So, you whipper-snappers think you've worked sixteen winters, and know all the rituals, and heard all me stories, and think you're ready to head out alone, eh? 'Alf you kids will starve in two weeks and the other 'alf o' ye will drown in a damn puddle, come the wet ice! But jist a rare few of ye might end up wishin' ye died natural-like, if'n you think THIS is just another story.
Must a been nigh sixty winters past, when I was greener than you lads, some o' the men that was comin' and goin' tradin' back then took to talkin' about how they was gettin' heaps o' treasure fer workin' up north in Stumpmire. Always somethin' about a new settler, with piles o' loot, givin' it away if'n you was willin' to come to 'is 'ouse 'n chop his trees fer 'im. He'd even feed ye, and give ye an axe, and let ye keep it, if'n you promised to come back. Well, after a while o' this, the men that 'ad left town jist stopped comin' back from Stumpmire, and the ones that was still in town took to stayin' there more permanent-like. Wouldn't say why, they was all quiet about it, and we let them be, seein' as now we was the only place they would trade the pay they was still holdin' onto.
After a couple weeks o' that, the new settler came to see us. He was near seven foot I'd say, and looked like he carried a lot o' weight on his bones, but 'adn't eaten in a few days. Was wonderin' why no one was comin' up to 'is place, still 'ad work needed doin' and still 'ad plenty of goods to pay. The men that 'ad been workin' for 'im before kinda looked down, gave back their axes, and made excuses why'n they couldn' go back with 'im. He got real mad, and offered up a sword fer the man that would go with 'im.
Well, my old cousin Jaqqa visiting from the next town over 'appenned to need himself a sword, and thought he might go with back to Stumpmire. Old Jaqqa was always slow on the uptake, like most of you kids these days... The men that 'ad worked for the settler all sat down to talkin' real hushed like once he and Jaqqa left, and got their things together, and followed after 'em. Yours truly figgered followin' the men who left would be the best way to see what was really goin' on, but now I figger it's best not findin' out some things too direct.
Stumpmire's just north, goes on for miles. Felt like hours walkin' it, but I was bein' careful o' makin' too much noise, and lettin' on to the men that they was bein' followed in turn. They finally got close up enough to the settler's buildsite that I could see it from where I was hidin', but then I heard Jaqqa screamin'. Not no regular screamin' like when you babies see squirrel guts, but real screamin'. I ain't never heard anything like it before or since, and then it just stopped real sudden.
The men was runnin' up to the house then, and I started hearin' shoutin' and noises like a big fight was startin', but then those stopped too. I got as close as I could, hidin' in the trees that was left, and what I saw was worse than all Jaqqa's screamin'. 'Is eyes was put out, and 'is legs was broke, and 'is 'ead was smashed open, and 'is arms was still twitchin'. The new settler 'ad killed the men who followed 'im too, and was cuttin' em up fer meat with 'is back to me. I cracked a twig backin' away and he turned right around and looked at me with these hollow eyes, and what he did was smile. Smile, and hold up a cut of meat from one of the men, and set it on the ground, and when I ran away like anyone with 'alf a brain woulda done, I 'eard 'im recitin' our ritual for sacrificin' an animal, like those men was sheep.
And that's why whatever you boys do on yer way to some bear's belly, don't you go trustin' strangers, and don't you go to Stumpmire.
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Don't Go to Stumpmire
Topic: Don't Go to Stumpmire (Read 20811 times)