What do you think of this animal?

Great imagination. One thing about your first sentence, don't say heard two times, use a different word. For instance, From the loft above, he heard more squawking and saw the brottas that he had seen upon entering the castle. Everything else was intriguing, I want more... It's a very dark setting and I can see that the brottas are really not to be trusted. I see that the farmers instinctively know more than the monks, who probably are too naive. Anyway, it's a scary creature. I have chickens and we joke all the time about how scary it would be if they were bigger than us. Maybe you should go in the direction of making them bigger and have mysterious disappearances start taking place. Horrible sounds in the night..monks disappear before your very eyes. The brottas are incredibly smart and are feeding on the people....blah ha ha ha... Just kidding... Good Luck!!