Here's the chapter.
Director: College Fool
Writer: Coeur al'Aran
Cover Art: Kegi Springfield
Chapter 15
Ren stumbled and nearly fell. He managed to catch himself on a log at the last second, where he panted for breath. His lungs burned, as did his legs, and it felt for a moment like he might collapse then and there.
"Keep moving!" Jaune growled harshly, tugging Ren to his feet and dragging him on. "We can't stop here."
"I-I know. I just need a second."
"We don't have a second."
He groaned past his pain and forced his limbs to push on, stumbling after the hunter as he cut a ferocious pace through the twisting plains. It felt like they'd been hurrying for hours. They probably had. The second Jaune discovered his traps broken he hauled them down, stored them away and destroyed the camp. They'd been moving ever since, hours before the sun rose and then for hours afterwards.
Ren had already been exhausted before. Now, everything was worse. A Huntsman's stamina was naturally higher than the average person's, but that didn't take into account how worn he already was. It was Nora with the limitless energy, not him.
A root tangled itself around and over his foot. Ren pitched forward, crying out in surprise and slamming down onto the mossy ground. Jaune's gasp was startled and his bow was already out when he turned. His eyes caught sight of Ren, flat on the ground, and he growled angrily.
"Get up, damn it. Hurry!"
"I-I can't," Ren wheezed – and it pained him to admit it but he really couldn't. "We can't –huff- keep up this pace. Neither of us can."
"I'm fine," Jaune claimed, despite his heavy breathing.
He wasn't. Sweat dripped from the hunter's face, while his eyes were wide with bags beneath them. Neither had slept long enough and now this trek was sapping what little reserves they had left. They wouldn't make it to whatever camp Jaune had in mind, and even if they did they'd both pass out before any defences could be set up.
"W-What are we even running from?"
"I'm not sure."
"Then why are we running so fast?"
"Because I'm not sure."
"Then why," Ren took a pause to wheeze, "do you think they're bad?"
"Because no one good tries to dismantle my traps without introducing itself first. If it was someone just trying to introduce itself, I wouldn't be worried. Now come on- I want as much space between us and it as possible."
The hunter moved forward to try and tug Ren up, but his own strength faltered, and he slumped down to his knees gasping for breath.
"Damn it," he whispered, curling his fingers and gathering the strength to try again.
"We need rest," Ren said, not unreasonably and not quite begging. "We're not going to keep this pace."
"We can't afford to slow down."
"We can't afford not to," Ren said, even as he cast his head up and tried to regain control of his breathing. "We've already been moving half the day."
Jaune cursed but he knew the truth in those words. He was more used to surviving out here than Ren was, but even Ren know how blind panic and haste could unmake a man. Jaune didn't give the feeling of a man running for his life… but Ren was starting to lean how 'fear' could take many forms, not all of the panic.
"Fine," Jaune conceded, no doubt feeling it too. "We'll take a rest for now – but not too long. Four hours max, with someone keeping watch at all times. That should give us time to take a nap before we move again."
Ren didn't argue. A power-nap sounded perfect. He reached for his bags, preparing to bring out equipment to camp, but Jaune caught his hand before he could. "What?" he asked. "Aren't we going to make camp?"
"No. Not now. It's too dangerous."
"Fire keeps animals away. Not to mention if anyone is looking for us the smoke will be a sign."
"That would be the point," Jaune hissed. "Nothing good is looking for us right now. Not your friends, not my family, nothing. The only thing that would be looking for us right now is whatever paid us a visit last night," Jaune stressed. "And I've got a feeling we don't want to mess with it."
"What is 'it'?" Ren asked, putting his bag away. At the moment, it didn't seem to bad a loss- he could probably pass out on the ground. But still… "You're not normally this afraid of Grimm."
"I'm not," Jaune said, even as he was already moving to string up the alarms around them. He hesitated at one, clearly wondering if they'd be any use at all, before he cursed and went ahead with them anyway. "But I don't think this Grimm, and there's a difference between 'fear' and 'respect.' I have a healthy respect for anything that can sneak up on me and my alarms. How many Grimm do you know that could do that?"
Break a trap, but NOT attack? Ren shook his head. "None," he admitted. "Grimm don't do that… do they?" he checked.
"None I've ever heard of," Jaune said. "Animals don't do that either. So what else does that leave?"
If it's wasn't animals, or Grimm, that left…
"People," Ren reasoned, but then realized the implications. "I thought you said the frontier was abandoned! If there's people here, why-" he began, but realized an implication. "Why do I get a feeling this isn't good news?" he finished.
"Because you're learning," Jaune grunted, as he pulled a vine taught between two trees and wrapped it around one. "And because whoever it was wanted to sneak in rather than say 'hi' like a good guest."
"Who was it?" Ren wondered.
"I don't know," Jaune admitted, "I hate to admit it, but… not everyone who came to the frontier is good people, and not everyone who should have evacuated was. You Kingdoms let some real crazies loose on the frontier at times, you know that?"
Ren didn't, but he could see why. Call it leniency or laziness, but it was easily easier to exile some people from the capitals than to throw them in a penitentiary and hold them at everyone else's expense for however long.
"Yeah, that's what I thought," Jaune said, taking Ren's silence for an answer. "That's why I'm wary. Whatever- whoever- this is, it won't find us unawares this time." Jaune threw his bedroll on the ground and kicked it open but didn't crawl inside. Instead, he just lay on top of it. "You want first watch or second?"
"First," Ren answered instantly. He didn't fancy the prospect of three hours' sleep and then three hours stood still. Better to watch first and sleep before they moved.
"Fair enough. Wake me in two – and do not leave the camp," Jaune warned. "No matter what happens, stay here. You need to take a leak I'd rather you do it on me. If you hear something suspicious-"
"I'll wake you up."
"Good." Jaune nodded and rolled into his blanket. It was probably only long practice that let the hunter fall asleep within just a few short minutes. Ren envied him that. He was too busy scanning the horizon warily.
It was quiet.
Not an animal could be heard.
/-/
The hours passed in relative peace. He'd say relative because it was not entirely restful, nor was it calm. The sun was up, the time being somewhere after midday, and the birds sang as they cut through the air. Most of that went ignored, however. Ren kept a hand on the grip of one of his weapons and the other on a piece of string leading to Jaune's trap array. Like a spider on a web he'd feel any vibrations were it tested, but so far he'd felt nothing.
Honestly, it could have been nothing. The traps might have been sprung by animals, weakening branches or just poor placement by Jaune. All this fear might be for nothing and he tried to tell himself that.
It was just hard to believe it. The Grimmlands had a way of making you think the impossible was possible, and after seeing Mouk in person he couldn't doubt it anymore. Doctor Oobleck had once told them of intelligent Grimm, but those were usually ancient varieties and very large. He'd have heard something that big approaching their camp, and it wouldn't have been able to cut through string so precisely.
"Arf!"
Ren's head perked up. "Not again…"
Another bark sounded, this time a little further away – down in the plains. It almost sounded like, not in the direction they'd come from, but the direction they were headed. Was it the same dog? Could the dog be barking at whatever had visited them?
"I hate to admit it, but… not everyone who came to the frontier is good people, and not everyone who should have evacuated was. You Kingdoms let some real crazies loose on the frontier at times, you know that?"
Or… could the dog possibly belong to someone?
Jaune had said he didn't know who their chaser was, but this had once been a human settlement. Was it possible someone else was still alive out here? His guide sleeping behind him couldn't have been the only hunter in the area. Maybe they'd found someone else's hunting companion.
Or maybe it was just a dog. The question was; did he wake Jaune?
"Arf! Arf!"
It wasn't getting any closer. Whatever it was certainly wasn't barking at them. A wild animal would have taken a much more silent approach, sneaking up to try and catch scent or sight of them. Dogs barked to warn others away, or to attract attention in the domestic variety.
"Hngh…" There was a grumble from behind him, followed by the shifting of fabric. Jaune yawned loudly and pushed himself up. While not rested, the hunter looked a little more alive. "Is it – yawn – is it time for us to switch?"
"Close enough," Ren answered, Jaune's yawn forcing him to echo with one of his own.
"Right…" Jaune stood wearily, leaving the sleeping bag open. It was clear he intended for Ren to use the same one, and he was too tired to argue. It would be soft and warm and that sounded nice. "You should have woken me up normally, though," Jaune said. "We don't want to make much noise out here."
"I didn't make any noise."
Jaune paused. "You didn't?"
"I heard something." He nodded off toward the east. "It sounded like a dog barking in the distance."
"A dog… out here? Are you sure?"
"That's what I heard." Ren paused, waiting for it to opine again. It didn't. Typically, the moment he wanted to prove it the silly thing went quiet. "It wasn't me though, I promise."
"If you say so," Jaune said, maybe not believing but clearly not intending to fight about it. "Must be a stray." He sighed and took a seated position on a low rock. His bow remained close to hand, even as his quiver was by his side. "At least I hope it's a stray. Get some sleep, city boy. You'll need your strength."
/-/
The moment Ren awoke, they were moving again.
The rest had given him what little strength it could, enough to let his aura work a little more on his leg and for the fatigue to creep back to just a dull ache rather than the imminent-collapse risk he'd been before. He knew Jaune felt it too, for the hunter's gait was just a little steadier.
"We'll continue on until dark and take another rest," Jaune said, cutting through some bushes and pushing into a copse of trees. "We need to make distance from whatever it was we ran into, see if we can get out of their neighbourhood We'll try for four hours each tonight. I know it's not much, but we don't have the time to waste daylight."
Ren nodded to show he understood. Four hours, while not much, still meant eight hours in one spot between the two of them, and that was too much time to lose. While they'd slept in the Grimmlands with no one standing guard before, as much out of necessity as anything else, the added risk of their traps being useless was too much to take. One of them staying up at all times was inefficient but necessary.
On Team JNPR it had been easier. With Huntsmen, the warning-value of aura and honed reactions were often enough. Even when they weren't, with four members each could take two hours, leaving six hours for everyone on even the harder nights. Here, the four and four felt so little and so much at the same time. It would be hard to keep that up for long.
The two crossed through the small wooded area and out into another meadow, the sound of a babbling creak or river echoing nearby. They stopped only long enough to refill their canteens before Jaune pushed them forward again. The sun had just started to set as dusk approached, bathing the land in vibrant hues of colour, and against that Ren spied a herd of deer grazing on a plain beside another small forest. Jaune saw it too and hesitated- and not just because Ren's stomach growled too.
"We are low on food," Ren whispered.
"I know…" Jaune bit his lip and looked behind them. As ever, there was nothing to be seen and no sign of pursuit. There hadn't been a glimpse of a threat during their camp, either. Ren thought about raising that… but decided not to. Left to his own deliberations, the hunter sighed and shuck off his pack once more. "I suppose it would be stupid not to give it a go. We do need to eat. Watch these for me."
Ren nodded and held onto the second pack as Jaune unhooked his bow and went to work again. The pack was obviously a different one to last time, smaller and with a stag with not quite so impressive a set of antlers. Without the rain the noise they made carried further, as did their scent, and it was clear from Jaune's slower pace that he recognised that. He crept close but not quite as close as he had a day or two before. Through experience and constant exposure, he probably knew how far he could be without tipping them off.
He rose steadily, bow drawn and arrow nocked. With a whoosh the arrow flew. The shot was good –made easier from the lack of any wind and flying further with the newly remade wooden shafts. It bit into the flank of a doe, somewhere between the neck and shoulder.
It staggered to the side, but as the rest of the herd bolted into the woods it loped and stumbled after them. A second arrow slapped into it as it reached the treeline, striking lower on its side. It stumbled again but managed to push into the trees after the herd.
"Damn it!" Jaune cursed as Ren approached with packs in hand. "This really isn't my day…"
"They were good shots." It was no small distance.
"They weren't good enough," the hunter quibbled, shrugging his backpack on. "It'll bleed out soon, but not soon enough. I was trying to drop it with that second shot."
"We could follow it," Ren suggested.
Jaune bit his lip. "We could…"
That would, of course, mean taking a small detour from their journey. But if the wounds were as grievous as Jaune said then it wouldn't be a long one, and they did have an easy trail of blood to follow. Even so, he left the decision in the hunter's hands.
"We might as well," Jaune finally agreed, sighing. "We're headed through here anyway and I've already killed the poor thing. Feels a shame to do that and not even eat it. We'll be quick, though. If we don't find it in five minutes we're backing out before it gets too dark."
"That's fine with me," Ren said, though it really wasn't. He could deal with the dark- but he couldn't do much about the hunger gnawing at the inside of his belly. In all the rush, Jaune hadn't even stopped for a proper meal, just handing out snippets of yesterday's haunch.
It was already beginning to turn dark as they entered the woods and the thick canopy cut off even more of the light that remained. Luckily, there was enough to make their way by, and the blood splatters from the deer stood out against the moss, fallen leaves and muddy floor. It wasn't a constant flow as each splotch was maybe a metre or so away from the last, but they were close enough that Jaune had no trouble. It occasionally led to situations where the trail appeared to end, but a quick scan around from the two of them would discover some red on a nearby plant, or maybe some broken twigs that would point in the direction of another patch.
As five minutes came and went it became increasingly clear Jaune wanted to call the whole thing off. "It's gotten away," he said. "It's food for the carrion now."
"We've already come this far," Ren argued. "It can't have gotten much further. Look how close the splotches are. It's slowing down."
"I know, but it's getting late. I'd have to light a fire to cut the meat from it and that might alert someone. We might as well-" Jaune cut off as he pushed through some bushes.
There, laid on the floor before them, was the deer. It was dead, of course.
"I told you it would be close," Ren said, trying not to gloat.
"Laugh it up, smartass." Jaune knelt and touched a hand to its neck. "It's gone." He glanced up toward the canopy and frowned as the last rays of light no longer hit the forest floor. The shadows seemed to get deeper and darker every minute. "And it's dark too. Damn."
"You need a fire?" Ren offered, hoping the offer would convince Jaune not to give up now.
"A small one. Just enough for a little light. We're not cooking this here."
Ren put down his sack and drew out some logs, pushing them aside as he reached for tinder instead. If they just needed a small flame to see by and not to draw attention, then tinder and dry sticks would work just as well.
Jaune prepared a bed of rocks for them, stacking some up and clearing some dirt beneath it. "It'll keep the fire from spreading," he explained. "Just set it going and I'll get to work. This is going to be quick and bloody. We have to keep moving."
"I know, I know. I'm not exactly new to this anymore."
"Heh, I guess not."
Using the flint and steel Jaune kept on him Ren struck a few times, generating some sparks and catching one in the tinder. He cupped it between two hands and blew gently into it, nurturing it to life as he'd seen his companion do time and time again. Starting fires had always been a pain for Team JNPR, but Jaune made it look easy. To his relief, it was easy here as well. Maybe he was learning.
Soon, he laid it back down among the twigs, feeding some more in as a small fire crackled to life. Even though it wasn't very big the light from it carried, casting shadows around them.
Jaune took a knife to the deer's flesh but looked back to Ren. "Keep watch. We're at our most vulnerable here."
"There haven't been any Grimm around all day," Ren pointed out.
"I know. That worries me. It's unnatural."
Ren stood with Stormflower drawn as Jaune got to work. He hadn't considered it before but now that it was pointed out he couldn't quite get Jaune's words out of his head. Grimm didn't attack other Grimm, much like they didn't attack animals. Even if they weren't as stirred up here with no Bullhead crash and huntsman battle to alarm them, they should have seen some Grimm by now, even if they were just wandering around. It was bizarre. It was, as Jaune said, unnatural.
Why? Did someone clear them out? Maybe a Huntsman? Jaune had said Huntsmen used to do that from time to time… but since the frontier was abandoned?
Silence permeated the forest as Jaune went to work cutting through the deer's fur. He worked methodically, breathing quickly as he sectioned off some meat and stripped it from the body, heedless of the blood and smell. Plastic wrapping crinkled as he removed some to store it in, wrapping up the segments and storing them back into his pack.
"It's done," he whispered, standing.
"What about your arrows?" Ren asked.
"They weren't there," Jaune said, sounding uncomfortable. "Must have brushed them off or knocked them out as it fled."
Then wouldn't we have seen them since we were tracking it? Ren chose not to ask that question. He knew Jaune was aware of it, and that the lack of an answer bothered him as much as it did Ren. Leaving it unspoken wouldn't solve the problem but it let them pretend it wasn't there.
"We should keep moving."
Ren nodded. "Sure, I-"
Some branches cracked and snapped toward the west. Ren froze for a second but soon ducked low, hiding as best he could with Jaune doing the same next to him. Speak of the devil and it would come, and to think he'd just been moaning about the lack of any Grimm. Well, there was no evidence it was a Grimm, of course. It might have been another deer, or any other kind of scavenger drawn by the scent of a fresh kill.
He readied Stormflower, but Jaune's hand caught his wrist. The hunter shook his head and spoke in a quiet voice. "Leave it. It's not worth it. We've got what we came for; we should leave." He nodded to the east, their previous destination.
"What about the fire?"
"Distraction," Jaune whispered. Ren nodded back, understanding. It was small and contained and unlikely to spread in the recently soaked forest, and if it kept their pursuer busy for a few moments then that was more time for them to escape.
Whatever it was, it was close. It had snuck up on them again.
"Back away," Jaune mouthed, motioning in the direction they were to head. Ren nodded and followed as silently as he could after his companion. While he wasn't quite as stealthy as the hunter he was still the best on his team, second only to Blake among their close friends. He kept himself from stepping on any of the numerous fallen branches in their path and followed after the hunter. Nothing followed, at least not immediately. Ren strained his ears to catch any sound of their pursuer, but it didn't sound like it had pushed through the bushes at all. Maybe it had just been some wild animal.
For a second, he took his eyes off the path ahead, looking back towards the camp fire. It proved his undoing. Something caught his foot and he stumbled. It wrapped around his ankle, and although Ren tried his hardest to land gracefully, rolling over one shoulder, the sound of clanking metal and stone echoed through the forest suddenly. Birds took flight toward the sky, squawking in panic.
"I'm sorry-" Ren tried to gasp, but a hand clamped down over his mouth. Jaune moved quickly, grabbing whatever it was wrapped around his foot. He felt an idiot for not noticing, but that anger soon turned to shock.
His foot was tangled and wound up in a thin string, the thread having caught and tangled his legs. The noise hadn't been from his pack either, as he'd successfully broken his fall. It had come from a metallic can resting on the floor, filled with stones.
Ren stared at it, and then to Jaune, as the startled birds flew away in the distance.
"It's mine," the hunter whispered, eyes wide. "I mark my cans. That's… it's the one that was taken last night…"
Hours - miles - away from here, all the way to the west. Now set up in a position for Ren to trip over and set it off as they headed east.
A shadow behind them cut off the light from the fire, and Ren's eyes watched the campfire light a good hundred metres or so away. It was snuffed out instantly, unnaturally.
Grimm didn't snuff out fires like that. Nothing natural did.
Jaune's knife slashed through the string binding his feet. "Get up!" the hunter hissed, hauling him to his feet. "Run. Hurry!"
Ren did. With his heart beating and his breath coming out in sharp gasps he fled after the hunter, throwing all pretense of stealth and silence aside. It was too late for that now. They hurtled through the underbrush, though always with Jaune in the lead and keeping an eye out for anything that might prove their undoing. Behind them, Ren caught the sound of something. It was impossible to place what it was. He didn't dare look back again for fear he might trip again and cost them their escape.
It was getting closer. He thought he heard panting, like breath, like something exerting itself to catch them.
"The treeline ends up ahead," Jaune shouted. "Break out and face him there. Don't let him hide in the dark!"
It was the best shot. Ren pushed his legs just that little harder, closing the distance between Jaune and he as the trees came to an end and a plain presented itself once more. They burst from the forest with twin gasps, Ren sliding as he dug a foot in and turned, tearing both his weapons from his waist and aiming them back toward the trees.
Nothing appeared from them.
The night air was still and silent.
This time, he didn't let it fool him. There was no mistaking what just happened. Not at all. Ren kept his gaze on the trees and his guns levelled as he took slow steps back, putting himself closer to Jaune, who had his bow equally aimed at the trees, an arrow nocked.
"He's not leaving the trees," Jaune hissed. There it was again - that pronoun. Him. Had Jaune figured out something? Time for that later.
"Can you see him?" Ren asked, hoping the hunter's eyes could see through the darkening underbrush better than his.
"No. If I was a faunus maybe, but it's too dark. It's watching us, though."
"I know," Ren said. "I can feel it." And he could - the prickling sensation of being watched by a malevolent intent, the first instinct every Huntsman was taught to trust. If you think you're about to be attacked… you are.
Jaune's breath came out heavily. It was clear the hunter was panting, not made for sharp sprints like that. "We have to keep moving," he said, lowering his bow. "We can't stop here."
"It'll follow. It's hunting us."
"Yeah, and like a hunter, too." Jaune said, bitter not at all admiring. "Keep your eyes peeled, Huntsman. The moment we leave this clearing it's going to follow us through the woods again. We can't afford to get caught outside tonight. Time's on his side."
It was already dusk, with the last glimmers of sunlight barely brushing the treetops. Truly, the couldn't afford to tarry. Whatever- whoever- was following them was at least as fast as them by day, and likely more so at night. Ren spared one last glance towards the dark woods, half-expecting to see glowing red eyes staring back.
He saw nothing.
Somehow, that was worse.
/-/
"This will have do," Jaune panted, pausing at the entrance to a cave- if it could be called that. It was more of a burrow in the side of a hill, but deep enough that the inside couldn't be seen from the outside. The hunter was drenched from yet another evening shower and Ren wasn't much better.
"I thought you hated caves," Ren remarked, not necessarily disagreeing. "Only having one entrance and all."
"Yeah, but only one entrance to watch too. And tonight, I don't think we have a choice." Jaune ushered him in and quickly bean to work his traps.
Before, he'd laid them sparingly, hiding them off as much and as subtly as he could. This time it was different. He set them up like a web over the entrance, making the string so obvious that it served more as a barrier than a tripwire. "Let's see the bastard try and get through that," he said, stepping back.
He wasn't taking any chances. Good. Ren didn't want to either. Still…
"Do you think that will work?" Ren asked, watching Jaune step back. Jaune paused, knowing what Ren was getting at. A web of trip wires would alert them… but would do nothing to stop a determined assailant from bursting in.
"…I think so," Jaune said, not as reassuringly as Ren hoped. "If it's who – what - I think it is, they shouldn't push their luck. But no sleeping inside the bags tonight. I'm sleeping with my weapon out, and you should too. Be ready to fight even when you're not on shift."
"Of course," Ren agreed, demonstrating just how close his weapons were by dropping them from his sleeves. Then he brought them back up and looked at Jaune. "Are you going to tell me who's been chasing us now that we're not running?"
"Over our meal," Jaune agreed, sitting down and drawing out his pack and the meat he'd taken. "No fire, though. On the off chance our pursuer doesn't know where we are, I don't want to give us away. Plus, tonight's not a night to kill our night vision."
Ren grimaced, but nodded. Jaune was clearly playing it safe, which meant he'd have to too. Even if it meant- gulp- eating mostly raw meat. Ren grimaced, and not just at the taste, but what choice did they have? His own stomach growled, a compelling counter-argument against his traditional stance on food hygiene. Yes, cooking was and should always be preferred, but if it was a choice between raw food or no food at all…
His body needed anything it could, especially after such a hard day.
"Let's at least use the fire dust," Ren suggested. It might not cook the food, but it would help warm their bellies.
"Sure," Jaune agreed, and that was that. A little preparation- just a little canteen water to wet the fingers before rubbing in the 'spice'- and then a whole lot of looking at bloody, raw meat. Telling himself it was venison, as if that was higher class, only slightly helped.
Jaune, it seemed, was used to it. Ren nibbled at is, trying to get it down piece by piece. And once he had his fill- once he was ready to be distracted- it was time for Jaune to satiate his curiosity.
"So," Ren prompted, not particularly subtle. "Who's our mysterious friend?"
Jaune sighed and put down the bit of meat he'd been chewing on. A bit of blood slid down his chin, reddening his lips as he looked at Ren in turn. He didn't look ecstatic- he didn't even look confident- and it was telling that he didn't look reassured by what he thought he knew.
"I'm not sure this is totally right," Jaune warned, a humble preface if there ever was one. "Before today, I didn't even think it was real. I thought it was just something Dad told me to keep me close to home. But if it is real… well, it'd make sense," he said.
"The good news is, this guy isn't unbeatable. Not like Mouk. The bad news is that in his own way, he's even more dangerous. He's strong, but more than that he's clever. And definitely has a taste for young boys." It felt like there was supposed to be a chuckle. Instead Jaune sighed and leaned forward where he sat until his own bent leg was pressing into his chest. He held himself up, like someone needing any sort of hug, before he continued. "Tell me, have you ever heard of the Beast of Brakken Fen?"
"No," Ren said, sitting. Perhaps a story was what he needed to help calm down. Or just to pass the time. "Tell me."
"It starts a decade or so ago, or so the legend goes..."
/-/
The Beast came without warning. One moment the small community on the outskirts of the forest known as Brakken Fen were as peaceful as could be, the next, tragedy. Two boys – not a year or more apart and ten to twelve summers at most – had gone missing in the Brakken. The forest was mostly safe on account of the hunters that scanned it for game, reducing Grimm wherever they could, and everyone knew not to travel too far. Accidents could happen, however, and so it was that the hunters mobilised in the dead of night to find the children.
One hunter, a faunus known locally as Pete, was the one to find them, or at least their remains. Pete was a faunus and his night eyesight allowed him to spot the trails of blood his fellows could not. They traced them to a small cave, whereupon they found the gruesome fate of the youths.
They'd been torn apart, blood and guts everywhere and the stench enough to send grown men scurrying for the bushes. The poor boys were no more, partially eaten in some cases – with inhuman toothmarks on their skin and pieces of their bodies scattered about. The fate of the children had been discovered, but with it came a new problem – the monster which had done it. The monster which came to be known as the Beast of Brakken Fen.
The people mobilised. They had lived on the frontier for many years and knew how to react when Grimm came near. Traps were set, parties of hunters were sent out, and the sentries stood on high alert. Some set themselves as bait, too. Hunters and fighters capable of defending themselves made attractive targets at the sites of ambushes, but still, the Beast did not strike. It eluded them time and time again, almost as if it knew what they were doing.
As weeks passed and no tragedy struck, the people began to relax. Perhaps it was a wolf which had savaged the boys, or maybe they had come across a single Grimm which had left the area or been slain. Children were warned not to enter the Brakken, but the village stopped hunting the beast. And, for a time, all seemed peaceful.
Until a wintry night not three weeks later, when the snow had befallen the village. A young boy had been sent by her ailing mother to gather wood, and, believing the task easier and the coast clear, he travelled into the Brakken. Just the outskirts, just enough to reach the trees.
Just enough to put himself in danger.
The village heard his screams. Swords were drawn, bows strung and pitchforks and axes collected. As one, men and women rushed towards the noise to save the boy and slay the beast. To the horror of all, they arrived late yet again. The boy was dead. His body lay savaged, one arm riddled with tooth marks, the head itself removed entirely and carried away.
They had known loss before, but this was too much. Something had to be done, and before it was too late. The greatest warriors of the village communed together, along with the mayor, and all decided on a plan of action to finally corner and kill the monster once and for all. For while it had eluded their traps and frustrated them in the past, they now knew its true goal. The Beast of Brakken Fen hungered for flesh, but more specifically it hungered for the flesh of the young. Children, teenagers, babies, the younger the better.
There was a young girl in the village who was training to become a hunter. She was known as Celeste, and although she was trained well she was but fifteen or sixteen summers. The mayor met with her and asked if she would help them and Celeste, having lost her brother to the beast, agreed. She would become the bait while the people set up their traps. And so, she set out with her trusty companion, a hound known as Rex, into the forest in the early hours of dusk. She did so without warning the people, for there were many who would have decried using a young girl in so dangerous a fashion.
Behind her, the best of the hunters followed, Pete, the hunter who had discovered the beast, along with the Farran, the strongest man in the village – the tree-feller – and Bill, the mayor himself, who would see the deed done with his own eyes, and his own spear if required. Never had so capable a party been seen, and they trekked through the forest nary making a sound. Pete sent his own hound ahead to scout, a trained and muscled dog known as Fiend.
Celeste was frightened and yet also resigned. The role of the bait was to lure the Beast, and she knew that would likely mean the death of her, for there were few who could reach her in time if the Beast struck. Even so, she did not shy from the task. Finding comfort in her companion, she moved on until a large clearing, the one the boy had died in before. His blood still stained the grass, a reminder of what was to come. For two hours they waited. The night grew cold and dark, and seeing became a difficult task. It seemed for the longest time as though nothing would happen, and Celeste allowed herself to relax a little.
Until, with a crash, Farran fell into the clearing – lifeless.
The Beast had struck, but it had not taken the bait as expected. It had instead struck at those who would spring the ambush. Screams rent the air. One from Celeste, one from Bill. The mayor fell into the clearing with a dark and lupine shape upon him. It gnashed and clawed at his face and knocked the spear from his hand.
Celeste, seeing her opportunity, fumbled to ready her bow. The night was dark and the light of the moon dim, yet she aimed a steady shot toward the monster, earning a yelp of pain from it. She also sent Rex forward, commanding him to attack as she prepared a new arrow and sought higher ground.
A dark shape tackled the girl down before she could. Eyes wide in the dark she fended off the monster as it bit and slashed for her throat. The hand she thrust into its jaw was bitten and bled, and the hands that held her loosened for a second in turn. She used that to place both feet against his chest and kick the beast away, staggering to her feet and searching for the bow that had been knocked from her hands. Something caught her ankle before she could and dragged her back down. Eyes glowed in the dark above her and a face leapt for her neck – ready to bite through her jugular in one violent twist.
But the jaws clamped hard on steel, instead.
Celeste had been no fool – and knowing her task had asked the local blacksmith to fashion for her a collar of iron that could be worn around the neck. The beast's teeth had cracked upon it and shattered, and the monster fell back, clawing at its face. It was then in the dark, as the moon passed between two boughs in the trees above, that she saw the beast truly for the first time. For a moment, her heart ceased to beat.
The Beast of Brakken Fen howled and brought one hand high to kill her – stunned as she was – but for a brown shape tackling the monster aside. Rex fought hard and bravely in defence of his master, already bleeding from a dozen wounds and with one leg hanging limp at his side. Even so, he bore the beast low and tore into it as best the poor hound could. The second Beast, which had finished the mayor, attacked Rex from behind.
Outnumbered, with weapon lost and against a foe she knew she could not best, Celeste was forced to flee. The time to do so was bought at the sacrifice of Rex, who remained to hold back the Beasts so that she might escape.
She did not have to travel far before discovering life. The village folk, having heard the screams, had mobilised and entered the forest with torches and pitchforks. They found Celeste, bloody and delirious, and helped her to safety. With tears in her eyes, the young hunter bade them aid Rex and the Mayor, to see if either had survived. As one, they travelled to the clearing to finish the Beast once and for all.
But alas, it was done. Rex lay dead, having given his life for his master. Of the mayor's body and Farran's, nothing remained but the pools of blood they had lain within. Their bodies had been dragged away for some horrible purpose. As Celeste wept over the body of her companion, she revealed the truth of the beast to the listening crowd. The Beast of Brakken Fen, which had haunted them for so long and eluded their traps, was no Grimm at all, but Pete. Pete the hunter, Pete the butcher of children.
Pete, the Beast of Brakken Fen.
/-/
"When the people returned to the village they looked through Pete's house and found signs of blood, and the remains of some children that had gone missing long before," Jaune said. "Many mysteries were wrapped up that night, though Pete himself was never found or brought to justice. Most assumed he'd died. How would a single hunter, even if they still had their hunting dog, survive alone in the Grimmlands?"
"And what happened to the village?" Ren asked.
"Fell when the others in the area did. Of Celeste, I've no idea. Maybe she died. Maybe she came to Edge or somewhere else. Maybe she wasn't called that at all or changed her name to forget what happened. I can't say."
Ren shook his head. The tale had shaken him more than he cared to admit. Grimm, he knew, criminals he knew, but someone like this? It sickened him. "And someone like that – a cannibal – lives among the people here?"
"I said before, not everyone who comes to the frontier is good people. And sometimes you Kingdom types let real crazies out here, so you don't have to deal with them." Jaune shivered, and Ren had a feeling it wasn't just from the wet and cooling night. "Pete never told the people why he left the Kingdom, or so I understand. Maybe it was because he couldn't. Some reasons will never be accepted; not even by the people out here."
"That's disgusting…"
"I don't disagree with you," Jaune said, standing to stretch his muscles. "I didn't tell you the tale for entertainment, so much as a warning. Grimm are easy to deal with once you get over your fear. Humans, on the other hand? Well, there's a reason we're considered apex predators."
And that was what they were possibly being hunted by. Ren shivered, unsure how much sleep he would be able to get, and if it wouldn't be plagued by nightmares either way. He wondered if Jaune had realised, and if he'd have still told the legend before bed if he had.
"Pleasant dreams, city boy."
Son of a bitch.
Okay, so, no notes included from CF at the end. I don't really make notes on this fic since it's entirely planned by CF. I just do the writing like some kind of monkey chained to a desk. Well, there you go. Hope you enjoyed.
Next Chapter: 14th April
P a treon . com (slash) Coeur