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"What happened down there tonight Helda?" the captain asked for the
hundredth time.
"I came to make up with him." she said again.
"What happened afterwards?" the captain pleaded with her.
"This is all my fault. I caused him to go away!"
Slap!!! The officer gave her a good one right across the cheek. "What happened to your husband!!!"
"I don't know!" she cried. Tears began to flow from under her eyelids.
He tried to calm his own emotions. "What did you see?"
"It came down from the trees. After first seeing it, I thought that it
must have been returning to the hell from which it came. But it
wasn't! It won't leave! It came for him!" Her sobbing became
uncontrollable.
"What was it? Do you know what it was?!"
"We are all going to die. He was only the first." The captain sat down in frustration.
"Go home and get some rest Helda." he said finally.
Coag once again woke up to a new day in Kjeldor. He had a long days
work ahead of him today. Yesterday he had quit after having only just
starting because of the shock of finding the dead deer. Today he would
have to set aside his fears and catch up on his harvesting. If he
didn't, he would end up having to pay some people to help him and that
would mean selling some of the crop early just to pay their wages.
Doing this would cost as much as their pay in lost profits. That would
mean a hard year, all because he had seen a head in his field. He was
so foolish! His stupidity might end up costing him dearly.
He got dressed quickly and, skipping breakfast, headed out to catch up
to where he should have been yesterday. He grabbed his scythe and
walked over to the forest where he had ended so abruptly the day
before. Once again he felt a sense of unease, but he ignored it in
favor of work. As he cut the wheat, a pair of dark eyes watched him. A
hunger was in those eyes, tempered only by an ancient prophecy. The
time will come.
"We have to work together people!" The mayor was desperately trying to
get enough people together to search for the animal that had killed Mr.
Stagfist. He had called a meeting in the Town Hall to ask for
volunteers. It seemed, however, that the sight of the attack scene had
made the people think twice about entering those woods. Mayor Vledon
turned desperately to the captain for help.
"Mayor Vledon is right. We have to get organized and search for this thing."
"But what is it?" someone yelled out from the crowd.
"We are pretty certain that it is just your average mountain lion.
However, we can't just track it down. It is using the trees. We need
everyone to help search so that we can spot and kill this thing before
it decides it wants another meal. Now what do you say?" A long pause
followed before someone got up the nerve to speak out. Mart Gillem
stood up.
"That thing knocked a hole in my shed the size of a house. Thanks to
him, four of my chickens are dead and most of the rest ran off. As mad
as that makes me, I am not about to risk my life by going into that
forest." A murmur of agreement followed.
"Now come on people, we have to do this. We can't just seal ourselves up every night, waiting until morning before we can feel safe again!"
Helda Stagfist stood up and walked forward. "You didn't see what that thing did to my husband. You never saw the gleam in its eyes and the
glint of his claws as it dragged him up into the trees. You take us for
fools if you think that we are stupid enough to go into that beast's
lair! Find someone else for your bait." With silent agreement, the
rest of the assembly stood up and returned to their homes.
"What should we do Mayor?" the captain asked.
"It looks like we are going to need a little outside help."
"Who? We are on the edges of civilization as it is. We don't have time to bring in an outsider. We need someone local and the whole town
is out of the question."
"We'll find someone." But as he said it, even the mayor doubted his own words.
Coag had been working for hours and already it was obvious that he was
going to need to hire some help. Still cursing himself for his
stupidity, he finished off his work and made a mental note to go into
town the next day and find a couple of people to help out in finishing
the harvest. For a man with no money, even such a small task threatened
to set him broke. Even so, he slept through the night and the next day
began the trip through the forest and into the town of Cedar Vale.
Before leaving he dug underneath a lose brick by his fireplace and removed a pouch. In this pouch was all his money in the world, and he
intended to get the most for it. With the leftovers from last night's
dinner to tide him over, he headed off into town. The trip was only a
few miles, but all the way he had the same sense of unease that he had
begun feeling ever since the morning of a few days before. When he
finally reached town he felt as if a burden was lifted. He went
straight down to the mayor's office to see if there were a couple of
young boys around whom he might employ for the next couple of days.
Upon reaching the office, the secretary told him that he could find the
mayor down at the military barracks. Coag pointed himself in that
direction and backtracked the way he had come. In a moment he was as
the right address.
The mayor and the captain seemed to be in a heated discussion that had something to do with a large animal. Ignoring the details, Coag
approached the two in order to inquire about the boys. As he neared he
picked up more of the conversation.
"Well we have to find someone," the mayor was saying.
"I know, but there isn't anyone around. . ."
It was at this point that the two noticed Coag walking towards them.
"Hey Coag!" the captain exclaimed. "Haven't seen you for a couple months. What have you been up to?"
"The same old same old. Farming keeps a man busy. In fact, that is why I came down here. I am in need of a couple of strong boys to help
me finish with the harvesting this year. It seems that I have gotten a
little behind."
As Coag was saying this, the Mayor was tapping on the captain's
shoulder. The captain turned his head and the mayor whispered something
in his ear. The captain's eyes lit up.
"Hey, Coag." the captain said.
"Yeah."
"What if I were to tell you that I could get half a dozen young men to finish up your harvesting for you?"
"That would be great, but I only have a little bit of money."
"What if I were to tell you that the town would foot the bill?"
"I'd say who do I have to kill!" Coag gave a small smile with this remark. He was trying to figure out what the mayor and captain were
leading up to. As if in response to this thought, the mayor spoke up.
"Actually it's an it. We have been having a small problem here in Cedar Vale since the last time you came into town. It seems that a
mountain lion has decided to come down from the hills. Since it arrived
it has eaten up a couple of chickens. But more serious than that was
the event that occurred the other night."
"I don't understand."
"Gentry Stagfist was attacked and killed while sleeping under a tree. The mountain lion is too much of a nuisance for us to just ignore. We
need someone to get rid of it."
"How do you know its a mountain lion?"
"What else could it be?"
Coag nodded his head. "Well, I guess you guys got yourselves a deal."
As he responded, images flashed through Coag's head of his father doing
the same thing many years before. He vowed that he would finish what he
had started. And then, with the shake of a hand and smiles of success,
a deal was made that would change a man forever.
Coag headed back home, intent on hunting and killing the mountain lion
the next morning. He no longer felt the same fear as he traveled back
through the forest, though several times he swore he could hear the
sounds of a form moving through the underbrush. When a brushwagg darted
across his path he gave the credit to him. It was not until the
mid-afternoon that Coag made it back to his house. He fixed a quick
dinner and went to sleep. That way, when the morning came he was well
rested and ready for a long day.
It was at this time, when Coag was about to leave, that he noticed his significant lack of weapons. All he owned were a couple of knives and a
bow that he had had as a kid. He cursed himself for his lack of
forethought and went into his bedroom to look for the bow. He went
straight to his bed and peered underneath. There, on the other side,
was a small, two-foot long bow made from the branch of an apple tree
that had been knocked over in a stiff wind. Next to it were three short
arrows that his father had cut for him.
Coag traveled over to the other side of the bed and picked them up off the floor. He looked at them with a sigh of remembrance. Why had his
father not made a bow and a few arrows to use when he had done the same
hunt? Instead he had taken the scythe from the shed and set out only
with it. Three days later the townspeople had found it and returned it
to Coag with their apologies. He dropped the bow and arrows and headed
out to the tool shed.
Coag traveled around the house and opened the door with a new sense of haste. There, along the wall, was the long, twisted scythe. Coag
removed it from the wall, feeling a strange energy arc through him.
Armed only with it, he headed into the darkness that was the forest.
Back in town the captain and mayor were having a renewed discussion
about the beast. It had been going on ever since Coag had agreed to
hunt it. Now they were urgently arguing about something very important,
something about a curse upon the family. They had both heard the
stories about Coag's father and his grandfather before him. There were
even tales of Coag's more distant ancestors having hunted down the beast
that had plagued the town in the past. All of these were before their
time and until now they had seen them as just stories. Now they
realized the whole truth. Every 35 years the beast returned and only
the Moonrick family had had the skill to "kill" it. They knew full well
that it wasn't as weak as a mountain lion, nor was it as mortal. It was
this truth that worried them.
Coag held the scythe ready as he threaded through the forest. An
ancient instinct now guided him. He walked with a stealth he had never
before possessed and held the scythe knowing that it was his natural
weapon. It was like an extension of his body. Its movement was his
movement. Its presence made him strong.
The forest was no longer the dark and foreboding place that it had been. The trees no longer hid secrets from his eyes. It showed him the
way to go and its sounds told him what was there. This did not vary as
he approached the lair of the beast whom he sought, a beast with a name
as old as time. The name entered his head like a flash flood. It's
face came back from the darkest reaches of his memory. He knew that it
would be waiting for him. They both knew their fates.
Coag stepped through the last layer of undergrowth and towards a pit that only he could find. A pit of hell that held his destiny. Without
a moment of hesitation, he descended into the dark oblivion. Like the
mouth of the beast itself, the hole swallowed him up into its depths.
The darkness no longer restricted his vision. It was merely one more thing to look past. The tunnel wound down into the earth, twisting off
into hundreds of passages. Coag moved back and forth through these,
instinctively knowing the way. For an hour he walked such, until it
seemed that he had reached the center of the earth. Then he entered a
small cave lit by a light that had no source. In the far corner stood
his enemy, Arcones Salmonte, the Lord of the Pit.
Arcones Salmonte's huge form took up the back section of the small cave. On his shoulders was a head that was a mix between a five hundred
pound wolf and a dragon. From that head peered two dark eyes, black as
the interior of the earth itself. He stood squatting on two legs whose
muscles bulged under his great weight. His chest expanded with each
breath, accenting the rocky forms that his chest seemed sculpted from.
His hands were palms down on the floor of the cave, with grooves being
cut into the rock as the claws flexed. His wings stood folded against
the cold cave walls. He opened his mouth and spoke for the first time
in 35 years.
"Coag Moonrick, I have waited long for you to come."
"Arcones Salmonte, your evil has become intent on perverting the
wholesomeness of this great land. Like my father before me and his
father before him, I come to banish you once more."
"You don't even know, do you?" the beast roared. "I was summoned here long ago by your ancestors to protect this town. All I asked for in
return was a monthly sacrifice to appease my hunger. Your people turned
on me!!! Now, my hunger makes me strong... immortal. You can but
simply delay the inevitable!"
A mocking laugh came from the innards of the great beast. Coag was made slightly uncomfortable by it. It was as if the daemon knew of some
fact of great importance that Coag had missed. He shook it off.
"Enjoy you last moments of freedom, for I am here to seal you up until the end of the earth." The laugh echoed again.
"You forget yourself little one. I am the earth itself."
"You are a mistake of nature that will never be repeated! I will
cleanse you from this land!" Arcones Salmonte stood up as far as the
cave allowed and gave a roar that shook rocks from the ceiling. And
then it happened.
It was as quick as a lightning strike. From the depths of his soul, Coag summoned a magical energy that was possessed by him and him alone.
The scythe glowed as it channelled the energy through to its blade. The
daemon did not hesitate. From the other end of the cave it charged,
claws of steels aimed at the small form of Coag. There was a flash of
as the daemon became engulfed in a ball of flame. There was a scream as
its claws dug deep into human flesh. Two separate pools of blood spread
across the cave floor. Their bodies would never be found.
As if to be certain of this, the cave walls shuddered and collapsed upon them. From the surface it appeared as if an earthquake had pushed
the opening to hell closed. Within a matter of minutes the forest was
as it had been. That is, except for the bloody scythe that lay deep in
the woods.
In town that night there was a great celebration. The mountain lion had not attacked that day and everyone seemed certain that it had been killed. The happiness was broken only by the knowledge that Coag, no, Coag the Mighty, had not returned. Even so, great bonfires were lit and a feast was prepared. No one knew him well, so there were few who mourned. The whole town was on its feet dancing in the square. Everyone, that is, except for the mayor and the captain of the guard. The two were sitting by themselves, staring into the woods. They knew that it could not last. In 35 years it would come back, and Coag Moonrick had no son.