Demons of the Hunter

by Stephen Allan

  Then she turned back to Roland and gave a bow. As usual with the guild master, Eric could not tell the meaning behind it.

  “It shall be as you command. We shall spend the night and then we shall depart Dabira in the morning.”

  Wait, what?

  Had she given up that easily? She was so willing to return to Caia already?

  Depart Dabira in the morning…

  Wait.

  “There is nothing more to say on the matter,” Roland said. “The town hall has ended.”

  With that, people slowly shuffled out of the room, the air of gossip surrounding them. Eric looked to the master for permission to move, but she remained at ease, the small wry smile on her face that she had in over ninety percent of situations like these. Abe sat in silence, his arms crossed. A few of the magi looked to the table with the hunters, perhaps curious about speaking to them, but Roland remained in his spot as well, seemingly to deter any curious magi from approaching the hunters.

  Eventually, everyone except Roland and the hunters had exited the building. Roland silently gestured for the hunters to exit, and Artemia did with a bow. Eric and Abe gave short bows as well and followed Artemia out. Roland never unfolded his arms or removed his scowling contempt for the hunters.

  Outside, dusk had fallen. Stars had begun to glitter in the sky with such brightness, it made a stark contrast from a couple of nights before. Maybe it was a sign that the path to Ragnor would become much clearer now that they had left the town hall.

  Or, maybe Eric saw things that had absolutely no relation to his current task.

  “What did—”

  Artemia held up her right hand, cutting Eric off before he got anywhere. With her hand still raised, she waved it to her left. Abe and Eric followed. Abe looked suspicious and highly distrusting of the situation at hand. He wore a scowl, he moved slower than usual, and anytime his eyes fell upon the guild master, they narrowed with doubt. Eric could only wonder what sort of things his mentor knew about his boss that he didn’t.

  They walked through the town in silence, ignoring the gazes that fell upon them. They had become more inquisitive and lingered longer than before.

  The three hunters sat near the port at the bottom of a flight of stairs, stairs with some small, natural cracks but no magi nearby. Eric glanced back but did not see Roland or any magi approaching. He didn’t want to think about what would have happened had they confronted Artemia in a private setting.

  “I know we are safe here, Eric,” Artemia said. “Now that we have our privacy, let me make one thing clear. The hunt is still on. It is very much on. We are going after Ragnor whether it is the three of us or thirty of us who defy Roland.”

  “What,” Abe said, his voice like the eye of a hurricane, calm but surrounded by a bluster of emotions. “Then… how?”

  Abe’s self-control of his emotions was nothing short of spectacular at that exact moment.

  “Simple. We will figure it out,” Artemia said with a casual shrug. “We figured out how to defeat Indica. It involved magi, but we are dragon hunters. We are renowned as much for our minds and creativity in defeating a dragon as we are in our physical skills. Unless, Abe, you feel such a thing has deteriorated for you.”

  Abe bit his lip, a thousand words on his tongue, probably over nine hundred of them critical and scathing.

  “However, I will concede one point to the reality of our situation. As hunters alone, we do not have the manpower to kill Ragnor. Even if it is a mere shell of its legendary self, it can still produce great harm to the three of us. If, as a guild, we had trouble with some dragons in Mathos, then we would have trouble with Ragnor. However, we have an element of power on our side that I only recently acquired. I have not yet shared it with you, and I must be careful where I share it. But look. Behold.”

  With that, Artemia slowly removed her hunting sword from its sheath. She grabbed at the crystal and closed her eyes. The crystal glowed a bright turquoise color. Artemia opened her eyes, flexed her hands, and her blade glowed and heated with fire.

  Artemia’s a mage?!?

  “With the power of Indica, I have acquired the power of elemental magic. I am by no means as powerful as some of the other magi, and I wish I had the full essence of Indica in my possession. But this gives us an unexpected edge, and with it, we stand a much better chance against Ragnor.”

  Eric gaped at what he saw. The rumors had said Artemia had chased magic more than gold for years. The rumors said she wanted dragon blood for that very reason. He’d sometimes gathered that over actual horns for that reason. But rumors rarely led to the truth.

  Until now. Artemia had gathered magic. She had gotten the powers of a mage.

  She was no longer the deadliest, strongest, most powerful hunter in the guild. She now possessed a skill that would render her all but indestructible against the most skilled warrior, and perhaps even against most magi.

  “Artemia,” Abe said, his voice in awe, but she silenced him.

  “You see what power Indica has given me. It is real. I’ll admit to doubting it until we killed Indica, but now I am not just no longer a doubter. I am an evangelist. We must use Indica’s power against Ragnor, and when we have Ragnor’s power, we must use it against Bahamut.”

  And when we have Bahamut’s power, what will we use it against?

  It was amusing, if not surprising after some thought, that Artemia seemed to deliberately look east at that moment.

  “And what if we can’t?” Abe said.

  Artemia maintained her same expression, but a heaviness in the air came over everything.

  “If we cannot what, Abraham Wallace?”

  A chill went down Eric’s spine.

  “What if we reach Ragnor and you cannot defeat it with your power? What happens if your magic, as unexpected and surprising as it is, isn’t enough? What then?”

  Artemia’s shrug seemed so casual, they might as well have spoken about what would happen if the emperor’s next meal included no bacon. Eric figured Artemia now saw Abe not as an ally, but as a nuisance. He shuddered at what that might mean for his mentor’s future.

  “Then the magi in Dabira won’t have much choice but to fight.”

  “You would drag them into a war just to satisfy your own—”

  “Do not spin this upon me,” Artemia snapped. “I am fighting to eliminate all conflict in this world. The only way to ensure total peace is to bring total annihilation to anything that can impinge upon that peace. That includes the three legendary dragons. We’re one for three so far and may easily have a chance to take out another one soon. And once we eliminate the dragons, we can turn our attention to other agents who will have no choice but to bow before my—our power. We fight not for greed and not for my own whims, but for the good of peace. Do I make myself clear?”

  Other agents…

  “You most certainly do,” Abe said.

  “Good,” Artemia said. “I will procure us a room to stay. Meet me at the center of Dabira in ten minutes. It will not take me long to find shelter, so do not disappoint me by showing up late.”

  Without waiting for an acknowledgment from either man, Artemia moved ahead, brushing Abe and Eric in the process. It did not seem deliberate, and the bumps were hardly strong enough to move them out of the way, but the message seemed clear enough. Artemia would not suffer any foolishness, even from two of her best and most experienced hunters.

  Eric took a step to follow her when Abe’s thick hand grabbed him and held him in place. He gave no thought to fighting it. Once Artemia had turned the corner, Eric turned to Abe. He saw a mentor angry beyond anything Eric had seen, determined in his ways, and refusing to yield. His eyebrows arched, his eyes narrowed, and his muscles tensed.

  “You doubt her,” Eric said.

  It wasn’t an accusation. It was just a statement of truth that Eric had wished wasn’t said quite as strongly as he had uttered.

  “Do you blame me?” Abe said, his voice nearly a surprising snarl. �
�You speak of a woman for whom you should have no faith in whatsoever.”

  On the one hand, Eric couldn’t quite buy that. She’d revealed to him his family’s murderer. She’d always paid Eric and the rest of the hunters on time. When Artemia said she was going to do something, she did it.

  But…

  Maybe he’s got a point. But where is this anger coming from?

  “Why would she ever just be satisfied with only Ragnor? Well, the answer seems simple enough, she said it herself. It would bring her power to fight Bahamut. But what kind of power? Is Artemia the kind of person you would trust with magic? And what do you think she’s going to do with power from Bahamut?”

  These were all questions that Eric had dancing at the very back of his mind, but he’d never quite had the desire, courage, or insistence on bringing them forward. The thoughts of avenging his mother’s and sister’s death shut down any intellectual thoughts about his boss’ motivations.

  But now that he thought them, he could see where Abe was going.

  “If she is collecting power, it’s so that she can wage a battle against something or someone else. And let me tell you, Eric, that woman has no interest in stopping with Bahamut. She doesn’t wish to become a legendary dragon hunter. She wants to become a legend all in itself. Why? I don’t know. But she is ruthless and unforgiving to those who would stop her or even start to hinder her.”

  There was only one possible answer. And it sure wasn’t Roland.

  “You think she wants to destroy the empire and she wants to rule the world.”

  “Without a doubt. At a minimum.”

  It sent a chill at first down Eric’s spine. The ruthlessness Artemia always displayed… the certainty of the validity of her mission… the desire for control… the need to do things on her terms… they all added up.

  But would such a rule be that bad of a thing? Yes, Artemia was vicious and cold and straightforward, but weren’t those necessary for ruling an empire? Emperor Syrast had those things, but Artemia had a powerful weapon that the current emperor wouldn’t be able to find if it bowed before him in the throne room—emotional control. The use of magic. A sense of what mattered and what didn’t.

  Artemia wouldn’t hunt magi. She wouldn’t burn her city to the ground in the name of her ego. She wouldn’t hunt dragons that had not yet attacked. She would make for a tough, but possibly fair, leader. Having a steady sociopath beat having an unpredictable hurricane of incompetence.

  “You don’t look satisfied with my accusation,” Abe said, his words coated with the boils of his anger.

  “I… I’m not. But I don’t see how this would be bad.”

  Abe noticeably took a step back. He closed his eyes and made a point of heavily breathing through his nostrils, as if attempting to regain control of his mind.

  “Sometimes, the dragon that you know is better than the dragon that you don’t know,” he said. “In other words, yes, maybe what we’re fighting and serving under is bad. I don’t agree with what the emperor does. I think he’s a bumbling fool, to say the least. But I know this. He keeps the guild employed. He pays us. He has not affected us in any way. He is a man who may be subject to his emotions, but that makes him ultimately easily manipulatable, a rather ironic thing since he craves power, glory, and control so much.

  “But Artemia, the only thing we know about how Artemia works is how she runs this guild. She runs it as a business very effectively. Payments are made on time. Tasks are clear. Those who perform the best are rewarded the most, as is in your case.”

  It brought a much needed small smile. It quickly faded as Abe continued.

  “But we know nothing about how she would command an empire. Running a business is a far different task than running an empire, no matter how much you or others may want to convince your mind of that fact. And it would be one thing if Artemia was the daughter of the emperor and knew she could obtain the throne through natural succession. It’s entirely another when she plans on killing him. Don’t give me that look. He’s not going to hand it over. Anyone who achieves power through exterior means is a danger to us all.”

  Eric listened as intently as he could. What was said made sense. He’d never given thought to Artemia’s intentions before, mostly because it didn’t matter a single bit to him. Maybe she would make for a deadly emperor. Maybe life would be hell while she ruled. There were a dozen maybes that entered his mind, and he could not crack them open before another dozen came through.

  But there was one thing that was not a maybe. It had nothing to do with politics or emperors, but everything to do with Eric’s soul.

  And that was that Ragnor was responsible for the death of his mother and his sister. So long as that dragon resided in the southern lands, Eric’s mind would not know peace. If it took giving Artemia the power to overthrow the emperor and establish herself as the supreme ruler of the empire, then that was a risk that he was willing to take. Let the world burn so long as Ragnor ignites with it.

  And honestly, to Eric, the concerns about Artemia’s leadership and reign seemed slightly overblown.

  “I can tell you still want to hunt Ragnor,” Abe said.

  Eric saw no point in lying and admitted as much.

  “Even after all that I told you?”

  “I heard everything you said. It’s not that I disagree with it. But I’m not personally fighting for Artemia to gain power or anything related to her.”

  “For your mom and sister,” Abe said.

  Once more, he breathed in deep through his nostrils, exhaling slowly. But this time, the step was not backward but toward Eric.

  “Are you ever going to realize your greed for vengeance is threatening your rational state of mind?” he said.

  Such a question might have infuriated Eric if not for the emotional wavering in Abe’s voice.

  “When are you going to let this go? What do you think killing Ragnor will do? I, as much as anyone who is not you, miss your mother terribly. I know that your sister was a wonderful girl. Every time I look at you, it reminds me of your mother, and it hurts me to know that there is nothing I can do to bring her back. None of us can. Not even the magi are capable of resurrecting the dead. If there are gods, I doubt they can bring the dead back to life.

  “But I cannot fight in their name at the cost of my rational understanding of the world. And knowing your mother, she would want the same, Eric. She wouldn’t want you to kill a legendary dragon in her name. Never mind the fact that just three of us or two of us would stand no chance against a beast like that. She would want you to live your life with honor and fighting for what you believe in. The just and peaceful causes that you believe in. Not the vengeful ones.”

  Eric had never seen Abe this emotional and this challenged before. Suddenly seen in this light, it became a minor challenge for Eric to decide. What would he gain by defeating Ragnor? Was the peace of mind that he craved so assured if he went down this path?

  He had a hard time figuring it out. But every time he forced himself to make a snap decision in his mind, he felt the need to go after Ragnor. It might prove to be his death, and it might hurt his relationship with Abe, but he could not imagine living with himself if he let Ragnor sleep in his cave. He had to do something to get the great beast into his grave.

  “I know what you are saying, Abe,” Eric said. “But I must fight.”

  Abe grimaced and put his hand on Eric’s shoulder.

  “We must all do what we think is best. I do not fault you for your decision. I suppose at your age, I might have done the same. But I am old and past the stage of seeking vengeance for my fallen friends and family. I will not go with you.”

  What? Abe!

  “I cannot support Artemia on a quest that is so blatantly for the destruction of the empire in the long run. Even if you two leave tomorrow, I will either remain here or head back to Caia. Most likely, I will ask to remain here. This is a peaceful town. I grow older each day. At some point, one needs to be content with what they
have accomplished and leave the ambition for the younger folks. This is your time.”

  “No, Abe—”

  “I’ve made peace with my decision, Eric.”

  Eric grimaced and sought the right words to change his mentor’s mind. What if he just got a good night’s sleep? What if Eric gave him some of his gold? What if…

  No good answer came. Eric knew at his core no good answer would come. He also knew the reason he fought to change Abe’s mind wasn’t for Abe, but for his own sake. Never had he gone on a mission before without Abe or Abe’s support. Never before had he ventured off on his own.

  If Abe truly would not come, then Eric was no longer a boy who needed a close eye on him, as Abe had said before leaving Mathos. He was becoming—no, put simply, he was a man.

  He’d fought so hard to have that title bestowed upon him. And now that he had it, he felt terrified at the implications.

  “Come, let us go and talk to Artemia. I am quite sure our ten minutes is up.”

  And so they processed to the building in which they would be housed. Eric, as much as he wanted to, could not fault Abe for his actions. Yes, they were dragon hunters, and there was a dragon that needed to be slaughtered. Yes, there was a chance that Artemia could abuse any newfound power. But Abe was never a man to speak dishonestly about what he did.

  Eric was still a mere sixteen years old, but as he came to realize, it was not the fight that determined the man’s cause, but the man’s cause that determined his fight. And Abe had finally found a fight he would not fight.

  And if I truly want to be a man, I have to separate from Abe. I have to prove myself without his support.

  Abe and Eric sauntered into the center of town and found Artemia standing at the entrance of a small house. They approached the house as Artemia ducked inside. When they got inside, Eric hoped that Artemia would have mercy.

  “You’re late.”

  Artemia’s voice pierced Eric’s hope like a sword through a dragon’s neck, and he slumped his shoulders. Abe patted his back and gave him a look as if to say “stand tall.” So Eric took a breath, rocked his shoulders back, arched his chest forward, and marched with Abe into the living room.