Hina scanned the treeline beyond the tower, ready to throw her stone at the first sign of a beast. Kai stood next to her, his spear held ready. The sun hadn't risen over the trees yet. She shivered with the cold breeze. There was nothing in sight, nothing was moving—

A man with shaggy brown hair walked out of the forest directly in front of Hina. Lean muscles rippled, his disheveled beard swaying with each loping stride. A filthy set of dark-brown suit pants covered him from the waist down, suspenders dangling. He wasn't wearing anything else.

"Well, hello there," he called out, walking steadily closer. Behind him, wolf-like shapes stood at the edge of the forest. Hina could see two of them clearly. Her legs felt weak. Were there others waiting just out of sight?

She turned a little to the side, ready to throw. Kai held his spear in both hands, pointing out.

The wolves didn't come any closer. They stayed at the edge of the forest behind them, one lying down. The other stood still as a statue. Both watched her.

The man walked right up to Hina, ignoring both of their weapons. "I must admit, I'm a little impressed." He spoke loudly, and Hina didn't recognise the accent. "Nobody like you has come out of there in a very long time. Little fella in particular." He took one step forward and put his hand out. "Bruce." His smile showed teeth.

Hina hesitated. She let go of the sling with her right hand, handles dropping to dangle from the pouch in her left hand, the stone hard and heavy within her fist. She dropped her left hand to her side.

She took the extended hand. "Hina." One pump. Bruce's grip was firm. She nodded in Kai's direction. "This is Kai." Hina drew her hand back.

"So," Bruce leaned in. "What's your secret?" He breathed in heavily, nostrils flaring. And leaned back, raising his eyebrows. "Well?"

Hina looked blankly at him.

"You know the drill. Me and mine," he gestured vaguely behind him. "We'da killed and eaten ya, you know, if you hadn't gone in there." He nodded towards the tower at Hina's back. "Way of the world. Still might, being honest, depends on what you have to say about all this, I suppose." His smile got bigger as he leaned in, dropped his voice a little. "Sometimes we let the little fellas like him go," he tilted his head towards Kai. "It's good for business, brings in new customers." He got louder. "But not your kind."

"What—what kind is that?"

"You know what you are. Nothing personal, you understand. But here you are. Outside. With him. And both of you smelling like the old man." His smile faded, his voice hardened. "How?"

"We killed—" A softness in Hina's chest shifted, went firm. "Everything—everything that threatened us in there, we killed it." She took a step forward, right hand slipping down to the knife in her belt. "You understand?"

Bruce's eyes went wide. "Oh, did you now?" he said. "How very, very, " he grinned, "scary." He leaned in close, brown eyes staring right into Hina's. "What about the old man? Did ya kill him too?"

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

What old man? Alik? "No," said Hina. "We—we talked. We came to an, an arrangement." She thought about the footsteps on the staircase, the feeling like doom descending. Better to keep it vague.

There was a pause and Hina forced herself to maintain eye contact—to show no fear. Or, as little fear as she could manage.

Bruce looked thoughtful. "Well, well, well." He took a step back, then he smiled again, showing teeth. "Must say, that's exactly what I was hoping to hear. Here I am, and here you are." His smile turned friendlier, the wildness gone away for a moment. "Just as you said, I too am looking to make an arrangement. We've been at this for a while, me and mine."

"At—hunting travellers?"

"That's right. Travellers, children, run-aways, even the occasional adventurer. Them that won't be missed. We chase 'em in there, quick as you please. Now yes, some do go missing here and there. Some of them even come out after, and we let those go. Well, most of 'em. What I'm getting at is that we do our share, just like we agreed. You couldn't ask for anything more. No complaints." Bruce looked at her intently as if waiting for a response.

"It—it sounds like you're doing a... good job?"

"Glad you think so. Glad you think so." He looked pleased for a moment. "I like to think of it as a calling. We do our best." His gaze returned to Hina in full force. "So. Me and mine, we've been thinking that it's time we started getting our fair share."

Hina swallowed. "What do you want?"

"Coin for starters." He frowned. "Getting into this business, we thought we'd just go ahead and take what we wanted, when we wanted it. Hasn't worked out that way. They're a surprisingly penniless bunch, our marks. What little coin there is ends up in there." He inclined his head towards the tower. "It must do. We certainly haven't seen it. And a few creature comforts would go a long way. A very long way... And of course." Bruce paused. "Of course, we want a bigger slice. What we're getting now, well it barely keeps us clothed and fed—so to speak, you understand? It's not right."

"I see." Hina worked to keep her expression neutral. "And you know I don't speak for—can't speak for... the old man?"

"Oh, of course not. Nobody speaks for the old man but the old man. But," he said, "if you could have a word with him? As you say, you do have his ear, you're on speaking terms." He leaned in. "Isn't that right?"

"Wait, you don't speak with him directly? How do you... How does that work?"

"We hold to the terms of our agreement, naturally, of course we do." He put a hand alongside his face as if for secrecy, "but you wouldn't catch us dead in there, even if we hadn't agreed otherwise. Whole place is unnatural. You know how it is, I'm sure. It's unnatural."

Hina didn't, but she let it pass. "Let me think for a second." She paused for a long moment. "We're on our way to the academy, did you know that?"

"Oh, fuck me." Bruce frowned. "He's not even teaching you himself? That's not good. Thats disrespectful, that is. Why—"

"So," she interrupted. "Here's what we'll do. I will have a word with him, see if I can make your case. But I'll have to do that when I come back in a few we—months. In a few months." Hina held her hand out in Kai's direction. "And for now, here's something to tide you over." She gestured towards Kai again, expectantly.

Kai passed her the gold coin, fingers lingering a little longer than necessary.

Hina held it out for Bruce. "Are we in agreement?"

Bruce reached for the coin.

Hina held it back. "Are we agreed?" She repeated.

Bruce frowned. "I think." He paused. "Hmm. I think we can live with that. For now." He took the coin, then looked at it closely. He grinned. "Yes. This will do nicely." He made eye contact. His brown eyes were so dark they were nearly black. "Do hurry back."

He turned and walked back into the forest. The wolf-beasts had disappeared some time during their conversation. Nothing moved. The forest was still and silent.

Hina looked at Kai, who was staring into the forest with a blank expression. She patted his shoulder. "Come on, let's get out of here."