Bodies

So early in the morning, everything was quiet and beautiful. The snow was covering the Emerald Forest with a gorgeous white coat. Walking ahead of the group, Blanche was almost hard to spot against the white background, only her movements and her golden eyes making her stand out once in a while. She was sniffing around, visibly cautious about her surroundings but rather relaxed for now. Milena and the rest of the group had their horses go at a nice pace, in no hurry whatsoever to disturb that peace.

"...I still don't feel too good about this," muttered Raphael. "Millie, let's not venture too deep. You heard the Royal Guard. God knows whatever's been keeping soldiers from coming back to the Castle."

"If there's something to be seen here, I'd like to at least see it," his sister retorted. "We're still on the Castle's hunting grounds, too. There can't be something here that Ellias wouldn't know of. They still hold hunts from time to time, and he wouldn't risk people being injured by whatever is in these woods."

Still, she didn't want to put herself in danger. She supposedly knew those grounds well, but now, everything felt a bit eerie to her. Was it because she hadn't come in a while? Or her brother's anxiety getting to her? Milena was feeling a bit nervous, and kept glancing around. It was quiet, nothing unusual so early in the morning, but still strangely quiet. It didn't look like anyone was trying to cross this area at all. Not even a wild fox or a hare. They kept wandering around, careful not to get too far from the Royal Castle, but still making rounds and investigating for clues. Given the timeline, the seventh and eighth Division should have arrived a while ago, but as they all knew, there had been no sign of them. Not even a soldier had made it, aside from Lucian taking the longest way around. Milena had a gut feeling the rumors weren't completely untrue. Moreover, what else could have held back experienced soldiers? The sentinels and even the Castle's watchers should have been able to see giants, visible from miles away, so it couldn't be them. More likely, the enemy was smaller and strong enough to fight off soldiers... Exhausted soldiers maybe, but still experienced fighters. 

Milena kept going, a hand on her g*n, ready for anything. Blanche was opening the path in front of Black Bella, completely silent, but clearly wary of her surroundings. Her wolf ears would twitch at the faintest foreign sound, and she sometimes growled at something invisible, or a bird that would take off a second later. Blanche loved hunting, but this was clearly different from her usual outings. Just like Milena, she was picking up on the strange atmosphere going on in the forest. There was something amiss, but Milena couldn't pinpoint what. She kept looking around, stretching her vision as far as it could see amongst the snow-covered trees, searching for the faintest movement. They were getting deeper in, only the sounds of their horses and their leather equipment making sounds around them. Milena could even hear the faint breathing of their knights, each of them on guard too. 

Suddenly, she realized what was missing. The birds.

Such a vast forest should have been filled with birds humming and singing, so early in the morning. But there was absolutely nothing. Not even a sparrow or an owl. There were no squirrels running on the branches, either. Nothing moved, as if all of the wildlife had left, or was hiding. The tension increased again, Milena's hands tightening around her weapon. What could have made all of the wildlife so cautious? 

Suddenly, Blanche stopped, her eyes riveted ahead of them, and she began growling, her tail low and all of her fur doubling its volume. Milena stared in the same direction, but her brother saw it faster than she did.

"What the..."

He took out his sword, very silently, and Milena grabbed her long-range g*n to use the loop. She might not have a vampire's improved vision, but she was still a fine hunter. Through the circular glass, she finally saw it. 

A rickety, rawboned creature was crouched down, its back arched in a strange angle. It didn't seem human by any means. It was too tall, too scrawny and almost entirely pale grey, the remains of what may have once been clothes hanging down from its body. There were a few hairs, too, long but scattered on its skull. Milena's blood froze. A Wendigo. She hadn't thought they’d run into one. Not here, not so close to her forest’s border, but there was no mistaking it. This one seemed particularly thin, perhaps weaker than the ones she had seen before, but it couldn't be anything else. The creature had its back turned on them; maybe it hadn't noticed their presence, or was too busy doing something else. She couldn't see what it was doing. The head was towards the ground, and the creature was on all fours, barely moving.

"...Millie," muttered Raphael, glancing at her.

Behind her, all of the Knights had their swords drawn, but none of them were able to spot the creature yet; it took either a vampire's great sight or a tool to zoom this far. Milena hesitated. She should have shot this thing right down, but she was worried the sound of her g*n would alert it. She had a feeling there were more. One wendigo alone couldn't have scared all of the forest's wildlife away on its own... She took a deep, slow breath, putting the creature in her firing line. She wanted to see what it was doing, but from this far, it was hard to precisely see any movement. Milena put her finger on the trigger. If she waited too long to shoot this thing down... 

A gunshot resonated.

The Wendigo she was aiming at raised its horrific head, looking for where the shot had come from, and Milena glanced back very briefly. Everyone from her party was as confused as she was; the shot hadn't come from them.

Another one ensued, and when she looked into her lens again, the Wendigo was gone.

"s**t!"

"Milena!"

She heard a movement on her left, a second too late. The creature jumped out of nowhere, onto the first Knight. They heard a strangled scream before he was thrown off his horse and onto the ground with the creature. The Wendigo attacked so fast and so ferociously, it took everyone a second to react. Milena changed guns in a split second, and began firing at the thing. Two of the knights jumped down from their horses, swords in hand to try and save their peer, but it was too late. The humongous stain of blood on the snow and the limbs already scattered were just horrifying to see. The only thing that kept everyone attacking was the fear of being the next prey. 

Milena's shots were hindered by Black Bella panicking. Her horse was scared by the creature, and kept moving and trying to get away. She couldn't take a clear shot while trying to control her horse, and she was afraid she'd hit someone from her party. The knights tried stabbing the creature, but the Wendigo jumped on one of them next, and things got even worse. Blood splattered on the horses, two of them without riders running away in fear.

"My Lady!" Olivia screamed.

Blanche suddenly jumped, her fangs furiously biting the creature's neck. The Wendigo screeched, a horrifying sound that spread throughout the forest. Its large hands and long, needle-like nails tried to get to the white fox, but its strange body structure prevented it from such a movement. 

Milena jumped down from her horse and finally took her shot. Once on stable ground and within this shooting range, she was confident enough. Blanche knew to jump down and let go right after the first shot to get out of her way, too. Milena kept shooting, emptying her barrel on that thing with a determined expression. When she finally stopped, the Wendigo was still emitting strange groans and hisses, but it was obviously living its last moments. Milena's bullets had dug holes in its head and body, and its face was disfigured in a horrible expression. She put down her g*n, and took out her sword instead, approaching the creature very cautiously.

"Oh my God," muttered Raphael. "That's... absolutely disgusting."

"...How are they?" Milena asked the knights, her eyes still riveted on the dying creature.

One of the men had died in the first attack, and the other was barely breathing. His arm and leg had been torn away from his body, thrown several inches away and leaving long stains of blood in the snow. There was a gaping hole in his chest, part of his rib cage exposed. He couldn't even mouth words, but his pleading eyes on his peers were enough. One of the knights took a deep breath, and cut his throat neatly.

"...Dead, my Lady."

Milena's heart sank.

The attack hadn't lasted a minute, yet they had lost two knights in the blink of an eye. She waited a few more seconds, glaring at the creature until it was dead for sure, and finally looked up.

"Anyone else injured? Blanche?"

The silver-white fox stepped back to stand where Milena could see her, but her golden eyes were riveted on the rest of the forest, as if guarding their position. Milena felt a bit relieved. Despite her reckless action, none of the blood on Blanche's fur was hers.

"That smell is just horrible," muttered Raphael. "I think I'm going to be sick."

"Please hold it. There's definitely more of those..."

"What do we do, my Lady?" Muttered Olivia, visibly horrified as well.

"...Shall we go back?" Suggested Raphael's servant.

Milena was torn. She was worried there were more out there. She wished she could have stayed and tried to find more wendigo to assess their numbers, but after what had just happened, it would clearly have been madness. She slowly nodded.

"...Pack that thing up, and the bodies. We need to bury our knights and have that thing analyzed..."

"Yes, my Lady."

They had lost two horses, which didn't come back even after the knights whistled for them. Black Bella, however, hadn't left her mistress' side, and had just stood bravely a few steps away despite her fear. Milena petted her brave mount while the knights quickly moved to grab everything, her purple eyes riveted on the forest. Raphael, too, was incredibly nervous, his sword still drawn and his eyes making circles around, scared he'd miss something else.

"M-my Lady?" One of the knights suddenly called out. "I think you should see this..."

Milena turned around and frowned. They had gathered the remains of the knights first, wrapping them in their capes and packing them at their horses' rear, and they had left the Wendigo last. While they were trying to gather that thing to somehow pack it, though, the knights had noticed something strange. Milena approached, looking at what the knight was holding.

It was the piece of fabric around the wendigo's body. The thing was completely ragged, and most of it had been torn off by the creature, but a piece of fabric was still hanging over its bony torso, which the knight was showing her. It took Milena a second to realize what she was looking at. ...It was a uniform.

"You've got to be kidding me..." She muttered.

She used her sword to cut that piece away from the body, and brought it closer to look. It smelled horribly, just like Raphael had said, and she had to try not to breathe too much to withstand it. It literally smelled like death, as if that thing had been hung on a corpse and left to rot along with it. The original color was completely stained by all kinds of what seemed to be every imaginable body fluid, too, probably partially explaining the horrible smell. However, there were still a few traits discernable on it, little holes where military badges ought to have been sewn. It was almost impossible to recognize at first glance, but Milena knew those uniforms. They were those used for their Kingdom's Army.

"Hell... Raphael?"

She handed him the piece of fabric, and her brother got the same stunned expression.

"That's... from the shape of the badges, I'd say it was seventh or ninth division... No way, you think that was one of our vampire soldiers that got turned into a..."

She didn't think; Milena was almost sure. It was terrifying to think about, but it made sense. She had never understood why there were possibly so many wendigos in the Forest that it could hold back a whole army. The thing was, if there weren't many Wendigos to start with, but the first ones had contaminated more vampires and turned them into Wendigos too, then... Then they were facing a potential full army of them. Her blood went cold. How many vampires were there in the army? And what had happened to the human soldiers? 

Her eyes went to the bodies packaged at the end of the horses.

Milena suddenly turned around and ran through the woods. Blanche followed her, both of them ignoring Raphael's shout to come back. They were headed in the same direction, not too far from there. They reached it; the first spot they had seen the Wendigo in.

A corpse was there, half-eaten already, the ripped human face still contorted in an unimaginable amount of suffering. Milena couldn't bear to look for more than a few seconds. The whole area was covered with scattered limbs, guts and everything that was supposed to be inside a human body. She grabbed Blanche by the nape of her neck, preventing her from inquiring further about this. She had a bad feeling about leaving her friend anywhere near something contaminated by a Wendigo. The body, though, was clearly human, and a male too; Milena could smell his blood, somewhat enticing her a bit. This poor man still had parts of his uniform scattered around, but she couldn't find the bits that would have given clues about his identity or rank... She looked around. How many more soldiers had been attacked savagely like this in the woods? The air around them was saturated with the smell of blood, but what if there were more bodies like this?

"Blanche, come," she whispered. "Let's leave."

Milena had no intention to spend any second longer there. She may be brave in the faces of dangers, but staying here any longer was clearly bordering on suicide. She and Blanche quickly made their way back to the group, who was waiting for them and still on edge, everyone's hands on their guns and looking out for more wendigos.

"...Another body?" Raphael asked.

Milena nodded. He had probably smelled it too... despite the area they were in being also covered in blood. The snow was now a dirty mix of blood, mud and some unidentified things in-between. Milena got back on Black Bella, incredibly nervous. No one in their party dared to raise their voice any louder than a whisper anymore, and they were even cautious while riding the horses on the way home. 

Suddenly though, Milena stopped Black Bella. The gunshot. If it hadn't come from their party, who had fired it? It wasn't the man she had found; that poor soldier had died a while ago. This meant someone else was alive, not a Wendigo, and was trying to survive here. Milena glanced at the depths of the forest. What if...? What if they were leaving someone to fend for themselves out there? What if someone was trying to get out? If there were Wendigos everywhere, that person might have been moving very slowly and hiding, hoping to reach the border of the Emerald Forest and make it home.

"Millie?"

The knights were now ahead of them on the way home, but Raphael had noticed his sister's hesitation. Blanche, too, had stopped, glancing around with her tail low, looking for the next threat.

"...The gunshot," Milena whispered. "What if it was one of our own?"

"What?"

Raphael was confused. Perhaps he had forgotten that gunshot, or hadn't realized. They hadn't seen anyone else out there. She tried to remember. Which direction had it come from? Was it loud, and close, or much further into the forest? Her head was full of questions, and she was torn between safely going home, and risking her life again to possibly save someone else's. She kept staring around, trying to find an answer, or a sign.

"...Blanche, do you smell anyone?"

The silver-white fox changed into a dog, sniffing around with her tail up this time, looking for foreign smells she might have missed. Milena suspected all that blood probably hindered her.

"...Raphael, go home first. I'll..."

"No f*****g way! Milena, I came here because of you in the first place. No one is going home until you are!"

Despite his reckless decision, all the knights agreed with a nod. They might be scared by what had happened to their two colleagues, but their sense of duty prevented them from leaving the young Lady of the House to stay back alone. Their pride as knights would have been completely ruined. Olivia and Raphael's servant hadn't moved either. Milena was torn once again. She could take responsibility for her life and Blanche's, but they had lost two knights already... 

Suddenly, Ruby appeared next to Black Bella.

"My Lady, you should go and see for yourself. This way."

Her bodyguard pointed at something past the trees. Since she invited Milena to go and see for herself, her bodyguard had probably already assessed it was safe enough for them to go. Ruby vanished again, and Milena turned Black Bella around, heading for the direction Ruby had indicated. Blanche ran ahead, now visibly sure. She had shifted back into a snow fox, which meant she knew the smell and didn't identify them as an enemy. Milena's heart beat a bit faster. 

They stopped after a few more trees, still aware there might be more dangers hidden. Milena signaled for everyone else to stop and wait. Even if that person was on their side, they were armed, and probably quite alert and wary of anything coming their way, too.

"...Who's there?" Milena asked.

"T-That voice..."

They heard someone moving, and Blanche ran ahead. Finally, someone appeared from behind the trees. The vampire was covered in blood, holding her flank with a grimace and barely standing up, g*n in hand. She grimaced.

"...Lady Milena?"

The second after the two women had made eye contact, Alexis passed out in the snow.