Knot watched as a woman prepared what he assumed was a stew. He had entered the old man's house without much thought, perhaps it was a little risky, but he didn't think it was dangerous, after all, he was just an old man.
Knot took a look around the house. It was made of wood, without windows and a roof of branches and straw. The wood was rotten and the floor was dirt. It wasn't exactly spacious, but it was supposed to be enough to shelter from a storm and hide from demons. There was only one wooden table, which was not well leveled, broken and dirty, but at least not rotten. They had about three chairs, two were made of simple wood, the third was simply a log to sit on.
You could also see some symbols carved in the wood, several all over the house, similar to the symbols on the stones that surrounded the town, Knot recognized some symbols, they were "Runas Varalianas", the way people who could not read used to write letters (something not very common, not even in the forest) or more usually to make signs to warn you. Some he recognized (Knot could read and write both with runes, and with the "common Varalo writing", something not very useful, he thought), "Strength" or "Protection" he could recognize, others he had never seen, he was not even sure they were runes.
Knot was sitting on the log (he assumed it was the guest chair), while he smelled how they prepared the stew. If his smell was not wrong, it was a potato and carrot stew, with some herbs and what he was almost sure was the smell of milk, a strange combination, even though the smell was appetizing. What was not, was the woman's expression.
She must have been about fifty years old, old, thin and weak. But the most outstanding thing was the total lack of hair and the spots on her skin. Black spots, very black of which I could see some dry blood. The woman was coughing continuously, and her eyes were irritated. Knot recognized the symptoms of "Varalo's Disease". An illness almost as common as the flu, caused by contamination by demons. The disease basically turned the blood into poison. The demons always contaminate everything in their path, their blood not only renders the soil useless, but also infects it, causing that disease, it could also be transmitted from the water where the demons passed. The disease was dangerous, yes, but not so much, the risk changed between people, some died as soon as they were infected, by drowning in their own blood or by a heart attack, others lived the rest of their lives peacefully, with the only discomfort of a few stains and a cough. Of course, those lives are not regularly long, and even less so outside the forest. Except for those two old men.
The woman looked at him with anger and not fear, something different from the others, although her gaze was not only for Knot.
-Why did you bring him to our home? -asked the woman, with a hoarse, mournful voice looking at the old man, then she passed her gaze over Knot's body. Look at his appearance, his skin, it's dark as a demon! -exclaimed the woman now with a disgusted expression, almost as if she were seeing shit- He could be dangerous, he could be a tall demon disguised as a human or some strange beast, look at him It could even be a monstrous Goblin! -Now the woman looked at him with real terror in her eyes.
-Calm down, silly girl! -replied the old man and laughed out loud. "Silly girl?" thought Knot- "If it were a demon, we'd already be food in its stomach. -The old man laughed again and this time Knot could see the woman's face turning red, he turned away and continued to prepare the food.
The woman mumbled some words, probably insults.
-Apologize to my daughter boy, as you might expect, we don't normally have many visitors -said the old man with a wide smile on his face. Knot then took a better look at the woman's face and realized that she was not as old as he thought, her face was round and despite being very thin and emaciated, there were hardly any wrinkles on her face.
"She must not be more than twenty years old," Knot thought. That woman had been very affected by Varalos disease.
-No problem... I'm used to it -said Knot in a monotonous voice and without any expression on his face. Knot had never been very good at talking to other people, he never knew what things might interest others in a conversation, all he knew was hunting and fighting.
The old man looked at him, with an expression of interest on his face, and said:
-I can see that you are not very talkative, child, not that it is a problem, in this damn town they are not very talkative either. -The old man kept looking at him, as if waiting for Knot to say something. Oh, excuse me, I haven't introduced us, I'm missing mine! -My name is Varos, my daughter's name is Varial and that little creature's name is Varol.
"Typical names" thought Knot. Those were names derived from "Varalos". It was the most common thing, even in the forest, to call your children in remembrance of the incredible place where we live...
"Creature?" Knot asked himself, he thought they were alone in the estancia. Knot observed where the old man was pointing, to a bed of straw on the floor, where there was a baby... Or at least something similar. It was one of those creatures that women sometimes gave birth to, with a disproportionately large head, uneven eyes and a deformed body. Those were called "creatures" and some called them "Sons of the Devil". Knot thought it was strange that they let the creature live, usually sacrificing them and feeding them to the demons.
-I know it's strange -said the old man as if guessing what Knot thought- but he's my daughter's son, my only other descendant, and I couldn't just throw him away like a piece of garbage.
-You will not eat my son, you horrible monster! -shouted the woman, and Knot thought it was ironic that he would be called a monster in the presence of the creature, even though he must have known what it felt like, those creatures were as human as he was, a simple, "genetic human deformation" his master had once told him (whatever that means), but a human after all.
The woman returned to the stew and when she finally finished it, she found two wooden plates, served the stew to her father and then began to feed his deformed son. No stew for Knot, naturally.
-The old man gave him his stew and Knot thanked him- Tell me, what is the name they know you by?
-Knot -said as he drank the milk and potato stew. The taste wasn't bad, although anything could taste good after eating a demon.
-Knot, mmm... Strange name -said the old man, now with an even bigger smile- And tell me, what's a kid like you doing around here, you're not from our town, I can tell you that -said the old man with sarcasm and laughter- What a face you have, perhaps you got lost when you left your village, because you looked so lost when you entered the village, or maybe you are one of those stupid children who think they can travel around the old continent and seek glory like the old heroes. Because let me tell you kid... that what you did by killing that demon was a great stupidity -The old man changed his expression, this time to a harder one.
Knot kept eating from the stew, it was good, really good to eat prepared food again, even though he knew he should not get used to it. Then Knot thought about the old man's question... yes, perhaps he was like those fools who went out into the world to seek glory and whom no one remembered, since they were killed by a demon before they even went far from their villages, but he was different, he did not seek glory, he did not seek to be remembered, he did not care, the only thing that mattered to him was the blood spilled by the demon on his sword.
-I am a hunter, the only thing I seek is to catch my prey and kill them - "Hunter", Knot thought. Yes, that's what I am- And I don't understand what's wrong with what I did, killing a demon and saving a child's life.
-Then you're dumber than you look, because this is high demon territory and Bozlock won't be very happy about what you did. -said the old man. "A high demon," Knot's hair stood up at the thought of it, those creatures were not like the beastly demons, which resembled animals more. It was because of them that the demons were called demons. They were terrible beings of great power, who only sought destruction and coastlines. Little was known where the high demons came from, but every certain time a new one appeared. Some people said they were born of sins of people, as a punishment; others said they were born every time someone died in a horrible way or a demon went, and others said they were creatures that came from the Valley of Wails to take our souls to suffer eternally. The case was that those beasts were much stronger than a beast demon. They did not follow a pattern like the beasts; it was impossible to see two tall demons alike; they were always different and with different qualities. Some could reach hundreds of meters in height, others could throw fire from their mouths, fly, control people's minds, some could even speak like a person or have a similar appearance and it was even said that they could use magic. But not magic like the ancient one or the magic that protects the "Old Forest", that was demonic magic, corrupt magic that only a demon could use.
Knot thought for a moment to go out at once in search of that demon. How sublime it would be to kill a high demon for the first time, the sensation would be so satisfying, but he knew that he should not improvise, he should first analyze it, know it, know all its qualities, abilities and weaknesses. A hunt of this magnitude had to be slow and thorough.
-"Bozlock"- said Knot, "forest eater" in the common language of Varalos.
-Exactly, Bozlock, the one who torments and protects us -said the old man.
-He protects us? -asked Knot.
-Yes, Bozlock lives near here, in a forest east of the village, only half an hour away, as ugly as it is dangerous. He makes sure that demons other than his pack destroy our village.
-He has a herd... What kind of demon is he?
-The kind you have to be afraid of and respect -said the woman as she huddled her son.
-He controls the demons in the area, you know the wails like, but he always stays in his forest and every now and then he makes a demon like that come to the village and attack us, sometimes they kill a child and sometimes an old man, but as long as you don't leave your house, there shouldn't be a problem... Except maybe in this situation -The old man said that with an expression of regret and pain.
A demon that controlled others and formed a herd, that sounded like something complicated.
-Are all the demons that come to attack runners? -I ask knot with interest.
-Runners?... If you mean those beasts that are as fast as lightning, then yes... And why the interest in what kind of demon is it? All you have to know is to be afraid of him and never go near his forest. -The old man looked worried and frowned as he looked at Knot.
-I must know all I can if I want to kill him -said Knot as calmly as ever.
Having said this, the woman's expression was one of horror, she went straight to her son, hugged him and began to mumble.
-Kill him... Ha!... to kill him says... And I thought I was a buffoon! -The old man began to laugh, but when he saw Knot's face, he realized he was serious. Then he laughed much louder.
-I told you not to let him in! -replied the woman as she embraced the baby and almost seemed to cry. He is a monster who comes to end our lives, he must come from the Valley of Wails to torture our souls!
This made the old man laugh even more.
Knot knew he had to kill that demon, there was a reason he had come to this town at this time. It would be his first time and he had to get used to fighting the unexpected, he was almost getting used to the beastly demons and that could be dangerous. It was his duty to hunt it and nothing would stop him.
-Should not the amulets that are all over the village protect you?
-Amulets... You mean the protective runes. Those things are useless. -Then the old man spat aside as if the woman had said something insulting- Those are the runes of the "Protective Church".
-Protective Church?
-Yes, you know, those milk-pale idiots in robes who come to town from time to time with food, weapons and to bless our town by the grace of the High Priest and blah, blah, blah... -The old man spat again to one side. Tell me kid, it seems like you never heard of them, what kind of town did you live in?
Knot understood that this church must be commonplace for people outside the old forest, but inside he had never heard of them. So he was about to talk about the forest, but he remembered that it was taboo to talk about the forest to people who didn't live in it.
-My village is far to the south, maybe they never get that far -Knot lied. He wasn't very good at lying.
-So far south, mmm... Well, it doesn't matter much, we'll probably all be dead in no time anyway -said the old man.
-What do you mean by... When Knot was about to finish the sentence, he felt a tremor and a strange noise.
Then Knot's head started to hurt and he smelled the spicy condiment. Knot suddenly stood up in surprise, turned around and looked through the woods of the house? And there he saw it, the biggest thing he'd ever seen, it looked like a wolf more than 5 meters tall and was surrounded by a dozen runners. His scars hurt like never before and his nose was itching.
Bozlock... I think this is our time my friend... -The old man looked at him sadly and the deformed baby began to cry, as if sensing danger.
Bozlock, the high demon was in the center of town, in front of the dead body in the corridor. He roared so loudly that the house shook.
Bozlock was furious... And he was looking for the person responsible for the demon's death... He was looking for Knot.
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