A madness that ought not to have been allowed to be. Years of scheming, corruption, and unpredictability.
"He was sticking to the houses as well, taking care not to be seen, that's why no one else caught sight of him," Nila said.
"That's roughly in the direction of the village Elder's house, is it not?" Beam said thoughtfully. His words were quiet, but they were enough to send a spark through the Felder family as they glanced at each other hesitantly.
"You think so too then?" Mrs Felder asked. "That the Elder seems suspicious?"
Beam was hesitant to say anything too firmly. "Suspicious, definitely. But we need more than that, and there seem to be far bigger things going on than just one old man. It's all connected somehow. The murders of the soldiers in the night, the figures in the forest, the monsters, Stephanie's disappearance… perhaps even the Yarmdon."
There was a weight to his words that was enough to make them bite their lip. A warning that he did not have to say directly. They all knew, for they could feel it, there were dark omens afoot.