Chapter 7: The Greatest Hunter

Khukri’s nose twitched at the strange scent. Hesitantly, she crept up a boulder, hind claws ripping off chunks of lichen and leaving wet earth between her toes. As she crouched, she adjusted her faceguard, lowering it from her eyeline to beneath her chin, freeing her furry white muzzle. Unlike other dogs in her pack, who sported fur from brown to black, Khukri had the ‘blessing’ of being a white wolf. That meant shrouding herself in the green and mud-brown cloak in the field was essential.

With bright blue eyes peeking from beneath her hood, Khukri surveyed the endless green expanse. Mossy tree trunks, each wide enough that one could hollow the centre and live in it, stretched into the ethereal glowing mist above, vanishing before revealing the top. A hundred yards out, a tree lay half buried in the impact crater from a fall long past, its massive unearthed roots clumping together a wall of dirt.

Her nose twitched again. Dirt and flora competed for attention as scents flooded her with kilometres of information. There was something out there, she was sure of it now. Her eyes slid shut as she drew in more air, deeper, calmer. That’s dirt, that’s moss, maybe rot, I don’t need those. Where are you? Her neck twitched, jerking her nose sideways. That’s Annah? Was that it? I... no, there it is!

The smell settled from deep in the wood, snapping Khukri from her meditation. “Spikeback?” she mumbled, eyes opening as she raised a spear toward her prey. No wonder it had taken her so long. Spikebacks were the rarest and most dangerous beasts stalking The Direwood. Her pack could handle them though, and the profit from one was enormous. She tensed, suppressing the urge to charge.

Her jaw loosened from tension she didn’t realize she held. A pack shared the glory and rewards of victory, and the best hunters weren’t the ones sliding spears into their prey - they were the ones that got results. And Khukri? Khukri was the best there was, at least for now. She lowered the weapon with a sigh, then raised her muzzle and howled into the misty clouds overhead.

Khukri’s eyes glazed over as she passively scanned the forest, letting the world fall into a blur of brown and green as scents reached out to her through the fog of uncertainty. By measuring the change in intensity of Annah’s scent, Khukri could guess her friend’s approximate speed and time of arrival. After years, the practice was second nature, though it was far harder with things not moving directly toward or away. Annah would be here in two minutes, and most of the rest in ten to fifteen, though at this distance, things were murky.

Annah darted through the woods, a mess of black fur melded with dark leather followed by a flowing green cloak. She hit the boulder at a dead run, using her momentum to vault up into a crouch at Khukri’s side. With a spotter for protection, Khukri’s eyes slid shut again, moving into a semi-meditative state as smell became her primary sense.

“Prey?” Annah whispered.

“Spikeback,” Khukri confirmed, indicating the direction with her hand.

Annah’s long, dedicated inhale of air punctuated thirty seconds of silence. “You’re sure? I can’t smell it.”

“Am I ever wrong?”

With a grunt, Annah ceded the point. “Spikeback’s a good find; we got a week off last time. Is it alone, or do we need to separate it from a nest?”

“Can’t tell. Too far,” Khukri admitted, gritting her teeth. “What should I do?” The question wasn’t one of tactics, but of order. Annah was higher in the pack, so decisions fell to her for now, and it was vital everyone knew Khukri respected that.

“Go,” Annah ordered. “Don’t lose it. I’ll bring the pack up to speed when they get here. When we get close, flank on the east.”

“I won’t lose it.” Khukri leapt from the boulder, rolling to a crouch to dampen the fall. “Spikebacks are tough; what if Maya wants me on the strike team?” When Annah didn’t answer, Khukri glanced back, then sighed. “Yeah. I can hope though, right?”

“Go.” Annah’s words were an order, but her tone was an apology.

Khukri followed the scent, checking trees to ensure she stayed east of its position. The pack could easily trail her, and at this range any one of them would smell it, leaving Khukri to flanking duty. Again. Her hands ground against the spear’s haft like she was wringing its neck. In a hunt, every position was important, even flanking duty. Beasts could move fast when motivated, and letting them rush endlessly in a line was the fastest way to lose them. Sure, their team was the best. They could chase it all day and harass it until it collapsed. But hunting was about logistics as much as killing.

Khukri’s pack were hunters- damn good hunters- but still hunters. They didn’t have the equipment or experience to butcher and harvest beasts. After a target died, they’d need to return to the outpost, alert harvesters, wait for them to harvest materials, and drag it all home. Once night fell, anything outside the outpost walls was lost, so at some distance, beasts weren’t worth chasing. Flankers ensured targets remained inside the accepted killzone.

But, Khukri was always on flanking duty. Every beast, every time. Just once, it’d be nice to be on the strike team, surrounded by allies as they danced around the beast, weaving and angling for the perfect strike.That wouldn’t be so bad, would it? Having the pack see what she could really do? For them to see she was...

A bitter laugh left her lips as she relaxed, reminding herself she was strong, useful, and respected by her pack. They were weapons, supported by a network that gave each girl what she needed. For Khukri, that was restraint. Not a chance to show off.

Maya howled, followed by a chorus of howls as each member signalled their position. The attack was underway. Along with Khukri, five others flanked, divided equally between east and north, with eight on the strike team. Six girls came to the fight who might never see the beast before it died. What a waste. Khukri raised her voice to mimic her packmates. They had to know she was here, that she supported her team.

For hours, Khukri drifted along the fight’s edge, following the scent of blood as the spikeback moved within the killzone. Then the wind shifted, stopping Khukri in her tracks. The scent was getting stronger, fast, meaning the beast was charging the eastern flankers. A wild smile crossed her lips. It wasn’t just charging east; it was coming right at her. The remaining flankers would be moving to intercept, so she didn’t have long.

Sighting a tree thick with moss, Khukri crouched and folded the cloak around her, leaving nothing but bright blue eyes behind a shadowed slit. Closer, closer, closer... Each stomp shook the ground as the beast entered her sight. It was thrice her height, spittle flying from its massive jaw as four huge legs smashed through the underbrush in blind retreat. What little fur she saw was a dull brown, overshadowed by thousands of two-foot-long black quills running across its length and down a trailing tail, shredding trees to their bark as it grazed past.

Her muscles brimmed with energy as it bore down on her, grunting and casting backward glances. When it was as close as its path would take it, Khukri burst from hiding, charging into the oncoming beast with a levelled spear. Its head swung forward, confused for the second Khukri gave it, then roared as she rammed into its chest point first, showering the ground with blood.

She dropped the spear, driving the point deeper as the beast’s momentum slammed the butt into the earth. Khukri’s cloak flowed around her as she narrowly zipped around a massive crashing foot and underneath its belly.

The beast’s tail rose as it ground to a halt, whipping its head around as it searched for its prey. As she passed its hind legs the spikeback roared, lifting its tail high before dropping a spiky black avalanche into the earth. Maybe it thought it could take her, now that no one was there to punish it for focusing on a target. It was wrong. Rather than retreat, Khukri reversed course, darting beneath once more as she targeted a hind leg. The heavy curved blade ripped free from the sheath across her chest and flashed along the leg as she passed, spilling another arc of blood.

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It jumped aside, angrily cranking its tail back before sweeping it along the ground. Khukri was already running before the beast located her. Without a second’s thought, she dove behind a tree to evade the spiked wall. Rotting bark and moss showered around her as the beast spun, roaring as it met her eyes.

“Yes!” Khukri urged, grinning wildly and scattering blood from her blade with a sharp swing. “Yes! Fight me!”

“Fall back!” From beyond the beast, another of the flankers arrived, and order was enforced.

The gaping maw lurched forward, but Khukri was already on the retreat, bolting from tree to tree for cover as she lured it towards the strike team. For all its anger, it didn’t follow long.

It was a taste, a hint of what she could do if they let her, and it’d have to be enough. Eventually, the battle came to the lacklustre end she’d expected. Once or twice, the target strayed east, but never enough to justify another engagement. The howl came. The hunt ended.

The beast lay against a tree, massive tongue dripping blood as it stared glassy-eyed into the mist. Dog-girls in dirty hunter’s leathers chatted excitedly about the highlights of their battle, and eagerness to reap the reward.

“A successful hunt.” Khukri approached Maya, a tan dog twice her age with ears that turned to fluffy curled fur halfway down. “Everyone make it?”

“A clean kill.” Maya grinned, resting her arms on the spear across her shoulders. “I sent Dove to get the harvesters.”

“I’m faster,” Khukri said. “I can—”

“Dove can handle it.” Maya smiled, eying Khukri’s blade. “We’ll have plenty of work to do hauling parts when the harvesters get here. Take a break.”

Khukri squirmed, but nodded her compliance. Maya was her Whip, after all. Order stemmed from her.

Maya sighed, setting her spear against a tree. “You’re our tracking specialist Khukri. You did your part, and you did it well.”

It wouldn’t do to have Maya think she needed the praise, but she’d accept it as an honest review. With a bow, Khukri thanked her leader, then returned to the kill, where Annah looked no worse for wear, wiping blood from her leather armguard.

“Congratulations.” Khukri examined the hole-riddled monster. “I hear we got a clean kill.”

“It’s what we do.” Annah ran her fingers down the beast’s underside and stopped at a length of splintered wood jutting from a blood-soaked patch of fur. “I think that one’s yours?”

Khukri draped her cloak over the spikeback’s leg, cracking a smile despite herself. “I was good Annah. Really good. He never even saw me coming.”

Annah glanced Maya’s way, then removed her own cloak, and tossed it alongside Khukri’s “Hey...”

When Annah’s voice lowered, Khukri flinched. “I know, I’m okay. No need for a pep talk.”

She watched Khukri, silently weighing things before speaking. “Just remember, we know you could handle the strike team, but safety comes first. So, now that we’ve got till the harvesters show up, wanna throw rocks at trees?”

Khukri was awesome at throwing rocks at trees.

It took two hours for the harvesters to arrive, but it couldn’t be helped. Harvesters were primarily men, or at least ones her company used were. Most couldn’t run for long, adding even more time.

The remaining daylight was spent alongside Annah, hauling bundles of quills, hide, and meat back to the outpost. They delivered the last bundles as the sun fell, while mist hung only ten feet overhead. Two dog-women stood aside from the hole in the outpost’s thirty-foot high stone wall, watching silently as Khukri slipped past.

The other side of the wall housed a city, once. Now, all that remained was an endless sea of crumbling stone structures, remnants of an ancient wolven city so broken only one district was safe at night. Along the inner wall, light spilled from buildings into the street and highlighted the descending white ceiling. The biggest buildings saved on construction by using the wall as their back, and previously built buildings as one of their sides. The wooden structures shone with lacquer, and stood watch over an unorganized sea of tents and poorly constructed shacks, curving into the distance as they followed the wall’s natural bend.

With a pleasant sigh, Khukri held their home’s double doors open for Annah. The pleasant warmth and smells of roasting sausage rolled over her, only now highlighting the strain brought on by a full day of hunting and hauling. Inside, Mistress H, a dog-woman with an unusual sandy colour, stood to greet them. Today, her usual fancy white dress had been replaced with the subdued button-up suit she wore after hours.

“Ah, Khukri, Annah. Welcome home.” Mistress H’s quill scritched on the paper, marking their return. “Congratulations on another successful hunt. The first spikeback of the season if I’m not mistaken. You’ll be getting double meals and time to relax for the next week. Talk with your Whip about any special outings you want and we’ll see what we can do.”

“Thank you, Mistress H,” Khukri and Annah said in unison.

Mistress H opened the doors to a room with seven cells on either side. Several members of Khukri’s pack were already locked in, stripped down to their collars and munching on their well-deserved meals from piles of straw. As she passed, Maya gave an approving nod before resuming her bath. Mistress H unlocked the back two cells for Khukri and Annah, then turned back. “Okay, girls, wash up and get ready for bed. Once you’re locked in, I’ll bring your dinners.”

Khukri nodded her deference and strode into her cell. The straw bed in the back looked fuller and the washbasin was filled almost to the top. If the other girls' meals were any indication, her food bowl would be a little fuller soon too. Her mouth watered as she excitedly unlatched the armour’s buckles.

In the opposite cell, Annah sighed. “Today was exciting, but I’m beat. I’m so looking forward to laying around all day tomorrow.”

Along the back wall of Khukri’s cage was a row of movable hooks attached to horizontal bars, where she draped her cloak and armguard. “Laying around? We have a whole week off. I’m going to see if Maya can get me permission to go swimming.”

“After requesting a new spear, or before?”

Khukri pulled the remaining armour pieces off, letting her fur breathe as she added them to hooks. With a soft groan, she stretched, then knelt beside the washbasin. The spear always came first, but since she’d gone and destroyed that she’d start with the knife. “After... I guess.”

“Maybe I’ll join you, if you agree not to turn it into a contest again.” Annah dragged her washbasin to the bars, talking to Khukri as they rinsed blood from their armour before wiping it down with old rags. Once their weapons and armour shone, they scrubbed themselves of the hunt’s dirt and blood.

Water sloshed over Khukri’s fur, leaving red-tinted trails flowing between the cells. Her ears flicked involuntarily, spraying water as she struggled to control the splashing. Some of her packmates were trying to rest, and it was common courtesy to keep it down. After she’d done what she could, she switched to Annah’s cell and knelt next to her washbasin. “Can you make sure there’s no blood under my collar? I can’t see.” Khukri slid two claws under the steel circlet around her neck and pulled it out as far as she could.

“Yeah. Do me, too?” Annah filled her food bowl with water, then poured it down her friend’s neck while she scrubbed behind the band. “You know, when it comes to cleaning, I’m jealous of the white fur. You can know for sure you got it all.”

“Thanks?” Khukri returned the gesture, cleaning the last of her friend before retreating to her cell. “I prefer yours. One speck of blood or muck on mine and everyone can see it all day.”

The door clanked, causing Khukri’s ears to twitch as she locked the bolt. Now, all that remained was to satisfy her complaining stomach. She pushed the bowl to the gap in the bars and lay on the straw, watching it while turning over the day’s events. That twitch in her brain still wore at her, eroding her willpower whenever she let down her guard.

I’m the strongest, I deserve to lead, I want more, me me me. Luckily, the others didn’t need to know about those thoughts. It’d only worry them, and Maya had things under control. The order was secure, and everyone was safe from her, at least for now.

Her tail flicked about as she propped herself up. Mistress H moved past the cells, filling the room with the smell of roasted meat from a hissing pot. She smiled down at Khukri’s hopeful gaze, then pulled on the door to make sure it was locked. Satisfied, she slid the dish out and upturned the pot, overflowing it with spitting sausages in a broth of their own juices. When Mistress H pushed the bowl back, Khukri hurriedly crawled to it, unable to resist burying her muzzle in the delicious meal and devouring her prize.