Night of the Hunter

Ships in the Night

“Good work, ask of you.” Gabe whispered. “You got everyone out just in time. You hear that?”

The younglings looked back to the faint glow of the city lights against the graying sky of early morning. The muffled sounds of shouting and clanking armor and weapons accented the distant sounds of slamming gates. The city was being locked down. There would be patrols set around the outside of the walls soon. They shared looks of anxiety mixed with relief.

“Don’t think on it now.” Kaitlynn whispered so softly that they nearly missed it. “You’re all safe and it’s still a few more hours’ trek to reach the Spring hidden in the wilds here.”

“Does this have something to do with you? Or could even they feel that wave of Aether?” Dorian tried hard to hide the slight quiver to his voice.

“We need to keep moving.” She said, adding, “The short answer to that is: yes.”

“And the long answer, my Lady?” Evie ventured, half scared she would get an answer.

“I’ll explain when we’re safely to the Spring, don’t worry.” Kaitlynn replied soothingly.

“Just remember that when you’re with Gabe or with me, you’re almost perfectly safe. Right now, you have us both, so there’s nothing to fear.”

“Want Miss Katie. Miss Katie carry me? Pease?” Alexei’s tiny, sleepy voice interrupted. “Better for Miss Katie now. Better for me.”

Gabe looked at Kaitlynn, surprised by the toddler. It almost sounded urgent, like a warning and a need. She locked eyes with her old friend and nodded, before turning to take little Alexei from his sister. His tiny hands wrapped into her cloak instantly and his head rested on her shoulder, with little tired eyes staring into the tangle of branches and vines to the southwest of them. The boy had the Knowing. Gabe was left dumbfounded for a moment. He had been caring for one of the seven Pieces for the last two years. No wonder she had taken to the little one so quickly. She must have known almost immediately.

A soft rustling snapped him back into the moment, prompting him to melt away into the deep shadows of the trees just in time for the figure of a human woman to slip into view. She crept forward, likely imagining herself still hidden from view, scanning the area with an arrow knocked and half drawn. A forward scout, but not from the city. With his keen sight, by nature clearer in the dark than the day, he was easily able to spot the emblem stamped into her leather cuirass. A hunter, and not just any hunter, one of the infamous Wraiths.

He trilled softly, mimicking the first cries of an early morning parrodove. Kaitlynn turned her head toward the southwest, but didn’t stop on the scout, instead landing on the small group behind her. She visibly shifted Alexei on her hip and raised her voice to almost normal levels, “We’ll be able to rest soon. I’m sorry I don’t have anyone else to help us, but don’t worry. We’ll be fine.”

She had seen the scout. Good.

“But what about-“

“We’ll figure it out, Darya. We made it before Mr A, we can do it again.” Evie cut off her friend, nervously looking around in all directions, but seeming to catch on.

***

When they had received word of the lockdown via the Speaker’s Coin, John had sent her ahead to scout for trouble. What Nissa had not expected to find was a quintet of cloaked figures, mostly children, and one of which carried an even smaller figure who could not have been more than two or three. One of the more petite figures spoke in a young woman’s voice, trying to cover nerves with whatever strength she could muster. Sensing them, she knew they were Aether-Touched of varying sorts. Mostly Aquani and Duskling, from her best guess at the manner of Aether surrounding them. The woman seemed human, perhaps an Aethiromancer left to guard the children of others? She wasn’t positive.

Either way, none of them seemed threatening and they certainly hadn’t noticed her. Still, she had some responsibility to uphold. “Stop where you are. Hoods down, cloaks back.”

The young ones startled easily and jumped to obey, one or two even letting out a whimper. Sometimes Nissa hated her job. She watched as the woman, moving last, lifted a shaking hand to draw back her hood and slip the cloak behind her shoulders.

“Please, we’re unarmed. Don’t fire! They’re only children!” The woman looked at Nissa with wide blue eyes as the tiny boy buried his face in her neck.

“Jundi City is under lockdown due to Aether disturbance. All Touched beings near the walls must be delivered into custody by order of the Sultan and the Hunter’s Guild.” She replied evenly, trying to keep the distaste for her own words from leaking through.

The children cried out in despair, pleading, the instant the words left her mouth, and the woman sank to her knees in the growing light of dawn, “Please, Lady Hunter! Please don’t! The Sultan has gone mad with fear and has already condemned all of our kind found within the walls to death! She has already cleared the slums and catacombs completely! You would be condemning innocent children!”

Nissa paused, utterly stunned. Condemnation of Aether-Touched as a whole without reason was deemed unlawful centuries ago. While it was necessary to suppress their power for the safety of all Elkar, the Guild only hunted those that were specifically wanted or under suspicion, and certainly would never break the United Treaties and agree to blanket g******e. John would have spat nails had he heard what she just heard. Then there was the Standard of The Wraiths. She could nearly hear his voice as she spoke their first standard, “Wraiths don’t kill children.”

“L-lady Hunter?” The blue eyed woman questioned with wonder in her voice, brushing a strand of dark curls from her face before cradling the toddler in her arms closer.

“The Wraiths do not kill children. It is the first Standard we agree to when boarded on to the guild party. It is one that we uphold no matter what the lords of the lands may say.” Nissa repeated. “Move quickly from here and keep out of trouble. I don’t want to see any of you in my bounty files in the future.”

“We safe now Miss Katie? We safe?!” The tiny child spoke, lifting his head a fraction to look from his carer to Nissa and back.

“You’re safe as far as my team and I have control.” Nissa answered, completely relaxing the string of her bow. “Keep heading on in the direction you’re moving. The river isn’t far and you can follow it upstream quickly and easily.”

***

Without a further word, the scout turned back from where she came and was gone. Kaitlynn didn’t wait either; she, Gabe, and the younglings pressed on in silence until the sun had risen high enough to peek through the middle branches of the trees and they had reached the far bank of the river the scout had indicated. It was there they rested for a moment. Dorian let out a weary sigh, and Evie groaned in agreement.

“Well that was stressful!” Darya huffed, taking her sleeping brother from Kaitlynn. “Why didn’t you just fend her off and be done with it?!”

“Sometimes the best answer is a bit of trickery, not violence.” She replied simply, scooping up some cool, clean water to splash on her face.

“Did you not hear what that woman was, Dary?! She was one of THE Wraiths. What kind of beast-hunt do you think they’d have started up if the Lady and Gabe had killed her?” Dorian rolled his eyes while Tholen agreed with every word.

“Oh come off it. Who says she was telling the truth? And what’s this nonsense about those monsters not killing younglings? Quilhog dung.” She sniffed.

“The emblem printed into her leathers said she was telling the truth,” Gabe answered gravely. “And the one she calls commander would flay one of his own for even attempting to harm any youngling. He is firmly set in his beliefs.”

“Oh? Mr Gabe, do you know of him then?” Tholen asked.

“I know him.” Gabe corrected. “Or rather, I did. Many many years ago. Seen him once or twice since then, not that he’d know it. He’s changed, sure, but his sense of honor has not.”

“So it’s true? It’s really him that has led the Wraiths of the Hunter’s Guild for all this time?” The faint hint of something in Kaitlynn’s tone almost sounded of heartbreak to the two female younglings, and even the boys caught on to a slight sadness to her demeanor as Gabe nodded his confirmation.

“So who is he?” Dorian asked.

“He is someone I knew a long time ago. His name is Johnathan. Once he was called The Wraith, now he leads a band of them.” She replied, a somewhat bitter tinge to her words. “He is dangerous and we should not underestimate him or those he leads, should they become involved.”

“I have a bad feeling. Do you think our paths crossing is a sign that our fates might become linked?” Evie frowned as she twisted her hair into a bun, securing it with hair sticks she retrieved from her small pack.

“Anything is possible. For now, though, we’ll focus on our work and keep an open eye just in case. Meeting that girl was a fleeting thing. They likely won’t look for us any time soon.” Kaitlynn said. She rose from the river bank and stretched her arms above her head, lengthening her spine. Carrying Alexei had been more of a work out than she had anticipated. It was slowing her more than she cared to admit. She needed to work on that.

“Even if they do look for us, they won’t know it is us until they find us.” Gabrethail added, “We should move on soon, either way. If there are other patrols out I doubt they’d be so generous.”

“Yes. There’s a dry section of riverbed branching off not far from here. We’ll follow it and it should lead us quite close to our destination.” Kaitlynn gestured further up river.

“We should walk in the low grass along side it. If we walk in it or through the brush itself we’ll be really easy to track.” Tholen suggested, closing his now full waterskin.

“Of course. Is everyone ready? It’s time to move on.” The Eilkhaar woman was already walking again, leaving no room for protest in spite of her words.

The younglings would quickly learn that questions like that were often left without space for response. They were rhetorical and simply a courtesy for their comfort. Evie was sure that if they really needed something that they wouldn’t be denied. Her friends were not so sure. Their hushed discussion about it was, however, cut short by a polite but pointed cough from Gabe. Embarrassed, they traveled in relative silence afterwords. Their minds began to wander, given the wide space of the quiet jungle to run wild. Such things were, after all, favored pass-times of the young who found an abundance of time for it. They each imagined what their lives would be like from then on. It was Darya’s imagination that ran the farthest.

Darya imagined a dark, gritty scene. Traveling in the underbelly of society, among the dregs of her kind, instigating riots... Stealing secret treasures and plans from the rulers who fought to keep the Aether Touched ‘in control.’ It was a frightening, but exciting scene, but most of all she worried for Alexei. What kind of life would this be for him? She shivered. It no longer mattered, when she really thought it through. The decision was already made. Now, all she could do was hope for the best. Most of all, she hoped their run in with the Wraiths was as the passing of two ships on the night sea.