The Crimson Cape

Interlude

Hunters were regular customers at the Fixed Apple Tavern. They would often stop at the tavern after a hunt for a tankard of mead or beer and perhaps a bite to eat. There, they would share stories from their hunt and their adventures outside of the village. Most villagers never set foot outside of the village, so any stories they hear from outside are well appreciated. Of course, the hunters were known to exaggerate their stories. Some patrons enjoyed the stories and believed them to be true, but others enjoyed the stories but knew that they were more than likely a farse.

Phoenix was a girl who believed whatever she heard. After all, she could not explore anything for herself, since she was not allowed to leave the village or go anywhere without Tobias and Esmerelda knowing. When Phoenix was young, she did not know to not trust everything she heard, so she was inclined to believe whatever she heard was true.

About a year ago, Phoenix was sitting in the tavern having a mug of warm apple cider and she overheard one of the oldest hunters sharing a story from a recent hunt. The man was known in the village for spreading rumors and telling untruthful stories. However, recently he had gone with a hunting party to find more food and to map out new areas of the forest. The villager knew that something had happened on the hunt, but no one was sure what had happened, because all of the hunters were injured and one was killed. However, the old man survived and returned unharmed, which some villagers found suspicious.

Despite being notoriously unreliable and untruthful, the people of Hollowdale only had this man's story to find out for themselves what had happened. So, a lot of people crowded into the Fixed Apple Tavern to hear what had happened on the hunting party, or at least the old man's version of what had happened.

The man began the story by telling them what they had a successful hunt that day. They had not trekked an hour's journey into the forest when they found a drove of hares. Hare meat was not a favorite delicacy among the villagers, but the meat was rich in protein and other nutrients. This meat was often cooked, seasoned, and dried into a jerky that hunters would take on their hunts and that the villagers would eat as snacks. The drove was made up of ten hares and the hunters successfully killed six of them. They took the carcasses, wrapped them in paper, and stuffed them into a cloth sack to take them back home.

After killing and packing the rabbits, the hunting party trekked on. They did not know what they would find, but if they could put food on their tables it would be a good day. So far, six families could be fed with the meat from the rabbits. However, the hunters were responsible for making sure that the people of Hollowdale had food to eat. If the hunt was unsuccessful, there would be people in Hollowdale who would not get to eat.

They continued on their trek through a rather unforgiving region of the forest. In this area of the woods, the terrain was rough and there were thick and large tree roots sticking out of the ground. Instead of being able to walk, the hunters had to nearly crawl over the giant roots protruding out of the ground. The hunters noticed a lot of insect and plant life on the roots they were climbing over. One of the hunters opened his sack and filled it with some of the mushrooms he found growing out of the root of a decaying tree. Mushrooms were often used in soups and other dishes that are cooked in the village.

Eventually, the hunting party made it over the tree roots and into a clearing on the other side where the ground was flatter. Thankfully, they could return to their normal stride, but they also knew that to get home, they would have to climb over those tree roots again to get back home. Their only alternative was to go around that patch, which would add another day to their journey. A large brown deer was spotted in the clearing, so they decided to follow the deer to kill it. If they can kill the deer, they would be able to feed half the village with the deer meat.

The hunters took cover behind trees only a dozen yards from the deer. The deer did not know that it was being watched by hunters. Soon, it began to turn around and walk into the woods. The hunters followed the deer deeper into the forest. They continued to mark their way as they ventured further into the forest, still following the deer. They soon came upon a series of rocky hills, and the deer began to climb the hills and soon disappeared over them. The hunters began to follow the deer over the hills when they were stopped by the sound of a commotion coming from the other side of the hill.

The hunters quickly climbed the rest of the hill and peered down the other side. They saw the deer they were following lying dead on the ground surrounded by three wolves eating its carcass away. Shocked, the old man turned his head and gazed straight into the eyes of the alpha.

The alpha was a calm and serene creature, calmly perching on a rock. Its coat was pearly white and its yellow eyes glowed underneath its almost bleached fur. The old man alerted the others, who looked at the wolf in horror. One of the hunters boldly raised his crossbow and aimed it at the albino wolf. Despite receiving a threat from one of the hunters, the wolf remained calm and merely sat on the rock and glared at the hunting party. It was as if it were trying to communicate with the hunters to say "this does not concern you, turn around and leave."

The hunters slowly began to back down the hill and began their trek home. According to the old man, the albino wolf seemed to follow them home and at one point even attacked them. That explains why the other hunters are not around to share the story. The old man regretfully admitted to hiding in the bushes when the wolf attacked, which is why he was not harmed.

Some people were not sure what parts of his story were true and what part of his story was false. Since this was a unique situation, a lot of people paid no attention to the man's bad track record, so they took what he said as fact. However, none of the other hunters were able to give any account for themselves, so this man's story is all the people had. Phoenix, unafraid of wolves, shook this off as just a spooky story. However, after the wolf attacked her, Phoenix began to think that this wolf was not only real, but could attack the village any day.