It took a lot longer than the coachman had told them to reach the outskirts of Runrick, but even then they had yet to come to the end of their trek. As far as Luric could remember, the only halfway decent inn around was near the market square, at the center of town.

They made their way through the dark, empty streets, barely any light streaming through the tightly-closed wooden shutters of the candle-lit houses. Every so often a guard dog would start barking at them from behind a fence, but otherwise the town was deathly quiet.

As they approached the center, the houses grew a little bigger and were more densely-packed, most of them made of stone or clay bricks instead of cob. This is where the good folk lived. And would you look at that, some of them even had lanterns hanging from their frontage now. Luric was impressed. Ten years ago, any sort glass oil lamp would’ve been considered a modern commodity and only a few households could afford them. Paraffin, together with many other far more essential things, was hard to come by in these parts. It seemed, though, that Runrick wasn’t ready for cobblestone yet. Perhaps it was for the best, since shit tended to stand out less on muddy streets. Live stock was still free to roam wherever its owner pleased, apparently. Most towns these days forbade animal trade inside its bounds, precisely because of the mess it left behind, but obviously that memo had yet to reach Runrick.

Luric looked around. Nothing he’d seen up until now had awoken any distinct memories. There was only so much he could make out in the dim light, but he still expected to recognize at least a few street corners, or a broken-down shop front, a run-down alley. It was almost a little disappointing. He’d thought the sight of this old home town would’ve stirred his mind, and heart, a little more. Perhaps he had misjudged the impact this place had left on him. And that worried him a little.

To Luric, this excursion was all about personal gratification, and that depended solely on the importance this town and its people still had to him. He had tried to put his childhood behind him only out of sheer defiance, and to help mold himself into a better, stronger person, but he had always made sure that somewhere in the depths of his soul a wound remained open just enough to help him remember this place and what it did to him. If that wound had closed over, then there was no pain to feed the bitterness he needed for that gratification. And coming here had been a mistake.

It wasn’t until they reached the main street leading up to the market square that he started to feel a vague sense of familiarity, but nothing beyond that. He spotted a large stone house with glass windows from where the inviting glow of the fireplace beckoned. It looked presentable enough to be an inn, so he made a beeline for it, Nelle in tow. But instead of entering immediately, he paused in front of the window to peer inside between the iron grills. The dining hall was empty, save for a lone woman sitting behind a wooden counter. She seemed to be struggling to stay awake, her head constantly dipping forward as her eyes fell shut before jerking back up. He tried to get a good look of her face to see if he could recognize her.

And he did.

Recollection hit him with such force that it left him momentarily stunned, and when the shock subsided he felt an unexpected surge of emotions wash over him.

She was older, fatter, but he recognized her. She had been there that day. This woman hadn’t been someone close to him in the past, had only seen her in passing as a child, and he couldn’t even remember her name, but he was certain he had seen her face in the crowd he still had nightmares about. She might have even been there in the one he had on the train earlier. And that was all that mattered. 

Guess the wound is still very much open, he thought, relieved.

He moved away from the window, started to formulate a plan on how he wanted go about this. Beside him, he felt Nelle shift, probably wondering why they hadn’t gone inside yet. Maybe he could use her.

“Would you mind being the one to talk to the innkeepers?”

Nelle frowned up at him and opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it in resignation.

It was obvious that this didn’t make any sense to her. Why should she be the one to talk to the locals when he was the one who had lived here in the past? It seemed, though, that his gentlemanly deed from earlier had paid off; without asking any questions, she went for the front door and opened it. Luric was right behind her but pulled the hood over his head before stepping inside. He didn’t think the woman would recognize him immediately, but he wanted to make sure she didn’t alert anyone of his presence before he wanted her to. When Nelle saw this, her frown deepened, even looked a bit exasperated with him. It hadn’t rained yet, he hadn’t used the hood at all while they had been out in the cold, why on earth would he pull it up now, indoors? – was written all over her face. To her credit, she still didn’t ask any question. Just sighed and turned around to walk towards the woman.

Said woman was now fully awake and alert. She looked at them in disbelief, hands sliding slowly behind the counter. He wondered if she had a rifle there. Runrick was so remote even the innkeepers were confused when they actually had customers, he thought bemusedly. Though he supposed two strangers clad in black, appearing in the dead of a stormy night on your doorstep, would put anyone on edge. She did look a little scared. Good.

“Um…,” was all the woman could muster.

Nelle didn’t wait for her to get her bearings.

“Good evening, madam. We are from the Institute of Occult Science and Affairs, and we have been sent here to aid you in your plight.”

“In my….” The woman was obviously still having difficulties.

Undeterred, Nelle went on. “Your town executives have sent a message to us about a shadow critter causing havoc in your community?”

A beat.

“Oh - OH!” Apparently, it had finally hit home. “You’re the - you’re here to- OH, THANK GOODNESS!”

The woman brought her hands to her chest as she heaved in relief. She was still a little shaken and tears were now welling up in her eyes. “We thought it got lost on the way. Or that…m-my husband said, city folks don’t bother with people like us.”

And they normally don’t, thought Luric. The woman was now throwing worried glances in his direction. He had kept his distance and stood silently near the doorway, hood half-covering his face. He must’ve cut a frightening image. Nelle interjected, trying to keep the woman’s attention on her.

“We apologize for taking so long. The Institute will offer compensation to anyone who has lost livestock during the time it took for us to answer your call.”

The woman looked at her oddly, as if unsure on how to answer that. She then mumbled something in a small, broken voice that even Nelle had trouble hearing.

“I beg your pardon, madam, could you please repeat that?”

“P-people, m’lady,” she stuttered. “It stopped commin’ after cows and sheep weeks ago. It kills people now,” she finished with a sob, and the tears were now freely running down her face. Luric raised his head in surprise. Nelle, on the other hand, had gone rigid.

“Mother’s love, we keep hearing ‘bout someone disappearing every couple o’ days now. We even tried - when we saw that no one was coming, we tried to kill it ourselves, a-and it-it - OH, those poor boys!” She had completely broken down now, palms frantically wiping away at her face.

We’re dealing with a man-eater? Well, he had encountered monsters like that plenty of times before, so he wasn’t all too worried. He looked over at Nelle. Her back was ramrod straight, her entire frame completely still and silently watching the crying woman in front of her. It was probably fair to assume that she was quite a bit worried. The initial message had been about a black-furred pest with bright red eyes, lurking at the outskirts of Runrick, and stealing their animals. The people at the Institute had concluded that it was a shadow critter that had outgrown squirrels and rabbits, and was now looking for larger, easy prey. Sheep and the occasional bovine, nothing more. But shadow critters never went after people. Whatever this was, it hunted humans, and that changed the parameters of their mission. Something else she hadn’t come prepared for, judging from her reaction on the road earlier.

“Please stop crying, madam. We will take care of it.” Nelle’s voice was steady. Luric was impressed. She had pulled herself together far faster than he had expected. Well, to be fair, she knew it wasn’t her that had to fight the damn thing anyway. She was only here to observe him.

The woman had settled down somewhat and started pacing back and forth, as if she couldn’t decide which way to go. “I have to run to tell’em. Oh, but I don’t wanna go out into the night alone. But they have to know.”

“We will inform the town council of our arrival first thing in the morning, madam.”

“But they’re havin’ a meetin’ right now. At the prayhouse. “

Luric perked up at that.

“It got another today,” she explained. “Bramber. Oh, that kind, sweet boy.”

He paused at that name. Bramber. Bramber….Bramby?! Suddenly, the image of a short, stout, blond haired boy sneering at him popped up in his mind. He remembered him, only he had been neither kind nor sweet. Bramby had been one of the meaner kids at his school. They hadn’t been friends or even gotten along. Younger and smaller than others, Bramby had liked following the bigger kids around; being with them made him feel more important, higher up on the food chain of the school yard. And if those kids liked to pick on Luric, then so did Bramby. Still, Luric was a little sorry that he died.

He sure would’ve liked that little kiss ass to see him now. Would you have started following me around this time? He huffed, amused, to himself.

The sound had caught the woman and Nelle’s attention. Nelle looked at him disapprovingly. If only she knew how little he cared about propriety right now. Ignoring her, he addressed the woman with a calm, even voice. “Leave it to me then, madam. I’ll go now to let them know we’re here.”

She looked at him with a mixture of gratefulness and uncertainty.

“Would you, m’lord? Thank you!“ She was leaning in a little, trying to see his face under the hood.

He let her. “It’s my pleasure.”

Luric turned to Nelle, who had gone from disapproval back to confusion.

“I assume you can handle it from here?” he said while dropping their luggage unceremoniously on the floor. As he turned to open the door he heard the woman say hurriedly.

“Wait, m’lord! I haven’ told ya where our prayhouse is.”

He paused. He turned back to her, pulled back his hood so she could see his face fully, and smiled at her.

“Don’t worry, madam, I still know where it is.”

She blinked. She didn’t understand. She didn’t recognize him. But as he was closing the door behind him, he saw her face twist into something like realization. Pleased with himself, he stepped into the night.