by Hugo Damas
More notably, the woman’s head was a fountain of thick, long braids, all of them gray.
The Hunter stood in wait.
“I’ve heard very disturbing news from the east. I imagine you have a lot to report, but I know you.” Mother Superior smirked and stretched a hand out to her.
Zaniyah bowed her head to hide her blushing behind the scarf while reaching into her pouch to retrieved the sheet of paper. She had written her report so that she had no need to say it all out loud. She always used the excuse of secrecy and privacy, but they both knew the real reason.
Mother Superior opened it and moved to sit on a tree root. She read, quietly, for long seconds. Zaniyah knew she was bothered when her eyes went from adventurous to sharp, and when she took a fist to her lips, touching them lightly.
“Is this true? The Shadow reported they were cutting the world out of the shadow streams?”
The Hunter nodded, and Mother Super looked truly worried. She knew what they were then, the so-called Shadow Arts. Even knowing her as well as Zaniyah did, she was still surprised by that.
“And they think going after the amulet’s the best you can do. Any word for me? For us?” Mother Superior asked.
Zaniyah shook her head.
“I will contact them,” she said as she closed the scroll. “I have some of the most physically fit individuals on the planet at my beck and call, I doubt having you raid a tomb is all we can do.”
Again, one more person who just accepted it all. That this was a real threat, and they had to work together. In truth, it was one more person putting their fate in the hands of the Shadow Conclave.
In my hands, Zaniyah thought, nervous.
Mother Superior sensed her apprehension because she had a sense for those things. It was a big part of why she was the Mother, she had the talent to gauge what the heart didn’t want to say.
“You will procure this amulet. I doubt it will make much of a difference, I don’t put much stock in supernatural myths, but I’m sure not having the world ending because we weren’t being superstitious enough.”
Zaniyah smiled at the comment and Mother smirked at her. Ever happy and joyful and energetic.
“Have you eaten, Zaniyah? Are you hungry?” Mother Superior Asked.
Thinking of it, it had been more than a day since her last meal. Just the thought of it made her body suddenly realize the fact. Every part of her digestive system suddenly woke up from what had kept it distracted and smashed its metaphorical fist on an imaginary tavern table, going ‘that’s right, what’s going on here?!’
The result was that her stomach grumbled in sudden protest. Mother Superior giggled and briskly walked towards the exit, waving at her to follow. “Come. We’ll have an early meal today in honor of your successful return.”
“I didn’t win.” The words hurt her to say.
Mother Superior just knuckled her shoulder, almost punching her out of her footing. “You didn’t lose, either.” She winked and carried on.
Zaniyah massaged her shoulder, feeling warmth in her heart. Feeling at home.
Once out of the tent, Mother Superior yelled out, calling everyone to attention. “The Hunter has returned from representing us in the great Shadow Conclave!” She held a hand on her shoulder, proudly presenting Zaniyah. “In honor of her never-disappointing performance, I declare we’ll forget about rations today! Let’s pig out, everyone! Like we’re crazy, irresponsible idiots having their last meal!”
People cheered. It was rare to have any kind of festivity since they hunted and gathered for all their resources by hand and led a very discrete headquarters. But that day, Mother Superior had decided to let loose.
It was a good thing she had not eaten in a while, Zaniyah’s stomach was thus smaller, and so she couldn’t quite eat as much as she wanted to. She would probably die if she ate as much as she wanted to.
Yet, the guild was really very close. It wasn’t like other guilds, it was more akin to a clan or a big family. That is probably why she thought of them as her tribe so often. Almost as frequently as she had to tell herself they weren’t. That her tribe was gone.
Fireplaces were set up, and spoils were spread across the very large group, from animals to fruit and a great big number of jugs of drinks split into two groups: water and alcoholic.
The Hunter drank water since she would be leaving for the amulet as soon as she was able. She ate a lot, though, mostly in Josh’s company.
“So there we were, right? Her foot deep on the ground, the sound ‘tak tak tlak’, just yelling ambush, you know?” Josh told.
“He blames me bunfh he wath the oneth who pshuehds me.”
Josh and company. Josh’s friends never left Zaniyah alone with him, they knew better. Manuela was there, eating heartily.
“I didn’t push you, I just tapped you to be careful. You lost your footing out o’ nowhere!” Josh said defensively.
“We’re in the middleth of ath--” Manuela swallowed. “We’re in the middle of an ancient dungeon inside a secret underwater cave! You don’t have to tell anybody to be careful, you idiot!”
“Anyways, what matters is what happened next,” Josh continued. “I grabbed an arrow right out of the air!”
Manuela rolled her eyes, and the Hunter could see the flame from the big fire flickering off their almond hue.
“You smacked it,” she said.
“Same thing!” he announced, proudly.
“Not really…”
They were friendly, and moreover, they didn’t care she wasn’t much of a talker. Josh, in particular, was attracted to her, physically, so maybe his company and patience didn’t mean much, but the rests’ did. And despite whatever secondary motivations he had, Josh was still good company.
Until he had too much to drink and became a bit too…passionate. Leaning on her, grabbing her hand, trying to kiss her. That was not entirely out of place, alot of the people there were very open to physical contact. The Hunter, for reasons she had never explained to any of them, wasn’t.
Zaniyah guessed Mother knew why, she knew everything, and knowing where she came from, one could guess, but not easy-going happy-go-lucky Josh. He saw the others making love often and felt it should be easy. She didn’t blame him for his expectations, but that didn’t mean she would enable him, either.
“Please,” Zaniyah said, pushing him apart a bit, alerting him to what he was doing.
“Oh!” He pouted. “Right. Sorry, Zaniyah. It’s just…you know, you’re so--”
Zaniyah stood up, interrupting him. Manuela snorted but was then surprised when Zaniyah extended a hand to Josh. She gestured towards the circle of people dancing.
He smiled and took her hand. She let go of it as they walked into the dance area, so she could unwrap the large scarf. Zaniyah dropped it, a huge weight off her shoulders.
She loved dancing. It was odd, she knew, that someone who was so silent would be outgoing, but that’s who she was: wild and different. It was a visible contrast of the civilizations that had shaped her personality.
There was nothing wrong with dancing, there never had been, and there never would be. Zaniyah shook and moved to the tumultuous sounds of the drums and strings. She didn’t have to try and not to think of the end of the world. When she was dancing, nothing will ever end.
Josh was a clumsy dancer but he was quick to let loose and just have fun, he didn’t care what he or others looked like, and that was why she enjoyed dancing with him. Despite his goofy attitude, he was as physically fit as any other member of the Wild Felids. He had about her height and his hair was combed to curtain over his left eye.
None of that mattered. One didn’t really dance with any particular person, as far as that kind of music was concerned. There was only one dance going on, and each person simply blended into it. Zaniyah expressed herself and how the sounds made her feel, truly alone and liberated while in the midst of a constricting crowd.
The sweat ran worries out of the body, the heart beat faster and stronger, vi
brating across the blood with every ounce of life that was real. In there, in her, forever.
No matter how much real time one spent having fun, it really had a way to be over in just one short moment, which at the same time, felt everlasting.
Zaniyah had yet to decide whether that made her happy or sad.
What was clear was that she could not dance for long, she had eaten too much. When indigestion gave her a suggestive nod from the depths of her belly, she promptly stopped and headed back to sit with the others. Josh kept at it, hardly noticing she was gone.
“Zaniyah,” she was greeted. “Hunteeeeer,” she was cheered.
It was an odd notion to be known and celebrated, Zaniyah had been ignored and unseen for most of her time in the guild.
She had been just another cub, one more youngster trying to make it big in the bare-bones simplified world of the Felids. She was weird, too. In the beginning, she couldn’t talk or even understand most of what people said, on top of lacking civilized social instincts. Only Mother Superior had known how to communicate with her back then, and teach her.
Back then…
The Hunter was hardly on her way to her thirties, and yet she thought of five years ago as another epoch. She could think back to ten epochs, but there she was, still very young when compared to most of Humanity.
Zaniyah sat down and leaned back on her hands, bending comfortably to stretch her back and chest. Thoughts nagged at her now that she had slowed down. Now that no one was engaging her in conversation, and with that, her mood grew melancholic again.
“What is the matter, mighty Hunter?”
Zaniyah looked to the side and smiled up at Hannes, the youngest of Mother Superior’s lovers. Athletic and tanned, he towered over her. She shrugged at him. He rolled his pretty gray eyes and crouched down, giving her a good view of his curly red hair. And clavicles -- she tried not to gulp.
He was very handsome.
“Tell me of your woes, mighty Hunter, so that I may squash them for you. A party with you looking gloom is no party at all.”
Zaniyah thought for a moment. Hannes, knowing it was common, waited. She loved it when people waited for her to be ready.
“The fate of the continent might be in my hands,” she said at last.
Hannes opened his eyes in surprise. “Whoahf…” He sat down next to her, as if in a daze. “Yeah, that’ll rattle anybody. Is that because of the Shadow Conclave?”
“One of us will be responsible,” she explained with a heavy nod.
“Well I hope it’s you,” he said without much hesitation. “I wouldn’t mind having my life in your hands. Few of us who know you would.”
Zaniyah reflexively reached for her scarf, to cover her face in case she blushed, but found she had not retrieved it after dancing. That all but sealed it, her cheeks began to warm up.
“It’s true,” he said, hugging her with only one-arm, and very easily. It felt strong around her back. Firm. “And that you worry about it is part of it. I’m not going to pretend I can make it better, that is some huge responsibility. But ah, I’m not gonna say you might not be the one either, I sure hope you are.”
The Hunter glanced at him annoyed.
“I’m sorry,” he said, looking back at her in apology. “I know that’s selfish of me.”
He gave her a light headbutt and let her go. That stole her breath, his face coming in that close, but now they were apart once again. She was watching him, just too busy shooing all the thoughts she shouldn’t have to move her gaze away.
“That’s me, Zaniyah. I want to live a lot longer. I want to dance a lot more. I want to eat many more times.” Hannes pulled her in close, expecting her, correctly, not to say anything.
“So you be the mighty Hunter, greatest of the Shadow Conclave! Or are any of the other thieves any better than you are?”
Zaniyah wasn’t sure about a couple of them, but she wasn’t about to lack confidence in front of Hannes. She shook her head in indignation that he would suggest such a thing. She had gone to the competition to prove she was the best in the world and one thing was for sure, she had not been proven not to be.
“Then there you go,” he said, winking at her. “And when you do save the world, then we’ll party for real!”
Surprisingly, he didn’t just leave her then. She expected him to just get up and get on with socializing, but instead, he stayed.
Others flocked to them and, pretty soon, she was silently observing others having fun.
It was a good feeling, to belong. Despite her silence, Zaniyah wasn’t outside or aside, she was listening, and so people talked to her as well. She giggled a few times, too, now that her mood had considerably improved.
Once she felt her digestion settling, Zaniyah stood up and went dancing some more.
Zaniyah wanted to sweat the pressure away, even if just temporarily. She wanted the next day’s problems to go to the next day and leave her alone. With her mood at an all-time high for that week, Zaniyah did a few more rounds of listening and dancing before passing out somewhere under a tree while the moon was going down, utterly successful in her quest to leave all concerns for the next day.
It worked too well.
When that next day came, the worries were there waiting for her, and they weren’t alone.
The misty weather was also there, waiting for the sunlight. The fresh smell, the wet air, it all felt wonderful to her. But Mother Superior was there too, sitting next to her and looking away thoughtfully. The shades of the tree leaves seemed to be brushing against her skin.
The Hunter sat up certain that Mother knew she was awake the moment she drew her first conscious breath.
“It is an odd thing to leave it to someone else. Up until today, I have been hoarding responsibility. For everything and everyone, I have…taken it all,” Mother Superior said, thoughtfully.
The Hunter reached and grabbed her hand, and Mother Superior squeezed it, endearingly.
“I trust you, but it is an odd thing…to leave it to you.”
“It is odd,” Zaniyah concurred, cringing slightly at how her voice sounded. She had just woken up and had barely spoken the previous night. It was back to being hoarse from lack of use. “For me also,” she added nonetheless.
Mother Superior looked at her with fondness. She leaned in and kissed her forehead.
“It is odd to see a girl become a woman. But then, becoming a woman is odd no matter what,” she joked. “Men have no idea the changes we have to contend with. That we grow with.”
“They sure like them, though,” she said casually.
Mother Superior flashed her a look of pure astonishment before belching out one of the most sincere laughs Zaniyah had ever seen her produce.
“Who taught you that?” Mother Superior asked, the laugh winding down.
“Hm?” The Hunter was confused. She looked away a bit timidly, to think, reached a conclusion, and then turned back to give the response. “Their eyes?”
Mother Superior laughed even more. “I mean who taught you to joke! Who taught you to--” she cackled, apparently too beside herself to talk properly.
Then she suddenly hugged Hunter in a spasm of…well, of love.
“You be safe, Zaniyah. You bring back that amulet and all the rest of you in one piece!”
Zaniyah didn’t hug back, feeling too uncomfortable to do so, but she couldn’t help but smile.
Slowly, but firmly, Zaniyah brushed against her Mother’s face with a nod.
* * *
Blowgun, darts for the blowgun, a very long metal string, and a dagger.
The Hunter never carried much equipment, her body provided most of the equipment she ever needed. The mist was no longer dark now that the sun had risen over a lack of clouds. But as clear as the weather could get, it would never dissipate the smog, not with all the industry surrounding the forest.
The Hunter took a deep breath of the morning air, her mind fresh and her muscles rested. She felt like she could run forever
, so she waited not a minute longer.
There was no need to bid farewell to anyone, or if there were, she was not aware of it. The Hunter left while everyone else slept.
A normal body would be too tired to make the long run she was planning to do, but the Hunter had honed her physical attributes to perfection, or as close to it as she could get them. No one could match her stamina, just like no one could match how silently she could move.
The Hunter avoided the traps on her way out, having to worry about spotting them all the way to the last sentries, standing guard on the outer perimeter.
When she was about to reach them, though, she remarked on how odd it was that she had not spotted the men patrolling the inner perimeters.
Must improve my senses still, she thought to herself, disappointed.
Because of that, Zaniyah decided to challenge herself and locate the ones at the very end. Looking around, it was unexpectedly difficult to find signs of them. Concern sprouted and began to grow, and then she caught sight of a dangling leg on top of a branch. On approach, the Hunter went around to take a good look at the sentry, finding him staked to the tree by a very large metal nail.
The very big nail was nearly the size of his chest. The blood was dripping down the dangling leg, fresh and still running.
Zaniyah looked back towards her tribe in tense realization. We are under attack!
The Hunter had not missed the sentries in the inner perimeter, they had been taken out! She frantically searched the floor for the dead man’s spear, and once she found it, she grabbed it and ran back to Mother Superior.
How is this happening?! Her heart was in her throat as she ran. Zaniyah longer worried about avoiding the traps, she would dodge whichever ones she triggered. No one knows we are here, they think we are nomads, currently traveling the north.
The Hunter leaned under a stake and then vaulted over a big hole into a slide that carried her under two colliding trunks. Our sentries are perfectly located. The Hunter span to avoid a burst of arrows. At one point, a rope grabbed at her foot and tried to pull her, but she rolled forward and swiftly waved the spear across the ground, cutting the rope in that one movement and wasting only one second.