The Witch in the Woods

One – Meet the inhabitants

This is the day that I kill that witch. I really need to do this assignment to avenge my cubs by taking out this murderous witch. The humans’ ambitions have been getting out of control for a while now; they’ve broken several treaties with the inhabitants over the years that allowed for us to have relative peace. We had an agreed upon commons that allowed for some movement through the forest, but the problems really started when we discovered things on our land that could be beneficial for the humans.

What’s bad is that it’s not just a few trees or some damming a stream here and there, some of their practices are threatening to wipe out whole species. I’ve heard that there are some forests where the inhabitants don’t even negotiate with the humans anymore. But the colonization always starts the same way, the humans come into the forest, the inhabitants feel sorry for them, since they don’t have any claws, magic, shells, fangs or fur, so we help them out. Eventually they turn on us and start wiping us out. But the real tragedy is how many of the inhabitants want to sell out to the humans.

Even though they are inhabitants, the witches are the worse, I think it’s because they look so much alike, or because they share a bloodline but they seem to have a weird affinity for humans and ultimately like living around them even though humans don’t seem to like them back. The dwarves and fairies seem to have an uneasy alliance with the humans. They don’t really like to work with the humans, but they can see some benefit of using humans as trading partners. The bears are a mixed bag when it comes to the humans, some can’t stand humans and avoid them, but others try to mimic them. There was one family of bears that even built a bloody house and tried to live like them. I don’t know how many inhabitants they turned over to the humans only to have humans later vandalized their home; of course, the humans deny all knowledge of the act. They claim that the raid was caused by one small human child that lost her way and was looking for shelter. Then there are the rest of the inhabitants, we normally would just keep our distance from humans, but now they’re moving in too far and we must push back.

I draw a deep breath from the air to gather the scent of the sentry, I estimate him to be about 4 miles away now, he won’t be back for four hours, maybe a little longer since I heard that his horse is laboring. He’s going to have to water him before he completes the remainder of his circuit. That means that the witch is unguarded for a while.

It was strange when the humans decided to build a small cottage for the witch in a common area. It’s not convenient to any fruit trees or herb patches, as a matter of fact it’s extremely isolated by inhabitant standards and by human standards. After she arrived, we started noticing that cubs and kittens started missing. The inhabitants were about tear the witch apart on that alone, then the barn owls, who gather intel by going between the humans and the inhabitants, told everyone that this was not just any cottage, it’s an outpost put here by the humans to keep the witch away from the village and create a pretense for humans to visit. The barn owls said that the humans have bigger plans than simply exiling the witch, but they need more time to collect information. Instead of waiting, we devised a plan kill the witch and destroy the cottage and make it look like an accident. It has to look like an accident, if it looks like an attack the remaining witches may use that as an excuse to align with the humans.

Humans are physically helpless, however they are organized and they’re good at making weapons, but their most powerful advantage is that they are barbaric. They have no morals, no limits, no boundaries, no internal regulator, they literally kill for sport. It’s that ends-justifies-the-means mentality that makes them so scary, nothing is sacred to them.

Consequently, a few of us inhabitants got together and decided that we need to undermine their plans and to do that, it is my job to make the witch disappear. The foxes gave me three spells, a cloaking spell, a sleeping spell and a shrinking spell. The plan is to use the cloaking spell to disguise myself as a random human traveler to fool the witch, then use the shrinking spell to make the witch easy to swallow whole and finally, use the sleeping spell to be merciful as the witch is digested. Once the witch has been swallowed, I will burn the house down so that it looks like her hearth got out of control.

Losing the witch will set the humans back for a while, she appears to be a key element of their plans. According to more rumors, this witch had a special tie to the humans. She married one years back and her grown children are now living in the village without her, there’s definitely a backstory that we don’t know. She sleeps with a human, makes a family with him and the children grow up and live with the humans and only visit her a few times per year. But that’s what she signed up for so I can’t feel sorry for her. She lives out here alone while the humans stay in their village probably telling weird stories about her, probably saying that she eats children and gives girls poison apples. Witches have no pride at all when it comes to humans.

I have to be efficient in my moves, although I have four hours, I don’t want to waste time or leave evidence or hurt anyone unnecessarily, like the sentry. But from the smell and sound of things, I have another problem. I can hear a voice singing, it sounds like a human child, and from the smell of it, she’s got human food. She sounds like she’s about a mile away, I need to go meet her and see if I can send her on her way. I don’t need any witnesses to this, especially not a child, this is no place for little ones.

Two – A complication

I can see her, she’s a little girl but I can never tell exactly how old human are, they mature in such a strange way. She’s small, so I’m going to guess that she’s between 3 and 10 years old. If I stood on my hind legs I would be twice her height, I’ll lower my ears and swing my tail so that I look a little more like one of the humans domestic dogs so that I don’t intimidate her. She’s carrying a basket, and I can’t tell what’s in it. I can smell the sage and a few herbs along with some kind of mold. Maybe this is what humans eat, but some of it actually smells toxic. She’s also wearing a red cloak. Humans can be so stupid; they actually believe that we can’t see the color red. Somehow, they think wrapping a child in the color red stops us from seeing them or attacking them. This says more about humans than it does inhabitants; what kind of monster attacks a child of any species? Maybe I’ll just see what she’s up to, maybe I can convince to turn back or maybe distract her and send her into another direction.

As I approach the child she initially jumps in surprise, I keep forgetting, humans can barely hear or smell unless something is right in front of them.

“Hello young lady, you’re out in the woods for a little picnic?”, I used my most gentle tone as I smiled at her.

“No, not a picnic. I’m going to see my grandma. She’s sick and lives in a common area by herself so mama gave me a basket of jams, cheeses and herbs so that she can feel better. I love my grandma, but I don’t get to see her very often.”, the little girl beamed.

“Well, that’s very sweet of you. I loved spending time with my grandmother when I was little cub. She used to let me and all of the other wolf cubs chase her tail. Then she would take us down to the stream for refreshments.”, I sat down to meet her at eye level, “So tell me more about your grandma.”

“Well, I don’t know where she’s from, but when my grandpa died, her and several of the villagers thought that it was best that she go to live in the woods so that she could mourn properly. They even built her a little house. They told her just to stay out here where she would be safe.”, she said, “Mama says that I shouldn’t talk about Grandma or Grandpa in the village, because it makes people upset. But so long as Grandma stays out here to mourn, we can come visit every now and then.”

“Oh, you sound like a really nice Granddaughter. Your Grandmother is lucky to have you especially when she’s sick. What’s the matter with her?”, I probed for more information to see if there is anything useful here.

“I don’t know. The towns people said that Grandma needed these goods, to nurse herself back to health. When she gets well, they want to build a road and maybe we all move out to live closer to her.”, she said with a hopeful smile on her face.

That’s new information, they want to build a road and move out here? The humans are planning on expanding their village. They’re going to wipe out hundreds of hutches, dens, hollowed trees, nest and dams. At that rate, they’re even going to wipe out some of the dwarves, their supposed trading partners! That’s literally thousands of inhabitants, maybe tens of thousands, all wiped out by the humans with the help of one witch. These people are insane, they’re more than insane, they’re utterly blood thirsty.

So, I compose myself as I come up with a plan, “You haven’t seen your grandma in a while and she’s not feeling well. Wouldn’t it be nice to show up to her house with some wildflowers? That would really brighten up her home while she recovered.”

“That’s an incredible idea!”, she chirped, “I just passed a patch of lavender and sunflowers on a hill. Let’s bundle some!”

As she gathered the flowers, I inspected the basket. There was nothing in the basket that I recognized as edible to humans or witches, but to be fair, I didn’t expect it to be. My understanding of magic is very rudimentary, but this looks like the ingredients to make a potion of some kind. I wish that the foxes or elves where here to tell me more. In desperation I removed some of the sage and replaced it with some lamb’s ears and threw in some with mint for good measure.

The child returned with an impressive bundle of flowers, “Do you think that Grandma will like this?”

“Oh, child, those are lovely, she will love it!”, I said to her, “I have something that I think that she will like. Have you ever heard of rose water? It smells lovely. Here, breath in deeply.”

I waved the sleeping potion under her nose and the child immediately fell into a gentle sleep. According to the fox, she will sleep for about an hour. By then I will have disappeared the witch and she will safely return home.

Three – Hello Grandmother

While she was sleeping, I performed the cloaking spell. I only need to remember what she looks like for the spell to hold. I have to remember to stay focused on her, if I start focusing on anyone else, I will distort my look. I moved the child under a shade tree to protect her from the sun, my understanding is that humans burn if they’re exposed too long. For the life of me I will never understand how this species doesn’t just die off, they really aren’t equipped for anything.

I still have three hours before the sentry returns to the cottage, that should be enough time for me to disappear the witch and set the fire. It should only take me a few minutes to make it to the witch if I run full speed. I’ll carry the basket with me as to not trigger any suspensions.

When I get to the witch’s door I knock to summon the resident. For the most part witches look like humans, but I suspect that there are differences that only they can see. It seems that even humans often mistake other humans for witches, but they use the term in a derogatory way. Apparently, a witch looks like an ugly human (according to them), I think that it has something to do with the lack of symmetry in their faces. Symmetry seems important to humans.

As the witch opens the door and sees me, she doesn’t respond to me tender way that I would expect someone to respond to their grandchild. She’s gruff but I think that she is fooled by my cloaking spell, “Took you long enough. Go sit the supplies next to the hearth. I’ve got to get my equipment ready.” The witch turned her back to me as she started laying out her equipment and reviewing her spell casting notes. As I sat the child’s basket down by the hearth, I said, “It’s so good to see you Grandmother. It’s been so long since our last visit.”

At that moment, the witch stood ramrod straight, “Did you just call me ‘Grandmother’? Why so formal? What’s wrong with you?”

Okay, something’s not right, “I’m just making small talk and I haven’t seen you in such a long time. I just need a moment to relax.” I immediately get an impulse to move back just in time to miss getting sliced by an eight-inch carving knife, “Don’t you know that your cloaking spell doesn’t hide your wolf stink? My Granddaughter has a human scent, and she certainly doesn’t call me ‘Grandmother’!”, I sidestep her as she lunges forward to spear me with the knife and as the knife drives past me, I clamp my jaws down on her wrist and crush it until she drops the knife, and her hand goes limp.

Like I said, witches look like humans, but make no mistake they are not humans, maybe some weird familial offshoot at best. When a witch screams it sounds like four totally different species of animals screaming in concert with one another. Witches have been known to use this scream to frighten away intruders, if one isn’t expecting it, the screams can overwhelm you with fear and cause you to flee; but I’m fully prepared. Her shrieks and howls are so loud that I can hear the birds fly from the trees, “You bitch! You bitch! This is why I skinned your cubs while they were still alive! They screamed for you the whole time!”

My assignment is to disappear the witch, but before she’s gone, I’m going to punish her. I start whipping my head back and forth until I hear several pops and snaps from her shoulder. Her entire arm is dangling. I lock my jaws onto her knee until I feel the joint collapse and she falls to the floor screaming and crying. The witch has been immobilized but I’m concerned if the sentry was able to hear the horrific scream, it was so loud that even a human may have heard it.

As she lay there in pain, I started the shrinking spell. This spell is intense and takes a lot of energy and quite a few minutes to complete. As the witch finally figured out what I’m doing she starts trying to break my concentration, “I started with the smallest cub! The runt! The one with the white crest on his chest and floppy ears! You should have heard his screams as the carving knife peeled his hide away! The humans are probably using his pelt as a hat!”

I didn’t realize that the shrinking spell to be so slow. I had to sit on top of her while it worked so that she wouldn’t squirm away. By the time that it finally finished the witch was a fifth of her original size. That’s when I swallowed her whole. I refuse to give her the sleeping potion, I want her fully awake as she spends the rest of her short life bathing in the acid in my stomach. I check out the window, I estimate that I have about 2 hours left before the sentry is due, maybe less if he heard the screams.

Four – Better to see you with

In less than 2 hours I completed two difficult spells and fought off a witch, I’m exhausted. I want to sleep for a little while, but I can hear and smell the child coming to the cottage and from the intensity of her sweat, she’s running. She sounds like she’s about 500 yards away and may be here in just a few minutes. I don’t want to set the house on fire when she’s so close, she may try to come inside and get hurt. I’ll have to use that cloaking spell again and see if I can rush her away as fast as possible. I didn’t expect to use that spell twice so soon, it will really wear me out.

I have to remember as much as possible about that witch’s face and focus. It shouldn’t be too difficult to fool a child that barely visits her grandmother. I’ll just say hello, hear a little bit about her mother and how everyone is doing, and I will tell her that I need to sleep and send her on her way. This should be simple and it will keep the child safe, so it will be worth it.

I can hear her footsteps and her panting; she must be about 30 feet away from the sound of it. All I have to do is look ‘sick’ in a way that humans understand it. Do sick humans curl up in the corner? Maybe I should crawl underneath the kitchen table. No, humans use beds, I will lay in the bed and look pitiful. Just as she starts knocking on the door I get underneath the covers. “Come in please, the door is open. I’m very sick.”. The door burst open, and the child comes running in, she’s excited and scared. The smell of her adrenaline is making my eyes tear up, how do humans get used to their own stink?

The child started talking at a mile per minute as soon as she ran into the door, “Grandma! Grandma! It’s so good to see you! I’m sorry I’m late, I met a nice she-wolf and she asked me if I was having a pic-nic and I told her ‘no’ that I’m going to see you. Then she told me to pick some flowers, so I picked some lavender and sunflowers and…” I laughed, “Slow down child, don’t overwhelm me with too much information. You’re Grandma needs to pace herself.”

“Sorry Grandma, but I feel asleep under a tree and when I woke up the basket of food was gone! I’m so sorry! Would you like some tea? Please sit down my child while I go put on a kettle.” It’s so fortunate that the kettle is sitting right next to the hearth otherwise I wouldn’t know where to look.

“Hold on Grandma, you lay down while I go outside and pump some water. I will make the tea for us.”, the child said, before I could protest, she was out the door. I must get this child out of here!

The spells and the fight have taken a toll on me and I need some sleep, but I can’t do anything until that child is safely out of the house and I have to act before the sentry returns, I have less than two hours now. I can smell the sentry and the horse, their pace is a bit faster, they must have heard the scream. I must get this child out of here or the entire mission will be a failure and thousands of inhabitants will die. This outpost needs to be destroyed.

When the child returns from the well, she immediately starts preparing the tea at the hearth. As her back is to me, she says, “Grandma, you seem pretty sick, you don’t look the same as the last time I saw you.”

“This illness is hard on me my child. I’m an old woman and I’m frail.”, I need to focus, I need to make sure that I focus on that witch.

“But it’s more than the sickness Grandma, your face has changed. Your eyes are bigger now.” She said.

“That’s the worst part of the sickness my child. It irritates my eyes and makes them water, that’s why they look bigger.”, Did the witch have big eyes or beady eyes? I must focus. I can feel the witch squirming in my stomach and it’s ruining my concentration!

“Grandma, did the sickness has made your ears bigger? They look almost like dog-like. I feel bad for you Grandma”, she tells me, I notice that the child’s voice is flat now almost monotone.

As the child walks closer, she said, “Grandma, you have a full set of teeth again. I remember that some of your teeth had rotted out. What kind of sickness makes you grow new teeth Grandma?”

“Your memory might not be completely accurate my child. Is it possible that you are just mis-remembering things?”, Damn it, she’s right. The witch was missing several teeth! I’m mixing up the humans and witches that I’ve seen over time.

“Grandma, how old will I be on my next birthday?”, the child asked. Why did she make such an abrupt change in subject? There’s silence, I’m not sure of what to say to this. I can smell the horse getting closer, but I still have some time, I just need to make this child leave safely.

“What’s my name Grandma?”, she asks, “You haven’t said my name the whole time I’ve been here. Don’t you remember your own granddaughter’s name? Does the sickness effect your memory as well?”

“My child, I’m tired and my energy is failing me due to the sickness. There’s no need to test me right now. You’re asking me too many questions and my head is starting to swim.”, I hope that the child gets discouraged and stops asking questions.

“Grandma how did my basket get here?”, she asked as she walked closer.

Oh no! I left the basket next to the hearth. How could I forget to hide it!

“That’s my basket my child. It just looks similar to yours.”, I say with a false confidence.

“What’s my name you bitch?!”, the child had an ugly intense look on her face. I didn’t notice before that her mouth is crooked, but her face is otherwise symmetrical.

“Excuse me?! What did you just say?! I’m a sick old woman and your grandma! You will respect me!”, I commanded.

“My name is Gisela! I’m twelve years old and I’m part witch!”, she snarled, “Don’t you know that I’m part witch? What did you do to my grandma?!”, She snatched off her red cloak and threw it to the floor. She no longer looks like the little girl on the trail, her face is distorted.

“Where’s my grandma?!”, as she screams these last words, I can hear the synchronized voices as her face contorts and she runs towards me with her arms outstretched prepared to claw my face. I’m able to sidestep the girl as she lands on the bed face down. I pounce on her and clamp my jaws on the back of her neck, using just enough force to restrain her. If I use anymore force, I may crush her vertebrae. As she squirms and flails to get free I concentrate on the shrinking spell one more time, she slowly shrinks down but she’s kicking and squirming so much that I accidently slips into my throat and I’m forced to choke her down, this is horrible! I didn’t mean to do that. And if I force myself to vomit her up, I will release the witch as well. Oh, heavens please forgive me for consuming a child.

Despite my despair, I’m so exhausted from this last confrontation that I collapse on the bed and pass out.

Five – The taste of blood

I don’t know how long I’ve been unconscious; my stomach feels queasy. I have two live creatures inside of me and they are only able to fit because of a spell. I can smell the sentry and the horse and they’re outside investigating the premises. I have to remain quiet; I don’t think that there’s any reason for them to try anything.

“Ma’am? Is everything alright? I heard two sets of horrible screams!”, The sentry called out.

I’m not sure what to do at this point other than to wait him out, maybe he will assume that the witch went out for a walk. Maybe to capture some inhabitant cubs to steal their pelts.

“Ma’am, if I don’t get an answer, I will have no choice but to come inside.” The sentry warned.

I’m not sure what to do. If he comes inside, he will see me. If I try to burn the outpost, he will attack me and if he over comes me he may put the fire out before it consumes the cottage. My best bet is to hide underneath this bed and hope that his human ears and nose can’t detect me. Humans are so dependent on their eyes; they depend on one sense like a crutch, but if they see you there is no escaping them. If I can stay out of site, I might keep the element of surprise. I slide under the bed, crouch and wait.

After several minutes the sentry finally decides to enter, and I hear the familiar sound of a sword being unsheathed. He’s fully prepared to kill, he’s not just here to search. I see his leather boots, walk across the floor, he walks over to the hearth, then to the pantry. I hear the cabinet doors open and close. Then I see his shoes walk over to the bed, I can hear him tossing the bedding around. I can’t smell any fear in his sweat, and his breathing sounds normal so I don’t think that he’s too concerned. But I see his feet walk to the side of the bed and stop. I don’t think that I can afford to wait and see what he will do so I decide to take advantage while I am still on the offense. I lunge my head out from under the bed and bit one of his ankles until I hear a snap then I pull him under the bed as I back out the opposite side.

A human scream is not nearly as piercing as a witch’s scream, but the horse got excited hearing his master’s voice in such agony, however this deep into the woods I don’t think any other human heard him.

“Frau Wolf! This is not the way! I’m sorry for children, but this is not the way!”, the sentry exclaimed

As I drag him underneath to the other side of the bed I continue to shake and snatch at his ankle and his leg becomes progressively bloody as my teeth tear the skin.

All of my life, I’ve heard rumors about the effects that human blood can have when you taste it. Witches blood is not impressive, if you ever must bite a witch, you simply rinse your mouth and move on with life. Human blood, however, makes one go crazy with addiction. Some of the inhabitants claimed to have known bears and foxes that bit one human, one time, in self-defense and immediately abandoned their diet to start hunting humans full time. It’s like they couldn’t get enough of the blood once they actually tasted it.

“Frau Wolf! This will not bring your cubs back! Please stop! I beg you please stop!”, The sentry yelled.

As I’m tasting him bleed through his boot, I’m getting more and more blood in my mouth and believe me, it is intoxicating! It’s more delicious that anything I’ve ever tasted! I’ve got to get to his throat, I refuse to swallow him whole! I want to savor him, eat him bit by bit, then I can finish my assignment I promised myself. When I burn this outpost down, I will go to the human’s village. I will stalk it tonight and every night until I devour every delicious morsel of human they have. And they deserve it!

I continue to drag him out from under the bed to his waist, then I let go of his ankle and I clamp down on his hip. I hear a crack, then I feel his thigh and hip separate. His scream is now on par with the witches screams, I never knew that a human could scream like this. I continue to rip and tear and I taste fabric and flesh, I can’t get enough of this, but what I need his throat. I drag him the rest of the way out from under the bed and I see his face. He’s scared, I can smell it along with his blood, that delicious human blood, so I lung for his throat.

“I’m sorry Frau Wolf! I’m so sorry, but I have no choice!”, the sentry said.

I feel a horrible stabbing pain in my belly just before I make it to his throat. The pain is paralyzing, as if my stomach is being ripped apart! I feel weak, and as I back away I look down at my belly and to my horror I notice that my stomach has been cut opened. Apparently, sentry’s carry a sword and a dagger, the sword could not get me, but the sentry had presence of mind to draw his dagger at some point. I collapsed looking at my flayed belly and as the world turns black I think I can see a small witch and the child crawling out of the wound.

Six – Tell it to the sheriff

Sheriff Swanson adjust his spectacles as he continues reading over the notes that the scribes are writing to document the events. The witch and her granddaughter sit next to the hearth nursing their wounds while the sentry occupies the bed. The first two days after the ordeal were very difficult for the three of them. The sentry lost a lot of blood and still may lose the use of his left leg, but seems to be mending well. He still managed to glared at the witch. He never liked this witch and resented the assignment to protect her cottage. The sentry knew that the witch would harm the children of the inhabitants, including the wolf that attacked, and the thought of having to protect her sickened him.

Along with a broken and mangled arm, the witch lost a foot and several fingers to the wolf’s digestive juices and has several burns all over her body. Gisela also has several burns but didn’t lose and limbs or digits, however she’s very traumatized from the time spent trapped inside of the wolf. The biggest health problem that any of them have to face now is the possibility of infections from their wounds. The witch doesn’t have any healing potions strong enough for their damage, she doesn’t have the ability to address much beyond minor cuts and bruises. For this level of damage, the inhabitants would usually enlist the assistance of the fairies, but the witch is not on good terms with them. Even if the wounds heal without infection, the witch and Gisela are still concerned that they didn’t come back to their full size, the first three hours they were able to get three quarters of their original size but then the growth stopped.

Sheriff Swanson wants to be thorough, but he and the two scribes are struggling working in this cottage with the stench that is coming from the wounds of the occupants. Between the acid burns, unhealed wounds, blood, the disemboweled wolf carcass he is surprised that they haven’t fainted yet.

“So I’m going to go over the notes so far please correct me if we got anything wrong. Gisela, you were on your way to your grandmother’s house when this wolf accosted you to find out where you were going. You mentioned that you were going to your grandmother with a basket of cake, jams and wine for her to recover. Is that correct?”, Sheriff Swanson peered over his glasses and looks at the scribe, “There’s no need to mention any of the molds, oils or other ingredients that aren’t of a medicinal or culinary variety.” The scribe nods his head and immediately draws a line to strike out several words in his document.

Gisela simply nodded.

“Then the wolf pinned you down and made you lose consciousness with a potion and stole your basket?”

“No she didn’t ‘pin’ me down. She offered to let me smell some rose water and I fell asleep.”, she corrected.

The sheriff nodded to the second scribe and said, “Change the pronouns from ‘she’ to ‘he’, a male wolf will be a lot less sympathetic than a female wolf with murdered cubs”

The second scribe started writing notes in is tablet to make the corrections in the final draft.

“When the wolf arrived at the cottage, you allowed her in under the belief that she was your granddaughter Gisela? Is that correct Hilda?”, Sheriff Swanson now turned his gaze to the witch.

“That’s right. She shoved her way right in and attacked me for no reason and swallowed me whole!”, The witch spat.

“Mm, hmmph.”, the sheriff confirmed, “Then she just laid in wait for your granddaughter?”

“Yes, wolves are hunters and predators. That’s their way.”, the witch confirmed.

“Gisela, when you arrived at the cottage, you found your grandmother, but something didn’t appear normal. You noticed some irregularities to her facial features. When you started to gently inquire about them the wolf became irate, announced his true identity and leaped across the room and swallowed you whole as well?”, Swanson asked.

Again, Gisela timidly nodded.

During this recounting, Sentry Holtz was becoming visibly agitated and mumbled something unintelligible.

“Is there a problem Sentry Holtz?”, the Sheriff asked.

“Wolves don’t just attack people without reason! There hasn’t been an unprovoked wolf attack around here in three generations. Most wolves only attack when provoked or cornered.”, Sentry Holtz corrected.

The Sheriff gave an icy glare at the sentry, “Holtz, neither you nor I were here during these particular events. We will not second guess her experiences based on some bleeding heart wives’ tale about the virtue of wolves.”, the Sheriff continued, “Now, Sentry Holtz, you came into the cottage because you wanted to check on Frau Hilda knowing that she was ill. Is that correct?”

“I didn’t know that she was sick, I wanted to make sure that her work wasn’t distur…”,Sentry Holtz was interrupted by the Sheriff.

“For the record we will not speak of any of Frau Hilda’s vocational activities for the trustees. Your concern was for her wellness, is that clear Sentry Holtz?”, Sheriff Swanson said.

“But Sheriff Swanson, this story of is unusual, wolf attacks are rare and this one doesn’t make any sense!”, protested Sentry Holtz

“That is not your concern! Leave village business to the trustees. Is that clear Sentry Holtz?!”, the Sheriff glared.

“Yes, Sheriff Swanson.”, Sentry Holtz submitted.

“That’s when you were ambushed and savagely attacked by the wolf? Is that clear Sentry Holtz?”, Sheriff Swanson asked.

“Yes, Sheriff.”, said Sentry Holtz.

The scribes were continuing to take notes and make their corrections.

The sheriff removed his glasses and looked at Sentry Holtz. In a fatherly tone he said, “I understand that this isn’t sitting well with you right now Sentry Holtz, but this will be for the betterment of everyone in the village.”

“When we originally came to this land in order to maintain the peace the towns founders eventually had to make a series of agreements regarding water rights, boundaries and various minerals. But as our population has grown and prosper, it is important that we expand and get access to more resources. Is that clear?”, the sheriff asked this as if speaking to a child.

Sentry Holtz just glared at the Sheriff.

The Sheriff continued, “Rumor has it that the dwarves discovered a reserve of emeralds just a few miles from here. They already control 90% if the coal! Now they have precious stones!”

“And unfortunately, most people don’t want conflict with the inhabitants. It’s important that we recount events like this in a manner that unifies the populous.”, The Sheriff held one chubby index finger in the air like he was giving a lecture.

“Remember when those vandals destroyed the bear family’s home? Even when we recounted the story as a mishap of a small child, most of the human still sympathized with the bears. The trustees had to pay the bears a large sum to move away so that they wouldn’t talk to anyone.”, the Sheriff recounted this incident with some irritation.

“At this point my scribes, Karl and Jakob have documented several accounts of stories of inhabitant aggressions against humans. This will make our town stronger and unified.”, the passion in the sheriff’s voice almost had a physical presence at this point, however, Sentry Holtz’s expression was unchanged.

“Look, we need to go. We can discuss this more on our way back to the village, I will show you how in the long term this will be for the best. Karl? Jakob? Please help Sentry Holtz and Frau Gisela into the carriage and please be gentle. I think that we have everything that we need. Frau Hilda, I trust that you can continue with your work.”, the Sheriff requested.

The two scribes, Karl and Jakob Grim, abided the request of loading the Sentry and Gisela and hitched the sentry’s house to the rear of the carriage. When they arrived at the village by nightfall, the sheriff and the scribes delivered the horse to the sentry’s widow and gave her fifty gold coins in compensation for his valor and service to the village.