Twelfth Krampus Night by Matt Manochio Read Free Book Online Page B

boy.”
    â€œI thought we weren’t going to fight each other,” it said.
    â€œThat’s right, we’re not. The front of the castle is off-limits. That’s a rule I can adhere to. You take your side of the castle and I’ll take mine. We’ll be too busy trying to scale the walls than to worry about foiling each other.”
    â€œFair enough. But what about the castle’s rear?”
    â€œWe split the castle in two—and not literally, genius. You have your side that will wrap halfway around to the castle’s rear.”
    â€œAnd you’ll have yours.”
    â€œRiiiiiight.” She drew it out like it had two syllables, enjoying how to plot and win the game of wits and strength ahead of them. “I expect the last thing we want to do is meet in the middle behind the castle.”
    â€œDeal.” The monster nodded, also feeling enlivened by the challenge. “We avoid each other, stay off each other’s side. But once we’re inside, anything goes.”
    â€œAgreed.” She held out her claw-like right and the monster did likewise. She grabbed the tip of its kielbasa-sized finger and shook. “But don’t you go anywhere yet. I need to find my knife.”
    â€œYeah, my legs need to heal a little more too.” It arched its back to look behind at its calf muscles to see the Achilles wounds mending by themselves.
    â€œYou and your hawk eyes could help me look for my knife, you know. It would speed things up considerably.” She stepped one foot into the forest to begin her search. “By the way, what do I call you?”
    It walked into the forest, eyeing her, and grunted, “Krampus.”

Chapter Seven
    â€œAnd you’re sure he wasn’t missing anything?” Mumfred examined Hans’s body, which Otto had placed on the ground near the closed portcullis—and off to its side stood Heinrich, holding Beate against his body to warm her as the sun began to set.
    â€œHis crossbow, sword, he even had some coins in his saddlebag—Victor said it was all there when we found him,” Otto said. Lords Wilhelm and Karl added what they could about the attack on the hunting party.
    â€œWe should fetch the bodies,” Mumfred said. “If the villagers see dead knights strewn about the road, they might think the baron and his kin weak. Rumors could spread to other towns, and to our enemies. Uprisings have occurred over less.”
    Beate, still surrounded by several Vettelberg workers, said nothing. She stared, expressionless, at the vertical gash made down Hans’s belly.
    â€œThat crone cut straight through Victor’s chain mail in one clean swipe,” Otto continued, trying not to let on that he wanted no part in retrieving bodies. “I’m not sure I could pull off something like that. This hunchbacked woman, the way she moved. The feeble only move that fast when they drop dead. They don’t hop on horses and then disembowel them. And I still don’t know what wielded that chain. It couldn’t have been the woman. I’m guessing a marauder dressed in multiple furs, wearing war paint. But I’m not even convinced of that.”
    Mumfred, taller than everyone except Otto, addressed the young lords. “I believe the baron would impale me if I allowed you two to set foot from this castle until we have a better handle on things. So you’re staying here. And the baron must be told.”
    Mumfred stood on his tiptoes to scan the crowd of thirty people that had formed a semicircle around Hans and the survivors. “Where’s the messenger? James, are you there?”
    â€œI am.” A lean, fit man in his twenties, James wormed his way through the people to Mumfred, who put his hand on James’s shoulder.
    â€œGo to the stables, get the fastest horse you can find.” Mumfred glanced at Hans’s death wound and then back to James. “Get a weapon. A dagger, something