30th of Thermidor, 1535

Moira sat at the window watching the first signs of daybreak as Lake Dunnock took on an otherworldly orange glow. The soothing light made her feel like she was about to forge something. The two hours prior to the dawn had been peaceful enough for her to start a plethora of sketches for Oleander’s gauntlets. The only certainty Moira had was the monster hunter’s hand and wrist measurements; she had to juggle weight distribution, mechanical stress, and durability for each concept sketch.

Litter consumed the floor near the window. She carelessly tossed her last crumbled sketch over her shoulder; she ended up hitting Cormag who was sleeping on the floor. He had calculated which area of the room would get the most sunlight in the morning and plopped himself right there to sleep. He opened one eye and half-heartedly lobbed the paper ball back at Moira. He grumbled, but Moira was rather quick to apologize.

“What are you doing up so early?” Cormag muttered.

Moira simply pointed to Oleander, “He started yelling and shouting in the middle of the night again. I couldn’t go back to sleep after that. Has he always done that?”

“I’ve only noticed it recently, he didn’t do that when we were still in the Red Wolves,” Cormag remarked.

“He keeps mumbling about Garrison, Shelby, and two other people named Murdoch and Sean.”

Moira saw Cormag’s eyes dart away at the mention of Sean.

“Figures seeing Garrison would remind him of Sean.” Cormag could see a curious glint in Moira’s eyes, “I didn’t get to talk to him much, I mostly stuck with Oleander and Wilhelm. The only thing I know for sure is that Sean was the last victim of the Butcher of Blackburn Hollow. Garrison, Murdoch, and Oleander were the ones that found him, and none of them have spoken a word of that night since.”

“What about Shelby?”

“Who’s Shelby?”

Moira was taken aback, “Oleander’s sister…he has her obituary placed on his wall of newspaper clippings.”

Cormag cocked his head and lifted himself off the floor, “I didn’t know that. I’m not one to pry about family matters.” Cormag waddled over to his knapsack and started snacking on some nougatine he stole from the inn’s first floor the night before.

Earlier, while she sketched out weapon designs, Moira's mind would wander to the kidnapping cases. Oleander’s assertion on a humanoid being responsible, and Cormag’s idea of something hiding in the trees stuck in her mind. This individual hunted small prey, left next to no evidence, and could stump the police. Her mind kept returning to one terrible notion in particular, "This feels like a..."

Moira and Cormag jumped at the harsh knock on the door. Oleander groggily shouted, “I said I own this goddamned piece of land you…snort…pricks!”

Cormag unlocked the door and let Ivy inside.

“Glad to see most of you are up. I’ve spoken with the Rivers family. They’ll arrive at the scene with a police escort within the next thirty minutes,” Ivy explained. She grabbed her billy club and slammed it on the nightstand. Oleander sat straight up, “Trousers on Alex. We need every moment we can while the sun is up.”

With Ivy leading the way, the quartet headed towards the site of the sixth kidnapping.

Moira asked, “How did you all form the Red Wolves?”

“Ah well, that’s a bit of a long story,” Oleander remarked.

“We’ve got a bit of ground to cover on our way to meet the Rivers family,” Ivy replied

“Well, alright then. Me, Garrison, and Murdoch started the Red Wolves a couple of years after we left South Morrigan Hunting Company. Military run, we all hated it there. We thought we could do something better and less…restrictive. I can’t remember a lot of dates off the top of my head, but Red Wolves became official on the 15th of Germinal, 1531. Four years and still going strong it seems.”

“How about you two?” Moira looked over to Cormag and Ivy.

Ivy explained, “I knew Harrison from our brief time together in the military. He remembered how good I was with a rifle so he offered me a spot. I think it was a month after Red Wolves formed.”

Cormag added, “I came in six months later. They needed someone who could use Signomancy. Instead of hiring one person, they brought me and Wilhelm on for cheap.”

“Garrison regretted hiring you immediately,” Oleander chuckled, “You almost burnt down Lexington Hall.”

“Look, Signomancy is all about testing out different shapes, orientations, line-work, and connectivity. Sometimes results are…explosive.”

“What about the others?” Moira inquired.

Oleander counted off on his fingers, “Me, Garrison, and Murdoch. Then Ivy. We picked up Marcel in Ursulaburg. Murdoch met Dalton when we had to investigate a Medical College in Colm. Then Cormag and Wilhelm came in at the same time. Then we hired James and Caroline a month after that.”

“You’re very lucky Garrison never caught on that they were underage when they joined,” Ivy remarked.

“What can I say, they had the right attitude and were willing to earn their spots,” Oleander explained, “Let’s see that leaves…the other guy who was standing next to Garrison yesterday—”

“—Roderick,” Ivy interrupted, “Garrison hired him shortly after you left. It was rough finding people to fill your’s and Murdoch’s shoes.”

“What about Sean?” Moira asked.

Oleander looked away and Ivy’s face ran pale. “He…he shouldn’t have been in Red Wolves, to begin with,” Oleander coldly remarked, “We’re almost there. Let’s focus on the case.”

They reached the site of the sixth kidnapping. Surrounded by a small contingent of policemen, they met a sullen father and mother, and a young boy who was now in absolute fear of being outside in the daylight. Moira, back in her full disguise, squatted down in front of the boy, “You are Marcus, yes?” The young lad nodded.

“Can you show me where you stood the day your sister disappeared?” Moira asked.

Marcus walked over to a specific point in the road. Facing towards the southern entrance of Sterling, he then pointed to his immediate right. “Maddie heard something from over there. She thought it was a cat. She said she would be right back, so I stayed here. I didn’t want to walk by myself.”

“So she went into the bushes. You waited a few minutes and then went in after her, right?” Moira asked.

“Yeah, it was a few minutes. Some, not a lot.”

“Can you show me where you found this bundle of wires?” Moira asked and she showed the nervous child the piece of evidence.

Marcus tried grabbing her hand but only ended up with a handful of her sleeve. He led Moira, and everyone else, through the bushes to a large maple tree. Marcus pointed next to the base of the tree.

Moira inquired, “Did you hear anything? Any talking? Any screaming? Anything at all?”

Marcus shook his head. Moira paused for a moment. She took the piece of wire and then rubbed it back and forth on the lowest tree branch. Marcus’s face lit up, “That! I heard that.”

Moira had one final question, “When you got to this tree, were the leaves shaking even though there wasn’t any wind blowing?”

Marcus nodded feverishly.

“Alight, I think I have gotten my answers,” Moira remarked, turning away from Marcus.

She noticed Oleander wasn’t looking at anyone in particular, and his face was still sour from her mentioning Sean’s name. She saw his expression soften as Marcus walked by him.

He bent down and patted the kid on the shoulder, “Ay son, it’s very brave of you to come back here after what happened. I promise we’ll bring Madeline back for you.”

The last thing Moira expected was for the poor child to start bawling and actually hug the comparatively massive monster hunter.

Ivy and Cormag walked up to Moira. The police captain spoke up, “Thoughts?”

Moira squatted down and then leaped into the tree. Ivy, the officers, and Marcus and his parents were astounded by the height she got. She scuttled around to different branches. It took a few minutes but she discovered two grooves in one of the higher branches; they were the same width as the bundle of wires. Where she was on the tree, she was completely obscured from the road. She then scuttled up to the top of the tree. She scanned her immediate area for other trees with sturdier-looking top branches. Since Moira was also out of sight from everyone, she produced a length of thick silk; she tied an angled wooden block to the end of it. The spiderkin spun the length of silk and lobbed it towards the other tree.

Her improvised grappling hook coiled around the branch and the wooden block tied itself up in the silk. She pulled it taut and then jumped. If she wanted to, she could’ve swung in a semicircle and then launched herself forward, but instead, she chose to swing in a three-quarters circle—which got her to land on the tree she lassoed.

She examined the area where her line caught the branch. Moira had the same idea as the perpetrator, she just executed it slightly differently—she found a ring of stripped bark on a nearby branch. Spiderkin on average, Moira couldn’t speak for all of her siblings, tended to be passive predators. Laying out a large web and waiting was the preferred method—this Spiderkin was proactive. Moira jumped down from the tree and returned to the trio of former Red Wolves members.

“I believe a Spiderkin is behind the abductions, the only thing I don’t understand is why they would use wires instead of their own webbing. Webbing would degrade extremely quickly in exposed heat like this.”

“Is one of your parents a human?” Cormag asked.

“Ja, my father,” Moira replied.

“It could be a blessing, humans get those from the Gods right?” Cormag turned to Oleander.

“Sort of, Non-Kassedian non-Bemerog races get blessings, but there’s one problem. Blessings don’t break,” Oleander pointed at the bundle of wires in Moira’s hand, “It looks like it snapped apart from the main length of wire.”

“Grinding against the tree more than likely ruined its structural integrity, which caused it to snap,” Moira explained.

Ivy requested, “Before we continue this line of thought any further, can you prove this method was used at the other two abduction sites?”

Moira replied, “Provide us an escort and the two pieces of evidence, and I will try.”

Ivy spoke with one of her lieutenants and made the arrangements. The Rivers’ family was thanked for their time and escorted home.

Oleander and Ivy stood by as Moira convinced Cormag to play the child in their recreations. Moira wrapped webbing around Cormag’s waist and hoisted him up. One of the backpack’s straps caught on a low-hanging branch and this time it ripped it completely off.

“Have you ever spoken to Garrison about what happened that night?” Ivy asked.

“...You two are very persistent today,” Oleander remarked. Ivy shot him a disapproving glance. He sighed, “We didn’t talk. We shouted. We beat this piss out of each other.”

“Harrison never mentioned you fought. He said he got those scars from bringing the in Butcher alive.”

“I bet he didn’t want news of the fight to upset the others,” Oleander remarked, “Ivy, I really don’t want to talk about that night anymore.”

Moira approached the two and explained how she found similar grooves in this tree. The quartet made a quick trip to the third abduction site that produced evidence. Moira pulled Cormag up, who was holding onto the doll. It also got stuck on a branch in nearly the same place where the doll was found.

As Moira began lowering Cormag, Ivy spoke up, “At the Rivers’ site, you found a trail that could take us to the perpetrator. Could we follow it?”

“From that location, two or three more jumps would’ve landed the individual into a grove of trees. With no space to swing, the person more than likely ran the rest of the way. I doubt I could find any markings on trees at that point.”

While still dangling in midair, Cormag remarked, “Hey, what about over there.” Cormag pointed out that the field they were in had a string of evenly spread out trees that led directly to a peach orchard.

Ivy began, “We’ve already spoken with the landowners, they weren’t in Sterling when the attacks started—”

Oleander interrupted, “—Wait, aren’t there multiple orchards one after the other for like two miles. Our target might have cut a path through the fields.”

Cormag nodded approvingly.

“That’s two miles worth of trees to investigate in order to find a theoretical path, we’d be searching for days. My biggest worry is that our target will see the investigation slowly approach them and move the children somewhere else.”

“Or…” Moira interjected, “Because the individual would have to jump from tree to tree, they could accidentally knock fruit off the tree.”

“The flaw in that logic is that peaches are in season right now. They’re going to be all over the place,” Ivy remarked.

“What about the other orchards?” Oleander asked.

Ivy paused for a moment trying to visualize the stretch of farmlands, “Apple, persimmon, and plum. Fall harvest foods. Alright, we might have a better chance finding a trail with them.”

The quartet walked through the bustling peach fields as young farmhands were filling up baskets with their golden hoards. The plantation further south was a much quieter apple farm.

Ivy spoke with the landowners; they directed the police captain and her entourage to where seemingly random deposits of apples would appear. The affected trees were almost in a complete line from one end of the plantation to the other. The landowners explained that the piled unripened fruit would appear very sporadically. The group then continued further south by visiting a persimmon orchard.

While being escorted around by the farmer and his wife, they mentioned that their dog would bark up a storm at random parts of the morning. The persimmon trees that had dropped fruit also continued the straight line formed from the apple farm.

Oleander and Cormag led the way to the final orchard on the road. Moira and Ivy followed shortly behind.

Moira asked, “Were you close with Garrison?”

“Oh! I…I wasn’t expecting that question, but yes. For a time we were together, but it didn’t end well.”

“Did some of that have to do with the night Sean was killed?”

Moira was met with a somber look. The spiderkin backtracked, “I’m sorry, I should not have pried so much.”

“No-no. Don’t be sorry. But yes, I think a good part of that was because of Sean. He and Harrison were brothers. In a family of eight sons and two daughters, Harrison was the oldest and Sean was the youngest. He was a sweet kid; he looked up to Oleander and Murdoch, but especially Harrison. Despite being close with both of them, Harrison never told me what happened that night. I only got to see him fall apart.” Ivy started tearing up.

“Will you be okay?” Moira asked.

“Yes. I missed talking about him, Sean deserves to be remembered,” Ivy remarked.

The four of them walked onto the plum orchard. Moira was able to estimate which trees the target would’ve used to swing on to get to the persimmon orchard. Any further south and they would be walking into the forest outside the limits of Sterling. The homestead was inordinately quiet; even the winds blowing off lake Dunnock seemed to avoid the plantation. Plums in their transitional stage from green to bluish-purple hung on the trees.

The couple who owned the persimmon farm also stated that they hadn’t seen the owners of the plum orchard in over two months, and none of the workers had bothered to show up.

“Keep your eyes peeled, this might be where the children have been kept,” Ivy remarked.

She pulled out her revolver and a smoke flare. Oleander and Cormag readied themselves for a potential fight.

Voices could be heard off in the distance. Further south of their location, into the woods. They cautiously approached. A brief trek through the tightly packed trees revealed a very small clearing with hooded figures scattered about. They were short in stature and their attire appeared to be made from burlap sacks; oddly enough, they had similar-looking bundles of wires attached to the back of their necks.

Ivy, Oleander, Cormag, and Moira tried their best to properly identify any of them. Eight children: six humans and two Kassedians. They’d found them, but there was no sign of any kidnappers nearby. A relief, but the circumstances were still strange.

The quartet seemed to have arrived just as the children were finished with whatever they were doing. The children formed a perfect single-file line and began to march while chanting “Follow the leader.” The line leader held a fishing rod in one hand and two smallmouth bass in the other. Everyone else following her carried baskets of wild mushrooms, strawberries, and vegetables. Oleander looked around before stepping forward. It wasn’t long before the line of children stopped and turned towards the monster hunter.

They all stared at him uncomfortably.

“Let’s get you lot home,” he remarked as he reached out and grabbed the wire attached to Sibella’s neck.

The instant his fingers grazed the wire, all the children’s eyes changed to a dark green color. They all screamed in unison, “You will not take them from me!” All eight children slumped to the ground only to then be pulled across the ground by the wires attached to their necks. Oleander, Cormag, Ivy, and Moira scrambled after them.

Initially, the children were pulled across the ground in a straight line but after a short distance, they scattered. Some were pulled through bushes and others pulled up and over trees. Only Moira was able to catch up and grab onto one of the children—she wasn’t able to pull one of the kassedian children free and was instead dragged along the ground herself. Everyone else was lagging behind considerably. All eight children congregated in a single-file line once more before being drawn into the orchard’s large barn. The doors snapped shut just as Moira’s legs slid inside. She was now separated from the others. The inside of the barn was dark but she could tell she was being dragged into a hole that led underground.

“Moira!” Oleander yelled as he slammed his hands against the barn doors.

His thrashing made the wooden doors buckle and partially break off their hinges. He stepped back a few paces before shoulder-bashing the doors. He managed to push one of the doors partway in before something pushed back with even more force. Oleander was thrown back. Two massive brown bears crashed through the doors. They both had cables planted firmly in the back of their heads.

Oleander had expected the growls and howls of a wild animal, but they were silent. The two bears just stared down Oleander and the rest.

“We’re definitely going to need some backup,” Ivy remarked as the two ursine threats crept towards them.

She pulled the top off her flare and a plume of orange smoke billowed into the air. She planted the flare into the ground with the smoking end still exposed to the air, “Oleander, can you cover me so I can go get Harrison and Marcel?”

Oleander nodded as he loaded one of each shell into his shotgun. Cormag whipped his cloak back and revealed his Signum stamp containers.