Whispers of the Mountain - Act 1

Two men stood across each other, having yet uttered a word. The store smelled of rotten wood and aged shelves with sparse items and settled dust. Alejandro held a handful of freshly-carved deer pelts he had gathered during his hunts in the surrounding area with Enne. The shopkeeper remained glued upon his client’s amber eyes. Alejandro couldn’t tell whether it was due to him being a loathed sorcerer or perhaps the old man didn’t know who he was. Nonetheless, the sight had become all too familiar.

“You ain’t thinking about leaving town now, are ya, wanderer?” Robert asked. The man’s amber eyes narrowed at the question.

Alejandro’s heavy winter jacket concealed his dwindling frame. His graying shoulder-length hair was tied into a low ponytail that became bushy at its wavy tips. His salt and pepper beard reached the coat’s thick collar. Coming for a routine exchange, he didn’t expect the old man to say much to him. He had only ever known his name through hearsay. He slid over the animal pelts for trade.

‘Robert, was it?” Alejandro answered. The old man’s brown eyes looked at them with dissatisfaction. “We’re just passing through, and we’ll be gone in a day, give or take.”

“More deer pelt?” Robert sighed, taking it off the counter to accept the trade.

“Huh?”

The old man’s frail finger pointed toward an open door full of assorted animal furs. Robert’s unwavering frown had become synonymous with him since the incident years ago. The wanderer withheld his laughter when he saw the mountain of surplus the shopkeeper had built. Otherwise, the shopkeeper had every reason to decline.

“Before ya know it,” Robert said. “We’ll probably be eating it. We get so many of them I don’t even know what to do with it.”

“All you get is fur?” he asked.

“Ain’t nothing around here but a few deer here and there.”

“Is that so? Something feels a little…off.”

“There are things that prowl in those woods that ain’t meant for this world. Besides, anyone who hunts there wouldn’t give up their food.”

“Necrobytes can be a real nuisance.”

“It ain’t none of that, son. I was the last hunter from this town that ever dared to enter that godforsaken mountain. Even those foolish enough to go there never came back, or we’d find them ripped apart down the mountainside.”

There wasn’t any doubt from Robert’s voice; there was something there. Before Alejandro could ask, a hooded woman entered. Her black, hooded cloak barely draped over her slender shoulders, containing much of her long silver head of wavy hair. The red ribbed dress touched her thigh, exposing much of her skin, save for the bandaged wraps on her right thigh. Her well-worn black boots stopped at her fair-skinned ankles. She stood by the counter, arms crossed. Her silver eyes met with the wanderer’s amber eyes. Robert ogled the cloaked woman, perhaps a little too much in his observation.

“Is everything all right, Allie?” she asked.

“Nothing important, En,” he replied.

“Ain’t ya cold, miss?” Robert asked.

“This weather isn’t too bad,” she answered politely.

Allie and the shopkeeper looked at each other, silently acknowledging the cold climate. The weather remained steady at 20 degrees. Light snow fluttered through gray skies and stuck to the pathways. Alejandro knew why his companion could walk around as though it were a brisk spring night. Robert looked between the two with suspicion.

“Are you with this man?” The old man asked.

“Yes,” They answered over the other at once.

“It ain’t safe out there,” the old man reiterated. “There’s a monster out there that not even a wanderer like him could kill. Killing deer ain’t nothing.

Enne turned to Robert with piqued curiosity. Alejandro set their supplies to the side and watched. Whenever she became interested in something, she would probe further. This often resulted in unnecessary flights of adventure. She took a few steps forward with a grin, though the old man’s sagged face hesitated to move his lips. Something was terrifying by the interrogative expression she had.

“You’ve got my attention,” she spoke. “We’ve gotten warnings from others, but no one’s managed to explain what this thing is. Perhaps you can explain?

“A windigo,” his haggard voice trembled into a whisper. “It prowls the forest along the mountainside. I’ve seen it. That devil took my buddies and my nephew. It’s been well over a year since that happened. We were looking for a missing family, but we only found two bodies, the other two, maybe the windigo, took them. The damn town is cursed.”

Windigos? Cursed? Alejandro thought.

“How did you manage to survive, then?” Enne asked.

“My nephew… He pushed me down a slope before it could get the both of us,” he replied.

“Are you sure it wasn’t misidentification?” The wanderer asked. He ignored Enne’s glare of disapproval. “The indigenous population centuries ago spoke of them centuries ago, but there’s no merit. It could be a bear, hell, even a pack of wolves.”

“I know what I saw,” Robert grit his teeth. “I’ve hunted in these lands for years. What I saw could only be brought on by the devil himself.”

“You’d be surprised by misidentifications of experienced hunters.”

“I used to be just like you until that day. I thought it was some fucked up native tale, but I was dead wrong.”

“I’m just stating—”

“That’s enough,” Enne cut Alejandro off before turning to the shopkeeper. Robert listened to her soothing voice. “We’ve traveled through many towns, and this is the first we’ve heard of this. Allie, I don’t see a reason he would say such a tall tale.”

Enne’s focus shifted from curiosity to concern after considering everything he explained. Experienced hunters knew their wildlife better than anyone. What was the windigo supposed to be if it wasn’t any known wildlife? She couldn’t help but stroke her chin in pondering.

“I’m just saying, miss,” the old man pleaded. “Anyone that goes into those woods is asking for death.”

“Unfortunately, we can’t stay out from those parts,” she interrupted. “Taking the long road took longer than anticipated. And my partner and I still have a ways to go to get back to our motorcycle.”

Robert wondered what she meant when she saw the grin on her lips.

“So, we’re in no hurry. Allie and I love solving problems.”

We do? Alejandro raised an eyebrow.

They were days behind schedule.

“What are you saying?” Robert asked.

“We want to solve your problem.”

Robert chuckled.

“I admire your tenacity, but nothing good’ll come from that mountain. You best steer clear from it.”

“Welp, you aren’t required to come with us.”

The shopkeeper patted his hip.

“Wouldn’t be able to. My nephew may’ve saved my life, but I can’t walk without a cane. I called him a coward all this time, yet he’s the one who saved my life. Wish I would’ve treated him differently.”

“Why is that?” Enne asked. His tired eyes slowly drifted toward hers.

“It’s a really foolish reason,” Robert shook his head.

“I’m not here to judge. If it sets you at ease, I’m all ears.”

Enne pointed toward her ears with a smile, a gesture Alejandro knew well. He smiled, watching her try to pry into the old man’s heart. Those gestures were what won him over to her whimsical nature. Robert agreed with a weak smile.

“Well, his father and I had a falling out after our mother passed. It was two heirlooms, one a ring and the other a necklace. It was meant for us to pass down. But he ran off with the ring but left the necklace to his son. Michael… I was always so hard on him. I didn’t want him to grow up to be like his old man. Everything that happened, it was so sudden.”

Robert’s tears rolled down his face.

“I’m sorry for your loss. I—I get the impression your nephew must’ve had no ill will toward you. You must’ve stood in like a father. Sometimes we let our personal attitudes shape our perception around us. We hurt others, forgetting we too are hurt.”

“He—asked me to forgive his father. I don’t know if I can.”

The wanderer leaned away from the entrance, grabbing his companion’s attention. He found it hard to believe an old Native American myth could be real, but his curiosity was piqued by the man’s confession. He met her silver eyes, watering from his plight.

“Well, not sure if there’s anything else we can get for those pelts,” Alejandro said. “You can have them then. I think we’ve gotten all we could for the trip back.”

“What?” Robert responded. Enne’s lips pursed, seeing her companion’s passive expression of concern. “Why?”

“Can’t do anything with it.”

“And,” Enne added, turning toward Robert. “We did give a decent portion of our food to the local kitchen. 60/40, I believe. Is there anyone who can help us understand this, windigo, better?”

The shopkeeper wiped his tears and cleared his throat before he spoke. They might’ve bought the dwindling town time for the cruel winter. Getting his bearings together, Robert answered: “There’s an old woman that lives on the edge of town. She’s a descendant of a local shaman that passed away some years ago. She might be able to help.”

“We’ll do our best,” Enne replied, turning to the wanderer. “Allie, let’s go pay her a visit.”

Later that evening…

Enne stacked several books onto the bouncy bed. It startled the slumbering wanderer as he sat up. The cold books had books slid against his body. It was rare to find inns with decent comfort as most towns were desolate. The wanderer observed her casually flipping open the first book from the edge of the bed. Her energy was as consistent as before, curious about the thing Robert said with so much fear. Alejandro’s tired eyes drifted toward the slit of her kimono, quickly glancing away when she noticed.

“I know you weren’t trying to strain your eyes on mere words,” Enne smiled.

“What are you doing?” Alejandro sighed. “It’s late.”

“Late? Our night is just beginning!”

“What? We’ve been out most of the day. And we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.”

Enne pouted before laying by the books. Her lightweight kimono was barely holding together with her curvaceous body. It was then the wanderer realized another concern when her teasing eyes redirected at him. He didn’t know how to express his concerns, especially seeing her wraps around her thigh undone. The black, scaly surface was hard to the touch, but she didn’t seem affected by it.

“En, you should consider wearing… clothes?” The wanderer said.

“Why is that? She replied, inching closer to him. “Were you jealous the old shopkeeper had his eyes on me?”

“Unless you’re suddenly into older guys….”

“Seriously? What do you take me for? It’s not my fault if people take a liking to me. Remember when I said my body temperature could be better regulated by wearing less?”

“Sounds like an absolute copout.”

“I have dragon blood coursing in my veins. At least, I’m not wearing a string.”

Enne turned to find his blushed cheeks. She grimaced at the thought of having him hot under the collar. He cleared his throat, looking past her and onto the books. It comprised the local wildlife and a collection of stories relating to the town. Enne’s head came off the way of his sight with her teasing smile.

“Were you really thinking…”

“Good thing we aren’t going anywhere hot.”

“Who says I’m not feeling hot right now?”

Enne winked with a grimace to match when Alejandro let out a tired laugh. He sat up against the rachet bed end, watching her drag a book toward them. Her demeanor changed drastically, having taken a more serious expression after feeling the weight of it in her hands. Centuries of this local town’s lore were consolidated into this.

“Enough of the chit-chat,” she said, examining the book’s worn state. “We need to get to the bottom of the town’s history.”

“What would it have to do with the town?” the wanderer asked.

“I’m quite familiar with these sorts of tales. You can say I’m a bit of a cryptozoologist myself.”

“Okay… Right? Wait. Why is this tied to cryptozoology?”

“You don’t believe me? There’s a chance that most River Dragon sightings attributed to much of the lake monster sightings centuries ago.”

“You’re saying they were here sooner?”

“There’s a chance. From what I’ve read from my father’s writings, they might’ve been introduced accidentally via portals… Just like necrobytes. Point being… Because people then weren’t aware of these mechanisms, they concluded there was something else to it.”

“Windigos—”

“Were deemed supernatural to the local tribes. People who traveled in harsh wintry weather would become delirious after a time, transforming man to beast. Of course, that’s a gross simplification—”

“Windigo psychosis.”

“Is what it was called in the psychology field of the 20th century, but there is more to it than just someone who loses their marbles. It’s a very real thing and what Robert described was very much an actual sighting of the beast in true form.”

“I—I find it hard to believe.”

“Why? There are so many fantastical things that exist around us. Necrobytes, mana, and so on and so on. These things would be beyond the standards of human science centuries ago. Can we maybe entertain that if mana could manipulate matter, it could manipulate organisms?”

“Like how necrobytes impact lower life forms?”

“Exactly. Mana is wielded differently based on sentience as well, whereas necrobytes could only affect the other.”

“Wow… How did you come to that conclusion?”

“What do you think a 300-year-old half-elf does with their free time?”

“I think there’s a certain level of pseudo-science here.”

Enne left her response with a smile as she turned back to the book. Alejandro noticed her paler skin, contrasting with what it was when they first met. He reached his hand over before she turned the page. Enne rested her hand on the book, absorbing his warm touch before looking at him.

“We don’t need to find reasons to jump into everything,” Alejandro said. The candlelight emblazoned her silver eyes subtly when she looked at him again.

“We need to do what’s right,” Enne responded. “You’ve seen the state of these communities we’ve traveled through.”

“And your health? You’re just one person….”

“What does it matter? I can use my powers to help, not keep my head down.”

“It matters to me.”

Enne paused. His word struck a chord, though she did her best to hide her reaction; She couldn’t. Alejandro guided her hand toward him, kissing her hand.

“After all, what’s a knight without his queen?” he asked.

“Typically, queens aren’t supposed to have affairs with their subordinates,” she smirked.

“Goddammit, Enne.”





Enne and Alejandro have grown quite a bit since the end of the first novel. The flow between them is a lot more natural since they're used to the other's presence. Writing lines for them have always been fun. If you like, like! Comment on what you think?