Knight of the Mind
From Beneath
Part 3.
As he closed the door behind him, Cass took a moment to take stock of the room that served as Maester Kennet's office. The room was well lit, and the fireplace was already stoked and well fed. Even though there was at least an hour of natural light left.
Maester Kennet as per usual was at his desk looking over some document or other. Even though he was only in his middle years his hair had already gone white with barely any of its natural red remaining. Looking up from his work, he asked "well?".
"Forgive the intrusion, but you asked that I bring you my report by the end of the day". Barely looking up from whatever he was reading, the Maester said, "Yes, what have you found?". After taking a moment to clear his throat, Cass began reviewing the details of the case.
"Approximately, three weeks ago the City Watch came across the corpse of an indigent male near the entrance to the sewers in the southern quarter of the city. The case was brought to our attention due to the nature of the man's injuries and possible cause of death". Pausing to shift his weight from his right to his left, he continued. "According to Maester Aden, one of the coroners on duty at the time. The cause of death was first considered to be blunt force trauma. That he'd merely been the victim of a particularly brutal beating".
"On a cursory examination, he noticed that the corpse to have evidence of being scavenged by animals, most likely feral dogs". Taking a breath, he went on. "However, on a more thorough inspection, he noticed that the bite marks were not conclusive with the bite of any dog recorded". "In addition, after inspecting these wounds he determined that they were made
before the victim expired". Taking a moment to look up he realised that he had the Maester's full attention.
"After his re-examination of the corpse, Maester Aden's determined that while the corpse had suffered from massive amounts of physical trauma. The way the bones had been broken were conclusive with being slowly constricted, like the large snakes found in the swamps to the North and not a physical beating".
"He then concluded that judging from the descriptions of the scene and the lack of blood in the body, the victim died from massive blunt force trauma related to having his body slowly crushed while simultaneously being eaten alive".
"Unfortunately, with the evidence available to us at the time, it was not possible to narrow down what could have killed the man in such a way". "Moreover, since the first victim was found, four other victims have been confirmed".
One of the victims had been a little girl, only seven years old. Gods be good, his youngest sibling, Alys was seven, now wasn't she? By the Seven Hells!! There had been barely anything left of her to…
Ruthlessly burying the dark thoughts, He went on.
Alys was home, she was safe, they were all safe. "From the evidence we have so far, we can surmise that it is most likely subterranean in nature. As all the eggs have been found hidden underground". "In addition, from the size of the egg sac, we can deduce that each sac only contains one creature and not a swarm as previously suggested". "Furthermore, from the tracks left behind, we estimate that it is roughly the size of a dog". But, depending on how often it has been...
feeding, this information may no longer be correct". He paused here waiting for the Maester's input, he knew how this dance went already.
Leaning back in his chair, Kennet steepled his fingers and after a few seconds and responded. "So, you have nothing new?".
Though it had been phrased as a question it felt more like a reprimand. Careful to keep his expression neutral, he pressed forward, "Fortunately, the scouts have only found three of these sacs so far". And then with a tinge of smug in his voice, "however, by cross-referencing what has already been gathered with the descriptions given by eyewitnesses and my own research, I am reasonably certain that what we are dealing with is a
creature described by a Maester Gunnar from Pike". "And while the creature he describes is noted to be quite dexterous, it is not particularly hardy. It is also described as an ambush predator, therefore I believe well armed should be capable of dealing with so long as it can be quickly found".
Here comes the hard part. Taking a moment he took a breath and wet his bottom lip. Judging from the way Maester Kennet tensed and leaned forward he realised that something was wrong.
"there appears to be more". Frowning, Kennet carefully placed his hands on the desk, leaned forward and said, "Explain". "According to Maester Gunnar, these creatures were merely the pawns of other more powerful beings. Regrettably, much of this part of his writing had become faded and illegible. The only words I've been able to make out were the words of a single incomplete sentence. And it said, --ware the deep--".
Finally done, and throat feeling parched, he looked towards his superior. The older man's eyes were closed, and he was massaging his temples. Sighing, he reached for a stack of parchments, stood up and passed them over to him as he walked over. "I received this an hour before you arrived". He then turned around and headed to the window.
Taken aback slightly, he began reading the parchment. By the middle of the page, Cass felt the bottom drop out of his stomach. As he read page after page in the document the feeling of dread that had plagued him on the way up began to seem prophetic.
By the Seven, he thought.
How could they be so blind? But there was no heat to it, not truly. Only a sense of weariness that seemed to seep into his very bones.
"It seems our original estimates were incorrect. We had assumed that the original victim that was found by the Watch was the first. We were mistaken".
Edit: Apparently Cass doesn't like talking to people.
Next chapter more dialogue hopefully.
Edit Thanks to
@TalonofAnathrax for the monster. God that thing creeped me out...
