The Beast That Never Was by Werlinger Caren J

Author:Werlinger, Caren J. [Werlinger, Caren J.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Corgyn Publishing, LLC
Published: 2016-06-01T04:00:00+00:00

Lise fretted and chafed at being kept confined to the farm, but she didn’t dare disappear again so soon after Azra’s comments. The only relief from her captivity was the delight of two new calves, bawling and hopping about on spindly legs. The workload lightened a bit as the calves needed their mothers’ milk. Isabel and Adelheid had already made pets of them.

Her salvation came in the form of Rhein. They had just finished the morning milking and sat to eat when he knocked on the door. Yana immediately pulled him in, inviting him to sit and break his fast with them.

“I can’t,” he said. “My father is expecting me. I came to see if Lise would like to go with us.”

“Why only Lise?” Azra asked indignantly.

Rhein smiled and held up his crossbow. “We’re hunting a bear that has been sighted. We need extra chasers to scare it toward us. If we find it and kill it, we’ll be skinning and butchering it. You’re more than welcome to come along if you wish.”

Azra wrinkled her nose. “No, thank you.”

Lise hid a smile. “I’ll be ready in just a moment.” She ran upstairs to strap her father’s old knife onto her belt.

“I don’t know how long we’ll be,” she said when she came back down.

Yana held out a bag stuffed with some bread and cheese. “Take this.”

“Thank you.”

“We may be gone all day,” Rhein said. “I’ll see she gets home safely.”

Lise fought back a twinge of irritation that anyone needed to see her home, but let it go without commenting. She was just grateful to have an excuse to get away.

As soon as they left the house, Rhein said in a low voice, “Bring your axe.”

Puzzled, Lise pulled the axe free from the chopping block and followed him.

When they were out of earshot of the house, he said, “There is no bear. At least, we don’t know what it is.”

“Why? What happened?” Lise’s mind went immediately to Senna.

“It’s Achim.” Rhein led the way toward the forest. “Remember at the harvest festival when he heard something?”

“Yes.”

“Well, he heard it again.” Rhein paused and looked at her. “It’s crazy, but he says he saw Joachim.”

Lise stared at him for a moment. “But Joachim is dead.”

Rhein nodded. “I know. So does Achim. He knows it can’t be, but he swears he saw Joachim yesterday, lying under the tree that killed him, calling out to Achim for help. All just as it happened that day.”

They resumed walking, neither speaking for a while.

“But why are we here?” Lise asked. “Are we looking for a dead boy? A ghost?”

“We don’t know what we’re looking for,” Rhein said. “But there have been too many strange sightings lately. Magda’s Kludde, whatever scared Dierk, the wolf my father and I saw.”

Lise thought quickly. “But they’re all different. They have nothing in common. There’s no such thing as a Kludde, and it’s not that unusual for a wolf to come down from the mountains.”

“I know, but Father and I want to search the forest ourselves.

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