The crowd was sweeping kilometre after kilometre in a chain, the locals were pissed off, they were not only blown up in the middle of the night, but also forced to wander through the forest, looking for someone, who knows who.
A couple of men were walking on the edge of the chain, they wanted to send the headman and the abbot away, they didn't hate them, but they didn't want to go into the forest at night. The couple had hoped to get lost in the noise somewhere in the village, but the monk, the leader of their group, had a different view of their idea, and a weighty argument that made them change their minds, namely a big halberd pointed in their direction. As the men walked through the night forest for the second hour, one of them started a conversation, unable to keep silent any longer.
"Rao, have you realised who we are looking for?" Asked one of the men.
"Gha, ask what is easier, I have no idea, they said only that he will be different from us and we will recognise him immediately." Rao replied to his friend, squinting from the torch light.
"Poo, poo, poo. Ai fuck..." The man once again fell knee-deep into another hole, quickly escaping from the earth captivity, he stood up to his full height and angrily said.
"I'll strangle you on the spot if I see you, I'll strangle you on the spot." The peasant's angry tirade went on for quite a long time, it particularly amused his mate, and after waiting a while he called out to his friend.
"Ha, ha, ha. Well, you, of course, give Rif, every hole on the way collected, maybe you are half mole, so in the burrows you are attracted to." Reef turned and looked angrily at Rao, who was laughing quietly, his indignation ready to come out in the most unpleasant form.
"Quiet," Rao put his finger to his lips, silently asking his mate to be quiet for a moment. Rao stopped his anger and listened attentively. There was something else besides the occasional screams and the crackling of torches that sang in unison with the night birds, some strange scraping and squelching.
"Do you realise what it is?" Rao asked with a wry grin.
"It's another tailed creep, and he's digging another hole right now." The men nodded in unison, the possibility of fresh meat and hide cheering them up, and they slowed down and approached the source of the strange sounds.
"We're already behind the main group, and we're not going to be treated well for this." Rao said in a half-whisper, even though it didn't make much sense to whisper, the crackling and torchlight giving them away, but the men didn't care. The pair of newly minted hunters were skirting the tree where the sounds were coming from both sides. Reef turned to his partner and gave him three fingers.
He nodded in response and Reef began to curl them, their faces as intent and serious as possible, sweat dripping from their foreheads, both waiting impatiently for the signal. Reef bent the last finger and the men rushed to the tree from both sides. The two men quickly came to the back of the tree and met with surprised looks. The sound had stopped, and they tensely surveyed their surroundings for any clues.
"Bitch missed it!" Rif said angrily, another angry tirade already brewing in his mouth, and Rao interrupted him again.
"Shh, look." Rao pointed his finger towards the roots. The man brought the torch closer and a freshly excavated hole came into view. - Rao, give me a light, I'll get the bastard. Rif came closer and squatted down, trying to see something, but the burrow remained dark as if ignoring the torchlight.
"Oh, fuck!" The ground beneath Rif's feet slid down, dragging Rif with it, he fell down and ploughed a good half metre of earth into his face. While the man was shaking off the sticking earth, his mate gave out another caustic phrase.
"Rif, you haven't been drinking today, why are you so drawn to the ground, I'm telling you for sure you are a mole, at least for half of it." his partner said gloatingly. Meanwhile Rif was ready to explode like a volcano, and the jokes of his partner had finally knocked him out of his rut.
"You'd better drink, at least the time would pass faster, and you, if you're so clever, go down and climb by yourself."
"No, you go ahead, maybe you and your relative will find a common language and he'll come out on his own." Rao was no longer ashamed of anything and roared like a horse, Rif silently spat in his direction and knelt down to examine the freshly dug hole, and there was no doubt that it was such. Fresh sod was lying literally everywhere. 'I can't see a damn thing.' The man thought to himself and turned to his mate.
"Rao give me a torch, I can't see anything."
"Just put your hand inside, the hole is small, nobody will bite your hand off." Rao turned round nervously, their group had travelled quite a distance.
"If the monk notices we're gone, you and I are both dead." Rif nodded silently with a sad expression on his face and slipped his hand into the hole. The man decided to play big and climbed into the hole under the roots up to his shoulders, trying to find something in the darkness.
"Reef, how long have you been there?" Reef didn't really like digging with his hands in that dark hole, but the loot would pay for it a hundredfold. 'Bitch, if I catch anything, I won't share it with Rao, I'll treat him to fresh meat at most'.
Rif thought and then his hands felt something soft and quite big, the man pulled the unknown creature with force, "Come on, come to daddy, we won't hurt you." He didn't see the rest, though in his case, seeing was a rhetorical question.
"OUCH!"
Something hard, hit him right in the forehead, the force of the blow was more than enough, and the man flew out of the hole. His bored partner was not unpleasantly surprised by this outcome and asked.
"Rif, what are you doing?" The man began to suspect something.
"There's some shit there, it hit me right in the forehead, it's strong." The peasant put his hand to his head, a large bruise was beginning to ripen there.
"Did you see anything?" Rao asked him, his face a strange mixture of scepticism and surprise.
"It wasn't much, but I'm pretty sure it was white." Rif was telling the truth, he had seen something light at the last moment before the impact, or at least he thought he had. Rao jumped down into the hollow and stood next to his friend. He didn't look very good, his face was red, and a large bruise was already showing on his forehead.
"Let's give him four hands," Rao said quietly, and Rif nodded silently, the man was filled with indignation and resentment.
"Bitch, we're going to get you now!" Shouted the angry Rao and started to bring his torch closer to the entrance.
"What are you idiots doing?" The voice that called out to them was clear and cold, it seemed to bear the weight of the world and a couple of neighbours in addition. The men turned round slowly and synchronously. In front of them stood the leader of their group, a burly man in a white camping dressing gown.
"It's, well, there's something there," Rao tried to justify himself, pointing his finger at the entrance to the unfortunate hole. Rif, wanting to add some weight to his partner's words, nodded frantically.
"Listen you idiots, you're different from the others, get up quickly and go looking." The monk shouted with all his might, he himself was barely on his feet, and the limit of his dreams was at least some sleep. And the presence of two idiots in the squad did not add confidence that his dream would be fulfilled soon.
"Man, there's really something there, I'll give you that, you see how my friend got his ass kicked." Rao answered uncertainly, pointing his finger at his friend's forehead. The monk leaned his hand on his head tiredly, 'We've been wandering around for over two hours now and every fucking time another stupid idiot confuses a branch with a person, I have to personally go up to him and explain to him like a child that he's an idiot, I'm sick of it'. The monk cursed to himself and approached the burrow with a heavy heart.
"What did you see?" The monk was not an avid hunter, but he had a good sense of the forest and could clearly tell that this burrow was the habitat of a fox, or at least a wild dog. The men next to him started gesticulating vigorously in a panic, and shouting with one voice.
"There was something out there, something big."
"Yes it hit me, er... well, it was white."
The monk was already regretting that he had left his halberd in the village, 'I'm going to try to tell these idiots that a man can't fit through here.' He didn't want to get dirty, so he squatted down. He took a quick glance round the hole, making sure that no human could get in even if he wanted to, he announced clearly.
"There's nothing there, let's go to the others." He said without turning round, already feeling the disgruntled looks on his face, and continued.
"Men, I don't like this any more than you do, the sooner we find who we need, the sooner we'll be done." The monk hoped for understanding on their part, he was a man of servitude himself.
"What reason do we have to go round in circles?" Overcoming his fear, Rif asked a question.
"We'll find what we're looking for, and you'll be paid for your labour." This news was like a thunderclap, unexpected for them.
"And you are not lying?" Rao asked, unable to keep silent, and the men's eyes glistened greedily.
"If you two half-witted fools had not been fooling around and had listened to the headman at least by ear, you might have heard and understood a little of what you heard. If we fulfil our task, the Southern Monastery will put some money into the village's common fund, and give a little money to each participant, of course."
Rao and Rif's faces immediately changed in a positive way. There was no trace of fatigue and anger, there was real and genuine enthusiasm.
"So what are we waiting for let's go quickly." Reef shouted and went forward, the monk followed, only Rao hovered near the burrow for a second.
"You can count yourself lucky today," he muttered to himself. The man was sure there was something worthwhile in there.
"Rao, are you coming or what?" Rif called out to him, but the man gave the cursed hole a stern look and went to catch up with his companions.