THE TAINTED MASK OF TRUTH II

The entire settlement was made up of shortened, bulked-up lumberjacks. All they came across had an ax or a large saw slung around their shoulders. They made the decision not to bother the little giants, marching past them as if they were a herd of abandoned sheep. Nobody could get to the village without finding the way because it was hidden by a long strip of forest cover.

The party had gone through the village close to Kiyani, where Alicia had spent the night. Lora was backed up by the lady who looked after Alicia the night before, who said that the men sent out to hunt the beast were from that village Slejj and the others were searching for. Lora had spent less than a week in the village, collecting all the knowledge she needed. She steered the others in the right course. They could see how small the village was after they arrived. It was in the middle of nowhere, with a few houses and huts strewn around.

"Come on, let's go speak to the chief first,"

Lora remarked. Settlements grew more stacked as they went through the village, revealing the dense population of the secret community. Children ran outside, as women sat outdoors, some spinning baskets and mats and others tending to their daughters' hair. The men flashed their weapons as they went.

As they got closer to the center of the village, a pervasive savor of cooked fish circulated. Lora and the others had not had a decent meal in a long time, but their mouths watered and their nostrils were on high alert, soaking in every scent trace left behind by the food. Since there was a river nearby, it was only natural that fish would be a staple in the village.

They eventually arrived at the house in the village's middle. It was significant because it acted as the village's headquarters, where village leaders would meet on occasion. Five elderly men waited outside. They were all smoking cigars and stroking their beards, except for one who didn't have one and scraped his bald head.

"Hello, chief! I've returned; I hope nothing went wrong when I was gone."

"Aah, I see my black princess has returned!"

The guy in the seat in front of the others grumbled as he struggled to get to his feet. His knees made uncanny noises, like a bent crank, and he wasn't aging gracefully. His bent gait made him seem shorter than the others until he was standing up.

"Black princess?"

Daito spoke in hushed tones. It sounded like he was going to chuckle for a brief moment.

"To cut a long story short, he mistook me for his long-lost daughter or something when I arrived. Even after I told him I was here to deal with the Vurhan crisis, he continued to refer to me as his black princess, so I just accepted it."

She replied in reverent whispers to the others.

He didn't seem to have remembered his own daughter, and he wasn't aged gracefully.

"So who are your friends?"

He squinted his eyes in effort to observe the strange group of people behind her 'princess.'

"These are the people I mentioned earlier, the ones who can help you with your dilemma,"

"... You think these people are coming to repair my wagon? They don't seem to be mechanics..."

"No, the other problem!"

"What do you mean, the other one? Are these the new herdsmen?"

"THE MORE SERIOUS Issue!!!"

Lora wished she could shake the man's brains out.

"I believe the girl was talking about the latest lumberjacks, Chief."

Another guy next to him said, leaning back in his seat as if he'd solved the puzzle, his smile unfinished because two of his upper incisors were absent. Lisa was clearly with in the crowd, unable to even raise an ax.

Lora let out a long sigh, as if she were a raging lion.

"The Monster, monster!"

"His wife?"

Another man spoke up, creases appearing on his brow as he sucked deeply from his smoke pipe and exhaled a vapor.

Lora's eyes searched the whole crowd, unsure whether there was even one person clever enough to give her the response she needed; so far, her quest had proven futile.

"The monster you told me about... the one you and your mates saw in the woods!"

"The vile green beast,"

The old man eventually provided her with the information she needed.

"Could you tell us when the kidnappings started?"

Slejj took a little step forward and inquired of the elderly gentleman. Before starting to speak, he let out one more puff into the air.

"It began about three weeks ago. As ordinary, a party of lumberjacks went into the woods, but three of them did not return that day. The second party went out, and while working, they confirmed seeing a green creature out there, which attacked them, killing four people. It's been almost a month since the kidnappings began, and we've also issued orders for people not to go into the woods.

It's costing us our livelihood; our timber prices have plummeted, and we're barely scraping by. The majority of people are afraid to leave their houses!"

"Don't worry, sir... we're here to assist you."

The old man was addressed by Slejj.

"I appreciate it. "Do you mind introducing me to your friends, Princess?"

"Oh, yeah... here's Lisa, Alicia, Stupid, and Slejj,"

Daito had a despondent expression on his face as he glanced at her.

"It's great to see you, Alicia!" "As well as stupid," The old man said. the others surpressed their laughs looking at Daito.

Alicia's name sounded like a war cry thanks to the old man's unnaturalized voice.

"We're grateful you've come to help us with our situation; we'll put together a search team to follow you into the woods tomorrow. For the time being, you are welcome to visit our village; please do so."

He led them inside his 'castle.' The weathered house leaned to one side, as if it were about to start sprinting at any moment.

Lora turned to Alicia when they came in and reminded her once more, speaking into her ear,

"Don't tell them you're from North Angus,"

Alicia agreed and nodded back. Lora was shocked she didn't get a heat stroke while wearing her purple robe with Daito's cloak draped over it during the day, given the extreme heat.

The locals greeted them warmly. In the evening, a bonfire was lit in the village's middle, and they spent the early hours of the night roasting fish over the fire and eating to their hearts' content, followed by a small gathering, the villagers seeming to be celebrating their arrival, as they had brought assistance.

As midnight approached the festivities progressively died down and the group was shown a place where they could get some rest. They waved off the villagers catering to their needs and finally got the time they needed to plan out what they were to do next.

"Okay, so what is the plan?"

Lora asked as they assumed their seats around a table in the middle of a room inside the house. Lisa had already fallen asleep.

Slejj put off his pipe and tucked his arms underneath his armpits, leaning towards the lamp in the middle of the table.

"Hey, Alicia. Why don't you tell us your plan? I'm sure you have one brewing inside your brain"

"What? Her? No offense old man, but she doesn't know one bit about the creatures we are facing and we have been fighting them for a while now. Plus, I know this forest better than anyone else so pardon me but I'd rather we listen to my plan instead!"

Lora lashed back, she clearly didn't agree with his sentiment.

"I prefer you address me as middle-aged man. Look, I cleaned up my tracks really well, I stayed hidden from the army for seven good years, and she took three days to find me. Although most of it was by luck. Now I don't know if you know this but she comes from a family with incredible tracking skills. If she can find a ghost like me, I'm pretty confident she can track down the beast."

Alicia felt flattered by Slejj's words, except for the part about luck which to some extent was true. Lora didn't sit well with it though, leaving the work to a newcomer like her! She bitterly swallowed her pride and turned to her.

"And are you confident you can track it down? The old man seems to have unreasonable faith in you,"

"Look, let us not make this about your plan versus my plan. You know the forest, I know how I track it. If we work together we might stand a better chance of finding it before it finds us. I don't know about you but I'm willing to work together with you on this, are you?"

Ever since she joined the group, Alicia felt like a weakling. Maybe it was the fact that she hadn't done anything significant since she got there, or maybe it was because they viewed her as an outsider from North Angus who got pampered all the way to being a state guard, and now she didn't know what she was getting herself into. She wasn't going to let herself get demoralized. It was time for her to reassert herself.

"Now, where are we exactly in this forest Lora?"

Lora leaned back into her seat and crossed her arms. She answered reluctantly,

"We are to the East of the forest, we're not deep inside, just a bit further into the edge."

"... East, that means the Vurhan can't stray far away, close to the Walls. which means that somewhere South there must be a hive. They have to live somewhere close to civilization where they can find food. The miasma belt close to the walls can't support any life, so they wouldn't be anywhere close to the walls. They also need to be close to water, where is the river? when we arrived I smelled a lot of fish cooking in the village so there must be a river nearby?"

"It's to the South of the Village,"

"Just like I predicted,"

Lora looked at Alicia, somewhat surprised.

"The river must be passing through a valley, and the vurhan will be staying on high ground so that it can have a wider view of the valley for hunting. So It must be at the highest hill, furthest from the river, that is where we shall find it!"

The room fell silent momentarily. Lora felt like challenging her notion but it seemed too accurate to dispute. As she looked to Slejj, she was met with a cheeky smile. She knew what Slejj was thinking and she was not going to let him rub the feeling in her face and taunt her.

"Okay, so what is the plan?"

She asked.

"I will move to the South with you and Daito. We will wait for the other villagers to attack from the other side of the hill and push it down. Once it comes our way, Daito will deliver the final blow,"

They all agreed on the plan. They sank to their beds and before they knew it, morning had arrived. The next day was spent choosing the bravest of men from amongst the villagers who could help them in their quest. before long, a squad was formed and the journey to the South began.

Alicia Lora and Daito were cramped on that footpath leading to the edge of the hill. Daito trailed a few feet behind the two ladies, minding his own business. Alicia and Lora walked side by side.

Lora had something bugging her. The words itched and gnawed on her tongue waiting for her to let them out. Alicia had a feeling Lora didn't like her that much.

"So, we haven't officially met yet,"

Alicia said, breaking the tension before Lora could choke herself out with restraint.

"Yeah, I guess we haven't. What's a Crested family member doing out here anyway, you weren't banished or something were you?"

She comically commented.

"Well, it's a pretty long story, and a complicated one too."

"I'm not one to listen to long stories, especially ones that involve a Nephilim sword and a crested family member from North Angus."

Alicia kept wondering what that term meant. Slejj referred to her sword as such, and now Lora was calling it that as well.

Daito suddenly stopped, his sniffing senses kicked in again.

"It's close!"

He said.

"Perhaps the villagers have found it. Okay, do as I said..."

Alicia answered back. Daito vanished into the tall trees.

"Are you sure this is going to work?"

Lora asked, still doubtful.

Alicia didn't answer her. It felt like she too didn't trust her plan. They were to act as bait and lure the vurhan out, then Daito would attack it. A few nail-biting moments later, the familiar shrieks cut through the hazy air. There's was no telling where the sound originated from, it reverberated throughout the forest.

Alicia had instructed Slejj to stay back in the village and protect them if the vurhan went rogue and decided to attack the village. The cold wind danced around the two ladies. The forest went silent and Alicia could hear her racing heartbeat.

The sound of snapping branches got closer and closer.

"Look out!"

Daito jumped out of the shrubs. He lifted his hands and aimed at something approaching them with unreal speed from above. The subdued moonlight tried to illuminate the round astronomic object but it wasn't doing a pretty good job. Either way, no birds were that big and round in shape, and they definitely had wings the last time Alicia checked.

Daito propelled a bright stream of energy from his palms, aiming for the huge thing. As the beam of energy collided with the object, the blue light it emitted bounced off of it, revealing its rocky surface. It was a boulder!

Daito tried his best to shatter it before impact. He winced, as he struggled to increase the flow of power out of his arms. The boulder exploded into smaller rocks, raining down on them.

One oversized chunk managed to dodge Daito's blast and it collided with his head, knocking him out instantly. He sprawled to the ground with a bloody forehead. His hand was still firing off the spell, but it died down with time.

A few moments later the vurhan materialized out of the darkness. It roared once more, spit and mucus spraying out of its mouth. It turned to the two girls and shouted.

"I ....will ki...KILL YOU!"