Huntress

by S. J. Sanders

  Orth spun away with a triumphant grin and made his way back through the fields, tracking the scent of his triad even long after the sun went down. He would provide Gund with his discovery and then in the morning they would deal with the huntress. They would settle matters between them and finally move forward.

  5

  Heidi awoke to cold droplets of water splashing on her face. Her hooded cloak protected her head and kept the icy water from running down the nape of her neck, but it wouldn’t take the material long to become sodden. Groaning, she pulled her dark half-mask from the collar of her cape and fitted it from her jaw and chin up over her nose and cheeks. It didn’t keep her entirely covered, but it was better than going without it. Pulling her gloves out of her boots, she slipped those on as well.

  The spring rains were always miserable. She’d forgotten how much she hated that particular part of doing field work. As an assassin, she’d carried out most of her assignments in warm, comfortable places. It had been more years than she wanted to consider since she’d been forced to sleep outdoors in a camp.

  She’d been promoted into the service of the Master when she was twenty-two. Heidi wasn’t even entirely certain how many years had passed, one day blending into another since then—not since she’d begun to count down the days to her vengeance. She was likely thirty-six, or thirty-eight now, by her calculation. That was a lot of years separating her last term in a hunter’s camp.

  Another cold splash hit her directly on the bridge of her nose, the water slipping down into her eye. She closed her eye and blinked it several times until the water dispersed. Pulling her hands up, she tugged her hood more firmly down over her head and looked at the males surrounding her.

  Tah slept at one side of her and Gund at the other, their large bodies moving with their deep breaths. Pushing herself up on one shoulder, she glanced over Gund’s shoulder and saw Orth curled up. He must have returned sometime during the night when they were all asleep. She allowed herself to lie down again and curled into a ball, trying to ward away as much of the cold and rain as possible.

  Heidi blew out a breath, willing the Ragoru to wake up. She wanted to stretch out her legs and had to pee. None too gently, she bumped Tah in the belly with her bound feet. The muscle barely moved under the impact and the male grumbled in his sleep, one hand coming down to scratch his belly. His pale flanks stretched, and two sets of blue eyes blinked sleepily down at her.

  “The assassin’s awake,” he observed in a low, sleep-roughened growl.

  “I am,” she agreed, her eyes pinned on him. “And I need to go for a little walk again so I can relieve myself.”

  He grimaced. “Can you not wait until Orth wakes up? It is his responsibility to see to your needs.”

  She lifted her brows and gave him a polite smile. “Well, you’re the one I am sitting closest to. I suppose if I lose control of my bladder, no one else would suffer the ill effects of lying in a puddle of piss other than you and me. I suppose I can suffer with it… Can you?”

  Predictably, Tah barked a guttural word in his language as he rose to his feet. She kept her expression solemn, refraining from smiling smugly as he reached down and lifted her to her feet. With a swipe of his hands, he tore the rope free from around her legs and bound it up, securing it once more to his harness.

  Taking the excess rope hanging from her bound wrists, he tugged her forward amid the tall growth of the surrounding crops. When they were finally a short distance away, and she was nearly obscured from him in a cornfield, he stopped, flicking the cord lightly to know that they were at rest.

  “See to your needs and hurry about it,” he grumbled.

  Heidi smiled in the direction of his voice, amused by how put out he sounded, like a child forced to attend to an unpleasant chore. For all she knew, he could be. The age of Ragoru was difficult for humans to determine, not without a biopsy to examine their internal organs. Only then could a scientist employed by the Order discover information about how they aged and provide guesses as to how long the adults could live in the wild.

  “Tell me, how old are you?” she queried as she unbuckled her belt and the straps securing her weapons to her body as she pulled her pants down her legs.

  The Ragoru fell silent on the other side of the stalks.

  “Why?” he growled suspiciously.

  Heidi rolled her eyes. “Making conversation here, evil one. I would rather ask questions than have you listening to me piss, if that’s all right?”

  He grunted but didn’t seem inclined to speak until her bladder let loose. He launched into speech at the first sound of her urine trickling onto the greenery. Heidi held back a laugh and grinned.

  “This will be my thirtieth summer,” Tah rumbled. “Gund is a revolution older. We grew up together. Orth is three revolutions younger.”

  Heidi stripped a leaf and made quick work of cleaning herself up. “I would have guessed you to be older from appearance alone,” she commented as she began to fasten her straps once more. “Because of your scars. From what I understand, they are not usually so visible or so abundant on Ragoru of your age.”

  She heard him shuffle beyond the greenery. “That is normally the case,” he agreed at last. “Usually, a triad finds a territory when they are young and do not have to worry about anything except defending that territory from other males and seeking to win the approval of a female willing to mate with them. My triad has not been so fortunate when it comes to finding the right territory to carve out our den, so it makes us more vulnerable and more likely to be challenged.”

  Her lips thinned in grudging sympathy. It was hard being adrift in life, without a home to anchor oneself. She cleared her throat and tightened her final belt. “It sounds like a hard life,” she said as she stepped back through the greenery.

  His pale blue eyes stared down at her, scrutinizing her as if attempting to come to some decision. “You are a peculiar huntress,” he growled and backed away.

  “Take it easy, fuzzy. I am not trying to attack you. In case you haven’t noticed, it would still be difficult tied up as I am,” she said.

  Tah didn’t look entirely convinced. In fact, he stared at her hands as if he were suspicious that she might break free. Heidi hid a grimace. He had nothing to worry about. She wasn’t breaking free any time soon. Now, if her bindings were made of normal rope instead of hide, it would have made her life much easier. She would already be free and making her way after the Master instead of camping with the boys.

  “Tah!” Orth’s voice broke through the wary silence that had settled between them. Tah’s shoulders sagged with obvious relief. He wasn’t afraid; that would have at least been entertaining. Instead she sensed hostility, suspicion, and an overall unhappiness at being forced into her company. Heidi was both amused and mildly insulted.

  “We are here, Orth. The human needed to urinate,” he called back.

  Charming. He just put her bodily functions all out there in the open.

  A few cornstalks rustled, the only sound at all that gave away the other male’s approach. It served as a good reminder of just how silent the Ragoru could move and how deadly they were as foes. She already had one enemy she needed to deal with. Heidi acknowledged that she was going to have to play nice to avoid having enemies on two fronts. Besides, they had treated her well, all things considered. They fed her, kept their pace reasonable when she knew they could move much quicker, and slept near to her to provide body heat during the night to keep her from freezing. She doubted a huntsman would have been as considerate to a Ragoru captive.

  She was also fucking sick of being referred to as the human, huntress, or assassin as if that was all she was. It suited her fine at first, but the novelty was wearing off quickly. There was only so long that she could find it entertaining the way they spat the words out with varying levels of loathing and disdain.

  Orth pushed his way to Tah’s side, his peripheral eye at one side moving to look at his brother curiously as he stared at her. With
a muttered thanks to the other male, Orth grabbed her lead and pulled her after him, a pleased look on his face as he turned his head frequently to glance back at her.

  When they arrived at the camp, Gund stood eating dried provisions from the small sack he’d untied from his harness as he eyed her thoughtfully. Usually, he didn’t spend time in her presence unless making another attempt to demand information from her. She cast a questioning glance at Orth, who grinned suddenly, his yellow eyes glittering in a way that made Heidi instantly wary.

  “Orth made an interesting discovery when he scouted ahead… Perhaps you can tell me what he found at the north-western edge of the Citadel?” Gund queried casually.

  She narrowed her eyes on him. She had a good idea of exactly what Orth had discovered—after all, she’d been the one to plant the thought in his head. If she was stuck with them, she might as well start heading in the right direction instead of endlessly circling the citadel where eventually a huntsman or city guard might catch on to their presence.

  “I imagine it was a track,” she answered.

  “A strange trail of metal and wood—if this is what you call a track, then yes, that is what Orth discovered. He told me of your discussion and that it provided swift travel for the Master. I would like to know how.”

  She stared expressionlessly at the triad’s lead, his fiery eyes watching her intently. He didn’t press her, or growl and snarl in his usual fashion. He waited, his eyes piercing her as if capable of seeing her every secret. That was nonsense, of course. Ragoru didn’t have such abilities, regardless of what the more superstitious among the Order believed. Ragoru were not supernatural creatures of legend—merely another species that humanity had been forced to share their world with for generations. She would share a small amount of information—a taste—but, in the end, she would get what she wanted.

  “The Master owns a steam engine locomotive. It burns fuel to move great distances at high speeds along the track to the Western province. He has another house there in Dunvar Citadel. He would already be nearly halfway there by now.”

  The Ragoru inclined his head, his brow furrowing. “How great is the distance?”

  “Several days’ travel by locomotive. It would be weeks of traveling by mount. Perhaps a month by wagon. The track stretches through the western edge of the Dark Forest, and cuts over the Plains of Shades.”

  Gund’s ears tilted toward her attentively. “And this track carries him all the way to Dunvar?”

  “That is the end place, yes, though it passes through many settlements along the route to the Western Citadel.” She looked him over slowly. “A Ragoru going through such unfamiliar territory would be easy to notice.”

  The male smiled. “Agreed.” He stood slowly to his full height and stalked forward, circling her and Orth, his eyes never leaving her as he took her measure. He glanced once at Orth as he stopped in front of her, beaming down at her with a conniving grin.

  “Orth had a suggestion that will be profitable to both of us.”

  Did he now? Heidi wanted to smirk, her body stilling as he leaned forward, his muzzle far too close for comfort near her ear.

  “But I am certain that is what you wanted, isn’t it?” he growled low, his breath fanning against her skin. “You are clever, but not so clever that we do not see through your obvious ploy. As it happens, it works to our advantage, and so we are willing to come to an agreement with you.”

  Anticipation skated through her, leaving an excited chill in its wake. Soon, they would remove her bonds. She would eventually be able to give them the slip and continue on her own, armed with information they did not, and would not, have. They would be hopelessly lost when the track went underground as it did at several points in code-keyed tunnels. The locks were near impossible to open for those who didn’t know the codes, and the exits were hard to find if one wasn’t familiar with the route. All she had to do was play nice for a little while. Then, she’d be able to continue with her objective until she had the opportunity to strike the Master.

  This time, there would be no one in her way.

  Heidi lifted an eyebrow as she returned Gund’s stare. The male had stilled and eyed her suspiciously. She reminded herself, yet again, that he did not possess any supernatural abilities. She kept control and returned his gaze with detachment, as if nothing were amiss.

  His ears flattened a bit, turning to the side and then pricking toward her again as his nostrils flared. He rumbled and nodded his head. “At current, you are our prisoner. We offer to join together in hunting down the Master. Our strengths working together will be better than our current arrangement.”

  She allowed a small smile to curl the corner of her lips upward. “That is agreeable.”

  “One condition, however,” he growled. She lost control just enough to blink in surprise before reining her reactions back under her steely control.

  “Which is?”

  “You will never be alone. You will be with one of us at all times, every action watched for betrayal. We will cooperate, but we do not trust you, human. If you seek to leave, we will hunt you down. I prefer to continue from here in a spirit of mutual interest, but I will not hesitate to bind you once more if you betray us.”

  Fuck.

  She glanced over at Orth to find his yellow eyes pinning her ruthlessly. He was the milder of the males and even he looked utterly intractable on this point. Tah, at her other side, cast a pitiless grin her way as her gaze settled on him before flicking back over to Gund.

  She didn’t have a choice, and that pissed her off.

  “Fine,” she bit out, the words bitter on her tongue. “I agree to your terms.”

  Orth chuckled and shoved a ration of dry meat in her hands as he unbound her wrists. She shook out one wrist, and then the other, grateful to no longer have the leather biting into her skin.

  Gund let out a raspy chuckle as she eagerly bit into the tough meat. He didn’t speak but turned away, striking off through the fields in the direction of the track. Heidi gnawed on her ration as she followed behind, close to Orth’s side. Tah lingered just behind them, his eyes scanning the landscape for any hint of danger. There would be no escaping them.

  She took her anger out on the meat, chewing it viciously.

  6

  They walked alongside the metal track, following the path that it cut through the field until it thinned out and disappeared into a sparsely wooded area. By nightfall, the trees began to thin again as the small wooded area trailed up the slope leading into the western-most mountains that ringed the Wayfairer Citadel.

  Tah glanced back at the human in their company. Gund had dropped back some time ago into his customary position, protecting their rear once they’d cleared the human territory. Ever since then, Tah had felt her eyes upon him, watching him. Even now, in the waning light, he could feel it on his mane and his spinal plates. As always, however, when he turned his head just enough to look at her with his peripheral eyes, she was merely scanning her surroundings, her face concealed by the dark hood. Despite the heavy cloak, he noted that she shivered occasionally as her body attempted to regulate its temperature.

  Breathing in the air, he noted that it had cooled rapidly once they had begun to ascend into the mountains. No doubt he would be listening to her shiver all night. Humans were ill-equipped for survival outside of their dens and territories.

  Not that it wasn’t chilly. He could feel it on areas where his fur was thinner, and the bite of cool air on his nose. Thank the Blessed Mother that his species was not built like human males. His cocks were kept safely warm inside his sheath. Lacking protective fur and a Ragoru’s higher core temperature, she was no doubt freezing. The fact that she wasn’t complaining was admirable.

  Truth be told, he wanted to complain. Years of living more or less in a den, despite being a ramshackle shelter, had softened him. Now his deeper scars protested the shift in temperature and Tah found himself grinding his teeth together at old aches. He was just entering the p
rime of his life and he already felt ancient.

  “Why have we stopped?” Gund’s voice carried up to Tah. The male’s scowl was visible from the short distance between them despite the wind ruffling his mane and dark gray fur.

  “The sun is going down. I am thinking the crevice ahead may be a good place to settle for the night,” he said.

  The male’s head turned, inspecting the area ahead of him. “We have traveled late into the night before. Why stop now when the sun is just sinking into the horizon?”

  Tah sighed and gestured to the female in their company. Her eyes widened, betraying her surprise before she hid it. She may think him ruthless and unfeeling—and mostly she was right—but he didn’t care for the thought of the female suffering while they made their way into the higher elevation under the cover of night.

  “We have walked all day, and humans do not possess the stamina that Ragoru do. It is uncertain if we will find another suitable place to rest anytime soon. If we rest here, we can get an early start in the morning.”

  Gund didn’t blink as his eyes trained on him, but finally, the other male nodded. “A reasonable thing to keep watch for. I agree with your assessment. We make camp.”

  Orth gave Tah a grateful smile and nudged the huntress forward with his lower arm as Orth strode forward to join him. He seemed oblivious to the fact that she looked at him reproachfully, or maybe he did know and just didn’t let it bother him. Nonetheless, she followed without complaint. It was clear they had struck some sort of accord. Although the female was aware of their triad and watched all of them with suspicion, her eyes tracked Orth’s movements in particular.

  Tah reminded himself that this wouldn’t be unusual since Orth was chiefly responsible for her care, in addition to keeping her in check. With his constant presence within her personal sphere of awareness, her attention would more likely bend toward him than any other. She wasn’t looking for a way to kill the younger male—though he wouldn’t put such an attempt past her. No, as far as he could tell, she was genuinely keeping to their agreement. If she were looking for a means to wiggle out of it and escape, she was very convincing at pretending otherwise.