𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥 | 𝐣𝐚𝐜𝐨𝐛 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝

𝐱𝐢𝐱.

𝐘𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐝𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐢𝐫. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐮𝐧-𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭, 𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐢𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩.

Crow stood at the ship's front, a glare on his face as murmurs were tossed around by its inhabitants.

"Is that the Inevitable?"

"What are they doing here?"

The ship finally docked, its captain stepping down with a grim look before his second-in-command called out to him as he halted.

"Captain!" She frowned. "We don't need this. We're hunters."

"Only if we kill it," Crow mumbled before walking away, Sharpe, shaking her head ever so slightly as he left.

The captain of the beast hunters walked up a barren hill, dirt crunching under his boot as he travelled upwards to the place where no beast hunter dared step foot upon. The fog thickened as he closed in on his target as if warning him not to take another step.

Crow opened the door as it squeaked, a flight of stairs angled downwards. The wind blew, Crow scrunching his nose up at its slightly sour tinge before walking down the stairs, letting his vengeance take place with each step he took, his footsteps echoing.

The door thudded shut behind him, and a trail of candles soon begin to appear through the darkness, Crow eyeing them suspiciously as he spotted bottles lying around beside them. He eventually halted at the end of the hallway, spotting a figure at the end of the hallway as a bush of white hair prevented him from seeing their face.

The person soon spoke, presenting themself as a woman as she wore simple, yet rugged clothes. She tilted her head, speaking as she knew of the Captain's presence despite not looking back at him.

"I know why you're here, Captain," She leered with a smile. "It's always the same reason, you see."

Crow said nothing, his face stern as Gwen Batterbie reached her hand into two nearby bowls, pulling dried petals and ingredients from them as she spoke.

"And I can give you what you need."

She clapped her hands together, rubbing the two ingredients until they were dust. Green smoke floated from her hands and into the cauldron, the white liquid in it soon frothing up as it turned black, Gwen picking her ladle up to stir.

"A poison powerful enough to take down the greatest of beasts, and a weapon strong enough to deliver it deep," She smiled before turning around to face Crow. "You know what they say about me, Captain?"

Crow eyed her, the woman smiling slyly.

"Them what come see Gwen Batterbie get what they want, but won't see a good day after," Batterbie smirked, circling Crow as he stood tall.

"Yet, here you are."

"I don't believe in them superstitions," Crow replied.