Astrid woke up sweaty and weak, so much that she had to waste the first hours of the day near a smokeless fire, privilege of the Huntress’ ritualistic magic. Though she missed the best hours to hunt by falling asleep as soon as she felt she was away enough and then again having an untimely moment of weakness.
When she felt a bit better, she went and started looking for animal trails, not that she really needed the meat though it would be better than the leathery jerky she had, what she needed was the ritual to replenish a huntress’ mana, which needed a successful hunt and kill.
Which was how Astrid managed to outlast the Boar God Brethren’s star-readers, the able warriors brought her the few remaining cattle that were still with the tribe: while not as potent as a true hunt, the ritual still carried power.
This way the enemy war party had to hunt animal if they wanted to replenish their reserves, while it worked Astrid knew that she was lucky she had not turned in a blood thirsty beast.
It was known that excessive sacrifice would warp even the best hunter and a big part of any sacrifice rituals was to remain sane, not really absorb the magic.
She started tracking a small mammal tracks, soon coming to a drinking spot in small stream, suddenly the probable hare seemed unimportant since the bushes a few meters away started to rustle. She really slowly moved toward the east hoping the weak wind would be enough to carry her scent away from the much bigger prey she found.
Soon enough, a sow and at least five piglets slowly showed themselves, making their way to the water source. Her scent did not seem to reach the mother or at least was not considered a danger, Astrid found herself perfectly positioned for a fatal hit, she drew her bow, for a few second, she considered using her last remnants of power on the arrow but soon realized it would make it her only shot and be kind of counterproductive. She steadied herself and let the arrow loose, the arrow flew true and went in, behind the front leg toward the heart, just like she had done so many times.
Sadly, for Astrid, the mother stumbled but didn’t use her last strengths to run away like she should’ve but just froze for a few second. While the piglets fled, she turned toward the huntress and just ignited, pure mana manifesting out of the wounded sow.
Sh*t, is she sacrificing her life-mana to protect her offspring? How the f*ck did I found myself hunting a full-grown Spirit beast capable of restraining her mana.
Her litany of curses was stopped quickly by a charging boar, quickly Astrid pulled herself up in the nearest tree. She felt a powerful gust of wind and heard a crash, soon followed by a trunk creaking and falling down.
You got to be kiddin’ me.
She heard the quickly approaching steps. She jumped down; arrow already knocked on her bow. The tree fell, she turned to see the beast. Completely gone were the previous looks of a slightly big sow, now everything was exaggerated: under now a much longer fur, powerful muscle moved, in its eyes burned a cold determination.
Her body is falling apart.
Blood flowed out of every pores, still burning with mana for a few seconds before fading.
Astrid could have stalled, but chose not to. Because this was a hunt, what she used to live for.She released her arrow and just dropped her bow on the ground.
The dying beast charged through the bushes, body low bursting with unbridled strength. The arrow whistled before passing above its mark. Astrid tsked and drew her blade.
The sow stopped on her tracks sending flying dirt and leaves on the huntress. Astrid who had begun to dash away found herself showered with mud.
The boar started charging again on the mid-dash huntress.
She found herself facing a full speed boar just ahead. Astrid released her last mana reserves in her legs. She jumped above.
Its hooves slid on the muddy moss, painfully came to a stop.
And charged again.
This time Astrid was ready, waiting for the last moment. She dashed on the side and drew a long gash on the beast’s left side.
The sow fell and tried to get up without success, the powerful legs now spasming, each and every breath harder than the last. Astrid come close and slit the dying mother throat. Soon, the blood pooled in the woman’s hand, bloody tears falling from its eyes mingling in the scarlet liquid.
“Every strand of life shall return to the dirt. And when the sky will come, every last one of what as been will find their places in the stars.” She whispered to the beast ears, while feeling for its life-breath with her magic. It was like attempting to find an object in some quicksand, the more you try to brute force it the more it resists. She did, in time, find it and delicately grasped it.
The liquid shone and was drunk. Though it was still filled with mana, Astrid felt like it only relieved her a little. But looking back on the fight and the prowess of the beast, she knew it should have been the strongest best she ever fought alone. Is it because I am tribeless? Well, I guess I have to hunt again tomorrow.
She found her bow in a nearby bush relieved the string had not broken when she dumped it. When Astrid left, she gave a glance to the spirit beast body she hung upside down on a nearby tree.
Too much meat for me to ever eat. Another rule I broke but it doesn’t mean much now.
She soon came back to her prize with all her stuff. Soon the beast was gutted and important parts taken. She had done a decent job of it, though, back when she was with her master, she still would have been lectured about the importance of using every last bit. Though she was respectful for the sow, the adrenaline was long gone and her fingers, bruised when landed from the falling tree, were trembling.
She did prepare some of the meat moving, cutting long lines and stuffing it with aromatic herbs and the smallest amount of berry wine she could use, thankful for the small bottle she had in her gigantic backpack. She packed it in leaves and leather trying to get the meat to soften enough to be edible tonight.
She advanced toward the mountain, soon to exhausted to continue. Under the setting sun, she set up her small camp on a rocky elevation, quickly a divine scent could be smelled coming from the small promontory (is that a word?). Astrid burned her tongue on the juicy morsel herself too impatient to eat the meat, she filled her belly with and lied down on her back with the strong taste of the boar meat lingering in her mouth.
The heavy mantle of cloud made her anxious, the day was honestly the most surprising here with the clouds obscuring the sun, giving the damp forest a somewhat crepuscular look. But the absence of the starry sky made her physically sick, like a part of her was missing.
She didn’t manage to fall asleep quickly, somehow this was the first time she had time to think of what happened. The fight with the Boar God Tribe’s felt surreal, so far away, so… petty. She cried. Not much but it made her feel a bit better, slowly she fell asleep. She found herself teaching the children the most effective way to pack their belongings under the shade of a tree, when she looked up from the bag, she came face to face to one of the she liked the mos. Only her eyes were boiled. The eyelids were closed but something was squirming just beneath. She backed off slowly. Nothing moved, no sound but the soft rustling of the grass and Astrid quick steps.
The half-burned camp was ever present behind her. She ran and ran for what seemed an eternity. The Tribe watched her run without acting in anyway. Suddenly she stumbled and fell down.
Astrid woke up falling from the small trunk she slept on.
“Fuck you ROCK! And you tree, you are a traitor!” she spat on the rock that caused a searing pain on her side.
I’m going to have a bruise. Fuck EVERYTHING.
She made a fire and stripped trying to get her clothes at least less humid from the forest ambient humidity. She waited for a good hour naked under the fur, before deeming the clothes decently dry, not that it would remain as such for long anyway. But at least warm and stomach full, she pack her things, tighten her bow’s string and left after somewhat hiding the big bag in a bush.
She knew though she was trained to maneuver in such environment, the constraint of hunting every day to quench her thirst for mana took most of her day and slowed her considerably.
Near a fire, deeper in what she thought was the forest separating Lineus and Orgos she watch the sun go down visible only for a short time. Today had been… frustrating. The only beast she met, a small rabbit, was being slowly cooked in front of her. Mana wise she at most maintained the meager amount of mana she had yesterday.
She started to fear her magic to be somewhat broken, everything about it felt weird. Rituals like the one with the sow used to fill her with almost more mana she could safely take but though the Spirit Beast used everything she should have got a serious amount, but in the end only felt like a drop in a sea.
Though she felt she would run empty anytime soon, every time she used mana, she felt none of telltale signs of mana deprivation.
Once again her sleep was plagued with somber visions, she woke up ate her fill, and used her magic. While it was reckless, she had to know if she still could use magic mainly because if fainted in a critical situation because she didn’t know her actual limits would be way worst the having no magic at all and planning with it.
Soon, she felt the warmth of the soul fire cover her, while she still felt the horrible thirst it didn’t increase. The much-hated moisture in her clothes started evaporating, leaving her relieved and quite comfortable, if you ignored the serious lack of mana she felt.
She used the soul fire for an hour before smothering it.
Yeeeeees! I can still use magic though I’ll need to fix the lack of mana I feel as soon as possible. Not knowing my limits is quite a headache, I’ll try to base my consumption on half the amount I could use before.
Once again, she packed and went in the forest, except this time magic was fair game.
Though not the most potent, the Tribes magic was honed by the countless trial and error in the deadly plains. The importance of the Hunters and their place as star-readers came from their ability to harvest mana in the magically poor place through rituals be it hunts or with the collectivity.
She gently pushed mana in her eyes revealing in the wonders of life itself, like an image appeared in front of reality the dim forest took a luminous blue hue. While in appearance making the mana visible the real use of it was that, with mana sight, no concept of depth nor scale existed you would ‘see’ the same way a rock and the critter hidden beneath it.
Finding animals wasn’t easy though, while she could see everything in a radius around her, the sheer abundance of life ranging from worms to trees assailed her senses, making it more and more difficult to focus on what she looked for. She stood still, ignored the soft movement of the leaves, a beetle mad dash on a mossy ground, a spider patient weaving soon rewarded by a deer munching on patch of grass. She made the mana infusing her eyes slowly recede while remaining fixated on her prey. Soon she lost sight of the deer, our huntress only had a direction but it was more than enough. The wind was getting stronger today, she found the constant sound of the trees shaken by the wind oddly soothing, bow in hand she silently made her way in the woods.
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“Fuck I can’t believe you lost us Old man!” Lio said for the fourth time. He tried to remove the sticky cobweb of his blond hair, and off the now soaked and dirtied tunic he wore.
“Shut up Lio.” Kiya answered with a characteristic calm, “How could we be lost if we see the Thal Mountain.” Though she shared with her annoying brother a visceral hate for this damned forest, she knew it was the best way to reach the Mountain.
They were, in fact, not lost but greatly delayed by small battle between Lineus and Orgos twenty kilometers west from here. The “Old Man” was worried not by the delay itself but what it implied ration wise.
“For the love of the Gods, shut it kiddo and care not to trip.” Old man, also named Kuklos, answered. “Let’s continue off road for a day and hope any blockades will be behind us.”
“Urgh. We will never reach the meeting point in time. All this travel, to arrive three days after the guide’s departure. How can you be so calm Kiya?”
They were meant to climb the mountain toward a specific location under the first Thal City, Utopy and bring back some Lumifer an ore mostly used in alloys because of its rarity and price. Even reaching Nualim the first of the four cities on the Mountain was dangerous and feasible only with an expert guide. Which they were meant to meet today on the Permanent Camp some kind of meeting place for the expeditions going upward.
Suddenly, Kuklos stopped everyone with a sign and listened. While upset and annoying, Lio and Kiya were trained warriors and instantly stood almost completely still. Kiya first believed Kuklos heard things, he was not that young anymore, but soon realized something quick was coming their way.
They soon saw a magnificent deer rush toward them, seeing the group, the beast tried to turn but failed and fell pulled by his inertia toward a tree. One superbly decorated arrow was sticking out of its ribs just behind the right front leg.
One hit arrow perfectly aimed on the vitals. The deer can’t have run more than 20 meters with such a hit. “Lower your weapons, kids” he whispered before calling out “Your prey died here, don’t shoot!”
A beautiful lady came out of the forest, she was clad in blue and had long black hair attached in a braid. She had an expertly crafted bow in hand but not drawn and seemed rather peaceful. Good. I hope Lio won’t anger the tribe-huntress.
“Greetings. Sorry to have scared you. May I come close to end my hunt?” she said slowly with a clear tribe accent.
“Sure.” “C’mon kids let’s move further away.”
“What? Why?” the blond youth complained.
Kuklos let out a sigh. And gestured to move a few steps away.
“She is a tribe-huntress maybe a Master-Huntress judging from the bow. If you remembered what I taught you, you would know their rituals to end a hunt. Now watch in silence, boy.”
Lio turned to watch his sister Kiya silent watching intently the Huntress. He closed his mouth and started watching too.
The huntress quickly slit the throat of the beast and joined her hands to collect some of the flowing blood. Slowly, she drank the liquid pooled in her hands, the deer closed his eyes and stopped breathing. Something came out with the stag’s last breath, something like a mist and was inspired by the huntress. She stopped moving, completely still on her knees.
Lio was getting restless when she moved again, he realized his anxiety came from the sudden silence in forest and even when he looked at the all-knowing Kuklos, he too seemed surprised. Looking back at the approaching huntress, he realized her iris were an unnatural shade of blue while the usually white part seemed bloodshot.
Suddenly on guard, the old man went between his proteges and the huntress.
“Stay back.” Kuklos spoke coldly readying his dagger, “Are you under the influence of Inner-beast drugs?”
She sighed. And looked right in his eyes, the strange and unsettling glow made her look otherwordly.
“You know of the Battle-Crazed, since you know their traits, you should also note I’m able to speak clearly and am in fact very much not attacking you.” Clearly, she was nor worried nor impressed by the old man and the two young warriors behind him. “I had an accident several days ago, and my eyes seems to heal really slowly.”
“True. Sorry about that Lady Huntress” he muttered, clearly less on guard.
“I am hunting but you seem to have gone astray, Lord… How can I call you?”
“I’m only named Kuklos and they are Lio and Kiya Brightswing.”
“Ah. I heard having no name in the land of Thalaare means serving a greater family. Do you need to be set free? The name’s Astrid, Lord and Lordlings by the way.” She responded quite amiably, though insulting the ways of the Thalaare nobles.
Kiya and Kuklos turned toward the young warrior scared of an unwanted fight. But he stood flabbergasted at the lack of respect she had for them.
“I do not need help, Huntress. What makes you think we went astray?” Kuklos asked, whilst keeping track of his problematic pupil.
“Mainly the unhappy face, and the inadequate equipment for a dense forest, like this one here you three are carrying.” Astrid said, amused while expertly wiping the blood of her knife’s blade and sheathing it. Lio remarked her eyes seemed way more human now.
His sister apparently had the same thoughts, since she asked uneasily to her old tutor:
“You didn’t tell me the tribe’s ritual were so impressive, Kuklos. Her eyes radiated as much magic as the heirlooms of the family.”
“It’s the first time I saw the real deal, it seems. Never have the tribes I visited shown such magically charged rituals.” The answer came with some delay, the ritual clearly having impressed him in some ways. Seeing the Huntress apparently unhappy, thinking about something, he quickly changed the subject. “I was wondering, Lady Astrid, could we buy some of the stag you just hunted? It is as you said we are forced to go through the forest and it made us lose precious time. We are running low on resources so maybe we could trade it for something you’d deem an equal value or money if your Matriarch allows such practices.”
The huntress seemed to comeback to her senses and said slowly, “Quarter of what I got today for the reasons of your unwanted stay in the forest.” she paused before continuing “One more quarter for information on the heirloom Lady Kiya just mentioned.”
Information? Lio wondered Half a stag for news we could have shared without it? Doesn’t she hunt for her tribe?
“Consider it done for the forest detour part. The heirloom’s story is not mine to tell, it depends if you deem it worth.” he finished while turning toward the siblings.
After a quick look between them, the two nodded quickly.
“Then we’ll eat together, tonight, then.” She offered “So you may tell me all of that. But please go on your way, I’ll join you tonight, for now I need to prepare the meat and get my stuff.”
The odd huntress went back to her fallen prey and began expertly cutting her prey apart.
Kuklos shrugged and started walking again, toward the Mountain, and through the dense and humid forest. Soon the huntress was out of sight, Lio could not help but ask: “Why do you respect her so much? She belittled you and us, we could hunt too, we did just that 2 weeks ago, I just thought it was a waste of time when we were already late because of the thunder storm.”
Kiya looked at the old man, curious too, of this unusual behavior. Kuklos was, by no means, overly aggressive but well known for his prudence and his lack of trust.
Surprisingly he laughed at that, “Bahahaha! The huntress may already follow us, I advise you to weigh every words. But to answer your questions, first of all, she is a genuine Tribe Huntress, she showed it right away and intended to, it shows her trustworthiness and friendliness. Second fact, we need food and water without losing time on our travel, she is exactly what we need to reach the meeting point in time. Third point, she is blunt and by being so, funny, dear “Lordlings”.” Smirking slightly for a moment he soon had his usual boring face on, a few breaths after he added inwardly, First the skirmish between two of the Sentinel Kingdoms then a tribe huntress at least a week away from the closest access to the Plains. I wonder what a Tribe Huntress is doing so deep in Lineus’ territory. I don’t like this. The first expedition of the young ones is in the middle of something bigger.
His torrent of worries was interrupted by Kiya. Way closer than usual, she asked clearly intrigued, “Tribe Huntress are hunters and shamans in the tribes of the Plains, right? What makes her more trustworthy than the travelling merchant we met earlier?” “They are the equivalent of the Thal Cities’ guides, they lead the tribes without fear within the immensities of the Plains. Usually, they do not meddle with wealth or power, follow some sort of code of honor with humans and beast alike.”
“Does this code imply drinking blood of your kills, I mean, humans too?” still disgusted by the bloody ritual.
“Yup.” he answered, clearly amused.
She shuddered: “Your notion of trustworthy seems weird, Kuklos.”.
“It’s because of that we don’t like to kill, Lady Kiya.” She heard right after she finished. Just. Behind. Her. Ear? She yelped just after that.
“Aha got you, well if you want to know we do get used to the blood thing. But it is in some way something meant to stop us from killing, drinking human blood still is forever disgusting.”
A smirking Astrid added, apparently very pleased with the fright she gave to the girl.
“Don’t. Do. That! I could have killed you!” she said while sheathing her rapier back. The obvious doubt in the Astrid’s eyes made her so mad.
“Please stop harassing her, Huntress Astrid.” The old man said, stone-faced.
“All right, I’ll stop. Please follow me, I’ll guide you to a rest place.”
“What proves you aren’t leading us in an ambush?” the unusually silent Lio asked.
“Nothing, I guess, but your old man seems to think it’s a safe bet. And we got a trade going, so you know win-win? Now follow me if you want.” As she started leading the way, Lio and company realized the forest seemed less difficult to move through, always walking on the animal’s paths like they were meant for humans. The all-permeating moisture and uneven ground seemed far behind them.
One hour after, they reached a rock formation inside a clearing, in one swift movement. Astrid climbed up and just dumped the heavy load of meat she had been carrying. When the group too, reached up they realized she had already slept here last night. A small, extinguished fire remained with an enormous backpack, next to it a rich fur sleeping bag was apparently let to dry from last night humidity.
While the others finally sat after this long day of painfully slow travel, Astrid muttered while starting a fire, burning some herbs in the fire and quickly slashed her wrist letting some blood flow in the flames. The trio just watched wondering what use it had when they realized the small fire burned blue and made no smoke anymore, while she fed it some almost not damp wood she asked.
“Neat trick isn’t it? Mix comfort and stealth, what more could I ask?” she said while bandaging her bloody wrist.
“Maybe not bleeding yourself to do it?” Kiya proposed, sulking a bit.
“True!” the huntress laughed while preparing the meat. “So why did you wander in this humble forest, unprepared and clueless if I may add.”
“Maybe you could help us know in fact. We had to bypass a travel ban on Lineus territory, just unlucky timing, I guess. We are to scheduled to meet a Guide to the first Thal City but kept being slowed down by unlucky coincidences. But back to reason our unwanted stroll in the wood, one Tribe of yours, was completely wiped on Lineus’ borders, and now, your people issued a Warcall and Lineus is trying to shift the blame on Orgos. But you probably already know that?” Kuklos told, looking at the cook knowingly.
“Maybe.” She answered, not smiling anymore.
Lio whispered to his sister “The fire. Look.”
Completely still, the already dim fire looked almost violet. Astrid was not looking at the old man anymore, an unsightly smirk on her face growing back on her face.
After a few breaths, the fire turned blue back. Though the strange atmosphere remained, she finally looked up. Through the canopy and the clouds of the Mountains, only her perceived, no. Felt the Spring’s constellation.
“The Warcall will falter soon. The Boar God’s Brethren will by destroyed for the heinous crime they committed. Lineus will not fall at least, that’s sure.” She said through her hideous smirk. Like a mask Kiya thought.
“What?!? It was a fight amongst you people? Why is the Warcall called against Lineus then?”
“It is long process. It may occur to you that us, Plain People, follow our constellation – helping us roam our harsh lands – to call a union of the tribes require many readings and decisions. Moreover, many of the star-readers read together the will of the Stars. The constellation of the now dead Tribe should have disappeared, but it should remains unwavering. So, it will guide them toward the culprit wherever it stands.” Astrid said visibly calmer than before.
“Wherever? It can’t fail?”
“It can. Star-reading is difficult and up to interpretation, but I believe the Tribes will read true.”
“You are from the destroyed tribe, aren’t you?” asked Kuklos. “Why don’t you go tell all that to the Tribes and not let it up to the stars.”
“Because it doesn’t matter what I think is true. The Stars guide and we follow. This is our path. As weird it may seem to you.”
“Well, I hope no innocent will suffer because of you. A Warcall is nothing to laugh at.”
Last time a Warcall came was because Orgos tried to implant itself in the plains and attacked three tribes. The payback was an unending raid from a humongous alliance of Tribes, of course the heavily guard cities remained safe but all the village and exploitation were looted and burned. The high mages employed by the stronger Sentinel Kingdom were utterly useless because thoroughly evaded.
Only now, ninety years later, Orgos began stabilizing again after years of famine and rebellions.
“Now as much as I enjoy chitchatting with you all, the first half of the trade was honored. Will you honor the second?” Astrid asked while adding some herbs in a pot over the fire. Soon a delicious smell would permeate the whole camp.
Kiya seemed hesitant but spoke clearly soon after:
“Our family is named Lucidum and got its fame for our craftmanship of special ore found on the Thal Mountain, the lumifer. And in the hand of skilled warriors, it can wield effectively the mana flow even far away from the Mountain and its rich environment magic wise. The crudest way to judge magical properties is by its glow, which is why we were surprised at the intensity your magic and compared it to the heirloom my father wields, a saber made from an alloy of lumifer.”
“Aha sorry about that, many things happened recently and my magic is way stronger than before.”
“Ah so that’s the reason behind the red-eyes?”
“In a sense, yes.” Astrid said slowly, and spoke next, friendlier than usual. “It was short but most thorough, Kiya, I consider the pact done. Eat up and sleep, tomorrow you will take what you want from the stag before leaving. Though I must warn you, some outlaws are camping a day from here to the Mountain, maybe they are the reason Lineus feel like they may be the one who would be accused of attacking a Tribe, dont know for sure. You should tread carefully.”
After eating a real meal after days of cold rations “for security purposes”, the soup full of delicious meat was somewhat divine.
Kuklos nodded to the tired siblings when they seemed to sleep and started maintaining his sword under the dim light of the strange fire. Astrid, her, was looking at the clouds hoping of another glimpse of the mysterious mountain she couldn’t find herself to resent.
When Kiya was woken to take guard for the night, the huntress was already gone. The morning came quick, all-three feeling refreshed and well nourished. They got on their way with a renewed vigor, surprisingly they felt yesterday’s ease going through forest.