Ivy shook her head and chuckled. “No Heracles. That is her job title. She may not even be married.”

  “How are you a mid-wife if you aren’t married?” Heracles asked.

  “Its… My friend, that’s just what’s she’s called.”

  “I just think it’s wrong to rank women.” He crossed his lower arms then his upper ones dramatically.

  These two had stopped their racing once hope in catching up to the elks chosen was thoroughly dashed. Now they just strolled together. Ivy could smell faint salt on the air, mixing with the scent of musky soil and fresh vegetation. The great Bregedian coast wasn’t far, stretching out forever only a brisk walk away. But Ivy knew better than to detour to the beaches.

  All manner of sport and recreation are done in the many kes of Breged and especially in the mighty river Grendal. You only need to be mindful of the snapping turtles, midday maidens, alligator gar and the odd kelpie. All quite the fearsome beasties, but nothing compared to what dwells even at the ocean’s edge. Harpies patrol the craggy fjords while boulder crabs pepper the beaches. Not to mention the water itself, infested with mermaids and sea serpents.

  It would take a particur type of person to stake their cim this far from town and this close to the ocean. The same type that commonly become mid-wives. And the same type that does not deal fondly with strange creatures appearing on their property. But once again, Capreva has no concept of property. At the end of the path, Heracles and Ivy saw a cozy log cabin. Fully decked with a small garden, various drying herbs and of course a rge muscur woman brandishing a woodcutter’s axe at their boney leaf buddy.

  Ivy rushed forward seeing the threatening posture of the woman. “Might I ask what is going on here!”

  Capreva and the woman turned. She had the same greyish green skin as Patty and Marcy along with tusks only a hair shorter than Pattys. When she spoke it was with a crity of intent not usually shared among axe wielding orcs in the words.

  “If this thing comes closer, I’ll probably kill it. I already told it that.” Said like she was ordering a loaf a bread and not threatening murder.

  Ivy stood between Capreva and the woman, with Heracles and Lily following close behind. “It needn’t come to that ma’am. I take it you are Lily Naro?”

  “Yeah, I am. Who are you?” Miss Naro didn’t lower the axe.

  “We were sent by the town to help you Miss. They believe there is a beast headed towards your home my dy.” Ivys eyes kept darting to the axe, her hand burning to grasp her weapon and level it at this threat.

  The axe tilted slightly down. “You with Marco? Even the fey thing?”

  “Yes ma’am! We all are!” Capreva chirped. “Sorry for scaring you… I was just excited for winning my first race!”

  Miss Naro looked over the four creatures before her, thought a beat, then lowered the axe and turned. “Oh. Well alright. Try not to make anymore noise.” Then she entered her cottage and shut the door.

  Heracles walked leading horse Lily. “Pretty rude for someone stuck at middle wife.”

  “You know Heracles, I have to agree.” Ivy pat Capreva and looked them over. “Did she hurt you at all?”

  They shook their head. “Nope! All she did was say I didn’t look right.”

  Her brow furrowed. “Rude once again. I think you look right as rain Capreva.”

  “Rains nice.” Capreva began pawing at the dirt. “This is some good dirt.”

  Footsteps and the sound of conversation began to approach up the dirt trail. Ivy looked and saw Marco, Yesenia and a man baring a bow. He was cd in simir pin clothes and leathers to Marco, but he was far slighter of frame and with long bck hair. Shealso noticed he had the same thin knife-like ears as Yesenia. She still found it odd that whoever created elves deigned to have their only feature differing from humans to be their ears. Ivy’s lineage at least got creative.

  Yesenia glided up as dispassionate as ever. “Hope you liked your race. Marco two showed up halfway, and they still haven’t stopped talking.”

  Marco and the man trudged up after the wizard. Marco ughed about something the man had just said and retorted.

  “Right down the middle? I saw Manny cut one’s head off once but bite me, right down the middle.” He chuckled at the thought.

  They were standing before the group now but continued to have their talk, as is tradition for men their age.

  “You know I heard, probably just some ole rumor, that Manny might be coming back to town.”

  Marcos eyes widened. “Really? How’d ya hear?”

  The elf ughed. “Some other hunters I meet with. Say there’s someone carving up through the pins. And you know Manny, he makes a bit of an entrance.”

  “You’re tellin me. I tell ya one time he-“

  “Marco.” Heracles cut in psychically. “Quit old man rambling.”

  Marco paused, shocked like he was seeing them there for the first time. Then he cleared his throat and addressed his crew. “Alright… Heracles you already know but everyone this is Grot. He’s the hunter who put the request up.”

  Grot waved and smirked at Marco ignoring the accusation. “Howdy all.”

  They all made pleasantries I don’t want to focus on.

  Marco continued. “Anyways. Me, Grot and Capreva are gonna go into the woods and track from its st known location. You three are gonna stay here just incase it shows up before we find it.”

  Grot chimed in. “And maybe find out what’s attracting it.”

  “Right.”

  Ivy raised her hand before she spoke. “Might we have any clues on what to be expecting?”

  Marco gestured to Grot who spoke. “All the tracks I’ve been able to find looked feline but, there’s plenty of gaps in the tracks. So what ever it is either stays in the trees or it flies.”

  Heracles grumbled. “Another griffin…”

  Grot shrugged. “Need to be a real big one to do the damage I’ve seen out there. But yeah, for now that’s the best guess.”

  “The first was only a struggle fore ck of numbers dear friends. With all of us combined I doubt a city sized griffin would fare favorably.” Ivy puffed out her chest and smiled to her comrades.

  “If you say so… just as long as this time I don’t have to ride it…” Heracles shuddered.

  “Need I remind you kid, that was your rat brained idea.” Marco scolded. “We take whatever this is out cleanly. No funny business.”

  Yesenia noticed Marcos eyes twitch in their direction and gave Marco nothing but a dead pan stare.

  Marco cleared his throat. “Alright. Capreva come on, you’re with me and Grot buddy. Try to keep up.”

  Capreva jolted from their dirt examination. “Yes sir!” They followed obediently into the woods alongside the two hunters.

  “Pfft. Funny business he says.” Ivy chortled. “We shall show him. We shall partake in the most serious business Marco has ever id eyes on, won’t we.”

  “Nah ima be funny.” Heracles said before being punched by Ivy. A punch that escated into a childish wrestling match in the dirt.

  It was very easy for Capreva to keep up with the two seasoned hunters. Their long man legs made them have to take very open paths through the woods. This gave Capreva ample time to fully savor all the sights around them. No matter how long they spent looking at the forest, it never got any less beautiful. They achieved this by, paradoxically, not looking at the forest. But at the components.

  Every tree tells their story with the openness of a grandfather to his babes. Every leaf rustles as a unified choir before a few renegades break away for their first and st taste of flight. And once they nd, they join the bustling city of the litterfall. Ants, worms and beetles hurry about on their ways journeying too and from who knows where. Several beetles looked very simir to Heracles. This made Capreva happy.

  “Capreva.” Marco said in a quiet shout.

  Capreva had fallen behind. Preoccupied with their beetle watching. “Sorry…” They whispered while scurrying over the forest floor.

  Before them was a break in the forest. Break being the operative word. Once tall and proud oaks now id dead and discarded, their trunks now just eruptions of splinters. Snapshots of the impact of whatever was powerful enough to rend straight through decades old trees. Deep gashes in the bark of already fallen trees showed their fall did not quell this beast’s rage. The creature sought to, for some strange reason, make sure the trees were dead.

  Capreva shivered seeing so much carnage. “What in the world…”

  Grot stepped into the unnatural clearing. “Quite the sight, huh. It’s been doing this all the way from the Andrens to here.”

  “And none of your people have seen it?” Marco asked as he followed.

  “Not a one. Only seen its handywork.”

  “There ever any bodies?”

  Grot shook his head. “Nope. Not even animals. Thing just wreaks havoc for a while, then moves a bit closer to Apie Fields.”

  “The amphipthere wasn’t eating either…” Capreva said somberly as they id a boney hand on a dead tree.

  “That snake must have had the same madness as this thing.” Marco knelt down and ran his fingers through the deep gouges in the trees. Pulling away with fingers coated in sap. “The cuts are new. The creature has to be close. Grot?”

  “On it.” The elf vanished into the wood.

  Marco looked to his bud. “You stay here. We’ll get you if we find it.”

  Just as he turned to disappear aswell, Capreva squeaked out. “Wait!”

  He turned but didn’t speak.

  “The… monster. It hasn’t actually hurt anyone… right?” Capreva asked.

  “Not that we know of.” He responded.

  They wrang their hands nervously. “Then… why are we hunting it…”

  Marco sighed. “Because it might hurt someone, might already have. It’s going towards town and it clearly aint all there.”

  “So… if something goes mad… we should kill it?”

  “As a rule of thumb, yeah bud.” Marco ughed a bit at the absurdity of the question.

  “Even people…?”

  He recoiled suddenly. “What?! No, of- “ He paused. “Well… Sometimes. But not always. You… you shouldn’t be asking questions like that anyways.”

  “Why not?”

  Marco felt the heat of the twiggy creatures’ ethereal eyes on him. “ You shouldn’t be thinking about killing people Capreva!” His confusion was slowly transmuted into anger.

  The monster shrunk down like a scolded cat.

  The woodsman rubbed his face, flushed with guilt. “I… Capreva just… just stay here and I’ll answer anything after, okay?”

  They nodded and turned from Marco, looking towards a dying tree.

  Biting down his shame Marco rushed off into the woods. Hoping Grot hadn’t already found the beast.

  Capreva stroked the tree like a sick animal. “It’s okay… You’ll get to feed new trees soon…”

  They looked around the clearing, allowing themselves to feel all the heartbreak of the situation. Grot was right, there was no trace of blood, bones or meat anywhere. That didn’t make it any less stomach turning for Capreva. Whatever had done this wanted only to murder and massacre any trees within its reach. But why. What did the trees do to make the animal so angry.

  If they had the capacity, they would have wept. An animal driven to insanity and mighty wooden friends felled in its rage. They wondered if every hunt would be like this. The thought made them hurt more. They rested their head on the now fully dead tree and softly whimpered in mock sobs.

  Sizzling.

  Their head shot up, confusion putting a pause to pity. Capreva looked at the spot they were ying. There was nothing. They pressed whatever they use to hear up against the bark again. Faint but noticeable, was a low bubbling sizzle. They sat up again, and with great reverence and a whispered apology , they used an arrowhead to cut into the wood.

  Out from the slit, a frothy green fluid flowed. Where it touched, the bark popped and sizzled like water in a hot pan. Caprevas fme eyes grew in undeniable wonder. Like a child they probed at the fluid with the tip of their finger. And much like many children before, they were burned. Capreva yelped and stuck the boney digit into their mouth. More a reflex than actual soothing method when you ck saliva.

  Examining the log closer, Capreva spied a deep puncture. Easily mistakable for the home of any insect or small bird. But listening at the hole proved it led to the sizzling liquid. Going from tree to tree like a battlefield nurse checking for heartbeats Capreva confirmed every tree had a sizzling hole stuck into them. The creature was injecting them with something. The creature had a stinger like the amphiptere.

  “I… I have to tell Marco!” Capreva shouted as they scurried with all the haste in their bones.

  They crawled swiftly along the forest floor. No longer sticking to the routes suitable for tall folks. Capreva smelled the air and followed the scent of musk and earthy tones they associated with Marco. Under normal circumstances this would have served them well. But there was something else in these woods that shared much of Marcos scent.

  Breaking out of the forest and into a natural clearing created by a crystal-clear pond and stream. Capreva found a lone creature drinking the cool waters. It raised its head at the motion. Water dripped from its muzzle and light danced while the droplets broke the stillness of the water. Its coat was a deep brown, the color of dark mud and it had the proudest set of antlers Capreva had seen on a living creature.

  It was an Elk.

  Capreva halted in those deep beautiful brown eyes. They collected themselves. “Oh! Um… hello.”

  The Elk just watched.

  “Sorry to… interrupt your drink Mr. Elk. Or… can girl elk have antlers…”

  The Elk raised to its full height.

  “Sorry! I was looking for my friend Marco. Have you… seen him?” They came a few steps closer.

  The Elk turned its head to the right, paused for a beat, then turned back.

  They followed its eye line. “That way? Thank you! I’ll head there now!” Capreva rushed in that direction, but just before reentering the woods they turned.

  The Elk stared.

  “Can I ask you something first actually?”

  The Elk stared.

  “Marco… He said… He said you sent me? Sent me to him… and my other friends.”

  The Elk stared.

  “I just wanted to ask… Did you? It’s okay if you didn’t… I just… wanted to know. It would make him really happy if you did.” Capreva smiled pleadingly at the animal.

  The Elk stared for several more beats, before turning its face to the sky, then right back to Capreva and resumed.

  “O…Okay… I guess you don’t have to tell me… Goodb-“

  Capreva was cut off by a piercing scream from above. It sounded like the scream of a woman having a spike driven into her stomach. They didn’t have to wait long to learn it was something much worse. A figure as rge as a horse smmed down from the sky like an anvil dropped from heaven. It nded on The Elk with a gruesome crack.

  It held The Elks neck in jaws designed to kill swiftly. It pinned the body to the ground with paws equipped with meat rending cws. Capreva looked mortified at the bent and broken body of The Elk, but they haven’t truly known fear until they looked up and into the eyes of that beast. Sunken, bloodshot, and feral. Its body was once powerful, but hunger had eaten away at its muscles and fat till just its bones and hide remained. And a saggy matted mop that once was a jet-bck mane.

  “You’re…. starving…” Capreva whispered.

  The beast growled with inky bck malice, unfurling membranous bats wings in a halo above itself. Its wings in this intimidation dispy added another ten or so feet to its already monstrous visage. Then with one effortless jerk, The Elk finally stopped staring.

  Capreva backed away in terror, directly into a conveniently pced oak tree. “I… I don’t… mean any harm… big guy…”

  The creature bit down on the meat within its mouth, still watching Capreva with twitching maddened eyes. Then the animal winced, dropping its kill to the streams babbling shore. They watched stunned, as the beast pawed at its own face and made rumbling whines of discomfort. The smaller of the two monsters also became aware of the bulbous stinger on the end of the Manticores long tail.

  Capreva obviously felt afraid, but also deep sorrow and pity for the animal. Its whines made the little twigs heart ache. It looked so hungry. But for some reason it wouldn’t eat. Something was hurting its head. Something was ailing this poor creature. Capreva made the mistake of taking a tentative step forward.

  The manticore turned its maddened gaze on the na?ve fool.

  It approached at speed, fshing its stinger and fring its wings once more. Capreva was backed into the tree once again, holding their hands up in fear. They were muttering apologies even as the creature paused close enough to smell the elks blood staining its fur. It held its stinger up to Caprevas throat, sickly green acid dripping from its sudden point. The drops sizzled and popped where they nded.

  “I… I’m sorry…” Capreva held their breath.

  The animal whined again as its muscled form tensed to lunge. But all at once, it unclenched entirely. The twig looked at the maddened wild eyes, which were slowly diting. Looking like twin sparkling bck holes.

  It reared up suddenly and buried its cws into the tree above. Then with some considerable struggle, it yanked its flimsy body up the tree. Using the momentum of the leap it needed only to fp its canvas wings and it rocketed into the sky. Headed straight for Lily Naros cabin.

  The wing beats faded, repced by heavy boots approaching quickly. They heard Marco shouting their name and Grot let out curses. They did not move. In the haze of lingering fear and freshly flooding relief, Capreva understood why you kill things gone mad.