In a strange world as a Doppelganger

Chapter 46 - The Hunter

The tension lingers. Thi, the hunter and I all look between one another but no one speaks for some time. The air becomes humid, there seem to be raining coming soon.

"Which one of yah isn't a real gob? Or are you both changelings?" the hunter spits the last word out. Hearing him use the word with such an insulting tone makes me think back to what Vera said.

"No changelings here", I say and squat down a few feet away. Again, using my water to turn some soil into mud and dress my injuries. "I'm no goblin, but also neither changeling nor hag. What are you yourself, hunter?"

He squints at me and looks me over, scrutinizing every inch of me. "Ye're not using illusion", a statement more than a question. "Can' you see I'm Orc?" the word rings true, like I know that he is indeed an orc. Flashes of imagery, orcs of a wide variety race through my mind. "This one goblin then?" Thi twists the dagger slightly at the notion. "Aye, gobbie a'right", the orc grunts and hisses.

I gesture for Thi to let go of the blade but they refuse. The body language tells me that Thi is ready to end this orc hunter at the drop of a pin. "Not taking any chances with this one", Thi whispers between teeth at me in the goblin language.

"Orc, you tracked us all the way out here without any one to help you. You knew the person I looked like very closely then?" he glares at me as I speak and I can almost hear his teeth grinding as he holds back his anger. "I will tell you only that your friend was dead some time before I borrowed that face."

"Why woul' I believe that?" obvious suspicion shows on his face.

"I don't care about convincing you. I am just telling you. Your friend was killed by a flower that uses vines to control dead things. My guess is that it's connected to the blight", I stand up and walk up to him. In my goblin form I'm not much taller than the hunter even though he's pretty much prone on the ground now.

"We should just kill him", Thi grasps the hilt of the knife firmer. "These people will put the blame on us without a single care for the truth!" I may not have known Thi for very long but seeing them this upset is new. "They'll never leave us in peace now. We should just kill him and go home. Hope that they all give up on trying to find us!" there's an onset of panic in Thi's eyes.

"They'll not leave us any way, we need to convince them that they are looking in the wrong direction", while Thi and I talk, the orc looks between us. It's possible that he can understand us I suppose but there's no time to do anything about that right now.

"Then what do you suggest? That we bring him along and show him what happened?" as soon as Thi says the words there is instant regret. "No, please no"

"Yes, that's exactly what we'll do."

I step up right in front of the orc's face and look him in the eyes. "Do you want me to show you where it happened?" his eyes soften in sudden confusion. "If you want, I can take you to where it happened, where I found your friend's body."

The rest of the night is spent mostly in argument with Thi. They are convinced that this orc will kill us at any chance possible that presents itself. I tell Thi that they should go home and let me deal with this. To go home and tell the tribe what's going on. By morning Thi is long gone and the hunter has looked after his wounds. I offered him some mud but he just made a face of disgust and grabbed some cloth from his pack.

His name is Bardu. He won't tell me much more but he at least told me that. We walk in silence for the most part, only really talking when a break is needed or to signal that an animal is sighted. His eyes never stop moving, he is constantly watching anything that makes the slightest movement. He must have lost most of his interest in killing me at this point as he is showing no indication of looking for openings. Determination has taken over and he even pushes on harder than any of us should in our conditions. As a precaution I have stayed in my goblin form the entire time, keeping my shape changing secret as an ace.

When night falls once again I am reminded of the hunger and fatigue. Exhaustion that threatens to take me away. "I need to hunt", it's all I say before I walk away from the spot we'd settled in. I probably shouldn't try to go for anything big in my current state but I need to eat. A solid distance from the resting spot I sit down and wait. Fighting off the sleep is harder than expected. My body aches and my head is throbbing. I might have sought to my wound but with no energy to use I'm quickly faring poorly.

The soft squelch of moss wakes me up. How long was I out? By pure reactive instinct I shoot out a shard of ice in the sounds direction. A hare jumps at the impact, having avoided it by an inch. Mid-leap the rabbit is pierced by an arrow and stuck to the ground a few feet off.

"There, supper", the orc looks at me, not with contempt, not with glee. He is just as exhausted and now we both get to eat.