Manhunter Revelations (18 page)

The way back turned out to be uneventful as I
saw no sign of the creature on my way back. I came upon one of the
roads to and from Woodspirit that crossed the river via a bridge.
After crossing the bridge it was another twenty minutes back to
Woodspirit. On the other side of the bridge there was a eight-man
patrol station set up. After identifying myself, the sergeant in
charge called in to let Major Hennings know where I was. The comm
was passed to me.

"What happened? After you missed two call
ins, I dispatched three teams to search for you"

"Stop. Call the teams and have them report
back to the village ASAP. Tell them if they encounter the creature,
not to engage it in any manner. It cannot be killed. No questions,
I will explain when I get there. Call them back Now."

The urgency of my message must have impressed
the need to call his troops back right away, because he immediately
disconnected. I briefed the troops at the station as to the
inability of killing the creature with conventional weapons, and
told them if the creature showed up, to withdraw immediately back
to the village. They were a little skeptical at first, but they
were professionals, and the sergeant assured me he would check in
with Hennings after I had reported back for further instructions. I
refused the use of their vehicle to drive back to village in case
they needed it. I walked the rest of the way back to the village.
As I got to the edge of the village, I was surprised to see all of
the Ladies waiting for me there. They were relieved to see that I
was okay, but I looked like something dragged through the mud.
Sessa however appeared to be slightly mad and upset. She said
nothing to me, just looked at me for a while, then turned and
stalked back into the village. The other Ladies walked back with
me. I looked at them for an explanation of Sessa's attitude, but
they conveniently ignored me. We met Major Hennings and Lt. Forne
on the way. I informed all of them I would take a quick shower and
meet all of them at Matriarch Hall for a debriefing. The major
insisted one of his medics check me out first, but I finally
convinced them I was okay. I got back to my cottage, took off my
equipment and wet clothes and jumped into the shower.

The shower was so good it almost made me
change my mind about any meeting, and instead go to bed. I fought
off the urge, got dressed and reported to the hall. When I got
there all the Ladies were present including Serona and Tessia.
Major Hennings and his core staff, which consisted of Lt. Forne,
Sergeant Danvers, Sergeant Stallings, and Spec Ops 1st Williams
were also already there. Hennings men was an impressive staff, all
of whom I had met previously except for Lt. Forne who had joined
the team after my assignment working with them. He was a short man
about five foot seven, and was almost as wide as he was tall. A
bull of a man with a serious demeanor that brooked no nonsense.
Sergeant Stallings was a big black man. Taller than me by half a
head and a good seventy pound heavier, all of it muscle and he has
seen combat in a number of very bad engagements on assignments
around the world with Hennings. I had seen him in action when I was
on assignment with them. He was one of the most dangerous men I
knew in a combat situation. Sergeant Danvers and Spec Ops Williams
were family related and you could see the resemblance in them. Both
was of slim build, but you could see the muscle on them was lean
and mean. They looked like slightly smaller versions of Hennings
who had the same general slim build, except Hennings was also a big
man. As tall as me and around the same weight and build. I had also
seen Hennings in combat. Hennings and Stallings had been in some of
the worst combat situations imaginable around the world and they
were very dangerous. It was no wonder Hennings had been picked to
head this team, and having Stallings on it. Danvers and Williams
had joined Hennings a few years back when his special unit was
being formed. They were all specialists in different fields, but
their most enduring qualifications was their combat ability. I
didn’t know the specifics, but had learned enough to know they were
the best of the best at their jobs. Apparently no one had yet eaten
as there was a full food layout on a banquet table that looked
untouched. After shaking the other troops hands and small talk
everyone had a quick snack and then settled down to hear my report.
It wasn't pretty. When I finished, they all had very grim looks on
their faces. All except Tessia. She had a look of shocked and
terrified recognition on her face. Noticing my gaze at Tessia,
Serona turned and looked at her. Tessia slowly turned and faced
Serona. For a few seconds they stared at each other and then Serona
got the same shocked and terrified look on her face. Both of them
stood up and Tessia said,

“Wait here, please”

Right then and there in front of all of us
she took a step forward and just disappeared.

“What the fu…” started Sergeant Stallings
jumping up before catching himself. Yet the feeling was mutual. All
of us were shocked at her sudden disappearance. All of us except
the Ladies.

“Serona, what just happened. Where did Tessia
go?”

“She went back to Muraii. Please be patient
and wait”

“So that’s how you all go back and forth to
Muraii” stated Williams. It was more of an affirmation then a
question. Yet all of us were shocked to our core to just see Tessia
disappear like that. The other ladies had realized that something
was terribly wrong and you could see it in their faces, but they
remained quiet, yet vigilant.

I looked at Serona

"Killing this creature by conventional means
is not going to work. We need something out of the ordinary to do
so. If any of you have any tricks up your sleeve, now is the time
to reveal it"

She as well as the other Ladies understood me
completely. They knew I was referring to the fact I felt they were
keeping something from the rest of us. Everyone was quiet for a few
minutes.

“How about using Power Torches” this from
Spec Ops Williams.

“If we can trap the creature in a open area
and blow away it’s legs like Tracker here did, while it is down we
can surround it with Suppression Foam and torch it using the Power
Torches. Within minutes it would be nothing but a pile of ashes.
Surely it couldn’t regenerate itself from that”

That was a very good idea. You could see the
idea was taking hold in Major Hennings and his men minds. The
Ladies however had looks on their faces ranging from shock to
horror.

“I gather you Ladies do not think that is a
good idea. Why?”

Serona raised her hand to stop the flow of
replies that started with the younger Ladies.

“I am sure that all of you have noticed the
unusual beauty of the forest surrounding Woodspirit. It is not a
fully natural occurrence that it is so. We have been working with
the residents here for over forty years cultivating the forest here
to it’s present beauty. This process is still ongoing. One of the
benefits of our cultivation is that these woods are somewhat fire
resistant. You see for centuries these woods were very prone to
forest fires caused by a multitude of different sources. Since our
project has been going on there has not been a forest fire in this
area for over twenty plus years. In another generation the tree
growth and plant life in the area around here for six hundred
square miles will be regulated, fire resistant and much more
beautiful then the woods you are seeing now. We are all familiar
with the Power Torches the military uses for clearing away unwanted
foliage and debris. They are powerful enough to turn even these
woods to ash. We cannot allow their use here. The damage would be
incalculable”

I had never heard of these Power Torches, but
surmised they could be used to start fires to burn away all traces
of the creature. The fear of a forest fire was somewhat
understandable. Yet I needed clarification.

“What are Power Torches?”

“Power Torches are small portable flame
generators we use to clear away large tracks of land. We surround
the area we want to clear with Suppression Foam, which was
specially formulated to resist the intense heat generated by the
torches and prevent the spread of the heat and flames. This is
necessary as the torches generate heat beams from 200 to as hot as
2000 degrees depending on what we need turned to ash. They are very
powerful. Misuse would be disastrous. No matter how fire resistance
these woods are, a power torch would turn them to ash if the beam
was misdirected. I can only assume any battle we have with the
creature using the torches could get out of hand then damage to the
forest could be done” explained Hennings

“Which is why they must not be used, but we
will find a way to destroy this creature” stated Serona

Just then a shimmering of the air in the room
started and a round circle appeared in the air that looked somewhat
like the surface of a pond. Out of that stepped Tessia followed by
four of the largest men, opps, largest anything I have ever seen.
They were over seven feet tall and huge. Not muscular huge, blocky
huge. They must have been at least five feet wide and almost four
feet deep at the chest. They looked like male hybrid Muraii, but
something was off. For one they did not have the alien beauty one
would expect for a Muraiin male, and I was told the males looked
just as good as the females. For some reason they just didn’t look
right. Once they were all in the room with the rest of us looking
on Tessia walked over to the window and while pointing out toward
the building where the women of the village would be sleeping at
night, turned to the four giants and said

“Across the court is your assignment. Under
no circumstances is that creature to be allowed to get to any of
the women”

“Yes Seer” rumbled one of them and then all
four marched out the door toward the women’s safe haven. Each of
them head barely cleared the top of the doorframe, and these doors
are larger than usual. After they left we all looked back at
Tessia. Out of the corner of my eye I could see sheer shock on the
faces of the younger ladies. Serona looked very stressed, but
composed.

“Serona and I must return to Muraii for
further research on this matter. The guards I placed on duty will
insure the woman will be safe if the creature does return. He will
not get to any of them.

“Who are they”

“They are special guards sent by the Elders
to safeguard the woman. Let us all settle in for the night. A good
night's rest will be good for us all. We will discuss your findings
with our elders back in Muraii, and somehow we will find a way to
destroy this creature once and for all. Major you need to make
preparations to pull all the women and men into the pavilion and
other halls for their protection, as well as that of your men. The
creature might feel compelled to attack anyone after it’s battle
with Conrad here.

"It will be done" stated Hennings

"Fine. I ask that you all please be patient
with us"

Even though she was speaking to all of us,
see was staring expressly at me.

"Serona be aware the use of the Power Torches
is a last resort. Command may order us to us them if we do not find
another way to stop the creature"

"I understand Major, but please do all you
can to not let that happen. We will be back with a solution"

At that point another shimmering oval
appeared in the air and both of them stepped into it and were gone.
As soon as they both stepped through, the oval disappeared. Talk
about freaky. It was going to take me some time getting used to
their method of traveling home. Judging from the looks on Hennings
and his men faces, they felt the same way. Major Hennings gave
final instructions to his men and then asked me to accompany him to
his command post. Nodding to him I went over to Sessa who seemed to
have gotten over whatever was bothering her before, probably due to
the recent but still unexplained turn of events that had
occurred.

"I am feeling out of my depth here. I
seriously need to talk to you later. It is important"

She nodded absently and left the hall with
the other Ladies.

I spent the remainder of the night planning
with Hennings, and his staff on defense preparations in case the
creature showed up. We went over the fine details of my trip and
encounter with the creature during my trip to the woods. We watched
the four Muraiins stand guard at their posts. They stood like
statues with the only thing moving on them was their heads as they
surveyed everything happening around them. Even though there was a
lot of activity going on around them I got the impression they
missed nothing. At one point some metal containers fell over
causing a racket. The Muraiin giant closest to it, turned its head
around to the left in what had to be almost 120 degrees to see what
the racket was. At the time Lt. Forne and Sergeant Danvers was next
to me and was as shocked as I was on seeing that.

“Did anyone else see what I just saw?”

“Yes, Danvers we saw it” Stated Forne

We all looked at each other and wondered what
the hell these guys were.

“The sun will be up in a couple of hours so
I'm going to get some sleep. Let me know if anything comes up. I
would also suggest you let Hennings know what we just saw”

Getting a nod of agreement from Lt. Forne as
he continued to watch the Muraiins, I went back to my cottage and
got a few hours sleep.

It was late morning when I woke up and I was
up for about an hour when Sessa knocked at my door. As I let her in
she was covered in a lightweight but elaborate and beautiful cloak
that covered her from her shoulders down to her ankles. This seemed
unusual to me as the weather was still very mild outside. As I
closed the door, Sessa walked to the middle of the floor, turned to
me and dropped her cloak to the floor. I immediately almost
followed it. She had on a very beautiful and sheer gown that
revealed all of her amazing physical attributes. The gown also
reflected the light from the lit globes in the cottage as if she
had hundreds of little lights built into the gown. She stood there
looking like a dreamy fairy with a multicolored aura around her.
She didn't say anything. She just stood there looking at me,
melting me down like butter over a flame. It took me quite a few
seconds to get myself together enough to croak out