Chapter 43 — The Missing Pets

Leon led Ria to the area where the earliest disappearances were reported. Ria’s guess was that the cause would be closest to the first disappearance.

She was a little worried about using the prepared scrolls in plain view, and there was already an elderly lady sitting on her porch watching them. Ria had greeted the woman pleasantly and let her know they were looking for missing pets.

“Ready?” Ria asked, holding up the medium-quality source-locating scroll with one of the carefully prepared hair knots in place. She chose to search for the most recently missing pet, since that one was most likely to still be around somewhere.

“Woof!” came Ranger’s enthusiastic reply.

“Yeah.” Leon nodded. He was holding the envelope for the pet hair currently on the scroll and had the rest of the envelopes ready in his belt pouch.

Ria prepared a shield of air around the scroll to keep the hair from blowing off as they moved.

“Activate #15.”

The arrow didn’t show up.

“Not here. Let’s move as we discussed,” Ria decided, and Leon nodded.

Not long after they started moving along the road in the direction of the other homes with missing pets, an arrow formed.

“It’s pointing that direction!” Leon excitedly reported when the arrow showed up. “Over here, Ria!”

Leon led her to a side road, and the arrow reoriented to point mostly down the road as they approached.

“Yes, it's definitely down this way," Ria reported.

The dark-gray arrow started angling to the left side and directed them to the last house on the row that was all the way up against the palisade surrounding the village.

"It's definitely this house. Let's test for the other pets, too," Ria said, handing the first hair knot back to Leon in exchange for the next one.

The results were the same. Each of the pets were in the house.

While Ria and Leon were checking the divination results, Ranger went up onto the porch and was sniffing around the house.

"Woof?"

"Did Ranger find something?" Leon asked.

"Maybe. Old blood smell, he thinks." Ria shrugged. "Deactivate #15."

"Leon?" came a girl's voice from behind. "Are you looking for Stripes?"

"Afternoon, Lisa," Leon greeted after recognizing the girl. "Yeah, we think he's inside this house."

"Really?" The girl asked, surprised, eyeing Ria and her scroll with the ritual-magic-looking markings. "What's that?"

Leon glanced at Ria as he followed Lisa's gaze to the scroll. "That's a locator scroll that Ria made so she could help search for Stripes."

"I heard rumors that a foreigner girl was in the village, but is it really okay to use that kind of magic? It looks illegal…" Lisa said worriedly.

"Ria has a license, and she's a member of the Enchanters Guild, so it's fine. You don't need to worry," Leon reassured her.

"Lisa, can you tell us anything about the people who live in this house?" Ria asked.

Lisa shook her head. "There's no one living in there now. The elderly couple that owned it died a few months back, and no one has claimed the house. Some of the neighbors are worried that if it sits empty too much longer… it might become haunted."

“Hmm. If no one is living there… I wonder if we can go in through the front door?” Ria asked and glanced meaningfully at Leon.

“Fine. I’ll go check,” Leon volunteered with an eye roll and tried the door latch to no effect. “Locked. My guess is that Lord Vorshan or Captain Bastach have the key if no one has claimed the house.”

“I can probably get permission, but that would take time. If the pets are inside, either the criminal also has a key, or there has to be another way in. Maybe try from the back alley?” Ria suggested.

Leon nodded. “Yeah. That makes sense.”

The three of them plus Ranger, made their way back around to the adjacent alleyway that ran behind this row of houses. Even though it was mid-afternoon the alleyway was well-shaded by the two and three-story row houses, giving it a creepy air. The smell of discarded refuse only added to the unpleasant feeling.

When they reached the house at the end of the row, the first thing they noticed was that one of the windowpanes had been broken out.

“Big enough for a cat to get through, but probably not a dog,” Ria observed.

Leon nodded.

“Do you think that’s how Stripes got in there?” Lisa asked, looking in the window.

“Maybe…,” Ria said noncommittally. Some of the missing pets supposedly inside were dogs.

Ranger went up to the window and sniffed the air, communicating through the bond that the dry blood smell was definitely coming from inside the house.

Leon checked the back door and it opened.

“Leon. You should ready your helmet and shield,” Ria warned.

He looked over at Ranger and nodded.

Lisa gave her a surprised look. “Stripes wouldn’t hurt anyone.”

“No, but whatever brought Stripes here might,” Ria argued. “Better to be prepared. Lisa, hold this scroll for me and don’t let the hair knot slide out of the circle.”

“Isn’t it dangerous?” Lisa protested.

Ria shook her head. “You’ll be fine. I made it so anyone can use it. All you’ll have to do is tell me which way the arrow points. I’ll need my hands free in case we get attacked. I’m the only one here that can protect us from spirits and shapeshifters.”

Lisa went pale. “Is there really something like that inside the house? Shouldn’t we get the guardsmen?”

“No, we need proof first, or they won’t believe us. If you want to find Stripes, you’re going to need to be brave, Lisa,” Ria told her and held out the parchment for her to take.

“It’ll be fine, Lisa. We’ll keep you safe,” Leon encouraged from behind his lowered mask.

Big words from the boy with only one session of training, but Ria held back her chuckle as Lisa worked up her courage and gingerly took the scroll.

Ria immediately took out her own helmet from her satchel and put it on. She readied the lightning wand in one hand and the glowstone in the other. “I’m ready, Leon. Let’s head in.”

Leon led the way inside with Ranger following. Ria and Lisa brought up the rear.

The door led to the kitchen. A light layer of dust covered everything, and the glowstone caused the furniture and decorations to cast creepy shadows. Footprints and pawprints could be seen in the dust on the floor, both continued deeper into the house. A trail of pawprints also led over to the broken window.

“Activate #15,” Ria said quietly.

“Ah! A dark arrow appeared on the scroll!” Lisa whispered.

“That’s the direction to where Stripes is,” Ria said. Well not exactly, but since all the pets were together, it should be close enough.

The arrow led them toward a corner of the house then flipped around to point the other way, causing Lisa to exclaim, “The arrow flipped! What does that mean?”

“Deactivate #15. He must be above or below,” Ria offered. She deactivated the enchantment to conserve the remaining energy in the scroll. There wasn’t much left.

“The footprints and pawprints lead to the cellar. The pets are probably down there,” Leon suggested.

Lisa’s gulped.

Great… the cellar. Of course, it had to be the cellar.

Ria sighed and motioned for Leon to continue, holding the glowstone up to make it easier for him to see.

The cellar door was already open, so Leon started down.

Not long into the descent, Ranger sent Ria the image of the black cat they saw earlier.

{Here. Can smell.}

Well, it wasn’t entirely unexpected…

{Stay ready, but don’t attack unless I say}

Ranger bobbed his head that he understood.

Ria looked back at Lisa and put her finger to her lips in the universal sign for silence. Unfortunately, unless the cat was sleeping, it had probably heard or smelled them already.

An ominous sight greeted them when they reached the cellar. A large area of the packed dirt floor that had been cleared of crates and sacks was painted with a ritual circle.

Lisa gasped and covered her mouth when she saw it.

The dirt in the center was discolored the same color as the places where she bled animals before skinning. The circle used some of the glyphs and structures from the familiar bonding ritual, but that spell didn’t involve ritual sacrifice. This was most likely Spirit Magic—probably necromancy.

“This is really bad…,” Ria whispered. “Captain Bastach was right to be suspicious. Don’t let your guard down, Leon. There is something down here with us, and it probably knows we’re here.”

There was a swallowing sound from Leon, and his helmet dipped in a nod as he readied his mace. Ranger was standing combat-ready and staring in a direction blocked from view by stacked crates and a tall section of shelving jutting out from the wall.

“Stay still and quiet. There’s something, I want to try,” Ria whispered to her companions.

Carefully placing the glowstone on a nearby covered crate, Ria lit her lightstone as well and lightly tossed it deeper into the room, filling much of the surroundings with more light, not as bright as daylight, but pushing back a lot of the gloom and shadows.

Lisa was looking kinda of pale when Ria spared her a glance before slowly taking out a different scroll from her satchel.

“Activate #19. Shapeshifting Monster.”

Ria couldn’t help the feeling of fear that ran through her as the dark arrow appeared facing the direction Ranger was guarding.

“T-there’s an a-arrow, R-ria. W-what does that m-mean,” Lisa asked in a shaky voice, trembling.

“Leon, let’s leave this alone and pretend we never saw it,” Ria said loudly.

“What-!?” Leon asked in shock.

“W-what about S-stripes?!” Lisa whimpered.

Staying down there with the creature was dangerous. There was no way of knowing how strong it was… wait. There was a way.

Closing her eyes, Ria seized control of the energy in the cellar and pulsed out from her feet the earth energy that would let her sense her surroundings. When the pulse reached the place where the creature was hiding, she felt the familiar shape of the black cat from before but cloaked in shadow energy.

A hiss erupted from the creature as it felt her magic, and Ranger growled a warning. Leon sucked in a breath, and Lisa let out a strangled, “Eep!”

She felt the creature suddenly dart toward the wall and scramble into a cluster of narrow, dug-out tunnels, passing out of her sensing range.

“The a-arrow is m-moving! W-what does that-! Wait! It d-disappeared!” Lisa cried out.

Ria breathed out a sigh of relief.

“Ria?” Leon asked.

After taking a few deep breaths to calm her nerves, Ria opened her eyes and replied, “The monster felt my sensing magic and fled into some tunnels in the back wall. I’m not sensing any other dangers in the room, but… I think I found Stripes… and the others.”

“Y-you have?” Lisa asked.

Ria reached over to slide the hair knot back into the circle on the scroll that Lisa was holding.

“Ah, s-sorry. M-my hands are s-shaking,” Lisa apologized.

“It’s okay, but the scroll is almost out of magic, and it won’t last much longer. Ready?” Ria asked.

Lisa took a deep breath and nodded.

“Whatever we’re doing, Ria. We should hurry. If that thing comes back with friends…” Leon worried.

“Ranger?” Ria asked and sent him a question about how many creatures he smelled.

Ranger wandered over to the small tunnels, sniffing. “Woof!”

“He says there was only one scent like that black cat,” Ria reported.

“That’s a relief. We should still hurry though,” Leon urged.

“Yes, I agree. Activate #15,” Ria said, and the dark arrow on Lisa’s scroll reappeared.

“He’s that way.” Lisa indicated a dark corner of the cellar.

“Leon can you bring the glowstone?” Ria asked.

“Ah, right.”

Clipping his club back onto his belt, Leon held up the glowstone and led them toward the corner.