Tales of The Cortarians

1

I often take walks through the woods to clear my head. Something about the smell of the plants or a rustling of the leaves on the trees fills me with a sense of calm. I never go looking for anything in particular but will occasionally find the odd interesting looking stick or a cluster of mushrooms that catch my eye, but never find anything of deep intrigue. There is a village not too far from here too, which is where I live. Folks here would probably be considered your typical British countryside villagers. We have a shop and a pub to provide the basic necessities for surviving in a place like this, and if you stay here long enough, you become one of the local eccentrics. The old people that walk with a hunch and tell local folktales while sat next to you at the bus stop without you even having to ask for them.

It was during one of these encounters that I first heard of "them". The little creatures that occupy the woodland just outside the village. An old man that looked like some sort of wizard caught me on one of my walks. His long white beard and hair that refused to grow on the top of his head, signature eccentric hunch and tattered clothes, and glasses with one lens cracked and the other completely missing seemingly unbeknownst to the man. He was walking his scruffy Cairn Terrier that came sniffing around my ankle's when the man said in a raspy voice "One of the best Cortarian hunters in the village he is!". "Cortarian?" I asked inquisitively but not in the slightest bit serious. "Yes my boy! You know about those pesky creatures don't you?" he replied back. "Of course Sir, but I thought they were just an old wives tale or something. The sort of thing you tell your kids to get them to go to sleep.". He looked at me as if I had just said the most ridiculous and maybe slightly offensive thing ever. "No son! Had them been stealin' from me for years!", "Terrance here hunts them down and tries to put a stop to the thieving little bastards!". I was shocked by his assertiveness of these allegations and the ideas that they do in fact exist.  "What do they steal then?" I ask out of growing curiosity. "Anythin' they can get their hands on! They go through me bins, me shed and even get into the house through the letterbox or open windows at a chance! They've been round here ever since I was a lad.". I knew from seeing him around where he lived and he was a bit of a hoarder, windows completely blocked with piles of crap he had collected over the years. God knows how he can tell if things go missing and I doubt there is anything worth taking in his house anyway. "They'll get you too son if yer not careful! Look more carefully and you see em!". 

Leaving the man behind, the thought of The Cortarians didn't leave my mind. We hadn't had anything go missing from our house, so what were they taking that was so valuable to that old man? 

I'm going to find out more and document what I find in this book. Do they really exist? Are they as bad as he says they are? 

Come along with me on this journey!