Hunters and wolves
The militiawoman's face was neutral, but her hand rested on the head of her axe.
The hairy man flinched away slightly as she reached for him, grimacing, twisting his face into what he obviously intended to be a disarming grin. All he managed to do was make her even more certain he was up to something - the grin accentuated his staring yellow-tinged eyes, and his broken teeth.
"No no no officer, it is nothing, nothing to worry about." he tried to reassure her. "Just a head. A pig head. Yes! Just a pig head for my supper!"
The man glared at her, and clutched the bag protectively.
"Don't try to steal it now!"
The militiawoman looked past the drooling beggar to her two companions. Ranulf peered down into the ditch and the jumped back, swearing. He began to run down along the path to where Jeanna stood, waving his arms, shouting. The man looked back over his shoulder to see what was going on, his brow furrowing.
Jeanna took an executive decision and grabbed the sack away from the beggar-man while he was distracted. It was surprisingly heavy. She tipped it out, and two human heads thudded onto the snow. Her stomach lurched.
As soon as she took the sack, the maniac stopped capering and launched himself at her, howling like a cornered wolf. He tore at her face with his broken, bloody nails and tried to get his hands around her neck.
Ranulf reached them just as Jeanna stopped beating him unconscious.
"The ditch was full of bodies," he said breathlessly, then looked down at the prone figure. "Is he dead?"
"Not yet," said Jeanna..She gingerly touched the bruise on the side of her neck. "But I think we might have solved the mystery of the Hahnmark strangler..."