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Chapter 16

Guided only by moonlight I make my way across the frozen yard towards the tree and broken branches. All day long the sounds of those branches crashing to earth has played over and over in my mind to the point where it became hard for me to focus on anything else. As I step up to the tree in question I begin to study the branches half buried under snow at its base.

Thankfully no one had bothered to come out in the cold to clean up the mess during the day leaving it untouched and pristine. Squatting down beside the pile I pick up the top most branch and study it. It is quite thick and solid having many good years of growth to it. Where it was attached to the tree it looks as though it was indeed pulled downwards by the force of some considerable weight and gravity. But as I move along the branch itself something else catches my eye.

There are two sets of gouges a couple feet apart. Both sets are comprised of three deep scratches. The scars on the branch look to have been made fairly recently though as the wood underneath has not begun to show any signs of weathering and the sap is still a bit sticky despite the cold and time since it was separated from the tree.

Looking up from the branch to the tree I try to see where it once was. About halfway up the tree I can make out the gash in the trunk where these branches should be. From the house it would be difficult to see anything that was on them but the view would be perfectly clear for something, or someone, to see what was going on in the front yard and any room with an uncovered window.

With little difficulty I am able to visualize something perching on this branch and spying on the house only to have a shift of weight cause the branch to give way and crash into all the ones below it. As I shift through the other branches however something begins to feel wrong about their condition.

None of the other branches show any signs of something having been on them like the first one did. In fact the only thing I can say for sure is it looks like they just fell off the tree. Standing back up I look at the spot where the lowest of the branches would have attached to the tree and try to see what has me on edge. But even here I am having a hard time putting a finger on the feeling nagging at me. Then it hits me.

These branches are dead.

I start going through the branches again one by one and each of them shows the same thing. Each one has pristine bark along with shining green needles on them but inside the branch the wood is brittle and crumbling. It's almost as though something has pulled the life out of the branch leaving the surface intact.

Lifting up the first branch I study it closer. At first I don't see the same decay but as I turn it more into the moonlight I can tell were the core has begun to die as well. What ever the cause is it seems to start from within and go outward. Going back to the tree I once again examine the places where the branches were attached and start to hunt for the same decay.

Only I don't see it.

Every place a branch was that I can see from the ground appears to be healthy wood, at least as healthy as a wound on a tree can be. Why then were the branches dead on the tree like this?

Im no expert on trees so I'm sure there are any number of reasons as to what could cause an apparently healthy tree to loose branches like that. Insects or a fungus for example, but somehow this just doesn't feel natural to me. Holding one of the larger branches in my hand the only thing I can think to describe the branch is a lack of life. Like something pulled the life out of the branch and left the rest behind.

The crunching of snow behind me makes my ears swivel on my head as a voice calls out, "Eb you will catch the flu being out here in the cold like this."

With a soft snort of laughter I reply to Chase's worry, "I'll be fine, you know I can keep warm easy enough."

With a slight shiver and huff of breath that fogs heavily in the air he says softly, "Yeah, yeah you and your burning demon blood. Luck you."

He steps up beside me his arms crossed across his chest trying to keep in a little extra warmth above what his fur and clothes are keeping in and asks, "What was so interesting that drew you out here anyway?"

For an answer I hand him the branch I was holding. With a confused look he takes it and asks, "Whats so special about this? So a few branches fell off a tree, Jasmine mentioned it this morning saying it was the weight of snow that caused it."

Turning to look him straight on I say, "The snow didn't break these branches off. Give it a squeeze."

With a raised eyebrow he does as I asks only for the confused look on his face to deepen as the branch crumbles nearly to dust in his paw as he makes a fist around it. As the larger pieces either side of his hand fall to the ground they continue to break apart now that the bark has been broken. Slowly he opens his paw again, piled on his hand is what's left of the part he was holding and we both watch as the pieces there continue to fall apart into smaller and smaller bits until all that is left is a powder that a gentle breeze begins to blow away.

"What the hell?" Chase looks from the dust in his paw, to the branches on the ground, then the tree, "Are all the branches like that?"

I nod, "All but what would have been the top most one and even it is showing signs of developing the same problem, but just barely."

His eyes trace the tree from roots to tip then towards the house, "What about the tree itself? Is it in danger of falling do you think?"

Shrugging I give my best answer, "I really don't know, I don't think the main trunk is affected the same way but then all I really know about trees is that they burn well when dry. If this is a disease or something I would have no idea about the state of the whole tree."

Chase turns his gaze to mine and says with a knowing air, "But you don't think this is a disease do you."

For a moment I consider not voicing my concerns but then I remember my promise about not doing anything that could harm his pack, "No I don't think it is. It doesn't feel like a disease, or anything natural for that matter."

His posture stiffens slightly at my words and I see the alpha in him come to dominance, "What do you mean nothing natural?"

Taking a deep breath I try and explain, "Part of my heritage gives me a... sense, if you will, of being able to detect life in things I touch. It's nothing I can really call overly useful, its just something there, like how you know someone is watching from across the room or something."

He nods showing his understanding so I continue, "Well normally a branch like these would still have some residual life energy in them having only been broken from the tree for a few hours. But these...."

I wave a paw over the pile beside the tree, "They don't have anything in them. Its almost like there is a void where life was pulled out of it."

The fur on his forehead wrinkles into waves as his confusion deepens to new levels, "What do you mean the life was pulled out of it? How could that be possible?"

I shake my head as I squat back down by the pile and grab another branch and crush it easily in my paw and watch as it crumbles to dust before my eyes, "I have no idea. I have never heard of anything doing anything like this before. Sure there are magics out there that can transfer life force from one living thing to another. But none I know of that can do so to this degree and not affect the entire tree."

Looking back up at the tree as its remaining branches sway gently in the cool night breeze I continue, "To only affect a few parts of the whole like that... It is something beyond my knowledge."

Chase looks at me then up at the tree before saying, "Well not everyone can know everything Eb."

A smirk crosses my muzzle as I give a retort, "That may be true, but I am still cursed with a bit of the ego and sense of superiority that comes from my race. Which includes thinking we are smarter and more experienced than all others, even when I know logically I'm not. There are a few though who might know something about this, though I don't think any of them would be all that eager to help me."

He looks down at me, "Why would they not want to help you?"

Standing back up I answer, "Well most of them would rather I was dead actually, as I'm related to them and the one that I'm not related to would probably try and use it as a way to get out of his debt to me. That is one favor I will not cash in for something so trivial as a bit of knowledge."

I can feel his disapproval over my comment without him saying a word but I answer it just the same, "I have told you how I treat promises and debts before Chase, its no good glaring at me over it. I won't forget what I am owed, and he owes me a debt equal to a life and then some."

He snorts and looks away, "I keep forgetting just how different you are at times. I cant imagine holding someone to a debt like that for personal gain."

The silence stretches out between us for a bit before he asks, "So you think something did this intentionally then?"

I reach down and grab the branch with the marks on it and hand it to him, "Im not sure about intentional or not but some kind of creature did it."

He studies the marks for a few moments before handing it back to me saying, "I don't recognize that pattern."

With a slight tinge of disappointment I toss the branch back onto the pile of branches causing several more to shatter and begin disintegrating into dust, "Me neither, and that's what worries me. If you don't recognize it as being local, having lived here as long as you have, and I haven't seen anything like it in my years traveling... then what ever it is unknown, possibly intelligent, very clearly a threat to us, and probably after me."

With a slight snort and a hint of a laugh Chase replies, "Surely it's not as bad as you think Eb."

I look at him with a hard glare causing any mirth in his face to fade away and be replaced by concern and possible fear, "Come on, why are you so sure its a threat and for that matter how could you even know it wants you? It could have just been something passing through."

Pointing out the almost gone branches, "Anything that can do that to a normally healthy tree is a threat to anything regardless of who it is."

Moving my paw to emphasize the location of the branches, "You can tell it has at least some intelligence because of how it hid itself from view of the house while still being able to spy on most of the house."

Finally I drop my paw to my side and conclude, "As for it wanting me in particular, no I can't know that for certain right now, but it sure seems to be an awful big coincidence that what ever it was made these branches fall while I was outside. Likely while it was leaving for some reason."

Chase mulls over the points I have made and eventually concedes, "Ok I admit it, that is a lot of good points."

I turn and head for the house with the intention of getting my sword and never leaving it out of reach again until this mystery is solved, "In my experience nothing is ever a coincidence."

As he falls instep besides me Chase asks, "So what are you planning do about this then?"

Reaching the porch I hold the door open for him as I come up with an answer, "First I plan to keep my sword within arms reach at all times now. Beyond that however... nothing."

He stops in the door and turns to look at me with a bit of surprise in his eyes, "Really? Nothing at all?"

I shrug and wave him the rest of the way in before following and closing the door behind us, "Not much else to be done really. What ever it is already knows where we are, what we are, and most likely how many of us there are. Then if it is as intelligent as I fear it will likely know that we are aware of its presence now because of the branches. That puts it at a rather big advantage over us."

Chase nods slowly, "I see your point, and aside from just being more alert we don't know what else we can do. We are working from a very limited understanding of it."

As we climb the stairs as I make my way towards my room I drop my voice to a whisper so as not to alert the others, "Thats right, and so the smartest thing I can think of is to just be ready for a fight of any kind because we will be on the defensive if it attacks. Of course you can always hope it is just watching as it passes through and is not a threat at this time."

He opens the door to my room for me and as I step inside asks, "Ok so what now?"

After moving my sword from the bottom dresser drawer to lay on top of the dresser I sit on the foot of the bed and motion for him to close the door. Once it clicks shut I let out a soft sigh and answer, "That will depend on the next move they make. I get the feeling we weren't supposed to find out at all and that worries me more than anything else."

The bed sinks slightly as Chase settles down next to me, "Why is that?"

For a moment I consider not answering but then I figure I have gone this far, may as well go all the way, "It worries me because it brings up ideas that I really really don't like. The least troubling is that it is just a random creature, which I personally hope for but doubt. Second thought is that it is working for someone else which I find more likely and most troubling."

For a moment silence stretches out between us before Chase asks, "But who could it be working for?"

That is what has me worried and though I am loathe to admit it a bit afraid. Before the silence between us grows to heavy I manage to form an answer, "I wish I knew. There is the possibility it is my brother... but it doesn't fit his style. He has never used anything to hunt me down besides his own abilities before. For him to suddenly change after so long..."

Chase looks at me for a moment then asks, "Could it be someone else in your family then?"

A noticeable shiver goes down my spine at his words and I see his hair begin to rise a bit on his arms. With a hard swallow I force out a reply, "For all our sakes lets hope not. As bad as my brother can be they can be much much worse if they choose. No if it is a spy for someone else let us hope that it is for Agerex if only because the alternatives are much worse."

Silence stretches out between us for several long moments as we both sink into our own thoughts about what our unknown visitor's intentions might be.

Eventually a knock on the door causes us both to jump slightly as I call out, "Who is it?"

From the other side of the door a muffled voices replies, "It's Richard, is Chase in there I need to ask him a few questions about our trip to town tomorrow."

I look over and see Chase rolling his eyes before he answers, "Come on in."

The door cracks open a bit and Richard pokes his nose in the door, "Sorry to disturb you two but I wanted to clear up a few things with you."

I get up and move to open the door the rest of the way, "Its no bother we were just talking about the tree limbs that fell this morning is all."

He gives me a quizzical look before Chase gets up and comes to the door, "I'll explain it to you while we talk about the trip."

As he passes me I catch his gaze and he nods as though silently agreeing he won't say anything that would expose my secret to Richard.

After bidding them both goodnight and closing the door I go to sit on the foot of the bed and think about what to work on next. Just as I sit down however a slight cough draws my attention to the mirror.

Letting out an exasperated sigh as I roll my eyes I ask, "And what do you want?"

Without a trace of an attitude my demonic side answers, "I was thinking about our little visitor problem and there was a possibility you didn't think of."

It's his serious tone that catches my attention more than anything else. Turning to look him square on I give him my full attention as I ask, "Oh and what is that?"

He visibly swallows in the mirror and I can feel a bit of fear bubble up within my mind from where he is kept cage and I know that I am going to really hate his answer, "Well we can make a safe bet that its not Agerex sending it after us. It would be so contrary his normal way of acting."

His line of thought begins to grow clear to me and with the weight of small mountain forming in the pit of my stomach I phrase the question, "You don't seriously think HE would have sent it do you? After all this time?"

My demonic reflection nods his head, "Yes I do."

I rub my eyes with both paws muttering, "Don't say it. If it is him then we may as well slit our throats now and be done with it."

With all the bluntness of a rock he says, "I think our grandfather may have sent that thing."

I drop my paws and glare at the mirror, "I said not to say it."