by Spoor, Garry
Grim had fallen further than she had, he wasn’t fortunate enough to be stopped by a tree, in fact it looked as if he and the Minotaur took out a few on their way down, clearing a wide swatch in the hillside, leading all the way down to the forest floor.
“Grim.” She called out again, and only stopped when she saw the large black hairy mass lying across the fallen trees, he was not moving. She started toward her fallen friend, but the Minotaur was moving too. He was a little shaken, but he was far from out of this and he was going for the mountain pony.
“Get away from my horse.” Kile shouted with as much force as she could and ran at the Minotaur, tightening her grip on both Lann. Surprisingly the Minotaur suddenly stopped, and she was hit was a strong feeling of confusion, blood lust and that uncontrollable rage. She slid between the Minotaur legs, mostly because she fell down the hill, and not by design, but she did manage to lash out with both Lann as she passed and only stopping when she hit another tree. If she had somehow managed to use the Maligar on the Minotaur for that brief moment of time, it ended when her face met the bark.
-Kile get up.-
Vesper yelled frantically, digging his claws into her shoulder. The images the yarrow fed her with his words were those of the Minotaur regaining his senses and heading in her direction now armed with a large stick.
Kile scrambled to her feet, a little dazed from kissing the tree as she grabbed the Lann and turned to face the Minotaur, but the stick that she had seen in Vesper’s vision was in fact a tree. He swung it, branches and all, and Kile barely managed to get out of the way as it whipped over her head.
It was one thing to fight an opponent with a sword, that was only four feet at best, this thing was using a tree trunk and he had a reach over twelve feet, there was no way she was able to get through that.
She had to make him drop it, and to do that she had to give his hands something else to do. She dodged another swing of the tree and led the beast back up towards the hillside. She was forced to sheath her own weapons and use her hands for climbing, kicking down any loose stone or rock to slow down the Minotaur that was quickly gaining ground. She was no where near as fast as Grim had been, and the Minotaur had caught up with the mountain pony, she wasn’t sure what luck she would have in keeping ahead of him.
The good news was that the first part of her plan had worked, she managed to get the Minotaur to release the tree, the bad news was that he threw it at her.
It struck the rocky hillside just above her, creating a small landslide that was carrying her toward him. She grabbed hold of one of the shrubs as the rocks and dirt bounced over her. Fortunately the Minotaur wasn’t having a much luck maintaining his own balance and was losing ground rapidly as the dirt slid away from under his hoofs.
She seized her opportunity as she scrambled up to the flat top of the hill, but the Minotaur hadn’t given up yet, and was closer than she would have liked.
“Persistent, isn’t he?” She said as she stood atop the hill, watching him climb up. She grabbed the largest rock she could find, or the largest she could lift, and tossed it down at him. It bounced off his thick skull, but did nothing to slow him down.
-What now?-
Vesper asked as he tightened his grip on her shoulder.
She backed away from the edge. Hiding was always an option, if there had been a place to hide. The hill top ended rather abruptly in a forty foot drop to the river below.
-Jump.-
Vesper suggested.
She looked down at the water.
It was not an idea to be dismissed lightly, although she knew the river wasn’t very deep, in fact it couldn’t be more than five or six feet at the most. To jump into that would mean certain death. She drew her Lann and stood with her back to the edge of the cliff.
“You better get out of here Vesper.” She told the yarrow
-Vesper stay.-
The courage of the small yarrow was a comfort, and Kile adjusted her grip on the Lann, her only chance was to hit it as it reached the top, before it could defend itself. It wasn’t exactly sporting, but she really didn’t have any other choice if she wanted to live.
As soon as the head of the Minotaur rose over the lip of the Hill, she attacked.
She managed to get in a few good slices a crossed it's nose and around the head, but wasn’t able to land that kill shot before the Minotaur swatted her back. She hit the ground and quickly rolled to her feet and threw herself forward again, but for all the strikes she was landing, for all the small cuts that she was inflicting, it just wasn’t doing any good, and if anything, the Minotaur only became more enraged.
As it reached the top of the hill, it let out a cry that Kile would have sworn shook the very sky itself. What could drive something to such madness, such hatred, to such insanity? She moved back to a defensive position, it was now only twenty feet away from her when it leveled its head. She stared into its eyes, and all she was madness. She tasted her own blood on her lips as she adjusted her grip on the Lann again. She took a deep breath and waited, but she didn’t have long to wait as the Minotaur charged forward closing the distance between them fast, when something large, black and hairy flew from the trees line and struck the Minotaur hard in the side. The Impact was so great that it lifted the beast off the ground and threw him ten feet through the air, unfortunately for him the ground ended seven from where he was standing, and the Minotaur fell to the river below.
-Stupid Cow-
Grim said as he looked down upon the body of the Minotaur laying in the flowing water forty feet below them.
“About time you got here.”
-I was busy.-
“Well, I had everything under control.” She said with a sigh of relief as she slipped the Lann back into their sheaths.
-Oh yeah, it looked like it.-
“I did, I was just about to do something… sort of like that.”
-Keep telling yourself that Vir.-
Grim snorted.
“You think he’s dead?”
-If not he’s got a hell of a headache.-
“We should probably check to make sure.” Kile said as she moved away from the edge of the cliff. “I’m glad to see you’re okay.”
-Of course I am, you think a cow could take out a horse?-
“I wasn’t worried for a moment.”
-So, how does it feel to be the Hunter that defeated the Minotaur-?
“I didn’t defeat the Minotaur, you did.”
-Somehow I don’t think your vir organization will recognize that.-
Grim said as he started back down the hill without her, Vesper made the leap from Kile’s shoulder to Grim’s back and took his place up between the ears of the mountain pony. He knew the safest way down the hill she said to herself as she followed.
“Well, I can’t claim to have defeated him. Can you image what the Guild would do? I’ll be labeled as irresponsible, rash, reckless…”
-Foolish, careless, immature, out of control…-
“Yes, you can stop now.”
-… hasty, head strong, juvenile, rash…-
“I said you could stop now, and besides I already said rash.”
-Just making a point.-
For a mountain pony he had a lot of points to make.
“They’ve been looking for a way to get rid of me, this would be it.”
They reached the bottom of the hill and Grim waited long enough for Kile to get on before heading to the river. They walked the stream until they found the body of the Minotaur lying motionless in the water. She drew one of the Lann and slowly approached, stopping within ten feet before picking up a small rock and tossing it at him. The rock bounced off the Minotaur’s chest and splashed into the water, but the beast didn’t move.
-Oh please.-
Grim said as he pushed past Kile and walked up to the fallen beast. With one rather large platter sized hoof, he kicked it in the head.
“Grim.” Kile shouted.
-What? It’s not like he could
feel it.-
“I’m not so sure about that.” She said as she held her hand over its nose. “He’s still alive.”
-Then finish it.-
“What?”
-Finish him off. It should be easier for you now.-
“I can’t do that, he’s out cold.”
-That’s what makes it easier.-
“It’s not… fair.”
-Fair? This is not a game vir. That thing tried to kill you.-
“I know.” She said as she looked down at the fallen Minotaur. Half an hour ago it was trying to kill her, half an hour ago she would have easily killed it, well, maybe not easily, but she wouldn’t have had any regrets if she had managed to kill it. Now, as it lay there helpless, she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She slid the Lann back in its sheath.
“There’s a Callor outpost not far from here, I saw it on the map. If we ride all night we could reach it by morning. Maybe they’ll have a way to hold him.”
-Don’t fool yourself Vir. If this is the Minotaur of Caller falls, they won’t hold him, they’ll execute him.-
“Maybe they will.” She said as she started down the river.
-You're just getting them to do what you can’t.-
“I won’t go down that road Grim.”
She returned to Marcus first. The white haired hunter was still out cold and showed no signs that he had ever been anything else. She managed to get him away from the water’s edge, pulling him up onto the bank and tried to make him as comfortable as she could. She tended his wounds to the best of her ability, which wasn’t all that great and wrapped him in her blanket to keep him warm. Grabbing what supplies she needed she rode back to the Minotaur, this part of the plan was going to be a little more difficult. The idea was simple; the execution of it was a nightmare. She was hoping that the Minotaur would have recovered by now and limped off somewhere to tend its wound, unfortunately he was still where she left him.
Using some of the fallen trees from the forest, and there was quite a few of them now, Kile fashioned a drag behind stretcher with the help of a reluctant mountain pony. Grim said nothing as she tied the wood together with rope and double checked the knots to make sure they were strong enough. The stretcher was simple enough to construct, sort of like building a raft that was never meant to float. A few well placed ropes created a harness for Grim as he dragged it to the site of the fallen Minotaur.
She knew Grim’s position on the situation, if it was up to him, he would have killed the Minotaur without so much as a second thought, but she couldn’t do it. It was the same as when she had taken the entry examination for the Academy, when they had placed all the cadets in that room to fight the gulrik and the valrik that didn’t really exist, and neither did the room. It was all in her head, playing out for the benefit of some psychiatric test. She couldn’t kill the fallen valrik back then, she couldn’t kill the fallen Minotaur now, and she still had no idea if she even passed that part of the test.
The other option was to leave him where he fell. Without any help he would probably die and maybe that would have been for the best, but there was also the chance that he would have lived, and then what, go on terrorizing the countryside, more insane and enraged than ever. Neither one of those scenarios sat well with Kile. To leave him to die was the same as killing him herself, only not as quick and the death would be a slow lingering one, and should he live, every death that followed would be blood on her hands. If she couldn’t kill him outright, she had to take him to a place that had the facilities to keep him from harming anyone ever again.
They set the stretcher down at the Minotaur’s feet.
“How are we going to get him on this thing?” She asked.
-Tie a rope around his neck and I pull it.-
“You’re not being very nice, but you do have a point.” She replied as she tied the rope around the Minotaur’s feet and the other end around Grim. She was definitely going to have to pick up another coil of this rope from Mr. Wollory, having cut this length up into so many smaller pieces, it wasn’t going to do her much good anymore.
Grim pulled the Minotaur with ease as the beast’s body was dragged onto the sled. She tied the beast down the best she could with what rope she had left, but it was just to keep him from sliding off, if the worst should happen, if he did come to, there was no way the ropes would hold him, but it was a chance she had to take. Hooking it back up on to Grim’s make shift harness was a little difficult until the mountain pony reluctantly agreed to cooperate. He lay down between the rails as Kile fastened the ropes to the harness, and Grim slowly got to his feet, lifting one end of the sled with him. Had it been any other horse besides Grim, she was sure her plan would have failed. It was no wonder that the Guild had once considered having every Hunter assigned a mountain pony.
-Yo, Vir, stop daydreaming and get moving, this cow stinks-
And it was no wonder that the Guild had quickly dropped that idea.
Grim dragged the Minotaur down the stream back to the campsite, where an unconscious Marcus Taylor still lay quietly wrapped in Kile’s blanket. He was looking a little better, at least his coloring had returned. At this moment Kile wanted nothing more than to set up a proper camp, with a proper campfire and sleep until dawn, but she was worried about the Hunter and as soon as she could get him to the outpost, the sooner she could be rid of the both of them, then they could sort it all out and she would be well on her way to Tobery.
Getting the big man onto Rose’s back was a little awkward and a little undignified, especially for the Hunter. She had to convince Rose to lie down beside her master. That was once Grim had dragged the Minotaur a few yards away. The Horse was still skittish around the smell of the bovine, and Kile really could blame her. Once the gray mare was in place, it was a matter of leverage, of which Kile knew nothing about. She grabbed the arms of the Hunter and physically dragged him over the saddle, and then ran around the other side and pushed him into place. It would have been much easier if he was coherent enough to help, but then if he was that coherent, she wouldn’t be in this predicament. Once he was balanced on the back of his horse, she aided her to her feet, and then searched through Marcus’s supplies for something to tie him down with.
He had some strange stuff among his supplies, most of it she couldn’t identify and some of it she did want to know about. A couple of silk scarfs were enough to tie him down so he didn’t fall off during the trip. Once all the cargo was in place, both the living and the supplies, she was ready to get on her way.
The night was already closing in as she pulled out her map of the northwest quarter, there was just enough light to read by as she unrolled it and located her position the best she could. They left the road some time back, so getting to the road would be their first destination, from there they would have to travel east, toward the Callor province, a place that she was not eager to visit. The Outpost was called Moran, but there was little else about it. It was simply marked by a small square and a triangle that was probably supposed to represent a flag. It was well in the Callor province, and therefore should be a Callor province outpost. Most outpost housed soldiers and their families as well as military installations, hopefully that would include a hospital for Marcus and a cell or cage for her insane friend.
She looked toward the eastern sky that was now darker than it should be and she could actually smell the rain on the wind, but that was to be expected, the perfect ending to the perfect day. With both of her patients strapped down she knew she had to get moving if she wanted to get to Moran before daylight tomorrow. The last thing she needed was for either one of them to wake up.
Every muscle in her body ached; one would think she had been over exerting herself as she walked along side Grim.
-Get on.-
“You can’t expect to carry me and drag that thing all the way to the outpost, I’ll walk.” Kile said defiantly. It was bad enough that she was forcing the horse to drag a Minotaur across the countryside against his will, she already felt
guilty about that, but to ride him at the same time would be adding insult to injury.
-You walk, and we won’t get there until next week.-
The Mountain pony commented.
There was some truth to that she realized.
“I’m fine.” She replied.
-You’re not fine. You’ve been leaning on me for the last twenty feet, and since we’ve only gone twenty feet, I can’t really see you making it all the way.-
“Is that concern or pity?”
-Does it really matter, just get on.-
She climbed up onto the back of the mountain pony, the only thing she could remember after that was the rain as it gently started to fall.
***~~~***
26
The cold night gave way to the gray morning as a heavy fog and a steady rain settled upon western Aru. The outpost of Moran stood upon the boarder between the Callor and the Denal provinces, a place that had seen little in the way of activates as of late, since Denal didn’t have the military might to pose much of a threat to Callor, and even with the threats of war coming over the western border of Aru, the outpost was still only half awake as a stranger approached in the dim light of dawn.
“Halt, whose there? Name yourself and state your intentions.” The young guard shouted as he lowered his pike toward the road. He was wet, he was tired and he was miserable, but such was life as a regular soldier in the Callor military.
“What are you going on about Logan?” A second guard asked as he stepped out of the watch tower. He kept under the arch of the gate to avoid the rain. It was bad enough that he had pulled the night watch, but to be burdened with a rookie that had an overactive imagination was just too much, and now the weather had turned against him.
“I heard something Raf.” Logan replied as he strained to look further into the mist.
Raf looked at the young man and slowly shook his head. Amateur, he thought, they should never have let this one out of basic training. He then turned to the two wire-haired hounds that were trying to keep dry under the arch with him.