In Noelictus, nothing stayed dead. The people of Landsmecht were used to the danger. But there was danger and—danger. Cara didn’t know why the news was so dire at first. She hurried over with Idelt; all the adults had put down their tools and strode over at once.

“Are you sure? How did it happen, Rethis? Did you have to kill it?”

The man shook his head.

“The bear was hunting a buck, Idelt. I stumbled across it by chance after finding the blood trail.”

Rethis was panting. His face was pale, and he had run from the forest. He had spotted a large bear the other day and wisely kept away. But the worst had happened.

“How big?”

Idelt and the other elder villagers stood around in a conference. Indoors. When Rethis had run into the village, everyone had hurried indoors, abandoning their work. Now—the [Hunter] paced back and forth to show them.

“Mothbear. This big.”

The bear was as large as a grizzly. Maybe a bit larger than average. Cara felt her hair standing up.

Bears had long since been extinct in the United Kingdom. But she knew black bears, grizzly bears, and polar bears and this was a huge animal. At least…two hundred and forty centimeters across. Which was massive. Hundreds of pounds!

The villagers moaned. Even that was a quiet thing. Idelt was carrying his blacksmith’s hammer he’d snatch up from the forge. He lifted a hand and silence fell. Rethis went on at his nod.

“It was hunting. Hungry. It found a buck. Not a Corusdeer, or it might have burned the bear to death.

Just a regular deer.”

“Did it kill the deer?”

The [Hunter] shook his head slowly. He licked his lips.

“Neither. That is to say—both are dead. The buck gored the bear, and the bear savaged it before it died of blood loss too. I tried to cut their heads off. But they started moving before I even got close. They’re both walking about.”

Cara felt her skin crawling. Did he mean there was now a zombie-bear out there and an elk? Idelt looked around.

“There’s a deer herd nearby. We might be in danger of a horde. Someone must ride to Lord Lantal at once.”

“I’ll do it.”

The young man with the rake, Hernon, volunteered. Idelt nodded. Rethis panted.

“Take my horse. Go. Tell them there’s at least eight deer. A small herd, but—”

They could all turn into zombies. Cara realized what he was saying. If you had a zombie-bear in the woods, and a deer—she turned to Violetta. The girl’s eyes were wide.

“Could they kill a deer? Surely the animals would run away.”

Violetta didn’t respond. She was beginning to tremble. Violetta, who had killed the rabbit…

But this was no rabbit. Nor one, or even two monsters. Idelt turned.