by Lisa Daniels
She was about to push him away, but he was faster. Letting go of her arm, Phelan continued, “It’s only a temporary fix. You really need to take care of it, but at least the blood will attract less attention.”
Annora couldn’t quite keep up with the ambling discussions of the couple. “Thank you. And, again, I apologize for running into you. Now if you will please excuse me, I don’t want to lose the trail.”
The man’s eyebrow went up as Taja giggled again. “Oh, she must be a bounty hunter. After the rogue who injured you, huh? You had best let her go if you don’t want to end up on her list.”
Annora had already turned to leave when the words were spoken. The dragon slayer quickly swiveled around to look the odd pair over again. There was definitely something off about them. While she hardly ever took an interest in other humans, there was something about the couple that was hard to ignore.
She gave them a very quick smile. “You needn’t worry. I’m not going to track any creature that has aided me.” She paused. “Not without a very good reason, anyway.” Annora was about to turn and leave when an idea struck her. Turning one more time, she called out to them. The couple looked at her, seeming as if they had nearly forgotten about her. “There is a room at The Palace Paradise. Room 204. Just slip the note on the bed under the door to Room 500 and you can have the room. I won’t be back tonight. And be prepared for a bright, bubbly woman to visit you in the morning. She mostly means well, but she will have questions. The room is comfortable, so that will more than make up for any interrogations. Just tell her Annora is very sorry about not getting to give a proper goodbye and promises to explain the next time we meet. And if you would please not mention…” Her hand went up to the fresh bandage.
The couple shared another look, then nodded at her. Taja spoke up, “You are giving up a night at The Palace Paradise to go running off into the woods with a fresh wound? You are truly a unique woman. Well, we can hardly say no to the offer. We will let her know that you are well, minus the injury.” Annora couldn’t help but think they were a very handsome if somewhat foolish couple as they smiled and waved at her.
With that she turned and left.
“Thank you very much, Miss Bounty Hunter!” Taja sang out as the dragon hunter moved into the woods.
By the time Annora was surrounded by the dark of the forest, her mind had entirely forgotten everything from the day – everything except Elian. Something about him was very off, and not just his looks. Something about his presence was inhuman. She had already ruled out undead, which really didn’t leave much else to consider.
The young woman shook her head. No point in dwelling on it. If she got to the dragon first, there would be no need to think about that man again, not without a contract on him.
Red eyes. She couldn’t stop the thought.
Annoyed at her own inability to stop thinking about him, Annora tried to force her mind on the task at hand. Yes, keep thinking about it. He’ll find the dragon, kill it, and you will have given the dragon a swift end that it does not deserve. It came as a shock as she realized that she had automatically assumed Elian would win. The odds were certainly against either of them being successful, yet something told her that he would not fail.
The dragon hunter had been on the move for about 20 minutes when she heard a noise ahead of her, and she immediately dropped her hands to her weapons. As quickly as she wanted to get to the dragon, the forest was no place to be unaware, particularly this close to a town. All kinds of creatures would be roaming for people who strayed too far from the town, waiting for the easy prey who would already be panicked because they could not find their way back. There was a reason why people rarely stayed out after dark and why cities tended to lock the gates at night.
Annora’s attention was focused forward as she drew her blades. A sharp pain ran through her right arm, and the dirk dropped to the ground. The dragon slayer looked down at the dirk dug into the ground. She quickly stretched her hand out to grab it, more aware of the injury. Out of the corner of her eye, the young woman could see that the blood was easy to spot against the bandages. She hadn’t realized how badly she had been hurt, mostly because her adrenaline had been pumping ever since the incident in the alley.
Too late to do anything about it now, Annora thought as the sound grew closer. Her hand wrapped around the hilt and she stood up straight. Deciding it was best to try to go around whatever it was, the dragon hunter headed toward a clearing not too far from the town. As she stepped into the field, the moon was again momentarily darkened. Her eyes immediately went up and she was rewarded with the sight of the dragon moving in the direction of the Unforgiving Ridges, a mountain range that served as the boundary between Senses and Scythia. Scythia was a cold and dark country that most people avoided because it did not look kindly on foreigners. They had not joined any of the wars in the last 150 years, and no nation had tried to invade them during that time. Annora shuddered as she remembered the last time she had been there.
Of course that is where the dragon’s going. What better place for such a merciless creature than a cruel land.
While she wasn’t pleased that she would have to spend time on the border (particularly since it meant she was likely to have to spend time in the inhospitable Scythia), at least it meant that the beast was a long way from the town. That gave her an advantage if she pushed herself a little harder over the next few days.
A wicked grin crossed her face as she headed toward the other end of the clearing until her eyes latched onto the shadow emerging from it. Immediately she knew that she would not be making much progress that evening.
The glowing eyes of an orthrus told her that she was not going to be getting out of the night without a fight. The two-headed dog was more than twice her height. She could see the drool dripping from both of its mouths and knew that it had followed the smell of her blood. Casting a look behind her, Annora thought about running for it. Orthruses were difficult to fight on a good day, and right now she knew that her defense was going to be weakened by her injury. Her head quickly turned to look at the creature as she heard the sound of its padded feet heading toward her. Well, no choice left but to fight. Standing her ground, the young woman prepared for the initial strike.
The first head came in from the side while the other appeared to be taking her head-on. It was a move she had seen before (orthruses were very clever hunters, using both heads to full advantage), so instead of dodging to the side that appeared to be open, Annora stood still until she could feel its hot breath on her face. Just as the jaws were reaching for her, the woman dove under the head. It was a risky move, and she almost pulled it off without incident. Realizing what she was doing, the lead head tried to follow her. The teeth missed her, but the jaws slammed into her back, driving the young woman into the ground. Having tucked her body into a rolling position, the damage was minimal, but she managed to land on her injured arm. Blood began to flow at the bottom of the bandage as she stood. Her arm throbbed as she tried to level the dirk at the dog.
With the smell of blood so close, the orthrus became carelessly aggressive as it turned to face her again. Sensing the pain, the dog lunged at her again, its heads slamming together in the sheer excitement of the kill. Without a coordinated attack, Annora was able to lunge to the right and drag her sword down the creature’s belly, cutting open a long gash. The responding howl shook the ground. The creature stood and looked at her with pure hatred in its eyes, but it was not willing to attack her again. She could see the blood pouring from the wound. She may not have gutted it, but the creature would be easy prey for other beasts. It knew as well as she that it needed to find somewhere to hide until the wounds healed. Knowing it must have a pack somewhere in the forest, Annora did not doubt that the howls in the distance were in response to its cries.
The entire encounter did not take two minutes.
As the orthrus moved to the edge of the woods where she had entered the clearing, Annora moved toward where it had emer
ged. More animals would be drawn to the smell of blood from the large creature, but that did not mean she was safe. Annora’s head hammered as she tried to see in the darkness. She had just barely passed the edge of the clearing when she stumbled over a root. Trying to stand, she realized that she was far worse off than she had initially believed. Not only had it opened her wound, her head had struck the ground when the second head had tried to follow her. The sound her ankle made as she tried to catch herself was sickening. Still, it was not the focal point of her mind. Ignoring the pain in her left leg, Annora tried to assess her bigger concern.
Pushing herself to her knees, the woman put a hand to her head and felt the warm, sticky sensation of blood. With a groan, she shakily stood up. Using a tree to balance herself, Annora tried to assess just how bad the abrasion on her head was. The cut was about the length of her index finger. Closing her eyes, the dragon slayer tried to figure out the best way to proceed. There was no way she would make it back to the town in her current condition; she was barely keeping from passing out as it was. The best option was to climb the tree and hope that she didn’t fall out. Steadying herself against the tree, she began to reach up to the first branch.
The world spun.
Annora felt her hands scratch against the tree as her body sank to the ground. She moaned as she tried to push her body off the ground. Her arms shook furiously as the young woman strained to stay awake.
A sound to her right caused her to lose focus. Annora collapsed to the ground, her hands just barely buffering her face as her head hit the ground.
Her hands instinctively went to her weapons as she tried to roll over. Whatever had come to eat her was going to pay in blood first. Her vision began to lose focus as she tried to concentrate on where the sounds were. The last thing she saw as she blacked out was the worst thing she could see in her current circumstance.
Anything but a man. Please send anything else…. were her last thoughts as darkness enveloped her.
Chapter 3
Steady Progression of Bad Luck
Annora heard the crackle of the fire before she had fully gained consciousness. With a quiet moan, she began to roll over onto her injured arm. The pain that shot through her reminded her of the evening before, but it was not nearly as bad as she realized it should have been. Without opening her eyes, the dragon hunter felt the bandage with her left hand. It had been dressed and tended. Her right hand instinctively moved toward her head to feel how bad the damage was. The wound had been cleaned and a bandage placed over it. Feeling around, she realized that whomever had tended it had made sure not to catch her hair so it would be easy to remove later.
Slowly, the young woman opened her eyes. The pain of the light was far easier to manage in small amounts. As she got acclimated to the area, Annora realized two things.
The first point was that she was in a cave. Judging by the smell, no animals had used it recently and the fire in the center suggested that the camp had been made recently. Wondering if perhaps it had been made just for her, Annora decided she needed to explore the cave. Largely she was curious about the second point.
There was no one around her.
At least there was no one in the cave with her, a curiosity in and of itself since it was obvious someone had brought her here and taken care of her. There was a container of water near her bed and a small supply of medical supplies, although none of the bandages used to clean her up were around. That meant someone liked to keep the place clean, even if it was only temporary. And that meant it was someone who knew that keeping the smell of blood to a minimum was vital to surviving in the wild. It bothered the young hunter that there was no sign of her rescuer because she hated to be indebted to anyone. On the other hand, it also meant that she would not have to interact with another person either.
Quickly she sat up and her hands went to the pouch pocket in her shirt. With a sigh, she lay back down for a moment, thankful that whoever had brought her here had not searched her. Had the person known what she did for a living, they likely would have left her to die or found some way to exploit her.
She tried to remember everything that had happened, but most of the memories were hazy. Annora could remember someone carrying her and that she had tried to push the person away only to hear laughter as her body proved too weak. The feel of a damp cloth cleaning her arm was the next memory. There was some pain, but it was mild compared to what it should have been. At some point she had been propped up and been given something to drink.
Touching her head again, the young woman sat up. Her head should have been fuzzy, but it wasn’t. It felt almost as if she had been asleep for a few days. Then she realized that was entirely possible. Whoever had taken care of her had not bothered to find out much about her. It was a strange realization that caused her to feel ill at ease. This realization meant it was highly likely that the person would have high demands for the favor.
Annora cautiously stood up. Apart from a slight pain in her arm, her head and arm seemed mostly alright. Her ankle, on the other hand, was still going to be a problem. She could walk, but running and quick movements were clearly out of the question. Cursing her luck, Annora decided she would need to go spend time in a town until her ankle was mended. Three days should do it. Hoping that her competition would not make progress while she was recovering, Annora decided that she needed to figure out more about the person who had brought her here, and only then could she move on with what needed to be done.
There must have been something in the knife. She gently touched her arm again as she stretched it. The muscles pulled and she could feel the scab that covered it, but it hurt more than it should have for that stage of recovery. Angry at herself for not having thought about that possibility before now, Annora began to silently walk around the cave. She wanted to see her rescuer before having to talk. Observation would tell her most of what she needed to know.
The cave was not too deep and the camp area took up most of it. There was a second bed roll on the floor, but it did not look like it had been used recently. There were no weapons or food in the cave. The lack of weapons suggested that either the person never went anywhere without carrying his blades or he used magic and did not need weapons. Annora began to feel uncomfortable with the second option, although there was plenty of evidence that it was the more likely of the two. Two of her wounds were further advanced in the healing process than they should have been, particularly if she had been poisoned by the knife. Bone was much trickier; even mages could not quickly repair them. Suddenly Annora was very eager to get out of the cave because she had no desire to find out what a mage would want with her. A mage would already know what she did because they would not need to remove her papers to be able to read them. And what mages usually wanted was far more dangerous than anything even a dragon hunter did. She already had first-hand experience being indebted to a mage, and it was not a debt she ever wanted to incur again.
With a sense of disgust, the dragon hunter moved toward the opening in the cave. There was a small, curvy tunnel that opened out into a dense wood. Though it looked like it was still on the early side of dawn, she could see the sunlight starting to make its way through the larger openings in the canopy. If a mage had in fact saved her, he would be able to track her, but it would take a while. If she moved now, there were very good odds that she would be able to lose any followers in the woods. Her scent could be easily mixed with some of the other humanoids, leading the mage to numerous dead ends. Careful of her ankle, Annora made her way out into the forest. The pace may be slow, but with care she should be able to make considerable progress. Though her luck had been pretty horrible to this point, it couldn’t get much worse before getting better, right?
Annora already knew the answer to that, but it did not slow her pace. There was too much she needed to do and worrying about luck was someone only weak people did. She didn’t need luck – she just needed to be more cautious and focused.
The young woman had travelled for more than
half a day before things took a turn for the worse. Her stomach had become quite insistent that she eat, and when the dragon slayer remembered what she had last forced down her throat, she knew that she would have to hunt for food.
Moving away from the last misleading trail toward a group of fairies arguing about territory, the young woman silently made her way toward a nearby river. Fish were the easiest meal because they could be eaten raw and would help her regain her strength quickly.
She stepped out into the water and stood still for several moments, her eyes trained on the shadows around her feet. When she was pleased with the size of one shadow, her sword moved down and speared a trout. She smiled as it wiggled on the end of her sword.
Then her eyes shifted and focused on the bank where she had been. Standing there was a large bear. Annora kept her calm and tossed the fish toward the bear, but the bear did not wait, having taken the movement as one of attack.
There was no way she would be able to outrun the thing, not even if her ankle was well. With no choice, she sheathed her sword and dove into the deep part of the river. Grabbing a log, she turned to glare at the bear. It had returned to the fish and was happily eating it, almost as if Annora had never been there. As soon as the log neared a bank, Annora swam toward the sand shore. It was a much larger bank, indicating that she had actually moved back toward Defiance. Annoyed at the realization, she decided to press on until she reached the next town, Accident. She had been there a year ago and knew that it had not been through a boom the way Defiance had been. It was a bit rougher, but it reminded her of Marked Tree in that people didn’t really seem to judge each other.
Her first thoughts once she was safely on land were about her weapons; she would need to try them as soon as possible, but there really wasn’t much she could do at the moment with her own clothes completely drenched. As she made her way over a hill, she was checking to make sure her papers at least were still secure. When she looked up, Annora realized that there were over a dozen men staring at her.
