoke?" Fintan was puzzled. The girl nodded softly. "What did it look like?" As he asked, Robert took the book and graphite from Edward and readied himself to draw. He could not read or write, but he was a talented artist. "It was big..." "How big? Big as a wild boar?" Robert asked looking over. The girl shook her head. "A horse?" She shook her head again. "As a wolf?" Again, she shook her head. "A very large wolf?" She nodded quickly. "It was a big wolf...kindda blackish kindda grayish." As she described it, Fintan continued wrapping the bandage around her. She flinched in pain each time, making Fintan go slower and more gently. "It had really big teeth....." She whimpered, starting to get scared thinking about it. "That's alright, I think I can get the rest." Robert winked, the girl smiled a little, grateful to stop thinking about it. "You said it spoke?" Fintan asked looking at her, wanting to know this bit of information. "Yes...it sounded........" "Mean, sadistic, arrogant..." "What aragant?" She asked. "Arrogant is as if knows everything." She nodded after being explained to. "So it sounded arrogant." "Aragant and mean. Like it really didn't like hoomans." Fintan paused in midwrap, staring out blankly as thoughts raced through his head. He knew a wolf like that. He growled under his breath as he tied the bandages. "Do you have thoughts on what it is, Fintan?" Edward asked, catching the growls. "When will Mommy and Daddy come back? Asked the girl, looking at the four men. "...What is your name?" Fintan looked down, knowing he could only answer that one way. "Keeva." She whispered. "After our Princess?" Fintan asked, she nodded with a smile. Fintan smiled slightly. As he dabbed ointment on the bruises and cuts on her face, he whispered. "Keeva, you will have to be as brave as Princess Keeva....the beast....attacked your parents...we don't know for certain if they will be back..." The girl's eyes went misty and glazed over. She whimpered at the words. She did all she could to fight back the tears, wanting desperately to be as brave as her namesake. Edward went over and extended his hand to her. "Why don't we go get some sweet cakes? Maybe, Lord de Marin is wrong and they will be back soon." Edward had far more tact dealing with children than Fintan did. Fintan was use to delivering the bad news to grown adults that their loved one's died in service to the Crown rather than by the hand of a monster. the girl took Edward's hand, and the two left the tent to get the treats. "Fintan...you paused...why?" Robert asked after Edward and little Keeva had left the tent. "I know who the beast is...that was the only clear description I have been given." He said bitterly. "Oh? Who is it?" "Usko." Fintan growled. Robert and Minarebe blinked in shock. |
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