Notes on Monster Hunting Read online

  “Did you find the creature?”

  “No sign of what did it. We took note and came back. Widdy is still up there to see if anything comes for the head.”

  “And the governor?”

  “No word yet. The messenger should be back soon.”

  “Can I go look?”

  “I’ll take you,” said Teke.

  I was out of breath by the time we reached the gate. I would’ve thought that all the walking and training we do would help, but that hill is unnatural. Teke waited a moment for me to catch my breath while he stared at me with a judging gaze, then we continued on. Widdy was squatting behind a boulder that was mostly buried beneath the ground.

  “Have you seen anything?” I asked.

  “Nothing. A coconut fell from the tree and that’s about it.”

  “I’m going to take a look.”

  A couple flies buzzed above the two skulls, completely clean, that were pushed up to the wide base of the tree. They were white and would’ve looked like stones if not for the eye sockets and jaws. It looked like something that belonged in a study or a university. Decaying bodies don’t show up so clean.

  The third was nearby, within reaching distance if I felt like picking it up. I didn’t. It was a full head with its eyes still open, all glossy and blank. A pool of blood stained the grass below the neck, the mouth was open, and the shaggy brown hair was disheveled.

  “Well, this is gross.”

  Widdy confirmed that he felt the same way with a grunt from his hiding place. Teke kept his distance, a few paces from Widdy. I guess he had already examined the skulls.

  “I’m ready to head back.”

  We ran into Skrale soon after starting our walk back down to the inn. He was accompanied by two men wearing the colors of Geziksan.

  “Join us,” said Skrale happily, waving us over.

  “You look like you’re being escorted to the gallows,” said Teke.

  “We’re on our way to the governor’s, so what’s the difference?”

  One of the guards snorted as he tried to stifle a laugh.

  “Their coroner and the people investigating the deaths are going to share everything they have so far.”

  Even if I ran up and down the main hill every day for a year, I feel like it would still be exhausting. Even the guards escorting us were breathing a bit deeper and wiping sweat from their foreheads.

  Strauster was ready for us in a room with a long wooden table. It was polished and dark. It didn’t look like it was from any trees in the Geziksan area. On either side of the governor sat two men, one older and bald, the other hairy and fat. Several guards in uniform stood motionless against the wall in the back of the room.

  “Welcome, hunters. Have a seat.”

  Teke sat near the white-haired old man, so Skrale and I sat on the side of the fat man.

  “This is the coroner,” said the governor as he gestured at the fat man, “and on the other side is the head of the investigation.”

  I waved awkwardly and didn’t say anything. Skrale shook the hand of the fat man and Teke politely greeted the old guy.

  “First, I’d just like to thank you for the effort you’ve been putting in.”

  Skrale nodded, smiled, and waited for the governor to continue.

  Instead of talking more, the governor gestured to the old man, as the head of the investigation.

  He cleared his throat and sat up in his chair.

  “With the help of the coroner, we’ve identified the third victim as Selvin, a local tailor. Gregard, Gelda, and Selvin were all locals. They were not people who would have enemies. That does not mean it could not have been homicide. Everything about the murders has been brutal, but random. We do not think it was a person. We’re forced to agree that it is most likely a creature. Hopefully a creature because only a crazed man would do something like this.”

  “Did you finish compiling a list of known creatures in the area?” asked Skrale. He leaned over to me. “Write the list down.”

  - Gulls

  - Yohul Birds

  - Arecaopods

  - Lobsters

  - Tayley

  - Fish? He quickly said a bunch of names

  - Foxes

  - Gaulmites

  “That’s it?” asked Skrale.

  The governor nodded. “There are obviously much bigger creatures in the depths, but nothing that would come onto land without anyone noticing.”

  “Anyone other than the victims,” corrected the coroner.

  “Were there any similarities to the victims?” I asked.

  The coroner wrinkled his nose while he thought. “They were all fairly fit. Like many Geziksan natives, they had brown hair and their diets were mostly seafood. The foot size of Gregard and Selvin was nearly identical.”

  The governor held up his hand, silencing the coroner.

  “Was that helpful?” asked Strauster.

  “Probably not, but thank you,” said Skrale.

  “Is there anything that may have crawled out from the sea? The first bodies were found on beaches,” said Teke.

  Everyone from Geziksan exchanged glances until the governor shook his head.

  “I’ve never seen such a creature. While it may exist, we would think there would’ve been some sighting from all the fishermen.”

  “We’ll continue our search and give your messengers any information we find,” said Skrale.

  “Thank you, Captain. The city guard will help you with anything you need.”

  Widdy joined us back at the inn later in the evening. His skin was bright red from sitting in the sun for most of the day. He ordered a beer, then sat down with First squad a few tables away. I went over and tapped him on the shoulder.

  “Nothing?” I asked.

  He took a long drink from the foamy beer. “Not much. I had to chase away some birds that went after the head. Lots of little bugs. I saw a few of those flying things eat some coconuts. A few merchants passed on the road. Mostly uneventful.”

  “How big were the birds?”

  Widdy lifted both of his hands and tried to show me a size, about as big as a loaf of bread.

  “That couldn’t decapitate.”

  “It couldn’t,” he said.

  “Thanks for waiting out there all day.”

  Widdy smiled and took another drink of beer.

  The innkeepers made more stew, but they also had some roasted vegetables and lobster. As someone who is fairly new to seafood, I can only handle so much fishy stew. But lobster is great, especially with the vegetables. Ralet and Palon made the same choice. Groose got both and dumped the vegetable mix into his stew like an idiot.

  Day 149

  Urny volunteered to watch the heads to see if anything comes for them. He brought a cloak to block the sun from his head. He figured it’s the easy job since he just has to sit and watch. Urny left as soon as breakfast was served. He shoved a bunch of bread into a bag and hurried away.

  After we ate, I made some tea and went back up to my room. I pulled out Skrale’s old book and tried to find something I hadn’t seen. I stumbled across this:

  Winged Groenel:

  Not to be confused with River Groenel.

  Winged Groenels are predators primarily located in the northwest of Yellinhelm in the Silver Mountain range.

  An average male Winged Groenel has a wingspan of 20 feet and talons like barbed arrowheads. Full grown, they have two rows of fangs that are sharper than any blade.

  Very territorial, especially every other year when their mates give birth.

  Side note: Teke, Cremn, and I turned down a contract on a Winged Groenel because it was only protecting its young. The locals that wandered into that area of the mountain and were killed should’ve known better. We won’t kill a creature when the humans are the ones doing something wrong.

  Reading the journal makes it sound like Skrale has never changed. In a positive way. He really does stick to his beliefs.

  I finished my tea and went
back downstairs. Palon sat alone at the same table we ate breakfast at. He stared into a mug with tea leaves left in the bottom.

  “You alright?”

  He looked at me and smiled.

  “Let’s go for a walk,” I said.

  Palon walked his mug up to the innkeeper’s counter and thanked him for the tea. The air outside was nicer than previous days. A soft breeze moved the air and dried the sweat on our skin. We moved slowly up the hill as we stopped and admired the buildings. Geziksan was the most peaceful and impressive city I have ever been to. Palon feels the same. The way the city is built on a hill is bizarre and amazing.

  A guardsman with one hand high in the air ran down the hill towards us, yelling the whole time. People on the street moved out of his way as quick as they could. Each footstep in his heavy boots pounded against the stones and echoed between the buildings on either side of the street. Palon and I froze right in the center of the road until he stopped in front of us.

  “Ma’am, you’re the first hunters I’ve seen. The man up top has seen something and sent me to find someone.”

  “Palon, go get the sergeants and Skrale. I’m going to Urny.”

  Palon nodded and started jogging back to the inn. The guard was blinking sweat out of his eyes and breathing heavy.

  “You take your time. I know where he is. Thanks for finding me.” I ran up the hill and took a short break at the gate. Once my heart slowed down just a bit, I finished my jog to Urny’s little campsite. He was excited to see me and waved me over behind the boulder.

  “You see that?” He pointed to where the three skulls were lying against the base of the tree.

  “The heads?”

  “No, no, no. What else is at the base?”

  “Coconuts?”

  “Yes,” he said, very excited. Urny’s eyes were wide open. The light blue irises seemed to reflect the sunlight.

  “The coconuts fell from the tree. I don’t get it.”

  Urny grinned. His teeth looked yellowed, like they’re starting to rot. He reached behind him and pulled a full coconut from his bag.

  “See this?”

  I loudly sighed. “It’s a coconut.”

  “Feel it.”

  “Urny.”

  He held the coconut closer and stared at me with his wide eyes. I rolled my eyes and touched it.

  “It feels like a coconut.”

  “But it looks like hair. Brown hair.” Urny set the coconut on the ground between us. “I watched one of those flying creatures hover down and scoop a fallen coconut off the ground. We already knew that’s how they ate, but what if one made a mistake.”

  I looked at the three skulls and at the coconuts lying around the base.

  “Keep going,” I said.

  “What if some of these creatures were mistaking brown haired people for coconuts?”

  “There’s no way. They only eat coconuts and coconuts don’t walk around. The bodies weren’t even by trees.”

  “I never said the arecaopod was smart.”

  I shook my head. “I don’t believe it.”

  Urny tossed the coconut into the air a few times before setting in on the ground beside him.

  “You believe what you want, Beatrice. I’ve spent plenty of time thinking about this and I’m certain I’m right.”

  We waited until Skrale, Teke, Lekk, and Heff all arrived. They seemed like they were a combination of excited, worried, and confused when they found me and Urny just sitting behind a boulder with a coconut between us.

  “What’s the emergency?” asked Skrale.

  I gestured to Urny. It was his theory and I didn’t need to impede. He told the four of them about the coconuts and arecaopods and explained why he believed he was right. I still wasn’t sure, despite his evidence that he kept sharing.

  “We would need to be certain before taking any action,” said Teke.

  “I agree,” said Skrale. “But we can’t wait to watch one take someone’s head off.”

  “Could we find a way to examine one? We could see if it’s even capable of taking a head off or if it even has eyes to distinguish between coconuts and heads. It’s only the beginning of a plan, but it might lead to something,” I said.

  Teke nodded. Heff and Lekk both looked dumbfounded. Skrale stared at the coconut.

  A few pairs of footsteps crunching in the grass behind us drew our attention. Strauster approached with the old man and the steward.

  “Welcome, governor. How’s your day going?” asked Skrale.

  The governor waved his hand and slightly shook his head. “What discoveries have been made? I was informed you found something.”

  “We’re actually not sure, sir,” I said. “We believe one or more arecaopods may be behind it, but we’d like to examine a creature before we know for certain.”

  “Great. Our guards can point you to where most of them live so you can kill one and examine it.”

  “No, thanks. We don’t kill creatures that we aren’t eating or hunting for contracts,” I said.

  Skrale grinned at me. Even Teke had a hint of a smile. The governor sighed and looked at his steward, who was drying the sweat from his forehead with a cloth.

  “How else could they examine an arecaopod?”

  The steward cleared his throat and quickly put the cloth away. “You could just go look at them.”

  “Great.” Skrale clapped his hands. “That should work fine. It’ll be better than no examination at all. How close can we get?”

  “Close enough. They don’t attack people. Well, not usually,” said the steward.

  “Where is the best place to find them? I’ve seen single ones floating around, but it would be good to see more.”

  “There some small forested areas on the northern side of the city, just over there around the bend in the wall,” the steward pointed to my right. “There’s usually a lot in those areas.”

  “How do you ever have coconuts to eat if there are so many of these things?” I asked.

  “They have to be harvested off the tree. Arecaopods only eat ones that have fallen,” said the governor.

  “I feel like I’ve learned a lot today,” said Urny, who was still sitting on the ground.

  “Once we know if one of these arecaopods might be the killer, it won’t take long to finish everything up. Then we can be on our way,” said Skrale.

  “I’ll send a messenger here with some supplies for your man.” He looked at Urny. “What would you like?”

  “Any food and something to drink. Thank you, sir.”

  The governor nodded and led his men away.

  “You’ll be okay for awhile longer?” asked Lekk.

  “Absolutely. Easiest job I’ve ever had.” Urny leaned against the boulder.

  “I think the five of us can handle checking out these creatures, right? Beatrice can keep a record of what we see and Teke can pretend his medical knowledge is useful for anything other than sewing,” said Skrale.

  Teke sighed and started walking towards the forest.

  We walked on the top of a grassy hill. To our right, the hill sloped down to the wall. On the left it went far down to the road heading west. The grasses we walked on were tall and unkempt. Small wildflowers and plants I’d never seen before blew in the breeze until we flattened them beneath our feet. Small bugs flew between the flowers and jumped out from beneath the low weeds.

  It was a short walk until we turned the bend in the wall and saw the outer edge of the forest. A wide road from the north gate led straight through the middle, splitting the forest into two distinct halves. The trees were spread out, so sunlight found its way in between leaves. The underbrush was thick, but still only up to our knees. I could see a few shapes of arecaopods floating inside.

  “In we go?” asked Heff.

  Skrale patted the first tree with his hand as we passed and flattened a tall plant with a thick stem beneath his boot.

  “Let’s try to find one in the sunlight,” said Skrale.

  Ther
e was plenty of sun in the forest, but the few arecaopods we could see were high above, directly underneath a large frond. There weren’t as many arecaopods as I expected from what the steward had said. After a bit of time in the forest, we had seen three and they were all too small or too high for us to really examine. I could still see the general shape, which was almost like a barrel with bulges all around.

  We tried to remain as silent as possible, as we didn’t really know how cocos sensed their surroundings. It seemed odd that the locals didn’t know much about them. They seem to not care too much as long as they just keep to their forests.

  Surely somebody tried to eat one before. Humans try to eat everything at least once.

  We found another few groups close by, so we leaned against the trees and observed them. Some were much bigger than the others we had seen, and Teke said that size wasn’t unusual for an older arecaopod.

  Things I know about Arecaopods (Known as cocos to the locals):

  - Barrel-shaped.

  - Can vary in size from anywhere between one to six feet tall. They can continue to grow their whole lives, but not all do.

  - Bulges are spotted all around the main body of the arecaopods that are filled with air and are used to control their hovering. The number and size of these bulges or sacs is different for each creature.

  - The color of the main body is a grey-green, like algae or mold. The air sacs are a light green and look to be made out of a membrane of some type.

  - The top of arecaopods looks like moss that would be on a rock or a tree in a forest. This moss is thick and green and covers the creature like hair on a person. The amount of moss and the shade of green is varied between creatures.

  - What looks like a bird’s beak sits at the bottom of the arecaopods. The beak is short and perfectly rounded. There are holes scattered around the beak that reach all the way through to sift the dirt or sand out after picking up a coconut.

  - Hairs or tendrils or something cover the bottom around the large beak. We think this is how they sense their surroundings, either by sight or feeling around or something else unknown to us.