Chapter 26

"He gives to the beasts their food, and to the young ravens that cry."

-Book of the Healing Church 147:9

They looked everywhere for her.

They looked everywhere for Ettie.

They had spent some undisernable, but stretching period of time looking everywhere they could think. They wandered in and out of the Yharnam's bathhouses, terribly frightening some regular folk who threatened them with worn equipment. They revisited the old apartment to find a bloodied scene, which had driven Fredricx to lunacy at once. However, Lucas had pointed out the new tenants' lack of Ettie distinctive markings. They meandered back through Oedon's chapel, and Fredricx introduced Lucas to Judas. Judas still had not seen Ettie or anyone at all for that matter, not that he had seen much at all.

It had been hours on top of the hours it had already been. However, the sun showed no inkling of peaking, and the moon showed no remorse for shining.

If he could just find her, then, well, he was not quite so sure, but she would be found. His knuckles gripped the cane entirely too tightly. Surely, his hands and into his forearms would ache in the morning. However, the throbbing above his temple might have been enough itself to burst forth. Fredricx was certain that he carried enough tension to bleed to death with one pin prick.

Beasts were nothing, but a constant interruption. They had downed many with Lucas swiping blood vials in the process.

"We'll find her," Lucas soothed, breathing unsteadily. For once in what seemed like hours, Fredricx looked his friend over. He was ragged, splattered in blood. It did not seem like his own. It crusted and matted his hair and beard. It was flaking off his bare arms. Even in opening his mouth to speak, his teeth were differentiated by the same shade of rose. His tongue was an abnormal bloody hue. This did not even account for all of the dirt packed tight by sweat.

"You are not the looker yourself, Fredricx." Lucas wheezed, leaning and then falling into a squat against a building.

He surveyed himself. Grime was smeared into his coat. His pants were particularly immodest, showing far too much leg. The skin underneath was rough, especially on one patch of his thigh, which was now covered in about a dozen small puncture wounds. The boots he had acquired were mirror matches of the dank cobblestone that covered most of the city. His hair felt just as nasty.

"Where could she be?"

There was no time for conversation even as abysmal as it was. As words began to form themselves through cracked lips, a hoard of beasts appeared from behind a corner. Only one party was expecting the meeting as the creatures at once roared in unison and made up the short distance between them. Many of them were equipped with at least one item that could be used as a weapon, regardless of the intended purpose from the inventor.

At once, Fredricx gave a long lash about himself in a semicircle with the whip. The shards intruded and extruded themselves about many of the frontliners. This made just a second of time to snatch Lucas to his feet by his forearm, and they ran.

They ran in no direction in particular, other than away from the immediate. Their trampling and thudding was entirely too quickly joined by new beasts trampling and thudding.

The pair sprinted past the bonfire of a cross burning beast, which was shaded by one of Yharnam's main gates. At once, they seemed to be shot at from every direction. One bullet whizzed uncomfortably close to Fredricx. If this was not enough, several mangy dogs fled after them. These were not the regular variety, but of the variety that tainted the rest of the beasts.

Lucas sprang up and catapulted himself over a small handrail, landing on a slightly higher level. Fredricx followed suit, scrambling up and over the wrought iron. One of the dogs gave a chomp on the bottom of his coat, but the momentum was too great and the coat gave way, freeing them both.

Fredricx and Lucas continued running, catching the attention of a troll giant on the other side of the shut gate, who was too fast for its hunkering size. It did not even seem possible for it to have been at the pair so quickly as if many seemingly impossible things had not already happened. Fredricx was learning that he would soon need to master the impossibilities, which were becoming plain as day possibilities.

The troll giant rushed at them, swinging a blunt object at their backsides. Fredricx thought to fight it and had turned to do so, but the beast was found not to be so lonesome. An entire menagerie pursed.

In the pherhieal of his vision, Fredricx watched as Lucas toppled through wooden coffins and crates. He disappeared, and disappearing sounded like the best plan his adrenaline riddled brain could muster. Fredricx doubted even the most veteran Hunter could hold his own in a standoff with so many beasts while tempered in a literal corner. Naturally, in similar fashion, Fredricx leapt over the crates, using the running start.

This hurried plan started off beautifully Fredricx had cleared the crates and additional railing without so much scraping his coat tails. The weapon was not lost, but stayed tight and locked in his palm. The shards did not even flail and take a fancy to him. In fact, the air tickled his skin and loosened the chunks of who knows what in his hair. Luckily, everything had gone according to plan.

Well, it had gone as expected other than the landing. His fall had been broken by splintering wood. The fragments unconsensually kissed his person. If this was not lucky enough, he made intimate eye contact with a beast dog. They were so close that its scratchy fur tickled his skin, and its breath was moist and rancid. Neither partner was too pleased with their current position.

Unhinging its jaw, the beast revealed yellowing canines. Perhaps, the creature had no taste for blood, but the Hunter did not wish to test his hypothesis.

It was unfortunate that the cane was so useless at a range of many centimeters. Fredricx feared that lunging away would provoke the creature further as if landing on it from above was not enough.

Also, he hoped Lucas had enough sense to not use the broad side of his cleaver to do in the creature. Surely, Fredricx's skin would be seized in collateral. Instead, they gazed at another as the creature gapped its mouth, showing off a dangling uvula. In an instant, the beast dog snapped. Fredricx thanked the Queen for the blood quickening his reflexes. As teeth threatened his face and neck, Fredricx's hands exploded forward, releasing the cane, which clattered against the cobblestone below. His digitals locked the jaw of the creature as he rammed his thumbs into its cheeks, narrowly missing himself a case of rabies. However, it was immobilized for the moment.

The dog gave an open mouth yelp, more likely out of surprise rather than pain. Regardless, it was cast aside. It's body fell into a flattened mass on the ground. Now was the time for the broad side of the cleaver. Surely enough, Lucas did not disappoint.

As if on cue, the same or similar enough troll giant rammed itself from the level above them. It trampled through the crates, creating a sharp, less than refreshing rain of small and large splinters. It grounded with a screech and began to swing its arms at the two Hunters chaotically.

Fredricx freed himself from the stakes, leaving them colored with his own shade of red. It took very little to dissuade him from receiving a clobbering. The cane was thankfully not forgotten. The two of them ducked under the clammy arm of the creature and darted like roaches into Yharam's sewers.

"Over here," Lucas shouted, romping over barrels and ripping wood boards free from their very nails. He was keen enough to notice a small opening parallel to their own elevation, and they dropped inside.

Thankfully, this drop was almost nothing in comparison to the plummet they just experienced. Fredricx would take some slight knee pain over the gouges. The troll beast thought better than to follow. Well, the Hunters might have thought. Instead, the creature charged from above with much zeal. It burst forth with so much frantical energy that it missed the Hunters and the platform altogether. Wailing, it fell several floors and made waves in the water below.

Lucas laughed. It started as a winded and awkward chuckle, which evolved into head throwing back, stomach covering bellowing. "That was not too bad," he wheezed toward the end of his fit. Comparatively, he was probably right.

XXXXX

After using several of the blood vials between the two of them, Fredricx and Lucas explored where ever it was that they were, which was somewhere above the City's sewers, but below the Central level. Clearly, the place was not open to the public. Yharnam was not a dainty village town. There were more places they had not been than they had.

Wherever they were was fortunately laid out. Narrow wooden planks lined the edges of this long room with a high ceiling. Bridges linked the edges together. Some of the pathways were obstructed by piles of construction related equipment and by plain garbage. It was rather precarious.

"Watch your step," Lucas warned, using the end of his blade to prode at the floor, which gave way and dropped entirely too far down. Fredricx did not desire to make the same trip.

It was terribly dark, but it did not seem to bother either Hunter. Lucas led them to a small and only patch of moonlight, illuminating just a meter or so into the darkness. They exchanged nods and passed through a spade shaped doorway, leading them back outside. This was a small enclave with its purpose likely being extra storage. It was littered with had seen better days trunks and half filled burlap sacks.

A small, slender figure, who was covered in textured black, stood among the litter. Feather like whisps flowed about tall boots. A triangular hat sat high. It turned on them, sending the cape flailing out before flittering down to neutral. This was obviously a human with the plague doctor mask, which had been modeled after a bird. In addition, the incense rolling off the clothes was enough to stun a beast and strike up headaches.

"Oh, Hunters, are ya?" she spoke.

"Fredricx," he spoke before guestering, "Lucas."

"Welcome to the Hunt, Fredricx and Lucas."

"How could you tell?" Lucas asked.

"Oh, Hunter, I could smell ya." Her voice petered off. Her tone gave way to a slight smile under the mask that covered every part of her face. "Prepare ya-self for the worst. There are no humans left. They're all flesh hungry beasts now."

"Your name?" Lucas insisted.

"Eileen. I'm a Crow."

Lucas nodded toward Fredricx with a cocked eyebrow. "A Crow."

"Few Hunters can resist the intoxication of the Hunt. Watch ya-selves. There are a few Hunters who have my mark. I don't wish it, but it must be done. The red coat is particularly crafty."

Lucas and Fredricx stared at another. Fredricx was unsure if it was a desire not to turn his back on a stranger with weapons, although well hidden or the comfort of a friendly voice.

"Still lingering about? What's wrong? A couple of Hunters, unnerved by a few beasts? Enough trembling in your boots."