Huntress

by S. J. Sanders

  Huntress

  S.J. Sanders

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Epilogue

  Other Works by S.J. Sanders

  About the Author

  Huntress

  A Ragoru Beginnings Romance

  S.J. Sanders

  Copyright ©2020 by Samantha Sanders

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without explicit permission granted in writing from the author.

  This book is a work of fiction intended for adult audiences only.

  Editor: LY Publishing

  Cover: Sam Griffin

  1

  Heidi was a trained killer. It was all she’d known since the Order of the Huntsmen took her into their sanctified halls when she was fourteen. She had no surname and no family. She didn’t remember them. All she knew was the Order. They taught her how to fight, how to exploit a rival’s weakness, how to face monsters many times larger than herself, and how to kill. She was still a child when she went into the dark forests armed with nothing more than her bow and blades.

  There, she proved herself at a young age against the dangerous creatures who inhabited the darkest recesses. Even though she never came face-to-face with any of the elusive Ragoru, she’d destroyed other dangers without flinching, emerging victorious time and time again. The Master had noticed her talent for death and took her into his personal service within months of her twenty-first birthday. From that point on, she stalked the shadows as his personal assassin. For a full decade and a half, she murdered his own huntsmen who attempted to wrestle control of the Order from him, and those who broke the strict codes.

  He had honed her into his perfect weapon… and then betrayed her. Her pale lips curved into a mocking smile as she sharpened her last blade and sheathed it among the others belted to her lean body.

  She was going to kill the Master.

  Heidi pushed herself back from the desk at which she sat, her chair scraping against the floor. Her oiled leather armor barely made a sound as she stood. A single oil lamp sat on the desk, its light flickering. Though much of the Citadel still had electricity, it was rarer in the poorer districts where the energy grids had failed long ago. No one cared to make sure the poor had power. The smell of mothballs was strong in the room, but that was okay. She wasn’t going to be there much longer. She doubted she would survive the night, but at least she wouldn’t have to hide and would take that monster with her.

  Oh, she knew he was a monster. That knowledge had never bothered her. From what she had seen of the world, she long ago came to the conclusion that sometimes it took a monster to protect the innocent from the other monsters out there. Even when he seemed to teeter on the edge of madness, she’d found a reason to stay by his side.

  She was never insubordinate. She followed his every order to the letter.

  But she hadn’t realized the depths of his depravity until he killed his own wife and attempted to coerce his daughter into sharing his marriage bed. Heidi had intentionally interfered with his security when the girl made a break for it. The girl had gotten away, but Heidi, though she’d been careful, was found out, and all her years of faithful service were swept away as if they had never happened.

  Her death had been ordered because she trusted the wrong people. Her first mistake was trusting the Master’s perceived affection for her as a show of favoritism, that he would forgive her for what was a mild, inoffensive transgression. The second was trusting the only man she had allowed to know her intimately.

  Her lover, employed by the Master as his manservant for even more years than she, had often been morose. His gutless betrayal earned him a knife in the belly, spilling his worthless innards onto the floor as he bled out. Heidi had barely escaped the ambush that waited for her in the manor only one full day after Emala escaped the same prison, but she made a point of paying him one last visit on her way out the door.

  He’d tried to plead with her, begging for mercy, calling upon the years of devotion to each other. Heidi felt nothing but burning anger toward the man who so easily handed her over. A man who hadn’t felt any grief at her suspected demise, who had been caught fucking a maid, believing Heidi to be dead. Oh, he’d been so surprised to see her alive. She still felt a tingle of satisfaction through her disappointment and anger. He looked so ridiculous the way he’d gaped at her, his mouth moving silently like a fish pulled out of the water until the moment she gutted him like one. He’d discovered why she was called the Night Huntress when she delivered him into darkness, closing his eyes for the final time.

  Reaching forward, she turned down the lamp, retracting the wick until the flame snuffed out. Inky blackness descended around her, but she was familiar with the dark. Pulling up the black hood of the cloak that had long marked her as separate from the rest of the Order, she turned away from the table and strode across the room, her steps light with ingrained care on the old squeaky floorboards.

  The door closed silently behind her as she crept like a shadow toward the staircase. Another door slowly creaked open, drawing her attention. Lamplight flooded the hallway as the elderly proprietress lifted her lantern in Heidi’s direction. Squinting in the darkness, her wrinkled face was set in hard lines of disapproval.

  “Where are you going, girl?”

  “Just out for a stroll, Gertrude,” Heidi replied quietly.

  Gertrude snorted derisively. “I don’t know who you are thinking to fool, but it is not me. You forget who dragged you off the street, bleeding to death after you collapsed in front of my place. Cut to ribbons by the Order at that. I spent too much time stitching you up and bathing away the fevers to believe you’re going for a walk armed to the teeth.”

  Gertrude had her there. At eighty-nine years old, more observant and sharper than anyone a fraction of her age, Gertrude ran her little inn with an iron fist. Naturally, she would notice such details.

  “Leave it alone,” Heidi warned.

  “Don’t take that tone with me. Now, you just wait there. I have something for you,” Gertrude said as she stepped back into her room, taking the light with her.

  Heidi considered making her escape, but she had to admit that she was curious to see what the retired madam had for her. Her lips quirked as she considered the goods that were likely piled in the small apartment from the bordello that Gertrude had once run, before she’d sold her business and bought the tavern in the poor sector. Heidi doubted a sex toy or a bustier was going to help her face down the huntsmen, much less kill the Master.

  “Here,” the older woman grumbled as she returned, thrusting a box toward her.

  Taking it, Heidi popped open the lid and stared. Nestled in the velvet casing was an antique pistol, the lamplight
gleaming off the black barrel. Other than seeing a couple in the Master’s collection behind glass, she’d never held a gun before. “Gertrude, this is…”

  “It works,” Gertrude interrupted. “I figure that since you can aim with a bow well enough, you shouldn’t have trouble with this. I’ve used it off and on over the years so I can vouch for it. I’m afraid it only has one bullet left, so use it wisely.” The elderly woman picked up the gun and showed her how to load the weapon in a few deft movements. “You got it, girl?”

  Heidi tightened her lips. “I can’t accept this. It is valuable.”

  The other woman snorted and let out a dry chuckle. “I can barely see well enough to fire it, much less pull the trigger. I never had any children to fight over it, so I want a say in who I pass it down to. I don’t want to see it put behind glass like a relic of the before times. Maybe after the bullets are used up it can be retired but, just like me, this old pistol has some life in her yet. Now take it and quit yapping.”

  A smile flitted over Heidi’s lips as she removed the pistol from the case. Upon checking the chamber she could see the single bullet nestled inside. She slid it shut as Gertrude handed her a holster and showed her how to strap it around her shoulder. Pistol tucked securely beneath her arm, she nodded her thanks and dropped her cloak back around her body.

  “You do what you can to whittle down the Order’s power, girl. Kill whoever it is you need to kill, but then leave. Go find a small piece of happiness. No one is going to overthrow them in one lifetime. Just take your piece of them and go. You hear me? Don’t sacrifice your life for any one of them… They aren’t worth that.”

  Grimly, Heidi nodded. What she didn’t tell Gertrude was that there was no piece of happiness waiting for people like her. Heidi was a killer and nothing more. She didn’t know how to be more. All she had was her vengeance.

  The innkeeper looked her right back in the eye, her face creased with worry and sadness. Heidi knew that she saw it there without it being said. She would fight like a fire burning itself out until at last her light would be extinguished.

  “Don’t forget to lock up, Gertrude,” Heidi murmured as she swept by. “The Citadel isn’t safe.”

  She was on the stairs when she heard the other woman chuckle.

  “Oh, I know, girl. I know, but it won’t stop me. Just let any one of them damn fools come in here. I’m no wilting flower, as you know. You stay safe, girl. I worry about you.” Her voice dropping off in a low rasp as Heidi descended the stairs.

  Making her way outside, Heidi tugged on her hood, pulling it low as a cool evening wind stirred through the air. She paused, getting a feeling for her surroundings. Her fingers closed around the shortsword strapped to her hip, and she stepped out into the street.

  A huntress was loose in the night with death on her mind.

  Grinning menacingly in the dark, she hurried down the cobbled roads, heading toward the tall buildings in the distance that marked the presence of the Order towering over the Citadel.

  2

  Gund grinned down at the large den. Night after night, he perched in a low crouch on the roof of the structure that served as the dwelling and meeting place for the Order of Huntsmen, spying on the comings and goings of his target. The Master passed unwittingly beneath them, unaware as always. So close to death, but utterly ignorant of it. It amused Gund.

  The huntsmen, including the Master, were only human.

  A Ragoru would have already sniffed out and challenged his triad for daring to approach, but the humans were oblivious. He could easily have dropped on his unsuspecting prey a number of times, but Gund was no fool. Though humans had duller senses and weaker bodies, they used their weapons and numbers to overwhelm their enemies. A reckless attack would end up getting his triad killed.

  Instead, he settled for watching. First, he’d watched the outer walls of the city for cycles, determining its weaknesses. Then he’d advanced to scouting the city and watching the Order operate as his triad lurked unseen within the shadows of the citadel. Now, for the last revolution, he’d been watching the Master alone, and everything was finally coming together.

  Tonight, they would attack!

  His smoke-gray ears tipped forward with impatience as he watched the Master stroll leisurely toward the door, his stride arrogant as his blue huntsman’s cape swirled around him with every step. Gund knew he was looking at a male who possessed a great many revolutions of experience. Many enjoyed battling younger males in the fury and strength of youth. He preferred the older males with enough wits and strength to survive, battle-hardened into maturity, for his opponents. The Master was going to be a delightful challenge, but it wasn’t just for the challenge. Though he looked forward to the fight, he would enjoy bringing down a monster who killed Ragoru indiscriminately and sent murderers after a triad’s fragile human mate.

  Even after seven years of preparation and tracking, he was still captivated by the memory of the human female. Such a thing would never have occurred to him—to mate a human despite the low number of females in the Ragoru population. Now it was all that he could think about, and as time passed, his fantasy hardened into resolve. He would destroy the male, earn his victory, and then he would pluck a female from among the humans in the Citadel. His triad would steal their mate and win her affections.

  “Do we attack now or wait?” Orth asked at his side, his silver fur shifting on the breeze.

  Gund turned an ear toward the male. Orth was the most patient of their triad. Gund and Tah had grown up together, friends as rogs, and battle brothers when they became adults and joined together to begin forming their triad. The younger male had approached them a few revolutions later when they passed through his family’s territory. They had accepted the soft-spoken male, although Gund had reservations that Orth was too gentle for their life. He soon learned that Orth was also a ruthless fighter. Many Ragoru made the mistake of challenging them, thinking that the male would be an easy conquest, but Orth had not lost a fight yet. Gund was proud to call him brother. Until they had a territory to call their own, hardship was just the way of their world and, due to their strength and cunning, their triad was indomitable.

  “We wait,” Gund growled. “We do not wish to alert the guard.”

  Orth nodded in agreement, and they watched the male enter the large building.

  “Watch for his sleeping chamber light. When we are certain he is alone, we will converge there, dropping through the window and breaking into the room as planned. We will have to act quickly so that he does not alert any nearby guard, but make no mistake: tonight, we will seize our quarry, and the glory for ourselves.”

  His brothers both grinned down at the unsuspecting male striding across the courtyard below them as he approached the entrance of his den. Their muscles stiffened with tension as they waited for the male to make his way to his room. They still had some time yet to wait as the sun sank further into the horizon, bathing everything around them in shadows. Ragoru eyesight being what it was, their vision was nearly as clear as it was in the light of day, and not impeded in the least. Although at times the Master retired late, it was rarely far beyond full nightfall. Humans depended on light, and their prey seemed reluctant to provide excessive illumination into the late hours. In that way, at least, he was predictable.

  At last, the light flared in the male’s room. They crept closer, gliding over the rooftops. Gund watched as the male stripped off his layers and the heavy armor breastplate that he never seemed to be without even in his own den. The male trusted no one. Gund both admired that quality and found it laughable that the male surrounded himself with those whom he could not trust with his life.

  The moment had come at last as the Master slipped into his bed and the light winked out in his room. Gund prepared to leap over to the next rooftop and close the distance, his grin widening.

  “Now is our moment—we attack!”

  Tah suddenly stiffened at his side, breaking Gund’s concentration. He eyed his brot
her questioningly. The male didn’t move, save for his twitching ears as his eyes remained trained on a particular spot. A frown pulled at his mouth and his ears cocked in confusion. Gund growled, drawing the other male’s attention at last. His disapproving glare softened when Tah drew up to his side.

  Finally!

  “Very well. That sounds like an admirable plan. I just have one question,” Tah replied as he approached the edge. “What is that?”

  He gestured with one claw to a shadowy figure descending from the roof. Gund squinted, his face wrinkling into a dark scowl when his eyes finally fell on the object of Tah’s attention. A human clad completely in black was poised just above the edge of the window that they were heading for. Gund was no expert on human behavior, but the covert entry and dark garb to blend into the night told him one thing: they had competition.

  Great seed-sack of the protector Father! Another was going to beat him to the Master. That was his target!

  His brothers fell in beside him as they streaked the short remaining distance across the roof, sacrificing speed to keep their steps light as they closed in. They were still a short distance away when the human slipped inside. With a snarl, Gund leaped the remaining distance, grabbing the window frame with his forehands to propel him into the dark room. He could feel Orth just behind him as he threw the full weight of his body against the interfering human, just as they lifted a strange weapon. A loud crack shot through the room, and wood splintered and projected from the wall as if struck by a great force, just as he brought the small human to the ground.