The Murders Brought by the Black Cloak

"Katheren!" Upon hearing the gunshot, Grayson sprang to his feet, with Seraphine quickly standing up as well. Together, they peered down the hill but saw only Morven looking back up the slope in their direction.

"What's happened?" Grayson shouted down the slope.

"I don't know! Miss Katheren saw a dark figure in the snow to the northwest and ran to check it out. I don't know why a shot was fired!" Morven shouted back.

"Don't move; I'm coming down!" Grayson gestured to Morven reassuringly, then turned back to Seraphine. "Look after Morven; I'll see what's going on."

With that, he made his way down the northwest side of the hill. Seraphine called after him, worried, "You left your sword below; don't go there unarmed!"

"Being unarmed doesn't mean I'm defenseless!"

Grayson flashed her a confident fist, the sharp wolf claw tattoo stark against his arm as he quickly descended the slope toward the direction pointed out by Morven.

Using his sharp eyes to track Katheren's footsteps in the snow, he covered about a kilometer before finally spotting the girl's silvery figure enfolded in the gray mists, crouched on the ground, intently inspecting something.

Approaching stealthily, Grayson was ten steps away when Katheren suddenly whirled around, leveling her silver pistol at him. A fleeting flicker of stern resolve crossed her eyes, but it quickly softened into excitement and affection.

"It's you! I thought it was a bad guy," she said, lowering her pistol with a smile.

Grayson, grinning, joined her side and replied, "Well, I'm not exactly a saint; Elyra must have told you that much!"

Katheren chuckled, and Grayson winked, stepping forward to examine the object shrouded by the black cloak. "So this is why you squandered a bullet and broadcasted our location to the world?"

"Yes, Master! I was searching it for clues!" Katheren smiled mischievously, hands clasped behind her back. Grayson curiously noted her playful spirit, a side he hadn't seen before.

With mock sternness, he said, "Who said you could call me Master? I don't take apprentices; I don't need ghostly assassin mentors chasing me, nor the knights or vampires!"

"Ha, I bet you could handle them, because you're the best demon hunter!" Katheren's compliment came with a giggle.

"Little girl, when did you learn such flattery? Must be Morven's doing!" Grayson teased, patting her head before crouching down by the cloak. Katheren began to protest but was silenced by Grayson's gesture.

"If you want to be my apprentice, you must listen, darling. Chatterboxes like Elyra can't be apprentices, only partners."

He lifted the black cloak, glancing at the body beneath, then shrugged at Katheren. "I won't tell Elyra about this, and you better not repeat what I just said!"

"Understood!" Katheren glanced at the snow fox under the cloak, sticking her tongue out secretly. The fox's body was mangled by the gunshot and had turned cold.

"Alright, let's see if we can find any clues here." Grayson looked at the fox's body, lighting a cigar. "What happened? Why did you chase after it?"

"I was guarding Mr. Morven and taking care of a sleeping Elyra. While chatting with him, a dark shadow flitted across the snow from the north and ran this way. It didn't seem like a normal animal, so I followed."

"So you mistook it for someone running on all fours?" Grayson teased, tilting his head as Katheren shyly nodded.

"Well, I must admit the young have vivid imaginations, though less experience. Still, we're not without results."

He picked up the fox, pointing to its pristine white fur. "This little one doesn't have any marks of being tied up, which means the black cloak wasn't placed by someone."

"You mean, it found the cloak by chance in the snowy plain?" Katheren asked, surprised.

"Not quite. Foxes don't take interest in inedible things, but this cloak did indeed end up on it unexpectedly."

Grayson held the fox's head towards Katheren, indicating the white fur around its mouth. "See? There are red streaks here, not much, but concentrated around the lips, with remnants on the teeth and lips. This shows it recently bit some creature."

"A human?" Katheren guessed, thinking of the black-robed men. Grayson nodded approvingly. "If these were marks from eating prey, the blood around the mouth would spread much wider."

He dropped the fox, picking up the cloak and showing a frayed edge to Katheren. "See the blood and bite marks? These would be out of reach unless the fox leaped, and they don't attack humans head-on."

"This suggests when the fox bit, the person was sitting on the ground, with their legs wrapped in the cloak, perhaps resting or asleep. The fox took the chance to bite, and the person woke up, resisting the fox's assault, and threw off the cloak. Confused and entangled in the black cloak, the fox panicked and ran around the snowscape."

Dropping the cloak, Grayson stood. "Come on, let's trace back the way it came. We might find blood and track down that man. We can't let him get away again!"

"Okay!" Katheren stood and led Grayson along the fox's paw prints in the snow.

Following the trail, they finally found specks of blood under a monolithic rock in the snow and a limp set of footprints stretching north. Grayson instructed Katheren to go back and summon Morven, Seraphine, and Elyra.

Soon, a sleigh made entirely of ice and shaped like a two-wheeled carriage arrived. Grayson eyed it curiously. "If I'm not mistaken, this must be the mermaid's handiwork!"

"Correct. Morven can't move well, so we needed faster transport!" Seraphine opened the door. "Hurry up, if you miss this ride, you won't find another."

"Glad to catch the last one!" Grayson settled next to Morven and closed the ice door.

With Seraphine's command, the seal-drawn sleigh shot forward. The seals, empowered by her staff, wriggled along at a rapid pace, matching the speed of sleigh dogs.

Not long after, a figure emerged in the distance against the stark white snow. The man staggered, his leg injured, struggling through the snow.

"That's him; let's catch him!" Grayson called back to Seraphine.

The mermaid guardian sent the seals racing toward the man when suddenly, a horde of goblins burst from the surrounding snow, pouncing on the man, swiftly tying him up, and dragging him westwards with ropes.