Huntress

by S. J. Sanders

  He heard Tah curse and scrabble at the window, his entry interrupted by the unexpected loud blast. Holding the human still beneath him, Gund growled in frustration as the Master jerked up with a startled shout. Gund ground out a snarled curse, his eyes tracking the movement of his prey. The male was too smart to stay and fight where he was at a disadvantage.

  With a blade in hand that materialized from somewhere within the bedding, the Master Huntsman rolled immediately onto the floor and sprung to his feet. Distracted by an intriguing scent, Gund tensed, his muscles coiling to leap after the fleeing male, when something heavy crashed into the side of his head. His vision blackened only momentarily from the force of the impact, but he was unable to prevent himself from careening sideways as he fell to the floor. Anger rushed through him as he became aware of the fact that his quarry was no longer within the room.

  In the distance, he could hear feet rushing toward the room. Guards.

  Gund snarled and lifted his head. Painted shards shattered around him and he shook his head repeatedly. His assailant had leaped to their feet and was currently escaping toward the doorway. Orth darted forward as Gund felt Tah’s four hands close around his arms from behind and haul him onto his feet. He swayed a bit, steadying himself back against his brother’s solid form as a startled squeak issued from the doorway where Orth pinned the small human. Gund watched as his brother paused and leaned down to sniff curiously. The male jerked back his head in surprise, a low rumble echoing from his chest. Orth turned a questioning look his way.

  “What would you like me to do with this female?”

  Gund stared at the dark figure, struggling against Orth’s grip where he held her pinned in place against the wall by one hand banded around her neck. A female. That explained the distracting scent. Female or not, she cost him his quarry.

  Revolutions wasted because of her interference. She would pay.

  Orth snapped his teeth in warning when the female kicked out, narrowly missing the pouch of the male’s sheath when he evaded at the last minute. She was fortunate that it was Orth she tried that on. Gund wouldn’t have hesitated to nip her for the insult, regardless of whether or not any damage had been done. Tah made an impatient sound behind him and he cursed again. The sound of the approaching guard grew louder. They didn’t have time to deal with her at that moment.

  “Bring the little assassin,” Gund snarled, one hand going up to swipe at the wound just behind his ear. His hand came away wet, and he inspected the fluid on his fingertips. The vicious little female had drawn blood. His lips peeled back with displeasure.

  Orth huffed but lowered her to her feet and released his hold on her throat in favor of binding her arms against her sides as he held her against him. He bent just enough that he was able to pick up her weapon that had clattered to the floor when he’d seized her. The female eyed it and renewed her struggles, but Orth merely grunted and tossed it to Tah, who caught it midair and secured it in a sack hanging from his harness. Although her face was still obscured by a thick material dropping low over her face, Gund could feel the fury radiating off her. His snarl shifted into an amused grin.

  “You try anything at all, and I will kill you,” she spat as Orth hauled her closer, holding her immobile against his chest so he could climb unhindered.

  “You might find it a bit harder to accomplish than you think,” Gund said, laughing as she growled ineffectually at him.

  They had to kill her, there was no question about that. But they had time. At least she was amusing, for the time being. With a silent nod at Orth, Gund turned and leaped out the window, followed closely by his triad. He heard the shouts of the humans trailing their escape.

  Darting along the rooftops, Gund could hear the alarm rising through the city as guards called to each, and a terrible wailing sound pierced the night. They wouldn’t be able to stay in the citadel now, not with every human in residence on alert.

  That was fine—he didn’t plan to stay. The Master had fled.

  Gund doubted that he would return to the large den while he still felt pursued. Their triad would have to hunt him down and kill him by another means.

  Though he was angry at the wasted revolutions, he couldn’t help the sharp grin that pulled at his mouth. He did so enjoy a good hunt.

  His eyes strayed over to the female held tightly against his brother, despite the way she struggled. They leaped easily over the wall of the Citadel, tearing off for an abandoned human structure that they’d discovered when they first scouted the surrounding lands. It was drafty, but it kept them safe from the weather, and humans seemed to avoid the area for some unknown reason. Gund didn’t care about the cause of their absence. All that mattered was that they were able to make use of it to sleep during the day.

  They were halfway through overgrown fields, very much unlike the cultivated ones that lined the territory, when Orth cursed. Readjusting his grip, he issued a low warning growl.

  “Bite me again, female, and I will bite you back. This is your only warning,” he snarled.

  Tah chuckled at Gund’s side as they made their way for the haphazardly built stone den. Maybe they wouldn’t kill her, despite her attempts to maim them. She was proving amusing and quite spirited. Although she was nothing like Emala, the only other human female they had met, in truth she hadn’t done any lasting harm. A good scare, a bit of punishment to dissuade a repeat performance, and then they could release her and turn their attention back to their hunt. He said as much to his brothers in Ragii and both males grinned as they ducked into the den. If Orth’s grin was more aggressive than usual, it didn’t bother Gund.

  After they were through with her, the female would never dare to cross a Ragoru again.

  3

  Heidi glared at the Ragoru who dumped her on a pile of furs lying over straw. The creatures were considerably larger than she’d imagined during her training. Larger than what she’d prepared to fight. Standing at least a foot and a half taller than her six-foot frame, they were enormous predators. She eyed the male looming over where she sat, his massive chest expanding and contracting with every breath. He was a dark silver, almost gray, with two sets of impressive pectoral muscles that each directed her attention to a muscular arm held at attention away from his side, lethal claws flexing. Four pale yellow eyes peered down at her as his lip curled, exposing the long, sharp fangs for which his kind was known.

  She knew of some older hunters who owned necklaces of fangs collected from their prey, though she’d always considered the tradition to be in bad taste. Now faced with the sight of them she could understand why one might consider taking the fangs as a testament of their survival against such a foe. If survival was what it could be called.

  Although the Order touted its origins as defenders of humanity against the mutated monsters that had ravaged the last few hundred years, the zealousness with which the huntsmen sought the Ragoru had always struck her as peculiar, even at a young age. She’d been grateful to be spared from hunting them when the Master brought her into his service. She’d believed then that she would never come face-to-face with a Ragoru, but now that fate had fallen upon her.

  Swallowing, Heidi stood, her eyes never leaving the male. Although the other two were nearby, this male was the immediate threat. She pulled her lips back from her teeth threateningly. She lacked the massive fangs, but the message was clear: she wasn’t going to back down or be intimidated.

  The male’s lip dropped, and he cocked his head. He was curious, but his vigilance didn’t relax even a little as he eyed her in turn. Her gaze shifted to the other two males, one a deep gray and the other pale silver, watching her from the other side of the room. Her anger sparked at the sight of the dark male—the one who stole her vengeance!

  Snarling, she searched her body for anything to throw at the hulking monster, the gray male in front of her momentarily forgotten in her ire. She’d already nailed the gray male with the vase in the manor, but he didn’t seem to be suffering at all from it. What
ever momentary satisfaction she’d felt then turned bitter in her stomach.

  Heidi sneered as her fingers closed around what felt like a chunk of metal. She lobbed what looked like a broken pot handle as she stood, and it went careening toward the male. Not that it hit its target. He dodged the missile effortlessly and gave her a threatening look.

  “Be still, female,” the male at her side growled. “Unless you would like Gund to come over here and take his ire out on your hide at this moment.”

  “His ire? His ire! He cost me my vengeance!” Heidi hissed.

  The male in question snapped his ears back and stalked toward her, fury radiating from every line of his body. His eyes appeared evil; a malevolent glow aimed at her. One side of his face was badly scarred, with four long slashes that ran from the bridge of his nose to his jaw.

  If he thought that he was going to cow her into submission, he was mistaken. The huntsmen of the Order had never succeeded in making her back down even when they ganged up on her and tormented her … She wasn’t about to crumble in front of an irate Ragoru, no matter how terrifying he looked coming at her with fangs bared and fur bristling. She had faced fear before; she never would have made it through her childhood if she had succumbed to it. Heidi stiffened her spine and met his gaze head on. The male at her side drew back as Gund stalked toward her.

  “The Master is mine!” he snarled with a decisive snap of his wicked teeth just inches from her face as he loomed over her. His breath fanned her hair as he huffed angrily.

  She glowered up at him, her eyes trailing over every scar bisecting fur the color of aged iron. There was no question that the Ragoru had every reason to kill the Master Huntsman for what had been done to their species, but she wasn’t so quick to give up her rightful prey.

  Heidi threw back her shoulders and thrust her chest out, her leather breastplate just barely aligning to his lower pectoral. His secondary eyes at his temple dropped to her chest for a moment, but unlike the men she’d trained with, he was far too smart to be distracted. Or perhaps because she was human, and he was Ragoru. Whatever.

  She bared her teeth in a nasty smile. “You are in my way, Ragoru. It is ill-advised to be in my way. Ask any of the huntsmen if you dare. The Master trained me himself… before he betrayed me and tried to have me killed. He is mine alone. Give me back my weapon and I’ll be on my way.”

  She held out her hand calmly for the pistol. She didn’t expect it to be handed over, but she made her request known.

  He drew back, his ears shifting before his expression hardened once more. He gave her open hand a dismissive look and he snorted contemptuously. “A female huntsman… Clever,” he growled. “Do you think I should feel any sympathy for you? You are but one among many murderers! You are no different than the female who was sent after Emala.”

  Heidi froze. “Emala? She is dead?”

  Sorrow washed through her with an unfamiliar pang as she thought of the girl she’d aided in her escape. The girl she had willingly risked everything for. Dead by another huntsman. There were few females among the Order. Who had been missing from their number at that time? She tried to recall the hushed words of spies, collected for her by Gertrude while Heidi spent a year healing from her grievous wounds. Heidi had paid them well to keep watch on the comings and goings from the Order. Would they have noticed a cloaked woman when women were a common sight in all parts of their city and rarely employed among the Order?

  A sigh burst from her lips. The identity of the huntress didn’t matter. Even if Heidi had caught wind of it, she hadn’t been in any condition to stop her. Besides, it was obvious that if the Ragoru had been close enough to know who killed Emala, the huntress wouldn’t have made it out alive. She would have been dead long before Heidi had even begun the years of physical training to regain her strength and agility.

  Gund watched her carefully as he spoke. “Not dead. We all thought as much at first, but by some miracle she recovered thanks to the quick actions of her triad. You know the female?”

  Her shoulders sagged with relief. She was alive. Heidi shook her head slowly. “I do not know her personally, but my sympathy for her plight and my aid during her escape are what brought the Order down on me. I may be a murderer, Ragoru, and I do what I do very well, but I do not stand idle while innocents suffer.”

  A low growl was the answer she received as his body shifted and he circled her. The other two males watched as they blocked any escape. Heidi ground her teeth together as the darker male played his games.

  His breath suddenly fanned the back of her neck as he leaned in and spoke. “Tell me why I shouldn’t kill you now… huntress.”

  The corners of her lips quirked in disdain. “I am not so easy to kill,” she said, mimicking his words earlier. In a flash, she twisted, her body dropping as she swept her leg around. She knew that she wouldn’t be able to escape; she just wanted to make a point.

  The heavy legs of the Ragoru hurt her shin as she kicked them out from beneath him, but the satisfying sound of him crashing to the ground with an indignant snarl was more than worth the pinch of pain radiating up her leg. She was still crouched, slowly rising, as she eyed the other two males who stilled in surprise when the male hit the floor. She met their eyes with a challenge, and their ears pinned back in irritation. The paler male shifted forward, his blue eyes glinting dangerously, when the male on the floor barked at him.

  “Tah!”

  The male—Tah, she presumed—halted immediately. He bristled at her, but it was clear which male was the lead of this triad. Heidi turned and raised an eyebrow at the iron-gray male behind her. His yellow eyes were fixed on her with such an incredible intensity that they seemed to burn into her. It reminded her of what one of her elderly mentors had said when he spoke of the Ragoru.

  “Their gaze is terrible. Coming from four orbs rather than two, usually hellishly lit with yellow fires as they burn straight through you, weighing how long it would take for them to tear you apart and consume every bit of your flesh. Try not to look into their eyes so that your fear is not your undoing,” he’d lectured.

  Well, she ignored that advice now. She didn’t shy away from staring into the gaze that could very well be her death. Long ago, she decided she would look death in the face when it came time to battle against it with her dying breath. She’d done it once already. She wasn’t going to shrink from Gund’s scarred face, and bared her teeth at him in a poor facsimile of a smile.

  “Do you want me all to yourself, Gund?” she purred.

  Gund watched her, his body not betraying any sign of his feelings or thoughts. Other than his burning gaze, he seemed cool and unaffected as he sized her up. Then his jaw dropped with a lupine grin that completely lacked humor or warmth.

  “It seems we are at an impasse,” he growled. “We both want the same thing and neither of us will give up our prey. The easiest way of solving the problem would be to just kill you and be done with it.”

  The male who carried her made a sound low in his throat in what sounded suspiciously like a protest if she wasn’t so certain that the Ragoru were merciless killers far beyond even her abilities. She would receive no gentleness or sympathy from any of them. Whatever she thought she heard from him was nothing more than a product of her imagination.

  The lead male glanced over at him and shared a look she was unable to comprehend. “But I won’t… for now,” he amended. “You were close to the Master and may have useful information.”

  Heidi stiffened as he stepped closer, his fur casually brushing her arm as he walked by. It was meant to unsettle her. She recognized the calculated move for what it was as he paced over to his brother’s side. Gund turned away to address the other male.

  “Orth, go find the length of rope from among our supplies,” he directed with a low, rumbling growl. She wasn’t immediately certain if the sound was a threat or not. Whatever the case, she had his full undivided attention, and this time he wasn’t taking any chance in relaxing his guard around her
. That much was obvious. His eyes glittered at her knowingly and with undisguised glee. “We cannot trust the female roaming loose in our den, and I would prefer to be able to sleep with my eyes shut tonight. Perhaps being tied up will teach her some respect.”

  “Doubtful,” she replied, surprising a bark of laughter from Gund. He crossed his upper arms over his chest and planted his lower hands on his hips as he examined her.

  “Make it two ropes,” he amended and she mentally cursed. “It occurs to me that she can do rather vile things with her feet free. We will have to hobble her.”

  Heidi glared at the three males as Tah rejoined his triad. He chuckled with amusement, and she narrowed her eyes on him. Stupid beast. His grin widened, undeterred by her obvious hostility, as he leaned in to speak to Gund.

  “Our little human doesn’t seem very happy to be in our company, especially now that she’s stuck with us,” he observed with another deep, dark chuckle.

  Gund nodded and smirked. “Perhaps she should have been nicer. This may yet be a good lesson for her about taking care of whom she challenges.”

  Turning her head away, she scowled at the wall of the shithole she was confined in. “I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you,” she said. “Or better yet, please do hold it. It would give me immense satisfaction watching you pass out from lack of air.”

  Mocking laughter followed once more. But out of the corner of her eye, she saw Orth’s lips curved with genuine humor that glinted in his yellow eyes. He almost seemed friendly before he remembered that she’d attempted to maim him more than once. His expression immediately flattened, and he cast her an inscrutable look before disappearing into another room at Gund’s direction.