The bestial Dowry

3. Decimus 123
"Before the Hajota, they were hunters and collectors. And as it was tradition, when a wedding was announced, with it also a hunt was scheduled. A hunt to receive the first treasure of the newly combined collection of the married couple. Normal folk went hunting game and other small animals, but the rich always wanted the extraordinary to present their wealth and status. In the plains near the Tuagan mountains exits a rare cursorial bird, the Huktora, that was unlucky enough to be picked as one of the precious targets. Decades of hunting pushed the birds further up the mountains. Hunting these birds was a hard and tedious task, but fame and honor were a rewarding price for the hunters.

Then the Hajota happened and for a few years, the people were busy with rebuilding and recovering. Nevertheless, as soon as the daily routine was back to normal, the urge to celebrate the tradition came also back. But things had changed! The first few hunts did not encounter any Huktoras and some speculated that they did not survive the Hajota. The hunting focus went back to other big animals and only a few young dreamers, who got laughed at, tried their luck to find a Huktora again.

Then decades later, there was the first incident. A few shepherds went missing and rumors spread, that they were taken by bird-like creatures, that came down the mountains.

It was during this time, that I, Margush Greenfeather, met a noble who invited me after his wedding to the next hunt to write down his quest in finding these beasts. And so we took off."

15. Decimus 123

"I don't know how much time I have, the noises finally calmed down! But from the beginning:

... we barely made it... these creatures came down the mountains with a terrifying loud screech. The horses started to stop listening to commands and began to scatter in fear. I got thrown off and only saw the others in the hunting party scream and point behind me before everything went black...

.. I just woke up and found myself in a cave. Next to me, some of our travel gear and equipment were scattered around. I crawled slowly up to the entrance... it was high in the mountains, and a steep drop prevented me from going any further. But the drop was not the scariest thing I saw...

On a small plateau, in front of another cave entrance, there were two of these beasts circling each other with quite elegant and rhythmic movement. Around them, half a dozen more beasts were lying and watching. One of the beasts in the middle was dragging something and was kind of presenting it to the other one. The other one was a bit more colorful than the first and at first, seemed kinda unimpressed, but then began to inspect the dragged object. As I looked closer, I had to cover my mouth to not scream out loud... it was the lifeless body of one of the other hunters. When the second one began to make excited screeching noises ... I ducked back down and hid!

If I did not know better, it looked nearly like a mating and proposal ritual. Kinda like the one I was hired to write about..."

The note ends here abruptly. It was the last entry in the notes of Margush Greenfeather and was found years later by another hunting party in an abandoned cave up the mountains.