Chapter Two: The Magistrate

I dropped to my knees to check the trail again. Three days and the beast had not been found. I felt like I was losing ground. The only real comfort, if you could call it that, was the damage left in the beast’s wake. The mangled bodies were my breadcrumbs if you will.

The sun was beginning to rise and soon the frost would relinquish its icy grip on the hardening tundra. It would become harder and harder to follow a trail, unless by Lady Luck’s tip of the hat, snow graced the woods in the coming days.

Guilden had continued to shadow me. Occasionally he would appear to help me if I had lost the trail. I was growing to dislike the help.

Regardless, we both conceded to the obvious fact that our trail was growing cold. It was toward the afternoon, some hundred miles from my woods, when I turned to my partner.

“We’ve lost it. We should return in case it has circled back. It has greater fortitude than either of us. We were fools to attempt to hunt something like that.”

Guilden didn’t like the idea of giving up. I reminded him otherwise.

“We are doing no good away from Westerhaven. Let us think of a way to snare the creature. Come.”

We returned on our three day journey, vigilant and watchful, but the sojourn was undisturbed. We passed the clearing when first we glimpsed the wolfman.

“I’d best report to the Magistrate.” Guilden bowed and left.

I let him leave, mulling things over in my head. This report would not please the Magistrate. I cared little though. It wasn’t like he would take away my job or the forest.

As I sat thinking of all this, a voice woke me from my musings.

A cry for help. I drew my axe. I would not be left unguarded. There by the clearing was the man again.

It was daytime. From the last encounter it seemed the moon had brought about his change.

“Sir, do not move. I will give you what aid I can, but you are to return to the city with me. It is just a few miles from here.”

The man looked to me. At least he would have, had he not have gouged out his eyes days earlier.

Pity welled up in my throat as I came near. His face was scarred. He was a victim of his transformation. He was not the villain. How could I fulfill my duties and slay the beast, when the beast was nothing more than a crippled man?

I took a rag and dipped it into the water and began to clean the man’s face. Then I opened a pouch at my left hip. I pulled a few dried leaves from the pocket and chewed them a few times. I spat them into my hands and smeared the cream upon his eyes.

He was quiet, murmuring in pain.

“It will help your wounds. Come, I will lead you.”

The going was slower than I expected. He grew tired many times. Nighttime was drawing near and I had hoped to have him in a cell before the moon shone.

I would not have such luck.

We sat down for a final time. I scanned the skies. The full moon was several days ago. Perhaps we would be safe. I collapsed into a deep slumber. I hoped to do the same, but for safety I kept my eyes open.

It was early in the morning when I woke. I had fallen asleep and was careless. I silently cursed myself to several days of restless slumber. The man remained still. I checked his pulse. He lived. I would allow him his rest for a bit longer.

I pulled some jerky from my other pouch and nibbled at it.

“You found the man then?” Guilden’s voice startled me.

I looked up and back to the man.

“Would seem so. The boy and girl?”

“They were found maimed at the King’s Crossing twelve miles north.” He kept his hand on his hilt. It bothered me.

“A shame that should have been avoided. Give my condolences to their families. Take this man home. I must attend to my forest.”

He made no movements.

“Kinningson. I didn’t come for him. The Magistrate believes you failed to bring down a simple wolf. He wishes to speak to you.”

I didn’t rise, but amused myself with the jerky a bit more.

“You saw it. It was no mere wolf.” I took a bit thoughtfully. “You told him, right?”

Guilden gave no answer, but turned towards the city.

“We leave now. Rouse the man.”

I disliked it when he ordered me about. I was no simple city guard or even in the employ of the Magistrate. I had to answer to no one but myself. Still, it would be better to just go and talk.

I nudged the man. He seemed weakened in wakefulness.

I lead him by arm and Guilden followed, as if to make sure I did not try to make a break for it. Was I this incompetent?

We reached the city. It had been some time since I had been here. The wall was finished, a simple palisade.

We walked through the derelict streets to the Main Hall.

The Magistrate was seated upon a rather large chair. It seemed he was thinking himself a king. It was disgusting to look at his bejeweled stool, his fine silken garments.

I attempted to remain courteous. “Your grace. I come with the farmer.”

The Magistrate waved a hand as if to shush him away.

“Kinningson, correct?” He was eyeing some papers. No doubt it was Guilden’s report.

I nodded in affirmation.

“Nine people are dead. You are to preserve life in the forest and its surroundings are you not?”

I nodded again. It wasn’t enough that the city guard couldn’t protect people inside the walls. Now it was my fault for their inaptitude.

“Have you slain the wolf?”

I made a movement to speak and explain, but a hand silenced me.

“This is a simple yes or no question. Perhaps you’ve been away form real people too long to grasp this. Did you slay the wolf that killed these people?”

Again I made to explain. And again he raised a hand.

His beady eyes bore into my skull. I despised this little man.

“No.”

The Magistrate rose and tossed the report onto a table.

“Well, at least you managed to rescue a man now crippled, unable to perform his daily tasks. You’re a hindrance. Go and slay the wolf and then leave my forest.”

His forest? I could not keep a still tongue.

“The forest does not belong to you. It belongs to no one. It is the fault of your guard that these people even left the city or that the beast even made its way in.”

Our eyes locked for a time. Guilden finally spoke up, seeking to be the peacekeeper.

“M’lord, forgive my fellow ranger. There have been strange happenings, and one ranger is not enough to watch over an entire forest as well as a city.”

The Magistrate spoke into the ear of one of the guards. The man was lead away.

“Guilden, perhaps you should aid him in this then. You are dismissed of your charge. Go and attend the forest. Kinningson. Do not return here.”

I had longed to inform his greasy face that he had summoned me. I yearned to tell him that the blind man was the wolf. I desired to smash his face in for his improper display of power and his poor judgment.

Guilden and I were escorted none to gently from the building. I left back to me home without speaking a word. Guilden however lingered at the door, unsure as to what to do. He was a city man, though a better archer than I. That skill alone earned him the title of ranger.

I despised all of this. It was then, looking back at Guilden, that I decided to break into the city and free the man. I would guard him myself as I sought a cure. I would need the aid of a sage, a learned man.

I knew just the man.