Hunting the Hunter Ch. 08

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Enithermon
Enithermon
1,049 Followers

"No. Why would it?" She asked softly, turning to sit cross legged on the bed, pushing her orange-red hair back behind her ears.

"Just curious." She knelt before her and pulled a knife from her belt. "Here, give me your hand."

She did it, but she was looking warily at the knife. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to cut both of our hands and press them together, then say a few words."

"Why?"

"It's how we adopt people. I'm going to make you an Ashlander."

She smirked. "Just by saying a few words? Is it a blood magic thing?"

"No, it's an Ashlander thing. It would take a long time to explain, and I don't have a lot of time to explain right now, but I will."

"Like how Desdemona is your sister?"

"Just so."

"Ok...but why me?"

She smiled at that. "I've technically already claimed all of you to my ancestors. And where I'm from, there are no such thing as orphans in a clan. You always have parents. When you lose the originals, someone else will step forward and claim you. No one's claimed you yet, so I'm going to do it."

She narrowed her eyes. "What about Ambrose? Or Lucas? You could pick him instead."

She smiled even wider. "Two reasons...well one reason which doubles as two. You're a fighter, a special kind of fighter...my children inherit my ancestral guardians and if anything happens to me before I can get you to a safe place, then they can help you protect the others and watch your back. It also means that there's more I can teach you. I like Ambrose...but I wouldn't be much use to him. And while I try to help Lucas where I can, he's all grown up. And we both know he has Aina. Do you understand?"

She looked hard at her for a moment, then thrust her palm out. Inanna took her hand in hers and brought the blade to her palm. She paused there and looked up into the girls eyes. "You're sure?"

There was a little fear around the eyes, but her jaw was set. She nodded. Inanna nodded back and winked. "That's my girl."

Mori giggled nervously, then let out a little squeak of pain as the tip bit into the skin. Inanna cut her own hand and took her hand in hers again, this time palm to palm and closed her eyes. She held her other hand over the two and murmured a few words in Dunmeri. She released her hand and smiled.

"Welcome to the family Mori"

"That was it?" She looked curiously at her bloodied hand.

"Yep."

"Is it ok to heal it?"

"Sure. Now change back...we have to get a move on."

**

Feric growled as the muscles of his neck and back twitched and tightened in response to the sight before him. They had traveled all day, slept fitfully, then attacked before first light expecting the hunters to be groggy and unprepared. They had been. All five of them. All five who now lay dead in the halls behind them leaving the main hall of the fortress standing empty. He shifted and turned to the lioness who'd entered the room from the one of the side doors. "Anything?"

She shifted as well. Her expression as dark and threatening as the vibrations she was giving off. "No. Nothing. Though there should be many more if the barracks were any indication. A lot more."

"Then where the hell are the rest?" He snapped.

She gazed back at him silently.

They should have turned back. When they felt it, they should have turned back. He could have ordered it...but he didn't. He knew his brother-in-law had felt something as well...he'd seen it in his eyes. Something was wrong...now they knew what. One hundred septims said those bastards were at the lair.

"We're leaving."

"I don't think so."

He turned at the sound of the unfamiliar voice and saw a somewhat familiar face. It was the mercenary, the one from the night Inanna had tried to hide him in her place by the Imperial city. There was something about those eyes that was hard to forget. They were like stone.

Mirisa shifted instantly into her lion form and snarled. He held out a stalling hand to keep her from leaping. Something wasn't right. He couldn't smell anything...but then he hadn't sensed the man approach either. Without taking his eyes off the man in the doorway he leaned down to retrieve the fallen sword of one of the dead hunters.

"He's not alone." He warned her. She was watching the mercenary, so he let his eyes scan the walls around the doorway. He almost missed it, but something fluctuated near him, as if the air itself had taken shape...a human shape. He dodged and raised the sword almost instinctively. The jar of blade against blade could be felt all the way to his teeth. "Chameleon! They're blocking their scent and using chameleon."

She snarled again and he felt rather than heard her response. Apparently she was already well aware of the fact. He didn't have much time to think about it as a second figure came into his field of vision. It was easier to spot them now that he knew what to look for, thankfully chameleon wasn't true invisibility...but then unlike invisibility it didn't falter when they attacked either so it wasn't exactly something to celebrate. He managed to dodge the newcomer as well and got enough of a hit in on both to determine one hunter was wearing light mail and the other plate. He darted away, throwing the sword toward them and shifting as he moved.

He roared out a retreat and made for the door. Mirisa was close on his heels when another hunter came between them, slicing the air with a blade. Thankfully it hit stone and not flesh as Mirisa danced back.

He twisted himself, lunging at what he thought was a leg. It was, and though the chain mail jarred his teeth and made his jaw ache, it wasn't enough to keep the bone and muscle beneath from being crushed. He used his grip to toss the now screaming hunter towards a mass of shifting air trying to close the gap between them and the exit. They pushed them back enough for Mirisa to slip through.

A yowl of pain let him know they'd nicked her as they closed in again.

He saw at least two follow her as several more closed back in on him, forcing him to back away lest he too be caught by an unseen blade. There was another door at the far end of the hall...it looked like he might have to take it.

He darted away, moving too fast for them to keep up, and shifted at the last second. He slammed into the door as a man and winced as his shoulder met one of the iron rivets. Luckily it creaked open at the force and he tumbled through inelegantly only to shift once more in the murky darkness.

He sheathed his claws so that they made no sound as he bound down the damp stairwell, and his eyes adjusted quickly to the darkness. The air was stale and smelled of dust and old death. Very old. This place was not often disturbed...and there were things still here, wandering the crumbling corridors. None of them living.

He could hear a clamor at the top of the stairs and slowed, slipping through the shadows so as to not alert whatever was haunting this place. With any luck, the hunters would do that for him.

Luck was with him, apparently, and he spotted several broad stone overhangs from which long empty censors still hung. It didn't take much to climb up with all the pitted walls and rubble laying about. Once he was high enough that even the light of a lamp would be hard pressed to reach him, he settled in, examining the dark corridors and crumbling architecture with a hopeful eye and strategic interest.

He didn't have to wait long for the main event to arrive, though it worried him that there were far fewer than he had anticipated.

He considered that it might be enough to simply wait them out. He was no expert on the subject, but he'd been around long enough to know that the level of spell they were using was only something only a master illusionist could use. He doubted very much that all of his opponents were capable of such high level spells. Which meant they were using some sort of enchanted item, which again was more likely but that many powerfully enchanted items seemed rather unlikely. If it were a potion or a spell scroll, then it would run out eventually.

Then again he had no idea just how badly Mirisa was injured or what had become of the other two. Biding his time wasn't necessarily an option if one of them were seriously injured.

His tail twitched in restless anticipation as he watched the fleeting shadow forms moving beneath him.

He thought he counted four, but it was difficult to tell. All four disappeared, moving down the corridor and deeper into the catacombs.

Still he waited, trying to ignore the sound of his heart pounding in his chest as his ears and eyes strained for any sign of a hidden body.

He had just about given up when a figure flickered into reality in a far corner, then vanished as suddenly as it had appeared. His muscles jumped beneath his skin at the start, but he was able to restrain himself from making a sudden move or sound.

All he'd seen was a glimpse out of the corner of his eye. Enough to know the hunter was crouched and not overly large. He also thought he had seen a blade in its hand, which meant it probably wouldn't be using arrows. He licked his lips and leapt silently to the ground, watching in the opposite direction of the figure, as if looking for the figures who had vanished down the hall. However, his senses were trained in the direction of the hunter as he waited for it to approach.

He was rewarded with the faint sound of a leather sole on rough stone....five feet to the right he gauged. He slowly hunkered into a crouch—slowly so as to not startle the creeping figure drawing ever closer.

The blur...blurred, for lack of a better term, as the figure lunged in toward him, hoping, Feric guessed, to put a blade between his shoulders. Or perhaps between his ribs, he reconsidered as the blur tipped downward.

Feric twisted at the last second and lashed out, catching leather and flesh with his claws, and even more with his teeth. The crack of bone blended with the scream as the figure, a slender human male, became suddenly visible. There was a moment of confusion as the man stumbled back, releasing his knife and clutching for the arm no longer there.

Feric locked his jaw back around his shoulder and neck as he fell, and twisted his head sharply, sending the man flying into a nearby wall, silencing him.

Shouts rose up in the darkness around him. He glanced toward the exit and hesitated. It was too far...and now it was too late, he added mentally, cursing himself for the moment of doubt. There was no time for that.

He turned toward the darkness and was suddenly afraid. How would he fight what he couldn't see? How long would luck carry him through?

And then hope. A glint of gold on a bloodied hand. This time he didn't hesitate.

It was an easy thing to snap off the man's finger, not as easy to hold it in his jaws as he climbed back into his hiding place.

He shifted and made a silent prayer to Kynareth as he slipped the ring onto his smallest finger. It was tight, but it went on...and nothing happened.

Panic gripped him as the sound of steel and leather against the stone floor began to sound out beneath him. His mind flashed back, looking for something to help him. He'd never used an enchanted item like this before...never used magic...no! Ina! He'd healed Ina!

His tongue darted out to lick dry lips. Focus...she'd said focus...turn it outward...

He thought of healing, of shifting, how it felt...how it moved in his veins and muscles...and turned it outward...toward the ring.

His eyes had been closed. They were still closed as he listened to the voices beneath him turn from surprise, to anger, to frustration. They were going...fanning out, and heading toward the exit.

He looked down at his hand and found he couldn't quite see it. It was eerie. He moved it slightly and watched as the air seemed to ripple and shift. It wasn't perfect, but if he held still it would be enough.

He moved after them once he was sure they were out of eyesight. He wasn't worried about them hearing him, very few ever could....even in this form. It was that thought that gave him pause however. He was feeling somewhat exposed, naked and unarmed as he was...but if he shifted he would no longer be hidden from sight. He suppressed a growl of frustration and pressed on before he could change his mind.

He still didn't know where his people were or what they were facing, and until he did there would be no time to sit and worry.

**

The sun was already past its zenith when she finally decided it was time for a prolonged rest. There had been a pause or two to let the little ones sit. More than a few times the twins just had to be carried, but Talon and Mori and Ambrose didn't have that luxury. In their defense they'd all been troopers about it, and even the itty bitty ones were somber and quite, and always careful not to give themselves away. Perhaps they understood the danger, or perhaps they were just frightened...either way, they'd earned a break ten times over.

It didn't seem like they'd been followed. Every now and again she hid them with Aina and she and Lucas doubled back. Aina seemed to understand her reasoning for leaving her with the cubs, or was at least being a good sport about it. They never caught anything more troublesome than an actual mountain lion who had caught their scent and was following both out of curiosity and very likely territorial interests. It didn't take much for Lucas to discourage that curiosity. Even though he was young he was still full grown and easily outclassed the unwitting creature.

She'd also gotten jumped by a rouge troll while she was on one of her doubling back missions...but that had been almost fun...a little well earned stress release. Nothing like a little Troll flambe, extra-crispy.

She found a small clearing backed on one side by a few high rocks and on another by a convenient drop off. If anything showed up, they'd only have two directions to come at them by. Thankfully it had been a relatively uneventful trip thus far...but that could only last so long.

Once she'd cast detect life a few times and was sure all was well, and the smaller cubs were settled near enough that she could keep an eye on them, Inanna set herself down for a moment of much needed rest. The lack of sleep was starting to make her a less than perfect guardian. She sighed. They'd need to find a place to hole up soon enough or she was going to slip. As much as she wanted to keep pushing on, it just wasn't going to happen.

Plus this whole cheery, everything is going to be ok act was getting a lot harder to keep up.

'Cause it really wasn't. All it would take was a pack trolls, or a couple of rowdy ogres, and they were done for. It wasn't a happy thought....nor were the thoughts she was trying not to have about Bella. All she could do there was pray. Which wouldn't do her much good in this case since her ancestors were being jackasses.

Mori had separated herself from the group of cubs and trotted toward her, shifting as she came, and squatting in front of her. "Are we sleeping here?"

"No, too open...I just thought we could use a rest."

She nodded. "I'm getting tired."

"Me too. Hey," she nodded to her, thinking of something which might distract the girl from her tired body and the potential crankiness it could cause, "sit down here, there's something I want to show you." She picked up a stick and leaned over a patch of bare earth, scratching four characters into the dirt.

"What's that?"

"That's your name. Phonetically at least. That's Meht, Oht, Roht, and Iya. I think most of the languages are spun off another more ancient language, so they have a good deal in common. At least the human and elven languages seem to have come from something which is somewhat related to Daedric languages so the alphabets match up...with half a dozen minor exceptions. In my home lands the alphabet at least is still essentially Daedric in origins.

"Here, you try. Spell your name." She picked up another stick and handed it to her.

"Why?"

"I'm teaching you."

"Why?"

"That's what I do, isn't it?"

"I don't know. Why would you want to? What good is it?"

"What good is anything? You never know when something is going to come in handy? And I'm your mother now. It's my job to make sure you know how to survive. So I teach to you everything that I know. Isn't that how this works?"

She just looked at her. Inanna sat and waited for a response.

"You were really serious about that?"

"Yes." Inanna held her breath...half expecting her to get upset or give her an 'I don't have to listen to you,' 'who do you think you are' rant. It's probably what she'd have done...in fact she did it a lot as a kid. And got her ass whupped for it too. She learned pretty quick to keep that crap to herself.

But she didn't. She just shrugged.

"I guess so."

Small mercies. "Good. Now try your name."

She took the stick and drew. "How's that?" It wasn't bad.

"The top line on the last letter is too long. And the down stroke is too curvy. It looks like a Geth." She drew the two letters side by side. "See what I mean?" She nodded for her to try it again. Mori looked at her askance, but went ahead and did it. They both looked at the characters for a couple minutes, Inanna idly doodling words in the earth before her. Mori watched her out of the corner of her eye.

"So this alphabet is used by Dunmer?"

"Yep."

"But the language is different...so even if I could spell the word...I wouldn't understand it."

"Not till you learn it." She drew another word in the dirt. Just three characters, then wrote BAL beneath it. "This word is the same in pretty much all elven and Daedric languages...there are a good number of words which are. At some point I'll teach them to you."

"Bal? Like the Daedra Molag Bal?"

"Precisely."

"What does it mean?"

"Stone." She wrote Molag in Daedric but didn't translate it. Mori looked at it, then at the other two words...Bal and her own name, then wrote the imperial characters beneath it.

She grinned at it, then at her. "That worked out pretty good, didn't it?"

Inanna grinned back. "Very clever."

"So...what does Molag mean?"

"Fire."

"Ah...that kind of makes sense. He's one of the Bad Daedra...isn't he?"

"Depends on your perspective...but generally speaking, yes, he is ranked in the top four of Daedra you do not want to be intimately involved with."

"So do you know some Daedra language then? Since you've got that blood thing?"

"The two things aren't necessarily linked...but yes, I do know a little bit about one or two Daedric languages. It's important to remember that not all Daedra share languages...you can get yourself into trouble with that...especially if you're messing around with magic."

"What do you use it for?"

"Sometimes spells...sometimes reading things I shouldn't be reading..." she smirked. "But mostly it comes in handy when you're off adventuring and get yourself into a bind. Once in a blue moon you might get lucky and see inscriptions that read 'in case of emergency, push stone.'"

Mori laughed.

"I kid you not."

Mori snorted disbelievingly.

"Ok...not those words exactly...but this one time I was trapped in this tomb, completely out of regular arrows, and there was this wonky sorcerer who had decided to camp out in the sacred chapel. I'd made quick work of the skeletal guardians, but the s.o.b. had gone and summoned a storm atronach..." the girl's eyes widened, "you ever seen one of those?"

"No."

"Huge...and weird. Like a pile of floating rocks, but vaguely man shaped. And they don't respond well to magic...well not if you're the one using it... they just reflect it back you see...and all I have on me is a handful of magic infused arrows, an enchanted blade, and my own magic. I'd been saving the arrows, but at that point they were less useful than your standard hunk of pointy metal. There's a valuable lesson somewhere in there about spreading out rather than hording your advantages...but that isn't my point here.

Enithermon
Enithermon
1,049 Followers