Chp.20: The apprentices

"The bones still have healthy marrow. He mustn't have been dead for more than a couple of days"

Along the border between the Jurao Kingdom and the Baudonia City Alliance, in an area depopulated and where only shrubs, rocks and snakes could be found, in front of the remains of the former wizard hunter Nogg Horzales, five people were observing what was left of the remains. They dressed as Nogg did, and had no weapons with them, a sign that they were wizards themselves.

The people were two men and three women. The men were both very thin, but one of them was a little taller and had dark hair, while the other was shorter and had shoulder-length blond hair. The women, on the other hand, were all more or less the same height; one of them had bushy red hair, while the other two both had brown hair and they were basically identical, and the only way to distinguish them was their hairstyle: one kept her hair cut at shoulder height, while the other gathered it in a ponytail.

"Well, at least he got the death he wanted. The death of a real hunter" the blond man said while he knelt in front of the remains, then he closed his eyes and muttered: "Rest in peace, master"

The other people knelt as well and whispered a prayer to the Goddess of Hunt. After that they started collecting the remains. "Come on, we have to bury him" the red-haired woman said.

These people, of course, were some of the many pupils Nogg had had throughout his life. He had taught them everything he knew and turned them into wizard hunters like him. They all had great respect for him, so they certainly wouldn't leave his remains to rot in the open air. Nogg wanted a hunter's death, and he got it; but they, his pupils, wanted to have a grave to mourn their master over.

The tall, dark-haired man was the oldest of them. His name was Efren and he was about forty years old. Nogg had trained him since he was sixteen, when he first joined the guild. The two had met almost by chance: Efren was a young man good with a knife who was only looking for a way to earn a living, while Nogg was already a known figure in the guild, even if hadn't yet reached his maximum fame. They'd happened to pick the same job at the same time, and so, after a quick moment of embarrassment, they'd decided to do it together. Efren had been a disaster on his first mission, nearly being killed by a large lion, but Nogg had seen something in him anyway and offered to give him some advice. At the time, Nogg hadn't yet thought of taking an apprentice: he just wanted to help Efren. However, council after council, the two ended up becoming master and pupil. Nogg had turned the weak little boy that was Efren into an extraordinary hunter.

The woman with the bushy red hair had been Nogg's second pupil. Her name was Sarah and she was thirty-five years old. She had become his apprentice three years after Efren. She, unlike him, had already carried out some missions on behalf of the guild, but they were mostly support missions to other adventuring parties given her role as a wizard, which wasn't suitable in close combat. Even in that case, their meeting had happened by chance: simply one day, while the guild was celebrating some anniversary by offering large quantities of beer to everyone, Efren and Sarah for a reason that not even they could remember (probably because of the numerous mugs of the aforesaid beer that they had ingested) had met and had ended up arguing; neither of them had any memory of what they had said to each other, but the next day Nogg had revealed to them that for some reason Sarah had asked to participate in a mission with the two of them. Both she and Efren had preferred not to ask how they had come to promise each other that and they had simply followed Nogg on his mission and pretended to know what they were doing. From there, needless to say, Sarah had approached the two and they had become Nogg's second apprentice.

The man with the slightly long blond hair had been the third pupil. His name was Carlos and he was thirty-three years old. Unlike the other two, he hadn't met their master by chance. In fact, Nogg had long ago learned to appreciate having apprentices, and he liked the idea of ​​someone continuing his way of hunting, and so he had begun to look for new ones. Carlos didn't miss the opportunity and immediately volunteered. Despite the difficult test Nogg had put him through, he had managed to pass the test and had thus become his apprentice.

Finally, the last two women were twenty-eight years old twins named Martha and Lisah. Due to the fact that they were twins, they were practically identical and the only way to recognize them was their behavior: Lisah was colder and more calculating, and in fact kept her hair cut well to avoid it getting in the way, while Martha was instead more jovial and cheeky and refused to cut her hair not wanting to lose her feminine charm, limiting herself to keeping it gathered in a ponytail. They had become adventurers together and had only ever accepted solitary assignments, since they felt the two of them were enough to watch each other's backs. In fact, the two had developed a real method to merge their agie and fight together efficiently. Nogg had been immediately interested in their abilities, and could see how much they would improve if given the right guidance; although with great difficulty, I had managed to convince them to become his apprentices. Several years later, neither of them had regretted that choice.

Nogg had had many other apprentices, but almost none of them had stayed long: often they had limited themselves to learning the basics of his technique and then had decided to continue on their own. Unfortunately, that was normal in the relationship between apprentice and master, but Nogg didn't mind: after all, he too had forged his own path, and he didn't mind that others did the same. The other few students who had instead stayed with him for a long time, learning all his techniques, had long since moved to other cities and other guilds to create their own personal legend. Only the five of them remained in their old guild; they had formed a party, although it wasn't uncommon for some of them to hunt on their own, and they had become as respected figures as Nogg, and although he was no longer their master they had continued to rely on his advice and teachings.

When Nogg had announced to them his decision to set out to find his death like a true hunter, they had begged him not to. To them, Nogg was like a second father. But sadly Nogg was stubborn and knew what he wanted, and would leave with or without their approval. So, in the end, the five of them had accepted his choice: after all Nogg was old now, and he wouldn't have long to live anyway; if that was the death he wished to have, then they preferred to part with him in friendship, not in anger. And so they had done that.

However, they hadn't been able to let him go completely. They wanted at least to recover his body to bury it. So, they left in turn with the excuse that they too wanted to hunt as many animals as possible to make the nation safer (besides the fact that the payment was very good). They'd given Nogg a few days head start so they wouldn't risk reaching him too soon. And so, in the end, they had found them: some bones broken in several places and some clothes, all that was left of their master.

As they dug a hole and collected the remains for burial, however, Sarah's gaze turned strange. She checked several bones, then she said in a suspicious voice: "Lisah, can you take a look at this?"

Lisah was quite surprised. "What?"

"You are the best of us at recognizing animal tooth marks. So look at this and tell me" Sarah said as she handed her the bone. "Are these the marks of a tiger's teeth?"

Lisah took the bone and looked at it closely. There were large holes in it, clearly left by very strong teeth. "No. Too big and sharp" she said.

Sarah frowned. "As I expected. Something is wrong"

"Sarah, can we know what's wrong with you?" Efren asked her.

"Isn't that obvious? There are tiger tracks around here. Yet, there are no tiger teeth marks on these bones" Sarah replied. "These are the teeth marks of a much larger creature"

"The tiger probably came later" Martha said. "I mean, another animal killed the master and the tiger must have come to eat the leftovers. Or it can be the same situation but reverse"

"And why didn't the other animal leave any tracks? The ground around here is soft and the large stones are not very numerous. It is unlikely that it has never walked on the soil, is it?" Sarah replied. "Also, if a tiger has come to eat the scraps, why aren't there the marks of its teeth on the bones as well?"

"Well..." The other four looked confused. Evidently there were many details that did not fit.

Sarah looked at the bone again. "Lisah, what animal can leave these marks?"

Lisah inspected the bone. "The teeth should be at least as big as a bear's, maybe even bigger. But this creature's snout must be much more elongated than a bear's. And judging by the markings, it appears to have much greater jaw strength than a bear's. I have never seen such marks"

"Could it be a basilisk?" Efren proposed. "I mean, considering what's around here..."

"No, common basilisks have a very thin snout and their front teeth are longer. Also they swallow their prey whole, they don't tear the flesh apart" Lisah replied. "I rather think it could be a great basilisk. Their snouts could match these markings"

Sarah rubbed her chin, clearly thinking. "Great basilisks can't fly, can they?"

"No, only royal basilisks can do that" Carlos answered.

"Which excluded that it came from above. How much does a great basilisk weigh on average?"

"Between fifteen and twenty tons"

"With that weight, it should have left noticeable footprints in the ground. How high is its intelligence?"

"Not very much"

"So it's not possible that it understood that it had to pass over the rocks in order not to leave any traces"

"No, I don't think it could be that cunning"

"Which leaves us with only one possible explanation" Sarah's voice seemed to have turned into a growl. "Someone was controlling that great basilisk, or whatever animal it was, and guided it here over the stones to leave no tracks. Then he drew the tracks of a tiger to mislead us"

The other four clenched their fists. "Are you saying that you think our master was murdered?" Martha asked.

"I don't think it, I'm sure of it" Sarah replied. "I don't know who's the responsible, but I'm going to find him. I'm going north"

"We're coming too. We need to clear this up" Carlos said. If Nogg had really been killed by someone, then they absolutely had to find out who was guilty and avenge their master. "Why are you sure we have to go north?"

Sarah was about to answer, but Lisah anticipated her: "Because it's the only direction available. We were coming from the south, so we would have noticed a large beast if it had passed. To the east is the Jurao Kingdom, and no one can go there with an animal this size with him, and to the west is war. North is the only direction the killer could have gone, at least until he got rid of that animal"

Sarah nodded. As usual, Lisah understood her reasoning before the others. "Come on, let's go" she said. "To north. We must find out what really happened to our master!"