Hunted
She awoke with a start and took a panicked breath.
“That noise ... I’m sure I heard it again.”
But there was nothing, no sign of the strange sound which had now woken her twice.
“What’s going on?”
The constricted breath of fear hampered her words. Holding as still as the cave itself, she listened for that odd and unsettling sound, but it was gone.
Eventually releasing herself, she started to move outside to look around. It was still dark, but the light was showing its first interest in the day.
She bowed her head and lifted her chest, taking a long, slow breath, trying to aim her hearing. She strained one more time to detect that unfamiliar sound—first into the cave, then focusing on the outside, revealing the hard subtle rattle of stone-on-stone encroaching.
“No! They’re here!”
She gripped the ground with her feet. She wanted to scream for help, cry or cower.
That won’t save me ...
She gasped as her body started to react to the stress. She turned her feet, rising to her toes as she launched herself inside.
How far away they were she did not know, but no matter what, there was no way she could evade or defeat them if she were caught, so she made for the back of the cave.
They’ll go away if they don’t find me.
She slid through the gap in the rock with such grace, it would have been fair to imagine it had always been her home. Curling tight against the alcove she had used before, she began to slow her breath and calm herself, reciting quietly.
“They won’t find me. No one knows I’m here.”
Over and over, she worked to comfort herself. The sounds of angry footsteps drew closer—they were almost at the cave entrance. She was panting, trying with all she had to stay quiet.
She could hear their words now. They were much closer than she ever thought they would get.
Holding steady, she could only hope that those searching for her would lose interest when they found nothing. She felt confident that they would carry on soon enough, and was grateful for having a space to hide in. A moment of tension hit as she could clearly hear three separate voices, all male.
One had a similar cold tone to the terrifying man with the braid. With renewed focus, she listened closely to the conversation they were having. The sound of one voice rattled around the cave.
“Little monster, this kid.”
A second voice came through.
“I can’t believe they didn’t skin her at the time, she was so defiant.”
A third voice, cooler and less emotive than the others, took over.
“She was saved by her brothers, so the Cast considers punishment rendered and so should we. Watching over you two is wasting my time.”
The first man chimed in again.
“Just help us find the critter so we can ... take her back, for punish—”
The distinctive third voice, now clearly belonging to one of the Hunters, cut him off.
“Don’t be so certain that she will be the only one who is punished if you do.”
The other two men shuffled around at hearing the tone of his reminder.
“But, we just found her and—”
“The Hunter is right, this will bring us nothing but attention from the Soldiers.”
Fawn moved to the crack through which she had passed, to see what she could of the men arguing in her cave. They were dejected and annoyed looking, with only basic clothing on the two hunched, fatter men. The Hunter, a bigger, stronger man, had a much higher density to him. He was wearing a rustic looking sword at his side, and a metal-plated armor of some kind.
The armor was affixed to a softer, lighter colored cloth than the others, much like the cloth Fawn had made her underwear from.
After a few moments, the Hunter turned and started out of the cave.
“I’m leaving. If you want protection from predators on the way back, you’ll leave with me.”
The other two men started to make their way out toward the Hunter, heads down, irritated disappointment on their faces. Moving out with eyes downcast, the last of them inadvertently caught something with his foot. Seeing something in the gathering light of the morning, he grabbed at the small item.
“Wait! This looks like meat!”
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Fawn’s heart sank.
Oh Gods ... I’m so stupid!
The Hunter stopped, drawing his sword.
“Then she must be here somewhere.”
He turned to the man closest to him.
“Bring in your hammer, she may be concealing herself.”
Fawn watched him as he went back outside, stepped to the side of the entrance and retrieved a large hammer-weapon he had left against the outer edge of the cave.
Frantically, she slid back to the alcove.
Moving around the cave, the three men were fumbling in the low visibility, but it was getting easier for them to see with light slowly becoming more plentiful. As a ray of sunlight traveled across the back of the cave, it rolled and reflected against the different textures made by the craggy and broken rock shards strewn across the cave wall.
The Hunter turned and watched the light move.
“There, on the back wall.”
The other two looked to see what they could: their eyes were not as capable as that of the Hunter, but they could still make out the difference in textures.
“There’s something different about that.”
He pointed out what he could see for the others. The man with the hammer walked closer to the irregular wall the Hunter highlighted, and began tapping it to see if he could discern any variation in echo.
Tik tik, tik tik ... tik, tik ...
“Well, it looks different, but I can’t find anything in—”
Fawn curled tighter in her space behind the wall as she heard the hammer noise stop, and a similar noise pick up, from what sounded like the ceiling.
TIK ... TIK ... TIK ...
She tightened further.
What is maki–?
Outside in the fore-cave, the hammer-sporting Dust Cloth froze.
“I heard a sound.”
The Hunter came back inside and stood beside him.
“What kind of sound?”
TIK ... TIK ...
“I hear it, there is definitely something behind this rock, it must be a thin sheet.”
The third man stepped inside and stopped behind the Hunter.
“We can hear you, little Creton! We’re coming for you!”
Knocking his hammer again on the varied surface, there came the tonal change that he had been looking for: Tik ... tik ... tok.
“I found the thin point. Now you’re in trouble, child—I’ve been looking forward to playing with you.”
Fawn’s calm resolve of silence finally gave way to her fears, with an audible squeaking sound escaping her teeth, one she had never made before. She knew there was no way she could hide from what was coming anymore, but she had no idea what to do instead.
What’s making the noise on the ceiling? Where do I go?
With the corridors all too rough and hard for her to traverse quickly, the reality of her predicament was fast becoming overwhelming. Feeling her tears running off the side of her knees and down her shins, she began to feel as though she had done nothing but run, hide and cry since she last saw her brothers alive.
As things gathered faster and faster in her mind, she could barely contain her shaking. Noise was mounting as the man with the hammer pounded on and on at the rock she so coveted to preserve her safety. Making the hole expand slowly, but steadily, he was creating a gap that would soon be large enough for all three angry men. These were dangerous pursuers—focused only on what they wanted to do to her.
Like a clock of the most menacing nature, there came a sound from above, as soon as the hammering subsided.
TIK! ... TIK! ... TIK! ...
Louder and more purposeful this time, the sound increased in intensity.
Standing behind the hammer-toting man and listening as it ebbed, the Hunter heard the sound from the deeper part of the cave.
“What is that?”
His query went no further than the echo within his ears. The hammering began again, barely covering the various jeers and taunts coming from the two Dust Cloth men, eager to get to their hidden quarry.
“What is that noise?!”
There is no response from the others.
“There has to be someone else in there who shields her.”
Fawn, shaking uncontrollably, was trying to press herself into the wall of her alcove. In her desperation, she found herself looking up at the cave ceiling, trying to make sense of the mixture of noises she had heard. The ceiling seemed to move, but for all her efforts she could not make out anything discernible through the water in her eyes. A feeling of hopelessness quickly became all-encompassing.
She could feel her legs had lost their strength and she couldn’t find one clear thought.
Finally, the shale layer gave way, and the first man was able to pass his arm through the hole and started pulling at it. Having been fractured so thoroughly by the constant hammering, it came away easily.
Fawn started to squeak and squeal as the large, weathered hands came through the growing opening with increasing speed.
First, the Hunter moved, pushing the other two out of the way.
“Have you not been listening?! There may be another in here with her, a traitorous supporter who may have set a trap.”
He hit the remaining weakened wall with the pommel of his weapon, cracking away the last vestiges of what may have protected little Fawn from the mounting machinations of her pursuers. His efforts left only sharp jagged remnants around the opening, like the teeth of an immense stone carnivore.
Having made the opening large enough to pass through, he stood at its threshold, looking into the darkness.
The fat man, hammer-in-hand, tried to push by him.
“Me first, I broke the cursed wall, I want her first.”
The Hunter stopped him cold with a strike from his elbow, forcing him backward.
“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?”
The fat man was blurting and breathless.
The Hunter turned and looked at him.
“Wait, you trash. What you want to do with her is not a priority—NOW LISTEN!”
The man staggered back begrudgingly as the Hunter tilted his head toward the opening.
“Whoever you are in there with the child criminal, reveal yourself and I will not cut your head from your shoulders. If you do not make yourself known, I shall visit upon you grievous wounds and deliver you to the Cast.”
With clear fear in their eyes, the other men stepped back and waited. No villager had ever overmatched a Hunter in their lifetime, and these two did not want to be considered an inconvenience—or Gods forbid—disrespectful. Both of them sidled together to exchange whispers.
“Stupid to risk angering the Hunter, they should just give her up.”
Irritation took over, and the Hunter moved forward into the blackness.
“Very well, your life is forfeit, as is the child you guard.”
He heard a diminutive sobbing sound coming from a small alcove toward the right rear of the cave.
“I can hear you child. You will be brought back to the Cast to receive punishment for further defiance.”
Her sobbing turned to stricken crying as he moved towards his prize. Growing impatient, the other two men made their way in. Muttering about their various desires and designs for the cowering shadow they could just see, their focus narrowed further as they drew closer to her.
–Garrick M Lynch–