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umbralsound-xiv · 6 months ago

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A First Time For Everything.

I was expecting her any moment, now that she'd returned from La Noscea. And here's me worrying she'd be gone for so long... ...Still. I shouldn't worry. What happened to me in Costa Del Sol wasn't exactly a common occurrence.

A path once described in an incredibly vague way had now become a well known one, each little landmark found with ease and the occasional distant birdcall serving as enough confirmation that she was on the right path. Even had she been uncertain, it was something that would swiftly disappear, as the Willows came into view. Sayuri curls her lips into a small smile as she heads for the door, handle swiftly pressed down and door pushed open enough to let her slip through the crack before nudging it shut behind her.

Bexy is already partway through preparing cups of tea with a grin as she turns her head over her shoulder. "And here she is! Welcome home, sister." She beams, head tilted with a rosy smile. "Make yourself comfortable."

"Here I am. Returned. On time." She beams an oh-so innocent grin, knowing full well that she has a tendency to prolong her little vacations with her doting husband. She moves over to the sofa not too far away, sinking into the seat with a happy little sigh.

"Hah! There's a first time for everything." Bexy laughs, picking up the recently boiled kettle between gloved hands. "Worry not, you've not missed anything of import, here. We're all well and fine enough. Tea?"

"I'm glad." She smiles, sinking her head into a nod. "Yes, please."

"Good, because i'd already poured you a cup." Bexy muses, taking a mug in each hand, offering Sayuri her own as Bexy joined her on the sofa. "So, how was your little getaway? Nice and relaxing, i hope? A little warmer than Coerthas?"

"You know me well." Sayuri chuckles, raising a hand to accept the offered cup. "Thank you." A sip is taken, and Sayuri pauses, free hand raising up to the middle of her chest to rub at it slightly as the warmth of the tea makes itself known going down, a feeling she likely still struggles to get used to. "It was. We had a picnic, slept under the stars.. Plenty of cuddling." A silly little smile is offered along with her words.

"Both of you being just as sweet as ever. It's nice. I mean it." Bexy takes a small sip of her own, settling back with a sigh. "One sun i'll enjoy Costa Del Sol again. Perhaps sometime during Moonfire when there are more people. Eir dances there on occasion, does he not?"

"If you'd feel more comfortable having company, I'll gladly come with you." She offers a smile, then sinks her head into a nod. "He does. Not that he has been out dancing for a little while now, considering he took care of me while I was sick.. And then went on a little trip with me."

"Ever the doting husband. Though… I wager he will go out dancing, soon enough, no? Or at least return to his duties with Mist. Gods knows she's complained enough at his absence, for how much time he saves. And then we can go training to Coerthas?" Bexy grins. "…Or on a walk in Costa Del Sol. Maybe we can catch a performance?"

It's surprising, honestly. Even if he can't travel through the aether, his knowledge of the markets and what is a fair price for something is invaluable. ...Though i've been poorer than a pauper, and richer than some nobility in my cycles, he seems to have a greater grasp on finances than most... I wonder why?

"Definitely, but as you said.. Ever the doting husband." Her smile brightens a touch. "..I think he would've gotten offended at the mere suggestion to go out while I was ill." She tilts her head a touch, snickering. "Both of those sound like a great idea to me."

Bexy stifles a small laugh, sipping the rolanberry tea with a small hum. "…It's nice to see you so happy, Sayuri. You deserve it more than anyone, after all you've endured. I can see how much he cares, for better or worse. I would have dragged you away from him on the sun i took you to Coerthas, had it come to it."

Her ears wilt a touch, gaze sinking into the contents of her cup as she rests it in her lap, thumbs lightly moving along the edge of it. "And still.. I need to constantly fight to keep it." A small sigh heaves out of her, before her gaze rises to Bexy anew. ".. But I know that I'm not alone, that I have support." The ears raise a touch, head tilting. "And a sister who is a force to be reckoned with." She sinks further into the backrest's cushion, humming faintly. "..I can't blame him from worrying, from wanting to help.. But Gods, I was terrified of hurting him that sun.. Which only made the ice worse.."

"Good. I'd have reminded you of the fact had you not made mention. You aren't alone, Sayuri. You won't ever be again. And if they're stupid enough come for you again, i'll give them more than a swift reminder why they shouldn't, if you don't dispatch them with your aether. You can and will. And should, come to think of it." Giving an encouraging smile, she nods. "His… Heart is in the right place, even if his brain always isn't. He means well. We worry because we care, and we can't fault that. Hopefully he doesn't hate me too much for running away to Coerthas with you. See how he likes it." She smirks, though it's clearly playful.

I'm not that bitter that he took her away for so long... ...I just missed her. Of course, i'd never separate them for long. But it is nice to spend time together, just me and her, as siblings.

"It's a fact I sometimes need to remind myself of. Most of my life, I.. It's just been me. Sure, in Doma I had my family, and I am eternally grateful for everything they did for me.. But they had to gain my trust, after everything with my tribe, and the slavers.. Even when they had it, I.. didn't always bring my troubles to them, being so used to deal with it on my own." Her finger slowly trails in a circle along the side of the cup, gaze sinking back to it. "I think he's more glad that I got the help I needed, however saddened he was when it had to be without him there. I think you are forgiven." She raises a brow at the last comment, a soft chuckle following. "He didn't." She smiles faintly, head tilting. "But mostly for how it all happened, I think."

"You know you never need endure anything on your own. If not for Eir, then for me. Vex… The company, and countless others. We will be there." Bexy pauses to listen as Sayuri continues, then, before adding, "…Glad you got the help you needed, sure enough. But he's one to hold grudges. You are sure he's still all well and fine with me? It took some time to talk him out of the last grudge he'd opted to hold against me."

Sayuri's head straightens back up, a brief pause lingering. ".. He hasn't said anything that indicates that he's upset with you, so I believe you're fine. I can ask, on the off-chance he is upset.. And work to change that, more than swiftly."

"If you're confident. I'm sure everything's fine." She nods, taking a longer drink of her tea. "So, what's next for you, then? Any outings planned? No lengthy holidays i need to be aware of?" She teases, but it's as good natured as always.

Sayuri shakes her head faintly, smiling. "None planned currently, and you'd be the first to know if- when, we do plan something." Her head tilts, eyes narrowing into a small squint. "..What about yourself? Planning on any trips?"

"Save for some unnamed time Laurent and i plan to go to Thavnair… None. Though, i can't go much of anywhere too long, considering…" Her eyes glance towards the doorway. "He's been as quiet as ever. Quieter, i think. Though i suppose being without the sun for so long… Does things to you. We both should know, though… You more than me." Another small, measured sip of her tea, then. "…Have you… Come to a decision?"

I won't leave. Not when things are so... Tumultuous. I couldn't bear to be needed so much and be away; not when i can help. When it settles, maybe. ...Still, it begs the question if she's come to a decision. Would it be a funny thing to say i'd somewhat miss having a captive...?

She nods faintly, eyes shifting in the direction of the doorway. ".. At least he has had light." She mutters, a touch bitterly. ".. Grym kept me in complete darkness, the only light I got was when the door was opened, and I was likely about to get hurt." A claw idly taps against the side of the mug, a slow sigh leaving her. ".. But no. It.. is not pleasant." She keeps her silence a little longer, gaze settling on Bexy anew. ".. I have."

"And? Your verdict?" Bexy awaits her answer a little apprehensively. "I… Know this decision likely has not come lightly, though i imagine Vex will be glad to be relieved of her post. As will i be. We even made the decision not to survey him each and every bell, but it was his clamoring for company that made us return. He…" Bexy cuts herself off, there. And waits.

Sayuri draws a sharp breath, ears tilting back a touch. The same breath is slowly exhaled through her nose. ".. I will release him." She mutters. ".. He will have conditions put on this freedom, and if he fails to keep them up.. I will not hesitate to hunt him down and change that decision."

...Even me being... Notoriously bereft of mercy, i'd have let him go, too. We have little to lose if he opts to betray us; he'll just be another body for the pile. It's up to him if he chooses to do something with the chance he's been given. The chance he's been lucky to be given at all. Sayuri is perhaps the same as me, when it comes to showing mercy. Perhaps worse. ...Maybe that's why i feel such a kinship with her, on top of everything else.

Sayuri's decision seems to loosen Bexy's shoulders from the tension they were held in, painted lips giving a small smile. "…Very well. For… What it's worth, it's what i'd have chosen. But i wouldn't have begrudged you had you opted for his death." Draining her tea, the empty cup is set aside on the table. "Whenever you're ready, we can deliver the news. Unless you'd prefer not to see him again."

".. Eir cares not for his fate, and I.." She pauses, lips thinning just a touch. ".. I want to rip his head off. But.. The thought of that we could.. save some people, stuck in such an awful situation, granted he does the job.." A small sigh leaves her, head shaking. ".. I weighed these options, numerous times.. And I couldn't help but to feel like I was.. abandoning the people on the inside, if I simply killed him."

"…People who are in the shoes you once wore, or lack thereof. I… Can understand your decision. It's a minimal risk if he decides to betray us; we'll simply kill him if we ever cross paths again." A pause, as gloved fingertips lightly drum on the arm of the sofa. "…Did you want to deliver the news?"

She offers a small nod. ".. Partially doing it for Vex, too. There was someone she was willing to stop me from killing, so surely there are people in there she cares for, however little she may admit it." She pauses, furrowing her brows. ".. Or know it." She considers Bexy's question for a moment, before sinking her head into a nod - raising her cup up to drain it fully before setting it aside.

It's possible Vex has always had friends in there. Of course, far too dangerous to call them that, then. They could easily use them to hurt her, considering the punishment she can take.

"She has spoken of people as though they may have been friends, though never used the word…" Bexy rises to her feet, nodding. "I hope, for all their sakes, he does the right thing. And is smart enough not to get himself killed doing it."

".. A dangerous word for her to use, considering all the things she got herself into." Sayuri's lips tug into a thin line as she pushes herself up to stand. ".. An example being cheering for me, loudly, using the name Sayuri, when I was thrown in their arena with Vairg.." The Viera's name leaves her in a similar fashion to that of a curse word, ears automatically pinning back upon mentioning him. ".. He had best be."

"Hah! I can imagine anyone daring do to such a thing would likely be branded a madwoman. But well, now we know Vex…" The sentence trails in an attempt at humour, Bexy offering something of a smirk before departing down the stairs. "…We have little to lose if he doesn't. But it's on him, now." Pulling something from her pocket, the key to the cell is offered to Sayuri. "All yours."

".. Now we know she's a madwoman?" Sayuri smiles, offering a faint chuckle, dampened to refrain from it being all too loud. Her steps don't stray far from Bexy's own, hand reaching to grasp onto the key - a small nod offered Bexy's way.

"You said it, not me." Bexy grins, though sighs her expression into something a little more neutral as she crosses the room towards her bedchamber, and towards the bookcase. "Greetings, Vex."

"And I stand by it. She is." She mumbles, loud enough for Bexy to hear, but no one else. Her own expression draws into neutrality, eyes lidding into a more narrow stare. Her eyes fall to Vex as the woman comes into view, head sinking into a mute greeting.

Vex's gaze darts up to meet Bexy and Sayuri, lips curling into a wide grin - that's just her natural smile. "Hey!"

Bexy offers her usual warm smile to Vex at the greeting, slipping into the room where her captive was held. She doesn't offer him a greeting, though her expression is a lot less sour towards him than it had been previous.

Q'kura, who was on the verge of sleep up until a few moments ago, rouses with a start. Head rested against the wall, he shrinks a little into his shoulders upon noting two sets of footsteps.

Sayuri slips around the corner, key concealed half-way up her sleeve. Her icy stare falls atop of Q'kura once he is in view, the corners of her lips tugged a little downwards to signify some mild annoyance, added only by the narrowed eyes and backwards tilting ears. She holds her silence, for now.

Vex's gaze flickers between Bexy and Sayuri, and wanders further to Q'kura. One ear droops while the other remains perked, not needing to guess her way forwards as to why Sayuri was here.

Bexy simply slips back. She knew Sayuri's intention, and thus returns to reclining on the wall in silence. Watching, and waiting.

"S-sayuri! You… You are looking… Well?" He meets the glare and he can't hold her gaze, his own darting to the floor. "I--- I'm sorry about the side effects, but i did all i could with the means i had! I -did- warn that such things might happen-- Not that it makes them any more pleasant -- But it worked, yes? It worked? You have your aether?" He fights to steal a glance from the corner of his eyes. He dare not ask for his fate, swallowing dryly.

"You did." Her answer is short, kept in a night toneless voice. "Yes, it worked. My aether is returned, with seemingly no further complications. I am well, if not better than I was." Her head turns to glance in Bexy's direction, holding no intention to speak of the now stronger ice any further than that, but they knew. Her gaze trails back to Q'kura. "And I have finally decided what to do with you." Her voice doesn't hint her intentions whatsoever.

Vex slowly rocks back and forth, crimson gaze shifting between Bexy and Sayuri once more, trying to guess the outcome herself, even if the icy Seekers kept their silence.

"Wh-what… Will you do, with me…?" Q'kura asks. He'd intended to leave it there. Simply hear out his sentence, but desperation bids that he begged. "I… I have done all you asked, and i am sorry, so sorry for what you endured, please… Please, don't… Don't kill me. I am sorry for what i did to your husband -- Eir, yes?" He glances up to her, as though he intended to clarify. "---I… I just want to see the sky again. Please…" He swallows again, looking to Bexy, to Vex, and back to Sayuri. "Please don't… Leave me here…"

There was some... Conflict, to hearing him beg. He deserved it. Gods, he deserved it, but knowing he perhaps wasn't the worst of the bunch made it a little more bittersweet. He did help her. But it's her decision, no matter what she chooses. Even if she changes her mind, now.

The begging sees Sayuri retain her silence for a little longer, just to watch him. A touch cruel, but one could argue he deserved it. A little bit. "You have done all that was asked, and cured me. I don't necessarily believe that you are sorry for what my husband and I endured, but neither does he care for your fate, despite what role you held." A slow breath is exhaled through her nose, the intensity of her glare lessening just a touch, but it is a noticeable one. ".. I am going to set you free. On the condition that you do help those who deserve it on the inside. Anyone who hold the same rank Vex did, you will aid in getting out of there." Her head raises a touch, eyes shifting back to its previous cold glare as the next choice of words leave her. "And if you decide not to do so, I will find you and rectify this decision."

Vex stares, at Sayuri, at Q'kura, and at Bexy. She is.. certainly surprised, when those words leave Sayuri, yet as she continues to speak, Vex pauses, and slowly nods along. Yep, sounds fair to her.

Q'kura's eyes turn glassy at her words. Hope, for the first time in moons. He's even brave enough to slowly find his feet and stand, though in so doing it's a little unsteady. "Y-you'll let me go…?" He sounds as though he'll cry, searching Sayuri's gaze for any indication that she's lying, for any sliver of false hope. "---I'll help. I'll help them, i swear-- I'll get as many of them out as i can." Those words began at Sayuri, and ended directed at Vex.

Bexy remains unmoving, staring at the scene with the same neutral expression, at least until her painted lips shift into something of a half smile as she glances to Vex.

Sayuri finally shifts her hand that hid the key, letting it slip into her grip more properly before she pushes it into the lock and twists it to open the cell door. "For your own sake, Q'kura.. You had best."

Vex continued to dart her gaze between all those present, ears tilting and lips curling into a softer, more genuine smile than her usual shit-eating grin, seemingly somewhat relieved at the verdict. She pushes herself up to her feet as well.

Q'kura seems almost fearful to leave the cell. As though he couldn't quite believe it. He moves almost anxiously to the threshold, ears lowered, almost as though it was a joke. "I… I promise." He manages, fearfully.

Bexy doesn't move, but watches. The way she folds her arms shifts ever so subtly, tail slowly wavering at her heels.

".. The promise of someone I do not trust in the first place means very little, Q'kura. I will await your actions." Sayuri raised a brow, and moved aside in an attempt to indicate she'd do naught to stop him from exiting the cell.

Q'kura takes a few steps, and then a few more. Quickly by Sayuri, then slowly the closer he drew to Vex. "…I'm free…?" He says again, looking back at the cell behind him. Tear filled eyes scan the room, not quite sure what to do with himself. "I c-can just go…?"

Bexy doesn't say anything.

Sayuri merely watches, gaze still narrow.

...I never planned for him to just walk out of the house. I'm not stupid. He's probably gathered that i live in the Shroud, but i doubt much else. And i'd like to keep it that way.

Vex pauses, her usual wide grin settling on her lips. "I mean, if you're doubting it… I'm sure Sayuri would've killed you without false hope." Her gaze trails back to the cell, then to Q'kura once more. "Unless y'wanna stay in there, yeah."

He looks around in silence then, back at the cell, and then ultimately at Sayuri. With a small dip of his head, and even smaller, "Thank you…" Leaves him, before he turns to look into the room beyond, a floral bedchamber, a desk and-- Darkness.

Bexy drives her elbow sharply into the back of Q'kura's head, knocking him out cold.

The deadpan expression Sayuri has held eases, a mild huff of amusement emitting at the sight.

Vex grimaces to herself. ".. Ow."

Bexy turns with an almost incredulous expression. "…What? I wasn't about to let him walk about the house unattended, much less see where i live." At Sayuri's expression, her lips curl in amusement. "What?" She repeats, half-laughing.

Sayuri cracks a small smirk, allowing a small chuckle to leave her. "Taking my joy where I can."

Vex snorts slightly, a small pause lingering before she finally asks. ".. Are we releasing him, or..?"

Bexy leans down, to hoist the downed Seeker over her shoulder. "We are. I'll take him to Thanalan, leave him somewhere shady to come around. He can make his own way back to the compound."

Sayuri offers a small nod to reinforce Bexy's answer.

"Alright. Great." Another pause. ".. Can I give him some food, for when he wakes?" A question that gains a slighty raised brow from Sayuri, causing Vex's lips to thin. ".. Y'want him to actually reach 'em, yeah? Fuck knows when he'll wake, might be bloody starving when he does."

...Despite all the cruelty enacted on her by them, she's still kind. Vex is a good person.. And likely, better than most will give her credit for.

A small nod is Bexy's response to Vex. "Take whatever you want for his pockets, just nothing that will lead back to us." She carries him through the house, eyeing the stairs with some trepidation. "…He's been a good captive, if nothing else."

Vex nods. "I'll put something together. And hey.. They find you, they find me. And the Karahli. I like Zhav, don't want that to happen." She slips past them and heads for the stairs.

Sayuri's features soften, a faint sigh leaving her. ".. A madwoman she might be, but certainly kinder than I would've been.."

"Kinder than she has cause to be, considering. But i won't argue it. We do want him to survive that long, at least." Bexy ascends the stairs with a slow, careful pace; not wanting to drop Q'kura, nor fall down herself. Finally reaching the summit, she sighs. "…Not too much, Vex. If the compound find it, it might look suspicious."

"Oh, I know. Been subject to their bloody patdowns more times than I can count. Tiniest bloody bump there shouldn't be and they'll turn y'pockets insideout." Vex huffs, having collected a small amount of foodstuff, putting it into a wrap. ".. 'S just a few things to give him enough energy to move on. Will look like he scavenged it in a hurry if they do see it." She steps up to Bexy and Q'kura, holding the little wrap of food that she seeks to wriggle into one of his pockets.

Sayuri merely observes, shaking her head gently. Definitely finding Vex kinder than she needs to be, to someone like him.

"…It should be enough." Bexy holds him still enough for Vex to give him his gift, offering a satisfied nod. "…I'll take him now, before he wakes up. I'll see the both of you soon, yes?"

Vex steps back, offering a two-finger salute.

Sayuri's head sinks into a small nod, ears tilting back a touch. ".. I doubt I need to tell you to be careful, but.. Please be."

"I will be. Worry not for me." She gives her customary smile, not so much as even departing the building until the aether around her swirls into a blizzard. Exactly where she was going wasn't mentioned, but it was clear she had at least somewhere in mind.

#Muse: [Bexy]#Chapter: [A Taste Of Their Own Medicine]#FFXIV #IC #Writing #Textlog

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alchemisland · 6 years ago

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The Moors Mutt - I

Part II coming on Tuesday!

I. Old Stone

The beast I knew only in folkloric snippets. Hedge whispers perverting history to arcana through time immemorial. Perhaps too I had known it in nightmares, shapeless until named, becoming then familiar as a bedchamber.

It was grim autumn when that fateful letter arrived, setting in motion a chain of events both strange and unlikely. In retrospect, that a series of vignettes so bizarre could start with the simple act of a posted letter seemed comical.

The letter landed with a thud, dubbing me sole executor of the late Lady Renton Sizemore's last will, a grim charge requiring a trip to her wicked home, listed in the Briarscombe country house register as the third most bloodstained holding in England.

Dislike isn't the word. Lady Sizemore and I got on famously when last we spoke, thirty years ago. I wasn't the doting schoolboy turned dribbling manchild spending Saturday nights at bingo. Neither was she the elderly relation procuring coins from behind ears to the delight of the youngers.

We were not eachother's keeper. Why I was suddenly favoured for this sensitive task that required more mental finesse than anyone in the family gave me credit for out loud, puzzled me greatly. Somebody must have annoyed her at one of her events. Sandwich gala on the Pringle Estate destroyed by careless nephew's untucked shirt. In true family style, whatever infuriated her she took to the grave.

Once the money was apportioned, I was to ensure no stone went unturned, apt phrasing given its namesake. Cairn Cottage stood oppressively atop the mound some two hundred winters, a plundered megalith shielding against the bracing gales.

Up there the flowers bloomed blighted, grass grew sideways and only the sturdiest roots survived. Without the megalith's girth, perhaps those winds might have toppled the twisted demesne, but she held firm now as old.

Mystics, druids and spiritualists alike extolled the house's phantasmic virtues. Fringe groups scrambled to reserve exclusive use of the land for Candlemas ceremonies. Lady Sizemore didn't care, provided she was soundly remunerated.

Rumours abounded of hauntings, anomalies occurring on the land by midnight's trickery.

Upon receipt of instruction, I spurred my carriage toward Cairn Cottage, the house in whose shadow no local walked without rosaries.

Although my visit was primarily administrative, there was another matter pertinent to my interests. One muttering which above all others inspired fear. A cautionary tale warning children from the grounds by night. And sometimes, on cold and lonely nights, a brave man wandering alone might see fit to take the longer road home.

Worse than druids, they said a beast lived on the Moor. A hulking creature, whose snarling teeth bared in fullness of dark glowed like spears of starlight, whose stark brightness was dulled only by the gleaming viscera of previous engagements clinging in ragged flaps.

However the rumour started, it long sprouted legs of its own, more exciting with each recounting.

No smoke without fire. I intended to find the single primal ember, the lone truthful element, stripped of frill and frock, fancy and folly, bereft of myth, or loyalty to tradition. Was there something in the fields by night? Was it dangerous?

First came Sperrin, a grizzly hamlet outside the estate's confines. For a penny, a local lad promised to find a suitable nook for the trap. I visited the sole watering hole, a squalid cellar named Lar's. The tavern itself was not charmless, offering average vintage for below average prices, warmth, music, rustic flattery and inimitably, whispers of the beast.

The tavern's proprietor Lar was a man out of time. With his arms folded across his simian chest and those big lugs like trophy handles either side of his substantial forehead, he could have easily passed for a saxon chieftain. He stood astride the bar against a backdrop of coloured bottles. Immediately upon entering his eyes set upon me with great intensity. Unlike the merry keep of fireside tales, he offered no warmth in greeting. That you were found fit to sit his barstool was kindness enough.

Inebriates remained nursing drams, glowering at their respective lecterns. Occasionally I'd catch one staring at me, then turn away as I waved. After a while sitting and sipping, making a game of catching their nosy glances, I signalled Lar's attention. 'This is probably going to sound strange. Probably because it is. Hear me out though. Have you ever heard or seen anything strange out on the moor?'

Widened like an owl, Lar's right eye scanned me once, twice, three times before he moved a muscle. 'Have in fact. Not now though. Too many around. Later.' His lips barely moved. I tipped my nose.

Nearer closing, he poured a cup and sat, remaining on the business side of the bar.

'The beast, you say?' He leaned in close, one eyebrow raised, its shape the arching rod of a hooked line. 'I could tell you a thing or two about the beast alright.'

'Prithee speak, my curiosity is burning. I won't rest a wink until it's satiated. Tourist talk aside, do you believe, as men do God, a beast prowls these forests?' I inched forward, as if by closer proximity, the truths would be truer.

'Regular Theseus, eh? Monster hunters, we have had plenty. Lovers of darkness too. Students of forbidden arts. All are served here. Kings and paupers alike. Did you come all this way to hear me say that?' Lar spoke with great confidence. The manner of his prattling meant the tales he told were true, or this was practiced.

'No.' I replied, 'I have business in the cottage. My heart though, she belongs to this creature. I am not a quack, nor a holder of séances. I am not a man of low learning on the hunt for falsehoods. I am a lover of stories. Pray, continue your captivating narrative.'

He continued, 'Let it be said I was coaxed. You wanted this.'

In this ominous portent he let slip a mask of deft craft. There was artifice in his smile, a cheshire grin that touched either cheekbone. A whispered suggestion of hidden intent.

Everything made sense. Was I seeing clearly? More than ever. I saw his ruse; city boy down for the day, take him for a ride, tell him the usual stories. A pal of his will burst in at just the right time, scare me half to death, then they'll take me to the supposed hot-spot for the low price of everything I've got. Lar took me for a lettuce. Something in his warning tipped me. A little over-arch. If his performance was not theatre, then Shakespeare never wrote.

Doubtless once finished, Lar would proffer some overpriced talisman no fellwalker could risk refusing.

'Enough pussyfooting. Spill it. I'll need all the advice I can get.' Like a drill tip, I pressed my index finger into the bar.

'No matter what image I conjure in your mind's eye, the beast is yet more ferocious and terrible in the flesh. It's the great unreality of it.' He tapped his forehead. 'Your mind doubts what it's seeing, unable to comprehend its stimulus. Brave men are made mice in its shadow.'

'What evidence have you of such a creature?' I asked, draining my tankard. He did the same, then wiped the amber residue on the back of his hand. He looked me over once, as if to ask who I was to question. I returned a withering gaze, maneuvering my features to convey a similar message. For a moment the air felt charged with kinetic possibility. As when two pugilists circle to begin a contest, lead hands pawing. Neither of us wished to be responsible for qualms.

He broke the armistice. 'Evidence? If you didn't think it weren't here, you wouldn't have come. If you believed in your heart this week you'd be contending with a monster, you'd have stayed at home in your jams.'

'Nonsense, man! You forget I am summoned, not here of my own volition.'

'We, each of us, tell ourselves sweet little lies to justify how our limited time is spent. I have a right mind to think if the lady yet lived, you and I might still have met. On a yawning stretch such as this, arriving as you have: alone and curious. If there's one thing I can't respect, it's a self hating believer. Swanning around with all the cynicism of a non-believer, clad in the robes of an adherent, so that when the hobby is proved spurious you can point to your skepticism. You'd be first to the papers tomorrow if scientists verified the beast's existence, how you had journeyed and studied on your own dime to further the science.' Lar pursed his lips, knowing he'd cut me to the quick, vanished was his earlier reticence.

I hated how right he was. I was exactly this sort. Insulting people who believed the same things as me. First to refuse to enter a haunted house for fear a demon might take my soul.

I'd never concede his point though. I riposted, 'Few are more loathed than the opinionated barman. You speak much too readily. Do so again, I'll see your manners are checked for the next weary traveler willing to pay good coin.'

Lar's eyes lit, bulging with imagined riches. 'Let me fill your drink, sir. I meant no offence. We speak freely here. Manners soften. Soon one finds truths cannot be digested unperfumed. Here in the wilds, it's a duty to voice quarrel. Far from crown and court, unaired anger festers.' Lar gladly dispensed his pearls of rural wisdom as if they were sweets from a bulging striped bag.

'Really, man. Every idea can be made ridiculous if extrapolated to that degree. Manners take the edge off. I'm not offended by your candor. I intend to find the creature, if such exists. Have you no doubt about that.' I watched him pull another drink.

The returned tankard was too full to raise without spilling. I slurped loudly, head bowed. Like a pulled plug, half the liquid gone in a single gulp.

'What evidence is sufficient? Look around you.' Lar held aloft his hands, urging me toward his empty business, still cast in a sickly light from the last flickering sentinels.

He pointed toward the empty seats. A single patron remained hidden in the shadows. A local by his boots.

'We did a roaring trade before that bloody woman inherited the place. Once she came, the trade died. When I was a lad, that land was free to roam. No walls. She had them built to spite us. Worse rumours too and all, that she built those walls to house it.'

'It?' I asked

'It. The beast.' Lar's voice lowered to a whisper. 'A cage for a pet beyond control. That's your sort all over. Dabbling where you shouldn't.'

'Her sort.' I corrected, 'I'm not aristocratic. You're a presumptuous sort, you know.'

'Believe you're not the first to say. Her sort, whatever pleases. I don't subscribe to this theory. Me personally, I think it came from hell. One thing's for certain, it got worse when they shifted the cairn.'

'You say you have seen it?' Part of me thought I was the one stringing him along, but another more gullible me firmly believed, or wanted to believe, that he had seen something. Hoping not to seem needy, I drew myself close to him, the bar still between us, 'With your own eyes if you saw it, you must swear it now. Did you see it as I see you now, or as one sees the distant stars and erroneously assumes knowledge.'

'As I stand before you.' Lar gestured to his stained apron, which he then removed and hung on a hook overhead. He nodded to the barfly, who stumbled from his seat and shot the bolt across the lock, an angry black mechanism like a bas-relief, which clanked against the timber as he let it fall. 'That's Fergus.'

Fergus lurched over. One leg trailed behind him. I couldn't help imagining him as a gothic manservant, dragging corpses to the laboratory in pursuit of higher knowledge. He came to stand beside me. There were giants on the earth is those days. Though our eyes observed the same setpieces, his countenance betrayed little comprehension. He had the chiseled jaw of a marble bust in profile, but his mouth hung open permanently, moist lips pursed like a fish.

He placed an enormous hand on my shoulder. Such space was permitted between his splayed fingers that ten legions abreast might find passage unmolested. His knuckles protruded unnaturally, evidence of labour, something harder than masonry or smithcraft. Mayhaps soldiering overseas.

I stared at his hand. He never looked at me. I coughed, first mannerly, then more harshly, thinking to approach cautiously lest my assumption prove provident, that he had lost his sound during foreign campaigns, of whose spoils we all were beneficiaries.

'Don't mind him.' Lar said. He spoke softly in the presence of his friend, observing his movements closely, ready to interject with a steadying hand or a warning to the cruelly curious. I wondered were they brothers. They bore little resemblance, though stranger things I had heard. Lar took Fergus' wrist and pressed gently, disturbing the folds of his motheaten jacket. They shared a moment I could but observe, radiating warmth and glad tidings in a wordless wave.

'I mean not to speak boldly, and lash me with spite if I transgress overmuch, but I must know or I should forever wonder, are you kin?'

Fergus shared Lar's laugh with the same look of bemused ignorance.

'You hear that? Fancy man reckons we're brothers. Probly thinks we're all related down this end, and not in a godly way.' Lar laughed, a viking bellow.

Lar released his grip and the folds of Fergus' sleeve righted themselves. He spoke several octaves lower, miming offence at my observation. I started to explain I intended no hidden subtext, but Lar waved to indicate all was taken as delivered.

'We are not brothers. Close friends. Known Fergus here forever.' He gently tapped the giant's hand, slapped on the bar like some enormous muddy bird print. 'Used to be a keen cookie too, once upon a forever ago. Loved languages, Welsh mostly. Pugilism he loved more. One passion consumed the other. Anything burning so intensely inevitably cannibalises itself. Took one knock too many, stole his wits in an instant. A left hook across the bar sent him erstwhile. Twenty five minutes he was on the shores of night, learning the landscape of the dreamworlds, while we fanned his rigid form, wet his brow and whispered familiar names in his ear. When at last he woke a part of him was left forever in that place. I like to think, boyishly perhaps, it awaits him upon leaving this plain of lousy strife, like the belongings awaiting a homeward jailbird. The cloak of a lost lifetime. Not for him. He'll slide right into it, fit like a tailored piece, and all of eternity to speak. Not here though.'

Tears welled in his eyes. I took the reins, 'Think nothing of your emotions, man. We each have them. Doubtless I will shed a tear up in the old witch's place. Another life awaits, that much is sure. Grander than this. I'm sure he made, and makes, a fine man. Built like a gladiator. I am sorry to have dredged unpleasantness. I meant only to satisfy my own selfish curiosity. Forgive me. Please, continue.'

'I will at that.'

'It were one night, three years ago. Ferg was there. We'd been called out on account of strange noises near the workers' cottage. They wouldn't work until the evil was killed or driven away. We came down from the high road proper and saw it between the trees ahead. Like a horse it stood, with clumsy stilts supporting an ursine bulk that swayed as it shambled. It drank shadows to conceal its dread presence. Blackness it took for robe. In walking its front paws propelled its cumbersome form, while the rear set, less lengthy, dredged channels in the dirt. In motion it arched to reveal a belly spun of lighter felt, ashen in the scant moonlight. Bundled, it became an orb of shadow, nothingness.'

'Unbeknownst we watched it watching, green eyes like blazing protostars probing for movement. Well it knew to choose this site, one of only two wells being located nearby. In a flash then it was gone, satin-shoed away into the night.'

The tale Lar knew was a scorcher paused. He beamed, an actor awaiting applause. I gathered my jaw from the floor, brushed it and set it back properly.

Each word drew me closer, which Fergus mirrored, until we three sat as witches about the bubbling lip of their cauldron, a coven of pallid specters.

Lar paused to sip and nodded we join.

I wondered had my hobby, in a blink, become too dangerous to justify. It was well telling my employers of ghost hunts, but a wild beast - my insurance wouldn't have it! If it turns out some menagerie escapee, what then was it? Quest for wonder or recklesss folly? Weiss, Wellie and Wardun insurance, even in their most obscure policies, don't pay out for fools. That's why I chose them!

Lar went on, a fresh cigarette painting the air blue in his articulation, 'Each new, shifting moon we came to that spot and watched. We took it upon ourselves to rid the land of danger.'

'Fergus knows a bit about a bit, that's what's left to him, God bless. What he knows is knots. Army training dictates every officer have at least passing knowledge of ten or more useful fastenings.'

'Me? I know about animals. We make a fierce duo. We inquired in advance about a reward, to which the estate responded agreeably, so we set off with lengths of rope overshoulder and the angriest looking traps the furmen could spare, determined to snare it. We planted snares all about its presumed domain.'

'Nothing came. Not a rat. Not a wisp. Not never again. It's the mystery disturbs me most. I'd die happy knowing.'

In his voice a single note of longing rang, dispelling the subterfuge of his intentions and, in the length of a breath, his beings and inner machinations were laid bare. Far from the sinister goldlust and murderous intention I had silently attributed to him, he seemed eager in an earnest fashion, willing in the name of a job done.

I observed Lar, powerful and straight. 'Do I sense an unfinished quest?'

'Aye. Not too subtle, mind.' Lar flashed a toothy smile, the sort a condemned man spits at his executioner. 'You seem a serious man. I didn't know when you first came in parading your manners like fancy knickers. You can't be too sure about a man who gives too many pleases. You're not that sort and have proved such twice over.' Lar imagined that was a compliment from the look he gave me. Expectant almost, between child submitting scribbles for display and cat batting dead mouse onto pillow.

Well, of course I had something to say about that. Cats were hissing. A donnybrook of claws and torn fur not even a hearty stock of iodine could salve. 'And I might say also that I too had cast aspersions on your character, maintaining you were of sinister country stock. As you claim to have been rapturously convinced otherwise, as have I.'

'Once the lady's estate is divided and bequeathed I'll receive my own. I mean to inherit a substantial bursar. I will pay to you a fair sum. In exchange, you will guide me to the hotpots, generally ensuring nothing eats me. When we find it, you're in charge until it's bound.' If he came, it would be on my terms.

'Find it? Slow down. We've seen it once in a hundred times. I'll take you gladly all the same.'

Wordless, we shook hands and drained our horns.

'Tomorrow?' Lar asked. He drew my gaze to an unopened whiskey bottle, which I declined.

'Not so, good man. Tomorrow I will tend my affairs. In the evening, if all is ordered, I will return to discuss further a plan of action. Have you a room I might rent?'

'Not for everyone mind, so don't go saying. There's one in the back. I'll light the fire.'

'Please do.'

I left a generous tip. Before following the publican to the warm hollow, I shook Fergus' hand, assuming he too would be part of our fortean friendship.

While I slumbered, the nightmare broke free her paddock, thundering across the veil of my somnambulant phantasmagoria, its clanging hooves ringing shrill terror.

I saw spined creatures oozing pus, many-eyed. Edgeless orbs hissing like flying snakes from one black abyss to another.

Cats with human faces screamed. A hairless man with a tail curled upwards like a scorpions noxious pike disemboweled himself with a broken mirror.

Last came the bestial form, not unlike that which Lar had described, striding evilly. Two venom coated fangs, uncontained by its snarling mouth, curved inward toward its breast. Catlike claws glinted menacingly. Turning my third eye downwards as if to look upon my feet, I found I was formless, yet the beast circled knowingly around the space my corporeal form should occupy.

I knew instinctively this reverie was more tangible than the others. That if the beast should strike I would die or wake screaming with a crimson pool spreading below me. It sniffed the air, pawing closer.

I woke to my beastless chamber. Sodden, I sought a candle and in its gloam chronicled my nightmare. That night sleep ne'er returned, making groggy my morning plod toward Cairn Cottage.

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