Chapter Text
“Rosh! RoshRoshRosh!”
Parker quickly made her way to the other woman, slightly out of breath as she tried to avoid stepping in a muddy spot. It’d rained just yesterday, and while most of the land had dried up, some areas were still wet—like the place she stepped while trying to avoid the first spot.
“Ugh. Great,” she grumbled to herself while shaking her foot, a few clumps of the wet dirt flying off her shoe. Returning her attention back to her friend, Parker carefully stepped up beside the taller woman. “I’ve been looking for you. Did you hear there was another sheep stolen? This time from Cooke’s pen?”
Rosh looked up from where she had been busily scrubbing dirt off her tunic. “Wait, another one?” she sighed. “But we only lost one yesterday! And I didn’t find anything that time!”
“Yeah, that’ll make this the fifth one.” Parker paused as she glanced around. “I think we should investigate. Like, not just the pens this time, but outside the village. Someone has to be taking them, right?”
“It’s probably wolves,” Rosh muttered, abandoning her dirty tunic. “Let me just grab something warmer and my bow and sword and I’ll- wait, did you say we?”
“Do you really think I’m about to let you take all the glory? I’m perfectly capable of fighting.” Leonora placed her hands on her hips in an act of defiance. “I just… y’know, need a weapon.”
Rosh glanced her over. “Change out of your skirt first. It’ll catch on something in the woods. You’ve used my bow before, I’ll take the sword.”
“On it!” With that, the smaller woman turned on her heel and started toward her home, stepping in the mud again on the way and cursing at it. It was only a few minutes before she came back out, this time dressed in tighter-fitting clothes: pants and a tunic, as well as boots. “Okay, I’m ready.”
Rosh nodded. “Let me just tell my parents I’m leaving,” she said, and headed into her house. Raised voices could immediately be heard, and then Rosh stormed out, looking angry, holding her bow and her sword, a quiver of arrows draped over her shoulder. “Let’s go, then,” she muttered, thrusting the weapon at Parker and then handing her the quiver when she’d taken it.
Taking both, Parker gave a sympathetic smile as she strapped them to her back. “Thanks.” There was a pause. “I just stopped telling mine,” she murmured. “It’s easier that way.”
Rosh returned the sad smile. “Wish it wasn’t like this,” she mumbled, as she led her friend through the village and towards the pens where the sheep were.
It had been a while since the sheep first started disappearing, but each time had been a mystery. Rosh had checked the pens multiple times, but never found more than slightly disturbed earth.
Hopefully last night’s rain would give them some better results that she could work with. They stepped into the pen and Parker led them over to where the ovis usually stayed at night.
“Since they huddle together, the one would have to get picked off from the edge. Closest to the forest, maybe?” she suggested.
Rosh circled the pen carefully, her eyes on the ground. Then- there. Clear as daylight with the sun blazing down on it, a long print. A wolf print. “Definitely wolves,” Rosh said. Her eyes scouted around the track. They were bigger than average wolves, having jumped the fence, and there was no sign of the sheep being dragged through the mud on the way back into the forest. There was blood, though. “We’ve got a trail,” she told Leonora. “You still up for this?”
“Absolutely!” Parker replied, perking up. “Let’s go kill some wolfies.”
Rosh sighed, giving her a small smile, and gestured for her to follow, giving the wolf’s prints a wide berth to keep from disturbing them. The blood in the grass certainly made it easier, and as they headed towards the edge of the forest, she couldn’t help swallowing.
These things were big enough to carry a whole sheep without it touching the floor, so she hoped they either found them sleeping or discovered somewhere they could stop and turn around at, because Rosh… didn’t want to go too deep into the woods.
Parker trailed close behind the other woman, the bow now in her hands with an arrow nocked, though it wasn’t pulled back and the bow was aimed at the ground. “These seem a little, uh… big, don’t you think?”
“Yeah.” Rosh bit her lip as they finally crossed the tree line, making their way in. “They’re… much bigger than usual wolves.” The blood trail kept going, and she remembered the layout of the forest the way Old Longfellow had described it. The further north she went, the thicker the trees would get, and the greater likelihood of caves. In fact there were several caves deeper in. “There’s a lot of cave networks about a mile or so into the forest. They might be hiding out there. But we can climb up and have a better look when we get closer.”
“How many do you think there are?” Leonora asked. “I can’t tell by the tracks.”
“There could be anywhere from two to ten,” Rosh replied. “If there was any more than that, they’d be stealing more sheep at a time.”
Occasionally she would break into a light jog and examine the blood trail. The paw prints were still as numerous and large, scattering leaf litter and breaking ferns. These wolves weren’t the stealthiest when they got into their home terrain, and it was making Rosh’s job much easier. Still… wasn’t exactly a great thought when she considered it, having to deal with ten wolves.
“Wonder how they got so big, though,” Parker murmured after a while as she looked around, trying to keep up with Rosh.
The other woman was mostly in her own head, it seemed, but that was fine. So long as Parker stuck close by, that was all that mattered—they didn’t need to get separated because she was distracted.
But there was… some sort of feeling that had the hairs on the back of her neck standing up. Leonora’s brows furrowed and she glanced around, her step slowing a little as she tried to figure out just what it was. The feeling was familiar, somehow… and when it sank in, her stomach twisted.
“Wait,” Parker whispered before picking up the pace to catch up with Rosh. “I think we’re—“
“-being followed?” a deep voice murmured into her ear.
A hand grabbed her from behind, clapping over her mouth.
Rosh winced at the crunch of the leaves under her feet. It was hardly the most subtle of approaches, but hopefully the wolves would be too busy eating their ill-gotten prize to smell her for now. It wouldn’t be long before they were half a mile from the village, and some strange sensation started to settle over her. Her skin prickled.
“Hey, Parker,” she called, turning around.
Parker wasn’t there.
Fuck. Where had she gone?! Had she fallen down a hole?
“Parker!” Rosh called again, trying not to be too loud. “Hey, Parker! Can you hear me?”
There was no response. Rosh immediately drew her sword, holding it in front of her. Fuck. How had she not heard anything?! It couldn’t have been wolves; there would’ve been some kind of hunting cry, surely. Parker’s screams would have alerted her immediately. And yet there was nothing.
So Rosh had to suspect human foul play, because that was all that she had left. Parker couldn’t have just disappeared.
“You look lost,” a voice said from behind her. “Need directions?”
Rosh jumped, both hands on her sword as she whirled around in place, her eyes falling on the source of the voice. “Who are you?” she demanded, glaring at the strange man in front of her. He was big; that was the first thing that she noticed. “Have you- are you the one who took Parker?! Where’s my friend?!”
“You mean the ‘friend’ you didn’t notice was missing until it was convenient?” the man asked with a cocked head. “No, I didn’t take her, but I know who did. And if you don’t put your weapon down, who took her won’t matter much longer.”
Glaring at him, Rosh dropped the sword. “Who are you? What are you doing here and why did you take Parker?”
A grin slowly stretched across his face, upturning his left cheek more than his right. “So many questions. You’ll have answers, all in due time. For now—hold your hands out.”
Glaring at him, Rosh obeyed.