The cool, overcast sky was still bright, when sir Ruben's party approached Kumen, the first of the local villages.
Ruben wiped his sweaty brow, felt the creeping chill in the mountain wind, and reflected on how strangely quick the fall seemed to come this year. He wondered if it had anything to do with the coming of the demons and their curses, and shook off a shiver at the thought. Spying the tiled rooftops ahead, he then pleasantly recalled the bowl of good hearty stew and a mug of ale he had the last time he visited an inn in this village.
A distant shrill scream awakened him and he hasted his horse to a gallop. He and his men rode into the village and saw people standing outside their houses, listening to the stout woman in a dirty apron yell. At the sight of the knights, some of the villagers hastily bid their peeking children back inside their homes.
"It was a wolf! A wolf! So close I smelt its breath! It near snatched my baby!" The large woman complained, holding on tightly to an arm of a little blonde-headed, blue-eyed girl. In her fright, the woman's fingers dag so deeply into the girl's arm that the girl winced. Ruben eyed the child and saw that she was unharmed, if frightened.
"Welma, are you sure it was not just a large dog? Wolves don't usual come inside the village bounds, and in broad daylight at that." One of the other women asked her in annoyance.
"No, it was a wolf!" The woman with the girl insisted.
"And not just a wolf." Ruben said to the alarmed villagers. A look at his hunters had already confirmed that they picked up the demon's trail here.
Calling the villagers to attention, sir Ruben solemnly explained what he and his men were hunting. The villagers made frequent outcries as he told the story, and many men grabbed their hay forks, long knives, and axes, and willingly offered to help hunt and kill the evil thing.
As the evening flowed into night, torches could be seen flickering and fields and yells could be heard as the villagers helped comb the local woods. First one, then another would cry out that they saw the wolf darting away from them. All night long they hunted, herding the changeling creature toward the cliffs, where Ruben hoped to corner and overcome it.
Early in the morning, the lines of villagers tightened, and the hunting dogs grew wild with the fresh scent. Sometimes, it seemed to Ruben as though the demon was taunting them. They chased it all the way to the Midluff cliffs, where the sheer vertical walls cut off all further way of escape.
There, approaching on horseback, Ruben strained his eyes at the form that appeared ahead, standing still and erect, ethereal in the morning mist. The gust of wind dissipated the mist and revealed the demon. It stood on the very edge of the cliff, surveying the raging river below. Before they could kill it, it looked up at them with what Ruben thought was a defiant and proud look.
Follow me if you dare, her shining blue eyes seemed to sing. Ruben was startled to notice that he had suddenly begun to think of it as a female. But there was something in the posture of its lithe, strong body that seemed to suggest it. And then she jumped. Several of the hunters drew and shot their arrows, but Ruben didn't, stunned. He watched the demon's body fly into the waters below and disappear within the frothy stream. Together with his men, Ruben watched the raging current, but did not see her come up.
"Perhaps it turned into a fish, and swam away." One of the men shrugged nonchalant.
"It is a long fall." Another doubted.
"One of these demons could survive it."
"One of them would, but not this one." Sir Ruben's hunter named Marshen Thoen said.
He looked at the others without expression. "I loosed an arrow that pierced its neck as it fell." Without thinking, the hunter caressed the feathered edge of the arrows, which had been blessed by the priest and bore points made of noble black silver, same as the charm each of the men now wore to protect them.
Ruben, his men, and the villagers whom he promised a modest reward, searched the riverbanks below, but found nothing to show for their effort. Finally, with the time of meeting up with his fellow knights growing close, Ruben decided to turn back. Learning that the demon was gone, and was not going to bother their village anymore, the villagers relaxed and began to return to their work. Only a few local hunters, encouraged by mention of a reward if they found and brought the demon's body to the priests, continued to search along the river below.
Ruben didn't know if they found anything, because he went home to Coeur and met up with the other two knights. He was relieved to learn that their hunt was even less successful than his. The demons eluded them. They seemed to get better and better at hiding, quickly learning how to take various local forms, indistinguishable from the normal animals which lived in these forests. The dogs, anyhow, had begun to get confused. Their last hunt by one local village, which raised the alarm, led the knights to the pursuit of a deer, which Tolen shot and found to be an ordinary deer.
"At least, I made a splendid meal out of it." Sir Tolen joked, gesturing the knights to join him at a temporary camp they set up in the field by the woods. They waited for the meat to cook, and relaxed by the fire, talking, joking, and laughing, as they regained their good humor at each other's expense. Eventually, their conversation turned to more serious topics.
"Have you any word from home?" Thoughtful Ruben inquired of Tolen, Tolen's wife, the lady Rowena being his youngest sibling and only sister.
"All must be well, or else I would have received word."
"What do you wish for this time, a boy or a girl?" Raden hid a smile.
"Whichever our good God grants. My lady's heart desires a daughter. My son had formerly asked for a little brother, but he'll be glad regardless."
"And how goes his training in Reolth? I heard he excelled at the last royal tournament."
"Yes, he is very much his father's son." Tolen affirmed with quiet pride.
"My oldest will soon be old enough to go to the Reolth tournament." Raden commented.
"Raul?"
"Yes."
"You have been truly blessed. Five sons! I've only been blessed with daughters." Ruben sighed. "Luckily they have their mother's looks and not their father's." He joked ruefully, touching his balding head.
"Why don't you marry again, Ruben. It's been... What? Nine years?" Tolen inquired.
"I'm far too old. I wish not to leave a widow behind, nor a wicked step-mother."
"Fairy tales!" Raden smirked. Ruben grinned.
"Fairy tales often reflect a sad truth. Truly, who would marry me now, if not for money and title? No, no, I have already arranged it. Lord Denay's second son will inherit my estates, upon marriage to my youngest daughter, as soon as she turns of age."
For a moment, everyone remained quiet, while they fondly recalled their families. And Tolen could not help but remember his worries. Observant Ruben noticed the shadow settle on the tall knight's features.
"You worry for her." He remarked, and his friend nodded, frowning.
"You know how frequently she ails. Her first childbirth was exceedingly difficult. Whereas others might greet the news of another child with joy, mine is shadowed by worry."
"Perhaps you should go home. Abandon this hunt. You have already done more than enough." Raden remarked. "Of the three grown fiends that escaped from us, only one remains and their spawn. It won't be long before we catch up to them. And with the reward the priests offered, many others may well do our task before us."
"Hmm." Lord Tolen grunted, undecided.
"It seems strange, though." Ruben commented quietly, when no one else said anything for a while.
"What?" Raden glanced curiously at the heavy-set man.
"It seems strange that there were no reports of attacks. Didn't the priests say that the demons would kill, before they took on the shape of men? Yet, at the battle, there were several who looked like men, as did that one you killed... It's been two weeks since, and yet, I've heard nothing." Ruben reflected thoughtfully.
"No savage mauling, no one gone mysteriously missing." He counted off absent-minded on his fingers. "Even in Kumen, I think that child was more frightened by her hysterical mother, than by the beast that came after her. Too bad the girl was mute and could not tell me what happened. Still, the beast could have torn the child's throat out. There was plenty of time for that. But it didn't do so. Don't you think that strange? What kind of a demon would act like that? And her eyes... She had beautiful eyes, blue like the summer sky. You should have seen her. She was waiting for us to see her, before she jumped off. Why did she do that?" Ruben shook his head ruefully.
"She?" Renad raised his eye-brows, and grinned. "You have been without a woman far too long, my friend." Renad clapped him tightly on his shoulder. "So long that you're seeing things."
"As long as he don't start calling me pretty." Tolen goaded their comrade farther, trying not to dwell on the troubling thoughts that came into his own mind as well. Ruben jumped on the tall knight and attempted to wrestle him to the ground. The two men ended up roughing each other in the grass like two playful bears.
"Who wouldn't, with that fine long hair! I wager that you stand in front of a mirror every day and brush it with a comb." Ruben huffed, his head forced to the ground under Tolen's strong arm.
"You're just saying that, because you are bald as a batwing and with a snout to match!" Tolen teased, straining to hold the muscled man down.
"My lords. The king's messenger approaches." Kanith, Lord Tolen's loyal captain interrupted. Tolen released his friend, and all the three knights stood, waiting, until the king's black and red clad messenger arrived, got off his horse and bowed to them, with a sealed scroll in hand.
"My lords, the king requests another service of you." He said politely. Lord Raden took the scroll and impatiently broke the seal.
"A demon has been seen by the guards at the eastern mountain pass. It fought the guards there. They forced it to turn back."
"If those beasts seek to leave Pharshena, let them!" Lord Raden scoffed. The king's messenger politely shook his head in denial.
"My lord, the king orders that every knight and lord whose holdings lie within the vicinity of the pass, to send more trusted men to guard it, to make sure that nothing living goes through. The royal council fears the havoc the demons will cause, should any of them escape beyond our borders. Other nations, less strong, may fail to deal with such devious foes, and even a few demons could yet cause a terrible disaster to befall our land. The Kali do not forget, so warn the ancient scripts. If allowed to leave, they will certainly return one day to take a terrible revenge against us all."
As if to accent his words, a distant rumble of thunder rolled across the sky and gray clouds blocked out the sun's light, casting shadow upon the forest. The men looked up worriedly. Lord Raden grimaced with displeasure.
"We had just picked up the trail again." He muttered.
"And you can continue hunting them if you wish, my lord. I believe that it is only lord Tolen, whose holdings lie next to the pass, to whom these summons truly apply." The messenger stated politely. Lord Raden silently handed the tall knight the unsealed scroll, and Tolen quickly scanned it. Grimly, he nodded to the other knights, and gestured to his captain to prepare for departure.
Not long after, lord Tolen rode out with his men away from Coeur toward his estates, determined to carry out the king's will. And first droplets of rain began to sprinkle down from the overcast sky upon the wilting woods.