Something More is Afoot

The young boy didn't seem too keen to speak at first, but his sister nudged him again, causing him to let out an irritated huff.

The expression quickly disappeared when he turned back to Kurai, but the nudging seemed to have slightly strengthened his resolve as he stepped forward, "It was the v-village doctor, sir. W-we saw him in the woods a few weeks ago. H-he was speaking to an old woman that w-was visiting our v-village and a few days later s-she was k-killed by the wolves."

The sister quickly nodded to back up the story, "He took her b-body away, and that night was when the first attack happened. No one got hurt, but someone got dragged into the woods three n-nights later."

Kurai frowned at the information as Marcus drew the children into a hug before holding them at arm's length, "Why didn't you tell us about it?"

Callan looked down guiltily, "Because they would send all of the village's warriors to fight the monster, and then we would never see you again."

Kurai frowned at this and turned to Marcus, "Why would they send all the warriors away and leave the village without protection?"

Marcus sighed, "They would want the threat to be dealt with as soon as possible, which means more warriors are hunting the threat at the same time."

Hozumi nodded, "It makes sense, but what about the village? Are there some kind of protections in place?"

Marcus shook his head, "Except for the village blacksmith, the only ones left in the village would be the children and the elders."

Giran looked troubled at this, "You think someone is deliberately doing this?"

Kurai nodded, "Is there anything you can think of that someone would like to steal in the village?"

Both Giran and Marcus immediately shook their heads before Giran spoke up, "The village used to be a mining village until the mine collapsed. They opened it again a while later, but we would dig for days without finding anything so they decided to close it after another collapse."

Kurai glanced at Hozumi before looking back at Giran, "Any chance that someone found a new vein?"

Giran shook his head adamantly, "Many of us tried digging after they permanently closed it. The village chief gave us permission but warned us that it would be at our own risk. I myself have gone through every open tunnel to try my luck, but it was hopeless."

Kurai frowned at this, "The village doctor the kids spoke of, has he been in the village long?"

Marcus nodded, "Since the day he was born. Sure he's always been an odd one, but he usually goes out of his way to look after the people. Unfortunately, I cannot deny that he has changed ever since that woman appeared in the village and then ended up dead."

Kurai turned to the children, "You said that he took her body away. Is there a special place he takes the bodies to? Like a cemetery?"

The kids immediately shook their heads and looked to their dad, who answered, "Some of the villagers are quite superstitious so the doctor usually takes the bodies deep into the woods to burn them and then scatter their ashes. Even those two bodies from today would usually be burned, but my father and I aren't as superstitious."

Hozumi sighed, "This makes it quite a bit harder. If we had a grave to inspect then we would be able to see whether the woman was still buried or not, but if they really as as superstitious as you say then why would the village doctor do something like this?"

Giran shook his head, "I don't know, but I can take you to him to find out."

Kurai looked at Hozumi for confirmation and she nodded before he turned to Giran, "We are currently on our way to complete a quest, but I think we have enough time to figure out what is going on here. Is your village close by?"

Giran nodded, "Just over the hill. We just came from visiting a relative of mine in one of the neighboring villages when we were attacked. I truly didn't expect it to be Gina. Why would she do something like that?"

Hozumi laid a comforting hand on his arm, "I doubt that she was in her right mind once the transformation took over. Something like that can change or twist every thought and feeling a person has and they seldom have a counter. It was luck that we happened to hear the screams because I didn't even know that there was a village around here."

The words seemed to console the old man and he smiled, "Our village seldomly receives visitors because there isn't a clear path towards it. Since the mine stopped producing diamonds, there wasn't much reason for people to make their way to our village."

It was clear to Kurai that the old man missed the visitors to the village, but he didn't bring it up. Instead, he stood and stretched, "Well, seeing as we have already made camp we might as well stay here tonight. Hozumi, could you ready the fire while I hunt? I think a stew would do us all some good."

She nodded her agreement and Kurai pointedly shifted his eyes to the man who was still unconscious, to which he received a slight nod, indicating that she would keep an eye out for any changes while he was away.

The children looked at him with wide eyes as he turned to leave and Harlow grabbed his sleeve, "Why are you going into the woods? It's going to get dark soon!"

Kurai turned and dropped to one knee in front of the two, "I'm just going to get us something to eat. I'll be back soon, so don't worry."

Harlow looked hesitant though and Kurai smiled, "Nothing bad is going to happen, I promise."

The two children nodded hesitantly before Harlow finally released his sleeve.

Hozumi raised a brow at him and he gave a sheepish smile as he realized that he had probably totally jinxed himself there, but he put it out of his mind as he set a tracking marker on the tree next to the camp so that he would know where the camp was.

He gave one more glance backward before disappearing into the woods.

He wandered around for about an hour, but all he generally found were small game that would barely be enough for one of the kids to eat.

Kurai found it quite strange until he happened upon another clearing with more than 30 slaughtered deer.

It was clear that the culprit behind the massacre had merely been hunting for sport instead of true hunger and Kurai suddenly realized that it might be why there weren't any larger game in the area.

He took a step back, intending to try and find some prey in a different direction, but a low growl sounded out from behind him and he froze.

He tried to determine whether he would have enough time to grab his dagger and spin around, but a large paw suddenly sideswiped him and his back connected painfully with a tree. He had just enough time to look up into bloodred eyes before another swipe caused his head to connect with the tree behind him and darkness enveloped him.

He didn't know how many hours had passed when he finally woke up with a painful headache and he nearly cried out in pain as his body tensed, causing a spasm of sharp pain to shoot across his back.

Harsh words seemed to echo around him and he didn't even have to open his eyes to realize that they were in some kind of cave as a male voice rang out, "Didn't I tell you to bring him here without harming him?! You nearly killed him! Do you really think he'd be interested in helping us after all that?!"

There was a pause where Kurai guessed that his attacker must have said or gestured something because the man's voice almost came out in a shriek, "Sorry?! What the hell would that help? You think you are just going to walk up to him and say 'Sorry for breaking your back, I didn't mean to, I thought you were one of the hunters. Oh and by the way, I need you to help us with something'?"

Kurai mentally frowned at that.

'What is he talking about? My back isn't broken. Sure, it hurts like seven hells at the moment, but…wait a moment…why is the thing that attacked me able to converse with a human? And why would they need help if the villagers are the ones being attacked?'

A large part of Kurai wanted to open his eyes and demand some answers, but the more cunning part of him was hoping that they would simply reveal their plans while he healed up and made plans to escape.

His plan was interrupted before it even began though because he suddenly heard something rush over toward him and he realized that it was the man as he spoke, "You're awake! Please don't move! Your back is injured…and your head received quite a nasty bump."

A whine sounded out close by and the man abruptly turned, "You didn't mean to–! Urgh, you know humans are fragile! I keep telling you this! Even if he had been a hunter, you were supposed to capture him so that we could question him. Not almost kill him!"

Kurai finally managed to open his eyes to a squint, though he was sorely tempted to shut them again as he saw the large hulking figure nearby.

The creature seemed to read his thoughts as it whined and slowly reached out a clawed paw, making Kurai flinch and then hiss in pain.

The creature immediately snatched its paw back and Kurai frowned at the guilty look that the creature now sported as it seemed to try and make itself as small and harmless as it possibly could.

The man next to him gave a tired sigh, "Look, I will try and fix you up as best I can, but my abilities aren't enough to be able to fix this."

Kurai frowned as he tried to answer, but for some reason only a croak-like sound escaped his throat and the man's eyes widened in horror as he realized that it had been more than just Kurai's back that had gotten hurt.

The creature gave a sad whine as it made a move to step forward once more and Kurai was shocked at the anguish he saw in the beast's eyes.

Kurai closed his eyes tiredly as he tried to determine the extent of the damage to his body, but he wasn't familiar with anything more than the basic human anatomy so he turned his concentration to healing the damage instead.

At first, nothing happened, and it made Kurai worry that the damage was interfering with the use of his abilities, but then a familiar electrified warmth spread through his body and he screamed as something painfully snapped back into place.

The nausea that followed the pain was expected though and he managed to force down the feeling with great difficulty.

Once the feeling subsided, Kurai found that his body was now free of pain, but that, whatever the damage was, had been extensive enough to leave him feeling completely drained to the point where he couldn't even open his eyes, which had fallen shut the moment the pain had ripped through his body.

He heard the man say something before a fur-covered paw brushed over his forehead and the next thing he knew he was once more falling into a deep sleep.