Notes on Monster Hunting

by Chad Retterath

  We left early this morning and traveled to the main town. It was silent and our walking echoed through the trees. The undergrowth off the sides of the road was thick and hard to see through and many of the trees seemed to grow so close that it was more of a wall than a treeline. There was plenty to look at, but it was a bit eerie. Farms and fields all look the same after so many years walking, but forests always seem to look and feel different from others I’ve seen. I think it’s the smells of the trees and flowers I’ve never encountered before.

  Some wind blew across the road and rustled leaves. I never heard or saw any animals. Not even birds. It was quiet.

  We arrived in Tublin. A town in the middle of a massive forest where every building looks like it’s made from logs stacked atop each other. Even the roofs are made from logs. I have a weird feeling the furniture is also made from logs. A group of scruffy men walked up and greeted us. Skrale and the sergeants met with them about the contract while the rest of us stood and tried to appear professional. Villagers stopped to stare at us and a few children approached. Heff and Iliun gave them some candies. I never thought of Heff as the candy type.

  Tree farmers. Or loggers. Which is it? It’s an odd profession, but I’m in no position to criticize. Both are hard work in such a remote place. Monster hunting and lumbering, that is. Not tree farming and lumbering because I think those are the same. It doesn’t matter. Hard work is hard work and the loggers all have muscular arms and chests. Everyone in town looks stronger than most of our company.

  Skrale combed his fingers through his beard and smiled as he walked back. He relayed the information from the locals and we all listened closely. Wood wraiths moved into the trees around Tublin. Creatures that live inside trees and were once worshipped, long ago, as forest deities. A perfect example of a peaceful creature that accidentally became a problem. Our company has never hunted wood wraiths before because they don’t generally cause problems. This time there is more than one, and I guess that’s the problem. It’s like an infestation.

  There was a wood wraith that lived in the forest near where I grew up. When it was switching trees, it would run around in its little wood body and play with the children. We had named it Theodore. It was in an old, dying pine tree when I left. That tree is probably dead, but the wraith might still be alive, running around with the kids. As far as I’m aware, this is the first time wood wraiths have ever been hunted. Some must have been chased away, but I don’t believe they’ve been professionally hunted before.

  At least twenty wraiths are living in Tublin’s forest. The loggers described them as hungry. They do, in a way, eat the life of the tree. We haven’t gone to see how serious it is yet. Some creatures, like ornisects, are problems often enough that there are strategies to handle them. We don’t have any real plans for the wraiths. Skrale even admitted that he’d only briefly read about wraiths before and had never encountered one. In about an hour, we’re all going to the forest to look and try to determine a possible solution. Cremn looks like he might have an idea. Although, he never looks confused. Confidence is his normal expression.

  The part of the forest they’ve been felling is north by northeast of town. The whole area is surrounded by miles of forest with only one road leading back to civilization. I’m amazed our scouts managed to find the contract.

  We’ll have to hike through quite a bit of ground to get an idea of how serious it is. We’re charging more because it is an “unknown” creature. We’re just setting up camp, eating a meal, and relaxing for a night before we truly start. We might be here for a couple days, so camp will be proper instead of Groose’s normal lying on the ground or on top of the tent because he’s too lazy to set it up.

  Day 102

  The forest canopy is so dense that we can only clearly see when the sun is shining at its brightest. We started early with the sunrise, and it is way too early for me. Behind my knees hurt and my feet ache from breaking in the new boots. We ate and are readying up to hike and investigate and do what we do best, but I’m having trouble willing myself to stand. There’s a grogginess looming behind my eyes, making me want to sleep until tomorrow morning.

  Groose and Palon don’t seem like they’re doing too well either. It’s going to be a long day. I could tell from the moment I woke. That’s never a good sign. Something about knowing we’ll be here a few days makes me sleep worse. Cities and towns don’t bother me, but I always feel less comfortable staying for more than one night.

  Kendral, one of the loggers, led us into the forest. He looked nervous, clutching his woodcutting axe tight in his hands. His knuckles were white and veins rose on his forearms beneath his sleeves that were pushed up to his elbows. I walked close behind Skrale and Cremn, who were behind Kendral. We walked in an arrowpoint with Second and Third squads holding the flanks.

  Kendral brought us along a line of trees after some time walking. Each of the tall, thick trunks was dusty, grey, and beyond dead. Rotten, foul-smelling leaves carpeted the ground.

  “This trail is from a single wraith.” Kendral walked up and hit one of the trunks with his fist. The wood broke and fell into the hollowed innards. “We can’t use this for lumber. It’s just dust. The whole thing would burn quicker than any wood ever should. Same with the leaves.” Kendral dragged his foot through the leaves, revealing red dirt beneath.

  The dead, withered husks stood leafless and stark against the bountiful ancient trees that spread in every direction. The footing was difficult throughout the forest with roots running like serpents between the trees. It left the ground bumpy and hazardous, hidden by the undergrowth and leaves. More than one of us fell. Hint: I wasn’t one.

  “Here,” said Kendral. We all stopped and gathered around a normal tree. Kendral squatted beside the trunk and ran his hand along the bark. His face was flushed and sweating. “Look here.” His hand gestured at a piece that looked like a branch, but it was low, out of place. “This tree’ll be dead in less than ten days.”

  “How can you tell?” asked Skrale. He knelt and closely inspected the oddity. “Is that an arm?”

  Kendral nodded. He grabbed the limb and snapped it off. “When they finish off a tree, they leave in a wooden body which’ll attach to the new tree.” He stood and lifted the broken wooden arm in front of Skrale. “You can see a bit of the legs at the bottom and a bump here for the head. If you look close enough.”

  “Did that hurt it?” I asked.

  Kendral shook his head and dropped the stick. “It’s part of the tree now. We call them ghosts. Bodies left behind.”

  The leaves around us rattled, but no breeze stirred the air. Nothing moved and I felt less comfortable because of it.

  “Where are the animals?” I asked.

  “Most ran long ago when the wraiths first arrived.” He paused and listened to the leaves shifting in a nearby tree. “We can go into that later when we’re back. I don’t want to be in here longer than we have to. This tree’s wraith could attack us at any time.”

  Skrale nodded and silently stared at the tree.

  “How many are there?” asked Cremn.

  “Ten last time we were able to count. Maybe thirty by now. Maybe more.”

  “How were you able to count?”

  Kendral walked away from the tree and stood behind Fourth squad. “We counted all the living trees with ghosts attached. It might’ve not been right, but it was our only way.”

  Cremn looked at me, smirked, and gave a single nod. Skrale moved around the tree and dragged his hand along the bark. He crouched when he arrived back at the ghost and ran his hands over the head, the arm, and the legs. He sniffed and rubbed his nose. Cremn knelt beside Skrale and pulled a thick knife from his belt. They looked at each other and Skrale’s eyebrows raised. He shrugged and held out his hand, and Cremn placed the blade’s handle in Skrale’s palm. The sharp blade easily sliced through and stripped the withered bark from the tree. Skrale cut the bark from the ghost’s head and placed his hand against the white, dusty-lo
oking wood beneath.

  He pulled his hand away and let Cremn feel the wood.

  “It doesn’t feel like wood,” said Cremn as he looked back at Kendral.

  Kendral shook his head. “It hardly is. I don’t know how they do it, but they pull the life right out.”

  “We’re good,” said Skrale as he stood. “Let’s discuss the rest in town.” He nodded in the general direction of us, which was all we need to begin marching back the way we came.

  Kendral’s face was still flushed when we arrived back at the village, but his posture looked more relaxed. We had walked a ways into the forest and the sun would soon be dipping low enough that the sunset would color sky. I’m happy to be back, but I feel that it’ll be another restless night. It is better than sleeping inside a city or a small wooden room.

  “We’ll talk over food. Come join us. I’ll provide tonight. Let me see what I have. Orkin?”

  Orkin hurried to enter the commander’s tent first. Skrale entered his tent and quickly came out with bread and salted meat with Orkin carrying more behind him. A member from each squad went to grab food. We pushed Kully until he realized it was his job.

  The meat was sliced in thick chunks and was chewy with fat. A gray, salted chunk of flesh. Not the greatest food I’ve had, but it was free.

  The bread is great. Seeds are baked in and a light dusting of flour covers the crust, which is crunchy while the inside is soft. It goes well with the ale I picked up when we arrived. I bought enough to share with the squad, which earned us some looks of envy. It’s dark and a bit spicy. This is the happiest I’ve seen Fourth squad in a long time. Unfortunately, the bread will be gone when I finish this last piece. It was filling and delicious. It’ll truly be a tragic moment.

  Skrale is talking right now. I’m listening, but this bread is possibly the best I’ve had. Is it worth traveling back to get more of it? Obviously not. Maybe. They wouldn’t let me. Kendral is sitting with Second squad and sharing their food.

  “When he’s ready, Kendral will tell us more about the wraiths.” Skrale gestured to the lumberman and sat down on a nearby stool.

  Kendral swallowed the last of his food and stood up.

  “What do you need to know?”

  Kendral stood with his feet close together and his hands clasped in front of his waist.

  “Just tell us everything you know that you haven’t already told us. Anything that might help,” said Skrale.

  “My brother noticed the first wraith about a year ago,” said Kendral in a soft voice.

  “Speak up,” shouted Urny. People nodded in agreement. I felt a bit guilty. Kendral really seemed nervous.

  “Okay.” He took a deep breath. “I wasn’t worried at first because I heard stories of wood wraiths before. It wouldn’t be a problem. We could just cut around it if we needed to. Just leave a single tree, you know? Building was still going on. We needed the wood for ourselves, not even selling much at that point. That time last year, we were still clearing the forest out by the village you passed. You know, the farming one? That’s what we were building.”

  I looked over at the company while Kendral talked. He was getting comfortable, looser in his speech. Maybe even confident. Everyone, except me, was intensely focused. Fourth squad was also drinking the whole time, but they can listen and drink. It’s a practiced skill.

  “By the time we moved in to start harvesting around here again,” he gestured around himself, “we noticed the dead trees and the ghosts attached. It was too late for us. The animals had run away and we didn’t know why until we tried chopping down a tree with a wraith inside.” Kendral closed his eyes and took several slow, deep breaths. “It left the tree and attacked us. We ran away and waited a day before we went back and tried chopping down a different tree. One without a ghost we could see. It was even on the other side of town. A wraith came out of a different tree and scared us off.”

  Cremn politely raised his hand. Kully, Ralet, Groose, Palon, and I all looked at him in a similar confused way.

  “Yes?” Kendral pointed to Cremn.

  Cremn sat up straight and set his beer on the ground. “Why didn’t you fight back? The wraiths are wooden, correct?”

  Kendral nodded.

  “And woodcutters have axes, do they not?”

  Kendral nodded. “But we’re not warriors, sir. We can chop down a tree. Trees don’t hit you back.”

  “Any ideas how we can kill them?” I asked.

  “No, ma’am. We’ve had people passing by try to do something, but they’ve all given up quick. Our bounty has been up a good while and you’re the first proper hunters to come by.”

  “We might be the only proper hunters in the whole kingdom,” said Skrale with a big, proud smile.

  “Everyone who passed by and tried to help said they’d never heard of a wood wraith being killed. Is it possible?”

  “We’ll find a way. We’re the best at this sort of thing. You have our guarantee.” Skrale stood and put his arm around Kendral’s shoulders. Both men were burly. “The night is yours. We head out late morning.”

  Ralet immediately ran up and nearly stumbled in front of me. “Second thinks they can beat us in a game of grunle.”

  Cremn looked over his shoulder. “Who said that?”

  “Lekk. He also called you a name that I can’t properly say to you, sergeant sir.”

  Cremn sighed. “Let’s kick their ass.”

  About a year and a half ago, we met some gamblers in a city called Dellin. Back when we were way north. They taught us grunle and it’s become the main game our company plays. A few in each squad carry their own decks, so they can easily get together for a game like this. Five decks in a five against five game. Fourth squad has always been the odd one out with six members. Palon and Kully are quick to vote me out of the game each time because I lost them quite a bit of money a while ago. Which is fine because I’m even quicker to vote myself out. I can watch and finish off Palon’s drinks when he’s focused. I’m willing to play when they need me, but I also despise card games.

  It took some time and lots of drinks before they finally whittled it down to a two versus two. It’s Rux and Henli against Cremn and Palon. Henli doesn’t handle alcohol well, which is obvious from his swaying while sitting. The bartender keeps laughing whenever Henli blinks really slowly or yawns. It looks like he’s struggling to keep his head up. He’ll be the next to go. Someone is eliminated every few rounds, and it’s about time for the next. I might just lie down. I drank too much and the world is spinning.

  Day 103

  Turns out we won. We as in Fourth squad. I fell asleep on the bench and was carried to my tent. I’m surprised Palon didn’t drop me since he’s a clumsy drunk.

  Waves of pain keep flowing over my head. It might be a rough day.

  “Do you have anything to help my headache?” I asked Kully. His eyes were bloodshot and the skin underneath was dark.

  “Does it look like I have anything?”

  I slowly shook my head.

  “I feel like I’m dying,” announced Groose as he emerged from his tent.

  “Anyone feel okay?” I asked.

  Cremn emerged from his tent and handed us all buttered bread and some jerky. “I feel great. Excited to get this hunt underway.”

  The food feels uneasy in my stomach, but it’ll settle and give me some type of energy.

  I puked. Feeling a bit better now.

  I’ve always loved my sword. It’s mine. The grip is worn to fit my hand perfectly and I know just how long it is. It’s an extension of my arm. While I have the option of bringing it with me, it seems useless because we’ve all been given axes. What will a sword do against a wooden enemy? Probably not enough.

  Each squad has been given a woodcutting axe from the loggers. We gave one to Palon. It makes sense for the strongest to use it. Skrale pulled out our reserve weapons, most of which are dull or rusted, and gave everyone else hatchets or battle axes. There’s a few in the company that like ax
es. I think Wennel and Iliun have both been using axes the entire time they’ve been with us. Fourth has always stuck to our old pokers. Cremn is still bringing his sword. He has it slung at his left hip with his newly acquired hatchet on the other side. He spent a fortune on that sword awhile back. He’ll never leave it behind.

  This outing is still meant to be scouting and investigating, but our instructions are to “try to cut the bastards up” if they leave the trees. We may not be the most formal or educated bunch, but those instructions are even less sophisticated than we usually are. There’s at least some sense of strategy and planning when fighting a creature. Time to march back into the forest and see what we can do.

  The sun was still in the sky when we returned to Tublin. We were only out for a bit, but it felt like the whole day.

  Skrale called another meeting to discuss the events in the forest after a little time to eat and for the medics to check everyone. Kully already checked on me. I only have a few bruises, so I’ll record our experience in the woods while I wait.

  Fourth squad led the company deep into the forest. Everything was silent, apart from our footsteps and breathing. Nobody talked. We listened and watched all around us as some leaves rustled. First squad held the flank and we marched in a column, like a big brick of axe-wielding hunters. I spotted two living trees near each other with ghosts and called out to Skrale. The rounded head and right arm and leg were visible of one of the wraith’s ghost. Just the legs leaning into the tree were visible on the other tree.

  “Surround the two trees, form a barrier,” he commanded.

  We spread out and made a full wall with the two trees in the center. We stood so any wraiths wouldn’t reach another tree if they tried to retreat. Skrale, holding a woodcutter’s axe, walked up to one of the trees. We all drew our axes, whichever kind we were given, and stood, ready to chop some wraiths.