The tussle with the unknown beast left them all so wired getting back to sleep was impossible, so the they all decided to prepare for the day early and set back out at daybreak. The hike to Valehaven was uneventful verging on boring. The road was just as abandoned as they'd been told. Even the wildlife seemed to have fled deeper into the wood. The unnatural stillness grated on Cindy's nerves, and she could feel the others' unease, which redoubled her own.
The day was overcast and cool this far into the foothills, and a thick fog clung to the ground throughout the morning. Cindy shivered and tugged the shoulder of her sweater back up even as she could feel the waistband of her pants creeping lower as she walked. She made a mental note to try and purchase a belt once they got to Valehaven. Between the hours spent training and more physical work in Earthland, Cindy had noticed the weight she'd been struggling to lose for years was finally dropping off. As much as she enjoyed working in radio and writing novels, being a wizard had its advantages, if one could look past the dangers.
Wanting to reach the town before nightfall, Cindy suggested they eat while they continued the hike instead of stopping. The bits of leftover boar they'd wrapped up that morning and what fruit they'd purchased before setting out from the last town was easy enough to consume on the go, so Loke, Natsu, and Happy agreed.
"I smell blood," Natsu said as the team topped a hill late that afternoon. Valehaven could be seen on the horizon, and the sun hung low in the sky.
"Another attack?" Cindy asked.
"Maybe." Natsu stared off into the underbrush. Tension was written in his stance. "I'm going to check it out."
"We should all go," Cindy said. "Eight eyes are better than two. Maybe we'll find some clue what we're dealing with out here."
Natsu didn't look enthused by the idea, but Happy's insistence the group not split up changed his attitude. Still, he admonished them all to walk quietly to avoid alerting anything that might be lurking. Cindy rolled her eyes, but held back from commenting.
The extra caution turned out to be unnecessary. While they found signs of a struggle a few hundred yards off the road, it was hours old. Whatever happened there had happened the night before.
"It smells like the monster we fought last night was here," Happy said as he circled the area.
"Maybe something similar, but I don't think it was the same one," Loke interjected. He pointed to a few spots on the ground and places where branches were snapped a good ten or twelve feet off the ground. One clear footprint could be seen, and whoever left it had been wearing shoes. "A man was attacked here, and all signs point on the attacker being much bigger than the monster we fought last night."
"Loke's probably right," Natsu agreed. "The smell's similar, but different too. So I'm thinking we're looking for the alpha or the one last night was just a cub." His expression was somber, but his eyes sparked with the excitement of the hunt to come and the fight that'd come with it.
Cindy shuddered. "All I smell is blood and decay, so I'll trust your nose." She pointed to a set of shallow ruts in the ground where the undergrowth was crushed. "Looks like whatever it was drug them off to the southeast."
"That's the same direction the one last night came from," Loke said. He frowned, looking off in that direction like he could peer deep into the forest to wherever that thing went. "We might be dealing with a mated pair or a pack."
"Good," Natsu said, wearing a grin verging on feral. "There'll be enough monsters to go around. Come on." He motioned for them to follow as he began following the trail left behind the night before.
"Sunset's in an hour, and we still haven't made it to Valehaven," Cindy argued.
"Someone's been drug off by a monster!" Natsu said gesturing in the direction he wanted to go. "We need to save 'em."
"Whatever happened, happened hours ago," Loke countered. "You ever known a monster to keep victims around longer than it takes to chomp on them? I haven't." His voice was tinged with sadness, and his shoulders drooped. "Chances are whoever was attacked here is already dead."
"Yeah, but they might not be."
"We need to speak with the client," Cindy pressed. "There might be more people missing or something else going on." She walked up to Natsu and squeezed his shoulder. "We can't help by running in blind. We might even make things worse."
"How?" Natsu scoffed. "People are going missing, getting eaten. How do you get worse than that?"
Cindy floundered for something to say for a few moments before shrugging. "I don't know, but I have a feeling we're missing something here." She raked her hands over her face and sighed. "I can't shake it, and I've learned to listen to my gut, even before I came to Earthland."
Natsu looked from Cindy to Loke and Happy and back. He must have seen something reflected in their expressions because his became resigned.
"Fine," he grumbled. "But let's make it quick. The longer we're hanging around talking, the more chances those things have to hurt people."
The team reached the outskirts of town just as dusk began painting the sky with reds and golds. Furious hammering echoed from where men and women alike worked to build a wall around the town. From what Cindy could see, it looked like they only lacked another twenty or thirty feet to complete the structure.
"Stop where you are, strangers," a voice called from a watchtower situated along the eastern wall. "State your name and business."
"We're wizards from Fairy Tail here to answer your request for aid," Loke called back, tugging the job request out of his pocket as he did so. He held it up as proof.
The watchman squinted toward the paper, and he scrutinized them for a moment before nodding to himself. Leaning over the railing of his tower, the man called down to someone on the ground. "Take these folks to the Mayor's office."
They heard someone answer in the affirmative before the watchman waved for them to enter through the gap in the wall being constructed. Natsu and Happy tromped forward, obviously still in a hurry to finish with the formalities here so they could get back on the trail. Loke and Cindy followed a bit behind with Cindy watching the villagers with interest. Inside the wall they were met by a boy who looked about eleven or twelve years old.
"I'll take you to talk with Mayor Tam," said the boy as he gestured for them to follow. He turned with a bound and hurried through the unpaved streets.
Valehaven was laid out in the haphazard way the original parts of some of the oldest cities back home had. Narrow streets met at odd angles, and the spacing between shops, homes, and offices was close in some areas and sparse in others like everyone just picked a spot they liked when the town was founded instead of planning out the village in advance. After several dozen yards, the street they were on opened up into a square roughly the size of a city block. The boy led them to the northern side of the square where one of the few brick buildings they'd seen stood, and he knocked on the heavy wooden door.
A moment later, the door opened just a crack, and someone peered out at them through the small opening. "Yes?"
"The wizards Mayor Tam sent a request for are here," the boy answered.
"It's about time," the person behind the door grumbled before they pulled it open.
A young woman looked over their team with growing skepticism tightening her features. She stepped aside, and they filed into what Cindy presumed served as Valehaven's town hall. The woman shut and latched the door once everyone was inside. The foyer was dim and stuffy in comparison with the crisp fresh evening outside, and the tense apprehension of the residents was so thick, it threatened to suffocate Cindy.
"Follow me," the woman said before scurrying off down the hall.
Cindy was beginning to regret lowering her shields as tensions within the team eased a bit earlier in the day. The press of so many strong emotions around her was beginning to make her head ache, so she concentrated on raising her mental shields again as they followed the young woman through the mayor's office.
Stopping in front of an open door, the woman knocked on the door jab. "The wizards you sent for have arrived," she said.
"Good. Good," said the man sitting behind a meticulous desk. "Come in and make yourselves at home. We've much to discuss."
Author's Note: Just a quick chapter this week. Between our neighbors building something and a cow bawling most of the day when I was trying to write this, my concentration was shot. I'd hoped to finish out this mission in chapter 20, but it looks like that might have to wait for chapter 21. Any guesses what mythological monsters the team's up against?