Chapter Ten: Hunter Returns
1066 Words
We stopped to rest on the eve of the fourth day of our journey. Eric has built a fire and he and I were sitting around it. Lilly had just finished “feeding”, and was sparring with Brelear. She was fast. Very fast. It was like watching two blurry figures.
Suddenly Lilly stopped. She put her hand up to Brelear, which made him pause.
“Lilly, what,” I begin to say before she looks at me and says, “Shh.”
I get quiet. Eric and I look at each other and everyone stays silent. Lilly is scanning the forest with her enhanced vision. She moves her head to the left just in time. An arrow goes whizzing past her head into a tree between Eric and me.
“Brena, hide in the carriage!” She yells at me. I get up and run to the carriage a few feet away. I get in and stay low. I can hear her yelling out there.
I lift my head and move the curtain for a moment. I see Brelear, Eric, and the guard all on the ground not moving. Lilly is fighting with a man.
She is having a hard time and I get a crazy idea. I jump out of the carriage and run towards them. Lilly is struggling, trying to get him off her throat.
I run up behind him and grab his arm. He lets go of Lilly because of the pain. It takes all I have not to let go of him the pain is becoming excruciating.
But it works, it gives Lilly enough time to knock him unconscious. He falls to the ground and she ties him up to one of the trees. She looks at me.
“Thanks, I was having a hard time there. Those witches must have boosted his strength. He wasn't that strong the last time we encountered him.” She tells me.
She walks away to check on the others. I look at the hunter. There is something familiar about him. Not his face, just the feeling I get around him.
I shake off the feeling and go to see if Lilly needs help. She has been able to wake everyone up. No one was injured thankfully. So we sit and wait.
I want to speak to the hunter. Every time I look at him that feeling resurfaces. I know him from somewhere.
Hours pass and he finally wakes up. He struggles against the ropes.
“Stop struggling. You are only getting out of there if we let you out.” I say to him. I look him in the eyes. The feeling of recognition becoming stronger.
“What is your name?” I ask him sitting on a log near him.
He looks at me then says quietly, “My name is Radon.”
I look at him. Searching his eyes for clues. I see it.
“What's your old name?” I ask. Lilly is watching and at my question, she gets a curious look on her face.
The hunter Radon looks at me, a small smile creeping onto his face. “To most my name was Flynn, but you and the others knew me as Eugene.”
I look at Lilly and shake my head in disgust. “Those damn witches. What did they do to you Radon?”
He lets out a sigh. “I am essentially one of their puppets. I can do things of my own free will, but if they give me a command I must follow it. No matter how hard I fight it. Right now, they have ordered me to hunt down and kill all the Princesses.”
Lilly sits next to me, “Radon, I'm going to try something and see if it works. Do you trust me?” Lilly asks him.
He nods, “Of course. You have never lied to me before. Try what you want.”
Lilly smiles and then takes a nervous deep breath. She gets closer to Radon and kneels next to him. I watch as she looks into his eyes. I can see their eyes lock. Then she speaks.
“I want you to forget what the witches ordered you to do. They ordered you to do the wrong thing. They ordered you to protect us. Don't you remember?” She asks him trying to use her hypnosis on him.
He mutters quietly his eyes still locked onto hers. “I do remember. I have to protect you.”
Lilly nods and says, “That's right. They want you to protect us. So now you are going to come with us. We won't be safe unless you are with us. You must follow their orders to keep us safe. So you must listen to me. That will keep me safe.”
He kept nodding in agreement. It seemed to have worked.
Lilly breaks eye contact with him and looks at me.
“Brena get ready to grab him, I'm going to untie him. If he attacks grab him.” She tells me quietly.
I nod and get ready. She unties him and he rubs his body and stretches. Her hypnosis worked on him. He goes and sits by the fire.
Lilly pulls me aside and whispers, “I don't know how long that will last. I think as long as I keep doing it, we should be fine.”
“Do whatever you have to,” I tell her.
She lets out a sigh and says, “Well so much for that.”
“What do you mean?” I ask her.
She looks at me, “Florian now known as Daren came to me in a dream. He said to gather all the Princesses before the Princes. The Princes have some dangerous curses. So far, we have two princes out of seven. And now we can't break the curse for anyone.”
“We just need to be extra careful. Things will be okay. We just have to work together.” I smile. Normally I would have hugged her, but right now it wasn't worth the pain of it.
We look at each other and she knows. We get back to camp and rest for the night.
Once again before the sun rises Lilly wakes me up and we continue our way to the South Eastern realm...
- Writer
