The Wild Hunt (Part One)

Lioness

It was his face that panted above me. His braid fell across my face while blood from his gouged out eye, dripped across my forehead. I couldn't move. Couldn't speak. I felt that all too familiar dread weigh down on me as he forced himself between my legs. All I could do was cry.

"Sae. Sae.... Sae, can you hear me?"

I felt cold fingers on my face and the dark, grogginess covering me faded away. Warm light seeped in from my barely, parted eyelids. It's brightness hurt my eyes and I groaned, turning my head to the side.

"Sae." A familiar male voice whispered above me. I blindly reached my hand towards the voice and felt a hard ridge. My fingers dipped below the curved point and down across two soft hills. Damp air escaped between them as they parted. I felt them move beneath my skin.

"Sae, can you sit up?" I blinked away the fogginess of sleep and rose to sit. Kona's face materialized above me, off to the side.

My face felt tight and my eyes swollen. A mild pain throbbed at my temples. My whole face felt sore. "W-where... arr... eh-uhm, where are we?" My throat felt so dry.

I looked around us and saw curved walls of bamboo. Kona sat beside me on the ground with his legs crossed and hands out beside him. He leaned back, looking down at me. A paper lantern glowed to his right.

"Kobe. A small fishing village east of Cona."

I rubbed my temples. "We made it out of the forest?"

He nodded and reached to hand me a wooden cup. I took it and gingerly knocked back the contents. The water was cool and fresh. I drank all of it in just a few seconds.

"More," I panted. Kona took the empty cup and scooped it down into a deep, wooden bowl beside him. He handed me the cup and I drank that faster then the previous.

"Thank you," I breathed. I looked past him towards the grass, curtain door of the hut we were in. Golden light spilled across the dirt floor beneath it.

"How long was I out for?"

Kona leaned his head back. "Ehh, a couple hours. You woke up once screaming and then klunked out again. It's been at least three hours since then. It's almost sunset."

I had slept all day? My goodness. Every memory, every danger, every blade and hand from the moment we woke up this morning came rushing through. "Why are you still here?" I asked, suddenly panicked. The Tewase could be on our tail right now. Why didn't Kona leave me?

"It's alright. I haven't seen any Tewase here in this village yet." So then he knew they would continue after him. Why? Why wasn't he a village over, a valley over by now. Did he not fear death?

"B-but they... you... Kona. Why didn't you leave me?"

He ran a hand through his hair before sliding it down around the back of his neck. He shrugged, looking away. "I couldn't leave you to die. Plus, I stabbed Towak with one of his arrows. He'd have been down in a couple of minutes from the Milter-Kwan coating the tip. Remember what I told you about the flower and it's sleep inducing drug. That arrow that sliced your calf was coated with it. It's why you passed out while we were running. It's probably why you slept so long too, other than dehydration and the lack of strength."

He smiled halfheartedly then turned somber. "Why were you screaming? In your sleep. You woke up screaming then passed out. What were you dreaming about?"

The first Tewase man who had nearly raped me. I had dreamt he had finished what he started. I grimaced as a shiver went down my spine.

"You don't have to tell me. We'll stay here until twilight. I offered my fishing services to an older village lady in return for shelter. We are in her store hut right now."

I wondered where we were. It smelled like fish and something saltier. There were nets and spears hanging from the walls. Various hooks and knives were scattered along a low lying table. More of those deep, wooden bowls were stacked on top of each other beside it. I sat atop a lumpy, bedding of sorts. I saw leaves and thin twigs sticking out of the puckered corners of the hide covering.

"When do you leave to do that?" I was relieved he didn't push me for an answer. He reminded me of Yakoto.

Yakoto never pushed me to tell him anything more than what I was willing to say. He always sat there and listened. He only interrupted to give me advice or share his thoughts on the matter. I missed him.

"Right now- hey? Hey now... your not gonna cry again are you?"

I felt myself convulse as the tears gathered at the bottom of my eyes. I left him there. I left Yakoto behind. I knew I wouldn't see him again once I was married- I had assumed I would move elsewhere and had come to terms with leaving my closest of friend. But now, everything was different. After I ended General Yakmens life, I only thought of myself. I didn't think about Yakoto and the freedom he longed for just as much as I did. We could have been together right now. We would have had each other.

I wiped furiously at my eyes. No. What's done is done. It's probably safer for him to be at the palace then on the run with me. I knew my father had scouts out looking for me. He wouldn't let me escape that easily. Yakoto was safe inside the palace walls. And as long as he was safe I wouldn't regret leaving him behind.

"N-no. I'm sorry. I was... I was thinking about my friend."

Kona frowned. "Did something bad happen to them?"

I shook my head. "No. No. He... he's safe."

Kona nodded before standing up. He reached into the waistband of his pants and pulled out a bundled piece of leaf. "There's salve inside of it. It's for your feet."

I looked down at my feet. I hadn't even noticed the cloth wrapped around them. I wiggled my toes and a mild pain scattered across the pad of my feet. "Thank you." I knew he didn't have to wrap them but he did. Just like how he didn't have to carry me through that forest away from danger, but he did.

I looked up at the young man who towered over me. His face was young, but covered in faint scars. Some old, some new. His silvery hair always seemed to be floating across his forehead and his eyes never lost their glow. Who was this person? Why was I so drawn to his feline face and kind demeanor.

"I think you owe me three times now." He smirked. Kind. Sometimes.

Before I could ask where he got three times from, he backed outside the grass curtain and left me alone in the hut.

I unwrapped my feet and reapplied the salve. The bleeding had stopped and the thin scars that covered the tender flesh we no longer inflamed. I wished I had a new pair of slippers. Lah-ee always had me in a different pair each day and they would coordinate with my outfit. She always had an eye for fashion. I wondered if she had family. I never asked. Was there anyone to mourn over her death?

I sighed heavily. I killed General Yakmen. That Tewase woman and managed to stab that Tewase guy in the eye. All within a matter of a day. Who was I? Where did this instinct to kill without thought come from? I didn't escape death to meet it again and again. An uneasy feeling unfurled in my gut. I was becoming him. The one person I despised the most in the world. My father.

I hugged my knees to my chest. That instinct to kill came from him. I didn't kill in self defense. I wanted those men and woman to die. Every cell in my body screamed freedom and anyone or anything that stood in the way of that I would slay. I wasn't sure if I should be scared of this part of myself or embrace it.