While Raviel had been out seeing the town, Saska had woken up. With the elf nowhere in sight, now seemed like a perfect time to do some investigating of his own. The fact was that Raviel knew very little about this realm, and he didn't feel like explaining every little thing to make any progress. He'd just solve this case on his own, Raviel would get the information he wanted from the Lady, and they could get out of here. Frankly, this island unnerved him more than a little.

Since the dwarf was with him – information gained from the old female -, Raviel would not leave the town. And if he had understood the elf's character at all, he wanted to find connections. Clues to point him to the right direction. Personally...Saska was going to take a look outside the town and see where his Outcast instincts told him -not- to go.

He checked that the blue pearl the Lady had given Raviel - and he had snatched from the elf's belongings when Raviel wasn't looking – was securely inside his vest pocket and headed outside. That might come in handy.

He walked past the fields outside the town and had a brief chat with a shepherd tending to a flock of sheep. He couldn't really tell anything useful, only that every evening when the mist started rising he'd quickly take the animals to a shelter built nearby, hurry to his home and pray that nothing would find his flock during the night.

Saska continued on his way, steadily heading inland. If something was working hidden outside where the Lady could see, it couldn't be near the shore. Gradually the grasslands where the animals grazed gave way to shrubbery and then to a forest with thick underbrush.

A faint chill ran across his skin, making the hairs on his arms stand on end. The coldness of the grave. Something that was not alive had passed through here recently.

After a brief moment of searching he found a well-trodden path in the underbrush, starting a hundred feet or so inside the forest border. An animal trail? Not likely. For a moment he debated going back to tell Raviel, but in the end decided to check it out himself. He wasn't going to fight or anything. See what the cause of this feeling was, find its lair and get out of here. The people in town should be able to kill whatever it was on their own.

There was a faint trembling feeling in his chest as he carefully moved along the trail. "Sasha? What's wrong?" he asked in quiet voice.

There was no reply, just a distinct feeling on unease.

'Yeah, I feel it too.'

He stopped as he saw the path widen into a small clearing and scooted to the side to stay out of sight in the undergrowth.

The clearing was completely barren, not a blade of grass growing on it. The coldness creeping into his very bones was almost enough to make him gasp for breath. How had the elves, with all their magical abilities, failed to notice this? Unless...it was their work all along.

In the middle of the clearing was a black stone slab, probably closer to 10x10 feet in width and three in height. Standing in front of it was a man with wavy golden hair down to his shoulders – an elf judging by his height and the pointed tips of his ears. He didn't look like he had noticed Saska, intent on studying the stone slab. The gray cloak he wore made it impossible to tell if he had any weapons, but the sheer feeling of death emanating from him was plenty enough for the boy to want to keep his distance. He'd only need to see the elf's face and they'd have their culprit.

Just then something pushed him on the back. He slowly turned his head to face a very big dog's face. Well, at least it looked like a dog. This close it had a strange musty smell, and he couldn't feel its breath.

Saska tried to inch away, but the hound grabbed his arm on its jaws – not hard enough to break through his clothes – and pulled him to his feet. Then it herded him to the clearing.

"Hmm?" The elf turned to look at the pair. "What did you find?"

"Tell this thing to let go of me!" Saska protested.

"Bring him here."

Saska couldn't really struggle or try to dig his heels in, lest his arm be ripped to shreds. Thankfully the hound let go of him once he was face-to-face with the elf.

"And who might you be?" the elf asked. "There's a strange feeling in you."

"My name is Saska." He pulled out the blue pearl. "I'm working for the Lady."

For now, it was better not to mention what he was working on, since the culprit would not think kindly of anyone interfering. If he could just play it so that he didn't know anything yet, he might be able to get away.

"Really? Working on wh-" He stopped mid-sentence as an ominous gust of wind from below blew a part of the stone slab aside like a twig.

Saska fell to his backside, his entire body freezing from sheer terror as something he had never seen before crawled out from the hole. Like a huge, deformed baby, its skin mottled in the red of dried blood and black of flesh rotten alive. And it was breathing dark whispers straight into his soul. It wanted...him.

Just then a force field flashed around the outer perimeter of the slab. The creature made a disgruntled sound, unable to pass through, and retreated back to its hiding place. The lid that had been tossed aside moved back to cover the hole.

The elf pocketed the blue pearl while Saska was still too stunned to protest. Then he noticed the patterns peeking under the boy's sleeves. He knelt down and pushed the fabric out of the way. Outcast tattoos.

He slapped Saska's face. "Come back to your senses. Your act wouldn't convince anyone, but I need you for now. Dead or alive, that is up to you."

Hopefully the boy hadn't lost his mind. He might never get the answers he wanted if that was the case.

He nodded to his dog. "Bring him along. We're going back home."

By the time Saska started being aware of his surroundings instead of the recent memories of horror, they were back in town and were gathering an audience. The hound was carrying him by the back of his vest like a pup, leaving his feet to drag behind under its belly.

The elf stopped as they were surrounded by curious townsfolk.

"Who is this?" one of them asked.

"I'm not quite sure yet. But I do think he's either behind the recent disappearances or at the very least an accomplice."

"Then make him give our girls back!"

"Hold on!" Saska tried to protest. "I haven't done anything! It's that guy you should be suspicious of!"

As his words were ignored, he grabbed one of his throwing knives. He'd just have to prove it was the elf who was deceiving them.

The hound seemed to pay no mind to what he was doing, so he had the perfect opening to stab the blade into its shoulder. The creature made no sound or even seemed to notice the wound, like the enchantment didn't affect it at all. He jerked his weapon free. No blood flowed from the injury either.

"Look!" he called out. "This thing is an undead!"

But instead of the reaction he had hoped for one of the onlookers kicked him and jerked the knife from his hand.

"Enough," the golden-haired elf pushed his assailant aside with barely any force, but much more authority. Then he spoke to the dog, "Hold him still."

Saska hit the ground with force as the huge muzzle pushed him down. Sharp teeth closed almost gently around his shoulder. Hold him still, but do not kill. This thing obeyed its master without hesitation.

"Just burn him," a sour-looking dwarf commented. "Problem solved. No more lost folk."

NO! He was not a witch or undead. He didn't...want to burn.

"No, give him to the Lady and let her decide."

That sounded a little better.

"Yeah, throw him to the lake!"

...That did not.

"Why can't you listen to me?! That man is a necromancer! He's the one you should look at if you want to know where your people disappeared to."

The elf who had kicked him earlier almost did so again, but backed away quickly as the hound looked at him from the corner of its eye.

"They already know," the golden-haired elf told him. "Now please be quiet."

No...Would he really be killed for wandering into a wrong place...