《Hill》


 Chapter 1: The Village of Magnus

    April 9th, 1798 21:38


    The sun has set in the streets of Magnus, the lake fishermen are coming back from the inn to their homes feeling tipsy from the drinks and discussing that lately, their catch is becoming slimmer and slimmer, the wooden bridge creaks as the fishermen are walking drunk all over the place, they are talking loudly and counting how many coins they have left in their pouches after the drinking all evening, it''s getting darker and darker and many of the women have already shut the windows and locked the doors, the fishermen are walking house by house to drop each one to their place, the same thing repeats all the time, the man they drop off is getting yelled at by his wife and the rest are laughing at him, there are only three men left in the crowd and they are crossing the central road of the village, a brick road connecting the northern part of the village to the harbor, the lights on the lanterns flicker in the subtle wind and some of them have gone completely out.


    As they are walking to the other side of the road they hear a man coming from the north, it''s the guard, he is running towards the fishermen and screaming, just behind is a number of horrifying creatures, they call them Shades, person-sized with black fur and sharp teeth and claws, big yellow eyes that carve fear inside those who look at them, the fishermen despite being drunk catch on quite quickly and they also start running, just above them everyone is shuting the windows and locking their doors, they start banging on the doors for someone to let them in but there is no response, the bell from the church at the harbor is ringing rapidly signaling the imminent danger, the guard and the fishermen are running from the horde of the creatures but they are not fast enough to outrun them, all three of the fishermen have fallen to the hands of these monsters, the guard can hear the screams behind him but he just can''t turn his head, he hears the rumbling of the footsteps closer and closer, he can almost feel them catching up to him, his trying to run to the church, that would be his only hope, behind him he hears the screams of other unlucky villagers, men, women and children screaming for help as the creatures are feasting on them, the guard has almost reached the church, the footsteps seem to have stopped for a second as he is almost ready to reach for the churche''s gate, he takes one look behind him just to see the monstrous yellow eyes right next to his face, the last thing he saw before his throat is sliced and his blood covers the stairway to the church.


    April 10th, 1798 6:22


    The village mayor, Lazar, he is a chubby man with sings of baldness and a big red mustache, he is wearing fine clothes and a brown top hat, he is talking to the priest of the town, an old man with the usual priest attire.


    "What do we have, father?"


    Said Lazar, the mayor of Magnus, he was holding a piece of paper handed to him by one of his men right as he went to the mayor''s office this morning.


    "Four women, three children, and six men, two of them were the guards from the north gate, one of them was beheaded right at the watch, the other, well you can see what happened to the other one, may the Lord take care of them now."


    The priest responded with last night casualties, some people have already opened their windows to look outside and some even more courageous have already gone to their work, the fishermen all have a gloom look on their faces as some of their colleagues have lost their lives last night, the mayor takes a deep breath and says,


    "That makes over a hundred deaths in one month, this isn''t something we can deal with, father, the Lord doesn''t seem to care what happens to us, has anyone else shown up?"


    The mayor asked the priest with his hand on the back of his head.


    "No, since the corpse of the last hunter showed up in terrible state there hasn''t been anyone willing to help us, even the mightiest hunters don''t want to risk coming to Magnus, not even for the reward you promised."


    There have been many monster hunters willing to help the village since this mess started one year ago, the Shades have been attacking the village from the forest to the north, a number of men came by Magnus from all over the country to deal with the source of the monsters, each one with his own accomplishments and weaponry, none of them has ever returned to claim the reward as none of them survived and came back, the situation is clear to the villagers as the only thing they can do is lock their homes, stay as quiet as possible and pray that none of these creatures hears them and bursts through their doors, the only place that hasn''t been marked with scratches and claw marks is the church.


    As the mayor exhales deeply out of desperation, someone touches him on the shoulder from behind, it''s a young woman with blonde hair and a nice outfit, she is wearing leather pants and a corset with frills, her blonde curly hair wave slightly by the wind and the mayor turns his head to greet her,


    "Natasha? What are you doing here? This is no place for a young girl like you."


    Natasha was the mayor''s niece, he has adopted her since her parents were one of the first people to die at the hands of the monsters, she was quite a rebellious child since she was old enough to walk, now she is in her early 20s and she was more beautiful than any woman in the whole village.


    "Uncle, let me go to the forest!"


    She said with determination in her eyes.


    "No! I don''t want to hear any of this again, Natasha, not even some of the most powerful demon hunters could best the horrors in the forest, you will not go there and you will not speak of this again! Don''t make me tie you down."


    Natasha has asked her uncle many times to go to the forest to fight the Shades and every time Lazar has declined, he doesn''t want to lose his niece as she is the only family he has left since the whole issue began, Natasha has been practicing hand to hand combat for years long before the Shades started to attack the village and even did some research in mystical arts when the attacks began, it wasn''t common for people to wield magic but even some self-proclaimed spellcasters have come to Magnus to claim the hefty reward that Lazar has put up.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    The priest excused himself and went back to the church. Natasha, after losing the argument with her uncle returned home to practice even more, Lazar was turning a blind eye to the fact that his niece was training in combat and not looking for a man as he instructed her, she claimed that all men are a bunch of cowards and drunks, she hasn''t took interest in any of the suitors that Lazar brought, some of them were rich merchants from other places and he wanted her to escape the village, if he could he would transport everyone outside the village to save them but that was not possible, people couldn''t just abandon their homes and run away, in a time where diseases kill people in the millions and starvation is also a huge issue he can''t ask them to leave their homes, Magnus was far away from any major city and held all of the fishing rights to Magnus Lake, the village was formed around the lake in order to take advantage of the fishing, the lake was rich with fish up to the point of not having enough hooks for all the fish, everyone started to make a small fortune, that was the case one year ago, when the Shade attacks began, at the same time the lake also seemed to have abandoned them, the fishing village known as Magnus has turned to the cursed village of Magnus, everyone in their right minds would stay clear of a place like that.


    April 10th,1798 11:28


    Lazar is sitting at his desk in the mayor''s office, the finances of the village have taken the low road as he isn''t able to compensate to the families of the victims, he takes a look out the window only to see Natasha swinging a rapier and shooting with a flintlock pistol at a straw target she had made, despite Lazar having a small fortune, his niece''s actions have reduced the amount of money he had, she has bought many pistols, rifles swords and ammo with her allowance, Lazar has stopped funding his nieces plans in order to drive her away from that way of thinking but that didn''t have any effect, Natasha just started making her own blades and ammo from metals she found and even started trading with others in order to acquire more and more gear, she made crossbows and arrows and practiced with them, some villagers even referred to her as the strongest fighter in the village, the guards were mesmerized every time she went to their training ground and beat them in combat, her talent with the blade and fire was basically unmatched in Magnus.


    Lazar had given up trying to change his niece''s mind but he wouldn''t ever let her go to the forest, he placed both hands at his forehead and prayed for a solution, that''s when he heard a knock on his door, it was one of his men asking for permission to enter,


    "Mr. Barnes? There is someone who wants to see you."


    The man is pushed inside the office and two people walk in, one is a young skinny man with a pale complexion and dark hair wearing a light armor and a brown fabric coat, the other man is tall, around in his early 30s with long blonde hair and a light beard, he is wearing red leather armor and a bordo trenchcoat with multiple pouches on the inside, he had a sword in a sheath on his belt and multiple knives in a strap on his chest.


    "Are you Lazar Barnes?"


    Said the tall man who just pushed the mayor''s assistant aside.


    "Yes, and who are you two rude gentlemen?"


    Lazar replied. At this point, the young one of the pair revealed their identities.


    "Nice to meet you, I am Rory Grant and this mean-looking guy is Victor Hill, we have come to rid you of the monsters."


    Lazar looked impressed by their confidence, especially this guy named Victor. Despite looking suspicious he decided to take them up to the offer.


    "So you are monster hunters, huh? Not many people want to come to Magnus, if you are willing to help, then you only have to go to the forest up north and for every one of the Shades you kill, I will reward you with 20 gold coins."


    Gold coins held a good value, to put it into perspective, a hundred copper coins made a silver coin and a hundred of those, one gold coin, a loaf of bread would cost around 5 copper coins, the reward was very generous but the task was difficult to match, so long there hasn''t been anyone to bring back the corpse of one of these Shades to receive the reward.


    "Very well, we are off to the forest then, come on Rory."


    Said the tall man.


    "Right behind you, Victor, as always."


    As they opened the door to leave, Natasha was standing in their way.


    "What would you say in a sparring match, gentlemen?"


    Lazar saw Natasha challenging the two monster hunters in a match and had to respond.


    "What are you doing here, Natasha? Please, ignore my niece''s rumbles, may the Lord bless you on your hunt."


    Natasha replied.


    "Uncle! You gave these two the task to go to the forest, if I beat them you have to acknowledge me and let me go."


    "Enough of this, Natasha! Go to your room!"


    Natasha would have nothing of it, she ignored Lazar and addressed the monster hunters again.


    "So? What do you say?"


    Rory replied to Natasha explaining,


    "I am not doing any fighting ms...."


    "Price, Natasha Price."


    "I am not doing any fighting ms. Price, if Victor doesn''t have a problem, then..."


    Victor then said,


    "What a pain. When did I become a nanny, Rory?"


    Natasha felt angry at this moment and took a swing at Victor with her sword, right as she tried to slash him, Victor blocked her hand, grabbed it and took the sword from her hand, he placed the blade at her throat and that ended the little fight, the fact that he didn''t even change his facial expression gave away how skillful this man, Victor really is, he countered Natasha''s strike like it was nothing without even trying.


    "Out of my way, child, I have monsters to kill."


    Said Victor, he dropped the sword at the ground, Natasha fell to her knees, humiliated by the difference in strength and skill, Lazar was so impressed by the whole scene that he ignored the fact that someone just held a blade at his niece''s throat, he felt a bit relieved that Natasha was taught a lesson because if she had managed to beat Victor then there would be no denying her wishes to go, Victor and Rory left the room and walked towards the exit of the mayor''s house.


    Rory then said to Victor,


    "She is really cute, isn''t she, Victor?"


    Victor was a man of few words.


    "Yes, she is pretty I guess."


    "Just pretty? Did you take a good look at her? She is stunning, I would love to walk around a woman like that instead of a big, muscular, mean, battle-hardened dude like you."


    "You are stuck with me, Rory, I need your skills and you need mine."


    Rory blushed and replied.


    "Yeah, but I would like to have a female this good looking at my side."


    Victor and Rory have left the building, Natasha was so shocked by her defeat that she couldn''t move a muscle, she stood there thinking how he was able to react so fast, his moves were swift and accurate, there is no way he could have disarmed her so easily, Natasha was really known in Magnus for her swordsmanship and Victor just crumbled her entire ego.


    Only one thing is for sure, Victor and Rory have skills, the question is if they can pull an end to Magnus'' suffering. At first, Lazar just thought that these two were just going to die like the rest, after seeing his niece losing so easily though, he has a slight hope in Victor''s strength.

 Chapter 2: The Cabaret

    April 10th, 1798 13:42


    Victor and Rory left Lazar''s office and made their way straight to the forest up north of the village, many villagers were looking at them, combat gear wasn''t that rare, especially in a place like Magnus, everyone was walking around with at least a dagger. Even so, Victor and Rory were geared beyond what was common to see, since the villagers have seen many monster hunters and their weapons or "artifacts" as some called them, they didn''t really seem bothered by their being there in the middle of the day with so many weapons.


    Victor and Rory were passing by shops, taverns, and places where children were playing, just what you would expect to see in a normal village, Rory was smiling while Victor paid no attention and had only one thing in mind.


    "Clueless morons".


    Said Victor with a straight face as always, no matter who he was talking to or what, he never seemed to lose his composure.


    "Does it bother you that some people still live their lives even in this state, Victor?"


    Rory replied to Victor''s comment.


    "You also know the situation, Rory".


    Victor tried to remind Rory that there is always a chance for an attack as soon as the sun goes down, he implied that instead of partying they could be building defenses against the attack and not waste time during the day drinking, the kids were also playing around as if there is no constant threat, they should also be taught how to protect themselves.


    "I know that these people live their lives as there is no tomorrow, they enjoy these moments because there might be their last, they don''t just abandon their lives because of some monsters and they keep going despite the danger, I find that mindset brilliant".


    Rory explained his view to Victor who once again didn''t bother replying, he clearly disagreed but there is no benefit arguing at this point, they just kept walking until they reached the north gate. With one look you could see the marks that the Shades have left in the northern gate walls, the walls were made with wood and there were clear bite and claw marks on them, Victor took some time to look around.


    "The marks are in a straight line across the height of the wall."


    Victor commented on the way that the marks were laid on the walls and the wooden gate.


    "That doesn''t mean they are capable of climbing the walls, the troubling thing is how many marks are there, some are different that others, you know what I mean, don''t you Victor?".


    "They are helping each other climb the walls".


    Said Victor who was now measuring the size of the claw marks in order to get an idea of how lethal these monsters are.


    "The villagers probably know that, that''s why they didn''t bother building a higher wall, a stone wall is out of the question as well, there is no way to build a stone wall in one day only to be demolished at night, I doubt even the great fishing village of Magnus is capable of an expense like that".


    At this point a guard approached the two and asked what they were doing at the north gate, he seemed polite though his rough appearance and mean look implied that he has seen many horrifying things. Rory, without wasting any time replied to the guard with a sincere smile on his face.


    "We are monster hunters, we are headed to the forest further ahead and we stopped by to take a look at the damage these creatures have caused."


    Rory explained to the guard, he toned down his voice as a sign that he recognized their resolve and skills.


    "I see, if you are headed to the forest, I''d advise you to change your plans, I have seen many hunters go to the forest and none of them came back, they all had plans on how to fight them, most of these plans were that they are nocturnal creatures and they could catch them off guard during the day".


    The guard told them that in case they also had the same thought, truth be told that was their plan, Rory after hearing the stories of Magnus was sure that the Shades are nocturnal creatures since they only attack at night, he shared that thought with the guard in order to hear his response.


    "But they only attack at night, I have heard stories to know that".


    The guard exhaled deeply and replied to Rory''s statement.


    "That''s true, although there is something else, even if these creatures seem to hunt at night, that''s not the case. Many hunters just assumed that they are just animals hunting for food at night."


    Victor stood silent and observed the conversation that Rory had with the guard in order to learn as much information as possible, nothing is too strange in a monster hunters life. Rory then insisted that they should be nocturnal animals attacking.


    "But, that''s what nocturnal animals do, isn''t that right? They attack at night for prey. It''s common sense to believe that since they don''t attack the village every night, it''s not like you are in a war with them."


    The guard exhaled once again as a sign that they don''t get his thinking and revealed more of his own assumptions.


    "Yes, nocturnal animals like foxes or wolves would search for prey at night, they also don''t seem to have a pattern in their attacks, the thing that most people don''t notice is that they never devour their victims, a usual pack of nocturnal predators wouldn''t waste meat on a kill, the Shades just butcher and then leave the corpses behind to kill even more on their path, I have gone hunting in the forest many times before they began their attacks, I know about predators and game in the forest, if this is some kind of new species that we don''t know about that would mean there should be no more prey in the forest and they are now attacking the village for food. That''s also out of the question since we have seen many animals from here roaming around, the treeline is as far as they go, there shouldn''t be a shortage of food in the forest."


    The guard has given Victor and Rory much information about the Shades, even if he isn''t brave enough to go himself and hunt them down, it''s clear that he wanted to help as much as he could so that they could go into the forest prepared.


    "I see, you seem to know a lot about predatory behavior".


    Rory tried to compliment the guard on his knowledge. Rory was excellent at social interactions, every line he said was constructed to gain the trust of the guard and squeeze information out of him without sounding rude or demanding. It worked since the guard was now smiling from Rory''s compliment, he gave them more information about the situation of the village.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    "Yes, Magnus was originally built to exploit the fishing in the lake, I remember my grandfather telling me stories about the founder of the village, Magnus was the first person to settle here and discovered the abundance of fish in the lake, my grandfather told me that there was a time where fish literally jumped on their boats, more and more people moved here and started their own community, the village prospered for many decades and people started their lives here at Magnus, the founder was also a true believer of God and even constructed a church in the village, that''s when it all began. People would often comment that Magnus was a place favored by God and many people came here for a chance at a better life, that''s when they began hunting in the forest, there was also an abundance of animals to hunt and their furs and meat also gave a huge profit to those that took advantage of hunting."


    The guard was smiling remembering the stories he had heard, he revealed that apart from fishing the villagers of Magnus were also making tons of money out of the hunting in the area, it seemed like Magnus was the best place to start a great life and prosper.


    "I have also heard great stories about Magnus, I remember hearing stories from about this place from a woman I used to be sweet, she had all sorts of plans about us moving to Magnus and make a family together here, that''s when I dumped her when she wanted to marry me, ha ha ha."


    Rory lightened the situation even more by his last sentence, that''s when the guard changed his face to one of sadness as he eventually revealed the last of his thoughts about the village.


    "I see, you are lucky, truth be told after the monsters started attacking the village has seen many difficulties, as of last year there aren''t enough fish in the lake to feed even the locals, let alone sell for profit, no one even tries to hunt in the forest out of fear. The village hasn''t felt so dreadful before and if you ask me, the Shades aren''t just some sort of animals, I believe that God is punishing us for our greed, we took advantage of the goods he offered in order to make money and now we are going to suffer the consequences of our actions."


    The conversation ended with the guard''s last piece of information, Rory waved at the guard as he walked straight to the forest, Victor didn''t even bother to turn his head to thank him, they walked along the treeline for a bit and it seemed like there was plenty of animals like they were told.


    April 10th, 17:03


    Victor and Rory are now walking along the treeline, Magnus is still in view as they are looking around, there seemed to be a small part of the forest cut down, probably in order for the villagers to build housing for their increasing population. Victor was silent during the whole walk, he took out his sword and cut a few branches, he placed them at different parts of the treeline, Rory commented on Victor''s actions as he usually does.


    "Why are you doing this, Victor?"


    Victor stood up from placing a branch and replied to Rory''s comment.


    "I want to see how these monsters come out of the forest, if there aren''t enough broken branches by their next attack that would mean they all are walking in a pack or just swarming out, indicating they are more intelligent and organized than normal predators."


    Victor wanted to see if the monsters are organized and determine the height of their intellect.


    "You don''t really believe that there is a war between the Shades and Magnus, do you?"


    Said Rory.


    "We know a couple of things from that guard. First, the villagers are a bunch of religious people, if a guard, someone with the least exciting job hasn''t forfeited his faith until now, all of them are serious about their religion, the church was also in perfect shape indicating that the people still make offerings despite their lack of resources at this point. Second, the Shades are capable of helping each other climb the walls but they never entered someone''s house, which means they have a certain level of intelligence that lets them work as a team but are not clever enough to open a door. All I want is to see if their attacks are organized and make a clear image of their intellect, I want to know what I am about to fight."


    Rory was amazed by Victor, not because of his plan though.


    "That was the most I have ever heard you say in years, good job, Victor, you are becoming a normal human at last."


    Said Rory chuckling, Victor once again remained silent, they continued placing branches around the treeline that faced the village, with that done, Victor wanted to go in a bit further.


    April 10th, 19:23


    Victor and Rory are taking advantage of the last remaining sunlight to investigate deeper in the forest, apart from the countless bugs and some animals they haven''t been able to notice anything out of the ordinary, with little time on their hands, they decided to drop it off and returned to the village, the first thing they noticed is that the guards changed shifts at the north gate, obviously, the guard they met has the privilege of the day shift, once they informed the new guard that they were the monster hunters currently staying in Magnus, he opened the gate and let them back inside.


    At this time the village seemed quieter, the children were now already inside their homes and the doors were shut, what picked Victor''s interest is how a sum of men were walking down a road, it didn''t seem like they were friends since they didn''t greet each other but they all turned at the corner and walked in a dim-lit alley, Victor was curious so he also went that way, as he and Rory followed the men, he could hear the chuckle of the guard behind him.


    They finally saw where all those men were headed to, it was a cabaret, the sign read "Paradise" and once they walked inside they saw that it was some sort of strip club, young girls in revealing clothing were serving the men and there was a small stage probably designed to host a show later. With one look, Victor noticed that there was a huge hinge at the door, he made the assumption that this place shut down at a certain time and the heavy wooden door was reinforced with metal bars, a clear indication that men spent the whole night there drinking and having fun with the women. The place was secure enough to withstand an attack from the Shades for sure.


    Rory was enchanted with the beautiful women and sat down immediately, Victor also sat down next to him on a red-colored couch with nice fabric and woodwork. Not many people walked inside the cabaret since Victor and Rory came, probably most people just stayed at their homes. Rory called for a girl to serve them some ale while they were there and Victor pointed out the security at the door.


    "The door is reinforced with metal, there is also a heavily armed guy standing there, this place could work as a bunker in case of an attack, why isn''t there more places like that to provide shelter at night from the Shades?"


    Rory looked at Victor and exhaled.


    "Are you some kind of robot, Victor? Have some fun, I see lots of girls over there looking at you."


    Rory said with a huge grin on his face.


    Victor despite his attitude and facial expression was a good looking man, he had long blonde hair and a light beard, he was tall and fit, his attire seemed expensive and that caught the eyes of many of the girls in the cabaret. Also, the man at the door was also checking out Victor because he was the most heavily armed guy in the place, he was cautious about him from the moment he walked in.


    Time passed by and there sure was a show, numerous women walked on stage and danced in revealing clothing, some of them even danced while taking their clothes off, Victor was unfazed as always but Rory was enjoying every moment, some girls came to sit on their lap, Victor shooed them off and Rory bought them drinks in order for the girls to sit next to them.


    April 10th, 22:02


    Their good time was over as soon as they heard a scream from outside, the man at the door shut the hinge and for a brief moment everyone was shocked, the music stopped and they all froze, the man at the door told everyone to keep quiet until the sounds stop, everyone was on foot with that plan, it seems like the cabaret had its own plan of action during a Shade attack, Victor and Rory also were quiet, the woman that was currently sitting on Rory''s lap just grabbed him tight, Rory despite the situation was smiling. Outside, there was the sound of dozens of feet running around, there was a huge panic outside the cabaret, as they were there in silence they could hear everything that was happening outside, the slashing of the claws and the screaming of the people, Victor and Rory just sat there waiting.


    April 10th, 23:40


    The sounds around the cabaret seemed to have stopped, the music played back on and as if nothing happened everything returned as it was, that was the second attack in two days, Victor and Rory decided to stay inside the place until the sun comes up, the sounds have stopped around the cabaret but that doesn''t mean outside is safe, there were victims tonight as well, the monster hunters, Victor and Rory have to do something about this nightmare.

 Chapter 3: Misunderstanding

    April 11th, 1798 06:22


    Victor and Rory spent the night at the cabaret "Paradise", as soon as the sun was up the cabaret opened the gate-like door and everyone was free to go, as soon as Victor stepped outside the cabaret he saw the results of last night''s attack, there was blood all over the street, a few bodies left at the sides of the stone road, after a few minutes of walking around he was confronted by Lazar, once again, he and priest went over the casualties. Four men, two women, and a single child lost their lives the previous night, Lazar clearly was infuriated but his hatred was pointed in the wrong direction. He walked right up to Victor and Rory, apparently, there was a rumor that the glorious monster hunters prefer to spend the night at the cabaret rather than fight, Lazar was ready to unleash his anger to Victor.


    "Some monster hunters you two are, when I assigned the job to you two, I had a slight hope that you would actually do it. The first thing I heard this morning was an old woman crying over the body of her husband and telling me that I have contracted incompetent hunters who would rather enjoy spending their time at the cabaret! What do you have to say about that?"


    Rory was left speechless by the tone of the mayor, they were somehow getting reprimanded because of what happened yesterday, Victor didn''t like that reasoning at all, he lifted his head and gave Lazar a piece of his own mind.


    "Since when am I your hunter? Don''t get ahead of yourself, Mr.Barnes, we never agreed to become your mercenaries, you never paid us to protect this town, even if we did agree to help you, what good would it come to confront a pack of monsters late at night? Do you know how strong they are? Do you know how smart they are? Did you, or any of your men ever fight them? Don''t think even for a second that you own us, I will not answer to anyone about my actions, you are no different Mr.Barnes."


    Victor destroyed Lazar''s thinking with a simple statement, it was true, Lazar''s contract was a hunting mission, reward for each carcass brought back, Victor and Rory never became his employees and never intended to. Lazar lowered his head out of embarrassment, he turned around without a word and walked away from Victor. Rory didn''t have the composure to stand up for his own, during Lazar''s rumble he kind of walked behind Victor subconsciously. After Lazar left he returned to his office, where he saw his niece, Natasha just waiting at the lobby of the building, she stood up and asked Lazar about Victor and Rory''s whereabouts. She had also heard the rumor.


    "Where are your hunters now, uncle?"


    Lazar after getting struck down by Victor realized that he was wrong, he tried to put some sense to his niece as well.


    "They are not my hunters, Natasha. These gentlemen are not obligated to protect us, their job is to hunt the Shades, not to guard Magnus."


    Natasha wasn''t really happy to hear her uncle say those words, she was infuriated by the fact that Lazar forbid her to go to the north forest, she also wanted to go and confront Victor and Rory. She just couldn''t have any of it, the hunters fooling around while she is being held back by Lazar. She stormed out of the building and headed for the north gate, that would be the best place to look for them.


    April 11th, 1798 07:42


    Victor and Rory decided to go back to the forest to see the results of Victor''s idea about the branches, considering how they move and act, he can make a guess as to how formidable his current prey is, like a true hunter, he is patient and composed. Rory suggested that they could get something to eat and drink before leaving since there was plenty of time in the day, they stopped by what looked like a pub, there were plenty of people eating pastry goods and drinking coffee, a hot cup of coffee would be ideal. Magnus is located beside a lake, the humidity is insane, even during Spring. They sat down and waited for someone to take their order, usually there is a waiter who''s job is to serve the customers, something didn''t really look normal when everyone including the waiters just glanced at the direction of Victor and Rory. A young girl approached them and said,


    "Good morning, you must be the monster hunters that arrived recently, don''t mind them, they are not used to seeing the hunters sitting around, most just went straight to the forest and never came back, anyway, what can I bring you?"


    The young girl was very attractive, she had long, red, curly hair and was wearing a dress with frills, she had a pale complexion and a well-grown body with curves, she was probably around 20-22 years old, Rory being the man that he is didn''t waste a second to compliment her. He smiled and said,


    "Wow, you are a real breath of fresh air, very cute if I may say so."


    The waitress blushed for a second, most men that came by the shop also complimented her but this was the first time that someone from out of town gave her such a sincere smile, she smiled back and replied to Rory.


    "Thank you, my name is Cath..."


    Victor interrupted her while she was trying to introduce herself.


    "Coffee, black."


    Rory gave Victor a bad look, he really wanted to talk to this girl more, at that moment though, she was intimidated by Victor and returned back to waitress mode.


    "And what would you have?"


    Rory exhaled deeply and ordered himself a cup of coffee as well, Victor''s cold attitude has ruined Rory''s plan. The waitress went to the bar as soon as she got their order, the strange looks didn''t stop at all and now Victor has to suffer Rory''s look of disappointment as well.


    "Would it bother you to let me hit on one girl? Just one."


    Victor looked at Rory confused, he didn''t get the hint.


    "What? We are not here to find women, Rory."


    The waitress came back with their order, she didn''t have the same smile as before since Victor''s attitude somehow made her feel unwelcome. Victor and Rory spent a couple of minutes at the place drinking their coffee until another woman came to disturb them, that time it was Natasha Price, the mayor''s niece and the girl that Victor has humiliated as soon as he met her. She already had a bad idea about Victor and now that she has heard the rumor that he and Rory spent the night of the attack at the cabaret has made her even more hostile towards them.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    "And here are the saviors of Magnus, the men that are supposed to rid us from the Shades. Isn''t it enough that you went to the cabaret while people were being slaughtered at the street, you two are even enjoying breakfast while the women are swiping the blood of their husbands from the door!?"


    Natasha was furious, she was already enraged after hearing the rumors but she now saw them sitting at the pub all carefree. Victor has already dealt with Lazar''s accusations and he would not tolerate another lecture. He stood up, placed his hands at the table with enough force to crack the table and looked Natasha right into her eyes as he replied to her statement.


    "I thought I made myself clear earlier, listen to me you little spoiled brat. Neither you nor your uncle is the boss of me, I do what I want when I want, I came to this place to hunt monsters, I am no ones mercenary or hired personnel, you have no right to question what I do, I am neither a guard nor a hero, I am a hunter. I don''t care what happens to any of you and I will not tolerate judgment from a little girl who swings her blade at hay dummies and pretends to be a fighter."


    Natasha remembered what her uncle told her earlier, that he doesn''t own them, she realized that Victor has also put Lazar to his place. Victor has once again shut down Natasha completely, her face turned red and she didn''t know how to react, instinctively one of her legs moved back just a bit. Victor''s menacing look and words have destroyed every last drop of confidence that Natasha had, it took her a couple of seconds to bring herself to respond.


    "This is not over, these people need help, if you are not going to do it then I will."


    At this point, Rory stepped in the conversation, while Victor and Natasha were arguing he didn''t pay any attention to their words, he was just looking at Natasha''s pretty face and rose-red lips moving up and down, he was more fixated at her beauty more than her words.


    "Don''t be too hasty Ms.Price, we never said you can''t come with us, after we are finished here we plan to go to the forest and see the results of our research."


    Natasha''s expression changed instantly, she was full of joy when she heard those words, all the anger that she had vanished from existence and her beautiful blue eyes sparkled with happiness as she could finally do what she wanted, the only problem was Lazar. She asked them if they could convince her uncle to let her go.


    "I want to come with you, the only problem is that my uncle would never allow it."


    Victor sat down again, once the hostility ended from Natasha, he didn''t feel like he had to say anything more, he just sipped from his coffee and let Rory do all the talking.


    "Mr.Barnes doesn''t need to know that, even if anyone sees you go off with us, we will just tell them that you wanted to practice some more, that way even if your uncle finds out you left the town, we will be there to provide you with a good alibi."


    Said Rory as he smiled, he mentioned before that he would love to have a beautiful young girl with him, Victor, on the other hand, didn''t say a word, he simply doesn''t care enough to fell the need to protect her, he doesn''t care what Lazar would do if he finds out they took Natasha with them, Victor made clear that he won''t play the part of a babysitter. As far as he is concerned, Natasha is not his responsibility.


    April 11th, 10:28


    Victor and Rory along with their new member went to the north side of town again, they saw the same guard again, Natasha made sure to tell the story that they would simply spar for a bit so that he wouldn''t make his report to Lazar later and reveal that she left for the forest.


    They exited the town and walked towards the treeline once again, Victor went to check at the branches and as he predicted the Shades have broken a couple of them at a certain pattern, there was only one place where the branches broke and that confirmed their hypothesis that they actually move in a pack, Victor pulled a red scarf out of a pouch that was hanging on his belt and covered his face, he then relayed his next move to the others.


    "Hide your faces."


    He said as he tied a knot with the scarf and made a makeshift mask. Natasha couldn''t help it and asked,


    "Why?"


    Victor just turned his head and sighed, Rory then explained to Natasha what Victor didn''t bother to.


    "We put the branches down to see how the monsters are moving, they have broken a couple of them at the same spot, that means they work as a pack, from the claw marks at the walls we also figured that they help each other climb, they are smart enough to recognize faces or they have a leader who does, the last thing we want is for them to hold a grudge against us."


    Natasha understood the situation, she didn''t have any piece of clothing to cover her face as Victor and Rory did, she decided to rip a part of her blouse then, after making a rough-looking mask all three proceeded to enter the forest, this was the first time that Natasha has set foot in the forest since the attacks began. They were walking slowly and carefully throughout the forest, Natasha couldn''t help but observe how smooth Victor''s moves were, he walked around without making a sound, Rory also followed the same path as Victor, she was the last person in line.


    Not much time later, Victor raised his hands for them and signaled them to stop, he then turned his head and made a signal for them to look ahead, there was a small cavern a bit further, they all confirmed that they saw it and then they all moved closer to inspect. The first thing that they noticed was similar claw marks as the ones that they found at the walls, there were also bloodstains at one of those marks. Rory broke the silence as soon as he looked around and made sure nothing was creeping around.


    "The blood seems to be from the same mark, it repeats every now and then, we didn''t have a look at the bodies though."


    Natasha was confused by Rory''s statement, she had taken a look at last nights victims and so she asked,


    "I did see the bodies earlier, why is so important?"


    It was Victor this time, he decided to cooperate with Natasha for a bit and he was the one who then asked,


    "Did any of them draw their weapons at all? Was there a sword or a dagger close to one of the victims?"


    Natasha recalled that there was in fact a bloody sword close to one of them, she informed Victor of that and then it was clear, apparently one of the townsmen last night tried to fend them off, he managed to wound one of them, they all agreed that deeper in this cavern is certainly one or more of the Shades, Natasha wanted to go deeper and kill them, she didn''t say anything though as she was sure Victor and Rory wouldn''t agree. To her surprise, they just walked inside without a word, once again she smiled out of joy because she could finally get what she wanted, Victor led the way and Rory was right behind him, Natasha followed them until Victor once again signaled them to go out, without hesitation, Rory left and Natasha followed despite her urge to go deeper, Victor was walking backward keeping an eye at the deeper part of the cavern.


    As soon as they were all out of the cavern Victor said,


    "Get ready."


    Rory reached in his belt and pulled out his gun, Victor took the scarf off his face and rolled it on his wrist, Natasha drew her sword and once Victor also unsheathed his sword he took a strike with it on a rock, it made kind of a loud sound and there it was, inside the cavern, there was a pair of those freakish yellow eyes looking at them, it lunged out in an attempt to bite Victor who was the one closer to the cavern''s entrance, he placed his hand forward and the Shade bit his arm, the cloth scarf provided enough protection and as soon as the monster''s mouth got stuck in it, Victor slammed it down at the ground and stabbed its head with his sword, at last, there was a dead Shade in front of them, Natasha felt a sense of accomplishment when she saw the dead Shade at the ground, she finally was able to take revenge on them, Victor despite being the one who delivered the blow and he could now get paid seemed troubled. He grabbed the dead body of the Shade and said,


    "We are going back, now."


    Without any further question, all three of them walked back to the village. It wasn''t clear as to why Victor wanted them to go back but one thing is for sure, Natasha finally has a chance to convince Lazar since they already killed one of them, Victor and Rory are going to get paid handsomely, what remains now is to go to Lazar''s office and each claim their reward.

 Chapter 4: Inspection Begins

    April 11th, 1798 13:48


    After killing one of the Shades, Victor forced the whole party to return to the town, he was silent the whole way back carrying the dead body of the Shade with him, Rory and Natasha were walking behind him, the body of the Shade was dripping blood painting a scarlet thin line from the path of Victor, Natasha was looking at the corpse with joy, she had finally exacted revenge on them, Rory wasn''t a stranger to the view of dead monsters but he also looked at the dead body and tried to figure out what has caused so much panic to Victor, nothing seemed out of the ordinary to him, just another dead creature, he also spent a couple of minutes thinking about where to spend the reward, 20 gold pieces wasn''t an amount to scoff at after all.


    Victor, Rory and Natasha approached the northern gate of Magnus and there they saw the same guard, he was shocked to see Victor carrying back a dead Shade, even though that he saw them, he didn''t ask any questions, Natasha flipped him a coin for turning a blind eye earlier, he took the coin and put it in his pocket, Victor and Rory were a bit surprised, they heard rumors of Magnus being a wealthy city, that all contradicted with the fact that Lazar claimed he was unable to compensate for the deaths of his citizens, that though crossed both Victor''s and Rory''s mind the moment they saw Natasha so casually giving away money. Then came the matter of their reward, what is Lazar''s plan if they manage to bring back a number of dead monsters, how is he supposed to reward them if he claims that he has no money? For good or worse they decided to not discuss that while Natasha was with them. They made their way to Lazar''s office.


    The party arrived outside of the city hall, there stood Lazar who had heard of his niece''s exploits from a couple of the people who saw her with the monster hunters.


    "Is your whole purpose to drive me insane? What is the matter with you two? How dare you take my niece along with you to that God-forsaken place?"


    Lazar was fuming with anger as he spoke, Rory''s first thought was that he might deny them a reward at this point, Victor, on the other hand, ignored everything and asked the mayor to walk inside his office with them. Despite the fact that he was enraged with Victor, he complied for now and turned to speak to Natasha,


    "I know this is your doing! I have told you repeatedly not to leave the village. How did you manage to trick them into taking you with them anyway?"


    Natasha was shocked, she had an entirely different idea of what would happen when she came back, she thought that her uncle would for once recognize her desire to protect others and would actually be happy to find out that she came back with a slain Shade. He gave her a look filled with both anger and disappointment, Rory then decided to explain the situation to Lazar while they were walking to his office.


    "You see, Mr.Barnes, it''s not that she tricked us. Victor isn''t the kind of man to keep others from harm''s way, he simply doesn''t care and I... well I also support his thinking... and Natasha''s."


    Natasha''s face sparkled with joy again as she heard those words, she gave Rory a sincere smile as she heard him spout these words and defending her against Lazar. As of now, Lazar has no way of replying to that, he simply followed Victor into his office, as soon as the door opened they saw two other men waiting inside along with Lazar''s secretary, when Victor was the one who entered the room first, the two men identified themselves,


    "Hello, you must be Mr.Hill and Mr.Grant, I am the priest in charge of the town''s church, F.Lucian White. Nice to meet you."


    Father Lucian was the priest in charge of the town''s church, he was the one who along with Lazar counted the victims of every attack, lately he has had much work performing the ceremonies for all those who have died, he didn''t have time to actually leave the church and his office in a while since all the trouble began. As soon as Father Lucian finished with his introduction, the other man stood up and began to speak,


    "Nice to meet you as well, my name is Diego Pearson, I am the sheriff of this town and the captain of the town''s guards. I must say I am surprised to see that you have actually killed one of them in the couple days that you have spent here."


    Diego Pearson, he was a tall man with long ginger hair and a big mustache, he wore a very fine uniform that was clearly hand-made and looked very expensive, he also carried a very nice blade in his belt, a cutlass with an ornate handle decorated with various carvings. As they informed Lazar, they waited in his office for him to return, it was time of a scheduled council meeting but when Lazar heard that Natasha was absent, he didn''t go to his office at all, he just ran to the north gate and waited outside the town hall, he forgot about the meeting and thus he never really went inside to check on anything.


    After the two men greeted them, Victor threw the dead body of the Shade on the floor, the blood dripping from it made a very big stain on the fine carpet that Lazar had in his office, he raised his finger and pointed at Victor ready to give him another lecture, he missed his chance though as soon as Victor addressed the sheriff with a question,


    "What do you have to say about this? Mr.Pearson."


    Victor asked Diego while pointing at the dead creature.


    He got kind off confused by Victor''s question and his facial expression gave it away, Victor then decided to be more clear,


    "Is this one of your monsters? If so then why? Why was it so easy to kill?"


    Everyone in the room looked at Victor and had the same question,


    "Easy?"


    They all asked and Victor then proceeded to answer,


    "Let me tell you, one of them individually isn''t that much of a threat, what makes these creatures deadly is the fact that they operate in a pack, they attack at night and the little lighting in the town''s streets makes it hard for anyone to fight back, my question is, why? Why haven''t you already sent out a squad to clear them all out during the day? Are your guards just a couple of untrained idiots, Mr.Pearson?"This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Diego was clearly offended by Victor''s remark, quite a logical observation but something was strange, Diego replied with sadness and anger in his voice,


    "You think we didn''t try? What do you get by spouting such nonsense Mr.Hill? Do you have any idea how many brave men lost their lives!? You know nothing of our struggles, Victor Hill, I didn''t expect a person of your status to be able to understand but let me tell you this. Don''t mock my men or me again or I will be forced to kill you where you stand. Consider it a reward for your achievement today that my blade remained sheathed."


    Diego walked outside the room and before he closed the door he turned to face Lazar and tell him,


    "I didn''t think you would be associated with such people, Lazar, I hope our next meeting will be held without this man."


    He closed the door and left, now with the still bleeding corpse on the floor, Rory turned his head and extended his hand, expressing his desire to be paid. Lazar walked to his desk and pulled a pouch with gold from one of the drawers, he tossed the pouch to Rory and then sat down at his desk. Since Victor angered the sheriff with his first impression, the priest took it as a sign to also bid his farewell and return later, he placed his hand on Victor''s shoulder and told him,


    "You have angered Mr.Pearson very much, I would advise you not to do it again, he is a man with a lot of power and you wouldn''t want to have him against you, also there have been multiple people who went to the forest before you, Mr.Hill, sadly they all met the same fate, congratulations on killing one of them but don''t get overconfident or you might find yourself in a dire situation, my blessings."


    After the priest also left, Lazar placed both his hands on the desk, he lit a smoke and raised his head to face Victor and Rory,


    "You have been paid for your services, leave my office. As for you, Natasha, go home and we will talk in private."


    Victor and Rory left with their payment in hand and decided to head back to the pub where they were prior to their trip, they both sat down and ordered a steak meal, since the hunting didn''t go so well and there was a shortage of meat in the market, the prices for steak were also high, the staff was delighted to prepare them a meal like that cause for them it meant good money.


    April 11th, 14:58


    Victor and Rory were eating their food at the local pub, the place was a bit empty since most people would rather eat at their own homes, there weren''t many people around, they have some quiet time now and Rory decided to ask Victor what was on his mind.


    "What''s going on?"


    Victor raised his head from eating and shared his thoughts with Rory,


    "I figured as soon as that man introduced himself as the guard''s captain, a creature like that would pose a threat to a normal guard, the one that I killed was wounded, that''s why it was alone."


    Rory then got onto something,


    "I see, do you think the rest of the pack abandoned it because it was wounded?"


    Victor replied,


    "Yes, there is another thing, remember what we were told? We were told that there was no man who ever fought them, no one could give us actual information about them, why would they keep it a secret that a whole squad got killed? Something like that would bring honor to their families, as such, why is Pearson keeping it a secret from the public? I couldn''t get that out of him."


    Rory''s eyes widened then,


    "That''s why you provoked him? To get information? I thought you were being your usual shitty self."


    Victor didn''t really care about Rory''s remark, instead, he continued,


    "There is also another thing. Even at perfect shape, one of these Shades wouldn''t pose a threat. I cannot fathom the thought that so many monster hunters lost to them, the guard we met said that they also tried to hunt them during the day, yet the only one we saw was a deserted one, I first thought that it might have been a trap, then again it couldn''t, if these things are active during the daylight they would have attacked us yesterday when we were laying down the branches and were defenseless, there is a pattern with them, they are being led by something, and that thing leading them has close if not comparable intelligence with that of a human."


    Rory took a bite from his meal and asked with his mouth full,


    "Do you think they are just some kind of minions? Maybe a witch or a sorcerer?"


    Victor checked around to see if there is someone nearby and as soon as he was certain that no one would hear, he replied to Rory''s question,


    "We can''t rule out that possibility, now the question is, what did these people do to piss off a witch? Even if they are just some witches puppets, it doesn''t make sense, I know for a fact that magic users and talisman wielders lost their lives in that forest, there have also been strong monster hunters who failed, if there is a witch, she must be the most powerful I have ever heard off."


    Rory still munching on offered an idea,


    "Do you think we should look for a sacrificial tree next time? Should I bring the oil with me?


    A sacrificial tree is basically a witch''s safety switch, even if her body is destroyed, if the sacrificial tree still stands then her body would just reform, the only way to kill a witch is to burn her sacrificial tree first, since the witch can feel it when her tree is under attack, she will come to defend it and show herself, for a monster hunter that means two birds with one stone. It is a known fact amongst the monster hunters and one cannot be careful enough. The tree itself is an easy target and can be recognized by specific carvings around its bark, the only problem is that it is usually guarded by the witch herself and her minions. Since Victor knows that there have been others before him who tried, he doesn''t really want to implement conventional tactics to this case, he has to gather more information and come up with a better plan.


    Victor told Rory his theory that normal tactics may have been how the other hunters died and decided to abandon that idea, Rory then couldn''t help but ask,


    "What should we do then? I mean, if there is a way to stop all of the monsters at once, imagine the reward we would get, we could even kill the Shades, bring them back to get the gold from each kill and then reveal the way to stop them for good and get an even better reward, we are going to be rich, Victor."


    Victor sighed at Rory''s idea and replied,


    "Why would you want to be rich?"


    Rory clearly confused by that question said,


    "What do you mean? I could finally build my own farm, get a beautiful woman to marry me and never have to fight again, just imagine the bliss of knowing that your future is secure, you could even buy land and become a lord or open your own shop or hotel and make even more money."


    Victor then said with a straight face as he usually does,


    "I am not a lord, I am a monster hunter, that''s what I do."


    Rory exhaled and replied,


    ''I guess you never change, we should figure out where to stay during the night, I don''t want to be killed in my sleep by one of those ugly things, we don''t know if there is going to be an attack tonight."


    Victor and Rory managed to get their reward finally, they spend the first of their earnings on a luxurious meal and they plan to use the rest of the money for accommodation for the night, without figuring their next step they decided to wait until next morning to make another move. They know very little as of now and Victor''s intuition tells him to be careful of what lies ahead.

 Chapter 5: High-Class Establishment

    April 11th, 1798 16:49


    Victor and Rory are on the lookout for a place to spend the night, the last thing they want is to be out in case of an attack, despite the fact that they just had an argument with Lazar, Rory proposed that they should also look for Natasha at Lazar''s house, thanks to Victor''s attitude, the only one who considers them allies is the person who was the most hostile towards them, they decided to pay a visit to Lazar''s place while he is still at the office, Rory thought that it would be best to avoid another meeting with him as of now.


    They made their way to Lazar''s place, the first thing they saw is how well-fortified the outer yard is, a 3 meter stone wall is surrounding the entire building, there are plenty of claw marks on the walls but for the most part it seemed to be able to withstand an assault. Victor and Rory stood in front of the metal gate and called for Natasha to let them in, there was no response for the most part. Victor then closed his eyes, he focused for a second and grabbed Rory by the back, he tossed Rory with enough force to pass above the metal gate, Rory wasn''t that happy about it.


    "I swear, someday you are going to break my neck with these tricks."


    Victor pointed to the latch on the door, Rory opened the door and let Victor in, they made their way towards the back yard, they saw Natasha practicing with all sorts of weapons, axes, swords and cutlasses, it was clear that she preferred a one-handed weapon more than anything, Victor and Rory didn''t make a sound, as if they were sharing the same thought, they wanted to watch Natasha practicing.


    It didn''t take took long for Rory to interrupt her,


    "Hello, Natasha."


    Natasha turned stopped and run towards them with a subtle smile on her face, her golden hair mesmerized Rory and inspired a smile in his face as well. Natasha was quite relieved to see that they didn''t get in trouble after Victor''s quarrel with Diego Pearson, the sheriff.


    "I am glad to see you in one piece gentlemen. What''s going on?"


    Rory explained to Natasha that they needed a place to spend the night, Natasha was quick to answer,


    "You can spend the night here if you would like, my uncle doesn''t come often, he prefers to stay at his office most of the time."


    Victor was a bit curious and asked,


    ''That was a bit easy, wasn''t it? What''s the catch?"


    Natasha smiled as she revealed why she let them stay.


    "You are going to spar with me, Victor."


    Victor didn''t exactly oppose the idea but instead commented on Natasha''s words,


    "Victor? What happened to Mr.Hill? Are we to the point of using our first names?"


    Natasha quickly replied,


    "Rory called me Natasha instead of Ms.Price earlier, after the incident at the forest I would like to assume we have a better understanding than strangers so...yes. Victor, I want you to train me."


    Rory shared his opinion as well, he turned to look Victor in the eyes like a small puppy,


    "It won''t hurt, will it? Victor? Our hostess request was simple enough."


    Victor grunted for a second but then agreed to Natasha''s request, what she really wanted was to see Victor''s true strength and maybe pick up a few tricks, she wasn''t mad that Victor bested her in combat, she knew that he was superior, that only intrigued her more, she preferred to take advantage of this opportunity to strengthen herself. Without wasting a single second she grabbed Victor''s hand and led him to a sparring area in the back yard, it was more of a sandpit than a sparring arena, just a small circle of sand created by her to be an open area where she could place the straw figures and practice on them.


    April 11th, 17:21


    Natasha and Victor spent some time sparring, the difference in skill was immense, Victor was able to counter every one of Natasha''s moves, Rory was just sitting on the side watching, she gave up trying to beat Victor after many attempts, Victor was able to disarm, parry or counter attack her continuously. She swallowed her own ego and admitted that she was no match for him, with a heavy breath she sincerely said,


    "I give up, I can''t match up to your speed or strength. I can''t imagine how anyone is able to fight like that, I''ve never seen a swordsman like that, no swordplay techniques are efficient if your opponent has physical abilities like that, nevermind the fact that you are also very skilled with the blade. Be honest with me, Victor. How have you achieved strength like that?"


    Victor sighed at Natasha''s question, Rory also averted his gaze from them, it was clear that whatever method Victor had used wasn''t something to be discussed so lightly, since Natasha was out of stamina, she invited them back inside to share tea and dinner, despite focusing all of her time and energy to combat, she was also a great cook. Victor and Rory sat at the living room and sipped ever so slightly from their cups while Natasha was preparing the dinner table, in her own mind, she thought that if she gained some trust from them she could find out some of their secrets, so she tried her best to make the dinner presentable and to season the food with the best spice she had in her possession.


    April 11th, 19:03


    Natasha called Victor and Rory to the dining room, she had laid a beautiful white cover over the wooden table with frills at the edges, she had laid the plates and the silverware is such way to inspire some sort of new art, there were several silver platters on the table covering the dinner, as she opened up each top of the platters, Victor and Rory gazed upon their luxurious food, grilled chicken, steamed potatoes and onion soup, crispy freshly made bread and a cabbage salad seasoned with olive oil and lemon juice. Rory''s mouth was drooling as he saw what Natasha had prepared for them, they all sat down, before eating a single bite, Natasha began with a prayer, she thanked the Lord for the food and kept the prayer for a couple of minutes, Victor and Rory didn''t actually take part in that prayer.


    They all started eating in silence, the wind outside began to strengthen up and they could now hear it as it passed through the streets, the situation at the table was somewhat awkward, despite Natasha''s efforts to make the meal great, she didn''t get any compliments from them, that made her feel a bit unappreciated, at this point she really wanted to impress them and gain their trust. She was so focused on making them like her that she tried to open up a conversation with a little joke, something she wasn''t used to doing.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    "Don''t you like this better than a brothel?"


    She said with a slight chuckle so emphasize the fact that she was joking.


    "Speaking about that..."


    Victor said and before finishing his sentence, Natasha''s mind filled with thoughts, what would she do if he suddenly asked for woman comfort, even worse he demanded it, she wouldn''t be able to resist physically, she wasn''t really sure if she could resist emotionally either. Before saying something stupid though, Victor continued,


    "Why do you think that brothel has some of the best defenses in the town?"


    Natasha''s mind eased at that point, her face had taken a bright red color, she took a bite of the bread in an attempt to cool down her head without making it obvious and then responded,


    "The cabaret is flourishing with money, many of the men in town go there and spend piles of gold, since it mostly works in the night, it doesn''t seem weird that the owner would want his place to be trashed by monsters or his clients to be eaten while in the place, he does have the money to fortify the place ."


    Victor thought of a couple of things about what Natasha said, if there is this kind of money wondering around town, why aren''t they trying to build safe houses for people to sleep at night, the cabaret is not a secret operation, everyone in town knows about it, why is that this place is the only fortified building? Are the people of this town so disgusting that they have the means to protect the rest but simply don''t want to spend their money on the safety of others? What are Lazar''s and Diego''s thoughts on the whole thing? Apparently Lazar has enough money to establish a safe space in his house and his office, as a leader, doesn''t he feel the need to use his resources to protect the civilians? Victor thought that asking these questions now to Natasha wouldn''t bear any results, he remained silent and kept eating.


    April 11th, 23:00


    It''s quiet outside, there are no footsteps, no screams, the people of Magnus have retired to their houses, some men decided to pay a visit to the famous "Paradise", some call it a cabaret, an establishment where men go to gaze on the naked skin of women while sipping from their drinks, a place to relieve stress and have some fun. Others call it a brothel, a place where men pay for women''s comfort and to satisfy their carnal desires. In the eyes of Victor though, it''s one of the most interesting places that he has seen since he arrived at Magnus. Natasha has allowed Victor and Rory to use the couches in the living room for them to sleep, Rory was in a deep sleep, snoring and mumbling some words ever so often, Victor wanted some more answers, he spent a handful of minutes awake, lying on the couch, with his equipment lying next to him just in case, he tried to come up with some answers to the questions he had but without the right information, he just hit a wall. It wasn''t long until he fell asleep as well.


    April 12th, 6:45


    Victor and Rory wake up to the voice of Natasha, she is already dressed and ready for breakfast, Victor wakes up, he checks around for no particular reason and lights a cigar with a flint and steel lighter he always keeps around, Rory struggles to wake up and grunts while he also sits on the couch waiting to see why Natasha woke them up. Not much time later, she walks in the living room, Victor notices something strange with her appearance, she is already equipped with 2 flintlock pistols and she is wearing some light armor. Rory felt the need to ask about that.


    "Why are you armed so early, Natasha? Are you going to shoot us?"


    Rory chuckled a bit, Natasha also laughed ever so slightly.


    "I have made breakfast, when you are finished eating, I want to practice some more and then I presume we are also going back to the forest, aren''t we?"


    Natasha made the assumption that they will go back to hunt the Shades, Victor got up and walked to the dining room, Rory was still a bit groggy from sleep and decided to wait a couple of minutes before getting up. Natasha has sat down opposite of Rory, for him, waking up to a beautiful girl like Natasha was like he was still dreaming, his dream ended though when Natasha couldn''t get her head around asking,


    "Rory, I apologize for my persistence but I need to know, I need to know how Victor got to the level he is at right now, I also want to know the role you have, I might have jumped to a stupid conclusion but I want to be a party with you two, I also apologize for my hateful behavior at first."


    Natasha spoke sincerely, her voice was low and what she said she meant, Rory couldn''t bear watching her in this state, he also felt the need to be honest and share some things with her, she was after all honest with them and thus Rory felt like he had to compensate.


    "I guess you deserve some honesty, I guess you are familiar with sorcery. I saw the relics in the yard."


    Natasha nodded in agreement.


    "I am a machinist, I make the tools necessary for hunting down monsters, I make traps, explosives and I also do some augmenting on existing weapons, in my bags I have the prototype of a crossbow with gears on the body of the bow, basically it can launch a bolt really fast with the help of the gears but also doesn''t need to be extremely long and requires less power to cock it, making it more reliable in battle and allowing for consistent shooting. My other specialization and the reason I have worked with Victor for so long is that of a sorcery scholar, I have also studied a handfull of sorcery books and also practiced in casting some spells, I am hoping, that some day, I can create weapons with both engineering and sorcery combined, I am also working on a special arrow that can be launched and used as a long-range explosive."


    Natasha was filled with excitement, not only did Rory agree to share their training with her, the things he said also captivated her, Natasha loved to fight, even before the issue with the Shades began, she had already been training in combat, hearing Rory explain to her about war engineering and sorcery engineering picked her interest. She couldn''t help it though and had to ask,


    "And what about Victor? How is he able to fight like that? Does he also wield sorcery?"


    Rory sighed, he knew the answer but he thought that nothing good would come of telling Natasha, he decided to work his way around that question by answering vaguely.


    "No, Victor can''t use sorcery, he tried many times to study but always failed, he is not compatible with sorcery."


    Natasha wanted to know more, she nodded many times to prompt Rory to continue.


    "Victor has a long and fierce history of combat, he has trained relentlessly to learn swordsmanship and practiced with guns enough to render them useless from firing so much, he has a lot of experience in hunting monsters, he was a very skilled hunter even before I began working with him."


    Natasha felt like something was missing, that doesn''t explain his inhuman reflexes and strength. She was extremely interested at the moment and couldn''t help it but ask,


    "What about his physical abilities, how can it be possible to attain such power? What did he do?"


    Rory sighed again, he knew he couldn''t avoid this question not matter how hard he tried to. His vague answers had no effect, Natasha was just too persistent to let him go without answering.


    "You see, Natasha. You don''t really want to know about Victor''s past. To be precise, you shouldn''t know, it would just make things worse, his strength comes with tons of trouble."


    Natasha was confused, she didn''t really understand what Rory was trying to say, her furious desire to know more though led her to ask again.


    "What''s going on about Victor''s past?"


    At this moment, Victor walked back to the living room to see why Rory was taking so long, he answered Natasha''s question.


    "The past doesn''t matter, focus on improving yourself and don''t poke into dangerous matters you don''t understand."


    Natasha lowered her head as if she was apologizing. Like she was being scolded for something, Rory then tried to lighten the situation with a joke.


    "It''s weird to see you worry about someone else, Victor. I always thought you were an emotionless brute."


    Natasha and Rory laughed while Victor didn''t even break a smile, he didn''t really mind Rory''s remark of calling him a brute, he just couldn''t bring himself to laugh. Natasha was still interested in Victor''s past but she felt like she couldn''t push further, it''s still early in the morning, she basically forced them at this point to train again, it was compensation for her hospitality after all, once the training is done, there is some discussing of going back to the forest, even though Victor didn''t really agree to that. The night was quiet, no one lost his life last night and a new day is ahead of them.

 Chapter 6: Magical Traces

    April 12th, 1798 08:12


    Victor along with Rory and Natasha have had their breakfast and are ready to go out to the yard to practice more, Rory excused himself and has informed Victor that he would go look at the local market for some ingredients he needed for a special trick that would let them know more about the Shades, Victor was a man of determination and discipline, he valued results more than anything else, if his colleague was to use sorcery to help them in their hunt, he wouldn''t mind despite the fact that he was mostly against the use and time after time has gone after practitioners of sorcery.


    Natasha has issued again for Victor to assist her in her training as long as Rory was out, Victor didn''t plan to venture alone in the woods so he had spare time and no excuse to not comply with Natasha''s wishes. Even though Victor and Rory made clear that they would not reveal Victor''s past for her sake, Natasha still wants to spar with Victor and try to figure out some of his secrets, if not the secret to his inhuman abilities then maybe his swordplay and a couple of his moves.


    April 12th, 1798 10:23


    Victor and Natasha are training non-stop for a while, Rory hasn''t made it back yet but someone else has decided to show up to the Barnes mansion, the owner, Lazar has returned and the first thing he saw as he looked outside was Victor and Natasha crossing swords, he remembered Victor''s behavior previously and wanted to go out to the yard and lecture him again, he was about to do just that when he saw a subtle smile on Natasha''s face, she was enjoying the sparring session to the fullest, even if Lazar was completely against Natasha''s attitude of fighting and adventuring, he couldn''t possibly ruin that joyful expression she has when she does what she loves, Lazar cared deeply for his niece as she was the only living relative that he had left.


    As much as Lazar wanted to smack Victor''s head for dragging Natasha to the whole thing and for his rude behavior towards Diego Pearson, the town sheriff, and Lazar''s friend. Lazar, Diego and Father Lucian shared a connection with each other as members of the town council and have bonded as friends, Victor''s remarks about the town''s guards have insulted the sheriff and Lazar, he couldn''t do anything about that though, despite the fact that Victor was rude and offensive, he was the only man that has ever brought back the corpse of a Shade, quite possibly he is the only hope for Magnus to be saved from this situation, it would be unreasonable to chase away the only hunter that has achieved a feat like this, the people of Magnus would definitely have questions as to why.


    It hasn''t been long since Lazar returned home and took a look at his niece sparring with Victor, after he decided not to meddle with them he went to his own room and poured a hot beverage to calm himself down, in the meantime, Rory came back from his shopping, his pouches seemed stuffed with merchandise as if he was the one selling them, he held a weird looking plant in his hand and he tried to show it off to Victor and Natasha who at this point have stopped to gaze at their encumbered friend.


    "I found a Halia root"


    Said Rory with a huge grin on his face, Natasha got confused and didn''t understand what he was excited about, Victor took a look at the plant and placed his hand on Rory''s shoulder and winked at him, they immediately packed their whole arsenal of weapons and items along with all the stuff that Rory bought and with their bags now full of equipment they marched for the forest. Natasha barely caught up with them, she also wanted to play a part in this whole story even though she had no idea what all the fuss was about with the plant. Lazar was too tired and as soon as he took a couple of sips from his beverage he fell asleep, he completely missed them leaving the house.


    April 12th, 1798 11:22


    Victor, Rory and Natasha are wandering around the treeline of the northern forest, Rory''s eyes are focused on the plant root, Natasha couldn''t bear it and asked them,


    "What is this plant? Why are you so fixated on this root?"


    Rory took his eyes off the plant to answer Natasha''s question, the excitement on his face was clear as day as he revealed the properties of this specific plant root.


    "This is a Halia root, it''s going to start rotting as soon as we find traces of black magic, the root is fragile and it absorbs anything it can find, it''s going to have a reaction as soon as we walk in a place where sorcery was used."


    Rory revealed that the Halia root was going to give off a signal as soon as they were in a place where sorcery was used, that would be a clear indication of where they should focus their search, with plenty of daylight remaining, they decided to be a bit reckless and dwell deeper in the forest right where the magical traces were. Natasha''s eyes also were fixated on the plant now as well as Rory''s, only Victor didn''t pay any attention to it but instead looked around for any signs of monsters, he inspected a couple of marking on some trees, claw marks as if the Shades were using the trees to move around the forest, he determined that there was no actual pattern to these marks, that indicated that the Shades must have a rallying point where they gather before an attack.


    They kept walking close to the treeline and ever so slightly walked deeper and deeper into the forest, it didn''t take long for Rory''s plan to take effect, suddenly, the Halia root started to wither, the temperature dropped and a slight fog was enveloping the place that they had just walked in, they could feel a slight breeze coming ahead of them, Victor pulled out his sword and one of his flintlock pistols, Rory also hid the root back in his pouch and pulled out a bottle of holy water and a small knife with strange markings, Natasha also drew her sword and stood as close to Victor as she could. Without any hesitation, Victor began to walk forward in the direction that was supposed to be a ground for sorcery, Rory and Natasha were walking close to him, he seemed to be a beacon of hope for them, the only safe place at this moment is close to Victor after all.


    It all happened in a moment, Victor dropped his guard and seethed his sword and pistol as if nothing happened, he walked towards what seemed to be a small pool of black liquid, Rory pulled out the Halia root once again, this time it completely withered away and scattered like dust,


    "This feels weird."


    Said Natasha as she pointed to the now rotten and withered plant, Victor went a bit closer to the small pool and dipped his hand inside, he pulled out a small portion of the liquid that seemed dense enough to be molded, almost like mud.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    "It''s tar, this must be a nesting place."


    Said Rory as he looked at Victor''s hand that the black ooze was dripping ever so slightly. Natasha once again had no idea what they were talking about and now that she is involved in all this, she felt the need to ask,


    "A nesting place?"


    "In this spot, the creatures that you call Shades are born, witches and warlocks use these kinds of disgusting things to summon their minions, looks like your theory was correct, we might have to deal with a sorcerer after all."


    Rory explained the purpose of the tar pool, Victor once again reached in his pouch and removed a bottle with a strange liquid, Rory knew exactly what it was, it was alcohol, Victor used flint and steel to light a piece of cloth on fire that rested in the bottle''s opening, effectively making a Molotov cocktail, he threw the blazing bottle on the tar pit and watched as it burned, black smoke was coming from the pool, a kind of thick black smoke like nothing Natasha has seen before.


    "That''s the black magic being burned away, you don''t want to stand to close to that, Natasha, come over here."


    Said Rory and prompted Natasha to stand next to him. They watched as the pool was burning and getting smaller and smaller by the fire. That moment of glory didn''t really last for long as they heard a loud noise coming from somewhere in the forest, like a wolve''s howl or a man screaming in pain, they weren''t sure what it was. Victor once again pulled out his gear and looked around cautiously while signaling Rory and Natasha to do the same, they all got ready for combat, they couldn''t really see anything, in these parts of the forest, the vegetation was so thick that their eyes could see just a couple of meters ahead, it made an excellent place to set an ambush to unsuspected prey.


    April 12th, 1798 12:01


    Victor, Rory and Natasha all have drawn their weapons and are ready to fight off whatever made that noise, they can all hear rumbling around them, hundreds of footsteps like the noises that envelop Magnus at night during an attack, the noises are getting closer and closer, Rory''s heart is beating like crazy and cold sweat is coming down on Natasha''s forehead, they are terrified, the only one that doesn''t seem very scared is Victor, it''s astounding how he can remain so calm in this situation, he signals Rory to take formation with their backs against each other to cover a full 360-degree angle around them, once that''s done, he turns and whispers in their ear,


    "Walk away slowly."


    They began walking slowly towards the treeline, the sounds seemed to be getting further now, all the rumbling that was around them became distant, almost like whatever was around them was just observing them, as they were approaching the edge of the forest, they were able to hear only one sound, a fast-moving sound coming towards them from deeper in the forest, Victor was the one facing towards it with his guard up fully ready for an attack.


    Suddenly a four-legged creature jumped at him, it wasn''t like the one he had slain before, this one was larger with red eyes and brown fur, almost like a huge wolf, it had a snout and huge fangs that were visible from each side of the snout, the creature leaped at Victor and with lighting fast reflexes he shot at it bring it down and severely damaging one of its front legs, the creature fell close to Victor and stood up again, it kept the damaged leg off the ground and growled at Victor signaling hostility and anger. Victor pulled another of his pistols and shot at the creature again, this time he aimed for its head, the creature barely dodged the bullet and hit one of its pointy ears instead tearing it off its head, after taking this much damage, the wolf-like creature run away from Victor crying in pain, he took this opportunity to grab both Rory and Natasha easily lifting each one with his arms and ran away from the forest, as soon as they were outside of the forest he let them both down again,


    "What was that thing? Have you seen anything like this?"


    Rory asked Natasha if she had ever witnessed a similar creature like that, he was breathing quite heavy.


    "No, there are no reports of this kind of monster ever showing up in town."


    Natasha answered Rory''s question while she was also quite shocked. Victor turned to face them both, they were a good distance away from the treeline now and the whole situation felt a bit better,


    "That thing was a Vargr, commonly known as a Worg, a wolf monster capable of killing in one bite, that explains all the deaths that have occurred in this forest, a Worg would be able to massacre an entire squad of guards in seconds if it wanted to, that''s not something that any man can fight alone, if I had missed that last shot we wouldn''t be talking right now."


    Victor explained to them what the creature was, Rory was familiar with these kinds of monsters and he also knew about their traits.


    "Worgs aren''t something to be taken lightly, Victor. Now I see why all those hunters died, in order to fight a Worg we will need bigger firepower."


    Natasha had no idea what the two hunters were talking about, in her eyes, Victor had managed to fend off the creature,


    "Is this thing stronger than the Shades? What do you mean by bigger firepower?"|


    Victor stayed silent, Rory explained to Natasha all about the Worgs.


    "A Worg means some serious sorcery is involved, it''s one thing to summon simple creatures like the Shades, they are mindless monsters that attack anything in sight, the one responsible for the attacks on Magnus must be a powerful sorcerer if he has Worgs in his command, not only are they extremely strong and almost impossible to subdue, Worgs absorb black magic to regenerate their bodies, no man can fight a Worg head-on and even if a squad of powerful hunters gathers to fight one, there is no guarantee that they will be able to kill it, you saw how it ran away as soon as it took damage."


    Natasha had more questions to be answered, she didn''t hesitate at all to ask at this point,


    "What does that mean then?"


    This time, Victor answered Natasha''s question.


    "Someone is really pissed with your town, if he has Worgs in his care and decided to unleash them onto Magnus, there would be no one left to even bury the bodies."


    April 12th 1798 12:57


    Victor along with Rory and Natasha have made it back to Magnus, the first thing in their mind was to speak with Diego Pearson, they walked towards the guards'' barracks where Diego''s office was and Victor punched open the door of his office barging inside,


    "Did you know that there are Worgs in the forest?"


    Diego was surprised and pissed that Victor barged inside his office like that, he didn''t like Victor''s previous attitude and this time he even called for the guards to grab him, Victor shook off the guards one by one just by using brute strength, he slammed his hands on Diego''s desk and asked him again,


    "DID YOU?"


    Diego, after being completely frightened and pissed off at Victor decided to play along.


    "What do you mean by Worgs, Mr.Hill?"


    Victor didn''t waste any time telling Diego what they found in the forest, the black pool where the monsters were created and about the Worg that attacked them, he even told him what would happen if even one of these creatures were to attack Magnus.


    Despite Diego''s hatred of Victor, he decided to comply with him and answered his question,


    "I don''t know what you are talking about, Mr.Hill. My men haven''t seen this Worg you are talking about, the only monsters that have threatened this town are the Shades, it''s already a dire situation with them, I can''t imagine a more terrifying monster hiding in the forest. To answer your question, I am not aware of the things inside the northern forest, my men never returned from their mission last time, that would explain how a whole squad of my guards was killed though."


    Victor got what he wanted from Diego, as it seems, he is clueless about the Worg in the forest, having no more use for Diego, Victor left his office and returned with Rory and Natasha to Lazar''s place, once again, he was absent and they had enough time to discuss their next move over lunch, with a better understanding of the situation and a new objective at hand, they need to find a way to clear the nesting place without coming face to face with another of these terrifying creatures.

 Chapter 7: The Sheriff

    April 12th, 1798 14:32


    Victor, Rory and Natasha settled again at Lazar''s house. Once again, Natasha has prepared something for the three of them to eat, Victor and Rory waited patiently at the living room, ever so slightly sipping from their cups. Their objective is now clear, they have to find the spawning pools of the shades and destroy them. Victor and Rory both know from experience that summoning pools like these need a lot of time and effort to put together, whoever is behind the Shades has clearly worked for some time in the shadows, the person behind the attacks also has a clear plan. If the plan was to destroy Magnus, then an army of Worgs would have sufficed, instead, the attacker has sent only the Shades. All that has been accomplished thus far is to terrorize the town, which means that whoever is responsible doesn''t want to completely destroy it but instead exact some kind of revenge or perhaps damage Magnus'' economy. With the constant attacks in place, funding for the guard''s barracks has increased tremendously and the taxes on the residents have also increased to accommodate the need for protection.


    Despite all the effort that Lazar and Diego have put to enhance the town''s security, Victor has some suspicion that the actual level of the guards is awful, he has again and again insulted and offended the guards of the town. While waiting at the living room, the front door opened and Lazar burst in the house, raising his hand and pointing at Victor he wanted to share a piece of his mind with him.


    "I just spoke to Mr.Pearson, I don''t know or care about you, Victor Hill, but I want to tell you one thing. You have insulted me, the town''s sheriff and the guards risking their lives too much. Diego told me about the new monster in the forest. You have endangered my niece twice thus far and you have turned her into an absolute vandal. She invited you to stay under my roof without even asking for permission. You have exploited a foolish girl and her crazy ideas just to get free accommodation. I am disgusted by you. I want you to leave this house and this town as quickly as possible, you are not the only hunter that can help Magnus but you sure are the least welcome."


    Victor let Lazar finish everything he had to say, he didn''t interrupt him while he was yelling and cursing at him. He wanted to have a clear image of what Lazar wanted to say to him so that he could respond with pristine accuracy to his claims. At his point, Natasha was standing by the door separating the living room from the kitchen, she was leaning against the door, way too frightened to come out and face Lazar in that state, she could hear everything though.


    "Let me correct an idea you may have, Mr.Barnes. The reason I and Rory are here is to make money for ourselves, you were the one who insisted we do more than actually hunt the Shades. You asked us to help this shithole you are living in. Pearson is so ignorant of what happens around him I can see him being stabbed by his own quil at the end of the day. Your guards are a bunch of village idiots without any actual combat training or hunting training and last but not least, that girl you deemed as foolish is a brilliant woman with enough courage and spirit to outmatch any of your guards, she has enough talent and combat skill to shame your puny sheriff and she is the only one working towards a solution while you all cower at your desks, I won''t allow you to mock this girl''s efforts but if I kill you then that would make me bad."


    Natasha cried as Victor defended her against Lazar, she was so overwhelmed with emotion that she run out of the kitchen and hugged him with all of her strength, her tears fell on Victor''s coat and he also raised his hands and pat her head while also hugging and finally acknowledging her skills and efforts. Lazar was shocked at the sight of Natasha embracing Victor with such emotion, he couldn''t mutter a word. Rory was also moved by Victor''s speech and hardly managed to keep a tear from shedding down on his cheek.


    Victor prompted Rory to pack his things and leave Lazar''s house, he knew that he wasn''t welcome there but the situation has escalated and now he can''t just abandon Magnus to it''s suffering, as such, he didn''t plan to leave the town. While he and Rory packed their stuff, Lazar went to his own room and Natasha also packed a bag and met Victor in the living room.


    "If you are leaving then I am coming with you too. After all, I am also deep in all of this."


    Victor didn''t oppose to Natasha''s wish to join them as they left to find another place to spend the night, they needed to find a well-fortified place in case of an attack and also a place where they could get a good meal.


    April 12th, 1798 16:12


    Victor had scouted many inns in the town and he has selected what seems like the best choice when it comes to fortification, the front door has a metal bar that locks it from the inside and the wood seems strong enough to withstand a blast from a musket, he walked up to the innkeeper, Rory and Natasha slightly behind him.


    "I need two rooms, next to each other with single beds."


    The innkeeper slightly intrigued by the lack of politeness from Victor has given him two keys for what he asked, two rooms, next to each other with single beds. Natasha asked Victor about that arrangement as soon as they stood out of the rooms in a hallway that was on the second floor of the inn. The fact that it was elevated also provided useful in case of an attack.


    "Why two rooms with single beds?"


    Natasha asked Victor while he tried to unlock the door of the room.


    "Two of us are going to sleep at one time, one will stand to watch the hallway, we will split the shifts during the night, I don''t want anyone to jump out, just keep an eye out and if we are threatened and only then, we will wake the others up."


    Victor explained that he needed one person awake at all times to be on guard in case of an attack. As soon as they left their stuff at their rooms, they went downstairs to the main room of the inn, a typical pub-like place with a couple of wooden tables and chairs, probably to treat the customers of the inn. They sat down at one of the tables and the innkeeper, a middle-aged man with a long brown beard wearing fine linen clothes has instructed the waitress to go over to them and take their order while he was putting on his apron to probably go in the kitchen. The waitress has walked up to them and they asked for whatever they have for today. The meal was fresh fish with steamed potatoes and a unique type of bread called "pita", a thin, tasty round-shaped flatbread with seasoning.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    April 12th, 1798 17:03


    Not much time later, they all have finished eating and they ordered a couple of mugs filled with ale and they began discussing their plan for destroying the black pools.


    "The plant that Rory has will lead us to the other pools, what we need now is a way to burn them without attracting the Worgs"


    Said Victor and sipped from his mug. Rory provided a possible solution.


    "Do you think that the Worgs are there to protect the pools? If so, then we need a way to remotely trigger an explosion and burn them from afar, that way we won''t be anywhere close."


    At that time, Natasha also wanted to take part in the conversation and decided to suggest an idea.


    "What if we had an explosive with a long fuse, that should give us enough time to move away from danger."


    Rory agreed to that, it''s way easier to have a timed explosive than a remote mechanism. The cost would be less as well. Victor was worried about something though.


    "Whoever is responsible for the monsters clearly wants to defend the black pools, the existence of the Worg proves that he wants to keep things safe, even if we somehow make a fuse long enough to delay the explosion and set fire to the pool, it''s not guaranteed that we will have enough time to plant all of them before we come face to face with one of those things, also we don''t even know how many pools there are."


    Both Rory and Natasha lowered their eyes and saw the fault of their plan, all three of them spent a couple of minutes in silence while trying to think of something. Without any clear plan, Rory suggested,


    "I can try to work something out, I am going to need time though, I will try to work on something during my night shift. First thing in the morning, we will go buy as much Halia root as we can and try to sneakily figure out the exact number of the nesting pools."


    Victor agreed to that idea and made sure to load all of his pistols in preparation for tomorrow, Natasha also loaded three guns as soon as she returned to the room, they couldn''t simply pull out gunpowder and lead bullets at the inn and start reloading guns after all.


    April 12th, 1798 18:59


    With the sun slowly setting, they decided to rest for a while, Natasha had the first shift until 22:00 and the most important. The attacks occurred around that time at night. Rory was at his room working on a design that could be useful to their plan of destroying the pools without having to deal with the Worg, Victor after having all his gear ready decided to sleep for a bit. Time passed and soon the sun was setting for good.


    April 12th, 1798 21:34


    The sun has set, the night is way too quiet, there is nothing out of the ordinary, Natasha didn''t hear or see anything happening, luckily, tonight doesn''t seem like there is going to be an attack at Magnus, Victor woke up from his sleep and geared up to take the second shift that ended at 01:00. He walked outside fully geared up and ready to keep an eye out, Natasha walked into the room that Victor just left and fell asleep immediately as she was way too tired, Rory was also asleep at that time, he spent a couple of hours working on some designs and also planned to work while he is supposed to watch the hallway, he has spotted a small decorative table at the hallway that he could easily turn into a temporary working station. Victor was glad that tonight was also a quiet night, the last thing he wanted was to engage in battle with a pack of Shades.


    April 13th, 1798 00:45


    Time was passing by and soon, Victor''s shift is about to end, Rory has woken up and he has picked a couple of tools and paper rolls to work on his contraption. Victor informed him of what was happening, it''s quiet outside, there are a couple of people that are even walking around at that time, walking home from a pub or from a cabaret. Rory has taken the shift and Victor walked to the empty room to fall asleep once again. While Rory was barely standing straight, having to wake up in the middle of the night and all, he made himself the simple desk he wanted to work with. Not much time later he noticed some movement coming from one of the rooms that Victor and Natasha were presumably sleeping in, he took a look and he saw Natasha coming out of the room, dressed in her sleeping gown, she was walking on the tips of her toes towards the room that Victor was in. Rory smiled,


    "Victor, you lucky bastard."


    Natasha entered Victor''s room, she found him lying on the bed trying to sleep, his weaponry was close enough to grab at a moment''s notice, she lied next to him and started to softly rub her hands across his chest. The previous speech that Victor gave during his argument with Lazar has clearly sparked something inside Natasha. She felt like she could trust him, she felt safe with Victor. He also grabbed her and started to stroke her hair, they made love for a while, passionate love with emotion from both of them, even Victor who up until now hasn''t shown any sign of it.


    April 13th, 1798 01:38


    They made love for about an hour, they stayed on the bed together with Natasha inside Victor''s arms, he hugged her tight and the linen covers of the bed have kept them warm while they lied on the bed. Rory knocked on the door and as soon as he figured that they weren''t in the middle of something, he entered.


    "Sorry to interrupt but there is someone who wants to see you, Victor."


    Victor had already made a move for his sword as soon as he heard the knocking, he thought that Rory implied there was trouble. He stood up, got dressed and also geared up once again, Natasha was still on the bed covered with the brown linen cover, worried as to what was happening at that time. Victor walked out of the room, he saw Rory standing there with what seemed a squad of guards and the sheriff, Diego Pearson who as soon as he noticed Victor he said,


    "Ah, Mr.Hill. I understand that this is a weird request but I had hoped that we could share a drink, as it seems the night is quiet and I would like your company. We started off badly but I hope we can better our relationship over some drinks, my treat of course."


    Victor was curious about what this was but he felt like he had to comply with Diego''s request. He walked downstairs with him, the small squad of guards was also behind them, fully armed with three swordsmen and two riflemen.


    "I see you are walking around with a personal guard, Mr.Pearson."


    Said Victor while pointing at Diego''s squad.


    "Even at a night as quiet as this, I must take precautions, you never know what''s going to happen in these times. I suggest going to another place for our drinks though, I don''t like the ale they serve here."


    Diego prompted to move to another location, that picked Victor''s interest but he still walked with him outside of the inn, the street was empty, the dim light of the lanterns barely gave off enough light to see where they were walking, Diego was leading the way and Victor walked beside him. Dim fog engulfed the streets that they walked, Diego seemed to know where he was going despite the obstructed visibility though. At some point, they ended at the harbor, there was no one around the place, the only thing that they could see was the lake and a couple of fish boats tied at the harbor.


    Diego was standing at the edge of the harbor with Victor next to him and the guards just in front of them, that''s was the moment where Diego walked to his guards and broke the awkward silence.


    "You have been messing around with some dangerous stuff, Mr.Hill. You dared to insult me in my own town, your actions in the forest have also brought shame to me and my guards, the townspeople have begun calling my men incompetent, I cannot allow this."


    Victor knew what this was all about, he had figured out everything while they were walking, he made sure to check where they were going and he knew that there wasn''t any pub around there.


    "So? What is your plan, Pearson?"


    Said Victor and placed his hand on his sword.


    "You are going to become fish food, Mr.Hill."

 Chapter 8: Accused for Murder

    April 13th, 1798 02:26


    Victor is cornered by Diego''s men, five soldiers, three men holding their swords and two men pointing their rifles at him, with his back against the ice-cold waters of the lake. Victor isn''t shaken at all, his fearless expression still remains even at this situation, his cold, emotionless gaze is fixed on Diego, piercing him with killing intent,


    "Tell your men to drop their weapons."


    Said Victor while his hand was on the hilt of his sword, fully ready to be drawn. Diego burst laughing as he also drew his sword and pointed it at Victor.


    "Haha, you can''t be serious, Mr.Hill. Do you realize the situation here?"


    Victor sighed as he heard Diego''s words, he looked straight into his eyes,


    "This situation is going to end one way. With your head rolling by my feet."


    Diego got furious from Victor''s remark, he turned his back to walk away as he whispered to his men,


    "Kill him."


    The three swordsmen lashed at Victor all at the same time, he parried all of their swings with lighting fast reflexes, the power of his parry was so strong that it made the men lose their balance, he used that opportunity to slice the neck of one of the soldiers, blood was flowing like a fountain from the guards slit throat as the two remaining men made their attacks again, Victor parried one of the swings again and drove the blade back to one of them, stabbing him in the stomach, with one remaining soldier holding his sword close to Victor, the riflemen couldn''t shoot unless they risked killing their own man. Diego shocked by the sounds of the fight turned to take a look, he was shocked to see his men dying and he yelled at the rest of them,


    "Don''t stand there, shoot him!"


    The two riflemen looked at Diego confused, then they looked at each other for a moment before cocking their guns and taking aim, Victor took the body of the stabbed guard and used it to block the bullets from the riflemen, one of them hit the back of the body but the other one got Victor on the leg. He threw the dead body at the remaining swordsman and knocked him on the ground with the corpse on top of him. Then he took the already dead guards sword and stabbed the corpse so viciously that it also penetrated the man underneath it, killing the last of the sword-wielding guards. The riflemen tried to reload as fast as they could but with the flintlock guns, it took a lot of time to reload. Victor pulled out the sword once again and using both of his hands, he threw his sword and the guards sword at the heads of the riflemen, killing them instantly.


    Diego was frozen, he was terrified, all five of his men were dead and now he was the only one still standing, Victor picked up some speed and rushed towards the dead riflemen, he pulled his sword out of the skull of the guards and with a swift strike he chopped Diego''s head clean of his shoulders leaving behind a headless body spewing blood out.


    April 13th, 1798 02:31


    Victor left six lifeless bodies on the harbor, he walked back to the inn, lucky for him, the innkeeper was asleep, his clothes were drenched with blood and his leg was badly wounded by the gunshot. He walked back upstairs where Rory was still waiting,


    "What did you do?"


    Rory asked Victor after witnessing the state he was in. Without hesitation, Victor went inside his room and he found Natasha still waiting in the bed, she also was shocked by the sight of Victor being covered in blood, she figured that after so many provocations, someone would try to kill Victor, Diego wasn''t exactly the kind of man to take in insults but what picked Victor''s interest was something he said before the fight broke out.


    Victor walked to the bathroom and tried to clean the wound, he removed his clothes and asked Natasha to wash the blood off them, he also asked Rory to help him with the gunshot wound. Rory got a tweezer from his toolkit and removed as many bullet fragments as he could, the bullet had shattered and inflicted more damage than it looked at Victor''s leg, along with his tweezers and a scalpel to remove and clean around the wound he also used some alcohol. Natasha was out of words for the whole situation, Victor explained to them that Diego Pearson assaulted him with five town guards and he had to kill them all, astonished by the achievement and also terrified of the consequences such an action would bring, she stayed quiet and did exactly what Victor told her.


    April 13th, 1798 03:46


    It took a while to thoroughly clean the wound and stitch it back, at this point, Victor brought all of them inside the room to talk to them about his plan.


    "You two should leave, you need to go back to the Barnes mansion and hide."


    Natasha didn''t expect to hear these kinds of words from him, she saw how badly injured Victor was and she wanted to tend to him.


    "We need to stay here and look after you, with these wounds, you need someone to care to them."


    Victor sighed, he raised his hand and softly touched Natasha''s cheek as he spoke,


    "No, if I am not mistaken, Pearson wouldn''t be working alone, I am certain that as soon as someone sees the bodies on the harbor, they are going to report it, if Pearson wanted me dead, he has an accomplice. They are going to come to arrest me for certain, you can''t be here or else you two will also be held accountable. Rory, I need you to check who is going to make the report, there were no eyewitnesses so the one who reports my name will probably be Pearson''s collaborator. He told me that we meddled with some stuff we shouldn''t, I feel like there is something else we are missing. I need both of you to work together and destroy the nesting pools, I will try to find a way out in the meantime. "


    Rory agreed to help Victor, Natasha didn''t want to leave his side but still abided to his directions, they both left the inn and made sure that no one was around to spot them, they walked to Lazar''s house and both Rory and Natasha got to sleep to make it look like they were staying there the whole night, Victor also lied down on his bed at the inn and waited for morning to see if his theory was correct.


    April 13th, 1798 06:14


    Victor woke up from a knocking on his door, Lazar Barnes burst in the room along with ten guards fully armed,If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    "Victor Hill, you are under arrest for the murder of Diego Pearson and five law enforcement personnel, you are required to disarm yourself and surrender to be brought into court."


    Victor knew that there would be some sort of consequences for what he did, even if Diego was the one who basically initiated the fight, he still killed six men and there was no way to prove his innocence, what is strange though is how did Lazar found out he was the one behind the kills with no eyewitnesses.


    Without a second thought, Victor accepted his arrest and followed Lazar to the guard''s post where they put him to a jail cell and shackled his ankles and hands with iron chains, they also left a piece of moldy bread on the ground of the cell, the cell was just a corner of the room separated by the iron bars and the overall flooring was just some hay and the occasional feces that were left behind by some other arrested individuals. Victor found a spot where he figured there weren''t any droppings and he sat down waiting patiently to find out his punishment.


    Meanwhile, Rory and Natasha just woke up from their sleep, the first thing they did was to get dressed and go to the guardhouse to see if Victor''s theory was correct, they saw Victor in the cell just casually sitting down, with the sheriff dead, someone had to take command of the station, as such, Lazar was sitting at the office of the late Diego Pearson. Rory and Natasha rushed inside the office to ask a few questions.


    "Uncle? Why is Victor in jail?"


    Natasha spoke as if she knew nothing about the whole situation, she tried to sound as genuine as possible while asking. Rory also wanted to hear the explanation that Lazar would offer as to why Victor was imprisoned.


    "Mr.Hill is guilty of the murder of Diego Pearson, the sheriff and five guards, their bodies were found earlier today at the harbor by some fishermen."


    Rory had to question that reasoning to find out more about the case.


    "So, if the bodies were discovered this morning, what kind of proof is there that Victor is responsible?"


    Lazar froze for a second, he didn''t have an answer to that question and Rory knew it, he also knew that if he mentions the name of the accuser then that would reveal the collaborator. At that moment, Lazar was saved by the arrival of the local priest, F.Lucian who interrupted the conversation,


    "Mr.Barnes, if I may, I need your approval and the funding to take care of the funeral and ceremony for the late Mr.Pearson, as he had no family in town, I would assume the expenses to be covered by you."


    Victor heard everything from his cell, he didn''t move at all but instead he simply listened even more carefully to the conversation of Lazar and F.Lucian. Rory also stood aside and let the two men discuss their matter as he waited for his turn to speak, Rory was a polite person and he would never try to interrupt a priest while speaking, he had a deep respect for those who work for God. Before leaving, F.Lucian also walked close to the cell that Victor was occupying and prompted him to come closer to discuss something.


    "I feel very sorry for the death of Mr.Pearson but I can''t help to think that he knew what he was messing with. I just hope that if you are found innocent Mr.Hill, you would leave this place and never return, I don''t want to witness the death of others by your hand."


    That''s what F.Lucian whispered to Victor who at this point looked him straight in his eyes and replied,


    "How are you so sure that I am responsible for the death of Pearson? The only proof I can imagine that you possess is the wounds on the bodies of the victims."


    F.Lucian also didn''t have any solid proof to provide but instead provided reasoning for Victor''s arrest,


    "The bodies all died from a bladed weapon, Mr.Hill. There is no other suspect then you, criminals are executed in Magnus, even if I don''t condone such punishment since the Lord is the only one who can give or take life, that''s the laws of this town, there is no one who would have a grudge against Mr.Pearson but you."


    Rory stepped in that conversation as he was standing closer and he overheard them,


    "Is that enough proof to condemn someone to death, Father?"


    F.Lucian did not respond to Rory''s question but instead turned his head and walked towards the door to leave, Lazar entered the room and announced the sentence to Victor and the rest of them.


    "Victor Hill, by the authority that has been given to me by the people of this town I hereby sentence you to death by public hanging, the hour of your execution will be two days from now on the 15th of April."


    Both Rory''s and Natasha''s eyes saddened as they heard those words, they know how it all happened but they had no way to prove it. Natasha was too shaken by the whole situation but Rory was more accustomed to troublesome events and he kept his mind straight, he knew what he had to do. If by any chance he can find Diego''s collaborator then he could make them withdraw the charges as there is no other proof other than the fake eyewitness that reported the crime.


    April 13th, 1798 08:17


    Rory and Natasha have split up and agreed to ask around town about the death of Diego Pearson, the whole town was in shock to find out that the head of the guards was dead, Diego represented the defense line of Magnus against the Shades, he was the one who assigned his men to guard the town, he was in charge of managing the defensive structures of the town. More or less, Diego Pearson was a trusted man and a lot of the townsfolk felt at ease with his presence, there were, of course, those that shared a different opinion. Some thought Pearson to be "a good for nothing" airhead with too much power in his hands. There were those who felt like he was incompetent and had taken advantage of the increased taxes to build a fortune with the excuse of using that funding to strengthen the defenses of the town.


    Despite their best efforts, neither Rory nor Natasha were able to find out who accused Victor of the assault, at that point Rory had another thought, he tried to remember the closest people to Diego, he met up with Natasha outside of the Barnes mansion and didn''t hesitate at all to ask her,


    "What if the person behind this is Lazar?"


    Natasha''s eyes widened, she didn''t expect to hear that from Rory at all, even if she was a bit angry for that accusation of her uncle, she couldn''t deny that possibility. After all, the closest people to Diego were Lazar Barnes and F.Lucian White. She didn''t want to admit it but Rory had a point,


    "I know that my uncle has some temper issues but I can''t possibly imagine staging a public execution just because he was provoked by someone, no matter what Victor said to him, my uncle would never do something so horrific."


    Rory understood Natasha''s feelings, he knew that what he said would probably sound insane to her, after all, Lazar is her uncle, he took her in when her parents died, as a single woman she could not really support her own in these times and Lazar took responsibility for her, she loved him despite the constant arguments for her lifestyle and decisions. Natasha had a deep respect for her uncle but her newfound feelings for Victor had also affected her. She couldn''t pick a side. Rory understood that and tried to ease her mind.


    "I am not saying that your uncle is a bad person, Natasha but I don''t have the same trust as you do, what do you say we simply try to talk to him. Maybe he can at least shine some light to the whole fiasco."


    These words calmed Natasha a bit, she agreed to that plan and decided to try and talk to Lazar later that day when he returns home from the guard barracks, the plan was for Natasha to play along with him and try to win him over to expose any information he may have while Rory is hiding nearby and listens to the conversation, in the meantime, he said that he was close to finishing a contraption that may help them with the destruction of the nesting pools, he asked for a quiet room to work.


    "You can use the study, my uncle doesn''t really spend any time in there, it''s mostly occupied by papers about the town''s expenses and other stuff. You should have enough quiet to work on the weapon, I will look in the market for any supplies you may need."


    April 13th, 1798 12:43


    Rory is working on what seems to be a bomb, Natasha has offered to bring him any supplies he might need but instead what she was actually doing was trying to keep her mind off the idea that her uncle might have something to do with Victor''s execution, as of now, one thing is for certain, time is working against them as Victor''s execution is on the horizon and they also have to find a way to destroy the nesting pools without him. Victor was supposed to provide the cover they needed in case the plan didn''t work out perfectly and they get face to face with another of those terrible beasts. With Rory having no need for any additional supplies, Natasha went to see F.Lucian at the church for now...

 Chapter 9: Destroy The Source

    April 13th, 1798 13:06


    Natasha has gone to see F.Lucian for emotional support, despite the fact that Diego Pearson was a friend of father Lucian White, Natasha wanted to see F.Lucian and discuss Victor''s innocence and any chance of him being released. F.Lucian was always a considerate man with devotion and faith. He never discriminated against anyone and never held bad feelings for anyone. In his eyes, everyone needs faith and support, those who have fallen even more. Natasha has hoped to see F.Lucian and also report her findings of the tar pools and their purpose. With this new information, the council might take action in a different manner and she didn''t feel comfortable discussing that with Lazar since she expected his answer to be negative. Lazar didn''t want Natasha to meddle any more with the Shades.


    She has entered the church and approached the confession booth, once she heard the sliding window open, she began talking with F.Lucian.


    "Father, I wanted to talk to since you hold a position in the town''s council."


    Father Lucian very calmly and respectfully answered,


    "I am just a worker of God, I have tried to help the people of this town find their place next to God, my position in the council doesn''t give me any jurisdiction, I will however listen to what you have to say, my child."


    Natasha felt a certain warmth from the priest''s words, almost like a soothing poem meant to calm down any soul fortunate enough to listen to it. She felt so relaxed and calm that she immediately confessed everything that was on her mind,


    "I have fallen in love with Victor Hill, father, I cannot bear the thought of him in a prison cell, waiting for his death. I am prepared to change everything to get him out. If my uncle wants me to get married and start a family, if he wants me to never touch a sword again, I will do it to get Victor out. He is the only one I have acknowledged and if I am to start a family then I want to do it with this man. But my uncle holds a grudge against him, his strong opposition and his harsh comments against my uncle is the reason that Victor is behind bars, waiting to be executed. There is no other proof that he is responsible for the death of Mr.Pearson."


    Despite the sudden emotional honesty that took over Natasha, she was smart enough to twist the conversation to a place where F.Lucian would have to reveal any kind of information he might had, she claimed that Victor was convicted without any actual proof other than Lazar''s anger and the previous arguments between him and Victor.


    "I don''t want to ruin your hope, my child, but I am sure the mayor is doing his best for his town, if he believes that Mr.Hill is responsible for the death of...any man, he has to do his duty and remove that man from this town."


    Natasha''s eyes started to get wet from the tears as she started to lose hope for Victor, even in the face of his own death, chained to a cell, he never panicked or lose any composure, he gave them instructions and also tried his best to help the town, the same town that has him imprisoned. With whatever emotional strength she could muster, she explained everything to F.Lucian, she told him about the worg, about the tar pools and about Rory''s plan to make a weapon to use to destroy the nesting pools from a safe distance without triggering that defense mechanism of the worg. She thought that even if she can''t save the man she loves she can at least do her duty and save her town. She also asked F.Lucian to relay that information to Lazar since he was his friend and a member of the council. She wasn''t sure if Lazar would listen to her or Rory.


    April 13th, 1798 13:47


    Lazar is still at the sheriff''s office finishing some paperwork, as soon as he was done, he stood up and walked towards Victor''s cell, he saw him sitting there with a blank expression, almost like a doll, not moving a muscle, not saying a word. Most people would try to cause a ruckus in the cells, shout out for their innocence or curse at the guards. Demand food or water or a better cell, but Victor was sitting there silent. Lazar approached him to tell him what no one wants to hear.


    "So, Mr.Hill, the day of your death is going to be tomorrow at noon. You will die by beheading with a new French invention, the guillotine."


    Victor raised his eyes and met Lazar''s gaze, he looked directly at him and responded to that claim with absolute focus and certainty,


    "By tomorrow noon, one way or another, I will be out of here, Mr.Barnes."


    Lazar huffed at Victor''s claim and dangled the keys in front of him as an attempt to mock his bravado. He left the office and head straight to his office to finish up some more paperwork considering the expenses for Diego''s funeral and the guards that also died the last night. All the expenses will be covered by the town as Lazar was responsible for handling the taxes and the town''s vault where all the money was kept. He left a guard behind to watch over Victor at the guard station and made his way towards his office.


    Meanwhile, Rory was working on his contraption at the Barnes mansion, he had plenty of time and resources to work with, he looked ecstatic at the sight of his invention. After making almost a dozen of these weapons, he left the mansion in an attempt to find Natasha and see if she has any news about Victor''s case at the moment. He packed a bag and head out to meet her at the church where she last said she was headed. On the road though, he remembered that he also had to ask around about the one who filled the report for Victor''s arrest. So he headed towards the main street where most of the taverns and inns were and also a couple of high-class establishments.


    The people in this town have made sure to advertise the existence of whorehouses and brothels to newcomers and also the cabarets. There was a huge difference in the views of the people for these kinds of entertainment places. Some were very pleased to have such establishments at their town and made sure to let travelers know about them and others felt ashamed for the situation and the fall of Magnus. The town was built to make use of the fishing at the lake and the founder was a devoted follower of God. The founder of the town, Magnus was also the one who instructed the church to be built. It was one of his first orders as soon as he had established his position in the town as the founder and the first mayor.


    April 13th, 1798 15:02


    Rory had no luck asking around about the person who reported the incident and Natasha had also struck out when she asked her own acquaintances. Without any change in plans, they both returned to the Barnes mansion where the met.


    "I have perfected the weapon, we can take care of the nesting pools without being close to them, we have to go there and plant them though."


    Rory explained his plan to Natasha who wasn''t feeling so well with Victor''s situation. As of now, it''s beneficial that she doesn''t know the exact time of Victor''s execution because if she did know then it''s not sure what she would be ready to finish the task. She felt a bit better after receiving Rory''s news of the weapon, he explained to her how it worked,


    "All right, what we need to do is find the pools and plant these explosives in, I have made a trigger that''s going to ignite the gun powder as soon as I cast an immolation spell. I have implemented a scribe into the weapon that''s gonna trigger the second I cast the spell. I am going to need a few pieces of tallow though to perform the spell. It''s a simple warmth spell originally created by am alchemist to heat up certain elements but with my tweaks, it''s gonna ignite the fuze for the bombs from a safe distance."This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    Natasha momentarily forgot everything and was ecstatic to finally have some good news, Rory instructed her to go see Victor and tell him about that plan, also tell him that they have no information about the person who reported the assault. In the meantime, Rory was planning to go into the forest and very carefully plant the explosives, they have very little time left before the sun begins to set and they don''t want another attack to occur. Lazar has thrown them out of the mansion and without Victor, there is no guarantee that they will be able to fend off an attack while sleeping at an inn.


    Natasha didn''t waste a second, she went to see Victor at the guard post and tell him their plan to take care of the nests, she also wanted to hear if he has thought of something to get himself out of the prison, she needed to hear something from Victor to regain her confidence and courage.


    Rory made his way to the forest, there was no sign of hesitation inside him as he walked in the forest and used the Halia root to find out the location of the nesting pools, one by one the Halia plants withered from the ambient black sorcery, one by one he found the pools and one by one he planted the bombs inside them, he used a piece of fishing line to lower each explosive to the bottom of the pools and made sure not to disturb them as he didn''t want to face of against a worg. The number of the pools was nine, nine pools were responsible for spawning the Shades. Judging by the length of the fishing line, Rory made the assumption that the pools were deeper than they appear, he thought that perhaps the pools were also a hiding place for the Shades. Without any solid proof though, that was just a theory.


    April 13th, 1798 15:18


    While Rory is at the forest planting the explosives with the utmost care, Natasha has gone to see Victor at the guardhouse, the guard standing outside the post has seen Natasha and upon recognizing her has let her enter without any questioning, she walked right up to Victor''s cell and saw him sitting down. She felt weird while looking at him locked up, she called for him and as soon as he heard her voice, Victor stood up. Natasha turned to face the guard that was watching Victor,


    "Can you leave us alone for a minute, I would appreciate it very much and I will also tell my uncle about your kindness and virtue, you can expect to be rewarded for such a favor."


    The guard was enchanted by Natasha''s words and beauty and at the sound of the reward. There was no way for Victor to escape anyway, nothing is going to happen if he gives them just one minute to talk. After all, Victor was to be executed the next day, the least he can ask is for a visitor. The guard complied and walked to the next room while informing them that they have a couple of minutes before he comes back.


    "Did you find anything about the report?"


    Is what Victor asked Natasha as soon as they were alone, she placed her hand on his cheek and ever so gently stroked his thin facial hair,


    "I am sorry, no one knows anything about the report. I can''t possibly imagine my uncle behind this."


    Natasha mentioned that her uncle might have something to do with the report and the assault since Rory mentioned it before, her eyes were filled with tears since she couldn''t do anything to help Victor.


    "For now, you will have to stay here, Rory has already begun the plan to destroy the pools, I am sure that as soon as that is taken care off, my uncle will show you some favor and let you out, it might take a while, a couple of days, maybe a week. You will see, my uncle isn''t the kind of man to let heroic acts unrewarded. I am sure that as soon as your partner takes care of the Shades, you will be let free."


    Victor averted his gaze from Natasha for a second, he looked at the ground and then back up to meet her eyes, deep inside him he knew that he had no way out of this situation.


    "You might be right, I hope Rory is doing ok."


    Natasha leaned in towards the cell, she got closer and kissed Victor on the lips, despite their conversation being short, that gave her the emotional support she needed. The guard walked back in and informed them that their time was up,


    "Ok, Ms.Price, I sorry but you have to go."


    Natasha walked out of the guardhouse and towards the Barnes mansion, she geared up to meet Rory to the designated position, just outside of the north gate of the town, that''s where they decided to meet up.


    April 13th, 1798 18:54


    Natasha has waited for Rory to appear from the forest, it took him a while to find all the pools and plant the explosives but thanks to some good luck he managed to finish the task, he saw her standing a bit away from the gate and leaning against the outer wall some distance away from the gate,


    "Are you ready for this? This is going to end a whole year of horror for your town, Natasha."


    Natasha didn''t think that she would hear those words, for the past year she has devoted all of her time to deal with the constant attacks from the Shades, unable to fight them head-on, with no hope for salvation. She was happy that after all this time she can take revenge for all those who have lost their lives to the Shades, her parents included.


    "Please, Rory, do it."


    Rory began to chant the spell, Natasha had already brought some tallow for him from the mansion so he was able to perform the spell right there, she noticed a sudden flare in his eyes as was chanting the spell. It was like nothing she had ever seen, despite also researching sorcery. Rory definitely had talent and experience in that sort of thing. There was no sign of it going off, no sound, no fire, at some point, Rory just finished chanting and he turned to face Natasha with a huge grin on his face.


    "It''s done. The bombs have ignited, in a couple of seconds they will explode and the flammable oil will burn the pools completely."


    A few seconds passed and they could hear the explosions going off in the forest, there was a slight delay between each explosion mainly due to the difference in the fuze length, not the igniting part. With the explosions taken care of, they stood ready to see what would happen, will any worg show up at the town? Or maybe they show up to the location of the pools like last time. A couple of minutes have passed since the last explosion and there was no sign of attack, with the night still getting closer. If everything went according to plan, the attacks should stop. They have no other choice but to head back to the mansion and wait for the night to come.


    April 13th, 1798 20:59


    The sun has already begun to set, the streets of Magnus are starting to get darker and darker, the everlasting fear of the residents still lies within them. They don''t know if they will be safe. They don''t know of the monster hunter''s plan to destroy the nesting pools, they can simply hope to make it through the night. They are unaware of the efforts that Victor, Rory and Natasha have put to keep them safe, Victor is still in his cell. He is still sitting down silent. No matter what happens to the Shades and the pools, his execution is decided. Time always flows forward and at noon, Victor is going to die. He thought about sleeping but that would just shorten his last moments even more. He just sat there waiting, the last thing that has crossed his mind was Natasha. How she would react when she finds out tomorrow that he will be executed. The silence in the cell is broken when the front door of the guardhouse is opened, Victor can hear footsteps coming towards him from the other room. If Natasha has somehow found out about his execution, then what?


    What is he going to say to her? How is he going to calm her down? Victor keeps hearing the footsteps coming closer and closer, the door opens and Victor finally sees who it is. F.Lucian. He has entered the guardhouse at this night. He walks closer to Victor''s cell,


    "Mr.Hill, I require your assistance, I have an approved letter for your release."


    He said as he showed the guard a piece of paper signed for Victor''s release, the guard opened the cell and let Victor out to go with F.Lucian.


    "What is this about?"


    Asked Victor confused as to why he is being let out while his execution was already decided.


    "I finally know who is responsible for the attacks on this town and I need your help to defeat him, I have brought with me a stake dipped in holy water and blessed by many priests. With this weapon, we will be able to kill him."


    Said F.Lucian while escorting Victor to the other room to pick up the rest of his confiscated gear.


    Meanwhile, Rory and Natasha have already returned to the Barnes mansion, Rory was exhausted so he headed to the living room and fell asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow. Natasha decided to take a bath, while she was returning to her room so that she could also sleep she noticed something coming from the living room, the shadow of a person. It was Lazar, he was standing just a couple meters away from where Rory was sleeping and holding a big knife.

 Chapter 10: A Monster Hunter

    April 13th, 1798 21:00


    Natasha came upon a strange sight, in the dim light of the living room, she sees, her uncle, Lazar Barnes standing above Rory holding a knife. She is shocked, Rory is sleeping soundly and Lazar is slowly approaching Rory. Out of pure instinct, Natasha screams, Rory wakes up and at this point, Lazar tries desperately to stab Rory with the knife. He barely dodges a lethal blow and instead, the knife makes a small cut in Rory''s side. His experience as a monster hunter helps him at this moment to recover from the blow and sweep Lazar''s legs with a kick. Lazar drops on the ground and the knife leaves his hands. Natasha opens the lights and Rory picks up the knife with one hand and applies some pressure on his wound with the other. He now points the knife at Lazar who is on his knees in front of him. Natasha rushes over to see what is going on.


    "What''s happening? Uncle?"


    Lazar looks at the ground, his gaze is full of uncertainty and sadness. He takes a look at Natasha and with tears in his eyes he says,


    "I am sorry, Natasha. I have failed. I have failed this town, I have failed my sister and your father. I have failed you."


    Rory kicks Lazar in the stomach and prompts him to stand up while still threatening him with the knife. Natasha looks at that scene and goes over to Rory,


    "What are you doing?"


    Rory turns to face her but still keeps eye contact with Lazar.


    "What am I doing? Your uncle tried to kill me."


    At this point, he shifts his attention to Lazar,


    "What was the meaning of this, Mr.Barnes?"


    Lazar''s gaze drops to the floor and he takes a deep breath, he slowly lifts his eyes and tries to give an explanation.


    "I...I tried to kill you, Mr.Grant. I didn''t want it to come into this, you were supposed to fail at the job like everybody else and then..."


    Rory and Natasha were confused, they both wanted to ask the same question but Natasha took the lead.


    "What do you mean? Fail at the job? Uncle? What are you trying to say?"


    Lazar was shaking at this point, it was clear that he couldn''t handle the pressure of the situation, he tried his best though to reveal his intentions.


    "Father Lucian said it would be fine, he said that we could pull this off till the end...He said that no one would find out


    Rory was already furious and at this point, he yelled at Lazar who seemed to have completely lost his sense.


    "I don''t understand you! Explain, I want to know everything!"


    Lazar averted his eyes from Rory momentarily out of fear and as soon as he took a couple of short breaths to catch up, he explained more,


    "It''s...It''s Magnus."


    Natasha was confused by the mention of the town''s founder, she had to ask.


    "What? What does the founder have to do here?"


    Lazar''s eyes were full with tears of regret as he told them everything,


    "It''s Magnus, the founder of this town. He is the one behind the attacks of the Shades."


    Rory and Natasha were shocked, at this point, they demanded a fulfilling answer from Lazar.


    "I told you to explain everything to me!"


    Once again, scared and covered with tears, Lazar tries to explain to Rory what has been happening,


    "The founder of this town, Magnus. Word has it that he was a man of faith, he loved God. A conservative and righteous man. He wasn''t always like that though. Before the birth of this town, Magnus was a fisherman, he never had the fortune he desired, his wife took their kids and abandoned him. There he stood, at the edge of a forest when he met a powerful witch. She told him that he could get anything he wanted. The greed in his heart asked for his own town to rule, a town that would flourish economically. He didn''t know the consequences of his actions. The witch gave him what he asked for, the lake had more fish than water, at last, e had a way to achieve the wealth he dreamed of, he built a small town at the edge of the lake, soon other fishermen heard of the thriving lake near Magnus'' place. The town grew bigger and bigger with more people willing to stay there, the town grew rapidly and the economy flourished. Magnus ruled over the town for years, but then, the witch came back to claim her prize. She asked for 10 children of the village as compensation, Magnus refused her so instead she cursed him to become a shadow in a week''s time."


    Lazar began to tell the story of the founder, both Rory and Natasha stood there listening carefully and tried not to interrupt him just to see where he was going with this.


    "Magnus was desperate, he was cursed to become a shadow creature in 7 days. That''s when he accepted the love of the Lord, he devoted his life to him, he asked the men of the town to build a church in town. He thought that if he tried hard enough to be a righteous man, God would help him. Without any more time, Magnys instructed the church to finish construction and then he vanished from the town. The next mayor carried on his wishes and the church was built. The town once again thrived economically thanks to the fishing. It wasn''t long before the town grew too much and other kinds of businesses opened up shop in town. Soon, taverns, inns, brothels and cabarets opened up in town. The growing population of the town and the constant travelers kept such businesses rich with coins. It all seemed to work out until the town fell on my shoulders. Soon after I became mayor, we held a council with the three heads of the town, me, Father Lucian and Diego Pearson. We discussed how the town was doing economically and we were very pleased to see it flourish. During our meeting though, we had a special guest. We were visited by a shadow creature, it was Magnus. He appeared before us in a weird form that left us all in shock. He claimed that we should close down every unholy and lustful place in town. He told us that it was immoral to have such establishments in town and exploit them for financial gain. Both Pearson and Father Lucian declined that, they had their reasoning tainted by greed. That was one year ago, the founder said we would suffer consequences. The next night, we had an attack by the Shades. It was the founder, he came to us again and said that he would continue to send more and more creatures to eradicate all the people of this town. With all three of us blinded by greed though, we continued to ignore him, we tried to come up with a plan to defend the town. Magnus said that the lake would stop producing, that''s when it all began."You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    Rory was tired with the whole storytelling and hit Lazar again, Natasha tried to hold him back but after being threatened for his life, Rory wouldn''t just keep very calm.


    "Get to the point!"


    Lazar fell on his knees once again and continued.


    "That''s when our greed exceeded even that of actual demons. We tried to exploit the situation to make ourselves even wealthier. I raised the taxes with the excuse of strengthening our defenses against the Shades. Some of the money went to Pearson and I kept the rest. Pearson would hire inexperienced men to look like he was doing his job, he dispatched several of such men into the forest with the false image of trying to solve things. All he did was send men to their death. The money we took from the taxes was beginning to pile up and Father Lucian also got a lot from the funerals of the soldiers that were supposed to be covered by the town. With such a convenient excuse that fell on our laps, we could do a lot of money laundering and move gold around to each of our pockets from the taxes. When some of the sharp people in town complained about the lack of results we came up with another idea. We offered rewards to monster hunters, we gave them very little information about their tasks and promised a good reward to attract monster hunters. All of them were also excited about the reward and rushed to the forest where they met their deaths. That made it look like I was doing my best to offer safety to the citizens and also gave me another excuse to increase the taxes."


    Rory and Natasha were shocked by Lazar''s words. They couldn''t believe what they heard. The town''s council was covering the whole thing up and exploited the citizens to make themselves richer.


    "You are a disgusting man, Lazar Barnes."


    Said Rory with clear pity in his voice. Natasha was just overwhelmed by the whole thing and had to sit down, she couldn''t even look Lazar in the face.


    "I wanted to stop, I wanted to make it all right from the start. It was Father Lucian who talked us into continuing the whole charade, he brought the cabaret owners in it as well. He extorted more money from them so that they could keep their businesses and when they heard about the situation, we used some of the tax money to fortify the establishments. In return, they stayed quiet about the whole thing and they also made more money. It was a win-win situation for all of us. I wanted to stop, believe me, Natasha. I didn''t want to do any of this."


    Rory then remembered what happened earlier,


    "Is that why Pearson went after Victor?"


    Lazar had no choice at this point to sincerely answer,


    "Yes, when you and Hill managed to make such progress with the whole thing, Father Lucian thought that you might pose a problem to our plan, he talked Pearson into assaulting Victor Hill. Despite his failure though, we managed to capture him and order his execution."


    Rory placed the knife at Lazar''s throat, despite the fact that Natasha tried to stop Rory up to this point from torturing Lazar, she didn''t have the emotional stability at the moment to do so.


    "You are going to let Victor out right now. Do you hear me?"


    Said Rory. Lazar replied with bad news though.


    "I would if I could, I never wanted any of this to happen. With your latest accomplishment though, the founder that still lies in the forest isn''t able to send more of his creatures to attack. Father Lucian went for Hill earlier today."


    Rory''s mind filled with anger, he pressed the knife a little bit into his neck, just enough to leave a scratch.


    "What do you mean he went for him!?"


    Lazar''s trembling voice revealed the last piece of their plan.


    "Father Lucian broke Hill out of his cell earlier with the promise of leading him to the source of the attacks and letting him free, as we speak, they should already be in the forest."


    Rory punched Lazar on the ground,


    "That son of a bitch!"


    Natasha''s eyes were also filled with tears up to this point, she had no idea about the execution and Victor tried not to let her know when she went earlier that day to see him.


    "You won''t make it in time, Father Lucian will kill him."


    Rory punched Lazar unconscious on the floor as he mumbled,


    "Victor is going to be fine, worry about yourself."


    Meanwhile, April 13th, 1798 21:05


    Victor and Father Lucian are walking in the forest looking for the source of the attacks, Father Lucian has told Victor that the one responsible for the attacks is Magnus himself, he is now a shadow creature and the only way to defeat him is a secret plan he has. He revealed a crimson red stake as he explained his plan to Victor.


    "This is a stake made from ancient acacia wood and blessed by 12 priests, it has enough power to send every spawn of darkness back to hell."


    Victor was intrigued by the weapon that Father Lucian had with him,


    "I see..."


    It wasn''t for long until they found what they were looking for, while deep in the forest, they saw a shadowy figure, a humanoid figure with a dark robe floating slightly above the ground, it stopped right in front of them as it began talking to them,


    "Ah...Your will is very strong."


    Said the shadow as it pointed towards Victor with a boney black finger. With his eyes focused on the figure and it''s movements, VIctor was too late to notice Father Lucian lifting the stake up until it was too late, he tried to stab Victor in the chest with the stake but with Victor''s reflexes, he managed to place his arm in the way of the thrust. The stake pierced clean to the other side of his forearm as he turned to face Father Lucian who at this point was scared for whatever was coming his way.


    "I...I can explain, Mr.Hill..."


    Victor placed both his hands on Father Lucian''s head and without a single word, he snapped his neck with a swift twist of his head killing him instantly. The stake was still embedded in Victor''s forearm. The shadow then slowly approached VIctor who stood above the lifeless body of Father Lucian.


    "You...You are strong...Wise...You will save the town and lead it...To become what it was supposed to be..."


    Victor answered to that statement with a low subtle voice,


    "I am not a hero, nor a leader. I am a monster hunter."


    The shadow talked to Victor as he turned to face it, he looked at the shadow for a single moment before removing the stake from his forearm and with a swift move stab the shadow in what seemed to be its head. With a loud scream and a massive amount of smoke, the shadow vanished from that place, clearly, the stake had done what it was supposed to do and Victor began to walk back to the town after using a piece of clothing he ripped from the priest''s attire to dress up his wound.


    April 14, 1798 00:04


    After returning to the Barnes mansion, Victor met up with Rory at the entrance and he informed him of the situation. Victor went to the bathroom and with Natasha''s help, he properly tended to his wound from the stake. Rory escorted Lazar to the prison and put him in a cell. Needless to say, he didn''t resist at all to his arrest and willingly walked inside the cell after signing a document that surrendered the title of the town mayor to his niece, Natasha. When Rory returned to the mansion to get some rest, he figured that Victor and Natasha went to bed together so he just lied to the sofa and fell to sleep. Natasha after tending to Victor''s wound invited him to a bath with her. After that they lied on the bed. Once again, Victor and Natasha made passionate love for the rest of the night...


    April 14, 1798 06:17


    Victor and Rory are walking towards the gate of the town, they have packed all their things and are ready to make their way out of the town. That''s when Rory turns to face Victor,


    "You are a cold bastard, Victor. I can''t believe you just left her like that."


    Victor sighed...


    "You could have stayed and ruled the town, you could have everything and even start a family, I wouldn''t mind staying here and opening up an engineering shop. We could both settle down here, with the sorcerer dead, every creature created by his magic would also vanish. The lake would start to thrive again, we could build a life here."


    Victor answered to Rory,


    "We did our job, the town is safe and in good hands. Besides, I am not a family man, I am not a leader. I am a monster hunter."