A moment of silence passed, Mitral’s lips quivering with high emotion. Xuhn considered the man. He had heard well about the mad thirst vampires had for blood and how it made them ignore all sense and lose control over themselves. He was sure that if there was no pig nearby the next time Mitral went crazy for blood, Mitral would kill a human to calm his inner beast.

Mitral had to go.

“Those werewolves would have killed you,” he told Mitral, his voice vacant of emotion.

“Aye,” Mitral replied. “They would have torn me to a thousand pieces. I guess they didn’t wasn’t to shift into human form in front of you so they went away.”

“I saved your life, you agree?”

Mitral looked at Xuhn with confusion in his teary eyes.

“I… do.”

“You are in my debt. You must do what I tell you to.”

“I- I will, of course!”

“You must go away from these parts once and for all. If you do not, I will inform every villager about your identity. Not only werewolves, but humans as well would be hunting for you then.”

“I have nowhere to go!” Mitral cried. Xuhn raised his chopper slightly to indicate that he could get violent if need be.

“This is for your own good, Mitral,” Xuhn said, keeping his tone cold. “Humans and werewolves have lived in relative peace for ages in these parts. You want to bring your war to our kingdom, eh? It was the vampires who started it all, am I not right, killing cattle of werewolves in the border areas?”

“They have stricter laws in the south,” Mitral said, his watery voice begging for mercy.

Haven’t I shown enough mercy already? Xuhn thought.

“Where you go is up to you. But gone you must be. Next time news of another pig’s mysterious death reaches my ears, consider yourself done for. So you better go.”

So saying, Xuhn turned on his heels and left the spot. The sound of Mitral’s sobs followed him for sometime as he walked to the place where he had been cutting wood. When he looked back there was no sign of Mitral.

Xuhn’s mind was filled with thoughts about Mitral and the vampires as he carried the wood back to his house. Had he done the right thing? If he had known Mitral was a vampire he would have never gone to save Mitral from the werewolves by risking his own life. He did not feel any pity for Mitral or the other vampires. They were the root of their own grievances. In the southern parts of Sura several vampires had been hung mainly for crimes like killing cattle for quenching blood thirst. It was evident that Sura wouldn’t be a neutral kingdom for long, the neighbouring ones having already pledged their alliance to the werewolves.

It was only when Xuhn reached his house and heard the flutter of wings above his head that his mood lightened. It was Ritu, a letter tied to his leg. Xuhn took the bird inside and removed the letter from Ritu's leg. He put Ritu in a cage and excitedly unfolded the letter. It was shorter than Mayesha’s usual, but it sent excitement coursing through him anyway.

Xuhn,

I might come to your village tomorrow. I’ll send you a letter through Ritu before we leave from home. Some others will be there too so I don’t know if I’ll be able to meet you, but I’ll try.

Mayesha.

That would be a good thing in a long while, Xuhn thought. He longed to see Mayesha again. He read the letter over and over again just to convince himself it was true. He grabbed his pillow, as though it were a person, his heart going butterflies. Then his stomach groaned and he remembered he hadn’t eaten anything since morning. Suppressing his hunger he wrote a reply letter to Mayesha— a little poem about his delight to see her again. He folded it as many times as he could and tied it to Ritu’s leg before letting the bird fly away.