by Susan Ee
“No need to fret,” said another. “Perhaps they will turn out to be the true quarry. They might put up a good fight. I’m in need of one.”
A few looked nervous at that comment. A fight with the masses might be more than those hunters were looking for.
Cinder’s eyes kept going to the three young men in their fine velvet and leather. The biggest boy swung his whip into the air, restless and ready to start. The middle one sat as still as a stone with his back straight and his shoulders back. The youngest one shifted as if he didn’t want to be there.
Then the youngest one turned and looked right at her.
Cinder stopped breathing. He’d caught her completely unprepared. Until then, she had taken comfort in the anonymity of the crowd, lost in the excitement. She and Silver were just a girl and an old woman, both wrapped in hoods and blankets so that they were shapeless and unseen. Or so she had thought.
The boy’s piercing eyes pinned her where she stood. It was Dante. And the others were Damon and Gallant.
When Dante saw her, his expression turned to surprised recognition. He quickly smothered it, but not before Gallant saw it.
Gallant turned to see what Dante was looking at. He looked right at her, but she couldn’t tell if he recognized her.
When Damon, the oldest boy, turned to see what his brothers were looking at, the younger ones both turned back. Dante said something to Damon and pointed into the forest. That got Damon’s attention away from Cinder before his eyes found her.
She was relieved. Damon had a mean streak in him, and she didn’t want to be noticed by him.
Drums began rolling and high-pitched shouts caught everyone’s attention.
Halfway between the hunters and the forest, a group of people were set loose. Like all prey, they sprinted out of the dangerously open field and into the dark forest.
Chapter 15
The hunters laughed, taking swigs of their wine flasks. They tensed on their horses and grabbed their reins in their leather gloves.
Everyone looked to the Dark King as he rode into the hunt at the last minute. His entourage was impressively grand. His guards wore the crimson and black colors of the Kingdom of Midnight. Crimson and black banners whipped in the wind all along his procession.
The king himself was hard to see, since he was shielded by so many guards. Cinder could mostly see his black armor with the crimson royal sigil on his chest.
Marching ahead of him was a line of beaters whose job it was to flush the quarry to make it easier for the hunters. They were boys mostly, thin and proud to be leading the king’s procession.
Cinder’s heart beat to the rhythm of the drums as the beaters marched into the forest ahead of the hunters. They were giving the victims time to get ahead. Giving them false hope that they might be able to escape.
One man jumped the line and began running toward the forest. It was the fishmonger. His two daughters had both been taken by the soldiers. He was thin and dirty in his ragged clothes as he desperately ran to rescue his girls.
The Dark King’s guards raised their bows. At the king’s word, they shot their bows in unison.
An arrow hit the fishmonger in the back, and he fell.
“No peasant shall go before the king,” said a voice full of doom and darkness.
Then the Dark King kicked his horse and raced into the field.
All the hunters on their horses kicked their heels and followed the king. The hunt was on. The fishmonger, who had been trying to crawl out of the way, was trampled without so much as a scream.
The last skirt of the youngest girls had barely disappeared before the horses began running toward them. The few villagers with horses raced behind the nobles. Then the rest of the families ran on foot after them to try to help their people.
As soon as Cinder began running beside Silver, she knew it was a mistake to follow the Dark King’s rules. They would only find trampled grounds by the time they reached the woods.
And they’d be tired. They should have hidden in the groves on the high branches and jumped down on the helpless hunter who dared to harm anyone.
But Cinder kept running beside Silver. Although she was well into her grandmother years, Silver raced as fast as anyone. She seemed to have no trouble keeping up with the youngest and strongest lads of the town.
Some had trouble long before they reached the forest. The trampled field tripped a few. They’d spend the next several days sitting with their feet propped up until their ankles healed.
Silver and Cinder ran in their blankets and hoods until they entered the forest. The moonlight streamed into the woods in ethereal beams, contrasting the shadowy trees. The woods echoed with the barking hounds and shouts of the hunters.
The forest was so large that there was no way to find one particular girl. Cinder almost gave up hope as soon as they entered the mottled shadows.
A girl screamed to her right.
Then another to her left.
Several more screamed ahead of her.
In the past, Cinder had thought that she had been deep in the woods before the hunters had caught up with her. But she saw now that she had probably only been less than a mile in when she’d killed her hunter.
The victims had no chance to get very far into the woods before they were trodden down by the horsemen. The hunters may have wanted the glory of capturing a wild fairy, but even they didn’t want to go too deep into the woods.
A fight broke out ahead of her. Two hunters on horseback against two village men on foot. The villagers had been calling out a girl’s name when the hunters raced at them. One whipped a villager across the shoulder as he galloped by.
Then the hunters turned and trotted back with their whips up high.
Cinder, terrified, looked to Silver to see what she should do. Silver was running off into the shadows, ignoring the beating ahead of them.
Cinder raced to keep up with Silver, but lost sight of her. She thought she caught a glimpse of Silver’s braid, so she kept going even though she began to doubt that it was her.
A girl was crying. High-pitched and panicked.
Then a roar of pain. Angry and masculine.
Cinder ran toward it, unsure what she was supposed to do.
In a large fairy circle of ancient trees, a hunter loomed over a girl. Her red hair looked like blood in the moonlight.
Ruby.
Her grandmother was nowhere in sight. It was up to Cinder to rescue Ruby. She took a deep breath and slipped her knife into her hand.
Before she could get very far, the hunter kicked at Ruby. She rolled, avoiding the blow.
Cinder took the opening and raced to jump on the hunter’s back, stabbing him with her knife.
Ruby pushed herself up from the ground and came at the hunter with a rock in her hand.
The man struggled a little longer, but the two girls kept hitting him until he lay still. Cinder had no idea if he was merely injured or dead. This time, she didn’t much worry about it.
Ruby was breathing hard and staring at the unconscious hunter with wide eyes.
“Let’s go, Ruby. We need to get out of here.” Cinder put her hand out to grab Ruby.
Ruby looked at her, and her eyes grew even wider. She screamed.
Something sharp hit Cinder’s shoulder. It burned all the way down and seared deeper after the first blow.
She fell to her knees, trying to breathe.
“Two for the price of one,” said a male voice. “Father will be proud of me.”
The boy stood towering over Cinder with his whip. It was the oldest of the three boys, Damon.
The other two came running behind him as he raised his whip again.
“Stop,” said Dante. “She’s my friend.”
At that, Damon did stop. He turned to look at Dante.
Ruby launched at him. Apparently, Cinder wasn’t the only one Silver had been giving fighting instructions to.
Ruby clawed at his eyes and chopped at his throat with the edge o
f her hand.
Damon made a choking sound and bent double. There was fury and madness in his eyes.
He whipped out at the girl. Ruby sidestepped, and he missed.
He pulled out a knife and stood with whip in one hand, knife in the other.
“Damon, let them go,” said Dante. There was a command in his tone that seemed to enrage Damon.
“If we’re not here to catch the prey and rough them up a little, then what are we here for?” Damon stabbed down at Ruby.
Cinder took aim and threw her knife at Damon.
It struck him in the throat.
Everyone stared at Damon as his eyes grew wide with the shock of what had just happened.
Chapter 16
They all watched, stunned, as Damon clawed at his throat. He looked at his brothers. In his eyes, there was denial mixed with panic and madness.
Ruby rushed to Cinder’s side. The girls huddled together. In that moment, Cinder glanced at the brothers.
Neither of the boys moved to help their brother. They both stood rooted to the ground, staring with disbelief at the older boy as he choked on his own blood.
Cinder grabbed Ruby's hand and ran.
They ran through the woods as fast as they could. Cinder couldn’t hear much beyond her pounding heart. And she had no idea where they were going or how to get out of the forest.
From all directions, dogs barked and growled, horses whinnied, men shouted. And soon, people began screaming from various parts of the woods.
Cinder stopped and circled, not sure of how to get out. Under the moonlight, every tree looked the same.
“Let’s climb up a tree and wait until morning,” whispered Ruby.
“If the dogs find us, we’ll be trapped up there.”
So they kept running, trying to get as far away from the barking as possible.
They crossed a stream, hoping the dogs would lose their scent. But as they were wading through, a net fell on Ruby.
She fell, entangled.
Cinder ran back, trying to untangle Ruby with her hands. She wished she’d had the nerve to take back her knife from Damon’s throat. It would have taken her seconds to free Ruby if she’d had that knife.
Dogs came running out of nowhere. Their teeth seemed bigger and sharper than they should be. Their bodies rippled with muscle and strength.
A hunter laughed triumphantly as he rode toward them. “Over here! I got one.”
Half a dozen riders mounted the hill, looking down at them.
Ruby looked at Cinder in a panic. They both knew that they couldn’t fight their way out of this one.
“Run, Cinder.” Ruby looked at her through the net. “It’s your only chance.”
Cinder hesitated. She wanted to be brave and loyal and save Ruby. She wanted to see the proud and happy look on Silver’s face when Cinder brought her granddaughter back. She wanted to know that her friends were safe.
But Cinder’s body made the choice for her. She turned and ran.
She was sure the dogs would come after her, and maybe they did. But the hunters did not. Her mind kept screaming about what might be happening to Ruby, but her body refused to slow down.
Cinder climbed the hill on the other side of the stream and looked back. The hunters congregated around their catch. Ruby struggled against her net, still trying to escape. The men laughed, and the dogs were called back to their masters.
Cinder wanted to see what would happen to her friend, but her instincts wouldn’t let her. The men would not be satisfied for long with just one catch. They were here for the hunt, and the full moon drove them mercilessly.
In the long shadows of the moonlight, the hunters’ faces were covered in shifting shadows as they surrounded Ruby. One suddenly looked up toward the hill where Cinder watched. In that moment, the hunter looked less than human.
Cinder spun and ran. She kept running even over the fallen logs, through the streams and deep into the woods.
Chapter 17
Cinder was lost.
The night was still heavy with the full moon low on the horizon, ready to set. Mist flowed in and out of the mossy woods. Sometimes, even the sound of running water seemed to flow in and out.
There were times when she thought she heard dogs barking, although she couldn’t tell which direction they were coming from. There were times when drunken laughter sounded too close, so she would freeze, hoping the hunters wouldn’t stumble onto her.
And too many times, she heard screams. Not just girl screams, but the horror-filled screams of men being torn to pieces. At least, that was what it sounded like to her.
She stumbled through the misty, moonlit forest, exhausted and thirsty. It was dangerous to drink from the streams. People often got sick from drinking unboiled water. But the sound of the water trickling over the rocks called to her with every minute. She was nearing the time when she would have no choice but to risk drinking from wild water.
“Thirsty?” asked a woman’s voice.
Cinder spun, trying to see where the voice came from.
“I have sweet water for you to drink.”
Cinder spun again, thinking the voice came from behind. “Where are you?”
“Nowhere. Everywhere. Behind you and in front of you.”
“Show yourself.” She wasn’t at all sure she wanted to see this person, but it bothered her more that she couldn’t.
A woman walked toward her from the mist. At first, Cinder could have sworn she was part of the mist. But that couldn’t be right, could it?
“Your wish, my command.”
Cinder wasn’t sure if there was sarcasm in those words.
She was the most beautiful woman Cinder had ever seen. Flawless skin, with flowing hair cascading around her. Tall and willowy, with a shimmery green dress that billowed in a breeze that Cinder couldn’t feel.
The back of Cinder’s neck prickled in warning. But this woman couldn’t be a wild fairy. Wild fairies were said to be crazed creatures who attacked as soon as they saw a person.
“Are you real?” asked Cinder, taking a step back from her, just in case.
“As real as you. Why are you here in my forest?”
“I’m trying to get out. You should be too. Are you being hunted?”
The woman arched her eyebrow. “If there was a hunt, I’d be the hunter, not the hunted.”
“You’re one of the hunters?” Was she a warrior like Silver?
“Usually. But I haven’t been in far too long. And there are so many who deserve it. You might be good practice.”
Cinder took another step back. Her instincts were screaming to run, but her mind told her that she saw nothing truly to be afraid of.
As the woman walked toward Cinder, she tilted her head. “You’re that girl.”
“What girl?” Cinder took another step back.
The woman paused. “The girl who set the wraith horse free.”
How did she know that? Cinder hadn’t told anyone.
“Don’t worry. I won’t hurt you. I owe you at least that much.”
“Listen, whoever you are, we both need to get out of the forest.”
“Why would I do that?”
Cinder was surprised by the question. Everyone knew that the forest was a dangerous place.
“It’s a full moon. The woods are full of hunters. The only safe place is outside the forest.”
Interest lit up the woman’s ethereal face. “Hunters? Is that what I’ve been hearing?”
“Yes. There are lots of them. You should hide.”
“I don’t hide. Not anymore. From now on, my enemies are the ones to hide.”
Cinder understood that this was no ordinary person. Either the woman was a trained fighter who was daft enough to not know about the hunt, or she was some form of wild fairy, one that preferred to talk rather than attack. Cinder had never heard of a wild fairy who could control herself like that, but Silver had taught her that not everything she heard around the kingdom was true.
Besides, even if this woman was a fairy, she was too magnificent to be abused in a cramped cage like the broken creatures Cinder had seen at the market.
“If you’re not going to hide,” said Cinder, “then you should come with me. It’s not safe here.”
The woman tilted her head. “You’d take me home with you? To protect me?”
“If I can. So far, my luck with rescuing people is not so good. I’m lost, for one thing. Do you know how to get out of the woods?”
“I do. But why would you want to leave the woods?”
This woman truly was daft. “I told you. The hunters are crawling over the woods tonight. They are not good people.”
“But you are.”
“Yes. So are the others they’re hunting.”
“Then shall we stop them? It will be fun.” Her voice and eyes turned cold. “It’s been some time since I’ve had fun.”
“I’m afraid the only ones having fun are the hunters.” Why couldn’t this woman understand?
“Oh, I understand.”
Cinder felt a tingling up her spine. Did the woman just hear her thoughts?
“Yes. Let us go have some fun.”
Cinder backed away. “I need to go home.”
“But you have no home.”
Cinder backed away. She wanted to run but didn’t want to turn her back on this lady.
“Tell me which way these hunters are, and I shall tell you which way to go to leave the woods.”
Cinder hesitated. If she told her how to get to the hunters, the lady might actually go there. No good could come from that. But on the other hand, maybe a woman who could float in and out of the mist could take care of herself.
So Cinder pointed to the direction of the last hunters that she’d seen. “I don’t think you should seek them out, though. They’re dangerous men.”
“I love dangerous men.” The woman smiled a hard smile. “They’re a challenge.”
Then she pointed forward. “This is the way out of the forest. Good journey to you.”
The woman turned and walked into the mist in the direction of the hunters. Within a few steps, she faded and blended into the mist.