Samantha’s head banged against a wooden plank forcing her out of dreams of her origin story. Blinking drowsily, she tried to avoid the harsh sun’s rays and turned away to resume her blissful dream until her head slammed against the same wood plank again forcing her back into reality. Stretching her arms out and feeling her bones pop, she rose from the soft hay letting out a silent yawn. Despite seating herself somewhere in the middle of the soft straw, she somehow shifted over to the edge of the wooden cart. Most likely it had run over some rough terrain and caused the girl to slide closer to the edge until finally striking wooden gold. Nodding at her deductive skills once again, she hopped into the middle, lay down and promptly fell back asleep.
Valerie only caught the tail end of Samantha’s escape into dream land not at all envious of the girls innate ability to fall asleep seemingly on command. Nope not at all, she was fine lying awake at night worrying for their safety. Loved it even, who wouldn’t? It was better than listening to her travel buddies camp stories. As the two journeyed from her uncle’s home, the nap enthusiast spoke of the thrilling, inspiring, utterly depressing story of her life. It disturbed Valerie how casually Samantha talked about the abhorrent treatment she lived through until meeting the huntress and her uncle. After all their failed efforts to get her to open up, it seemed good old fashion boredom had been the trick. She talked endlessly of the mine, her father, her vision of the future and everything that happened afterwards.
Although she wasn’t sure, Samantha believed someone had started a fire deep in the cave which quickly spread and forced the inhabitants higher. The ensuing stampede led to an impromptu revolt that quickly swept through the entire mine. News took time to travel in the expansive underground network and the confinement guard on duty, unaware he was soon to be out of a job, released Samantha on schedule. She described her ingenious plan tricking her jailer into the cell before slamming the stone seal in its place. It was easy to hide herself in the shadows from the influx of torch light and confuse the guard leading him to walk into the cell as she slipped out. She could have ran for it but a twisted part of her wanted to show her captors exactly what she went through. She would have never been able to move the boulder were it not for her newly acquired power to manipulate shadows manifesting to lock the unaware man in. Valerie shuddered recalling how Samantha smiled and giggled at the thought of leaving that guard to his fate like it was the most normal thing in the world. She didn’t let it show on her face however, now that they were travel buddies, she needed to take charge and be a leader, be someone Samantha could look up to.
The tale concluded with Samantha’s emergence from the mine at the back of hundreds of her fellow inmates as they stormed out of the cave with numbers on their side and took back control of the town driving off their torturers with righteous fury. It took less than an hour for the efficient operation to be undone due to a combination of growing resentment, negligent management and one mans tireless efforts to inspire change. When all was said and done, the towns folk left that depressing hovel, the place simply had too many bad memories and they couldn’t remain. Samantha opted to go in the opposite direction as the man taking charge of the coup had been particularly rude to her Papa long before and especially after he vanished. Valerie rubbed at her temples going over the sad story again and contemplated, not for the first time, if she would be better off travelling alone after all.
“Ya’ll alright there?”
The sudden thick accented question brought the huntress back to the present and she sat up before answering.
“I’m fine, just a little bit tired.”
Beside her leading the horse drawn cart was a portly individual with a wrinkled face and thin white hair that looked to have fallen from his head and settled onto his chin. He was jolly, friendly and approachable fellow that prided himself on being the right man in any situation. If a would-be hero were to walk into his village, he would be the first to greet them and provide much needed context or exposition on local monster layers, corrupt governments officials or simply that a maiden needed rescuing. The travelling pair happened upon the kind old man while trekking down a dirt road that cut through the old forest. It had been a few days since running away and the cart driver, Dale, was the first person either came across. It was unnerving for the huntress given Dale was only the third person she had ever met and wasn’t quite sure how to socialize with him. Understanding his thick accent had been a challenge all on its own as she shared her uncle’s diction and Samantha’s picked up her peculiar slang from her Papa. It genuinely took a second to process his words when he next spoke.
“Y’should get some more rest, like yer friend over there. We’s still a way’s away from home and aint no reason to hurry. Not like the road gonna shrink or nothin’.”
While difficult to understand, Dale’s sentiment was genuine as he wanted his passengers to relax given the long ride ahead of them. Especially the muscled-up frown of a girl who watched the woods like a hawk rather than make meaningful conversation. In all of Dale’s life he had never seen a monster or heard of any around his neck of the woods, and he voiced this fact many times along the journey not knowing what else to say. He raised his sons right and spoiled his grandkids rotten, however talking with a pair of girls a fraction of his age was challenging to say the least. He was more likely to get along with the filly dragging them, a fact he also voiced chuckling to himself merrily. He could at least look at the black haired one without feeling his skin crawl, the blonde on the other hand, there was something off about her. When she spoke it was with such childlike wonder and excitement yet if he focused on her or caught a glimpse of her peepers a chill would run down his spine and touch the fringe of his soul. Even his horse felt it when the girl tried to pet her mane nearly kicking off her harness before Dale was able to calm the mare down. A part of him should have taken it as a sign and just kept to his business but when he saw two lonesome and tired girls walking down the road, he couldn’t help himself. His mama raised him better than to abandon a person in need. So, he picked them up and while the scarier of the two slept like a babe in the back he sat beside Valerie answering her oddly uninformed questions about the surrounding area.
“So… these woods, what are they called?”
Valerie enquired, she never thought about them before but if she wanted to keep a mental map of the area best to know what to call them. The portly man thought on it and scratched at his scruffy beard.
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“Don’t rightly know, if’n I’m being honest. My grandpappy told me stories about the mountains to the…west? Them over there, the big, tall ones, apparently they’s got a name but I couldn’t for the life o’ me recall. Sorry.”
He… said is too kind of a word, uttered in such a way you would need to not only slow his speech to a crawl but also have him transcribe exactly what he said to understand. The distant string of mountains had always loomed like the boundary to a cage in Valerie’s mind but if she had her way, she would trek up each one just say she mastered them. Mountain climbing aside, her questions continued asking if anyone knew of a cabin within the unnamed woods and just where in the world they actually were. It helped to pass the time and distract their driver from his fraying nerves. She understood why he was so on edge, Samantha’s eery aura was in full effect no matter if she was awake or asleep and covered a sizable area around her. Taking the lifeline, Dale offered his exceptionally lacking knowledge, explaining how they were seated near the outer regions of the Gentile Kingdom as well as many other tidbits and factoids that could be safely stored away in the interesting if pointless folder. He was unaware of any cabin in the woods and thankfully didn’t pry into the particulars of why she wanted to know. He was also ignorant of the uglier side of the capital having lived in his own little village all his life amongst his family and about fifty to a hundred other people. They were farmers, traders, and occasionally ferry men. Dale laughed that he was getting just a smidge too old to work the fields so did his share taking travellers to and from connecting villages at little to no charge. He rambled on about his village, his wife Sue, his sons Daniel, Tucker and Dale Junior as well as their pretty wives capping off with his excitement at becoming a grandfather yet again. Valerie listened and absently nodded along to the extended family lineage seminar knowing before they reached the village she would have forgotten every last name.
By the time Dale was recounting a story about his cousins’ sons’ wives brothers pet pig also named Dale the trio had reached the outer edge of the village. Choosing now to rise from slumber, Samantha poked her head above the pair of riders before pointing into the distance and exclaimed loudly.
“Ooooh, oh, oh what kind of monster is that?”
A startled Dale followed the girls’ directions and caught sight of his pride and joy grazing peacefully in the fields.
“Th-thats my number one girl: Betsy… she’s a cow.”
The shook man stammered out after realizing the girl was completely unaware what the farm animal was. He shook his head and wondered how sheltered this girl was to not even recognise the most beautiful bovine this side of the river. As the cart neared its destination Betsy glanced up from her afternoon meal and froze half chewed grass tumbling out of her mouth. Her dark eyes met the even darker gaze of the shadow user as she waved happily at the cow. In the next instant, Betsy dashed away with all the power her hooves could muster. Samantha wasn’t quite sure where the cow was going but waved after it nonetheless, it clearly was late for something otherwise it wouldn’t be in such a hurry. Valerie watched the animal disappear rapidly around a barn, unsurprised at the creature’s adverse reaction and Dale felt a kinship to Betsy he hadn’t experienced in years.
Finally stopping just outside his humble farmhouse, Dale dropped down to the ground and offered a hand to his passengers. Valerie leapt down herself and Samantha just seemed to appear standing right beside her, hay dotting her tattered cloak and caught in her hair. It flabbergasted the man, he hadn’t heard her climb down or even felt the cart shift, she was just already there, bare feet sinking into the mud and dirt like she was rooted in place. He briefly felt thankful the pair would only be making a short pit-stop and then chastised himself for the disrespectful thought. Shaking off his worries, Dale invited the two inside his home for some much-needed vittles’ and cleaning up. He also needed to see if he could find a pair of decent shoes and a new set of clothes for the scary girl. Valerie’s travel wear had seen better days but was in mint condition compared to Samantha still dressed in her pyjamas and cloak. Dale walked through the door and called for his wife only to be met with silence. Trying again with little success, he had a sudden feeling something was off; his wife was always home to welcome him no matter what. A commotion from outside drew the worried husband’s attention and he caught his first born angrily shouting at his house guests.
“What’d you think your doin here? Where is my pa?!”
Daniel McDale, first of his name, was the polar opposite of his father; tall, lean and distrustful of anyone outside the village. He confronted the two intruders yelling at the top of his lungs after noticing his father’s cart but not the man himself. Valerie met the man coming up a foot smaller but none the less imposing, the two getting in each other’s faces as if waiting for a starting pistol to go off.
“Back off. Or I will make you back off.”
She promised resting her hand on her sheathed knife, the slightly taller man eyeing her warily. Before any scuffle could erupt, Dale rushed from the house trying to rapidly ease the situation. Samantha meanwhile leaned against a fence picking strands of hay from her cloak seemingly unaware a fight almost occurred.
“Wait, wait, wait, hold it! Danny these are our guests!”
Forcing his son to back off, Dale managed to defuse the situation before any one starting hacking away at the other. Positioning himself between his son and Valerie, he enquired about his missing wife. The anxious look in Daniel’s eyes caused his father’s heart to thump in his chest, a growing pit forming in his stomach.
“It’s… it’s Tucker Pa, he got hurt.”
The jolly grandfather went pale and nearly stumbled back but was caught by his son in time. Tucker McDale, first of his name, had been attacked by a beast while out herding the animals. He was currently being treated at the local healer’s house but from Daniel’s description it wasn’t looking good. The two men raced into the village proper bursting into the healers home. In the living room Dale found his middle son laid up on a table, bandages adorning his upper body and arms, barely alive and in terrible condition. Whatever attacked the poor boy ripped flesh from his bones and claimed a whole arm up to the elbow. The old healer had knowledge and magic on her side that saved Tucker but couldn’t restore the lost limb. Dale rushed to his boy’s side and collapsed by the table clutching onto his son’s one remaining hand. His wife as well as Dale Junior and each of his sons wives were all huddled in the corner consoling the McDale matriarch until her husband arrived. The healer sat on the other side of the injured McDale her hands above his worst injuries letting off a faint glow as magic poured out of her and into him. Sweat dripped off her brow at the effort, she hadn’t needed to exert this much power in years.
“Verjungen”
She whispered casting another rejuvenation spell to force her patients own mana to work at repairing the damage. She had already exhausted her own reserves to a dangerous degree as she tried desperately to heal Tucker. Given the damage he sustained it would be a miracle if he survived the night but that wouldn’t stop her as she did all she could. If he could have, Dale would offer every drop of blood and mana in his own veins but unfortunately the restoration could only be accomplished between the healer and the afflicted.
“Oh, my boy…”
The distraught father whispered as tears welled in his eyes. Finally realizing her husband had come home, Sue leapt from her seat and barrelled into the old man holding him for dear life as they both wept at their boy’s side. The eldest McDale could only stand in the doorway a look of pure anger creasing his face. He had been the one to find his brother and brought him straight to the clinic before gathering his family. Now however, he was without a purpose, he couldn’t help his brother or do a damn thing except get revenge.
“I’m gonna kill that rotten beast!”
The eldest McDale son announced as he turned to leave the house. His fathers booming voice echoed throughout the home startling all bar the healer lost in her work.
“DON’T YOU DARE DANNY! I AM NOT HAVING ANOTHER OF MY SONS GETTING HURT!”
Daniel tried to argue with his father to no avail, the patriarch of the McDale household wouldn’t have his family put in danger again. The two men went back and forth several times until a firm cough interrupted the debate. Stepping into view, Valerie made her presence known while Samantha backed her up. They looked over the depressing scene and saw an opportunity. Smiling internally, the young warrior proposed another option.
“If it’s a beast you’re looking to kill then what you need is a hunter.”