Besi Mulia

I

"Nazeir. Are you ready?"

The inquisitor readied his equipment, stood up straight and walked to the door. The two of them started walking in the light of day towards the palace. The two men did not mix well with the residents of Hukoleen whose skin was darker than theirs and the inquisitor height were really tall. However, those people look strong, whether old or young. Some of them have tattoos on their bodies that are not wearing clothes, the tattoos resemble something that the two inquisitors doesn't really understand fully.

Along the way, people glanced at them. Some eyes look polite, and some are not. Even though they gave the two various glances, the inquisitors didn't pay much attention to the people.

The two of them arrived at the palace gates. On either side of the gate were two guards, and above the gate were dozens of bows-wielding soldiers ready to fire. The inquisitor stopped in front of the gate when one of the soldiers arrived. He started to speak in Hukoleener.

"What?" Nazeir didn't understand.

"No one can enter without permission," said the comrade of the soldier in a northern language.

Nazeir crossed his arms.

"We're both invited."

"By whom? You look like you want to come with trouble. And we don't want that."

"Wrong, we made the trouble go away. If you allow us to go inside."

The two soldiers talked to each other, considering what the inquisitor had to say. They glanced at the two inquisitors with stern gazes. He walked up to the inquisitor with his head raised looking at Nazeir who was taller than him.

"Okay, you two can come in. That's because WE let you in. Watch your step, don't make any mistakes inside, or we'll have to get you out," he clenched his fists in front of Nazeir's face.

The two of them just kept quiet and walked past the two threatening guards. They climbed the stairs to the door. The two inquisitors opened the door, entering a large room where at the far end of the room was a beautifully and precisely carved wooden bench. A smooth red carpet with golden yellow edges was spread out to the front of the bench.

Walking in, on the right and left there are wooden windows that are wide open. A gentle breeze from the sea came into the room cool.

Entering the room, a woman in a kebaya came running to the two inquisitors.

"Are you master Nazeir and master Jurko?"

"Right, and you're the princess's maid?"

"Yes. Are there soldiers blocking your way when you want to enter?"

"Yes, why is that?"

The woman's face began to feel uncomfortable.

"This is dangerous. You must meet the princess immediately. Come on!"

The maid started walking ushering the two inquisitors into the princess's room. Throughout the journey the royal servants did not look at them, except for the guards.

"Everyone in this part of the palace is loyal to the princess. It's not like what you see on the outside."

"Isn't that everyone here is loyal to the king."

"Yes. Before he fell ill."

"She didn't tell us he was sick. Wasn't the king just so dizzy that he locked himself in his room?"

"That was last night. Now we know that he is sick, and what we afraid of is that he might not be sick because of something natural."

"Poison."

"Precisely."

"But who?" Jurko asked.

"I don't know who. But my head has a feeling that a courtier poisoned him," replied Nazeir.

"You sound sure, lord inquisitor."

"I'm too familiar with this kind of act. That's all I can say."

The maid opened the door to the daughter's room which was guarded by two guards who nodded at the maid. The three entered, saw the princess waiting for the two inquisitors on her bed to sit. She stood up and walked briskly in front of the two inquisitors who were escorted by the servant.

"My father was poisoned."

"Yes, we heard from your maid," Jurko glanced at the maid. "Do you know what poison he got?"

"No. We don't know, but we know where he got his poison from. The king likes to eat smoked fish. And it all seems to have started from that."

"When did he get poisoned?" Jurko leaned against the wall.

"I don't know. When you ask for our fleet, my father were already sick. I sent the ships to you, not father's order. I thought it's because of his age, but lately we've found a sign that he could be poisoned.."

"When we ask for your transport fleet? That's a month ago!"

"Are you sure he was poisoned?" Nazeir asked.

"If not poison, then what?"

"We can't find out now, princess. All you can do now is take care of him. Try finding clues about his... sickness. Perhaps one of the courtiers knew what happened."

"Shit," she growled. "Fine. Let's get back to the matter I wanted you to look into."

The door to the princess's room was smashed open, a soldier sweating and panting looking for the princess.

"Your highness, princess!"

"What? What's wrong with you!?" she shouted in panic.

"We found a hand, right in the Bukit Mulia. I think someone just died."

The woman gasped and walked out of the room. The guards who saw him come out followed him. Nazeir and Jurko were silent and forced to follow the princess.

"Wait a minute, what's going on here?"

The woman kept walking.

"Didn't you hear? Some of my people have died, and this isn't the first time," the woman walked back. "They found some kind of giant monster with horns terrorising people who went into the woods to collect fire woods. Listen, inquisitor, if you want to get to work then listen to what I have to say."

Nazeir glanced at Jurko who just shrugged his shoulders.

They walked out of the palace and down the stairs. Unexpectedly, a man stood in front of the princess. The princess was surprised and let out a scream, she saw the young man bend down and immediately gave her a flower in his bow.

"Princess! Honored to meet you."

"Thank you?" said the princess who was a little hesitant to accept one rose. "Excuse me, I can't have a pleasant discussion since I have urgent things to do right now."

"But, princess. I came at the king's call, and it's not because-"

The princess slapped the man down onto the grass in the palace yard and continued walking. The young man stroked his face and saw the princess group pass him. Looking around the passers-by, a face he recognized was in the slips of the guarding soldiers.

"Na-Nazeir?" he stammered.

II

The three entered a chariot and one soldier became the coachman, the others rode their own horses. They passed through an urban area, buildings began to fall out of sight after hours of travelling to a part of the forest that was in a high mountain. Mist covered the high ground, making the atmosphere feel gray.

The horse carriage stopped, everyone got off the vehicle. The cold temperature of these mountains made the princess shivering in her dress, she closed her hands tightly until the palms produced frictional heat.

"Are you okay?" Nazeir asked.

"Nothing to worry," she replied with a sigh. "We have to keep going."

"Where is this severed arm?" Jurko called out to the guard soldiers who were standing dumbfounded.

"Here, sir," he pointed while giving a little bow.

They walked on dirt roads that felt wet even though they weren't. The group was led by the soldier who were walking on the front, then they stopped for a moment. The soldier stood up and pointed to a cliff above him.

"There it is," he said.

A human arm hanging from the edge of a high rock cliff. The body from which the arm came from was nowhere to be seen, blood dripping down drop by drop.

"It's a shoulder," Jurko looked around.

"There is no body. Blood is dripping one by one. The arm has long been severed from the body of the person," commented the inquisitor. "Do you want to see?"

Jurko glanced.

"Yeah. And time for me to climb. You check around here, maybe we'll find out who this killer is."

Jurko started walking to the stone wall and climbed up the cliff. The soldiers looked at the old man with their jaws dropping.

"That man is very athletic."

"Maybe it's time for you to get some exercise, Isak. Get that tummy in shape."

"I'm not fat. Just big bones, that's all."

The two soldiers joked. Nazeir on the other hand started to fumble around his surroundings, looking for clues. The princess followed the inquisitor, looking at him from behind.

Searching through the bushes, the inquisitor found something he rarely saw. He saw a shape imprinted on the ground, deep and wide. Nazeir stood there and saw the princess approaching.

"What did you find?"

"Something not good, look."

The princess looked behind the bushes, saw a large foot print.

"What's that!?" The woman was scared.

"I don't know. Looks like animal feet. Chimaera maybe, I'm not sure yet. I'll follow the footsteps."

"I'm coming with you."

"No. It's too dangerous to take a girl."

"I have soldiers, they will take care of me. Besides..." the princess pulled her kebaya up, revealing a dagger tied to her thigh.

Nazeir snorted and looked at her a little bit impressed.

"Fine. But try not to do anything weird. Especially your soldiers."

"Understand."

Nazeir returned to the cliff and shouted loudly.

"Jurko? Jurko!"

No answer was heard. The group began to worry about the old inquisitor.

"Shit, he didn't answer," Nazeir grumbled. He turned around and followed the trail again. "Let's see where the trail leads us.."

The group walked in the arms of the thick dark fog. Step by step, the inquisitor could feel that he was he approaching something. From the thick fog, he can see a cabin house in the middle of the forest.

Slowly the group drew closer. The door of the house was wide open, as if someone had deliberately left the door open. They stopped at the door of the house. Looking to the side of the house, there is a pet dog sitting eating in a bowl.

"Whose house is this?"

"Looks like this is one of the houses that belongs to lord Yakub," a soldier spoke.

"Yakub?" The princess was astonished.

"Who's he?"

"He's one of the courtiers, he's responsible for diplomacy," said princess Tribuana.

"Why does he have a house here? In the middle of nowhere."

"I've taken him several times to this place. He wants to build a new city here from my knowledge. But it seems impossible for now, before there was no thick fog covering this forest," the soldier looked at the old looking wooden house. "And the wood looks old now. I've been here before, and everything looks new."

"Do you know where he is?"

"I don't know, sir," he shook his head

Nazeir turned towards the open door, saw the contents of the house which was like a crashing ship. He put his right foot in; the creaking sound of the wooden floor could be heard clearly. He walked around inspecting every room. Everything looks decades old, dirty, full of dust, full of broken things.

Opening the bedroom door, the inquisitor smelled a pungent odor. When he opened the door carefully, he saw a large bed. On it is the body of the owner of the house. His head could be seen crushed open, killed by something sharp and large. Looking at the floor, Nazeir found a pickaxe covered in blood.

"Unlucky."

Nazeir approached the corpse and saw the person's clothes were exposed to his own blood. The inquisitor took the victim's hand, moved it by stretching and pulling it. Beside the corpse of the man lying down, the inquisitor saw the mattress which was slightly compressed, as if someone was pressing the mattress hard. And unlike the man's corpse, this time the blood covering the bed beside him was even bloodier than the man's mattress.

The man came out of the bedroom and walked into another room. He found cold food in the kitchen and a charred wood in a stove that was still warm.

Walking out of the kitchen, he found a back door. Opening it, he could see a hut for cutting wood. He inspected the place, saw there was scattered wood. Right in the hut, there is a storage area for equipment. And sure enough, he found something missing. Just above the shelf where the missing object was a word 'pickaxe' written on it.

Nazeir began to walking back to his group, something on the ground made him pause. A human footprint, different from what he had seen before. These footprints are newly embedded in the ground and leading to the house. The inquisitor followed the trail to the house, and strangely he couldn't find it footprints when it came out. It's like the trail disappeared without leaving a single trace. This surprised the inquisitor.

Nazeir met the princess and her guard in front of the house, they had been waiting for the inquisitor for a long time.

"So... do you know who the killer is?"

"I found something, but I'm afraid that it will bother you."

"What is it, master? Tell us," begged a soldier.

The princess looked at Nazeir, waiting for him to speak.

"In the first place, the house was ransacked by the killer. Their valuables were untouched, I found nothing valuables were stolen, nothing, not a single one."

"What is the meaning of this?" the princess wondered.

"I don't know, but it seems who killed them seems disinterested in this rich courtier's treasure. And that makes me move on to the next thing," Nazeir paused and looked at the people waiting for an explanation. "In the house, in the bedroom to be exact. There is a corpse of an old man, about sixty years old. Man, his head smashed by the tip of a pickaxe."

"Old man? Just like lord Yakub!" cried a soldier.

"Beside him, I found his bed which is even more bloody. It looks like there was a corpse before."

The princess began to walk away from the inquisitor, leaving the guards intrigued by his discovery.

"Rigos Mortis points out Yakub has been dead for a couple of days. What do I predict? Two days, I get to know the smell of a long dead corpse. And yet, there is an activity showing after the man's death."

"What happened to him, inquisitor!?" The princess turned back to Nazeir with her face full of horror.

"This is really disgusting, but..." Nazeir looked at the princess whose eyes were wide open in fear. "Whoever killed him, had to stay in this house for a few days in the same house with the corpse. The charcoal is still warm, the dog has not eaten the food that was left by the killer," Nazeir pointed to the dog who was eating his food.

"I think I'm getting nauseous," the princess walked away towards a tree, she looked like she was going to throw up.

III

As he spoke, Nazeir heard a voice echoing through the forest. First he heard a roar, then a male grunt.

"Woah, that sounds like..." said the soldier.

From the cliff directly above the building, there was a huge explosion. The boulders started falling and headed toward the inquisitor and the others.

"Everyone run away!" Nazeir's orders.

All the soldiers and the princess ran into the distance. Nazeir who saw the rocks fall, watched the house in front of him collapse. He walked over to the rubble of the house, and glanced over it.

"Look up!" shouted Jurko who was on the cliff.

A gigantic creature fell down from the cliff and almost hit the inquisitor who had jumped away from it. The ground shook as the creature landed, its body covered in wounds and blood.

"I'll leave it up to you, Nazeir!" Jurko waved from a distance with a laughter.

The creature stood up, its height made Nazeir look small. His head is shaped like a deer's skull with horns. His body looks thin with skin pushing against the bone, showing it like a starving skinny creature.

It stands on two legs, has two hands that both have three fingers with sharp nails. Its arms are almost as long as its legs, allowing it to walk on 4 arms.

The thing can be as tall as two story house. Big, and hungry. Teeth full of blood, breathed from the bone of his nose until Nazeir could see the steam.

"Wendigo," Nazeir growled.

"I'll eat you as I eat the woman!"ther!" The creature's voice was deep and echoed in every corner of the forest even though his mouth didn't move when he spoke.

From a distance, the princess and her guards saw the inquisitor fighting a huge beast. The inquisitor was smashed to the ground. When he lay down, the creature wanted to crush him. The man dodged from its hand and immediately cut off the wendigo's arm that wanted to crush him.

The Wendigo howled in pain and fell down groaning in pain. And the inquisitor immediately made him disabled by cutting off his leg.

Soon Jurko came running to the inquisitor who had just subdued the big creature. Nazeir raised his head, looking at the exhausted creature.

"Come on, kill me!"

"No, until you tell me what I want to know," replied Nazeir.

The creature that was panting began to change its form, slowly resembling a human. He was on the ground naked, the legless man was facing Nazeir who was holding a sword to his neck.

"I don't want to talk to someone like you."

"You will."

Nazeir grabbed the Hukoleener's arm and broke it, making him scream in pain.

"There are still a lot of bones I can break before you die. Now, listen to what I have to say."

He snorted. "Talk!"

"What do you want to ask, Nazeir?" Jurko was surprised.

"That house. Did you kill the owner?"

"Depends," he answers in exhaustion.

"What do you mean 'depends'?"

He laughed.

"I came to this place, wanting to eat meat. I smelled blood from a distance, I must have eaten someone. But the body was dead when I arrived."

"How?"

"A pickaxe to the head. One man," he snorted back in pain. "One woman. I ate the woman."

"Yeah, the arm I found was a woman," Jurko clarifies.

Nazeir looked at the man one last time, then stepped on his head. The audience heard the craking voice. Thinking they were done, they walked out of hiding behind the trees.

The princess and her guards saw that the human had his head broken, along with a severed leg and one arm still in the form of a wendigo's arm. The princess immediately ran away from what she had just seen. She spat out her nauseated spit, and didn't come back from the corpse.

"I believe- this is enough."

Everyone left the wendigo's body. Nazeir lifted the creature into the rubble of the building as Jurko set the building on fire with flames coming out from his palms.

The body was burned, along with the entire house that had been destroyed.