Chapter Twenty-Seven: Dispatch to Heyshem
You set quill to slate by the Hall’s lamplight, the staff’s thorn dark against the grain. Your hand is steady; your message must be plain and swift.
Report Summary
I write from Oakhaven. The blight is no lone beast but a deliberate campaign. Evidence recovered from field and city links ritual work in iron bowls, charred glyphs, and coordinated deliveries through merchant routes. We found a cellar network moving crates at night, ledgers tying payments to Joric and a Hall clerk, and artifacts stamped with a coiling knot joined to a crowned boar and star sigil. The boar-mark is carried by those who burn and bind flesh; the same twisted-claw silhouette appears in both farm and cellar sketches. Theron and Master Elara confirm ritual phrasing suggesting the blight is created, not contagious by chance.
Action Taken
- Captured and questioned Joric and a clerk; ledger receipts and delivery routes seized.
- Searched apothecary cellar—iron bowls, scorched parchment, a lump of prepared tainted flesh recovered.
- Discovered a sealed cellar under the eastern quarter wine merchant with ledgers and a smuggling route.
- Returned remains, locket, and journal to Master Elara; Reynard’s staff and slate are secured in the Hall for study.
Description of Sigil and Significance
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
The emblem: a coiling knot (seen on ledgers and sealing wax) conjoined with a crowned boar intersected by a star. It is not a merchant mark I recognize. Its repetition across city and field items indicates an organized group using heraldry to claim its work. The ritual notes speak of “rend and return the old hunger” and binding blood to wake change. This is ideological, not merely profit-driven.
Request for Clan Coordination
Heyshem—this is where I need the Huntsmen and allied clans aligned:
1. Rex Huntsmen (north): Hold Oakhaven’s approaches and scout the wilds for signs of ritual sites and altered beasts; keep the woodland watch active and intercept supply routes toward the city.
2. Desert Rats (south): Sweep caravans and outposts for similar sigils or crates moved at night; watch for caravans bringing ironware and oils bound for coastal and river merchants.
3. Seafarers (east): Watch ports, warehouses, and ship manifests for strange cargoes; check crews and merchants for the boar-star mark and intercept any goods bound inland.
4. Horsemen (west/plains): Patrol trade roads and remote inns; the group uses overland couriers—seek recently altered animals, unseasonable livestock losses, and men with merchant sigils.
Assign scouts with orders to take no unnecessary risks: observe, collect ledgers or seals, and if possible detain suspected couriers for handover to our men at Three Pines. Coordinate through the slate network where available; I hold Thorne’s board here temporarily and will send updates. If you have other slates, open channels immediately.
Specific Questions and Requests
- Do you or any elder of the Huntsmen recognize the crowned boar and star sigil? It may be an old house or a new brand. Any lore, house names, or merchant ties you recall could point us to patrons.
- Can you spare two trusted riders to shadow the known routes from the southern trade caravan records? I need eyes that the city cannot see.
- Prepare the clan to shelter refugees or hunters who find tainted animals; these blights burn and sicken rapidly.
Closing Orders
I will remain in Oakhaven until Master Elara deems otherwise. Theron and Elara press the Hall records; we will strike on confirmed addresses at first light when we can balance discretion and force. Keep watch at home and open the slate when possible. If Heyshem commands me to return, I will come immediately; until then I serve as our eyes and blade within the city. Send any fragments of lore on the sigil at once.
—Yohan, Second of the Rex Huntsmen, Scout for the Hall