Free Ilbei Spadebreaker and the Harpy's Wild by John Daulton

paces beyond the buildings, and the sight of the water and the promise of food set the soldiers’ spirits on high as they gazed out over the last hundred spans of brush that separated them from the tiny little town. That is, until they heard the wail.
    The sound rose from the buildings below, at first barely on the edge of hearing but rising, sharp and high, slicing through the promise of the tranquil scene below them. It stopped abruptly, and once more the day’s mounting heat was the only thing in the air.
    “What was that?” Jasper asked, eyes darting between the camp and his brawny sergeant. He shifted closer to Ilbei.
    Meggins glanced sideways at the nervous mage and stifled a grin. “A banshee, most likely,” he said. “That nymph didn’t get us, but there’s an angry curse upon these hills, a female spirit gone bitter with all them miners abusing the ground all these years. And she can see a man coming long before he sees her. Likely smelled you when you poured that honey into the water, trying to trick her, and sent the banshee to finish us off.” He winked at Kaige while Jasper looked frantically to Ilbei.
    “Oh dear,” said Jasper. “Do you really think so?”
    “No doubt—” Meggins began, but Ilbei silenced him with a hiss.
    They waited, looking down into the clearing where the camp was, watching and expecting another wail. A few chickens ran out from the unseen side of one of the smaller buildings, clucking and fluttering in fright. Jasper tensed, prepared to run, and Ilbei, without looking at the mage, reached out and clamped a manacle’s grip around his arm, holding him in place.
    An old woman came out after the chickens, cloaked in rags of graying homespun, her long hair as filthy and ragged as her raiment. She stooped and ran with her arms outstretched, her hands like claws as she shambled after the chickens ineffectually. One of the chickens got close enough that she dove for it. She missed, and the chicken skittered away, once again clucking its indignity.
    Again came the wail. The woman, upon sliding to a dusty stop in the wake of the renegade chicken, got to her knees and, seated upon her heels, let forth another of the piercing cries. She sounded it with every ounce of her breath, her head cocked back, her mouth wide, howling with the full-bodied passion of a wolf.
    “A banshee!” Jasper cried. “It’s true!” He turned and bolted back the way they had come, but he only got as far as the length of Ilbei’s arm, at which point he was jerked to a halt like a dog hitting the end of the rope that tethers it to a tree.
    Meggins had all he could do to keep from laughing aloud and giving their position away, although for once Kaige wasn’t sharing in Meggins’ levity. Meggins’ ruse had been too well crafted for one wink to dissipate. The big man, like Jasper, looked nervously to Ilbei for a cue.
    Ilbei remained vigilant, looking down the hill into the clearing. The woman stopped her wail and once again chased after the chickens. She dove headlong after another, and, after failing to grab it, once more loosed a long, agonized wail.
    A second woman appeared after a third episode of chicken chasing. This one was much younger than the first, and she walked rather than ran despite the ruckus that had summoned her. She came out of the building from which the smoke rose and went to the bedraggled woman, helping her up gently. The younger led the elder into one of the small buildings, all the while patting her gently on the back of the hand and speaking to her in a voice too low to be heard from where Ilbei and his men were concealed.
    When the two women were out of sight, Ilbei nodded and straightened himself. “Weren’t no banshee, that. Come on, then. Let’s get down there and see what we can learn. Jasper, you stay with me. Meggins, you and Kaige wait outside while we go in.”
    “Right, Sergeant,” Meggins said.
    A few moments later, Ilbei and Jasper entered the largest building,