Merci stood next to her new husband, Pieter, as they stared out into the darkness of the woods and strained to listen. But no screams drifted out of the woods, only the buzz of spring insects and the approaching rain.
She was afraid of the silence. For three years, they had been listening to Rin's high pitched screams every night and frequently during the day. It was a constant, like the wind blowing or the cries of her second child.
Then, five days ago, the screams stopped. She didn't know what it meant, but it scared her. It also terrified the rest of the village. People looked at each other, unwilling to talk about Rin's cries but also unable to speak about the silence. The only ones who seemed to know what was happening were the elders but they weren't speaking to anyone besides themselves.
“He isn't coming back,” muttered Pieter. He turned to face the interior of the cottage and his wife. “Come on, at least it is quiet.”
“It's wrong,” whispered Merci. She still remembered the events the day Rin disappeared. She had no doubt that she and Pieter were the cause of it. She didn't miss the cross-dresser but every time she heard a cry in the middle of the night, she thought about the horrified look on Rin's face when his secret was revealed.
“Come to bed.”
A crunch to the side of the house drew both of their attentions. Merci leaned out the door as Klaus came walking up. She caught sight of his sword belt, he hadn't worn that in close to a decade. “Daddy?”
“Hello, Honey, got a moment?”
Merci shared a glance with Pieter and then nodded. “Of course, come in.”
Klaus nodded to Pieter as he slipped in. He sat down heavily on the table, his back to the door. The scabbard banged against the chair.
Merci glanced at the bedroom doors, wincing in fear that one of the boys would wake up. Her eldest, Quinn, had been having night terrors for the last few months and the youngest still woke up in the middle of the night to feed.
When no cries came from the bedrooms, Merci closed the front door and headed into the kitchen area to pour her daddy a lager. “Why are you out so late?”
“Oh, your mom is in one of her moods. I just needed to clear my head and noticed your lights were on.”
Merci's hand froze centimeters from the glass. Her daddy never walked when he was angry, he bellowed and fought, not fled. There was something wrong. She glanced at his sword again and then felt a quiver of fear rolling in her belly. She finished pouring the glass, gave it to her father, and sat down across from him. “Daddy, what's wrong?”
Klaus seemed to age for a second, the wrinkles in his face growing ashen. He drank deeply, holding the glass with both hands. When he set it down, he was shaking.
Pieter didn't seem to notice as he sprawled in another chair.
“Daddy?”
Klaus looked up. “Eighteen years ago, your granddaddy told me a secret. The secret of the Ring Villages and the Bordeli Forest.”
Merci shook her head. “What secret? Everyone knows the forests are forbidden. Only an idiot like Rin… only an idiot would go into them.”
Klaus looked down at his glass. “No, not an idiot.”
“What? The cross-dresser?”
Pale, Klaus looked up. “There used to be screaming when I grew up too, you know. It was a night like this, when your granddaddy told me to head over to the Jinith cottage and warn them.”
As if to emphasize the point, a peal of thunder rolled across the house. It rattled the windows as the wind picked up.
Klaus shook his head and rested his hand on the hilt of his weapon. “I said what I had to, but it wasn't until I was leaving that I saw it, the creature in the wood.”
“Just an old—”
“Girl!” Klaus snapped.
Merci and Pieter jumped at the sharp tone.
“Daddy, the children are sleeping!” whispered Merci.
“He used to always pick a girl. But last time… it was the Jinith boy. But…” Klaus gulped, “he made him a girl. Cut the poor child's balls off and sliced down his dick. There was something else, I don't know, but there was no question, that kid was marked to be Bordeli's when he finally grew up.”
“What? Rin?”
“Yeah, Rinner.”
Merci frowned at the unfamiliar name. “So what does—?”
A flash of lighting heralded a roll of thunder.
“—mean?”
Klaus sighed and pulled his sword up. Merci's heart pounded as he set it down on the table. The naked blade shone in the lantern light.
“D-Daddy, what are you doing?”
“Waiting.”
“F-For who?”
“Barratt Bordeli, the creature of the woods. He might be coming here, tonight.”
Merci gulped. “And… and you are going to kill him?”
Klaus looked at her with shimmering eyes. “No, I'm going to stop you from saving your child if he comes to claim Quinn for himself.”