Benlunar - Episode 13
Hounds about town.
The Roads of Alicium run through it like veins
From small paths down mountains to city built lanes
They’ll guide you home or take you away
Or make you visit village that begs you to stay
Up through the pass, down through the grass
Stick to your map, veer not from the path
Or perhaps take an unfamiliar bend
After all, the aim of the song is the tune not the end
How had she not heard it? How did it manage to sneak up on them and pounce without so much as a rustle of a leaf? Was this her journey’s end? Did she leave Benlunar and make it all this way just to die in the forest, eaten by a pack of wild dogs? Lilian was thinking all these things and more, a million questions running through her mind. But they were the wrong questions, they were questions that belonged in the past. The question she should be asking was this: why was the dog not attacking? It had managed to knock her over, it had its jaws open, poised inches from Lilian’s exposed neck, and yet it was not moving. Once Lilian realised this, she began to breathe again. They were sharp, quick breaths, the only ones she could manage in her state of shock. Slowly, the questions in her mind subsided and she was able to gather new information. She could feel the dogs hot breath on her face and she balked when she smelt it. Its mouth was so close she even felt saliva dripping from its teeth onto her skin. She craned her neck slowly to try and get a better a look at it. It was large, that much she knew from feeling the weight of it on her chest and stomach. Its coat was brown and wire haired and it had a wide forehead. It seemed to be frozen, like Kissandra was, trapped by a spell or some demonic power. But when Lilian noticed a tight cord attached to a collar around its neck, the dog’s strange behaviour began to make sense. It's beady brown eyes were fixed in a glare at her throat, the occasional blink or flicker the only betrayers of them belonging to a natural, living beast. The cord stretched behind it and into the shadows. It occasionally moved but did not slack. A similar cord stretched parallel beside it, Lillian guessed this was attached to a similar dog that must have caught Mr Attorcop off guard, just as this one had caught her. She heard his voice break the tense silence,
"Lilian? Are you alr…" he was cut off by a loud bark, loud even to Lilian. She attempted to answer him,
"I'm fine…" but her response was met by a similar shout from the animal on top of her. It's head was so close to hers the bark rang in her ears and forced her body to constrict in shocked tension.
Just then, a voice came out of the darkness. It was low and smooth with a singing, rhythmic edge. It came from the other end of the cords like a grim version of a child's game where strings are attached to bowls or cups.
"Please do not try to speak, or move." the voice spoke calmly. Lilian guessed it was a man's voice. A woman's joined it almost instantly, a lighter tone but with a similar singing accent.
"They won't hurt you unless we tell them to." Lilian was not calmed by her words. If anything, the woman's chilling detachment from the seriousness of the situation unnerved her even more. They waited a few more seconds, Lilian's chest was beginning to ache with the weight of the dog. As she began to regain composure, Lillian realised that this must be some sort of intimidation tactic. The dogs could have ripped out her throat ages ago so all this theatrical show off strength must be designed to scare her more than hurt her. Well, thought Lilian, it's worked. I'm stiff as a board and absolutely terrified. She wondered if Mr Attorcop was feeling the same way. A whistle came out of the darkness and the dog shut its mouth and instantly dismounted. Lilian breathed in deeply and sat up. She felt movement by her side and realised her hand was shaking. She looked over at Mr Attorcop and could see, even through the dim light, that he was white as a sheet. The two dogs, who looked very similar, were dutifully sat in front of them seemingly awaiting further instruction. Lilian jerked her head around to see if she could see Fritha but the Feinhound must have sensed danger and done its famous disappearing act.
Lilian heard the crunching of leaves under foot and gazed into the shadows beyond the two dogs. A man and a woman faded slowly into focus. They were both wearing dark green and brown colours that let them blend effortlessly into the forest. They could have been 10 feet off the path and Lilian wouldn't have noticed. Their camouflage was aided by cowls and masks decorated with leaves and mud. Lilian could see the man's cold blue eyes staring down at her. He held a leather ball in his right hand which was attached to a cord which he was tightly coiling around his left arm, Lillian noticed how careful and dextrous he was about keeping the cord tight as he approached. The woman beside him was doing the same thing. They both carried foot long knives in dark sheaths on their belts and bows on their backs. Lilian felt sweat forming on her brow. Were they about to get robbed? She thought about the advice her father had given her and was mentally preparing to hand over everything in her pack and pockets when Mr Attorcop spoke.
"Your hounds are very impressive." There was no response. Mr Attorcop tried again. "Apologies if we're trespassing. We were trying to stick to the main road, there's a chance that in the dying light we went astray. We mean you no harm and we thank you for calling off your dogs."
No response.
"If you have no business with us we'll be on our way."
The two mysterious rangers looked at each other and then back to Lilian and Mr Attorcop. The woman uttered a word in a language Lilian didn't understand. The two dogs stood up and Lilian winced expecting a similar attack, but they merely approached them with their noses in the air twitching and sniffing all around them. Seemingly satisfied the dogs the trotted back to their handlers and sat patiently by their sides. This confused the man.
"You carry no steel?" he enquired.
"We are scholars and travellers who have no need for weapons and who would not know what to do with them if we had them! My name is Cressido Botham and this is my niece, Amelia." Lilian shot him a sideward glance. The lies spilled from his lips as easily as ale from a tap. Lilian suddenly realised why they practised fighting with sticks each night. Nothing contradicts the phrase 'we mean you no harm' like a blade on your belt.
"We thank you for your cooperation and apologise for our rude introduction" the woman visibly relaxed and approached, dropping her cloth mask from her mouth and exposing thick brown hair and a round, smiling face with bright green, intelligent eyes.
"These woods can be dangerous places and we prefer to be safe than sorry. Are you hurt?" Lilian shook her head and looked at the man, he still wore his mask and huffed when his friend apologised.
"Normally we would have no need to stop you." She continued, "but we are very interested in your friend and we would like to show them to our community." Lilian was shocked. Why would they be interested in her? thought. Maybe they don't have red haired people in their town? She though.
"You're interested in… Me?" She asked, "Why?"
"Oh no, so sorry for the confusion. I'm sure you're lovely but we are interested in that.” She pointed to her right towards an empty spot by a small tree. Lilian thought she must have bumped her head when she got knocked over because the woman wasn’t pointing at anything. But after a second she saw Fritha open her eyes and shimmer into sight. Everybody gazed at her in amazement, including it seemed, the two dogs. They eagerly sniffed the air, desperate to understand this new creature but sure enough of their own safety not to bark or attack without prompt. Lilian sighed, that made more sense.
“How did you spot her?” She enquired. This time, it was the man that replied.
“We’ve been tracking you through the forest. We saw it when it was visible and have kept a constant eye on it since. If you look away for even a second, you could lose… her.”
“Do you have a name for her?” Asked the woman, smiling.
“Fritha.” Lilian felt Mr Attorcop glaring at her. He hadn’t exactly told her not to name the feinhound but Lilian guessed it would not have been his first decision.
“It’s a beautiful name. My name is Stephanie and this is Bardat.” She gestured to her friend who gave a surly nod, “And these are Pippin and Leonardo.” And the mention of his name, Leonardo gave a happy, high pitched yap, all animosity and aggression completely gone, it was as if Lilian was looking at a different dog from the one that had pushed her over only moments ago. Leionardo turned and marched up to Stephanie wagging his tail and occasionally looking back at Lilian.
“What’s he doing?” She asked.
“He’s asking me if it’s okay to meet you. Do you like dogs?” Lilian nodded and saw Stephanie look down and give a slight gesture towards her. Leonardo took his cue and bounded up to Lilian, his tongue hanging out as he began licking her legs for attention. Lilian giggled and bent down to stroke his ears, this calmed her. Suddenly, Fritha took a couple of steps towards them, the now familiar low chimes sounding in her throat. She seemed displeased.
“Oh, be careful!” Said Stepahnie, “I think Fritha is jealous.” Lilian smiled at the notion but then realised it made sense. Fritha did have an air of anger about her, her coat was even shifting into a dark red with white patches. Lilian stood up and backed away from Leonardo to show her that everything was alright. Leonardo didn’t seem to care.
“I’m very glad that everyone has now met properly, but if we could get back to the matter at hand.” Mr Attorcop appeared to be running out of patience, “You mentioned something about your community? Do you live in these woods?”
“For now yes.” replied Bardat. Stephanie shot him a stern look. “Please, you will come with us.”
“Of course, we are not forcing you.” Said Stephanie, “But if you follow us and you bring Fritha, we will happily give you supplies for your journey and even a bed if you wish to stay the night.” Lilian looked to Mr Attorcop for guidance. They had just picked up supplies, but they would keep an extra day. He looked down at Lilian and raised his eyebrows. She shrugged and smiled.
“Very well. What is your settlement called, so that I may place it on a map.” Mr Attorcop lifted up his pack and made to follow them.
“Our town is not on maps and we prefer it like this.” said Stephanie. “But it is called Hundsberg.”
The two forest folk took Mr Attorcop and Lilian into the trees where they avoided paths and roads for some time. The two dogs, Pippin and Leonardo led the way and Lilian guessed that they were following them to Hundsberg because there were no visible markers or beaten paths through the dense, dark wood. Lilian walked beside Stephanie with Fritha, ablaze in shimmering blue padding close by. The dogs were big but Fritha still towered over them. Lilian would occasionally reach out to try and touch her coat, but still she shied away from her hand.
“She does not know you.” Said Stephanie, observing the interaction. Lilian shook her head.
“She’s been following us for ages but I don’t know why.”
“Because she likes you.” Said Stephanie with a wink.
“How can you tell?” Stephanie thought for a second.
“Well, this is my first time seeing a Angsthund but where I come from we work a lot with dogs.” She pointed at Leonardo who’s head was currently buried in a burrow. Lilian enjoyed the way Stephanie moved and gestured as she spoke, together with her tuneful voice it reminded Lilian of when brother Thomas would conduct the church choir.
“Everyone has at least one dog, we get our first dog when we are 5 years old and so when you are always around these animals you learn how to read them. When I look at Fritha I see that she wants to be near you, but she is still unsure.” Lilian felt a pang of sorrow for Fritha.
“Hang on,” She said, “You’ve had Leonardo since you were 5??”
“Goodness no,” Laughed Stephanie, “Leo is my 3rd dog. My first dog’s name was Gumdrop.” Lilian looked up at her, eyebrows curled in a question.
“What? I was five years old ok?” Lilian laughed and bent down to pat Leonardo’s large flat back. She noticed that Mr Attorcop was falling a few feet behind them as they walked, his expression was sullen and serious. Lilian stopped walking so that he caught up with her.
“Are you alright?” She asked.
“Hm? Oh, yes. Fine.” He didn’t seem quite himself but Lilian felt it might be rude to push. She remembered Mr Attorcop’s own lesson about listening and so she joined him and waited until he spoke again.
“It’s just… that really could have been it for us. I was taken completely by surprise and was left defenceless. You could have been killed.” Lilian stayed quiet, she had thought the same thing not long ago. Mr Attorcop lowered his voice.
“In all our combat training and defence lessons, I never really mentioned that if someone decides to sneak up on you and attack from behind, there’s really nothing you can do about it. I let you down Lilian and I blame myself. I was careless and you could have been killed.” Lilian thought about this for a second, something didn’t quite add up.
“You don’t have to blame yourself. You don’t even have to worry because, well, we weren’t hurt. Yes we could have been, but we were lucky. It’s like you were saying earlier today about being in control of things. We didn’t decide to get attacked but these guys did decide to be nice to us once they saw that we meant no harm, and we had a part to play in that by not carrying any knives or bows or whatever. It’s all sort of linked and our decisions did influence our safety so if we keep making decisions like the ones we’re making now, we should be okay!” Mr Attorcop looked at Lilian as she walked. Since the day they had started training he knew that she was strong and that she would be able to hold her own in any test of physical prowess, but it seemed as though her mind was just as sharp. She had grasped the concept of determinism and applied it readily to their present situation.
“You know Lilian, just because we’re not always in direct control of what we do and what think, that doesn’t mean that our words and actions don’t have consequences.”
“I know.” Replied Lilian kicking up a clump of leaves as she walked. “We do have to be careful so as not to hurt others. I see it as a sort of ship. We can steer the ship even though the waves and tides move the water, sometimes the ship might not go where we want it to, but we still have more say in its direction than if we did nothing at all.” Mr Attorcop smiled. Back in Benlunar, a part of him had dreaded this long journey with no one but a teenage girl to talk to. But now he realised that he had underestimated Lilian Lausanne once again. Something he swore he would never do. She was becoming quite the philosopher. Perhaps, he thought, he would discuss her opinion on art and music next. He considered asking her what she thought about the two strangers that had accosted them on the road, but a strange sound interrupted his train of thought.
“Can you hear that?” Asked Lilian. Mr Attorcop nodded and slowly reached for a vial of Lunar essence he had hidden in his sleeve. The sound was coming from over a muddy ridge, for the first time in their treck through the trees, Lilian saw what looked like a pathway running up it. It was slick with mud and climbing it would prove tricky, especially if you were in a hurry. The noise grew louder as they approached, it sounded to Lilian like wailing or crying, but from a hundred voices all in different intensities. It sent shivers down her back. It wasn’t until they reached the small hill that it became clear. The voices and shouts grew more distinct and Lilian realised that it was the sound of dogs. A chorus of barks and howls grew stronger and greeted them as they crested the mound. Stephanie grabbed Lilian’s hand and helped her scramble up the last few steps, when she raised her head she was greeted by an astonishing site. Hidden amidst the trees and mud banks was a cluster of houses. They were encompassed by mud hills similar to the one Lilian was standing on so it looked as if the community was built within a large bowl. Lilian didn’t have time to count but there must have been over 100 buildings, including a large structure at the other end of the bowl that seemed to be a central church or meeting place. Although the buildings were created from mud, clay and branches, they were not dirty or unkempt. In fact, if they had been painted white or blue they would have resembled any house in the nicer parts of Benlunar. Dotted amongst the small streets were people of all ages. There were old women coming out of doorways, there were children gathered around fire pits. Every single person had a dog with them and they were all looking directly at Lilian and Mr Attorcop. The dogs were barking and howling, strangers, they seemed to shout, there are people here and we do not know them. From the crowd, a tall woman with thick brown hair and broad shoulders emerged. Trotting alongside her was a large, feral looking dog with saliva dripping off its jowls and a hungry look in its eye. She approached the muddy hill and raised her right hand and flicked it as if she was batting away a mosquito by her face. In an instant, every single dog stopped barking. The sudden silence felt eerie. It was as if she had blown out a candle and plunged the village into darkness. The torches and fires around them however were still lit and their cracking and burbling was now the only source of sound. Lilian’s eyes widened as the woman approached. She had never seen such a tall and powerful lady. If she went to Benlunar, she would easily be the tallest woman there, perhaps even the tallest person full stop. Her eyes were bright green and she wore a bear hide around her chest, tightened with leather belts and straps. Her boots were leather as well and they looked sturdy and strong. When she got within ear shot she spoke. She had the same singing accent that Stephanie and Bardat shared, but her voice was sharper and more serious.
“Stephanie,” She began, her shout sounding almost like a bark. She then started to speak in a language that Lilian didn’t understand. Her expression and tone were severe. The tone was lyrical but she spat and cracked her words with a sharp tongue. Lilian was pleased that this woman’s anger was not directed at her. Stephanie seemed close to tears when her time finally came to reply. Her back hunched and her gaze dropped, she reminded Lilian of when she was getting a telling off by her Mother. Hang on… thought Lilian, could this be? They did share the same colour eyes, Lilian noticed. Just then, she heard Stephanie say a word that she recognised, Angsthund. She had said it in the forest earlier but Lilian had forgotten to ask what it meant. At the mention of the word all eyes turned to Fritha who was at that moment, crouched behind Lilian. When Lilian moved aside to show her off a wave of whispers spread through the crowd. The tall woman’s expression softened in understanding. She said a phrase that Lilian hoped was an apology and then spoke directly to Mr Attorcop.
“Thank you for coming here. I apologise if you were taken against your wishes. Please, would you follow me and we can talk. You are welcome to stay here tonight.” She spoke with ease and surety. As with every decision made on the trip so far, Lilian looked to Mr Attorcop for the final say. He nodded and began making his way into the bowl. Lilian followed him and kept close by as they made their way through the main street of Hundsberg.
As they walked, Lilian felt a hundred pairs of eyes on her and Fritha. Some folks nodded as they past, some turned to their neighbour to whisper excitedly. Most were smiling but Lilian picked out the occasional stony faced citizen who would turn away if Lilian met their gaze. Fritha stayed close by, ignoring the multitude of dogs that sniffed at her heels as she towered past them. The tall woman, who Lilian guessed must be the head of the community, led them to the big building at the end of the main road that she had seen from the mound. The building was large and built from interlocking tree trunks, meshed together with mud and animal skins. Two large wood sculptures flanked the entrance, they looked like dogs stood upright with clearly human hands. The one on the left held a ball and the one on the right held a spear. The doorway was covered by a thick curtain which pulled back to reveal a large circular room with a fire pit in the middle. The fire was down to embers so the room was very hot as they entered. Lilian was glad for the warmth. The Summer days were generally nice but the nights still got bitterly cold at times. The tall woman gestured to some fur clad seats by the fire and the group sat down. Fritha had been nervous about entering the building, but once she was inside she found a soft spot a little way away from them to curl up and sleep. The dogs belonging to Stephanie and the rest promptly did the same. Lilian wished she could join them, the heat of the room combined with her exhaustion from walking made sleep an attractive prospect.
“Bardat, please could you fetch our guests something to drink?” The tall woman sat as she spoke, her hand mindlessly went to her side where her dog quickly found it with its ears. She began to scratch them absent-mindedly as Bardat left the room, followed by Pippin.
“My name is Zinnia. I am looking after this community right now. This is Otto.” She gestured to her dog, “Again, I am sorry if we have disturbed your journey.” She directed the sentiment to both of them, but it was Mr Attorcop who spoke first.
“That’s quite alright. I understand that it’s not everyday that you see one of these creatures.” He gestured over to Fritha who was wearing a dark purple coat and snoring softly. “We’re happy for your community to see her but I’m afraid we cannot stay long.” Zinnia thought on this for a few seconds,
“It is not just that she is rare Mr..”
“Botham.” Mr Attorcop replied, Lilian was thankful for the reminder as she had forgotten what name she was supposed to be assuming.
“Mr Bottom.” Zinnia continued, “As you can see we work very closely with animals, this has been our way of life for many years. This creature to many people here is like a sign, a message from the fates or some kind of omen. Look.” She reached into the neck line of her hide shirt and pulled out a pendant hanging from a black leather chord. She leant forward so that Lilian could see it clearly. It was a hollowed-out circle of stone with the carving of a four legged animal in its centre. The stone was a beautiful shade of blue whose colour danced in the fire light, making it seem like it was changing. Lilian saw flashes of red and yellow and was instantly reminded of Fritha’s iridescent fur.
“We see maybe 1 or two of these every 100 years and every time we see one it has heralded great change to our way of lives. It is interesting that we meet you today, of all days.”
“Why?” Asked Lilian. Zinnia let out a long and weary sigh. For the first time, Lilian noticed the dark lines under her eyes.
“It started about a month ago. The village awoke from a peaceful night. One of the children, his name is Gerhart, screamed when he saw it and the village came running. He was playing round the back of this building, I was there as quickly as I could be. We’ve washed it off now but someone in the night had written a message on the wall.” She paused her story to look up at the entrance. The curtain drew back and Bardat came in holding a few cups. Zinnia waited for him to hand them out. Lilian took the clay cup happily. It was warm to the touch, the liquid inside was dark and smelled sweet. She wondered what it was and was about to ask when she realised that interrupting Zinnia’s story might be rude. Instead she waited for Bardat to take his leave and took a sip of the warm, thick drink. It was sweet and delicious, like warm milk and honey but thicker and dark. Once Mr Attorcop had drunk deeply from his own cup, he spoke,
“What did it say, this message?” Zinnia finished her drink in one or two quick gulps and set her cup down by Otto who quickly began to lick the inside of it.
“It was a warning, the words were not in our language but we could read them. It was telling us to leave, it was saying that bad things would happen if we stayed where we are.” Mr Attorcop interrupted.
“Can you remember the exact words?” Zinnia paused to think.
“Leave this place or stay and suffer. Take your dirty ways and filthy beasts and never return.” Saying the words seemed to cause Zinnia a degree of physical pain as she winced and spat them out, as if leaving them on her tongue might poison her.
“And I see you didn’t heed the warning.” Said Mr attorcop, Zinnia was taken aback.
“Of course not. We have lived here for generations, I can’t just upheave an entire town because someone wrote some words on a wall.” Lilian was listening intently and occasionally sipping her drink.
“Did anything else happen because you decided to stay?” She asked. Zinnia nodded.
“About a week later we were all woken up again by shouts from a house down the street. The roof had caught fire and was spreading quickly.”
“Could it have been an accident?” Asked Mr Attorcop. Zinnia shrugged.
“Maybe. But the next day there was more writing on the other side of town. Someone probably started the fire and then took advantage of us being distracted to write it. This time it was ‘Get out dog people.’ Very polite.” Zinnia snorted in derision, “Since then we’ve had a couple of other incidents but nothing too serious. My fear as that they will do something drastic soon. I don’t want to have to leave this place but if we don’t find out who’s responsible soon, we may not have a choice.” She looked down at Otto who was asleep, his legs occasionally jerking as if he might be chasing something in a dream. She smiled sweetly and Lilian could see love in her eyes. She loved her canine companion and she loved her community, that much Lilian was sure of, it was so plain to see it may as well have been written on the wall. No one spoke for some time, Stephanie placed a log on the fire and Lilian watched the embers spark as the log began to catch.
“Do you have any ideas about who it could be?” She asked, “Is there a Lord nearby that owns the forest? Or a neighboring town that wants to expand?” Stephanie sat back down next to Lilian and sighed, “No one owns this forest that we know of. The nearest town is a day’s walk towards the river. It’s a small place with mills built by the water to process grain. I went with Bardat to speak with them a couple of days after the first message and they didn’t know anything about it. There’s a chance they might be lying but we have no idea why they would want us to leave. There is a small Inn by the crossroads near where we met you, but they have a good business and don’t seem to care about us.” Lilian looked over at Mr Attorcop. She had expected him to be lost in thought and staring into the embers like Zinnia was, but instead she caught him staring intensely at Zinnia’s dog, Otto.
“When we were approaching the town from the woods.” He said finally, “We could hear a lot of barking and howling from your dogs.” Zinnia nodded,
“Yes. We train them to warn us when there are strangers nearby. They have a great sense of smell and it means we don’t have to post guards.
“And yet,” continued Mr Attorcop, “Someone was able to enter the town, write messages on the walls and leave without any dogs being alerted?” Stephanie nodded,
“That’s the strange thing. The dogs have never noticed. Not once.” Mr Attorcop considered this. Zinnia interjected,
“My theory is that they mask their scent somehow. Maybe coat themselves in mud or animal fat or something like this.” Lilian considered the possibility. It certainly would take a lot of planning and experimenting to fool a town full of dogs. And then she realised something. Perhaps it was her outsiders perspective, her distance from the problem that let her see the bigger picture. She sat up straight as soon as it the idea came into her head. She looked at Mr Attorcop immediately and he seemed to have had a similar realisation.
“What is it?” asked Zinnia. Mr Attorcop gestured to Lilian for her to speak. Lilian was nervous but the more she thought about it, the more obvious it seemed.
“Well… you said that the dogs bark when they sense unknown people. What if, whoever wrote the words… what if they weren’t strangers? What if the dogs knew them?”