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The Big Oof! Volume 2 Chapter 51: The Hunters Scars
🕑 Added 2023-07-13 15:44:15 +0000 UTCAfter taking the time to assess the surroundings, Elijah got to work on finding whatever clues he might be able to dredge up. However, the unfortunate truth was, there just simply wasn’t much left of the scene after weeks or months of weathering. The elements had simply eroded any tangible evidence away.
The ground was saturated and slightly muddy from what Elijah assumed, was consistent watering of these plants during daily maintenance. This created a soil texture that was ideal for retaining footprints and other tell-tale signs of struggle or ambush. But time had played its role, and the marks, if there had been any to begin with, were now lost in the churned earth from the myriad of bare foot and sandal prints that litter the area.
But as luck would have it, there was more than just fresh Humanoid foot prints here.
The tracks were nearly imperceptible amidst the abundant serf traffic, but with a careful eye, Elijah noticed the four distinct claw marks scattered all around. These marks were eerily similar to the ones he had found outside the first victim’s dwelling, but here, they seemed fresher, a clear indication that the creature had been here recently. And most interestingly, while the claw marks seemed to lead in all sorts of random directions, a distinct pattern emerged upon closer examination. They were consistently leading towards the makeshift landfill and forest nearby, and away from it into the orchard.
Elijah ran a hand through his hair in frustration, the stark realization making his stomach churn. "Fuuuuuck, man…" he muttered, loud enough for everyone to hear. Then he turned to Bennett and Azeline, his gaze steady despite the sinking feeling in his gut. “I think we gotta go in…” He announced, turning back to the landfill and treeline.
Bennett frowned as his eyes scanned left to right, trying to gauge just how large the forest was. It wasn’t nearly as dark and dense as the forest they crash landed in, however if something was lurking around in there… "I'm not a fan," the engineer confessed his reluctance even though his voice was monotone.
“Oh come on.” Azeline interjected walking forward as she adjusted her grip on her sword and shield. “Out of everything we’ve been through, a FOREST scares you?” The warrior woman shook her head in mock disbelief, a playful smile gracing her lips as she faced the expanse of trees. "Where's your sense of adventure, Bennett?" she asked, her tone filled with a hint of excitement.
Looking at her as she lost her mind, Bennett waved his hands above his head before letting it slap to his sides. “I don’t think you remember just how SHIT our track record is with forests!” He shot back with a rare amount of emotion in his voice before looking towards Elijah. "So excuse me for not wanting to go into this fucking death trap. I can't be the only one thinking this, right?"
“I second this motion.” Elijah agreed with a nod.
Azeline merely rolled her eyes, letting out an exasperated huff. She walked past Elijah, and without a word, she reached out and grabbed his arm. "Shut up and come on," she commanded, not waiting for his response as she began to pull him along. Elijah stumbled momentarily, clearly caught off guard by the abrupt action. His eyes widened in surprise as he tried to regain his footing, but soon he fell into step with her with a look that said he wished he were doing ANYTHING else.
Seeing his Captain be dragged away, Bennett sighed, slapping a hand onto his face in disbelief. "God. Fucking. Damnit." He muttered under his breath, shaking his head as he reluctantly followed behind. He shot a glare at Jucap who seemed just as confused as he felt. “Are you coming, dipshit? This is YOUR forest.” Bennett growled, gesturing towards the treeline with his hand.
Jucap, who had been watching the exchange with a mixture of confusion and hostility, jerked his head up at Bennett's comment. His brows furrowed and a scowl began to form on his face. "Watch yer mouth, beastkin." Jucap sneered, gripping his spear tightly. "I know this here forest better than anyone!"
With a determined, albeit somewhat fearful look in his eyes, he stomped towards the treeline, spear at the ready. Despite his earlier bravado, there was an unmistakable tremor in his voice as he added, "I ain't lettin' some Freelancin' BEASTKIN do what they want in ME lands!" There was an edge to his voice as he stomped after them
Venturing into the makeshift landfill, Elijah glanced over his shoulder to find Yana perched there, her tiny nose scrunching up in distaste at the sour smell that filled the air. “You know,” he began, directing his attention towards Jucap, "You know, have you perhaps considered that having a landfill full of food waste, rotting foliage, and animal guts might be what's attracting whatever's snatching your people?"
The fairy's small body shook with disgusted shivers as she chimed in, "It's like a buffet for beasts!" A grimace formed on her face as she clung to Elijah's collar, trying to distance herself from the stench.
Jucap's face reddened at Elijah's comment, his grip on his spear tightening. "We never had no problems with beasts this close to the city!" he retorted defensively. "It’s you Freelancin’ folks job to clear em out and now you’re blamin’ us!?."
Azeline, who had been leading the way, paused to glance back at the group. "Well, dumping it in front of your farms doesn't seem to be going so well." she pointed out in a tone dry as she rolled her eyes. "Maybe you should consider burning it instead."
Bennett, who had been trailing behind, chuckled. "Yeah, because starting a fire in a forest is such a brilliant idea."
Ignoring Bennett's sarcasm, Azeline continued as her face shifted into one of contempt. "I’ve just been a shield maiden, but have you idiots never heard of risk mitigation?" She asked with a strained voice. "This dump is like ringing a dinner bell for all manner of creatures to come crawling around, and those creatures attract larger ones that want to hunt them."
Jucap looked as if he was reaching his boiling point as his eyes narrowed at Azeline. "We ain't no idiots!" he snapped, his voice echoing through the quiet forest. "We be livin’ here fer generations, and we know how to handle ourselves!"
The look of amusement and contempt spread across Azelines face. “Do you? Because it seems to me that you barbarians don’t-”
"Aze, stop” Elijah raised a hand which caused Azeline to shut her mouth before looking at Jucap. “Look, we're here to help you, not here to argue with you." he said, his voice calm. "I could frankly care less about serf waste management. We're just here to do a job and be out of each other's hair, alright?”
Jucap's face was still red, but he seemed to appreciate Elijah's attempt at diplomacy and didn't argue further. Instead, he turned his attention back to the forest, his grip on his spear tightening. "Well… let's go on then," he grumbled, as he walked ahead into the tree line.
Azeline gave a shrug and walked in behind him, but Elijah and Bennett both looked at each other before steeling their nerves. The two humans faced different directions, shouldered their rifles at the low-ready position and entered the treeline in single file.
Elijah’s eyes were focused on scanning and studying his surroundings as they ventured deeper into the forest. Goosebumps started to form and his hair started to slightly raise as the air grew colder and the light slightly dimmed, filtering through the dense canopy of leaves above. Memories of his time in the military, patrolling dense combatant filled jungles started to rush back to him as he proficiently moved through the underbrush, his senses heightened and alert.
“It’s too quiet.” Bennett spoke, breaking the silence as the two followed after Azeline and the Hunter ahead. “It’s been quiet even before we entered.” He said cautiously, only hearing the sounds of crunching leaves under their feet.
Nodding in agreement, Elijah’s eyes never stopped scanning for any potential sigh of a threat. Especially after his fateful encounter with that damned shadow bear thing. "Yeah, I don’t like it…" He admitted, his voice barely above a whisper. "All the other forests we’ve been in were always loud as shit with whatever abominations lurking about.”
Hearing the exchange behind her, Azeline tilted her head as she thought about it. “Hey hunter.” She said in a slightly hostile tone. “Is it always this quiet?”
Jucap, who had been leading the way, paused and turned to face them. His face was a mask of concentration, his eyes scanning the forest around them. "No," he admitted, his voice gruff. "It ain't. Forest's usually full of life... birds, critters, the like. This silence only started when folks went missin’... it ain't natural."
Bennett let out a tense sigh as his grip on his rifle tightened. "Great, just what I wanted to hear," But just as he finished his sentence, a sudden high-pitched squeal rang in his right ear causing the man to yelp and fall with his rifle pointed in the direction of screech.
“WHAT THE FUCK!?!?” The engineer yelled in anger after seeing the mischievous fairy hovering just above him, giggling like an idiot.
Yana’s tiny body was still shaking with laughter as she pointed at Bennett starting to get up. "Idiot, idiot, Idioooot!" she giggled, her wings fluttering rapidly as she darted around her victim’s head.
Shooting an agitated look at Elijah, Bennett pointed at the little menace. “Control your fucking flying RAT before I shoot the stupid bitch!” He snarled, before storming past to walk next to Azeline instead.
Elijah just stood there with a deadpan expression, unable to decide where he was amused or annoyed by the fact that whatever might be lurking around certainly knew they were coming now. He glanced at Yana, who was now hovering near him, her tiny body still shaking with mirth. "Yana," he began, pointing at his jacket. "Come on, it's quiet time. We gotta be stealthy this time around."
“Kaaaaay.” Yana replied in a sing-song voice shot forth and crawled into Elijah’s collar, nestling herself into his inner pocket as her tiny body still shook with suppressed giggles.
Shaking his head in incredulity, Elijah caught up with the rest of the group. "Okay, so tell me about your missing colleagues." He said, gesturing towards Bennett to keep covering his sector before catching up to the hunter.
Jucap, who had been leading the way, glanced to his left to see Elijah was pointing a strange stick like object towards the forest. The usual stern and hostile expression on the hunters face was replaced with a hint of sadness and then worry. "It started couple of weeks ago," he began, his voice gruff. "Folks started disappearin'. Always durin’ dusk, always alone or separated from the group. No trace of 'em come mornin'."
He paused, his gaze drifting to the forest around them. "We thought it was just folks gettin' lost or runnin' off at first," he admitted. "But then we found bones."
Elijah's brow furrowed at that. "Bones?" he echoed in a low voice as his eyes scanned the forest along with this rifle.
“Aye.” Jucap nodded while his eyes shifted to his spears. "Still Bleedin’ Aethari bones, all chewed up like,” he said grimly. "Like somethin' had... had..."
He didn't finish his sentence, but he didn't need to. The implication was clear. Something was hunting the people of this hamlet.
Bennett, who had been listening to the conversation, adjusted his rifle again. "And you think whatever did that, is still in this forest?"
Jucap nodded again. "Aye, it be only place." He said looking down before he continued. "We sent a hunter, my brother, to look for ‘em, but he never came back….” He said after taking a deep breath and controlled his emotions. “The Huntmaster and I went to go look for ‘em but…”
"But what?" Elijah prompted, his gaze steady on Jucap.
Swallowing hard, Jucap’s grip on his spear tightened as his eyes started to shake and water. "We found ‘em... or what was left of ‘em," he croaked out with a broken voice. "All tore up and scattered to the point we thought it be another animal… And then…"
The group fell silent, their attention drawn to Jucap as they waited for him to continue his story. Their eyes, however, remained vigilant, periodically shifting to scan their respective sectors in the dense forest around them.
“Then I heard screamin’…” Jucap's voice was almost imperceptible to the group as he came to a sudden stop. “The screamin’... I never heard no one scream like that…” He said in a haunted voice. “The huntmaster… She screamed for me to run and then… then I just ran…." Jucap finished, his voice barely a whisper. His eyes were distant, as if he was reliving the horrifying memory. “I ran... I ran as fast as I could, till i heard no more screamin’."
A heavy silence filled the forest as the group took a more defensive posture in order to give the hunter a moment to regain his composure. With the Eerie sounds of nature absent, everyone became a little more on edge as they all scanned their sectors. They were on the lookout for any sign of movement, honing in on every rustle of rustle of leaves or sway of bushes after the hunters recanting of events.
After what felt like eternity, the Hunter finally took a deep breath and walked forth, wiping away the tears that were running down his cheek. The group simultaneously stood up and quietly continued their patrol with only the slight hics of the hunter’s sobs breaking the silence. The forest itself almost seemed to close in around them as the towering trees cast long, ominous shadows that danced and swayed with the gentle breeze. Even though the bright sun illuminated everything, everyone could have sworn that the shadows grew darker and the air colder after that story.
But surprising, it was Azeline that broke the silence. "You did what you had to do, Jucap," she said, meeting the hunter's gaze. "No one can blame you for that."
“Someone made the call,” Elijah added as he glanced over to the man. “And no one here is going to judge you for following through with it.”
Jucap’s gaze shifted between the northerner and the strange foreign beastkin half expecting them to call him a coward or look at him in contempt. "Thank ye," he said, his voice barely audible. The hunter wiped his red, swelling eyes and took a deep breath before a new look of determination filled his face, ready to claim revenge for his brother and their huntmaster.
As they ventured further into the forest, the unnatural silence that plagued the area around them seemed to finally end as the sound of a small creek began to fill the air. The soft, soothing sound of water trickling over rocks was a welcome change that everyone in the group seemed to appreciate. But just as Jucap pushed through the bush and into the small narrow clearing, Elijah noticed that the vegetation around it was disturbed.
Elijah frowned at the clear signs of frequent activity as his eyes scanned the area, seeing nothing but scat, broken branches and trampled grass. At a closer look, he could see that these tracks also had the exact same claw marks to those he had found at the serf's home where the child had been abducted. And the sheer number of them was dizzying…
“Whatever’s taking your people… There’s a lot of them.”” Elijah said quietly, drawing the attention of everyone around him. “These are fresh too… I think they’re bipedal and not very heavy.” He continued, trying to measure how deep the track was in comparison to the size.
Everyone around him exchanged nervous glances before Bennett spoke up. "You're saying there's more than one of these things?" he asked, his voice filled with a mix of disbelief and concern.
Nodding in acknowledgement, Elijah stood up to follow a particular set of tracks. "Looks like it. And they've been here recently." He said, reaching the tree line and pulling out his Kukri.
Azeline, who had been quiet until now, tightened her grip on her sword. "So, we're not just dealing with one beast... but a pack of them?" she asked, her voice steady despite the alarming revelation.
“I think calling this a pack would be… very disingenuous.” Elijah replied as he brushed aside some foliage with his blade to inspect where the tracks were going. “I think it may be more apt to call it a horde.” He said turning to the woman with a cold and dangerous expression.
The word horde sent chills down everyone's spine as they exchanged uneasy glances.
"A horde?" Jucap repeated, his voice barely above a whisper. The hunter swallowed hard as his grip on his spear slackened. "yer sayin’ there be lots of these... things?"
Elijah didn’t respond as he brought his rifle up to bear and sheathed his Kukri. “Ben, up front. 10 meter spread.” He ordered as he took a step into the tree line. “Everyone else, stay 10 to 15 meters behind me and stay fucking quiet.”
Bennett didn’t even answer as he moved to take up his position next to Elijah as instructed.
“We patrol to contact, if something sees you, shoot it and we peel.” Elijah commanded. “Aze, make sure nothing sneaks up on us.” He finished as two, almost deafening clicks rang out over the sound of the creek.
Azeline immediately recognized the sound as she tensed up, bringing her shield up to cover most of her body. Both of the humans had just readied their magical weapons for use and began to move forward, their steps still almost unnaturally measured and silent.
The rest of the group fell into formation behind them with their own weapons at the ready. Jucap’s grip on his spear tightened and his eyes scanned their surroundings for any sign of movement. Despite his earlier bravado, seemed visibly shaken after recalling the haunting screams of his Huntmaster replayed in his mind.
Yana remained silent, but her head was sticking out of Elijah’s jacket with an excited look of anticipation on her face. She couldn’t wait to see what other interesting things her mortals would let her experience. And even though her tiny wings were constrained by the pocket, she couldn’t help but flutter them in anticipation as her eyes sparkled a strange violet.
