The Dreamer and the Hunter - A Beauty and the Beast Story

Suddenly Serious

The dead man before them perfectly met the descriptions they had been given. They had found their missing man.

Gaston had led them, following a trail of blood-stained grass to nearby a creek where the remains of the body lay.

The five hunters stood there in shocked silence for a long time, all staring at the bloody scene before them.

"Oh dear God!" cried LeFou, the first to break the silence. He stood there shaking, jaw agape, a very pale Stanley at his side. Tom was so still it hardly seemed that he was breathing and Dick removed his hat. Finally, they managed to turn away.

Gaston was the only one who remained observing the gory scene. Quite quickly his thoughts were clouded with memories of bloody battlefields, where coming across a scene like this was common. The blood, the devastation, the gunshots, the explosions... He clenched his now shaking hands into tight fists at his sides, finally yanking his gaze away.

"H-how did this happen?" whispered Tom, so quietly it was hard to hear, echoing all of their thoughts.

"Poor soul," said Dick.

"Poor, poor man," agreed LeFou, looking close to tears. And he had thought coming across the dead deer was traumatizing... He felt sick.

"The beast," mumbled Stanley. "It was the beast, I-it had to be. First it was flocks, then forest animals, and now humans. Now it's preying on us, on humans - whatever it is."

With Gaston's thoughts now clouded with memories of the war, he had mostly tuned out his friends' scared voices. However, Stanley repeating 'beast' leapt out at him, making him grit his teeth and clench his fists even tighter.

"It was the beast," Stanley repeated yet again, rambling on, as if by just talking and talking it would stifle his fear. "It had to be it, the beast. W-what else could do this? The beast-"

Gaston whirled around and seized Stanley by the front of his coat. "You say 'beast' one more time, and I will FEED YOU TO THE WOLVES!" he yelled in the smaller man's face even though they were just inches apart.

"Gaston - stop it!" cried LeFou, grabbing his friend by the shoulders and pulling him away from the now even more frightened Stanley. LeFou had dealt with Gaston's outbursts before, loud, angry outbursts usually triggered by a memory of either the war or his father. He guessed seeing the dead, badly-wounded man had triggered some war memories. LeFou guided the enraged hunter away from the others and the dead man. "Deep breaths, relax. The war's over now, you're home. You don't have to go back. This isn't the battlefield. This is an animal attack." But what kind of animal?

Gaston's breathing slowly returned to its more calm nature. While he calmed down, the others muttered amongst themselves.

"Do you think it's the same thing that preyed on the deer and wolf?"

"I think it's safe to assume so - what if there's more than one?"

"Let's go then," Gaston said softly, cutting off their muttering. He headed back towards where they had left their horses. "Let's go and notify the village that we found their man."

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The group took the man's remains and returned them to his home village, where a proper burial and ceremony of remembrance could take place. They were all shaken and exhausted to say the least.

They originally declined the offer to spend the night in their neighbouring village, just wanting to get home, but they then realized that due to the threat of the unknown danger that seemed to be lurking in the woods, it would be best to wait until morning to travel.

It was late when they returned to Villeneuve a couple of days later, and although they were tired and shaken, Gaston called an important meeting in the tavern for all the village hunters.

"As you have heard there have been rumours going around of a vicious creature lurking in the woods," Gaston told the group of men gathered around one of the tavern tables, he at the head. "Due to recent events, we may have come to be led to believe these rumours are true to some extent..." His words trailed off as nervous murmurs started up amongst the crowd. "Something is preying on the animals, and now people. I do not recognize the signs of what kind of animal it is we are dealing with. We will have to do some further investigating, but be cautious. No one is to enter the forest alone. You are dismissed." He gave a wave of his hand to disperse the group and rubbed his hands over his tired face.

No matter how hard he tried nor how tired he was sleep would not come over him that night, not after what they had found. It had been this way after he had returned from the war, long nights spent wide away, unable to push the horrid memories from his mind long enough to fall asleep, let alone permanently forget them.

Something was wrong. Very wrong. He didn't want to believe it, but it seemed that all the signs pointed to it, them, the rumours. But a beast? Some demonic creature? It seemed absurd. Besides, wouldn't a creature like that be one of magic? Magical origin? And there was no such thing as magic.

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