Stalking the Beast

by Howard Andrew Jones

  "You learn anything good?" he whispered. He then rolled to face her. With his back to the fire, she could see very little of his expression. His breath smelled sour, as of ale. He had a limitless capacity for the stuff, and had probably packed several wineskins of it on the side of his mule.

  Lisette checked to either side. Drutha was closest, about five feet over, and snoring loudly.

  "They think the summoner's part of our band," she told Karag softly.

  The dwarf shook his head. "This is a helluva thing you've gotten us involved with."

  "I know."

  His eyes flicked up. "Seems to me maybe you should have talked with me before taking this job."

  It didn't matter that she herself was regretting the job; she was the one who paid him, and he had no right to question her. It was time to remind him of that. "You work for me, Karag."

  "Aye, for the bounty hunter Lisette." He jabbed at her with one thick finger, then lowered his voice. "Not for Lisette the assassin. Or whatever else you sign on to be."

  She sneered. "Two years we've worked together. It's a damned inconvenient time to grow scruples."

  Karag was a long time answering. He rolled over to stare up at the canopy of leaves above. His voice was pitched so low she could barely understand him. "I've been thinking maybe all the money I want out of this is what I get out of that beast's hide. From the mayor. But then I think, much as I hate orcs, maybe what I want is an even split. It's not like I'm doing a third of the work now. I should get half."

  Lisette kept her tone light, not revealing her boiling anger. "You figure?"

  "That thing can tear either of us apart. There's no telling with magic. Or monsters. I'm not just your backup on this one."

  "It's bad form," she reminded him, "to renegotiate in the midst of a mission."

  "I figured you'd say that. I say it's bad form to take on a job that's so different without bothering to consult me."

  "Sixty-forty," Lisette offered.

  "I'll think on it."

  "Think on it fast," she hissed, and sat up. She stuffed both pistols through her belt and left the dwarf brooding near their blankets.

  She had never expected this from Karag. They'd never been friends, exactly, but she and the dwarf enjoyed a certain morbid camaraderie. She was realizing now just how much she'd begun to depend on him, which made her even more angry. He'd become an expert with the loading and priming of weapons. As good as she was herself, though not as fast as Kerrigan. Of course, it would have been hard to be as fast as Kerrigan. Those big, powder-stained hands of his had been remarkably capable.

  At thought of those fine hands her frown deepened, and she found herself striding away, off toward the tree line. The figure moving on her left she identified as Elyana, just now leaving Illidian's tent. The elven woman didn't walk for her bedroll, but to where the horses were picketed. She was always doing something with the damned horses. She was worse about them than Lisette was about her powder and guns.

  A second figure had stepped forward from Illidian's tent as well: one who, by his profile, watched the elven woman drift gracefully away before raising his face to consider the stars shining high above the clearing, framed by the dark treetops that surrounded them on three sides.

  Even by darkness, Illidian was beautiful. As she stepped closer she could not help noticing he didn't reek of man-stink and boots, even after a long day in the saddle. He smelled of leather, and blood, and the sweet musk that was elven sweat.

  His head turned to her as she drew near. She was not sure, really, what she intended, but even as she questioned her own motives she halted before him.

  "Don't you need rest?" Illidian asked gently.

  "Don't you?"

  "I have trouble sleeping." His hand fell to the elbow above the empty sleeve, for he had removed his hook. "I frequently do. But it's no struggle for an elf to go without sleep."

  "Sometimes a woman can go without sleep."

  She felt his gaze settle keenly on her then, and he faced her more fully.

  "You're not so blunt in your speech as many humans," he said.

  "Do you find that interesting?" Lisette stepped boldly closer to him.

  "I find you interesting," he said softly. "Very interesting."

  "And why is that?"

  He touched the curls of her hair. "I can sense that it is the hunt that fires you, and that you thrill to a good chase. You are deadly and seasoned...Yet you are beautiful."

  "Beautiful for a human?"

  "Beautiful by any standard," he said, and, not missing the hint of her upturned lips, he kissed her.

  She returned that kiss without revealing the burning turmoil she felt within. With a man, this union would be folly. But with an elf...No, there was no good reasoning about it. She was in a foul mood, and knew two ways to relieve it. She wasn't about to get drunk. Illidian, though...She had wanted him from the first moment she'd caught sight of him, so she took his hand and led him through the canvas flap to his own bedroll.

  Soon she knew him very well, forgetting her anger and loosing her desire in one swift and glorious flood. As she rode him he muttered nonsense words in Elven, praising her beauty and wishing, in a forlorn way, that such beauty would not fade so swiftly, because he did not think she understood him. Something uncoiled within her as he spoke, and she told him how beautiful he was, though she kept from saying that sight of him had brought her heart to her throat. She was no little girl to say such things, even if she felt them.

  After, she lay with her head upon his shoulder and he stroked her bare arm and traced fingers along the surface of her naked skin.

  "How did you come to be a bounty hunter?"

  His question was so casual she didn't think she would have been suspicious if she hadn't just overheard his talk with Elyana. Her preference would have been to say as little as possible, but she meant to allay his fears.

  "I used to have a different line of work. In Cheliax. I didn't have any choice in the matter," she added. "I was sold into service, and worked my way up."

  "What kind of service?"

  "I killed things," she said. She wanted him to understand that she wasn't in another old profession.

  "If you're saying what I think you're saying," he said, delicately, "then those sorts of careers aren't easy to leave. How did you do it?"

  "I had a series of assignments with a marksman from Alkenstar. A kind of noble, if you will. We...became close." Was she saying too much? She'd just wanted to hint that she used to be an assassin so it would seem she hid nothing. Why, then, did she feel compelled to keep talking? "And he had the pull, with my organization, to help see me clear. He told me I had too much conscience to do what I was doing, but suggested we join forces to do similar work. So we did."

  "I'm sorry," he said, and kissed her gently on the cheek.

  She did not understand, at that moment, why the action touched her so. "What was that for?" she asked quietly. Her heart trembled a little even as she scoffed.

  "He's dead," he said simply, "and you cared for him very deeply. I heard it in your voice."

  She pressed closer to him then, and kissed him, and he kissed her back, and before long they took greater time to explore one another until they lay exhausted together.

  She did not creep back to her own bedroll until shortly before dawn. She fell swiftly asleep once more. When there came a touch at her shoulder she smiled at first, her dream self recalling the touch of her elven lover. It was a rude shock to find Karag's hairy face frowning at her. The sky over his shoulder was touched with a hint of amber.

  "Elyana means to move out in the next quarter-hour. Best grab some food. I let you sleep as long as I dared."

  "Why didn't you wake me sooner?"

  "I saw you had a late night of it."

  Lisette scowled and sat up.

  Karag spoke on as the rest of the camp bustled to life. "I've decided I want fifty-five, forty-five, on account of you not telling me the game was different this ti
me."

  "You push your luck," she snapped.

  "You push yours, without me. We're partners. Hell, the elf treats her orc better than you treat me."

  Lisette didn't know how to respond to that.

  "You can see the way he talks to her," Karag continued. "They're real friends, Lisette."

  "Friends? I thought we were business partners, not spit-swappers. You stupid dwarf." She rolled out of her blankets. "You remember that time I dragged you out of Druma with blood running into your beard? Or the time I swung back to shoot those bastards when your mule went lame?"

  Karag only frowned.

  "Did I need to hold your hand when I did that?" She jabbed at him with one finger. "If I can't count on you, I'm dead. But I tell you what. If I think we're outnumbered and going down, I'll save a bullet for you. Because we're close."

  She ran through a string of curses in her head as she methodically checked her gear once more, then stepped away to the fire, where the stupid half-orc was bent over a bowl of oats. He saw her and passed up a wooden bowl, indicating the cooking pot slung over the fire.

  She snatched it away, instantly regretting that she revealed her emotions, but the rudeness of the gesture didn't seem to register with the half-orc. She served herself, then crouched down on a rock beside Melias, who looked like she'd just come through another crying jag. She sniffled so much Lisette found herself wishing she'd taken a seat beside Drelm

  Halfway through the meal, Elyana and Illidian paced into view, chattering at each other in the musical language of the elves. Elyana and Aladel had been out on an early patrol and discovered tracks of a horse heading west, and she and Illidian debated now whether those tracks were recent, or if they'd been in place the night before. She caught Illidian looking over at her, and she felt herself brighten a little at his attention even though she kept her expression bland.

  Soon they were in the saddle and riding west, split once again into three groups. Melias rode with the central party, presumably so Elyana could watch her.

  Drelm had been placed in charge of Lisette's squad with Karag and Calvonis. Elyana and Illidian, having decided she was no threat to Drelm, had made it that much easier for Lisette to get close to him.

  She was looking right at Calvonis's helmeted head when the fanged, long-armed thing swung down from the trees and grabbed hold of his horse's skull. The mount screamed in terror while the hairy monster showed fangs in a roar. The creature wrenched, there was a loud snap, and the horse dropped.

  Lisette's horse reared in fright, and Karag's mule shied backward. Drelm spun his great warhorse with an elegant curvet and drove in, swinging his axe one-handed.

  Lisette fought for control of her animal. Cursing her mount, kicking it, wrestling its head to the left all did no good—the stink from the beast was too much for the animal. She calmed it long enough to leap down, and then she was rushing forward with her rifle for a clear shot.

  Calvonis struggled to push the horse's carcass out of the way to free his trapped leg. The thing roared at Drelm, who'd just cut a broad slice into its furred chest. It raised one titanic paw and clouted him in the head, staggering him.

  Lisette shot the animal through the chest, where its heart should have been. This set it spinning but didn't drop it. Once more it roared, swinging again at Drelm, who ducked.

  Karag ran up with her second rifle. Just as she was drawing a bead on the creature a second one dropped from the trees behind Drelm, and she shifted targets. It was damnable bad luck she was supposed to ensure the half-orc lived until the summoned beast was dead, for she might have shot him "accidentally" at any point in the exchange.

  "It wasn't there a moment ago," Karag said as he rapidly readied her first rifle. "It just popped out of nowhere! It's the damned summoner!"

  "That's magic for you," Lisette snapped, and dropped the second rifle beside him. She pulled a pistol from her sash.

  Calvonis freed himself from his dead horse at last, cursing. Drelm dropped his axe into the second ape's shoulder. Lisette fired, missed as the thing drove suddenly forward. She tossed down the pistol as she drew its replacement, fired again, caught the beast in its shoulder blade. It was in mid-roar as Drelm split its skull in half lengthwise. Blood and brains splattered out in a wide arc, flying far enough even to catch Lisette's shirtsleeve. The monster slumped to the ground, twitching, and Drelm lowered his bloody axe. A moment later the creature vanished in a puff of smoke, though its blood still coated their clothing and gear.

  A limping Calvonis joined them, his sword dripping blood to the hilt.

  "Finished the other one off," he said, panting.

  The sounds of barking, snarling dogs and the shouts of battle rose from the right, where the other squads were hidden by the trees.

  Calvonis raised his sword. "Follow!" He dashed off at a good clip, still limping. Drelm ran after.

  Lisette grabbed both rifles from Karag, handed off her pistols, and followed.

  She had just caught up to Drelm when the ground gave way beneath them and they tumbled into darkness.

  Lisette landed heavily on Drelm's shoulder, knocking the breath from her lungs. The half-orc had hit the dirt floor of the pit trap only a heartbeat before. Lisette slammed her head and elbow into the wall and briefly saw stars. It took a moment before she realized the cracking noise she'd heard was not her aching arm, but the bore of her best rifle, which had broken off.

  "You alright?" Drelm asked gruffly. One huge hand steadied her as she struggled to her feet.

  She glared at him in answer; he only blinked back and looked up out of the hole. The rim, perfectly rectangular, lay some eighteen feet overhead. She expected to see Karag leaning down with a rope, but there was no sign of him, only the tinny clack of weapons and distant shouting.

  "Lisette!" Calvonis was there, leaning over the edge, weakly defined against the white square of light he now blocked.

  "We're alright," Lisette shouted up. At the same moment Drelm roared to grab a rope, Calvonis pulled back his head.

  "Hang on," he called. "I'll get help!"

  "A rope, not help!" Lisette shouted back, then cursed to herself. "Idiot."

  "The summoner planned this well," Drelm said. "He must have called beasts to dig traps and lured us here with the tracks."

  "He's toying with us," Lisette agreed.

  "Can you climb to my shoulders?"

  "I could. But it wouldn't get us far." Lisette looked up to the hole above. "How could he have dug this in a single night?"

  "I don't think he did," Drelm told her. "These have been here a while. Look at the sides."

  Lisette put her hand to the flat side of the wall and found it dry to her touch.

  "Abadar watches over us," Drelm said. "We're lucky the summoner planted no spears."

  Lisette sourly regarded her ruined rifle. "The next time you see Abadar, tell him to luck us out of the hole entirely."

  At that moment, something large tumbled into the hole, blocking light in the brief moment before it slammed into them. Something hard and cold and metallic bashed her face, spraying her with warm liquid. Blood. She spat it out in horror as she heard laughter from above.

  Karag. It was Karag who'd fallen on them, limp, bloody—and dead. The light shaft caught on one of his blank, staring eyes.

  Someone had pushed a very dead Karag into the hole. Drelm helped Lisette wrestle her comrade off her, and she fought down a surge of fear as she looked up to find the source of laughter.

  Once again, the rectangle of light framed the figure so that she couldn't see features, only the limned outline of his head. But there was no mistaking the man looking down at them. Calvonis.

  "I'll bring more help," he said, "just as soon as I can."

  He laughed again and was gone.

  paizo.com #3236236, Corry Douglas , Aug 10, 2014

  Chapter Ten

  The Wilewood

  Elyana

  Elyana happened to be looking at Cyrelle wh
en the ape swung out of the trees and knocked the huntswoman from the saddle.

  The creature landed heavily beside the groaning Cyrelle and was reaching for her head when Elyana's sword stroke left a deep red furrow along the black fur of its back. It spun, showed its fangs, and roared, only to take a kick to the face as Calda reared and lashed out with two heavy hooves.

  The ape staggered. Cyrelle rose to one knee and jammed a thick-bladed knife deep into its side.

  There was no missing a second cry of alarm to the north and another simian roar from farther off. Closer at hand, Melias shouted something that was a mix of scream and incantation, and Elyana heard a thud as of something heavy falling just behind her.

  Cyrelle's dogs came running back, barking furiously. They'd ranged right past the tree the ape had dropped from only a few moments before. She didn't think they'd missed it—it hadn't been there. The apes had to be the summoner's work. The creatures were hardly native to the woodlands of the River Kingdoms.

  The ape was not yet dead. It clawed at Cyrelle, who rolled, taking only a glancing blow to her shoulder. Elyana leaned out to drive her sword through the back of the creature's throat. Blood spewed twice; once with the thrust and twice as it roared.

  The mercenary Grellen arrived at a sprint and then cut the thing almost in half with one mighty cleave of his gleaming longsword. As the body dropped, it vanished in a puff of smoke. Grellen leapt back in astonishment.

  "Glad you could make it," Elyana said, though on voicing the words, they sounded harsher than intended.

  "I'm not much on horseback," the mercenary said, panting, "or I'd have gotten here faster."

  "See to Cyrelle." Elyana started after where she'd heard the second ape.

  Melias's mount had fled into the deeper woods, and the girl was crawling backward through leafy detritus when Elyana reached her. Another ape stalked the girl on hairy knuckles. Elyana ducked a low tree branch and goaded Calda to speed, but two hounds beat her there, shooting forward to latch onto the monster's legs.

  The beast roared, swatting at them. They danced back, snarling, and the monster stomped after, swinging heavy arms.