Huntress

by S. J. Sanders

  Heidi rolled her eyes. He was probably still miffed that she tried to injure him while he was carrying her, and was trying not to show that he was entertained by whatever torture and humiliation Gund had planned for her. Screwing up her nose, she exhaled and relaxed her facial features in an expression of nonchalance as she looked away from them.

  Hopefully if she demonstrated they couldn’t get into her mind and prey on her fears, then they would eventually get tired of their games. At the very least, she wouldn’t be giving them any satisfaction that their tactics were working. Then, while they were sleeping, she would find a way to escape. They would be lucky if she didn’t bash their heads in on her way out the door. Maybe if she were feeling charitable, she would only kick one of the males in passing… preferably Gund.

  Orth returned within minutes with two long coils of “rope” made of braided leather and Heidi frowned at it. That was their rope? It was unlikely she would be able to wiggle free of that, nor would she be able to work at fraying it like she would if the cord had been made of fiber.

  Well, fuck.

  She scooted back with the intention of evading the male when Tah took advantage of her distraction to dart around her. Arms ensnared her from behind, holding her in place while Orth made quick work of tying her arms against her sides with one thick length, and then taking the second to wrap her calves and ankles. She was dropped back into the furs while the males abandoned her, leaving her forgotten in the main room as they went about whatever the hell it was that they got up to.

  Scowling at the wall, she was left with nothing else to do except observe her new surroundings. The crumbling cottage had obviously been vacant for quite some time. She couldn’t detect any sign of recent human occupants, and even the mouse nests seemed old as far as she could tell.

  What had happened to the occupants that gave the Ragoru free use of the heap?

  It was clear that they had made themselves at home. The males moved around the house with familiarity. She could hear Orth moving about in the other rooms when Gund and Tah left, and didn’t see him again until they returned with their kill. Heidi watched them sourly as they made quick work of throwing together some kind of stew in an aged pot over the hearth. Despite the deplorable condition of the cottage, and its desperate need for a cleaning, their routine about the cottage seemed a little too homey for her comfort.

  When Orth returned sometime later with a steaming bowl from the hearth at the other side of the room, he crouched in front of her and fed her a spoonful. She stared at the spoon and the faded pottery as she swallowed and licked her teeth.

  “So, how did you get this set up? Kill and bury whoever lived here first?” she taunted.

  Orth scowled and shoveled another spoonful of stew into her mouth.

  “No,” he growled in a low voice. “This place was already long vacated by the time we arrived. You did not see the strange markings on the door, but it was clear from the state of the den and the overgrown fields, unlike the others around the Citadel, that this place had been abandoned by humans for a long time. We didn’t need to kill, unlike humans. Most Ragoru do not destroy life just to make things convenient for us… certainly not my triad,” he snapped, and he filled her mouth after seeing that she swallowed her last mouthful, not leaving her any opportunity to respond.

  Although he was gentle as he fed her, it was clear that he had no interest in speaking with her further on that matter, or any other. He didn’t talk, nor did he give her any other openings to say anything. He fed her quickly and methodically, and the moment the bowl was empty he rose and walked away, leaving her staring after him.

  Huffing out an irritated sigh, Heidi threw her head back against the furs and tried to get comfortable as much as one could when bound. She was just drifting off to sleep when she felt the furs shift around her. Jerking awake, she watched in wide-eyed silence as the three males nudged her to make room for themselves on the pile of furs as they settled around her.

  As unnerving as it was, none of the Ragoru reached for her or attempted to do anything threatening toward her. Apparently knowing that she was trussed up tighter than a goose for roasting made it easy for them to fall into a peaceful slumber, leaving only Heidi staring off into the dark.

  Her muscles stiff, she twisted one way and then another, trying to once again find a comfortable spot that avoided touching any of the males curled up around her. Her scars pulled uncomfortably, but Heidi ignored it. She’d slept in worse conditions before. Cursing under her breath, she finally found a position on her side and, after some time, was at last able to drift into uneasy sleep.

  4

  Orth sighed as he tightened his grip around the rope. The female was being exceptionally difficult today. She refused to give them her name, though she now knew theirs despite her refusal to use them. She wasn’t even trying to cooperate, and Gund’s mood was deteriorating in the face of her willful silence. Not that the lead’s temper was helping any. With every growled demand, the huntress’s pale eyes became increasingly hostile.

  He snuck a covert look at the dark-clad female. She had her hood pulled over her head again, her gaze trained on the ground, refusing to acknowledge their presence. He didn’t doubt that she was watching them, however. She demonstrated through subtle cues that she was very much aware of everything around her. Experimentally, he stepped a fraction closer and watched her muscles stiffen warily. He restrained the smile that tugged at his mouth.

  He glanced over at Tah. The male was a short distance away, speaking quietly to Gund. His voice was low to prevent the human from listening in, but his frustrated glances required little assistance to interpret. He wanted to get rid of her. She wasn’t helping them get any closer to the Master and was, in fact, slowing them down.

  Orth grimaced. The delay was hindering them, and he agreed that the female was the root cause of it, yet he didn’t care for the way his brother was looking at her. He doubted that Tah would go so far as to kill her, but it hung in the air unspoken among them. There was no doubt that it would solve their problems quickly, but he knew that none of their triad was comfortable with the idea, least of all Orth.

  It was one thing to battle males in displays of dominance when necessary, or even kill them when absolutely required, but he didn’t want to kill this spirited female. He just wanted her to behave until Gund decided to free her—though that moment couldn’t come soon enough for him. The sooner their triad could be free of her, the better, even if she was amusing at times.

  If only she would cooperate!

  Leaning forward, he growled near her ear. “We do not like this situation any more than you do. Give Gund what he wants—tell us where the Master would have fled to—and he will let you go.”

  He saw her lips pinch together in the shadow of her hood and her back stiffen as she stared ahead. “Not a chance, fuzz-dick.”

  Orth sighed as Gund pushed his way back toward her, having doubtlessly overheard her response from where he’d been standing. His lips pulled back from his teeth as he glared down at her.

  “Why do you protect him if you are so eager to see him dead?” he snapped in frustration, his ears flat against his skull.

  The female lifted one eyebrow and a smug smirk pulled at her lips. “I am not protecting him. I just refuse to turn his probable location over to you just so that you can dump me somewhere and beat me to killing him.” She lifted her bound hands and tugged her wrists for emphasis. “As long as you keep me tied up and haul me Mother knows where, my kill is secure.”

  The lead male bristled, his dark gray fur standing on end as he glared down at her. “Very well. You want to walk over this earth? Then walk we shall. We will walk from the time the sun rises until it sets beneath the horizon. We will do this every day until you give me the information I desire.”

  “Looks like we’re walking then. I do so enjoy a good stroll,” she hissed with a vicious grin that had Gund roaring and storming away as he snarled out a litany of curses against the h
untress.

  Orth slid an amused glance her way. Never had he seen Gund get so worked up. The male weighed everything with cool, calculated precision. Even when challenged by other males, he never let his anger gain control. Yet all it seemed to take was one infuriating female, a little human assassin, and Gund’s fur was in a constant state of bristling ire.

  “He will not back down. He will drag you every day as he seeks the Master’s trail until you finally break,” Orth warned her.

  The little female huffed, blowing several strands of short hair out of her face as she turned an irritated look on him. “Let him, or any of you, try.”

  Orth scowled, his brow dipping. “How long do you think you will be able to continue this? You are wasting precious time while we attempt to track him that could be better used to beat him to his destination.”

  The huntress snorted. “If you think you will beat him to his destination, then you are delusional. The Master always has an escape plan. He was outside of the Citadel within an hour of escaping my blade, and is already moving across the continent.”

  “We have been within sight of the Citadel walls for hours, putting all of us at risk, searching for his scent… and now you say this?” Orth growled.

  “Precisely,” she said, betraying not a trace of emotion. “I know exactly where he is going, and it is not a trip I want to make. It is a long way without use of the steam engine on his private track, which you may have eventually come across—I’ll grant you that much. It would have been so much easier if you’d allowed me to kill him in the first place.”

  “We made an oath,” Orth replied firmly. There was no getting around it. There was no way that his triad was going to leave the death of the Master to another rather than fulfil the sworn vow.

  Her head turned beneath the hood, and for the first time that day, her pale eyes met his. “As did I. And a debt to repay him,” she said with a menacing grin. Her expression flattened quickly, almost as if it never happened, as she narrowed her eyes at him. “I will not allow your triad to steal it from me.”

  “You are unreasonable.”

  She shrugged and curled her lip at him but didn’t otherwise respond. Orth blew out an exasperated breath. Maybe he should beg Tah to lead her for a while so he could scout ahead and run off some of the pent-up energy burning in his muscles. Being next to her for so long was putting him on edge.

  Craning his neck, he managed to catch Tah’s attention. With a sharp jerk of one hand, he beckoned the other male over. His brother grimaced but dropped back as he turned to lope over to Orth’s side. Casting a suspicious glance at the female, Tah tilted an ear at him in question.

  Orth held up the end of the leather rope. “I need you to lead.”

  His brother’s pained expression would almost have been comical if Orth didn’t understand it all too well. He’d been under the impression that human females were sweet and soft. The huntress was neither of those things. Anywhere she might have been soft was covered in thick leather armor, buried beneath an icy demeanor.

  “Very well,” Tah grumbled as he closed his fingers around the offered rope, ignoring the female’s laugh at his obvious reluctance. “Do not take too long. I do not even like being close to this one when she is not thoroughly restrained. I feel like she is going to materialize a weapon and sink it into me when I have my back to her.”

  “You feel that way and yet you not only had me carry her all the way to the den but have also left her overall care to me,” Orth said in disbelief.

  His brother gave him a quick grin. “You seem to enjoy fussing with her too much to deprive you of the pleasure. Besides, you are the most patient of our triad. Gund will likely forget that he does not want to kill her if she pushes him too far.”

  Orth grunted at that. He didn’t look forward to seeing how their triad’s lead would react to the information he just received from their captive. He didn’t know what a steam engine was, or what “tracks” were if not the trails left by game, but judging by her words it was something that allowed for uncommonly swift movement—perhaps even fleeter than a Ragoru. Gund was not going to be pleased.

  If he was fortunate enough to find this track she spoke of, it might at the very least curtail some of the male’s anger toward the female. Not that it wasn’t warranted. Why he even bothered protecting the sharp-tongued, vicious little female was beyond his understanding.

  With a sympathetic glance toward Tah, already baring his teeth in irritation at the female, Orth sprang forward. He groaned in relief at the welcome stretch of his muscles. Keeping to the human’s slower pace and stride had been stifling. He soon caught up to Gund a short distance ahead.

  The male stood in place, the wind ruffling his fur as he glowered at the wall. Noticing Orth’s presence, his ears twitched with curiosity. “Escaping our human?”

  “I needed to stretch my legs a little. I am considering scouting out ahead to investigate the surrounding area. The human moves too slowly.”

  Gund cocked his head in consideration. “It is inconvenient, but it has given me time to reflect further on what move the huntsman would have made.”

  “How so?” Orth asked.

  Their lead nodded to a small rise to the southwestern wall of the Citadel. “As I was waiting here, I took note of something. The Citadel is completely surrounded by a wall with only one entrance. There was no trail from that entrance, of that we are all certain.” Orth inclined his head in agreement. That was something that the three of them had agreed on, much to their mutual frustration. “There must be other ways out of the Citadel. We know that a human female made her way out from an underground passage. That would have been the logical choice, except that too was unused. What if there are other hidden means out of the Citadel?”

  Orth squinted at the rising human structures visible over the walls. “I would not doubt it. The female mentioned something called a track with a human tool that can move quickly across the continent, at greater speeds than a Ragoru can travel if I understand her correctly.”

  Gund scowled but surprisingly remained calm. “Do you think she is misleading us with this information?”

  Orth considered it and shook his head. “She was irate when she brought it to my attention and admitted that we would have eventually come across the track. I do not know if she intends on keeping us circling looking for this track or not, but I do not think it would be useful for her to do so. She is not pleased that the Master is outside of our reach any more than we are. No, I suspect she intentionally gave me this information in the hope of acquiring what she wants.”

  The darker male growled and brought up one hand to scrub through the thick mane of fur falling down the back of his neck. “This female is becoming a nuisance.”

  Hesitant, Orth offered a suggestion to their problem. “It is clear that we both have the same objective, and neither of us want to give up our claim on the Master. Perhaps we should join our efforts?”

  “Trust a huntress?” Gund growled, disbelief coloring his voice.

  Orth shrugged helplessly. He understood the objection. He didn’t trust her either and knew that she didn’t trust them. Yet there was a chance that if they were on the same side, working together, the profit would outweigh their mutual distrust.

  “If she was truthful regarding this track thing, it is likely that she would deal honestly with us. We do not have to trust or like each other to agree to work together,” he replied.

  Gund grunted, his ears tilting toward the female as he watched her and considered. The huntress stared back across the distance, her expression unyielding. Turning an ear toward Orth, Gund spoke quietly. “Scout ahead and return as soon as you find evidence of something that may be this track she speaks of. If she speaks truthfully, I will consider offering her an alliance,” he grunted. “Perhaps this way we will all get what we want.”

  Jerking his head in an abbreviated nod, Orth struck out running at his fastest sustainable speed. He scented the air, not specifically looking
for a sign of the Master, but a concentrated sign of a human presence that may be around some sort of track or trail. He acknowledged that it would have been helpful to know exactly what he was looking for, but for some reason he suspected that he would know it when he saw it.

  He spent the rest of the day traveling through the thick growth of fields, at times stopping and waiting out humans as they tromped through the growth, or slinking around where they were gathered in small numbers, working together. The smell of sweat blended in with the scent of vegetation, pungent in his nose. He huffed and sneezed as he put distance between himself and them.

  The further he progressed, the higher the stalks seemed to grow. He didn’t recognize the tall plants, nor could he imagine how they provided food for the humans in the Citadel. The growth must have been maintained for such purposes even if he could not decipher it. He didn’t think that the humans would invest time and interest in maintaining it otherwise. It was so thick, however, that he could barely see more than a short distance ahead until suddenly there was nothing but a narrow clearing in the heart of it.

  Orth glanced around, his eyes following where the clearing seemed to come from the Citadel and stretch out to the west, out of sight. Curious, he stepped forward, his paw striking something hard. With a painful yelp, he stumbled backward to glare at whatever offensive item he’d nearly broken his paw upon.

  Two long rows of metal bars ran parallel down the center of the trail, driven into the earth and bisected with wooden planks. It ran continuously from one direction into the distance, occupying most of the space within the cut trail. Was this the track?

  Excitement fluttered in his belly as he stalked around it. Although the scent of humans was faint, he smelled something acidic and sharp as if something particularly foul had been burned. What he saw and scented made little sense to him, but that just made him all the more certain that it was some hidden human secret.

  It had to be the track their captive mentioned.