"This is the area Lemon was supposed to be foraging in oso," the village scout said as she hovered near Peachy.

Delziel was largely ignored by the berrykin. He wasn't surprised by that. Peachy had more clout among his kind. Delziel's presence was tolerated, and that was as polite as they were going to be toward a half-demon like him. Even if he was one of the people who saved the world, they didn't take kindly toward outsiders.

Unfortunately, tracking a berrykin was going to be nearly impossible for Delziel. They flew, so there wouldn't be any tracks in the area. Berrykin at least could sense each other, but that only worked if the person was still alive. Lemon had only been missing for a day or so, but given the other disappearances, it wasn't likely she was alive.

The scout continued to give Peachy an overview of where they'd searched, but Delziel didn't recognize the names for the landmarks they were referencing. Finally, Peachy bobbed his pompoms. "Got it oso. Go back to the village oso. We'll take it from here oso."

Giving Delziel a doubtful look, the scout nodded to Peachy and flew off with a rapid buzz of her wings.

"Didn't sound like they've found anything useful in the time they looked," Delziel said.

"Not much, except a pile of bones and a very obvious trail oso. Both of which are nearby oso."

"Alright, lead the way," Delziel said and mounted his gant. The riding beast lifted its tusked head out of the foliage it was rooting through and turned to follow Peachy as the berrykin flew off.

It was already nearly noon. They'd gotten a later start out to the berrykin village than Delziel had wanted. Mostly because the supply caravan they were going to travel partway with had taken forever to get moving. Then Delziel had been obligated to speak to the National Guard captain at the outpost there before moving on to the next one closer to their destination. Then he'd been in a briefing with the second National Guard captain, who told him nearly everything Ritzel had said. Finally, they'd gone out to the berrykin village where Peachy got to do most of the talking.

Leading the way through the trees, they entered a small clearing. "This is where the strange tracks start oso," Peachy explained, pointing to the left.

Delziel turned to look and blinked in surprise.

Dismounting, he left the gant to stand where he dropped the tether and inspected the ground.

The leaves were kicked up and scuffed. Whatever had come through had undoubtedly made a lot of noise. "Where's the pile of bones?"

"A hundred yards that way oso," Peachy pointed north. "According to the scout, the tracks don't go anywhere near the bones oso. They veer away oso."

Delziel returned to the gant and they headed to go look at the bones. The gant refused to go near the area, forcing him to dismount and tie it in the clearing again before following Peachy once more.

The pile... was steaming still. Slowly melting from some kind of acid, it seemed. Delziel tried to shake off the tingling feeling making him feel uneasy. Something in his instincts said the attacker wasn't a creature naturally found in the woods. Focusing on his task, Delziel began pushing the underbrush around. "Satchel," he said, and picked up the woven bag. "Do berrykin carry this?"

"For foraging oso? Yes oso." Peachy came over to inspect, going so far as to sniff it hard. "It smells like Lemon oso." His pompoms drooped as he looked toward the remains.

"Whatever killed her isn't native to this area," Delziel said.

"No oso. I've never seen or heard of anything that melted people oso."

Braving the stench, Delziel left Peachy with the bag and crouched next to the pile, using a stick to poke through it in search of anything that could give him a clue. There was no blood splatter around, but it had also rained torrentially last night. The remains had spread a bit, but that hit Delziel as curious. "I'm not seeing any skin. That wouldn't have rotted or dissolved any faster than the rest of this."

Peachy flinched, floating into view. "You mean something might have stolen her skin oso?"

"Looks like it."

Delziel stood and tossed the stick aside. "Let's follow that trail."

Returning to the gant, Delziel mounted and started through the forest. Whatever had made the trail had been terrible at moving through the woods. There were far easier paths not far away, but the disturbed foliage and underbrush told Delziel they were dealing with someone who did not belong in the woods. The tracks made a bend south, not too long after entering the woods, as if whoever had made them had been present for Lemon's death and wanted nothing to do with it. Then they continued to thrash through the brush until they got to a game trail.

Delziel, again, was having a hard time with the gant. It didn't want to follow the trail anymore, though it had been fine with it at first.

Dismounting, he crouched to look at what he thought was a footprint.

"See anything oso?"

"No. The rain destroyed any footprints." He straightened and looked around.

"The forest is uneasy oso," Peachy said, fluttering nearby.

Delziel climbed back on his gant and urged it to continue forward. Whatever had killed Lemon was not the same thing as what had made the trail, he suspected. But they were together now.

Peachy flew ahead, his scent seemed to make the gant less frightened of continuing.

"There's an oshu ahead oso."

Delziel dismounted, tied off his gant, and continued on foot, drawing his sword. "Is it alive?"

"Yes oso. Very strange oso." Peachy hung back, letting Delziel continue forward to deal with the threat.

Oshu didn't like to move much. They were part plant, so they would put down roots next to game trails and capture unsuspecting animals that came through with their tentacles. Once they caught prey, they would string them up in the trees, eat what they wanted, then leave the creature to die of its wounds. Given the evidence of inexperience in the forest, Delziel was fully expecting to find that their trail ended here.

As he approached, the oshu's tentacles whipped out to grab his ankles.

Dodging, Delziel snipped each one with his sword, then drove in for the kill when the monster raised its head out of the underbrush. It wasn't a match for Delziel's speed and strength. He couldn't even consider it a challenge.

However... that it had attacked at all meant two things.

First: it hadn't fed enough to go back into torpor.

Second: it hadn't been wounded sufficiently to want to avoid further conflict.

Peachy approached, pulling the gant along with him. "What a mess oso."

Delziel looked around. He'd been so focused on dispatching the monster that he'd not noticed, but it did look like the oshu had caught something and dragged it from the trail.

"Looks like they put up a fight oso," Peachy noted, floating down to point at a stick that had the remains of a dark shroom on it.

That explained how they'd gotten away unscathed. "Lucky them. But why didn't whatever killed Lemon kill the oshu?" A shiny strand caught Delziel's eye. He crouched, picking up the long, dark strand of hair from the ground. Not knowing what to make of it, Delziel held it out to Peachy.

Flying closer, Peachy traded for the gant reins and took a sniff. He gave Delziel an odd look before shaking his head. Stuffing the hair into his pouch, he said, "The trail continues that way oso," Peachy pointed. "It smells like a human oso."

Delziel turned to look where Peachy had pointed. Sure enough, the trail continued. This time, it was even more frantic. The underbrush was crushed and broken, as if whoever had made it was fleeing in panic. Understandable, given that they barely survived an oshu.