Excerpt: The Slithering Madness

Chapter 1

Perched atop a stack of baled hay, Hulz Rethers plucked a chewed piece of straw from his teeth and gulped down the remainder of his ale. He wiped his mouth with the back of a burly and tanned arm and thought he might take a nap before returning to his fields.

Dust rose from the main road that passed north to south through Far Fields. The summer had been a harsh and dry one. Hulz's crops would not grow any better for any amount of effort that he put into the fields this season. He yawned, certain that a nap would be just as likely to help the crops as anything else he could do today.

"Hear, hear!" The high-pitched voice of a child shot through the lazy afternoon. "Monsters! Monsters from the swamp."

Hulz pushed himself up on one elbow and peered into the road dust to see a child running from the center of the village to the north. He groped almost subconsciously for his mug, but only knocked it off the pile of hay. Hulz tossed his legs over the side of the hay and stood blinking in the brilliance of midday.

Erfo, the miller's son ran for his home in the southern part of town, his tiny legs pumping with excitement, yet his flight was not as mindless as that inspired by real terror. The boy shouted warnings as he ran. "Monsters! Go see. Hear, hear!"

The boy's shouts had drawn the attention of Lenna, the farm wife that lived across the road, and she stood with arms crossed in the fields of grain, a scythe hanging from one arm.

"What's all this, Erfo?" asked Lenna, dropping her scythe and walking into the road to grasp Erfo by his shoulders to halt his flight.

Hulz approached the boy also, knowing this child to not be a teller of tall tales. He wondered at what could have excited the boy so much. Monsters? None had been seen here since Hulz had been a boy near Erfo's six years of age.

"I saw 'em, I saw 'em," the boy said, his words burbling out like a torrent. "Down in the fens behind the tavern, Masse. It came creeping along the edge of that swampy muck and I spotted it!"

Lenna grabbed at Erfo's shoulders to make him stop fidgeting. "What monster did you see? What form did it have?"

The boy wriggled, impatient to be on his way. Hulz knew little about monsters, barely recalling that time that one had arisen from the swamps when he was a boy. He knew that the type of monster was very important though. Some were just beasts, but others...they could portend disaster if not disposed of properly.

"It was like a boy, but green!" Erfo screwed up his face like he had smelled something gross. "And it had patches of scales, like the fish that I catch out of the Trickle with my Da."

Being older than himself, and likely more learned as her husband ran the mail stop down by the North Track, Hulz let Lenna question the boy, standing behind her and listening.

Lenna's expression had turned grim. "And did it speak? Did it have language?"
Erfo fidgeted and turned back to gaze down the dusty road to the north. "I dunno. I ran and told Maste Podrick 'bout it. He was out behind the Dog and I know he saw the monster too. He told me to run home, and said he'd take care of it."

"All right, then you'd better run along, Erfo." Lenna released the boy and looked to Hulz, continuing, "Sounds like we may have a Foundling." She shook her head from side to side. "Evil luck, they bring. I'm going to walk up to the Dog and take a look. This needs to be dealt with before we are all cursed."

Lenna strode up the road, leaving Hulz alone with his empty mug dangling from one hand.