The man in the black cloak came in from the forest. I did not know then he was a monster hunter, though I did have a familiar dread in my stomach. I wish now that I had asked him from whence he came, for his voice was pleasant on my ears. He asked for food and warmth for the night. I hadn’t a guest since the lost days when my children brought in friends from the village, but I still remembered the laws of hospitality. The man smiled. “I expected to find nothing in the middle of a woods; what…

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