K'rar had now spent an entire month in the north with the apothecary Sahar, and their adventure had hardly began. They were in a cottage on top of the west face of Zohaltiel Valley, near the center of the middle prong of the Fork. Zohaltiel Valley was the northernmost inhabited area of the Fork, sitting on the face of the gargantuan Mt. Skarla, or the Red Mountain. The mountain was hardly red. It was covered in white, but Skarla was named after the legend of the Nephilim, who launched their conquest of Xaxanika from the mountain and spilled gallons of blood. The old man had come to look for some rare plants that grew only in these cold conditions, but K'rar was holding out for a bigger adventure, and he had the logistics to do so. His poison strategy had dispatched 142 Sirohan rebels and grounded many others, whom the Revolutionary Guard had captured. K'rar had been gone many weeks before this, so he had been rewarded through Governess Yrma once it was learned where he was. King Sargios had met with his foster family too, and they were now more popular than they had been when he first met them. Sahar knew a guide in the Fork called Odmiel, who had helped him in previous excursions. He was the owner of the cottage and the patch of farmland on which it sat. He was as adventurous as K'rar himself, and because of this the cottage was almost forlorn and dilapidated because of ill-use an abandonment. Odmiel was a bachelor, and the servants in his employ only took care of his house and the farm a considerable distance away.
Zohaltiel Valley was shared by a small community of people who could handle the cold weather—which K'rar had found humbling even in summer, yet , he had learned, winter was yet to come, and he had never seen one. He was looking forward to it, having been told that the ground would be covered in ice, something even his imagination could not picture. K'rar occasionally went down into the hamlet from the cottage when Sahar was busying himself with his potions, to meet a new friend of his called Romiel. Romiel lived in a square in the hamlet where the men of the community occasionally met to drink wine together. The village was made of subsistence farmers who avoided the loneliness of the remote area by meeting up together in this square to goof around like boys. K'rar could testify about the despondency of the place. He was cold and alone. Even his adventurous instincts didn't kick in because of this. He couldn't venture out by himself. This hamlet reminded him of Ursa, a constant thorn in his memory. Like Ursa, Zohaltiel valley was occupied by a group living like hermits, detached from society.
It was mid-September when things began to get juicy. K'rar went down one cold evening to the square, where he was already a popular figure for exactly the same reasons, to meet Romiel. Romiel was the son of the homeowner of the compound where the men would meet. They called it the Wattle. K'rar avoided the Wattle when the farmers were there in large numbers, but today many of them were expected to be outdoors tendering their flocks in the plains just south of here. The men mostly converged on Fridays through Sunday when they stayed home.
But it was Monday, a day when they were highly unlikely to be home, yet K'rar found them, the whole congregation of them. They gave him cold feet, these men. They kept long hair and beards, wore heavy garments, heavy boots, and were very hairy and broad-shouldered. And, unlike other Xaxanikans, these men were highly anarchical. They considered themselves as outsiders, as living beyond the borders of Xaxanika. K'rar thought this was bordering on separatism, just as the Sirohan rebels, although these men stayed out of the monarchy's hairs and minded their own business. The monarchy reciprocated this. Governor Yrma, Romiel had said to K'rar, had been asked to leave Zohaltiel Valley alone, and she had figured that after all the valley was of no real significance except for stubborn, cantankerous farmers. They were hostile to anyone from the kingdom who had the slightest resemblance of a government official. Nonetheless, Yrma had not stopped them from going south as much as they liked. K'rar did not like this policy.
Romiel spotted him from a distance before he waltzed into the compound, and came out to meet him. Romiel had the same outlook as his mates. Tall, fair haired and large. But Romiel had not allowed their ideals to poison him. He dreamed of leaving this secluded home for an adventure. He never liked the life of a hermit. He shoved K'rar away from sight of the men, who sounded very disconcerted about something.
'What are they doing here at this time?' K'rar was the first one to speak.
'Animals have gone missing, and they're nowhere to be found,' said Romiel.
'I thought they all herded their animals together.'
'That's why they're confused. None of them could have stolen 22 animals, including eight cattle.'
'How the hell did 22 animals go missing in one night in this place?'
'No, they vanished in the last three days, from the kraals. They found out this morning when they were preparing to go out. But that's the least of the problems.'
K'rar stared into his face.
'The animals didn't just disappear or escape, K'rar. There could be something actively hunting them.' Romiel was himself looking scared, 'there is something hunting them.'
'A wild animal? You guys can't be worrying about a wild animal,' K'rar said.
'There were no signs. No tracks, no blood, no footprints. The animals are just missing. Whatever took them, took them alive.'
K'rar knew that this hamlet was the only settlement for many miles. If the animals had been stolen by someone, there would have been a sign. There were no rustlers anywhere near, and rustlers wouldn't have just stolen a few animals in secret. Zohaltiel's herders owned hundreds of animals.
'Then what the hell took the animals, Romiel? A spirit?'
Now Romiel led him into the compound and stood him behind the large congregation, who were now discussing the possibility that the animals had been mugged by a group of very wise fools.
'Let's all just prepare and look for them. I'm sure there's an explanation for this,' Romiel's father suggested, 'we set out by morning and actually look for them instead of spreading rumors. And some of us should stay outdoors to keep watch for the night.'
K'rar seriously begun to consider that they weren't mere rumors when Odmiel the guide didn't show up at the cottage beyond midnight. Odmiel had a habit of leaving them for many hours, even entire days, but he always returned when another excursion into the mountain was scheduled. Odmiel knew the significance of the apothecary's work. His medicines were not only used back in Iscalan. His information would be shared with other expert physicians at Zadok. The apothecary was not a mere novice. He was popular among his colleagues everywhere as a master. His works had once helped stop an epidemic, so Odmiel knew better than to be absent. But this was hardly the problem. Odmiel had not come to the cottage on the rock, but Sahar and K'rar expected him to make an appearance by morning, so they were relaxed, until a series of loud knocks at the wooden door alerted them of something desperate. K'rar was the one who went to the door and asked,
'Odmiel?'
'No,' a female voice returned, 'I'm looking for him.'
K'rar had been to the man's farmhouse. He knew this woman was not just one of his maids but also one who hoped to become his wife. He opened the door.
'Looking for him?' he repeated.
'Yes,' said the woman. She was clearly in distress, 'he went out with three friends last night, and none of them has returned. And I heard that…that many farm animals went missing, so I'm worried.'
'Last night?' old Sahar came to the door, 'he left last night?'
'Yeah.'
'Why did he go out at night? That's not like him.'
'He thought it would be a nice adventure to scale the mountain in the dark.'
'He went to the mountain?'
'That's why I can't stop worrying. I thought he was here.'
'He isn't. Let's wait for the morning, see if he comes back, okay?' said old
Sahar.
As soon as he closed the door, K'rar said to the old man,
'I don't think he's going to show up.'
'Why not?'
'I think he's just one of many people who will go missing. Whatever is taking the animals took those men.'
Old Sahar would have laughed at this, but he knew K'rar was not one to drown himself in fantasies. Still, he calmly said,
'Taking both men and animals? I thought you were about to say Odmiel stole those animals.'
K'rar dragged a chair from the other side of the room and set it before Sahar, who was sitting on the other. He sat down and struck old Sahar with a straight face.
'When I went to see Governor Yrma the other day,' he said, 'I was with her when complaints about missing persons were brought to her. All those missing allegedly came this way, to the mountain.'
'Yeah, so?'
'I have a crazy idea.'
'Yeah, what?'
'I read something. Something about the history of these lands, and there is an account similar to what's happening here. I don't know why or how it became a legend, but from what I read, people and animals used to go missing just before the ancient Nephilim giants first appeared. Is it a coincidence that the disappearances are happening here in Fimron? On the mountain?'
'Who told you that? I don't remember much from the legend, but I would have remembered where it said people went missing.'
'Because you just heard it from your parents and old wives, like everyone else. I found a book in Iscalan's Gendarium. An old historian who tells the legend in detail. The book is at least three and a half centuries old. It might be the only book in this whole country that has the truth.'
Old Sahar laughed.
'Look, young man, you may have as many conspiracies as you like. Just don't go down to the village and begin yapping about the Nephilim. Hmm?' he ruffled his hair, 'go to sleep. We go to the river bed tomorrow.'
K'rar was unhappy, but he did go to sleep, just before the weather outside began to speak with loud peals of thunder. A storm was brewing.
It was a bad storm. The river bed would be flooded and impossible to navigate, so that put a spanner in the works for the next morning's work. It had poured down in leaps and bounds for at least three hours, and the river, a tributary of the Bizkek River, had burst its banks. It wouldn't cause damage to the village, which was at a safe distance, but when K'rar went down to the village with Sahar, it had sustained its own damage. First they checked Odmiel's house, and found that the man and all three of his buddies had not returned. His consort was terrified as a cornered prey animal. In the village, the men had not gone out to search for their animals. Instead, they were assembled in the Wattle looking extremely terrified. The previous night they had assigned three of their number to keep watch over their farm animals and report anything amiss. This morning what was amiss was that all three men were missing, and at least 10 more heads of cattle. A house near the edge of the village had a huge chunk of bricks eaten out of it, and the woman living there was vehement that it wasn't the storm that had done this.
Something very sinister was unfolding in this village. And K'rar thought he knew. Old Sahar spotted that he was about to throw his theories into the discussion, so he nudged him in the side and shushed him,
'This is a serious situation, son. Don't you dare,' he said to him in a loud whisper.
'Tell them it's time to contact the authorities. This is bigger than a few men going out to look for something that has taken three dozen animals and six men.'
Someone other than the old man heard K'rar whispering this, and yelled,
'Did you say we should contact the authorities?' he said loudly. Shit. Everyone turned around, and K'rar knew he had just landed his feet in a wasps' nest. Still, he was no chicken. He wouldn't pipe down easily.
'I know the Governor. I will go down to Addonibad myself and ask her help.' K'rar wasn't kidding. He was well known for anyone who knew about the rebel poisoning near Aran-Tamar, including the governess.
'Are you crazy, kid?' the man who started it barked, 'we don't need their help. We'll find our men ourselves. Who are you anyway?'
The man called they called Mo, who would be their leader if a hierarchy existed, was the chief anarchist here, but he was less impulsive than his cronies, so he said to K'rar calmly,
'Pipe down, son. We are no part of the kingdom. We deal with our own problems. The old man should have told you that.' Old Sahar was shaking his head.
'I'm just saying, if you stationed guards to keep watch, and then the guards go missing with no sign of altercation…'
'Shut up kid…'
'Hey, hey,' Old Sahar cut in on K'rar's behalf, 'it is a genuine suggestion, okay? Cut the kid some slack.'
'The kid's been here almost a month. He ought to know it when there's a chance to keep his mouth shut.'
'Okay, so what shall we do now?' the one named Mo said, 'our friends are missing. But I think it's clear that this wasn't done by mere rustlers. I say we search the ranges.'
'We should go now,' said another man. They all concurred with this, and immediately began to frantically prepare for the trip. The Wattle's compound became muddy and slippery with the activity. The men left momentarily to their respective homes to pick equipment, and Sahar returned to the shack, leaving K'rar behind to bring him news. Romiel, who lived here, ignored K'rar's presence and begun preparing to go himself. K'rar stayed in the compound and watched him go in and out, until he was ready and came out to him. His father finished too and brushed past K'rar in the compound to go to one of the other homes.
'I'm coming too,' said K'rar. Romiel sighed and rolled his eyes.
'Listen, young man,' he said, 'these guys are okay with you being here because you're a kid, and because you're with the physician. That doesn't mean they won't behave like themselves when you get into their hair.' Romiel could call him a kid. He was twenty years old, six years his senior.
'Look, Romiel. Whatever is hunting the animals isn't something you look for in the ranges. Whatever is hunting the animals also hunts people, and it clearly moves at night.'
'It?' Romiel said.
'Well it is not a person.'
'Ah, look. Do as you like, but I strongly advise you against coming with these men. You're a liability out in the wild, and you seem to like the authorities too much.'
K'rar hadn't been planning to actually go into the mountain with them, but he was as determined to find out what was happening. When they were gone, he paid a visit to the widow whose house had been damaged in the storm. The house was a concrete brick house in good condition, so K'rar could understand why she was unwilling to believe that the house had been damaged by rain. Besides, the cottage K'rar himself was staying in had not been damaged at all when it should have. The villagers would help her repair it quickly, as they took good care of each other like a school of fish, so the widow wasn't very distraught about what she was going to do. She could speak to K'rar freely about last night. Still, despite offering him a huge mug of corn porridge, she wanted to know who he was before she explained why the rain couldn't have taken a bite out of her house.
'I'm with the apothecary. You people know him well apparently.'
'Of course. He once healed three men with a skin ailment, so he's always welcome. But we know he has no children. And you couldn't be related to him. You are so different from the rest of us.'
'Yeah, I was born this way,' said K'rar, 'so, will you tell me what happened here? According to your recollection.'
The widow pulled the shawl over her head and shoulders tighter, and sat back against the wall of her house. They were sitting on the verandah on a mat. The widow was at least sixty, and most of her brown hair had already given in to the gray. K'rar could tell she was a mother whose children had perhaps left Zohaltiel to find real, meaningful lives elsewhere.
'Whatever did that was alive, son. I couldn't see it, but I could hear it.'
'What do you mean it was alive?' K'rar was glad she was already unconsciously confirming his suspicion, 'what did you hear?'
'I'll tell you what I heard,' said the widow forcefully. The villagers had just dismissed her allegations, so she was happy to tell someone who listened even though they were just a kid looking for a good story. She told K'rar she had heard what sounded like heavy footsteps receding and returning, about three times, all this during the storm. She said, 'I didn't know if I was afraid or not. For a woman who's lived a long life with men, I have learned to suppress my fears, but I was scared as a child last night. There was something moving in the rain.'
'So what do you think it was?'
'I don't know son. I never saw a thing. When I thought about peeping out to investigate, the roof shook with an almighty bang, and it wasn't lighting. That didn't break it. The rain did the rest, but it didn't do the real damage.'
'It sounds like it was very large, whatever did this.'
'Indeed, son. It was high and mighty.'
'Like an elephant.'
'A what?' asked the widow.
'Oh, nothing.' K'rar said. There were no elephants in Xaxanika.
He was now more than convinced that the Nephilim were real. And he knew there was only one way to find out.
'I'm going down to the city, old man,' said he to old Sahar the moment he walked into the cottage. He was already going about packing his belongings to do so immediately.
'What the hell's gotten into you, son?'
'It's them. The Nephilim are visiting this valley, and,' K'rar was shoving clothes into the bag while speaking, 'by the time…the men here come to their senses,' he fastened the strings, 'there will be no village and no animals. So I'm going to go down to Addonibad and bring men with me who are actually willing to investigate this thing.'
'Bring men?' the apothecary laughed, 'are you a prefect or something?'
'Governor Yrma will listen to me.'
'Son. You had a good turn with them by winning them a battle. But this, what you're about to go down and tell her, sounds like horse piss. You're wasting time.'
'There's a widow at the village whose house was damaged. The way she describes it confirms everything. I gave her no clues and no thoughts, yet the way she describes it matches with a Nephilim attack. So I am going down to Addonibad whether you like it or not.'
'What a stubborn kid you are,' the apothecary knew that once K'rar embarked on something, he went in head first. There was no use in trying to stop him.