Gevaudan

Chapter 1: Holy Vladmir of the Lost Templar Knights

"History has it's truth.... and legend hers."
      -Victor Hugo, 1871

It was all quiet in the tavern of Brooks Fang. This out of context would seem quite strange seeing as how the bar was usually so vibrant, even throughout the tragedies that had been plaguing Gevaudan. People would come from all walks of life to do everything from have fun with their friends to drinking their pasts away. Yes, Brooks Fang was one of those special places in the world where you could forget about life for a while. Sure the air had a certain odor to it, and perhaps the chairs were not all stable, but to many people, it was a second home. Even when all of the hunters arrived, the people would still drink and laugh. A merry place, that was Brooks Fang. So to hear the tavern quiet was..... unsettling. But since I sat there, I can tell you why the tone had shifted so.

      At the entrance to the tavern, stood a man. A man clad in armor from a time almost forgotten. In fact only one group would wear such armor, and the emblem upon his shield and shoulder solidified that statement. A remnant of a time lost, a Templar Knight.

  I had never seen a Templar before, but now looking before him, I could feel the power of such a man. However my captivation was quickly replaced by intrigue. Why would a man of such honor be here of all places? Perhaps they were chasing a runaway criminal? The knight slowly walked over to a table. While the Order was far older than anyone alive today, the knight in question was fairly young, perhaps in his 20's.

    After a few minutes the silence had began to fade and the constant buzz of chatter could soon be heard in the background. I, who was working there at the time, was ordered to ask if he wanted anything. So, wanting to keep my job, I begrudgingly walked over to the ironclad man.

   With typical brown hair and tanned light skin, he held a certain air about him. As if despite his age, he had seen hundreds of battles. As I prepared to take his order, two men and a woman walked in and seated themselves at his table.

The woman was dressed similar to the knight, save for instead of a sword sheathed at her back, there was a bow. One of the men had long wavy hair and was dressed in leather armor instead of steel. He had a lute strapped to his chest, a bard of some sort. The other wore chain mail, making it clear that he was a squire.

I gathered myself as quickly as I could and prepared myself when the original knight looked to me.

"We've come for information," he said in a neutral tone.

The man wearing the leather suddenly shifted in his seat. "Oh come on, why don't we have a meal, we haven't eaten actual food in weeks!" The squire seemed a bit startled at the bard's lack of manners but it seemed that he had gotten used to it at this point. The woman only nodded while she gazed at the menu.

The knight stayed silent for a time until finally giving in with a sigh.

"Fine then," he said with a hint of annoyance. "I would like some pork then," he mumbled as he handed me his menu.

The lady knight nodded and handed her menu, and soon the squire handed his after the request of chicken.

"And I will take the most delicious fish you can make," the bard said as he flashed a smile.

All I could say was that I'd do my best.

......

A few minutes later, possibly about 20, I was back with their requests. As I prepared to walk back I was stopped by the knight once more.

"Now, about that information."

I sat with them while all was quiet. After a few moments the knight spoke again. "I would like to hear everything you know about this so called, 'Beast of Gevaudan'."

So that's what this was about. The truth is I knew about as much as anyone did. It started around almost a year ago, when a woman went missing and turned up dead and eaten through the center. Most people agreed that it was just the occasional wolf that probably got to hungry, and thought nothing else of it. Then there was another incident. And another. And another. The people finally realized that this was no mere wolf. Some believed a werewolf had arrived in Gevaudan. This was disproved quickly by experts, claiming that werewolves just ate like animals, while whatever was causing this had one key difference. Unless there was a hunting party going after the creature, it only ever killed women and children. And on top of that, it only ate killed women who were either reportedly pregnant, or looked as if they were. To put it simply, this beast had a taste for children. After a while there began to be actual sightings, and I'm sure most are hoaxes, but I know for sure the first sighting wasn't. The young lady had to much fear in her. Described as being a wolf-like creature larger than a horse and thicker than a bull, with gleaming teeth, white eyes, and bronze fur. It was also rumored to be resistant to bullets. That was all I knew, so that is what I told them. These people were here to kill that thing, and why would I not want them to. After all,

It ate my daughter.

Chapter 1: End