A Monster Life Ch. 109-111

When the group came near the location where they estimated the fight was, Telsam halted them again when there came no more sound from there. She anticipated at least some racket from the bear, or something from any member of the party that might have survived, so the sudden silence became suspicious. She signalled for the others to stay put while she went on ahead.

First thing she noticed before seeing the evidence, was the thick and rancid stench of blood and intestines wafting heavy towards her through the trees. "Smells like a massacre." she thought as she covered her face with a scarf,, and looked forward to what the bear and party had done to each other. From behind a thick cover of bushes, satisfaction came upon her at the sight of the ground splattered with blood and the motionless party members, and for a moment felt impressed by the fact that they had not killed one, but three great bears. A quick whistle called the other Sisters to the scene and they all gazed in wonder how fierce the fight was, judging from the carnage presented to them. Telsam looked forward to presenting the terrible news of the slaughter of the unlucky party members to the remainder of the party, and cashing in on the killing of three great bears. 'Search the remains for valuables. We want to return quickly for a celebratory drink.'

The prospect of drinking brought a cheerful mood to everyone, and they could have went to work with enthusiasm except that they didn't when one of the great bears sluggishly lifted itself up and swayed its blood soaked head left and right, gazing at the Sisters with one glazed eye and the other cut in half. It rumbled at the closest Sister. She quickly drew her sword and stabbed the bear in the shoulder with a fierce cry, then pulled back fast when the bear didn't go down as she expected. 'What's with this beast!?' she said with some panic in her voice.

One of the others shot an arrow into its side, but the bear just reared up on its hind legs and stunned them with a guttural roar as if it came from the open wounds in its gut. Another Sister cried out startled when the second great bear stirred and lifted a paw, just before the third bear moved and the Sisters close to it jumped back. 'What's going on!?' asked a Sister while she watched in confusion as the supposedly slaughtered bears stood up and swayed menacingly with their heads and shoulders in their usual threat to attack.

Telsam drew her sword. 'They can't have much strength left! Attack them!' she said, and lunged at the closest bear. She cut one of its legs as she rushed past it and the others joined her in the fight. The bears didn't back down, nor it seemed wounding them had any effect, but the Sisters didn't give up yet because they were still a little faster and stayed out of the bears' reach.

Telsam had her hands full with trying to cut down the maimed beast in front of her, but a strange suspicion reared in the back of her head. She backed away farther after another stab at the bear's neck and glanced around quickly. Her eyes went wide at a few of the Sisters lying motionlessly on the ground. 'Hey! What happened to them!?'

One of the Sisters noticed the fallen in surprise, and gasped when the bear close to her pierced her with its claws during the distraction. 'Fuck.' she said, and the bear tossed her aside with a wide swing, leaving her with her gut ripped open on the ground. One Sister stepped back in time when a bear attacked her, but tripped over backwards when the back of her foot hit one of the bloodwolf's forelegs. She barely had time to wonder how it came to lay there when the bear crushed her knee with a hard blow. Her cry in pain was cut short by a swift stab against her throat. Her friend spun around towards her but fell lifelessly forward from the hit in her neck crushing the top of her spine. The Sister close to them jumped back startled but ready to face their attacker, but there was no one standing among the dead Safo and bloodwolf. 'Who's there!?' she shouted at the trees as she searched for any hidden foe.

Another went down, clutching a dagger in the back of her neck, and Telsam's face became red in frustration at the turn of events. 'I will kill whoever's responsible for this!' she grumbled. 'Retreat! she shouted to the Sisters still standing, and they didn't hesitate in obeying that order.

They ran with such haste through the trees that their legs hurt, but it didn't stop them or even slow down. Telsam knew Ti wouldn't like it when she'd tell her she lost half of her group. She glanced left and right to see who was still following her, and her heart stopped for a moment at the realisation that no one was behind her. She heard no running noises or anything of the ones who left with her. The only one around her was Jeli, who ran at a little distance in front of her because she was the fastest runner of them all. Cold sweat of panic mixed with the sweat of running, and for the first time since the night she had escaped the goblins who abused her as a young girl, fear struck her deep again.

She took a deep breath to shout out to Jeli, and blew it out at once when a spike bore through her chest from behind. She hung from it with limp legs just long enough to see the bloodwolf baring his fangs to the side of her head. 'Your murdering days are over.' it growled as the last words she'd ever hear.

Ulric withdrew the spike and let her fall to the ground. Rachael slowed down from her run and stood next to him. 'Only one left.' she said as she wiped fresh blood from her staff.

He nodded slowly. 'She will inform Ti about our deaths at the paws of the great bears, and the deaths of her comrades by the bears or an unknown enemy. That will give us the freedom to move.'

Conchim hovered just far enough above the trees to keep an eye on the escaped Sister. 'She's still running and not looking back. The others will know soon enough what happened.'

Ulric couldn't help the wry smile on his face. 'Let's clean this place up. We don't want to leave any trace of their dead bodies, nor ours.'

***

Ti couldn't believe the report from Jeli when she heard it the first time, not the second time when she had her retell the events one at a time, and not even now while she stood in the middle of the blood stained ground where it all had happened, with no evidence left but a few chunks of organs and pelts. 'Where did it all go?'

Jeli, who stood nervous between the Sisters Ti had brought with her, glanced around. 'Whomever of whatever attacked us must have taken them all away.'

'Or eaten.' said a Sister with a fondness for black humour with a chuckle.

Ti gave her a quick look of warning not to take the situation too lightly. 'So many dead people and great bears don't disappear into thin air. Look around.' she said, and turned to her right hand woman, Zeta. 'The other members of that party didn't come here?'

Zeta gave her a nod. 'If they would've strayed from their own quests, we would have heard from the ones who tail them. They should still be busy with their own work.'

Ti folded her arms and hummed in thought while Sisters looking for clues and tracks signalled they found nothing. 'At least the goal of eliminating part of Quaint has succeeded. We'll have to accept this as an unfortunate accident and stay away from this area for the time being until we know what caused this mess.' She signalled retreat. 'We'll return to the inn and prepare for the next step in eliminating Quaint.'

***

'What!?' shouted Iphigenia as she stood up from their table at the inn. 'Is this a joke!?'

Ti held up her hands. 'No joke, no mistake. I lost a couple of my Sisters as well who happened to be in the area.'

Iphigenia tossed the heavy wooden table before Yingshien and Caylais could restrain her. She seethed with anger and her chest heaved hard as she glared at Ti, then slowly relaxed while her gaze turned to sadness. 'It's not your fault, sorry.' she said, and sat back down hard into her chair. 'I can't believe it.'

Ti sighed. 'We have no idea what exactly happened, or who or what killed everyone and made them disappear, but I vow to you we will take revenge for your people and my Sisters.'

Iphigenia gave her a nod. 'Thank you.'

Ti looked at Zeta for a moment. 'When you want to take a look, or if you need anything, let us know. We can guide you to the place. I will send one of my Sisters to your comrades to relay the news.' she said, and left after another nod from Iphigenia.

Kaui returned the table to its place and sat down. She slumped on the table as if in grief. 'There are at least two of them in the kitchen.' she whispered.

Iphigenia didn't look up from her stare at the table's surface. 'They'll likely keep a close eye on us to see what we're going to do. For now I we'll just sit and wait until Elz and the others arrive. I doubt they'll try to do anything soon because we'd be at full alert now.'

Yingshien twitched the tip of her tail. 'I'll bet they're thinking of using the mysterious attacker as an excuse for our deaths.'

Caylais scratched the wood of the table with one claw. 'If they use that for all of us, that might cause news to spread about a mystery monster and lure more adventurers here.'

'True.' whispered Iphigenia. 'That'll give them one more excuse to cover their robbery in the future. That should be enough temptation to take the bait.'

***

When the other girls arrived, they proceeded with their act of grief, and visitors of the inn left them to drown their sorrows in ale and wine. As an extra touch, they even let the innkeeper serve some of the old stuff when he thought they might not notice, although they used it more to spill than drink it. When everyone seemed sufficiently drunk enough, they retired to their room, where Ulric squeezed quietly through one of the roof windows later.

Iphigenia sniggered and hugged him tight. 'Just imagining your death made me mad, Wolfie.'

He grinned, and stroked her back and gave her a kiss in her neck. 'I take it you convinced them well, my dears.'

Valdys stroked his ear. 'Our little friend told me they don't seem to doubt our grief and aren't happy about the loss of their own, but not overly so as Ti and Theis were talking about how much more of a profit it made for them with less people to divide the spoils with.'

'Heh, I'm not surprised they'd turn on their own if it meant a bigger piece of the pie.' said Ulric. 'Speaking of which, I promised I'd bring back some food.'

Kaui held up a stuffed pack. 'I figured you'd want to avoid hunting and cooking while hiding, Master, so I packed more than enough for all of you.'

He took the pack from her and kissed her. 'Thank you, my cutie. That's very thoughtful of you.' He pricked up an ear to hear if anyone was close by outside. 'I'll return now before anyone sees me.'

He turned to the window but Elzbieta stepped in front of him and folded her arms. 'Aren't you forgetting something, darling?'

He blinked at her for a moment, then sniggered. 'Sorry, my sweet elf. My mind is so occupied with the situation at hand that I forgot I'm not sleeping with you all this rest.' he said, and kissed her.

She pulled him in by his cheeks for a more passionate kiss, then let go of him. 'That's better.' she said softly.

'Sleep tight, my dear.' he said, and Valdys was the next to claim her bedtime kiss.

After all the kisses, he squeezed himself through the window once more, and sneaked off to the forest and the hiding place where the other supposedly dead members of the party were. Kaui noticed Tera and Lehti's flushed cheeks. 'Are you all right?'

Tera tried to ignore the feeling in her gut and looked away with a little pout. 'I'm fine.'

Lehti touched her lips. 'Is this normal?'

Kaui smiled softly. 'Yes, this is the effect of the familiar bond. We're used to it, so I guess it must be strange for you.'

Lehti glanced at the back of Tera's head. She sensed her twin's state but didn't want to speak for her. 'It's, different.' she said, and sat down with Tera on their bedding.

Kaui didn't want to pry any further, but hoped the two fairy girls would open up more to everyone soon enough. They would likely face the real thing after they have taken care of the trouble in this place.

***

Ulric arrived at the hollow he had dug for a shelter near the capri, and put down the pack. 'Kaui was already one step ahead and prepared this.'

Conchim, Isazea, and Rachael unpacked the various packages while Ulric handed a small deer leg to Susi, who wagged her tail in gratitude. 'Susi loves Kaui mommy.'

'So do we.' said Rachael, who began with a piece of sweet pie.

Ulric chuckled. 'You have everyone's thanks, my cutie.' he said to Kaui over the link.

She stopped writing notes and smiled. 'Thank you, Master. I'm glad you all enjoy it.'

'I just relayed your thanks to Kaui, and she's happy to hear it.' he said to the girls.

Rachael looked up and wiped a bit of the filling from the pie from her mouth. 'Oh, that's right, you can talk to everyone even at a distance. Can you ask Kaui to tell Handil I miss her, and hope to hear soon how their quest went?'

'Sure.' he said, and relayed the message to Kaui, who told Handil.

Handil giggled. 'I've seen a couple of people use long distance spells to talk before, but this is the first time talking through another person.'

Kaui giggled with her. 'I just hope we don't mess up the message like kids in a long line during a relay the message game and make things awkward for you two.'

Handil grinned a little. 'Well, if you do, it'll be a good excuse to thoroughly straighten things out later.' she said with a wink. 'Tell her I miss her as well, and am waiting to see her again.'

Rachael smiled at her words, and sighed a little. 'I thought when I confessed how I felt about her, it would be under different circumstances and we would simply spend our peaceful days living together. But now we are here and our lives have turned upside down, especially for her.'

Isazea looked at her and gave her a comforting smile. 'I know how that feels. I never thought I'd ever leave the comfort of my workshop.' she said and turned her gaze to Ulric. 'But I'm glad how things turned out for the better, even if I can't really call life nowadays peaceful.'

Ulric swallowed his bite and licked his lips. 'I'm glad you're happy and to have you by my side, but I will be even more glad when this is all over and we can actually relax and enjoy our time without worrying about bad things.'

Conchim sliced a piece from a chunk of bread. 'We'll just have to do our best to find all the artefacts quickly. I'm looking forward to long flights high up in the sky with you, my hubby.'

He nodded slowly at the thought and the memory of wishing he could fly when he was still a kid. 'Yes, I'd love to do that as well.'

111 - Baiting Big

Ti waited until Iphigenia, Elzbieta, Valdys, and Caylais were done with their investigation of the site where they lost their comrades. 'What will you do now?'

Iphigenia looked at the others. 'We want the one who did this, so we're staying for a while until we caught them, or don't expect to see them here ever again. We'll also clean up the current requests from the board to let nothing interfere with our search, and maybe they will show up again while we do it.'

Ti smiled inward, glad to hear the money isn't slipping from her hands with them leaving at once. 'All right. It'll be nice to have some free time without knowing there's still a lot to do at the guild. I can ask Theis to sort through the requests and make a priority list to speed things up.'

'That would be helpful, yes.' said Elzbieta. 'Especially if he can factor in the manpower we have.'

'All right. I'll head to the guild right now and see him. If you need anything else, let me know.' said Ti, and left with the two Sisters she had taken along for security.

Valdys chuckled. 'I'm sure they'll set up a few trap quests for us again.'

Iphigenia smiled up at the sky where Yingshien kept an eye out for any movement. 'We'll surprise them for sure. Let's put a little fire under their feet by showing off a little of our riches. They're more likely to make mistakes when they're impatient.'

***

The girls all gathered at the inn later for a meal, and Iphigenia took out her money pouch to pay in advance. She pulled it open and gazed into it. 'Hang on, this isn't it.' she said and put it on the table. She fumbled in her pack, pulled out another pouch, and spilled several gemstones as she took out coins and knocked over the first pouch. Darium tried not to stare too obviously at the stones rolling across the table and kept his cool when Iphigenia paid him, but once he returned to the bar he leaned closer to Ti. 'Did you know they have a bunch of gemstones? I've never seen someone or a whole party with so much valuables.'

Ti glanced sideways at the table where a few of the girls checked the gemstones before storing the pouch again. 'Oh? Not just some trinkets?'

Darium polished up the mugs for the party once more as he put them on a tray. 'I know enough about such stones to know they're not some cheap pieces of glass or imitations.'

Ti took another drink from her ale while her lust for riches tickled the back of her head. 'It'll be interesting to find out just how much they have then.' she said, and decided to visit Theis again later to see what quests he had in store for them next.

***

After their rest, Iphigenia and the other girls gathered at the guild office to review the requests. Theis laid several down on the counter. 'These are the highest priority ones. All predator monsters which have been coming too close to town and became a threat. I can't imagine one or two of them being the cause of your friends' deaths, but whatever it was might be trying to invade those territories for prey.'

Valdys kept her smile hidden. 'They're baiting us.'

Iphigenia hummed as she looked over the requests. 'Indeed. They must want to kill us quickly for our money. They took our bait'

Elzbieta pointed out two requests with her eyes. 'These two are far apart enough for them to risk an attack on either of our groups, but not too far apart for darling and the others to be too late to assist.'

'Agreed.' said Iphigenia, and put a finger on both of them. 'There doesn't seem much difference in difficulty, but we'll take these two now. '

Theis picked them up. 'All right, I'll process these and hope to see you with a favourable result later.'

Iphigenia gave a nod to Elzbieta. 'We'll see you at the inn again.'

Elzbieta strapped on her sword belt. 'Good luck.' she replied, and the two groups left the inn and headed in opposite directions towards their targets.

Ti stepped out from the back and looked at the two chosen requests. 'Good. We can take out one of their groups without interference from the other because they're too close.' She gave Theis a wicked smile. 'Prepare your best bottle and give a thought about retiring. We'll be drinking to our new fortune soon.'

***

'They're gathering just outside of town.' said Conchim while she hid in the dense canopy of a tree. 'They're not easing up on who will be the lucky victim, there are almost twenty Sisters.'

'No sign of which of us they're heading for?' asked Iphigenia.

'Hang on, Ti has arrived.' said Conchim and observed her more closely.

Ti spoke to the Sister in charge and gestured in two directions, and the group moved.

'Elz, expect visitors. They're not in a hurry though.'

Elzbieta turned to Tipper and Handil. 'Conchi just said a group of almost twenty Sisters is coming after us.'

Tipper wrung her hands. 'Might as well have sent more. Not the first time I slammed a group around with my trusty spade.'