"Kiki, my name is Kiki, Master!" the house-elf replied obediently.
"Why are you here? And what exactly happened?" Seeing that she had finally stopped screaming, Alan got straight to the point.
"Kiki... Kiki came with her master to do business. Kiki walked with her master in the forest for a day and a night, and then, and then..." As Kiki spoke, her face twisted in terror again, her voice trembling.
"Don't be nervous, Kiki. I won't hurt you. Tell me what you and your master encountered in the Forbidden Forest." Alan didn't dare cast a Fear Curse again, so he squatted down to maintain eye level with her.
"Kiki and Master finally arrived at the trading spot. Many scary monsters surrounded us. They were fierce toward Master, and then Master told Kiki to run. Kiki was obedient, Kiki ran, and then Kiki flew up. Kiki felt so much pain. After that, Kiki doesn't know. Where is Master? Where is Master?"
Kiki's mind was chaotic. She spoke disjointedly and incoherently, but even through the fragments, Alan was able to piece together the intelligence.
"Don't be nervous. I'll ask one question at a time. Speak slowly." Alan took out a bottle of Draught of Peace, fed it to Kiki, and spoke softly.
"You appeared here because you had an appointment with someone?" Alan asked after Kiki's complexion had eased.
"Kiki doesn't know. Kiki only knows to follow Master. After Master arrived here, he didn't move, as if he was waiting for someone." Kiki's speech was much smoother after the potion.
"Were the people who came to see your master a group of werewolves? People who look like wolves but walk on two legs?"
"Yes, those kinds of monsters... those werewolves. But at first, Kiki didn't see werewolves; it was a human wizard. Kiki was looking at the cargo box, and he was talking to Master. Then that wizard got angry and shouted—just like a wolf's howl—and then many monsters, werewolves, appeared around us."
"And then your master told you to run?"
"Not at first. That wizard master first walked over, snatched the cargo box, and rummaged through it. Kiki had just organized it. Then the wizard master got even angrier. He roared at Master, and then Master told Kiki to run. Only then did Kiki run."
"Besides that wizard, were there any other humans? How many werewolves, or monsters, were there?"
"There was only one wizard master. There were many werewolves. There was one, two, three, four, five, six." Kiki counted on her fingers, stopping at six.
Six? Alan frowned, confused. He had only counted five sets of footprints before. Where did the other werewolf go?
"Do you remember what that wizard said to your master?" Alan suppressed his doubts and continued.
"Kiki only remembers that the wizard master was very fierce. He asked Master why there was no Draught of Living Death, only sleeping draughts, and not enough volatile solutions. How could they knock out unicorns with just these? But they didn't know Master had already tried very hard; the herbs needed for the Draught of Living Death simply couldn't be collected."
"Knock out unicorns? Their target was unicorns?"
"Kiki doesn't know. After that wizard master looked at the cargo box, he kept being fierce to Master. Then that wizard seemed to hear something, and then he started pulling out his wand. Kiki only remembers that Master told Kiki to run at that time."
Hearing this, Alan roughly understood the situation. Kiki's master was likely a black market merchant selling potions who had arranged to trade with a werewolf-aligned wizard. However, the goods provided could not meet the wizard's demands. Then, the wizard heard something—possibly a signal from the lone werewolf Alan had been tracking. The site was only a few kilometers from the previous rendezvous point; a unique werewolf howl could easily carry that distance.
The wizard had decided to double-cross the merchant. He had likely cast a Blasting Curse, severely injuring Kiki as she fled, while the merchant met a tragic end. The werewolves hadn't finished them off, possibly due to time constraints or the assumption that a house-elf couldn't survive such a blast.
However, one detail puzzled Alan: was that merchant really so compassionate? In his final moments, he told his elf to run? He looked at Kiki again.
"Is your master very good to you?"
"Master is very good to Kiki." Kiki nodded repeatedly. "Master only hits Kiki once every five days, and Kiki gets food every day—one meal a day!"
Alan was speechless. *You call that being good?* He thought of another perplexing detail.
"Your master told you to run; why didn't you use Apparition? Don't you know that magic? House-elves are one of the few races that can naturally perform stable, wandless Apparition."
"Kiki can Apparate. Usually, Kiki carries Master to travel, but at that time, Master told Kiki to run, not to Apparate!" Kiki tilted her head, her big eyes wide.
Alan understood. The merchant likely wanted Kiki to take him and Apparate away, but Kiki was too literal; she simply turned and ran. Recalling the position of the corpse, the merchant had been facing the direction of the blast. He was probably lunging toward Kiki to grab her for a Side-Along Apparition, but his own elf had misunderstood and bolted. This tragic miscommunication had cost him his life.
"Oh, Master, do you know where Kiki's master is? Kiki misses Master." Kiki had calmed down, sensing Alan meant no harm.
"Your master..." Alan looked at the shattered remains he hadn't yet examined, then at Kiki's round eyes. "Alright, I'll take you to see him."
He moved aside, allowing her to see the scene behind him.
"Ma-Master? Is this Master?" Kiki staggered to the body and the broken cargo box, tears streaming uncontrollably.
Alan followed her. He, too, needed to examine the scene.