7: Rumours Of A Dead Troll.

The next day Sina walked out of his room as soon as it was morning since he wasn't able to get any sleep through the entire night and for some reason he wasn't feeling tired either.

"Hey there." The younger brother said approaching him from behind.

He instantly turned around to see the boy who had led him to the river yesterday standing there with a bow held in his right hand and a pouch of arrows strapped to his back. He was wearing a black shirt, black trousers and black boots.

" What is it?" He asked with his eyes on the boy while his blunt expression remained unchanged.

" I was wondering..." He said, rubbing his right hand through his hair nervously, "If you could follow me to training. I met this man a few days ago and he is so talented in almost everything, if you want to, he could teach you a few things."

" Why... are you so bent on being around me, I'm not sure I can recall ever knowing you." He said bluntly.

The boy slowly placed his right hand on his chin then turned his gaze to the ground and twisted his body to the right before saying, "So you mean you aren't the boy my sister was always painting."

Sina was left in total confusion after hearing everything the boy just said but at the same time, he kept trying to remember if he had ever met him or his sister considering how she acted towards him the last time they met.

" What do you mean?" He asked curiously.

" Oh never mind, I must have been mistaking you for someone else. Well, I'll see you later." He said, walking away.

Sina couldn't keep his gaze away from the boy as his mind ran through every word he had just heard.

" Hey wait!" He called out, as he slowly ran towards the boy, " You actually managed to puke my interest in this man you speak of, I wouldn't mind accompanying you to him."

" Sure, follow me then." He said turning towards Sina before continuing forward once again.

This time they didn't move through the front of the house but rather the other way round. For the first time after a very long while he was walking through the streets of Avan once again.

He even caught sight of the village chief's house which was laid with okay and stones. It was a two-story building that outclassed every other building in the small village by far.

They walked past the main part of the village before they arrived at a small wooden slightly towards the boundary between the village and the forest surrounding it before they arrived at a small wooden shed standing outside it while chatting.

One of them who seemed to be the same age as the boy quickly ran towards them as soon their gazes met with a bright expression of surprise and anticipation all over his face.

" What is it, John." He asked, looking at his friend with a look of confusion on his face.

" You mean you haven't heard." John said, backing away with even more glamor written all over his face, " A hunter said he saw the dead body of a troll out in the forest and many other hunters along with master Ketevan have gone to check it out.

" Wait, you mean Sir Ketevan was moved enough by the story well then I guess there's nothing for us to doubt." He said, turning towards Sina, "You can wait for us here if you don't want to come."

Sina simply nodded his head and watched as the two quickly ran into the forest. His mind instantly went back to what happened last night as soon as he heard what John had said.

There were drops of his blood left on the scene and he wasn't sure if some slight drops of hers had dropped to the ground as well.

" The scene won't make any sense but then of course they'll try everything in their power to merge the clues into a logical conclusion. Large amounts of human blood, massive claw scratches, and a trail that leads to typically nowhere." He thought as a smile slowly crept up his face.

It was like a miracle had provided him with the perfect scenario. The blood would make them think that a person and the dead troll were on the scene and so was a powerful creature that had killed the both of them and taken away the person with it but little did he know that everything wouldn't go as planned.

After much consideration, he decided to go check out the scene as well starting from the point where the troll had sent him before he transformed into whatever the hideous form was.

When he got there, he was met by broken shrubs and even a single tree standing in the middle of the straight line which had been broken from the stem.

This was what his body caused after being pushed forward by the troll. Which meant that the total damage was a product of the troll's strength and endurance.

Under normal circumstances, the first attack that night would have easily killed him but he ended up taking three of them head on. That's right, it had been obvious to him all along, that whatever he was couldn't be considered human.

*****

When the two boys arrived at the scene where a few men were gathered around discussing how the troll had died and all the blood trails that had been left around the area.

" I guess my sister won't be able to come to the river at night for a while." He thought as he slowly approached the crowd along with his friend.

" What beast do you think would have been able to inflict such wounds on a troll? From the marks, its claws would be most likely sharp but not big enough to inflict greater wounds."

" I think we should be worrying about ourselves here, what happens if this new beast decides to attack us one day when we know next to nothing about it."

They could hear multiple opinions on the matter and it wasn't giving them high hopes. They managed to find the so-called master Ketevan standing by a blood trail that led into a newly made route of broken shrubs and badly bent grasses.

" Master Ke..."

The man shushed him as he turned towards the boy with a stern look before saying, "We can talk later but if you're to stay with me then I'd advise you to stay quiet."

They both didn't say anything and simply nodded their heads to the request, watching as he bent down and touched a drop of blood that was on the ground.

" This presence... it feels familiar, the one I felt when that army passed by Avan. But... this feels somewhat less sinister but regardless of that, whoever it is should be found out and investigated at once." He thought as he slowly stood up from the ground once again.

" I believe I have nothing left to see here." He said, walking past the two boys, " but then again... who would even believe such a theory improvised with the mere myth of a blood-sucking creature."

He giggled slightly before saying once more, "Now what did you two want from me?"

That was when Sina came towards them from behind with a slight "hello" but the glare he received from Ketevan after that wasn't welcoming at all.

He couldn't sense any divine energy coming from the man standing with the two but he looked quite menacing with his muscular build.

Whatever happened, he couldn't let his guard down against the likes of him.