Herb Quest Pt. 02: Hunter. Hunted

Hunter. Hunted

Authors note:

This story is set two years after the events described in the story 'Prisoner of War'.

Prologue:

The human kingdoms of the south have prevailed against the invasion from the north.

The great coalition of Giants, Dire Wolves, Orc's, and Goblins was smashed by the valiant troops of the Eastern, Western and Middle realms in a series of battles.

None of it would have happened except for the bravery and tenacity of one lone warrior. Alice, a prisoner of war, had escaped her captors and carried a message of warning to King Tonar of the Middle Realm. In turn he laid plans with his fellow monarchs, King Patric to the east and Queen Bea to the west.

The decimated enemy fled northwards to their villages and strongholds to the north, fleeing back to the mountains from which they had come.

That should have been an end to the war. Alice was feted and rewarded, rightly acknowledged for her bravery. However, she like many subjects of the realms, had suffered greatly at the hands of the enemy. A return to the status quo was not sufficient and could not hope to quench the fires of revenge that burned in the breasts of so many.

There were other reasons why the conflict would continue. Many who had dwelt in the borderlands and had been taken prisoner during the conflict still remained unaccounted for. Friends and relatives, mothers, wives, husbands and sons all sought word of their loved ones. Failing that, they sought an accounting with those who stole them from their lives.

Many merchants, those who dealt in lumber, stone and precious minerals were also eager for troops to continue on to the Northlands. They believed that riches were to be made from the natural resources in the mountains and perhaps beyond them too. Lands that no human had yet set foot on.

There was one more reason. Something known to just a few, those who had heard Alice's tale directly from her lips. There was a herb, seemingly one that grew only in the North. To all accounts, one known to Giant kind alone, although this was speculation. This herb allowed the person who consumed it to ignore all pain. A useful drug. However, it also increased physical pleasure and lust a hundred times, and this was an item worth far more than its weight in gold. The discoverer of such a herb would be wealthy beyond imagination.

Alice, though questioned thoroughly, could give no description of the herb, having always received it through food and water. Other slaves rescued in the aftermath of the battle were also ignorant to the herb, the bodies of the slain giants on the battlefields also yielded no clues.

And so, bands of men and women, some in groups as large as a hundred, some just a lone warrior or hunter, set out from the Southern Kingdoms. They sought vengeance and money, cutting a path of blood for others to follow, a slowly creeping wave of humanity as the borderlands shifted ever northward.

Chapter 1:

Bria put her boot firmly on the dead goblin's face, taking a firm hold its right ear she began to slice through the skin and gristle to remove her bloody trophy.

The merchants funding this expedition paid per kill, the agreed proof being a right ear. She tossed the ragged piece of flesh towards Ox, the large axe man catching it mid-air and dropping it into the sack containing the others. It had been a decent haul, six Goblins and four Orc's, seven of them falling to well-placed arrows before the last three were cut down by blades as they attempted to fight their way clear.

This brought their total to thirty-eight dead in the two weeks they had been hunting. A decent total even when split six ways. Bria knew that the others would be more than satisfied with this trip, enough silver to keep them warm and drunk till the winter had passed. Then they'd be out in the mountains again with the thaw, hunting down others for the coin.

Ehldin, the other hunter is the group, finished his search of the slain. He hadn't much to show for it, a few coins, some silver but the majority copper. Unlike Bria, who truly loved the wild savagery of the northlands and the challenge they brought, he preferred the settled southlands. In truth he was more a poacher than a hunter but Bria could admit that he could track with the same skill as herself. She also knew he would be the first to suggest turning back.

"Well, that should keep us in wine and women, no offence Bria, through the winter. Time to cash in lads" Ehldin said, wiping his bloodied hands on the rough jerkin of one of the Goblin's.

Sam, Tim and Grawt all nodded, the three warriors wiping their blades clean after claiming ears as well. Ox remained silent but stared pointedly at Bria. There was no leader in this group, in truth the groups members changed with each hunt, some opting to wait for a bigger party, some dying or just too drunk to venture out when a hunt was underway. Ox however was a constant as was Bria. If anyone could be said to make the tough calls though, it was her.

They had both served in the army, both had been present at the end when the last of the hordes had been sent running from the field. The others had served but mostly as militia. Ox had ten years in the regular army, Western Realm. Bria had been a scout for six years in the forces of the Eastern Realm. Also, unlike the others, for these two the hunts were as much about personal vengeance as it was wealth. Ox's brother had died during the first year of the war and Bria had lost cousins living on the borderlands.

Bria had been impressed by Alice, the heroine of the three realms. When Alice and others had begun these 'hunts' over a year ago, Bria had handed in her papers and left the army to do the same. Alice had disappeared in the mountains, not far from here, almost six months ago. Hunters like herself and Ox always kept a weather eye out, looking for any sign of her, dead or alive. Alice had earned that much at least from those she had saved.

"I don't know Ehldin, this is the first decent sized group we've found. Chances are, we keep pushing north we might find some more. You know how it is with Goblin's and Orc's, they prefer the security of numbers. If not numbers then they group with something bigger n stronger- Giant maybe, or Dire wolf. Triple the bounty for a wolf hide, ten times the loot with a giant's ear." Bria said slowly, not turning to face the group, her eyes scanning the treeline north of them instead.

"Three times or ten times the bounty as maybe, a hundred times the risk though and no mistake" Grawt answered, hawking up phlegm and spitting on an Orc's corpse.

She knew the other three were agreeing, nodding away, even though she had her back to them. Ox would back her play no matter what, but she knew that if she was going to press on further north, she'd do better alone than having the big man crashing through the undergrowth beside her. Stealthy he was not.

"Fair point" she said, a smile growing on Ehldin's face, "but I still think its worth a scout further. If not for now then at least to put us on the right track when the winter is over. If they are digging in now before the snow, even chance they'll still be there when we come back in the spring."

She could see Ox about to volunteer to come, Ehldin and the other's about to argue about going any further, Bria held up a hand to silence them all before they began.

"Ox, you head back with the others. I'll probably catch you up before I reach town. If I don't, you see to it that my share on the bounty is accounted for. I wouldn't want any errors in calculation, eh?" Bria paused while Ox nodded, he slammed his two bladed axe into the earth, partly to clean its blade of blood, partly to underscore Bria's comment.

"I'll head north another night, two at the most. See if I can back track where this lot came from. After that I'll turn and head for home. Agreed?"

There were no arguments from the others. They stripped the last items of value from the ten corpses littering the clearing, weapons included, packing them up for sale in the town. Bria took the opportunity for a last hot meal with her comrades and a few hours of restful sleep. She wouldn't be able to avail of either when travelling alone after this.

Chapter 2:

Now she was alone and happier for it.

Bria had never been great with other people. The gangly girl, legs and arms seemingly too long for her body, had preferred running through the local woods hunting imaginary 'pixies' while the other girls her age had congregated at the village square, sitting by the well and discussing which farmers son was the best looking, which of the town guards the tallest.

As she grew older still her long limbs and torso had grown apace as well. By the time she reached her majority at eighteen she stood 5'10, her russet-coloured hair bound at the nape of her neck by a leather thong. With deep brown eyes set in a comely face and a slender body, toned from constant exercise and activity, Bria could have had her pick of any of the farmers son's and town guards besides. But they hadn't appealed to her.

Her father was a tanner, a job that fed and clothed their family but the smell off his work had been an encouragement for her to escape beyond its reach. Her maternal grandfather had been a soldier for thirty years. With no male children or grandchildren, he had been delighted to teach his skills to Bria. By the time she was eighteen she could track, kill, skin, and cook anything that walked on four legs or flew on two wings. Her accuracy with a bow had been a source of pride to the old man. That pride had doubled when he saw his granddaughter take to his lessons with short sword and dagger like a fish to water.

Although women at that time didn't serve as soldiers, there was nothing preventing them signing on a scouts and trailbreakers in the army. The old man had contacted the few men still under arms with whom he had once served. Bria was offered a position in King Patric's army as a scout. The day she had left to join the army had been bittersweet, her sisters and parents she would miss but to leave her beloved grandfather was a heartache she took long months to recover from.

Eight years on and now she was a seasoned hunter and warrior, with a reputation for toughness and efficiency at her trade.

She had broken camp at dawn, giving Ox a brief hug and a warning to keep her share safe before she had turned and headed north, disappearing into the treeline.

At first the trail left by the Goblin's and Orc's had been a simple thing to follow, the foliage trampled carelessly by their passing. After a few hours though the trail split. It took her only a few minutes however to realise that it wasn't two forces splitting up but rather two combining. This was where the Goblin's and Orc's had joined up. That now left her with another problem, which of the two trails to keep following back to the source?

Wealth won out. An Orc's ear was worth double that of a Goblin so she headed along the trail left by the four Orc's they had killed the day before. By the time the sun had reached its highest point in the sky, Bria had covered three miles. She was beyond the point she had ever ventured before. She wasn't even sure anyone had gone this far north yet. The hunts had mostly operated so far in the dense forests surrounding the mountain ranges and the low hills that they covered. Now however she was moving up the mountain sides, the incline becoming steeper and the tree's less thick on the ground.

Another hour passed before she saw a counter trail, it ran straight through the one she was following. There wasn't much in the way of sign, but she could make out prints from at least three different sets of boots. The trail wasn't as fresh as the one she followed but it wasn't old either.

Cautious now, she unlimbered her bow. In the army she had learnt to draw the longbow, six feet of yew that could loose an arrow with enough force to take an armoured horseman clear out of his saddle. It was too ungainly though for this terrain, its strength lying in its range which wasn't an issue here. Instead she carried a cavalry short bow, a far shorter range but she could put three arrows into a target with it in the same time she could put one in with her longbow.

In the next twenty minutes she found four more trails, all made by groups of three or more Orc's given the size of the boots. Thanks to the odd distinguishing mark in the boot prints, an off center nail, a split thread, she was also able to determine that it wasn't the same group crisscrossing the area. That meant that there was at least twelve, but more likely far more, Orc's in the vicinity. Even if her entire group was with her, that would have made the odd's 2 to 1 in the Orc's favour. The human's might have won in a straight up fight, but they'd have been burying some of their own as well. On her own there was no chance for Bria to claim any victory. The smart move now would be to get her ass back down the slope and head after the others as quick as possible. Grinning to herself at her own stupidity, Bria continued to follow the original trail, an arrow now fitted to her bow and ready to draw.

As darkness fell, she took cover in a tree, climbing about halfway up its length before securing herself to the trunk. She had spotted even more sign of Orc's; the last trail was actually at the base of this tree. There had been something off about the last tracks though, the failing light had prevented her from making a decent examination of the sign so she'd opted to spend the night here so she could look again in the morning. She settled in for an uncomfortable night of sleep. Bria slept fitfully as she had known she would, jerking awake from each light doze at some sound from the forest. The almost silent flight of an owl or the careful stalking of a fox was enough to bring her fully awake, ears straining to identify whatever had woken her.

The next morning, she scaled back down the tree to figure out whatever had eluded her the night before. Bria pulled out some travelling bread from her pack and a flask of water. The bread had been baked twice so that it was almost too hard to bite. A little water splashed on it and rubbed in made it soft enough for her to pull off a few sections to chew on. After the unappetising breakfast, washed down with half of the water she wandered over to the newest trail she had found. There were clearly Orc boot marks, of that she was certain. It was the track that was half obscured by the Orc's that had her puzzled. The creature leaving the print had been in front, maybe six or eight Orc's following behind. It looked like a hoof print, not a horse though, maybe a cow? But if it was a cow how had it ended up here? Whenever Orc's had raided cattle, in her experience anyway, they had more often than not slaughtered the poor beast before long and feasted on its meat. This one appeared to have been driven a long way. Maybe the Orc's had a village or settlement nearby, used a cow for milk?

Whatever the answer, she'd only find out by following the tracks. Thankfully they weren't leading further up the mountain where there was less cover, instead they were running perpendicular to her original course, skirting along the steeper slope. Bria decided to give one more day to this mystery before she headed back to join her comrades.

Chapter 3:

The trail was less than a day old so Bria was cautious about how fast to follow it. It was so clear she could have run along it and never lost the path. But to go so quickly would be to invite trouble, she could end up running straight into a sentry or the camp itself before having the chance to take cover. She settled on a brisk walk, stopping often to check both her back trail and for sounds and movement ahead. A few hours later and she could hear the sound of running water, one of the many mountain streams that ran down into the forest below. A good chance to refill her supplies before pressing on.

As she cautiously approached the sound of water grew ever louder. Bria realised that this wasn't a small stream, it sounded more like a river, perhaps with a small water fall, that was creating such a racket. Just short of the treeline she stopped cold. There were voices now, faint to her ear, the rushing water deadening all other ambient noise. Inching forward, arrow notched and ready, she approached.

There were seven figures visible, six were Orc's. Tall and black skinned, they were doing as she had planned to do and were refilling a number of water skins at the edge of the torrent. The seventh figure was something Bria had never seen before. Like Giants before, it was a thing of legend.

Standing seven and a half feet tall, almost as broad across the shoulders as Ox and his identical twin, had he one, combined. Bare foot, or bare hooved to be exact, iron greaves covering its lower legs, a kilt of leather with the strips reinforced with iron studs around its waist. A moulded leather chest plate, removed for the moment as the creature seemed to be inspecting it, was used to cover a well-muscled hairy chest. All perfectly normal, besides the hooves, until she considered the head. It had the aspect of a bull, though the features seemed finer, more capable of conveying emotion. The horns were long, two feet each in length, curling out from its black furred head before sweeping up. Both horns seemed to have been tipped with metal as well as they shone silver in the morning sun. Half human, half bull. A Minotaur!

Bria continued to observe him. He was clearly the leader of the group, barking out orders or comments in a language she couldn't quite make out with the noise from the river. He -- or it, the Minotaur buckled its breast plate back in place, one of the Orc's giving it an experimental tug before nodding approval at the fit. The minotaur then scooped up a buckler from the ground, fitting the small shield in place on its left forearm before retrieving its weapon from the ground. A metal trident, seven feet from tips to butt end, which he carried in his right hand as easily as if it were made from wool.

At that moment her view was blocked as an Orc emerged from the tree line not four feet from her. He was unarmed, still pulling up his breeches from the act of relieving himself. She could clearly see the thick midnight black cock in his hand before he started to stuff its impressive length inside the leather coverings. Her slight gasp of surprise must have carried to his ears despite all the other noise, he swung his head in her direction, eyes widening as he saw her.

The Orc opened his mouth, to call a challenge or to summon help, it didn't matter. Before he could utter a word, Bria's arrow took him through the roof of his mouth and into the brain. He embraced death without making a sound, collapsing onto the ground.

He might not have called out a warning, but the act of him dropping dead, an arrow in his face, was caught by the sharp-eyed Minotaur. He gave out a loud bellow, his trident sweeping out to encompass the general area where Bria was still hidden from view. She didn't wait to see who, what or how many were in pursuit, Bria just took to her heels and fled.

The whole surprise of the encounter meant that for the first few minutes, maybe five in total, she ran aimlessly through the forest, not paying any heed to what trail she might be leaving. She caught the sounds of Orc's following in her wake, it was this that kicked her brain back into gear, forcing herself to think and not just blindly react. She started to watch where she was going, still heading generally south but now meandering somewhat as she picked a course as best she could that would leave little or no sign of her passing. She continued in this fashion for another twenty minutes or so, the sounds of her pursuers not drawing any closer. Nor were they fading though. To her right she could hear the sound of water again, she moved in that direction, finding it to be a stream rather than a river. The ground to either side was rocky, so she picked her way along it for a few hundred yards, constantly glancing over her shoulder. The last thing she needed was for them to get within sight of her, then throwing them off the scent would become all the harder.