The monster hunters moved away from the collapsed building, allowing the villagers easier access with their buckets of water. With the “controlled” demolition, there was little danger left of the fire spreading and wreaking more havoc. Shaya watched them work, surprised by their diversity. While the local Kelahkese were still the most numerous, there was a variety of people from across the Empire. Of note, a good number were Lythranians which Shaya had no difficulty in spotting between their short, small statures and grey-blue skin.

Shaya didn’t realize the border here was so porous, but, given the reputation Lythrana had of ensuring everyone lived in fear, it was understandable that many would try to escape. Living in a land overrun by monsters was better than living in one where the monsters were cultivated to keep people in check, she supposed. She only hoped the population here didn’t draw any ire on Lumir, they couldn’t afford any border skirmishes at the moment.

“Did the Duke get our letter? Are you the reinforcements?” A svelte woman with severe, hawk-like features asked as she limped over to them on a crutch. Her flat, brown eyes scanned their party, but her expression remained neutral. Weathered skin that bore a few scars made it difficult to place her age, but her short, brown hair didn’t show signs of grey. “Perhaps even the permanent guard the Duke owes us?”

“No, perhaps we set off before your letter reached the capital,” Shaya said, straightening, “but we heard there might be monsters in the vicinity and thought we could lend a hand. I’m Shaya Heirosoth,” she extended a hand to the stranger.

“Rutana Singhapat,” the woman replied, gripping Shaya’s forearm with surprising strength. “The folk of Rezon here look to me as their leader, I suppose.”

“A pleasure to meet you,” Shaya nodded, “What happened here to cause the fires?”

“Well hunter, you may be pleased to know that there are monsters here, so you didn’t waste your time coming. But if there’s only six of you, you may not be able to do much to help us.”

A grim smile touched Shaya’s lips, “Don’t worry about us. Let’s get you somewhere comfortable so you can tell me what happened. Lorral, Pelark, Gaz – go help out with the fires and get a take from the villagers. Jax, Krebo – with me.”

Rutana grunted and led them away from the smoldering fire, where people continued to throw buckets of water on it and nearby buildings. A number of people appeared injured from burns, but if there were any serious casualties Shaya’s keen senses couldn’t see them or hear their pain.

“Rutana,” Shaya said, “Where did all these people come from, if you don’t mind me asking?”

The older woman snorted. “Yeah, we get that when new people bother stopping here.”

Shaya noted that she didn’t get an answer to her question. She was preparing to push a little harder, but Krebo spoke up before she did, “Are you going to answer the question?”

“No,” she replied as they reached a larger house with a small patio out front. She eased herself down into a well-made wooden chair, with a longbow and quiver of arrows resting against the wall next to it. A small whittling knife and partially carved bird lay on a table within arm's reach. “I don’t see why I’m obliged to.”

“This is the Duke’s daughter, that’s why.”

“Yeah, I figured from the surname, big guy.”

Oh Krebo, so wise on the field of battle, but so quick to defend your liege’s honour and the hierarchy. Few in Kelahk are going to take that well.

Krebo’s frown deepened, but Shaya put an arm on his shoulder and pulled him back. “Krebo, it’s fine. I can respect that she doesn’t care about my pedigree. That’s not why we’re here anyway.”

Rutana turned to Shaya, her eyes more appraising this time. “Oh? You’re not going to try to pull the information from me? Not even try to leverage your monster hunter prowess to get it?”

Shaya had considered it, but decided against it. There was no value in antagonizing the woman, since they both wanted the monsters dead and Shaya needed the best intel she could get to make the hunt smooth and safe. Was she so transparent? Did Rutana read her mind?

“No, like I said, that’s not why we’re here,” Shaya replied, “You need help with the monsters, and we need the money their parts are worth. That’s the exchange here, not anything else. In order to remove that threat to your people, you’re going to tell us everything you know about these spawn. And stop agitating my bodyguard, he’s sensitive, you know.”

Krebo sputtered while Rutana’s eyes sparkled. “Oh, I know,” a smile touched her eyes as she looked at the large man, then back to Shaya, “It’s too easy to poke fun at Zothirians, I can’t pass up the opportunity to do so.”

“I can respect that.” Shaya replied with a smile of her own. “Now, let’s get down to business and defeat the spawn. What can you tell us?”

"Not as much as I’d like, I’m afraid.” Rutana said. Shaya could tell she was being honest, as a frown creased her forehead and frustration entered her voice. “Normally, my hunters and I can pick spawn off before they get too big, but tracking these ones has been more difficult than usual. We still haven’t laid eyes on one, but their tracks look like wolves and their howls are similar to them as well. That’s likely the base creature the Titan corrupted.”

Eyebrow cocked, Shaya spoke up, “You haven’t even seen what they look like? Even vague silhouettes would help us narrow down which Titan may have spawned them.”

“They’re cunning. My hunting parties have been ambushed while tracking them.” A haunted look passed over her features for a moment. “I’ve lost good people to these spawn, hunter. They don’t leave witnesses or survivors.”

“I’m sorry for your losses,” Shaya replied, “These do sound like a nightmare.”

The young woman surveyed the burning buildings behind them, then turned back to the older hunter. “So we know they can spew fire, which narrows things down somewhat. Based on what you’ve seen after their hunts, do you know if they have any other abilities? Power over earth or air? Great strength, impenetrable hides, or Fae-like agility?”

Rutana shook her head, “We're not amateurs, girl, we live and breathe these damned monster attacks. These spawn do not leave bodies, scraps or evidence behind, just blood and wolf tracks. They’ve killed so many critters in the area that packs of wildlife are avoiding it now. We need these hunting grounds to live more than we need the logging. I’ve never seen anything like it, and I’ve been hunting monsters since I was a girl. These ones are ambitious, too, setting fire to the village to provoke a response. I’m surprised they pulled back so soon, but maybe they figured out we weren’t going to rise to their bait.”

“Damn.” Shaya turned to the eldest among them, “Jax?”

He shook his head in reply. “I haven’t heard of anything like this either. Depopulation was common during Titanic Invasions, but... well, we haven’t had one of those in centuries.”

A chill ran up Shaya’s spine. “Thank you for the information Rutana, we’ll see what we can do about your monster problem.”

“Good hunting, kid. Eyes up out there.”

+++++++++++++

The trail of blood and monstrous, clawed tracks led deeper and deeper into the forests of Serpent’s Pass, and the hunting party followed. They walked under an emerald canopy dotted with patches of pallid, dead leaves. The usual scents and sounds of the forest were completely absent, with only the metallic tang of blood filling the air.

“Thank the gods for this shade,” Shaya said, “Jax, do you think this is still the trail of the monsters that attacked the village?”

“Aye,” the squad’s scout grunted from where he crouched. “But come take a look at this boss.”

Shaya planted her halberd and took a knee next to the archer, her armour and weapon harness rustling.

“Do you know what this belongs to?”

She frowned down at the new track, sizing it up against her big hand. The track was bigger by a wide margin, but not particularly deep despite the rich, soft soil around the forest here. “It’s feline, but too big to be a tiger.” She looked ahead a few feet, her frown deepening when she noticed the tracks left by huge talons. “Oh, damn.”

Jax nodded as they both moved forward to examine the talon marks. Blood soaked into the earth around them, but it was darker than the rest of the trail they followed. The large number of wolf tracks made it difficult to pick out the feline or talon tracks, and it even looked as if something had been dragged over the trail as well.

“Oh, damn,” Shaya cursed again.

Jax grunted.

“The villagers didn’t mention being attacked by a corrupt gryphon, did they?”

“They didn’t, boss.”

“Well then,” Shaya smiled as she rose back to her full height, “With any luck, these beasts ran straight into a gryphon that did our job for us then. We need to be on alert though, wild gryphons are known to be very territorial. Not that the tamed ones aren’t...”

Jax grunted, “You missed a few things though. These tracks,” he gestured around them, “One of the drag marks is older, the blood around it dried out and sporadic. The gryphon tracks are newer than that, but slightly older than the ones that attacked the village - the blood around those talon tracks is congealed, not fresh. There’s another critical thing you missed.” The scout nodded as the gryphon tracks continued ahead.

Shaya thought about it a moment and nodded. “Why do the gryphon tracks continue along the ground? They normally hunt prey from the air, even if they are looking to eradicate a hostile pack in their territory.”

“Aye, good catch.”

She barely heard Jax over the rattling of armour, as her bodyguard moved closer to her, holding his flanged mace and pavise at the ready. “Stay close, my lady. This assignment is even more dangerous than we thought.”

“Krebo,” she glared at him, “I told you not to call me that. And how am I supposed to swing a polearm with you so close?”

He glared back at her, defiant. “I’m pretty sure I taught you how to thrust with a polearm too, if I’m not mistaken.”

“Indeed, I’m pretty sure you taught me how to defend myself - or do you doubt your teaching abilities, Arms Master?”

The older man snorted, an odd sound through his crooked nose. “I’m more worried about how well you absorbed my teachings with that thick head of yours.”

“Funny how you only show this concern when we’re in the field, and how that overrides the importance you taught me of using every end of this thing effectively.” She pointed with her chin up at the head of her weapon, a combination of spear-tip, axe-head, and war-pick.

He rolled his eyes at her, but relented. “Fine, I guess I’ll trust in your skills. This time.”

“When have I ever given you cause for concern?” She asked with as much innocence she could muster - but dripped only sarcasm.

The others chuckled, but Krebo’s blonde eye brows rose at her without amusement. He wasn’t the one to answer her though.

“There was the time you mis-identified animal tracks and let us into a troop of monkeys. They chased us out of their territory, throwing shit at us the whole time.”

She turned to Jax with a look of shock and betrayal on her face, “That was my first mission! Two years ago!”

“How about that time when you were losin’ that drinkin’ contest to the foreign merc, and punched him out?” Lorral asked in her lilting alto.

“I wasn’t losing, we were clearly tied. And the rules didn’t stipulate it wasn’t a full contact drinking contest.”

“Uh-huh,” the archer replied, “Well, ‘is buddies disagreed and that was quite the brawl you started.”

“Which we also won,” Shaya insisted, “I threw one punch that turned into two victories - that’s efficiency!”

“I’m with Shaya on that one,” Gazno stated, the big man walking with his heavy shield and crow-bill at the ready. “He and his band deserved it too, the way they insulted our people. Bumpkins, ha! Gave them some bumps, we did!”

“Thank you Gazno, at least someone here knows the meaning of loyalty and justice.”

The man’s grin turned treacherous. “But let’s not forgot the time she rushed toward a scream in the forest, ready to smite beasts only to find-”

“Oh, you traitor,” Shaya interrupted, but her face flushed red. “Why do I put up with being the victim all the time?”

“I’m pretty sure the real victims were the young couple you stumbled upon…” Pelark finished, grinning as he walked along using his boar-spear like a walking stick.