It was a month ago when he sent them out into the forest. Maybe it wasn't so much as sending, inasmuch as hesitant agreement with the Bloodstaves. There was little chance of finding the children, even if they disappeared during the Great Migration. It was too much of a risk for the only two adventurers the village had. But what was he, the village elder, going to say to the mothers of those poor children if he refused?

No one manned gates the night of the little ones' disappearances. After all, it was the final day of the three-day-long Seeding festival. It was a yearly tradition before the second planting, in the hope that the one previous, and the next, would prosper. Everyone in the village would participate on the final day. And in years past, incidents like this were unprecedented, as far as he could remember. The palisade was more than enough for the stray monsters that still remained after the Migration and, consequently, it seemed innocuous enough to recall the guard to enjoy the last day of festivities. Never did he believe that children would be the ones to breach the southern gate.

Their absence was noticed when the last chorus of song and dance ended, but that was much too late. After the discovery, he ordered searches that lasted well into the next morning, with little success. The results? Three sets of tracks. All that ended abruptly at the boundary between the wheat fields and the grounds outside the palisade. There was no indication of direction, or any trace left behind.

He could still remember the first few nights as clearly as if it were yesterday, their cries. The two mothers' unanswered calls into the forest from atop the palisade parapet. Dreadful dirges, mournful. Sounds he couldn't sleep by for the remorse he felt. Even now, a month later, their voices echoed in the back of his mind, as he solemnly watched the four figures that approached the south gate.

Three of them were men, two young, spry, and agile, fitted with light plate armor. Two of a younger generation of watchmen who had bravely volunteered to join the Bloodstaves' search party, no doubt to redeem what they thought was their unforgivable sin. Their armor, sword, and spear were family heirlooms, as there was no smithy capable of such violent craftsmanship in the village. He recalled the plate was immaculately polished before, neither tarnished nor worn from physical damage. No doubt the centerpieces of their respective families' pride of adventuring long before their generation. As they drew closer, he noted the breastplates were warped, gauntlets and pauldrons scored. Vicious tears through the leather at the joints made a sorry state for the family treasures. The expressions of the two wearing them weren't any better, fatigued as they were.

At the fore, was the leader, whose graying hairs nearly matched the hues of his ragged cloak. His battered features were almost obscured by that hair, untidy from the month abroad. Well known in the village and in the fiefdoms of the Empire, Regulus Bloodstave was once a spellcaster. As was the one that followed step close beside him, his long-time adventuring partner and wife, Cirri.

The elder gave them a weak smile in greeting as they reached the gate's threshold, "Regulus, Cirri, Nikla, Case, you've returned safely. I'm glad."

"As are we, Knor. It was a long month in Navir, not one we'd wish to repeat." Regulus returned.

"You all are in such a dreadful state, surely the Migration thinned out the stronger beasts?"

Regulus scowled, "Unfortunately, that no longer seems to be the case."

"What of the children?"

"Not a sign anywhere."

"Oh gods above have mercy..."

Cirri lowered her head, "Our apologies, elder. If we were better prepared as a party, maybe there were some traces we could've found—"

"You did everything you could. If a month has passed with no sign, then I'm afraid there is nothing more to be done. As for the poor mothers of the little ones..." Knor inhaled, stifling the waver in his voice, "There will be no consoling them."

Knor turned to look back at the expectant faces of the villagers behind him. As much as it pained him so, there would be three fewer souls among their number this year. His heart fell when his gaze came to rest on the faces of their mothers. Their eyes lit up for a fleeting moment, the hope that their children had been found radiated from their faces. They crumbled into quiet sobs as he turned away.

"I was hoping to tell them when the time was right."

"It would've come sooner or later."

"We have other news, elder Knor, but it will have to wait until we can find somewhere to discuss it." Cirri's tone threw Knor off-guard somewhat. The look she wore spelled a certain gravity, far removed from the calm mien he had come to know so well.

"O-oh, I see."

Cirri shifted to one leg, anxiously scanning the crowd behind Knor. Her eyes lit up, "Falliva, is that you?" She called out to the elf, who parted the onlooking villages in her wake.

Following close behind was that Delark fellow. Apparently, he went through an ordeal himself, but with the matter of the missing children, Knor didn't have the time or energy to pay much attention to him. Falliva and the other adventurers in her party didn't say much either. Other than a vague comment of monsters from the swordsman, they were very quiet about it. "Ah, Falliva, you've come." He smiled.

She nodded, before accepting Cirri's rushed embrace.

"It's been too long, where have you been?" Cirri cried.

"Working."

After a few seconds more, Cirri let go and glanced in Zane's direction, who had been standing quietly to the side. The elder presumed it was to not disturb their reunion. How thoughtful.

"Ah, that felt good. So, who's he?" Cirri asked.

"My work. Escort duty."

Zane tucked his left leg behind his right, and bowed at a precise forty-degree angle toward the spellcastress, "My name is Zane, Delark."

"Oh, I see. That's a Narwell greeting if I'm not mistaken." She appraised Zane's haggard appearance with impunity, "He needs a bath. And a proper shave. Not that I can say much, we all need a bit of a wash, don't we?"

There wasn't time for this sort of chatter. While it was a reunion between old friends, Knor needed to know what it was the search party found. He cleared his throat, the kind that could tear even mortal enemies apart. On occasion, it did just that among the young rabble of the village. Cirri started a little at the interruption and looked sheepishly at him as one of those rascals might, bless their poor souls. Of course, no matter how serious she became from the tribulations of adventuring, that woman had the heart of a child. Inwardly, he was grateful that was the case.

"Oh... right. I would love to sit and chat, but Regulus and I have to talk with the elder. Maybe we can have some tea after?"

"Sure."

******************************************************************

"I see." Knor paused, as he sat across from the Bloodstaves at table. They all moved indoors into the elder's dwelling, where he heard all that had transpired to them and the two lads, hands clasped pensively. What they had to say was honestly too much to take in for him.

No traces were found of the children, not even after three weeks spent in a wide arc spanning hundreds of acres of forest. Unsurprisingly, it was the party that was found instead. By monsters. For the most part, they were goblins, for less, a certain breed of feral boar.

Weak, knobbly creatures with little more than stumps to stand on. If it weren't for what could be considered club-feet, it would be deemed a miracle goblins could achieve locomotion on two limbs. In numbers, they could amount to a minor nuisance, with their improvised weaponry. But not for the Bloodstaves.

The monster attacks weren't out of the ordinary. On the contrary, they were to be expected. But what bothered Knor, and the Bloodstaves, was that the goblin's presence near the northern side of the forest was bizarre. The southern flank of the forest was where they nested. Caves and rocky outcrops there provided natural shelters for them. For them to come this far, a three-week journey through the monster-infested forest, albeit Migration-inhibited as it may have been, was extraordinary. It meant that something other than their own absentminded wit forced them here.

At the time, Cirri had suggested that the goblins were likely nearby when the children disappeared. They were, after all, marginally sapient creatures capable of kidnapping, for what purpose neither of them knew. With that suspicion, the party tracked down several small bands, raiding them during the day as they slept. However, they weren't to be found. There weren't any known caves on the northern side, yet the existence of hidden ones couldn't be ruled out. There was no way to know where, or even which, the children could be held in, if they were alive at all.

Regulus was reluctant to give up the search as the month neared its end. Unfortunately, waning supplies and strength had a stronger say in the matter, so they returned. That was when they discovered that the forest was gone.

It hadn't disappeared. Instead, large tracts were simply razed to the ground. Not a single twig stood atop another or a tree upon the ground in these gargantuan swathes of land. Which was whitened by the ashes left behind. This news was what astonished Knor the most.

"Do you have any idea what could have caused the damage?"

"None elder. Other than a fire dragon," Regulus proffered, in a detached, almost defeated way, "And if it was a Killandrok, then may the gods help us all."

"Please, let's not bring unnecessary calamities upon ourselves."

The Bloodstaves fell silent. They had those faces, ones Knor only ever saw once. When they first came to Hunt, he saw them. It took far too much determination to cast aside a lifetime of regrets. Even more so for adventurers.

"I recall those three adventurers that came with Delark mentioned something about monsters... they also arrived not too long after the time you began your return." He suddenly mused.

The table shuddered underneath Regulus' fist, "What?"

"Dear, calm down."

"Oh... forgive me, elder. I'm not myself these days."

"It's forgiven. We all aren't ourselves after what's happened. But more importantly, I believe it's time that we hear what Delark and his escorts have to say."

"I'll bring them immediately." Regulus hastily rose from his seat.

"Please do that."