Law of Shadows

“During the war with the fae, the battlefields were always clean.”

- A memory of the Old Ones.

***Carinthia***

***Sely***

“She is playing with them. Like a cat with a mouse.”

“I think this looks more like what happens when you lock a marten in a chicken coop.”

“'It' is eating all the evidence!”

I listen to Eva's, Cecilia’s and Adam's stupefied comments. At least I had the advantage of knowing about Lindwurm beforehand. Though I have to admit that I didn't realize that she is that big. The huge creature also moves much faster than I would expect of something of her size.

She strikes out at a screaming fae, slashing off one of his legs. Then she bites into the remaining one. She does it very carefully and slowly, almost as if she doesn't want to hurt him. Though the screams and his flailing arms tell a different story. Suddenly, Lindwurm hurls him up into the air where he tumbles helplessly.

At the same time her tail whips out and the spiked tip obliterates the last remaining group of hobgoblins.

The huge wyrm runs in a circle as if she is chasing her own tail. Then she catches the tumbling fae in mid-air with her maw and swallows him with a single gulp. “I can't help it. She looks so innocent and happy when she plays with them.”

It was the last remaining foe. A lot of them fled. The ones who decided to fight are now dead on the ground or got eaten by Lindwurm. With no more playtoys around, Lindwurm turns her attention to devouring the slain corpses. She searches and slurps them up as if her master dropped a bowl with pet goodies. After surveying the whole battlefield, I have no doubt that she'll eat her fill tonight.

Luckily, the Krampus and vampires already started to collect their wounded and fallen. Somehow, I doubt that Lindwurm has the brain capacity to differentiate between the dead bodies.

Forcing her way through our hastily erected barriers, Samantha approaches us on high heels and with a cameraman in tow. Magnus groans at my side upon noticing the reporter.

“Lord Magnus! Can I ask a few questions!?” she calls out to us.

I rub his back and put up a smile for the reporter. “Of course.”

“What happened here? And what's that!?” She points at the wyrm.

He shakes his head. “I don't exactly know what happened here. We just ended the fight. A group of hobgoblins started attacking humans. They obviously tried to build a new lair. Then my people showed up, just to be interrupted by the fae a few moments later. You know of the bad blood between us and the fae. To be honest, I don't really care what the fae and the hobgoblins were up to. They were causing trouble and interrupted my game night-”

“Your game night?”

He grinds his teeth. “Yes! It's Friday evening and interrupting me at Fridays is always a bad idea! To top it off, they attacked my pregnant girlfriend and-”

“Sely, you are pregnant? Though it looked a lot like you were the one who was attacking them. Will we soon have a little lord in our midst?”

I look down at my bloodstained clothes and try to smile. My instincts may have gotten a little out of control. The thought of having a child with fae that close to my home made me snap. I simply ignore the comment about me attacking. “Yes, though I don't know if it will be a prince or a princess. I want it to be a surprise.”

Magnus gestures with his hand. “Anyway. I already told you that fae are outlawed in my territory. Anyone may kill them without repercussions. And now that the hobgoblins caused trouble, I am seriously thinking about banning them too.”

“That sounds a lot like racism.”

“It is! I've no problems with persecuting certain races if ninety-nine percent of them consists of troublemakers! The fae have their own realm. They should just stay there. I don't care about bullshit human morals and giving everyone a chance. The fae and the hobgoblins are on my black list. Just make sure that the whole world knows it.” He looks directly into the camera, addressing whoever is watching the report, “Pull some shit like this again, and I'll find you! I’ll take my pet for a ride in your front yard. Lindwurm can eat one whale per month. That's a lot of light-weighted fae and hobgoblins!”

A sudden commotion among the Krampus draws my attention. They were marking down some fae and hobgoblin corpses as a crime scene. Lindwurm simply shoved them aside to devour the bodies. Now Adam is raging and even changed to his true form. He screams and swings his fists at the wyrm, but Lindwurm simply ignores him. She is even licking up the blood from the pavement, together with the chalk that was used to outline the positions of the bodies.

Krampus are really sticklers to rules and procedures.

“Are you really sure that your pet is safe?” Samantha asks.

Lindwurm turns her attention to Adam, who isn't impressed by the wyrm. Then she gives him a lick, slobbering his whole front side with bloody spit. She turns her attention to the hobgoblin lair and waddles over, pressing her whole head into the hole. In doing so, she causes the representation of the Leaning Tower of Pisa to topple over.

Magnus returns his attention to Samantha. “No? But that's the whole point of having a pet like her. You humans also have guard dogs. Don't worry. I've trained her not to eat stuff that I don't allow her to.” He looks back at the wyrm, who is eyeing the helicopters above us. “Hey! Lindwurm! Not those! Do you remember the last time you ate the bus with the zombies? Not tasty. Dig out the hobgoblins.”

She yawns, but returns her attention to the hole in the ground. Digging, her whole body disappears in the earth, which is accompanied by muffled howls from underground. At last, only the tip of her tail pokes out, twirling in the air.

Samantha eyes the scene, clearly wary of the beast. “When will she go back? To wherever she came from?”

Magnus raises his eyebrows. “Into the lake? Once she's eaten up, of course. But I think I'll allow her to stroll around a little. It's the first time in decades that she got to play outside. It was getting really hard to conceal her from the humans.”

Samantha is visibly paler than before when Adam stomps over to us, towering over Samantha. “Lord! You have to stop your pet! The procedures clearly say that a scene of mass murder has to be closed off from the public until all the evidence is sighted!”

He waves his hands, sprinkling the reporter with slimy saliva. “Sorry, Samantha. I didn't intend to do that.”

Magnus shakes his head. “I am sorry, but Lindwurm doesn't react well to having her food taken away. Though I could show you where she does her business. If the evidence is that important you, you could dig through the waste.”

Now the Krampus looks genuinely appalled.

Samantha forces herself to smile. “It's okay, Mr. Adam. I am glad that the Krampus have things under control as the city's reliable police force.”

Then I suddenly have an idea. “Adam, why don't we think of this area as a war zone. After all, the fae were involved and we Old Ones are practically at war with them. It wouldn't be your responsibility to treat this as a murder case.”

Adam's grim expression immediately lights up. As far as a Krampus's face can show delight. “That's a wonderful idea!” He turns around and walks back to his men. “Guys! Stop wasting your time here. Get out there and find the naughties who ran away!” There is some mumbling among the other police officers, but hunting evildoers is more to their liking than doing boring police work.

Eva also comes over to our group. “I want you to find out what the fae and hobgoblins were up to. Tonight I lost eleven of my people and I am not happy! Not happy at all! Three were good friends!”

I wince. “I am sorry for your losses, but the Old Ones decided to do nothing offensive about the fae. You know yourself that the only real solution to the fae problem would be to wipe out Fairy. They had thousands of years to change their ways, but they didn't. I highly doubt that they'll now.”

Magnus snorts. “I can tell you what they wanted to do. They tried to stage a PR event! Wouldn't it have been nice if they had solved the problem with the hobgoblins to become the heroes? They just didn't expect that this territory has several supernatural groups who are heavily invested in the city's affairs!”

I turn my attention to Samantha and the cameras. “Maybe we should talk about such things in private.”

Samantha smiles dashingly. “Please keep going. Don't mind us.”

I want to, but such discussions could easily lead into territory which we don't want to discuss in public. “I am sorry, but since we are the representatives of the supernatural communities in this city, we'll have to talk to all groups before we decide on how to proceed.”

I excuse us and, together, we leave the reporter behind.