Chapter Text
The boy has been alone for a long time.
The woods get dark early, this time of year.
(He doesn’t remember when it wasn’t this time of year.)
The leaves that haven’t fallen rattle in the cold wind, dull gold and brown flashing against the skeletal branches. They gleam, sometimes, in the light of the half moon, if the fog isn’t too thick to see the sky. The streams Taako crosses have ice gathering at the edges, not frozen yet, the swift current in the center carrying fallen leaves away to destinations dim and unknown.
Sometimes, on the darkest nights, Taako hears singing.
He hides, those nights, in the hollows of trees. Normal ones, not the warped Edelwood trees that spring up out of the shadows, gaunt faces twisted among the bark. He stays far away from those, when he can, like he stays away from the singing.
Taako’s glaring at an old mill, debating whether to try sneaking in, when he hears a snapping branch behind him. He whirls, holding a thin branch as his only weapon, all too aware of his small stature.
If Lup was here, it wouldn’t matter how small he is.
“Who’s there?” he demands.
Another child emerges from the bushes, brushing dead leaves out of his braids. He’s pretty, is the first thing Taako notices, with a handsome face and elegant hands, for all they’re scratched from the thorns. His eyes widen when he sees Taako and he holds those hands up. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“Who are you?” Taako repeats, lowering the stick.
“Oh, I’m…” the boy struggles, for a moment, brow furrowing in confusion. “Kravitz? I think?”
“You think?”
“It’s been a long time since anyone asked,” the boy, Kravitz, explains.
“Why are you here?” Taako asks, hands on his hips now. He might be cute, but if he doesn’t even remember his own name, he’s not going to be much help in finding Lup.
“I don’t know,” Kravitz admits. “I think… I’m looking for someone?”
“Oh,” Taako relaxes. “Me too. Who did you lose?”
“I don’t remember,” Kravitz mumbles, rubbing at his face. “I’ve just been cold, for a long time, I think.”
Taako approaches hesitantly, and pokes at the boy’s shoulder with his stick. “Are you dead?”
“I don’t think so.”
Taako pokes him again, with a finger this time. Kravitz is right: he’s very cold. Taako snatches his hand back, whistling through his teeth. “Hachi machi, you weren’t kidding.”
“Hot diggity shit,” a dry voice says from above them.
“Who was that?” Kravitz demands.
“That,” Taako says, pointing. There’s a small black bird sitting in the tree above them, with bright white spots on her wings, blinking down at them with beady black eyes.
“Her,” the magpie corrects, gliding down to a branch more at eye level. “I can help you kids.”
“How is a bird talking right now?” Kravitz demands.
“Can you help me find my sister?” Taako asks, narrowing his eyes at the bird.
“I know someone who can,” the bird says. “The Bulwark Witch is extremely powerful. She could find anyone you’ve lost.”
“What are you kids doing out here?” a new, gruff voice says.
“Nope,” the magpie says, flitting away into the trees.
Taako squeaks and instinctively darts towards Kravitz, ducking behind him. There’s a man in front of them, grim-faced, holding an axe and a small, elegantly formed black lantern, which is shining with a cheery yellow glow. He has thick auburn sideburns and sharp eyes.
“Nothing!” Taako says, gripping Kravitz’s arm. It’s cold, too cold, not like Lup’s, but it’s better than facing the man with the axe alone. “We weren’t doing anything!”
“These woods are no place for children,” the man says, frowning fiercely. He glares at the darkness between the trees behind them as a cold wind blows at them. Kravitz shivers under Taako’s fingers, but he still catches Taako’s hat has it flies off his head. The woodsman’s eyes soften at that, just a little, and he waves them both towards the mill. “Come on,” he says. “I have work to attend to, but I will do my best to help you.”
Taako and Kravitz exchange glances, and carefully follow the woodsman into the mill. There’s a dancing fire glowing in the hearth, beating back the dark and cold as much as the stone and wood walls do. The woodsman, who introduces himself as Magnus, builds up the fire before heading for a small door.
“You’re just going to let us stay here for free?” Taako asks suspiciously.
“You can go, if you want,” Magnus says. “But you shouldn’t. There is a Beast, children, that stalks these woods, and even my axe isn’t enough to keep it away.” He snorts. “I’ve tried.”
“Thank you?” Kravitz offers after a few moments. “It’s warm in here.”
Magnus smiles, and it transforms him into an entirely different person, perhaps the person he used to be. The sort of man who would care for others at the expense of himself, who laughed loudly and often.
And then the smile vanishes, and so does that other man.
“I will return,” he says gruffly, and disappears through the door.
“I can’t stay here,” Taako grumbles, pacing around the room.
Kravitz, sitting as close to the fire as he can without setting himself aflame, raises his eyebrows. “Why not?”
“My sister!” Taako snaps. “I gotta find her.”
“We should wait until morning,” Kravitz says. “Especially if there really is a Beast out there.”
“Is there?” Taako says doubtfully.
They turn as one to the single window. The wind whistles outside, blowing dead leaves against the glass, trees creaking and rattling in the woods beyond. Carried on the wind, they can both hear singing, operatic and deep and laughing, icier than the breeze.
Underneath the laughter is a girl’s voice, indistinct and calling.
“Lup!” Taako says, scrambling for the door.
“Taako, wait!”
Taako bursts out through the door, Kravitz just behind him. They stumble into the yard, Taako nearly tripping over a small black turtle crawling towards the stream ahead. Facing them is a wheezing, hissing spider, enormous and deathly black, poison dribbling from its clicking mandibles. It sees them and leaps, narrowly missing Taako’s hat as Kravitz pulls him away.
“This way!” Kravitz shouts, pulling Taako towards the mill. There’s a small ladder leading up to the second floor and they scramble up. Taako finds a small bag of potatoes and starts pitching them at the spider, who hisses again and crashes through the wall.
“What the fuck!” Magnus yells from within. A wet thunk sounds and the spider shrieks. Taako and Kravitz peek over the edge to see the spider, minus a leg, topple into the grinder, destroying it in the process. Magnus howls, the ragged sound tearing itself from his throat as he frantically reaches for some thin strips of wood. He has to snatch his hand back, automatically shielding the lantern as he rolls away from the spider’s flailing limbs.
“Quick,” Taako hisses, pointing at another ladder. This leads to the roof, but their footsteps draw the attention of the spider, which scrabbles towards them as they climb, bursting through the roof as Taako helps Kravitz up. The mill groans and splinters under the weight of the spider, collapsing under their feet. They fall, splashing into the chilled water of the stream below as the spider gets caught in the mill, shrieking terribly as the water wheel grinds at it, until another small black turtle bursts out through its mandibles.
With an audible sigh, the spider shrinks, tumbling down into the darkness below the water wheel. Taako pulls Kravitz up out of the water as Magnus thrusts through the door, panting. He frantically checks the lantern, ensuring the dancing flame within is still lit. He whirls on the children.
“What the fuck did you do?” he roars. “The mill is destroyed!”
“It wasn’t us!” Taako says defensively. “It was the spider, my dude!” he backs up as he says it, feet splashing into the stream, not-quite icy water flooding through his thin socks. “But we got rid of the Beast for you. Feel free to pay us in gold or whatever.”
“That wasn’t the Beast,” Magnus snaps. He shudders and glares towards the wreckage of the mill. “It was a spider, but not the Beast.”
“We should go,” Kravitz says. “We’re sorry about the mill.”
“Beware the Beast, boys,” Magnus says as Taako and Kravitz dart away across the stream. “Don’t let him catch you!”