A History Through Blood

As they arrived at the small village, Kahina noticed a sizeable gathering, so far as the term sizeable could be used to describe the remote community, surrounding one particular home. While the many of the villagers hurried to the wagon and the strange foreigners in lieu of whatever was inside the earthen building, two of the stronger men remained behind as to guard the generally unremarkable home. The only ones oblivious to the irregular activity were the quartet of clerics, who feigned happiness whilst making off-handed remarks about promiscuity and the common occurrence of public nudity in tribal culture. Those who held her patron in relatively good standing seemed to dislike their pious comments, with Leo occasionally contrasting the adze's seeming moral attire and chaste behavior to provoke bouts of muffled frustration from the clergymen.

While Kahina facilitated trade between her master and the village leaders, the other members of their group either wandered the village to observe the customs or engaged with the youth as to kill time. Simply by observing the cautious movement and muted tones, all but the priests and herself had correctly assumed that there had been a recent death in the village. When the two men standing watch were pointed out, the adze quietly suggested the foul play was involved as to help her intermediary catch up with the situation without drawing much attention from the more emotionally unstable members.

It was not long before the local hunting party returned from their multi-day hunt, carrying a gazelle buck on the backs of several party members. Their prideful expressions of triumph were soon turned to confusion upon seeing the reaction from their families, before finally transforming into sorrow and rage. It took several men to hold back one of the hunters from seeing his apparent wife, as her body was not in a state that should be remain as his last memory of her. His ever-growing demands to know what did this were met with apologies, as none of the assembled elders had been able to deduce the identity of the perpetrator.

“Are you going to volunteer to examine the body?” subtly asked Leo, hinting at whatever medical knowledge she held. “Normally I would consider it, however in such circumstances my presence can aggravate emotions. Ask Arthur to keep an eye on his priests. Even if they made no effort to learn the language, they can still agitate the local populace.” “Should I ask Jaali to be mindful as well?” Kahina asked, sensing the tension they would likely navigate. “I sensed something here and I am not familiar enough with the region to recognize it. Just ask Jaali and Marka to be more guarded, adding a vampire into the situation would be unpredictable.” The translator had noticed that Victoria had reverted back to her native language's word for adze. Normally she would use the local word in her presence, however the current situation required more secrecy lest it potentially invoke violent reactions.

The translator found the Jaali's men arguing with the distraught man from earlier, they had been drafted into keeping his impassioned rage from recklessly endangering himself or the town. Before she could say anything, Jaali had approached her, “Kahina, our boss is medicine woman. Could you ask her to...” He cut himself off mid-sentence as soon as she released a sigh, likely going against the wishes of their client by recommending her services in an attempt to subdue the mourning husband. The man, apparently named Amari, quickly leapt on the idea of getting her to examine his late wife's body as to garner any clues to the killer's identity.

As she returned to her master unsuccessful in suppressing the groups involvement in the matter. Kahina subtly reminded Jaali of who his client was while being followed close in tow by the hopeful husband. Marka unfortunately arrived as they got to the wagon, seeking out her leader as to report some strange mystical energies she had seen throughout the village. Both Jaali and Victoria knew as to why she was now being led to the small home in her heavy Niqab, apologies were brief as the reasoning for the lack of judgement was evident. His attempt to maintain their group's hospitable welcome made him temporarily lapse into previous habits, since the merchants he usually escorted often sold solutions for gold or other goods and welcomed such situations for profit. However, if the current circumstances were fully realized by the villagers, it could endanger their client if the situation was not carefully managed.

Upon arrival the only instructions given to Kahina were to: translate through the door and keep the number of observers low. Amari had quickly consented to allowing full examination under the watch of one of the elders with a stronger stomach. The village leaders, as well as their own mercenary leader, both agreed that shielding as many people as possible from seeing whatever scene lay inside was of high importance. Thus, the intermediary sat in the entrance way, loudly translating whatever her mistress said to those surrounding the hut.

The doctor chose to start with the infant, mostly due to the localized external damage on the small corpse. Victoria started to carefully examine the body, seemingly using tools to manipulate the limp frame as to not disturb any evidence. “No signs of lacerations or bruising, however the angle of the neck indicates that the cause of death was sudden spinal trauma. The lack of consumption beyond a few large bites likely indicates the intention was more likely to silence the infant as to remain undisturbed. If the husband wishes to know, it was clean break and appears to have brought a swift death.” The 'good' news that his child didn't suffer was a welcome relief, however little else could be gathered from the small body and so the attention shifted onto the mother's half-eaten cadaver.

“Did you move the body?” she asked, receiving a negative response from the designated patriarch. “There appears to be no indication of a struggle or distress.” She could hear the muffled sound of Victoria using her probing cane to carefully move the body, examining whatever she could of the remains. “No traces of bruising, cuts or fractures around her upper body. The victim appears to have died of blood loss, given the lack of puncture wounds on what remains of the internal organs and back, she appears to have been eaten alive.” Kahina struggled through the mental imagery to translate the analysis, as both Amari and her own imagination ran wild at the emotionless descriptors.

“While the upper body has been left mostly intact, the much of the torso and upper legs have been dismembered, likely using the offending party's teeth and fore limbs. There are a few traces of any major organs, as they have been eaten beyond a functional state.” She heard a concerned, yet puzzled, expression that only elicited cursing from the supervising patriarch. What followed was the shuffle of feet from inside and some gesturing, followed by careful incision. The elder soon emerged withholding his sorrow, carrying a small bundle of cloth containing a partially formed baby the size of her hand*. Victoria had followed behind him, her lightly bloodied clothing concealed whatever emotions she held except for her eyes that were more interested in assessing the surrounding tension.

The sudden onset of grief for the unborn child was a suitable distraction for her to disappear back into the room with the elder. She continued to translate as Amari was led away, while the amateur mortician noted the lack of tooth marks on the bones. They soon ruled out larger predators, such as a rogue leopard, as the damage was unlike any seen on the rotting carcasses they would occasionally find nearby. Victoria proceeded to examine the remaining flesh and rejected the notion of rodents or other small mammalian opportunists gnawing on remains, based on the larger bite patterns. Jaali was called inside for a second opinion and quickly agreed with her judgement ruling out most species of animals from the surrounding grasslands.

Upon a closer secondary inspection of the body the doctor located several pin-like teeth marks on one of the arms, prompting renewed confusion as to its origin. Using approximation, based on teeth and some more defined bite marks, a rough outline of the offending jaw was established. Were it not for the long-pointed teeth, the ad hoc experts would have posited the culprit was human in nature. With their new understanding it did not take long to find several bloodied hand and footprints on various surfaces surrounding the body. The indications were previously ignored as they had no evidence to suggest the possibility of a humanoid assailant. The marks left by the unknown appendages were far too small for an adult, yet the wrong shape and form for an infant, causing additional confusion as to the creator. With consent from Jaali, her master tasted the drying blood only to find faint traces of natural magics mixed in with her blood, confirming a supernatural source.

After hushed debate between the self-appointed leaders the identity of the creature was assumed to be that of an Eloko, a haunting spirit seldom spoken of in the port town. Her mistress's research into the region's supernatural entities was far greater than what she had assumed. With the cause of death now mostly established, Victoria aided in the immediate clean-up of the two mangled bodies as to spare any onlookers such a sight. Amari, filled with rage from their findings, thanked the foreign travelers profusely for their assistance before attempting to search for the creature alone, with-in the deep recesses of the nearby jungle. The more levelheaded members of the community put a stop to his impromptu excursion, pointing out the environmental advantage held by the Eloko.

Her mistress had called over her mercenary escorts, seemingly now personally invested in the outcome of the rather violent incident. Victoria, with the intention to fulfil her side of the agreement with the foreign church, presented her plan to the agitated mercenaries. Unlike the previous instance of the possessed farmer, they could better prepare a trap to capture the dangerous Eloko that would not endanger their primary target. This time Kahina would be bait, although the adze would remain close by with the others waiting in adjacent buildings. The villagers would need to be informed of their plan in order to carry it out, although revealing the doctor's identity would be a calculated risk that could jeopardize their warm welcome.

Jaali eventually relented and agreed to her plan. Given the available support and means of communication they had available, he could minimize most instances of harm to his client and improve their odds of success. The elders and the enraged husband soon agreed to the plan, even with the hesitancy of making deals with a similarly dangerous supernatural entity. Tensions remained as the assembled villagers were hesitant about capturing the blood-thirsty beast alive, but the stipulation of transfer into their custody for execution resolved many of their concerns. The spineless clerics, already offended that the dead woman and her children were to be buried unblessed by their god, were content to wait in the hut and 'pray for the success of the plan.'