A Long Dinner Conversation

Dad was in deep thoughts, running a hand through his beard. He stood up and walked to a door, which would lead to a hallway to my siblings' bedroom. He closed it and lowed his voice.

"Hmm… Is there any more information on the beast?" said dad, going back to the seat.

"It's been attacking wild animals in the woods since the beginning of summer, but recently, it attacked a caravan. Gladly, no humans were hurt", said mom. She was looking at my face while I was drinking her milk. She seemed worried. "The feybeast attacked at night. The guards couldn't see it really well. They were too afraid to fight it and ran for their lives, according to George, the grocery owner".

"I bet… All my years here, I haven't heard anything like that. People are not used to those kinds of threat. However, why are we hearing about it just now, if it was here since spring?"

"It seems it was just rumors among the farmers. It wasn't close to the village, and, you know, people don't care much about farmers issues". She gently touched my face and continued, "There is more…"

"More?" Dad looked at mom confused.

"I asked my co-workers if they knew more about it. You know, some live in the village and often go to Dearborn. They said the feybeast has being around since late winter over there, and the shortage of meat and forest supplies are even worse there than here… I'm really worried about this winter…" said while breathing heavily.

"The beast has impact such large city, and why the nobles did nothing?"

"That's the point and the reason why it's here. They couldn't defeat the feybeast, but rather made it come south. They set a whole forest on fire to do that! It's coming closer to the village every night. Fortunately, it hasn't crossed the river yet. We are safe until it crosses…"

"And all this time, it hasn't attacked humans… it seems it's a smart creature or didn't leave any signs of victims behind…"

"That's what I thought. The people I talked to said they could hear it from far. The creature howls at full moon nights and has bright purple eyes… Do you know what it means, Richard?" mom looked at dad with almost a crying expression.

"A person cursed by the goddess of the darkness…"

"Yes, a werewolf!"

A sudden silence came. The mood in the room was heavy. Dad looked worried. Mom was still breathing heavily, like having an anxiety attack. I could feel her heartbeats through her skin. She was deadly afraid of it.

"Are you sure, Clarice?"

"I thought I could be wrong… That's I didn't go to the point… I thought you could say it was a different creature…"

"You are right… Everything leads to a werewolf… No one is safe now… They would need a priest to cast a spell to protect the land, so it would not be able to come close, or they could wait until winter, when the weather gets too cold, and the creature migrates to the south. Nevertheless, they would need to keep feeding the creature with their cattle…"

"Here, no one knows what that evil creature is capable of, Richard! The slaughter will begin in no time! People are storing supplies like insane! Once there is no more meat available, it will go after humans! It doesn't care about cities, walls, houses, or anything between it and its prey. You know it cannot be killed. If one does, the curse will jump from the creature to the killer! It's a non-stoppable cycle!"

"I know… but there is no much we can do… the duke would need to ask help from the royals to send the creature to the special prison…"

"The nobles don't care about low-birth like us!" Mom raised her voice. "It's even worse, Richard! I am sure the people will demand you do to something! It's clear like a sunny day that they wanted to please us with all these different meat, even after being so rude to us! They think feybeast can only be hunted by feyfolks, and you are the only one around here!"

"You know, I don't like that word…and why did you accept their meat?"

"They tricked Alice, before I could intervene on her behalf!" She has tears on her eyes. Mom paused, as she was afraid to say something. "They want you to die or tuned into that evil beast, Richard!" mom started crying.

I started crying. Dad came closer to us. He dropped to his knees. I could see his head. It was a bit higher than her breast level. He took her hand, and looked up at her face. He cleaned his throat and continued.

"My family is my priority… and we are not sure if they will demand something like that… How a simple man can manage to fight such terrible beast, which even the duchy knights, could not do anything about it…" dad turned his head down and kissed mom's hand. "I won't leave your side to fight for those who don't care about us... I love you, Clarice, and I promise you, we will be alright". Mom was looking at me the entire time. She was too afraid to look at dad's eyes. A door creaking sound interrupted the conversation. Mom and dad looked at it with scared faces.

"Dad, something happened?" said Alice, holding Jonathan's hand. They both had sleepy faces.

"Why mom is crying? Is Henry fine?" said Jonathan this time. Alice and he were standing by the door that dad had closed before.

"Come here, sweetheart. Mom is fine. Nothing is wrong. I am just too happy because we had such a great dinner together", said mom, calling over my siblings to give them a hug.

"It's alright, kids. You two should go sleep. Tomorrow, we will wake up right after first bell. We will have a lot of work to do. We will go to the forest to grab some herbs and wood", said dad, patting Alice's and Jonathan's heads.

"Dad! You will take us to hunt with you?" said Jonathan with excitement.

"More or less. Now, go to sleep because we will have a busy day tomorrow" said dad, sending them off. Dad kissed mom on her forehead and continued whispering, "I have a plan to protect the house. I'll go with the kids tomorrow to grab some special herbs. I saw them the other day, but I didn't know we'd need them so soon…" Mom gave a gentle smile, and dad looked at me. "Is it my turn or yours to change Henry's diaper? All that crying made him poop. You pushed too hard, buddy!" Mom went to our bedroom and dad stayed behind cleaning off the kitchen.

The light in the room was dimmed. Mom had brought only one candle. I couldn't see her face well, but mom was still sad. Her hands were cold and trembling. She talked to me while she was changing me, but I could only answer with baby noises.

"Henry, you are growing too fast… It's been one day that I haven't seen you, yet you are bigger than yesterday". She played with my cheeks. "I scared you earlier… I'm sorry. Adults' world is not easy… We complicate things too much". Mom murmured a song. She used to do that, but this time I could hear it better. It was a lullaby. I started getting sleepy. I noticed dad was at the door, looking at us with a smile. I was fighting to not sleep, but I couldn't hold much longer. Likewise, I was happy with mom was with me again. I slept through the entire night.

The morning came. The sun was rising. I could some light coming from outside through the window's cracks. I briefly woke up, but the hunger was too much. I cried a little to get mom's attention. She grabbed me and seated on our bed. I noticed dad was getting change, putting some leather jacket and pants.

"Richard, could you please ensure the kids will have warm clothes on? We also have some leather gloves to help with the gathering", said mom, putting her legs under the blankets.

"Sorry for making you stay at home today. I know you would be pretty busy today at the workshop, but we cannot wait until the beast crosses the river…", said dad, putting a knife on his belt and taking a quiver under the bed.

"Thank you, Richard. I told them that I'd be going there on the aquasday. I'll have today and tomorrow at home". Mom yawned a little.

"Good to hear that. We will be back before lunch. Do you wanna anything from the woods?" Dad stood in front of the bed with his hands on his hips with a serious expression.

"You and our children safe and sound". Mom was smiling. Her face was lightened with the light from the window cracks.

"I mean, anything to eat... You still need to keep eating extra healthy to make milk for Henry". Dad sat on the bed by mom's feet. "Also, don't try to fool me by showing me you are strong, I know you are still recovering from giving birth and your body still feels weird"

"You noticed?" She tried to cover her face with the blanket.

"Of course! You are still all emotional, and I know the woman I am married with", said, removing the blanket and kissing her.

"Oh, my… See, Henry? Dad is all emotional too" said mom, looking at me.

"Alright. If anything happens, you know what to do too, right?" Dad stood up and looked at mom concerned.

"I always keep it close, just for safety". She grabbed a necklace that was on a nightstand, and showed dad. I couldn't see it well, but it was silver and had a green stone on the pendent.

"Good, I am off! See you two in a bit." dad kissed mom, one of my cheeks, and then left. I could hear him waking up my siblings with a commander tone.