We ran as fast as we could back to the village center. A few minutes later, we were standing beside the other Templars. A man I didn't recognize was standing between Ro-Saleh and Na-Ya, and two of the kids we'd seen earlier at the creek were between them.

"It took him! I swear," The little boy from the river, Dak, was pointing back the way we came.

The girl we saw earlier, Behla, was crying, and her arm was bloody. "Please. I couldn't stop it..." The girl could barely get the words out.

Ro-Saleh stepped forward and looked each of us in the eye. "Templars. Recruits. One of the children has been taken by a Gloomfang. You all know the drill." Ro-Saleh started pointing at members of our group. "Jorn, Maven, and Voss, you three are team leads. Everyone else, join a team under one of those captains. We need to search the area."

"Sir!"

"No one goes alone, and make sure to signal if you see anything. Gloomfangs don't often hunt in packs, but it's not unheard of." Ro pointed at the two of us. "Tristan, Alex. You two are with me. The rest of you, move out."

The Templars started breaking into teams. Tristan and I walked up to Ro-Saleh and Na-Ya and asked, "Where are we heading?"

"We're going south. Maven, you've got the west. Jorn, you're going east, and Voss has the north." He spoke loud enough that everyone could hear.

Tristan shook her head. "Can we go west? I'd like to check on some friends, if that would be okay?"

Ro nodded. "Change of plans. Maven, you're going south. We've got the west."

Maven instantly thumped her chest. "Sir!"

I marveled at the woman's reaction. Unlike her usual sassy self, Maven was nothing but business now. There wasn't a hint of the Maven I'd gotten to know over the past few days. I realized that Ro commanded that much respect among his fellows.

"Thank you," Tristan said to Ro, her voice soft.

"Of course, my edán." He placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. "You know we'd do anything for you."

"I know..." She looked relieved.

I glanced at Tristan. I knew that she was close with Ro and especially Na-Ya, but I never realized how close they were. And I had no idea what edán meant.

"Let's go. I'm afraid for the child if we linger any longer." Na-Ya lifted a hand into the air, and a ball of light appeared above us.

"I agree." Ro turned on his heel and headed west. "Move out!"

The other Templars dispersed in their chosen directions when we did.

Twenty steps in, Tristan pointed toward the trail we'd taken earlier. "There's a trail that way. We should follow it."

"Sounds good. Step behind me, all of you." Ro walked to the front.

We did as he asked. Na-Ya fell into line right behind him, followed by Tristan and me.

Fifteen minutes later, we were deep in the woods. The trees felt like they were taller and more numerous than they were during the afternoon, and a peal of thunder in the distance signalled that rain might return. That would make finding the monster far more difficult.

Tristan looked over at me. Her face was creased with worry. "I hope they're okay..."

I reached out and squeezed her hand. "They will be. I know it."

She smiled at me, but it didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Weapons out, you two. If it attacks, it'll attack hard, fast, and from the trees. You both need to be ready." Ro was scanning the treetops one by one, his golden eyes glinting in the moonlight. Na-Ya was doing the same.

I unslung my shield and drew my sword from its scabbard. Its steel glinted in Na-Ya's light, casting long shadows into the brush. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Tristan draw her two-handed mace and fall in behind me.

Ahead of us, Na-Ya stopped moving. She had her hands held out in front of her, and her eyes were closed. "I feel something ahead."

"Alex, with me. Tristan, guard your edán." He slowed his pace and took careful steps forward.

"Yes, sir," the two of us said in unison. I jogged up to him while Tristan stayed behind. When I reached Ro-Saleh's side, I caught the scent of something on the breeze. Copper?

"Do you smell that?" His face was serious.

"Yeah, what is it?"

"Blood."

"Oh." My limbs grew cold.

"Come on." He crouched and made his way forward.

We crept forward through the darkness. From behind us, Na-Ya's light spell cast eerie shadows between the trees, making every branch look like a clawed hand reaching out at us. Every creak and crick of the branches around us made my hair stand on end, and the metallic scent of blood grew stronger with each step.

"There," Ro said, pointing ahead.

Through the trees, I could make out the familiar shape of Bertram and Bethany's barn. The doors that had been slightly ajar when Tristan and I visited earlier now hung wide open and were creaking in the wind. Something was wrong. "I don't like that."

"Me neither."

Ro looked over his shoulder. "Be sharp, you two. Something's not right."

I heard them get closer. "Bethany!" Tristan shouted behind us. A second later, she darted past.

"Wait!" Ro called out, but it was no use. "Damn girl." Almost faster than I could make out, the elf exploded forward, surpassing Tristan in what looked like two strides. Na-Ya followed, running nearly as fast.

I followed, and a moment later, we were standing outside the barn. Ro-Saleh was standing in the doorway, blocking Tristan from entering. "Weapons ready," Ro ordered. "Na-Ya, stand guard. Alex, you take the right, Tristan, you're on the left. I'll take point." He gave Tristan a stern look. "And no more reacting. You need to listen to everything I say, or you're going back to the village."

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"So-sorry."

"Don't be. Just keep your head, okay?"

"Okay."

He turned and walked into the barn.

As he entered, my heart hammered against my ribs. With as much training as I'd had over the past year, I'd been sure that I'd be more than ready for my first quest. However, being here, experiencing everything firsthand, made one thing crystal clear: I didn't know shit. I was all theory, no experience.

Looking past the elf as he entered the barn, my breath was ripped from my lungs. In the center of the barn, where Bethany had been churning butter hours before, a cow... or what was left of it... was lying in a pool of blood. Wicked slashes were opened up in a dozen spots on its body, and its head had been torn clean off and was resting ten feet away against the back wall. All the other cows were in their stalls, and each was frantically stamping its hooves and mooing. The sounds of their heavy breathing filled the air around us.

"Bertram?" Tristan called into the barn as she walked from stall to stall. "Bethany? Are you here?"

No answer.

Walking to the opposite side of the barn as her, I started checking the stalls. At first, everything was as it had been earlier. Hay. Buckets. Cows. However, the further I got down the row, the worse things looked. Halfway down the row, one of the stalls had been damaged, wooden planks splintered and hanging loose, and the door was torn off. Large gouges from what looked like claws had been cut into the wood, and hay was scattered everywhere. That stall must have been the one that housed the cow lying dead on the floor.

Looking forward, I saw dark stains marking the back wall near the rear door, the one we'd walked through just hours before. Stepping closer, I saw a leg half-buried in the thick hay. "Back here," I called out, pointing to the leg. "I found someone." I tried to step forward, tried to move, but I couldn't. I couldn't move a muscle.

"Bertram!" Tristan's voice cut through the air. An instant later, she was in front of me, digging the man out of the hay.

Her panicked voice and frantic actions shocked me out of my stupor. Without thinking, I dropped to her side and helped her dig the man out. A moment later, Bertram was lying motionless on the ground. Blood matted his gray hair, and his clothes were torn. His face was deathly pale. From the look of him, I thought he was dead. My heart sank.

Na-Ya rushed over and dropped to his side. Placing her hands on his head, she closed her eyes. "He's breathing," Na-Ya said, dropping to her knees beside him. "Alive, if barely."

"Thank the Goddess," Tristan said through a sob.

Golden light flowed from the priestess's hands as she began healing the old farmer. The light poured into him and soaked into his skin. Tristan and I watched as he began to stir.

His eyes shot open. "Help!" He tried to sit up, but Na-Ya held him down. "My wife! Where's my wife?" His voice was frantic.

"Stay still. You were heavily wounded."

"I have to find her!" He tried to move again, but Na-Ya's hands were firm. When he realized he wasn't going anywhere, tears began to pour from his eyes as he settled back into the hay. "My wife..."

"We will find her. I swear." Na-Ya's voice was filled with conviction.

"What was that?" Bertram looked confused.

"He can't hear," Tristan said beside me.

Nodding, Na-Ya placed her hands over the man's ears. She closed her eyes, and sweat beaded on her forehead as a warm light began emitting from her hands once again. A minute later, she nodded and pulled her hands away. "Can you hear me, Bertram?"

"I... I can hear? I can hear!" He rubbed his fingers on his ears, a look of wonder in his eyes.

She smiled down at him. "What happened, Bertram. Are you able to tell me?"

He looked up at her. "I tried... I tried to stop it... Shouted like the Dark Lord came for me when it tore the door off its hinges... Did everything I could..."

I looked toward the rear door. I noticed that half of the door frame had been torn away. The door was nowhere in sight.

"What did you see?" Na-Ya's voice was soft, kind.

"A monster... walked on two legs... too large to be a man..." he whispered. He took a deep, shuddering breath. "It came for the cows, I think."

Ro appeared and knelt beside him. "What did it look like?

"Big. Dark. Had claws like... like long knives." Bertram's voice was barely audible. "I hit it with the pitchfork, but it didn't go down. Knocked me aside like I was nothing. Then..." His eyes filled with tears again.

"Where's Bethany?" Tristan asked.

Bertram wiped his face. "She heard the commotion. Came running with the kitchen knife. She's a brave one, my Beth. Too brave." He gripped Na-Ya's arm weakly. "It took her. Snatched her up and ran." He pointed north. "That way, if my eyes didn't lie to me."

"Toward Copperhill." Ro's tone was firm. "Makes sense. Gloomfangs sometimes appear in the old mine there."

My blood ran cold. Copperhill. I remembered seeing it mentioned on one of Arden's regional maps. It had been an old mining town decades before, but monsters appeared in the mines, making them unusable. The village quickly emptied, and it was declared a low-level dungeon by the Temple. Unfortunately, none of the monsters had drops that were worth anything, so adventurers didn't often go out there. The Temple sent Templars once a year to keep the dungeon in check, but that was about it.

"Are you sure it went north?" Ro pressed.

"I think so."

Na-Ya looked toward the north. "We could get there within a few hours."

Ro nodded. "Yeah."

Seeing that Na-Ya's attention was split, Betram tried to sit up again and succeeded. "Please, you have to help me save her. She's all I got left in this world." As he sat up, his face grew pale.

"Bertram?" Na-Ya lowered him to the floor.

"I..." His eyes rolled back, and he lost consciousness again.

"He'll live," Na-Ya said. "But he needs more healing and proper rest."

"Cast [Sanctuary] on him. We'll return once we've found Bethany and the boy." Ro stood up and examined the barn door. Deep gouges scarred the wooden frame.

Na-Ya nodded. Whispering words under her breath, a globe of white light appeared around the old man, then the barrier solidified, covering him entirely. Giving him a final once-over, she stood and brushed off her skirt.

Looking back at Ro-Saleh, I tried to figure out what he was thinking, but nothing came to mind. "What do you see?"

"It doesn't make sense. This is a lot of damage for the average gloomfang. They're ambush hunters. Even if it's a strong one, they don't hunt like this."

"Maybe it's strong enough that it doesn't think it has to worry?"

He shook his head. "I don't know. We Templars keep the region clear. It's hard to believe we'd miss something that powerful and aggressive." He crouched and starting poking at something in the dirt.

I noticed there was a thin trail of black droplets leading out of the barn. Monster blood, I realized. "It's bleeding."

Ro nodded. "Yeah. Looks like Bertram got it good. It won't get far being that wounded. We may have a chance to save her before..." He didn't finish the sentence.

Tristan stood. "We have to go."

Ro held up his hand. "No. We'll go. I want you two to go back to the village and let the others know what we found. I'm confident there are two of them out here, so I want you to help the others find the boy, then I want you to march to Copperhill. We'll meet you there."

Tristan shook her head. "But—"

"No, my edán. Even if it's injured, a monster this powerful is more than either of you can handle. If we were to fight as a group, I wouldn't be able to keep you safe. Na-Ya and I will handle it. You two will be more useful against the weaker one."

"How do you know it's weaker?" I asked.

"Because it's acting the way normal gloomfangs act. Gloomfangs either ambush and kill their prey immediately or take them back to their lairs for later. Since the boy was taken, that means he's likely still alive. For now."

I nodded. "Okay. Then that's what we'll do."

"Copperhill is only a half-day away. You can save him if you hurry."

Tristan looked like she wanted to protest, so I grabbed her hand. "They'll save her. I know it. Let's do what we can to save the boy."

She wiped her cheeks. "Okay."

"We'll meet you in Copperhill tonight, tomorrow morning at the latest." Ro extended his arm. "Be safe."

I took his arm in mine. "We will."

***

Voss, a Templar of about thirty, nodded to me. "We found tracks heading north as well. I agree with Ro. We should head out as quickly as we can."

Maven shook her head. "What about Jorn?"

"I notified the village chief's mother about our plans. I'm sure he'll catch up once he gets back to town."

"Okay."

"Did the chief ever return?" I remembered him being missing earlier that day.

"No, no one's seen him. His mother said he often goes out scouting, him being a retired adventurer and all, but she said he's normally not gone more than a few days. With everything going on, they're starting to get worried."

Maven stepped toward me and Tristan. "There's an old trail that leads to Copperhill from here. We're going to run through the night. Do your best to keep up, but don't push yourself too hard. Call out breaks when you need them. Our people come first. We can't help others if we aren't helping ourselves."

I nodded. "That's a good policy."

"It's either take care of ourselves or die. I prefer the former." She turned to the other Templars. Without Jorn and his men, there were about eight of us. "With Ro-Saleh and Na-Ya hunting separately, Voss is captain, followed by me. Listen to my orders, and get ready to fight. If a gloomfang took a kid back to a dungeon, that means it's become a nest. Ready yourselves for the fight ahead."

The other templars nodded. I felt my heart in my throat.

"Alright, you lot. Let's move out. We have a kid to save."

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