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"Haml, why are you acting this way? What is wrong?" Dad asked his old friend, who gave him an aggrieved hug.
"I can’t take this anymore. Day in and day out, people co to with inane and petty problems... I thought I would be able to sit back, happily manage a town, and kill anything that cos to attack the town. I did not know that I would be put in charge of grown children who would continuously complain to if they did not wipe their ass properly!" Sir Haml complained.
With an understanding look, Dad returned the hug and said to his old friend, "Idiots co with the territory, my friend. But since you feel so strongly about it, I will try to find you soone to help you administrate."
After talking so more, we realized that it was rather late in the day, so we decided to set up camp next to Sir Haml’s tent before going for a walk to see how things were going.
During our walk around the town, we noticed that the craftsn, artisans, rchants, and vendors were actively operating out of their tents while awaiting the construction of their shop houses. The only establishnts running at limited capacity were the service establishnts, like inns. So, in the anti, those just functioned as taverns for all the working n and won in town to wet their lips after a hard day’s work.
Seeing that everything was in order, we retired for the day.
***
"Sir Haml! Sir Haml! Urgent news!"
I was awakened in the middle of the night by a commotion occurring outside my tent.
When I pulled back my tent flap, there were two guards holding up a bloodied and barely conscious man with a bloody, tied-off stump for a left arm.
A mont later, Dad’s and Sir Haml’s tent flaps were thrown open to see what was going on. "What’s all this then?" Sir Haml asked with a sheathed sword in hand.
"Sir, this man said his village was attacked by a flying beast three days ago." one of the guards said.
This news woke all of us up from our sleepiness as Sir Haml closed in on the injured man, "Tell , in detail, what happened."
"The sky... from the sky, M’lord." The trembling man started, "M-M’lord... beggin’ yer pardon, I swear on mam’s grave, I seen it—an’ it weren’t no dream nor drunkin’ fancy. It co from the skies, like a great bolt from the gods. Wings wide as the barn doors, beatin’ the air like thunder, I tell ye!
It had the head of a bird, sharp-beaked like a hawk that’s tasted at, but the eyes... oh, them eyes was full o’ thinkin’. Smarter’n a man, it was. Front claws like scythes, glintin’ in the sun, and hind legs like a warhorse, thick and muscled.
It co down on us, tore up poor Wilfrid in a blink. Didn’t even chew, just snapped an’ jumped onto another of us. I threw staff at it, stupid I know, but arms moved before wits caught up. It swiped with its claw, took arm clean off. If it weren’t for old Hob’s spookin’ it with an arrow, I reckon I’d be naught but a red stain in the grass. Arrow din do much though, bounced right off it did."
As the bloodied man rambled on, I constructed the creature in my mind. Head of a bird, with wings, has front claws, and hind legs like a horse... a griffin? No, hind legs are wrong.
"Hippogriff..." I mumbled out, but apparently I did it during a lull in the conversation, so everyone heard .
"What was that, son?" Dad asked.
"Hippogriff... from what this man described, I think what attacked them is a hippogriff." I said.
Hearing what I said, Sir Haml went inside his tent, and there was the sound of rummaging for a couple of minutes before he ca out, flipping through a bestiary. He turned the book to the wounded man when he got to a particular page. "Is this what attacked your village?"
After squinting a little, the man nodded, "Aye, M’lord, that’s the beasty that attacked village."
***
At the break of dawn, , Dad, his knights, along with Sir Haml, and the rcenaries we hired to escort the caravan rode out to the village from which the survivor ca. Turns out, the village was one that we visited before we reached Duhof.
We would have preferred that the trackers and hunters we sent for a few days ago to handle it, but by the ti they get in contact with us, there may be more casualties. So the beast forced us to take action.
When we arrived at the destroyed village, we saw that the gates were still locked, so we had to send one of the soldiers to climb over the wall and open it from the inside.
When we got in, the only thing we found was collapsed tents, signs of many scuffles, claw marks, and blood, lots of dried blood splattered all over the place. But surprisingly, besides a few rotting limbs lying around, there were no bodies around.
When we asked the rcenary scout what this could an, he excused himself to check around the village first.
When he ca back, he gave us so grim news. "From here, there are blood droplets heading east over the walls and into the woods. But that is not the worrying part; what worries is why a beast would kill so many people? Even if it is a hippogriff, beasts like that do not kill unnecessarily. Eating two grown n would have been enough to sate its hunger, yet it killed and carried off a village of what was it? Twenty people?
The only reason I can think of that a beast would carry away such excessive amounts of food is if it was feeding its young, and even that is excessive for a clutch of hippogriff chicks."
Dad rubbed his chin as he pondered, "This is indeed unusual behavior for a beast. But regardless, this must be investigated post haste. And since this beast has tasted human blood and killed a whole village, it must be put down as soon as possible."
Dad promised the rcenary group a reward if the hippogriff’s nest was located, and they gladly accepted.
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