The Hunter, The Killer, The Coward, & The Doofus

Chapter III: The Factually Inaccurate Golem

The King sent his two most trusted guards to deal with the insolence and insubordination in Marlowe, an elvish scout from the ancient port of Old New Castle named Storm, and a Knight of Concord named Frawley. The other two prisoners, Jaybird and Ant, provided a bit of information. "They are heading to Concord to steal pashmina," Ant would tell them. Then Jaybird would correct, "No, they're going to steal the King's quartz vats!"

"What further assistance can you offer us?" Fawley folded his arms across his chest and glanced over at his elvish partner.

"There are two ways out of town, towards Concord," Storm intoned. "One heads directly towards Concord. The other passes over Mount Harrow, though nobody would dare pass through Mount Harrow. The roads are narrow. One misstep could lead to an early grave. And then there's the problem of the Golem."

"There is no Golem on Mount Harrow," Frawley spat, and chuckled. "It is a children's story. Nothing more."

"Regardless, we do not know which route our fugitives intend to take," Storm stated logically. "I will take this one," he nodded to Ant. "And head for the road to Mount Harrow. You take the other and head straight for Concord."

Frawley nodded. "When you find them, end them, but take Kegluneq alive. The price on her head is too valuable for her to die just yet."

"I cannot promise you anything," Storm iterated. "I kill for fun, not for profit."

Ant's eyes widened. "Yikes."

"By Royal Decree, you will not kill Kegluneq," Frawley handed over a parchment with the royal insignia on it. Storm glanced over it, and handed it back and nodded. "So no killing the vigilante. Understood?"

Storm hesitated, and then nodded his head. "Sure."

❀

Many people have asked over the years, Why is your name Turtle, and she always answers the same. "I was named by somebody I do not remember. When I was a child, I was shorter than I am now, if that is even believable considering how short I currently am. I was named Turtle because I was close to the ground, like a Turtle."

She was raised somewhere far away from the Boxwoods where she would eventually grow up, but from where, she did not recall. She and her twin sister were abandoned as infants, or perhaps their parents were killed. They were moved around from foster home to foster home, with nobody taking an interest in them. By the time they had gotten to the Boxwoods, they had been robbed, mugged, ambushed, and assaulted. Easy targets for criminals, with no weapons and no training. But Turtle did have one thing at her disposal; a keen mind.

It was in the marble libraries at the Kingdom of Rador, north of the Kingdom of Concord, where she had first learned to read. She read of tales. She learned about the Sirens, out in the northern sea, who would lure sailors in with their seductive songs. She learned of the harpies, with their heads of women yet bodies of birds, and their ear piercing cries. She learned of the cyclopes, who lived in the caves on the Isle of Neves, and would eat any poor shipwrecked soul. She learned of the boy who could shapeshift into a falcon, who lived on the Isle of Poland, far to the west. But the one that truly caught her interest, was the Golem of Mount Harrow, a mammoth beast made of stone, who sat atop the mountain, terrorizing anybody who dared to cross the narrow path towards Concord. The Golem was known to shout out factual inaccuracies at any passerby, and anybody who dared to correct the ignorant Golem was met with unimaginable fury.

And now we're on our way there, she thought, looking out across the rooftop of Vindias and McClay's makeshift home in the slums of Marlowe. Without a horse for travel, or even enough preserves. And what if I wanted to catch a play? How-ever would I do that on the road, especially on a deathly path as narrow as Mount Harrow Trail? The thoughts made her heart race and her face flush pale. So preoccupied in her worries, she hadn't been aware when Kegluneq stepped to her side. Startled to see the hunter standing in her peripheral, Turtle jumped back a bit and clutched at her collar. "Don't do that!" She scolded the hunter.