Demons of the Hunter

by Stephen Allan

  Eric racked his brain for any memory of monsters of the depth that might cause trouble, but he could not remember such tales. Why would he? He never had to learn anything about the seas. The beasts of the skies gave him enough trouble, and until a month ago, he’d never had to cross water.

  “Abe?”

  Abe shook his head.

  “I have no idea,” he said, shouting over the howling winds and heavy rain. “There are stories of large creatures, but I don’t think they’re real. We probably just hit a rough wave that—”

  Another bump came, so strong that it knocked Eric and Abe down. Eric rose first, offering a hand to Abe, as they both braced themselves.

  “That was not a rough wave,” Abe said.

  What do we have to fight now? What monsters of the sea awaken?

  A third bump came that tilted the ship, and this time, a scream followed it. Eric looked back and saw Frederick had gone overboard.

  “Help! Help!”

  But even as Eric rushed to the side of the boat to locate the fallen soldier, no one else made a move. Abe remained at his mast. Artemia didn’t even flinch.

  “Are we going to rescue him?” Eric yelled.

  “Rescue?” Artemia said. Despite the hellish conditions, her voice remained unwavering. That somehow seemed colder than mocking, for it signaled that this was an incident not worth getting riled up over. “He will only slow us down. We can use his supplies. We will not rescue him.”

  Eric felt a chill to the soul that no one, not even the emperor, not even Indica, had ever provided. He’d never seen Artemia this ruthless and merciless. She was never the hugging, comforting, loving type, but she always paid respects at funerals and for retirements. What have these hunts done to her?

  “Help! Please!”

  Frederick continued to cry out. Eric leaned back over, looking at the soldier, now about fifty feet back.

  “Do not think we will come for you, Eric,” Artemia warned. “I will take this ship by myself to Dabira if you go and Abe follows. I wouldn’t suggest calling my bluff.”

  Eric grimaced. To just let this man drown…

  “How could you?!? You’d leave a man to die? Why you magi sympathizing scum—”

  Then the water behind Frederick broke as something massive emerged.

  It sported a dragon’s face, with about a half-dozen horns, vicious jaws, slanted, narrow eyes, and dark blue scales. But it also had fins on its side and a slender body that looked more like a snake’s than a dragon’s.

  A sea dragon.

  “It can’t be,” Abe said, his voice carrying through the wind.

  “You know this?” Eric shouted back.

  “Hydra,” Abe said.

  Just as he said that, two more dragon heads with the exact same proportions emerged, surrounding Frederick.

  No matter what Eric could do, nothing would result in saving the poor soldier who never wanted to come on this ship. At this point, even the presence of the magi wouldn’t save Frederick. The few moments he had left were just moments of dread before death.

  He turned away, walking toward Abe as Frederick screamed for help, alternating between cursing the hunters on the ship and begging for mercy from the monsters. It didn’t take long before the hydra silenced his voice, dragging him to the depths of either the sea or its stomach. He gave one last look when the screaming had ceased, and it was as if the monster had never been there. Eric had a healthy respect for the legendary dragons, but this scared him even more. The legendary monsters he knew of and could see. The monsters of the sea were beings that he would not see until it was too late.

  “What in the name of Hydor was that?” Eric said, his body shivering as the storm continued.

  “A hydra,” Abe said. “I’d only heard about it through tall tales. No one had ever seen one. But legends told of a creature of the sea with many heads, a monster which, upon having its head cut off, would grow many more back, each of those heads as deadly as the last. No man knew of how to defeat it, but then again, no man I knew of had even seen one.”

  The storm slowly began to let up, albeit still with continuous precipitation and dangerous lightning. Abe grimaced and sighed.

  “I wonder what demons we have unlocked for slaughtering Indica,” he said. “A force as potent as a legendary dragon does not just terrify humanity. It keeps other things in check. Especially since it possessed magic. And now the empire flaunts its remains, as if to say it can control the forces of Hydor itself. But no one can control Hydor. You can’t control the world in that regard. We often do not know the consequences of our actions, especially when we’re only acting in self-interest or self-preservation. Perhaps the hydra has always existed and we picked the worst timing possible to bump into it. Or, maybe, by defeating a monster as great as Indica, we’ve unearthed something even worse.”

  Eric wasn’t sure what to think. He’d never thought that a monster like Indica or Ragnor could be connected to other parts of Hydor.

  But then again, before leaving Mathos, he doubted the existence of magic. He even doubted the existence of Indica. He doubted many things, and with each passing day, he began to realize his doubts were losing their validity.

  Still, Eric was a man of his senses. If he could not see, smell, hear, taste, or feel something, he never assumed it existed. He could give it credence, but he believed ultimately in his perception. He found it hard to believe that the slaughter of Indica would make the seas suddenly so treacherous and dangerous.

  But hadn’t others spoken about Indica as the dragon of the seas? Hadn’t he heard that Indica could control the waters?

  If so, perhaps Abe had a point.

  What consequences would the annihilation of Ragnor unlock? What new threats to Hydor would come as a result?

  No. You can’t worry about what you don’t know. You can only focus on what you can control. Find Ragnor. Kill him. Give peace to the souls of Mom and Rey. And your own.

  And then figure it out.

  But even still, even as Eric tried his best to become single-minded in his hunt of Ragnor, he could not quite bring himself to ignore potential consequences.

  “The storm is winding down,” Artemia said, leaving her position from the back of the boat. “We need to assess any damage that has come as a result. We also need to scavenge any supplies we can from Frederick’s stash.”

  “Did you intend to kill him, Artemia?” Abe said suddenly.

  An awkward silence filled the air before Artemia mockingly laughed.

  “Heavens, no, are you kidding me? He wasn’t going to come with us anyways past the port. But if he’s gone and he’s left us supplies, we might as well. And look on the bright side. We don’t have to depend on the emperor remembering to send a rescue envoy to us in two month’s time.”

  In a way, Eric believed her answer entirely.

  But it didn’t leave him feeling any better about the road ahead with his superior.

  * * *

  Eric kept his distance from Artemia for the next day and half. He decided that the less questions he asked, the better. Weirdly, the more he stayed in his head, in the company of his depressing memories and thoughts, the more he could focus on the reason he’d gotten on the boat in the first place. To hunt Ragnor at any cost, including his own life.

  Abe tried to approach Artemia a couple of times, but at each conversation, she kept her discussions short and abrupt. Eric had never seen the two of them like this and was curious why she’d suddenly become so curt with him. But the time to have those discussions would come later.

  For, after those two and a half days, after the worst storm he could remember, after witnessing the rise of a new legendary monster, Eric finally saw something that brought joy to his heart and a smile to his face.

  Dabira.

  CHAPTER 4: TYUS

  Tyus reminded himself that his father had not brought him back into his “good graces” if he was planning some other form of punishment. To go to the Dragon Hunter’s Guild at
his age was already embarrassing enough, and it would’ve been hard to top it without publicly undermining the empire.

  Nevertheless, every interaction with his father left Tyus feeling uneasy. He couldn’t help but feel that every time he was with his father, the conversation and the moment had to revolve around him. He’d never seen his father praise him outside of the context of what his father had done, and he had to be extremely careful about what he said to his father. Even the slightest comment that was askance, no matter by how little, could drive his father mad. And when his father went mad, it did not matter at all what anyone else said or did. The fact that he was Rufus Syrast’s only son made no difference, or even worse, a negative one.

  So when he stood at the door to his father’s room, he took one deep breath, and reminded himself of everything important. Even now, he desired to join Eric, Artemia, and Abe on their journey. He may not have had the skills of a hunter that Eric had, the stoicism that Abe possessed, or the quality of leadership that Artemia had, but even being mediocre in those areas would give him more fulfillment than being with his father.

  But he could not just forget that Rufus was his father, even if the first sixteen years had proved difficult. He stepped in, his hands shaking as he pushed the door open.

  His father rested in a comfortable, red-plush chair by his luxurious, gold-framed bed, munching on some grapes. He motioned for Tyus to sit across from him, and he did in a chair more comfortable than anything Tyus had sat in in years. He looked into his father’s eyes and for a brief glimmer, he swore that he saw something approaching… something real and raw.

  Not love. He didn’t think his father was capable of love, at least not as he had seen other families having it.

  But there was something sweet there. Maybe his father was seeing himself in Tyus. Maybe his father was admiring the way Tyus had grown since joining the guild. Maybe there…

  “You know how much I resented having to do that,” his father said, grapes still in his mouth.

  Of course. I should have known better. Should’ve known whatever expression that is comes from sharing glory with someone else. Someone he knows deserves it more than him.

  “That was awful. Having to listen to those hunters be blessed. Pretending that they’re the reason this empire was saved. You would think that without them, we’d all be dead. Hah!”

  They were the reason this empire was saved. Them and, well, honestly, the magi.

  But there was something unusual about the way his father spoke, however. More so than usual, it seemed forced, like his father was trying desperately to keep up an image of a hardliner who would not compromise on his ways. It didn’t seem as natural as he usually was. Not that he ever seemed natural, but relative to his own standards, he didn’t speak with the confidence he normally did.

  “In any case, though, they are gone, off to do another journey. They claim they’re going to hunt Ragnor. More power to them, I say. They are not going to get any more of my men until they try for Bahamut. I care not for a dragon that would wipe out Dabira before it comes here. I do not have to worry about them and that… that scoundrel Artemia.”

  Tyus just nodded. He did not particularly care for the boss of the Dragon Hunter’s Guild, but that manifested as indifference, not disgust, in him.

  “How do you feel about them, Tyus?”

  Can’t you just call me son for once in your life? Or would that be too difficult?

  “I like them, if I may be honest,” Tyus said. If anyone had carte blanche with his father, it was him. It was still risky, and his father had already sent him once to the guild. But Tyus, through his captivity and time with Eric, had gained confidence. “They are good people. They truly did slaughter Indica. The ceremony may have been tiresome, but it was not entirely without merit.”

  “As much as it pains me to admit, there is an element of that that may contain a sliver of truth.”

  It sounded like the most strained acceptance answer that Tyus could possibly imagine. Still, for his father, it was a major surprise to hear any form of truth or admitting someone else had accomplished something of importance.

  “However, the part I am most impressed with is what they have made of you, Tyus.”

  It still sounded impersonal. His father didn’t look him in the eyes when he spoke, even as Tyus tried to make contact.

  But this was promising. Tyus tried to suppress a small smile from creeping on his face. Could he finally be bonding with me?

  “When you left, you were weak, a mere boy, and certainly no one to be worthy of inheriting the empire. It is so sad that you had to inherit most of your mother’s traits instead of my own. Clearly, had you been more like me, you would never have had to enter the guild.”

  It took all of Tyus’ reserves not to roll his eyes. But he tried to keep his hopes up. He tried to believe his father was getting at something genuine, and that he just struggled with speaking humbly.

  “But now, Artemia and her little tribe of hunters have… well, look at you.”

  Another compliment that’s not really a compliment, huh? Still, it brought a smile to Tyus’ face he didn’t bother to hide.

  “You have proved yourself worthy for consideration of becoming the next emperor, and for that, I must say, it is about time.”

  Again, the emperor hesitated at the end, like he wanted to truly compliment his son, but he could not bring himself to do so. Would Rufus ever be able to do so? Would his father ever be able to say that he was truly proud of him without condition?

  Tyus prayed that he’d get to see the day. Just once, he wanted to hear his father praise him without reservation.

  I’ll learn magic before that happens. But still. Thank you, father.

  “I have much more confidence in you becoming emperor one day, far into the future. However…”

  Of course.

  Tyus knew that this was the conditional part. He somehow had to prove his worth in a way that his father had never had to, some arbitrary way that sounded good to his father even though he had never done it himself. He just had to grin and bear it. At least he’d had practice working for a tough, unimpressed leader in Artemia.

  “While you have proved yourself a man among hunters, you must prove yourself a man amongst the elite here today. You can’t be a part of the empire unless you are as strong as I am… son.”

  Tyus’ eyes widened. He barely even recognized that he wouldn’t get to join Eric, Artemia, and Abe any longer. It was the first time he’d heard his father call him son in… far too long, no matter how long it actually was. Making it all the more shocking was that now the emperor’s gaze had fallen upon Tyus. What was he about to say that was so difficult it almost made his dad express emotion?

  “And while slaying Indica is indeed a powerful accomplishment, it is also a relatively simple task.”

  What?

  “See, as emperor, you have to thwart danger before it can become too great. A monster like Indica was a threat, yes, but there was never any question about slaying the beast. However, we do have a more pertinent danger at hand. One that does not have the obvious danger that Indica poses, but one that may more subtly destroy us from within.”

  Tyus had a gross feeling as his father continued. He prayed that the events of the last month had changed his mind, but it was becoming apparent that that was not the case. All it had done was force the emperor to put on a pretty face for a short period of time before changing his mind back to the way things were.

  “Magi.”

  I was afraid of that. The very ones who saved this town. And now we’re going to go back on our word. Is it any wonder this city feels so restless at all times?

  “The magi are going to try and claim that they were the ones who saved this city. They will say that they defeated Indica. While I cannot deny that they had some role in the process, we all know that it was our soldiers and the hunters who defeated that monster! We know that the magi will try and undermine us, most especially when it comes
time for their… their… ‘ceremony.’”

  “We do?” Tyus said, unable to hide his surprise at what his father had said.

  “Yes, yes, we most certainly do!” the emperor said, doubling down on his statement. “How else could a dragon like that have fallen? The magi for so long have sought to oppress those who cannot practice magic. They hate those who are not like them. Why would they want to kill Indica if so? Indica was the perfect opportunity for the magi to let Caia burn. Yet the brave men who protect the empire from evil stood up to it and defeated it despite the magi’s indifference.”

  Tyus remained silent, but not because he didn’t want to defend the magi. He was just so taken aback by what was said that he couldn’t muster a complete response. He truly does believe what he says. He’s just flat-out lying. There’s absolutely no way he believes anything he says. My father…

  “Exactly, my son, exactly. I speak the truth.”

  Tyus barely registered hearing being called “my son.”

  “Father, don’t you think maybe this is…”

  “This is what?” he said, crossing his arms and looking disgusted. It did not look feigned. Maybe he does believe it. Maybe he’s just that insane.

  “Well, that maybe this is inaccurate? The magi, they did more than played a part. Indica fell after Artemia and Eric worked with them. Many of our soldiers died on previous passes. They—”

  “Enough!” the emperor said. “While you may have misremembered some things, my boy, you must be aware that as an emperor, the glory comes to you.”

  Glory. Is that what this is about? Having praise and adulation? Are you needing it that badly, father?

  “That may be so, father, but the magi, they should not be shamed for who they are—”

  “No, I agree, not for who they are, but what they do.”

  But it just sounded like political speak to Tyus. His father had a way of captivating the emotions of the crowd, that was an absolute given. He could do it in person too. But whenever someone stepped back and really thought about what was said, they would often realize his father’s words had no meaning behind them. If they did have meaning, it was often a message of fear and maliciousness that crumbled upon careful criticism and analysis. Tyus had known this since he was banished to the guild, and everything since had only supported his view of the emperor.