Of Monsters And The Men Who Hunt Them

The attack site was deep within the Everfree forest and had taken about three hours to reach, in this area the sun’s rays had trouble reaching through the thick canopy that the dark brooding trees created but just enough light made it through to see clearly.

The nearby sound of running water could be heard from this position indicating a creek or possibly a small river was nearby. Samuel had noticed it quickly after all one of the first things a hunter learns is that animals generally gather around running water...

Dried blood caked the wide dirt path in front of the three would be monster hunters. Samuel had already counted out the twelve deifferent bodies that lay in various twisted positions across the road. Each one was quite obviously mangled and mutilated.

Knowing he was going to need to study his sickening surroundings Samuel stepped forward, huffed and crossed his arms. Scrunching his mouth to the side he narrowed his eyes and overlooked the whole scene.

To his left a common caravaneer’s cart stood up on its side against an old thick oak tree. From where he was standing Samuel could see the wooden rails that held its cargo in place were ripped through in certain places, as though something with immense strength had grabbed hold and crushed them.

Samuel decided he would get himself a closer look at the damage and began making his way towards the wreckage. Silver went to follow but Screech placed a hand on her shoulder.

”Best not to break his focus eh?” She whispered, Silver sighed and nodded in agreement.

The wheels of the cart were more or less gone, only a little remained of the destroyed wheels and that was to say nothing of the badly damaged axle that was supposed to hold them below. Looking down Samuel saw the ground near the cart had long deep gouges in the earth, deciding to follow the gouges he discovered that these marks ran on for nearly fifty feet.

As he went he noticed all along these gouges were broken off wheel spokes and marks where the wheel bands themselves had snapped.

From what Samuel could tell this cart had been grabbed and pulled on by something strong, but not quite strong enough to pick it up all the way. So it was then visciously dragged across the ground and thrown up against the tree.

”One hell of a creature...”

The cargo the cart had been carrying was scattered across a waterlogged ditch that ran along on the side of the road. Smashed boxes with food thrown from them rotted in the mosquito infested water, Samuel walked along the ditch examining all the cargo he could find.

”Nothing was looted, guess that rules out bandits for good... Perhaps this thing was attracted to the smell of the food? Implying it can smell pre packaged food...”

A weak breeze started to pick up and the forest began to hum with the rustling of leaves, Samuel’s hair waved lightly in the low wind and he decided now was the time to get on with the most gruesome task and look at the bodies.

Seeing him walk towards a body that lay further down the road Screech and Silver discreetly began making their way over as well. They kept themselves quiet and observant as Samuel reached the unfortunate victim and began his examination.

Squatting down Samuel studied the corpse of the poor fellow in front of him. He lay face down in the blood covered dirt, his clothing was torn to shreds which was fortunate, Samuel would have had to rip it off to examine the body anyway so it helped.

He had been a tall well built stallion that much was certain. Samuel couldn’t tell what color his fur or mane was because of all the blood, though it looked like he might have been yellow with a blue mane.

Two long claw marks were present on the back of the stallions head, they dug so deep Samuel could see the mushed up brain of the deceased. Further down the body became more and more unrecognizable as a pony, the stallions back was torn out nearly completely.

His spine was gone, well a small part of it still hung out where his neck connected to his back but other than that it was gone. His ribs were all snapped off and the ends nowhere to be found, he noted that all the angles at which they were snapped were exactly the same.

Probably the most horrifying part was that all his internal organs were either missing or... ripped into.

Moving on Samuel looked at the victims legs, both of which were crushed entirely, claw marks were present on the side of one leg but nowhere else in that area.

“Looks like... like this thing pounced on his back as he was running away, placed a leg on his head, dug in with it’s claws, then placed another leg on his legs to steady itself and finally took two huge bites out of him.”

Samuel grunted as he stood up, crossing his arms again he began to grind his teeth as he became lost in thought.

Seeing him drift off Silver turned her attention to the poor wretch Samuel had just examined, her features softened and she sighed. Moving her attention back to Samuel she cleared her throat to bring him back to the real world,”Do you have any idea what we are dealing with yet? I’m growing tired of this... dark place, it makes me anxious.”

Screech looked to Silver, her expression one of annoyance,“Give im’ some damn time Silver, we hired im’ to do this right so let im’ do it right!”

Silver tried to respond but Samuel let out a breath and turned around,”I think I do have an idea, give me one more second I want to see if I can find any undisturbed tracks the creature might have left.” The two guards shut up immediately and nodded in agreement with his plan of action.

Walking even further down the road he came to a spot between two corpses where the blood hadn’t seeped into everything. There he found the tracks he was looking for.

Standing directly over the “prints” Samuel immediately noticed their size and the depth of which they dug into the solid ground. Furthermore he noticed the fanatic pattern in which they appeared. They were here and there as though the thing that made them were jumping around or... flying.

“That’s... not a good sign.”

Studying the prints further he saw that each had three distinctive claw marks that came down in front of a thin reptilian like footprint,”If this... shit.”

Samuel’s head twisted and he narrowed his eyes,”I think I know what did this, though I can’t be certain.”

Screech placed the butt of her spear on the ground,“And what might the thing doin’ this to us be?”

He turned to face her,“A wyvern.”

“Wyvern?” Silver questioned,”What’s a wyvern?”

Screech snorted,”You never heard of a wyvern?”

Silver sighed,”No Screech I haven’t, could Samuel please enlighten me as to what it is?”

Getting the message Samuel shook his head,”It’s similar to a dragon, except not sentient,” Sliding his hands in his pockets he continued,”They have two legs and can fly, I can, with certainty, tell from the pattern in which these tracks move and the way the poor fellow back there was killed that whatever did this walks on two legs and can fly.”

“Yeah but what about the barbed tail they’re suppose to ave’, isn’t that a big part of hunting for em’?” Screech asked.

“Well look at the state of some of the other bodies here, they seem to have been slashed with multiple razor sharp objects that just happened to go the same exact direction at the same time.” He looked at Screech and shrugged,”I don’t see there a better explanation for what happened to them other than being hit with that tail.”

She shook her head and let out a laugh,“Aye you have a good point, spose’ I shouldn’t question ya to much.”

“Well maybe you won’t but I will,” Silver snapped,”How can you be sure that this wyvern is truly the culprit? You yourself only claim that this all only “seems” to fit together, you sound so sure of it and you’ve only been here what twenty minutes?”

Her voice got louder,”Now you’re going to ask us to help you kill something that may or may not even be here and make us waste our time! Celestia forbid it really is here because then we’ll all be dead, Tartarus you said it yourself you’ve never hunted anything like this before!”

Samuel confused at her sudden outburst huffed and scowled,”I cant just look at something like this all by itself and be completely sure of what’s going on, all I can do is give you my best educated guess. Isn’t that what you wanted?!”

Screech cut into their argument,“Ay Silver lay off im’ won’t ya, he’s just doing what we asked him to, I know ya don’t like this place and you’re tired of seeing so many dead ponies but this has gotta be dealt with.”

Silver looked at Screech with a frown, growling to herself Silver turned and began walking off in anger. Screech sighed and turned to Samuel with a small smile,”I’m sorry about er’ Sammy colt, she doesn’t mean it, honest.”

He raised an eyebrow,”Really? Then why did she hire me to do this only to freak the fuck out and get angry at me for doing my job?”

Screech sighed and her smile fell,“She... she’s been gettin’ lots of bad news recently, her two younger brothers died up north defendin’ castle Frostmouth from a Yak siege last month.” Samuel’s scowl slowly deteriorated,”Then she’s been workin’ these brutal investigations with me and it’s startin’ to take a toll on her.”

Samuel gulped as he processed all the information he’d just been given,“I uh, shit I didn’t know all that, I’m sorry.”

Screech placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder,”No need to apologize colt, it’s not your fault.” She smiled at him,”Now let’s get back to the business at hand, what help will you need in killin’ this beastie eh?”

Looking to his side Samuel raised his brow,“Well...”