Survivors of Elyorn: Katherine

Chapter Two

I was being carried. How embarassing.

I opened my eyes and was met with the amused brown eyes of Zac, another hunter.

"I passed out." I mumbled.

"Yes, you did." He answered.

"You can put me down now."

"Your wish is my command." He answered, as he acquiesced to my request.

Zac and the rest of the hunter boys were walking back to camp, but I couldn't see Luke.

"Is Luke okay?" I asked, checking again.

"Yes, thanks again." His head popped out from behind one of his friends as he waved to me. "My mother is going to have my hide, though."

"Yeah, nice going, cyclops." One of his friends laughed.

My head jerked back in surprise.

Zac noticed my response. "You've never heard us call him that before, have you?"

"Well, no." I confirmed. "We all have our scars. It seems cruel to make fun of him for his."

"Careful, Katherine. You almost sound like you care." Luke laughed. "Caring is like the smell of blood to these animals."

As if to prove Luke's point, Zac threw his head back and howled. The rest of the hunters followed suit, adding grunting and the stamping of feet.

Luke sidled up to me and smiled. "There's no need to worry on my account. I have one eye. 'Cyclops' is a fitting enough nickname, if a little simple." He started speaking louder. "It's not these guy's fault, they're not clever enough to come up with something more interesting."

"See now, I take that as a challenge." Henry laughed in response.

"At least you're clever enough to pick up on that." Luke shot back.

Worried that this banter may have been heading towards some sort of wrestling match, I felt the need to speak. "I hate to spoil the fun, but Luke should be avoiding all things that may lead to physical violence until he's had a good, long sleep."

"Thanks, mum." Hunter William teased

"Speaking of which, I best go and report in for my inevitable tongue-lashing." Luke said with a sigh.
"Maybe Gordo hasn't told her, this time." Hunter William offered.

"He definitely has." Luke laughed.

"He always does." They all said, in unison.

I studied the faces of the young men around me. I'd say we were all fairly close in age, somewhere between fifteen and nineteen years old. We'd known eachother for about ten years at this point, but I knew very little about them.

We were discouraged from fraternizing - the girls and the boys. Our lifestyle did not lend itself to love, we could not risk creating new lives that couldn't fend for themselves, or keep quiet...or...well, we had been taught that love and fraternization were dangerous things, to be avoided. I usually heeded the warnings and kept my distance, but some of my friends liked to sneak around behind the elder's backs. No harm had come to them yet.

"I should probably...get back to my friends..." I announced, starting to break off from the group.

"That's a very unsubtle way of telling us we're not your friends." Zac joked.

"Nah." Henry countered with a laugh. "She just doesn't want the elders to catch her misbehaving with us."

"Yeah," I gave them all my most confident grin, as I got further away. "Something like that."

Flick and Dalia were eating breakfast near the mess tent. It was our turn for the morning feed.

We usually had porridge for breakfast, or as close as we could get to it. The forests of Eleryne were rich in wild oat plants, but not enough to feed a hundred people every day.

"Good morning, and where have you been?" This was Flick's greeting as I grabbed my bowl from the mess tent. True to form, she was straight to the point.

I looked around to make sure we weren't in ear-shot of anyone else, leaned in to them, and answered quietly. "The hunters had an injury."
"Ooh!" Flick clapped her hands. "I'm going to need more information. Who was it? Was it gruesome? Did you have to put your hands on their body? The elder's are gonna be so mad!"

Dalia gave me a wry smile and rolled her eyes.

"I'm sure the hunters have had injuries before, it shouldn't be cause for alarm." I said.

"But, injuries they bring to you, instead of Elder Tabitha?" Flick wiggled her blonde eyebrows at me and added in a sing-song voice, "They're gonna be in so much trouble."

Dalia grabbed Flick's hand and made a subtle hushing sound. Flick's eyes flew to something behind me. I turned to see Elder Tabitha walking towards us.

"Ah, Katherine." She approached with open arms and embraced me. "Thank you for helping my boy this morning."

I was slightly surprised that she didn't have more harsh words for me, but I was happy to accept her hug instead.

"Are you well, girls?" She asked Flick and Dalia, received nods in response, and turned back to me. "Elder Gordon told me you passed out, is that right?"

I tried to make sure I didn't grimace as I nodded. I knew what was coming.

"Okay." She nodded with me. "Well, I want you to come and find me after lunch service, yeah? I'll be with Elder Eli. We can do some more training, okay?"

"Yes, Elder Tabitha." I answered, wishing I had an excuse to be anywhere else after lunch.