The Wild Hunt (Part One)

Lone Wolf

The boat ride back to Kobe felt long and utterly lonely. I couldn't say I missed the sounds of Sae- Serri, throwing up, but at least I didn't feel like a jackass during the whole ride.

"Damn." I muttered to myself, making my way through the village of Kobe. The stench of fish filled the air and people lined the center path, filleting fish atop wooden tables. They tossed the severed heads to the mangy dogs prowling through the huts. People worked, mingled, bartered among each other and I felt awkward passing through a couple holding hands. They parted before me and I sheepishly bowed apologetically towards them.

I had spent I don't know how many days searching that damn jungle for Serri and that general guy and to my dismay I lost their tracks a good ways in and didn't feel all too sure of myself venturing any further. The Tewase scouted that jungle. Although it was a different terrain from up north, they've reached out near Murdock and burned a few homes, slaughtered the innocent. That old woman had every right to hate me, but I was no longer apart of that life. I was free. At least, as free as I could be with the Tewase on my heels.

I had to assume that the general somehow managed to get them through that jungle and where on their way back to the palace, no matter how dangerous the route he chose to get them there was. He was taking them into Tewase territory. Yes, it was a straight shot to the palace, but was it worth their lives? That's what worried me the most. Serri was not a fighter. She had a fighters spirit but she was untrained, because  unfortunately we did not make it that far in our survival training. I had to trust and believe the general would protect her at all cost. She was the princess. I had no doubt his life was also on the line with fulfilling the kings orders. I just hoped I could intercept their paths before they arrived to the palace. That was the plan anyhow.

"Be on the lookout for a young, short woman, with pale skin, shoulder length black hair and grey eyes. She was last seen wearing a servants tunic and accompanied by a young tribal looking male."

I was standing still in the center of the crowded market area as I listened to the voices floating above the crowd. I looked to my left and saw a palace guard speaking to a Kobe guardsmen. His voice was loud and harsh as he spoke to the trembling, middle age man.

I slipped between the people and came to stand beside a cart of fish a little ways down from them. I leaned against the hut beside it and listened closely.

"W-ho are we looking for s-sir?" The man stuttered, no doubtedly shaken with fear. Everyone feared the royal palace guards. You never knew what the kings orders were when they scoured through the villages. They were just as bad as the Tewase.

"That's none of your business," he snapped. "The male is tall, dark skinned and has silver hair."

"G-grey hair, sir?"

"No!" He smacked the man upside his head. "Did I say grey? Silver. Like metal. Some grotesque birth mutation, I don't know. The boy has fucking silver hair and the face of a cat. The pretty ones you see hanging around these fish. If you see him you inform a palace scout immediately."

"Sh-should I... should we put him in jail?"

The guard was getting impatient as he gripped the hilt of his sword. "Hang 'em for all I care just tell us when you do. He's a traitor to the palace and our king."

Shit. I turned around and leaned over a trough of water. The reflection of my silver hair rippled across its surface. I always knew this ancestral trait I inherited would be the death of me. I needed to get rid of it quick. I searched the market place, sticking to crowded areas as not to draw attention to myself until I found what I was looking for.

"Do you dye hair?" I asked the older man squatting behind baskets full of colored, silk, cloth. He looked up at me with scruffy brows.

"There's a first for everything."

I pulled at the reddish-brown strands of hair that hung across my eyebrows. It looked natural enough, but I didn't stare too long at my reflection in the waters surface before leaving quickly.

So the search was on for the princess. I knew there would be more guards the further north I went. I had to be careful and tread through the lesser known eastern villages if I was going to make it to the palace unnoticed. Palace guards hardly visited the smaller, coastal villages that were scattered along the edge of the Miran sea. They rested atop the jutting cliffs edges of Miran, making their settlement high above the sea and far away from the more livelier forested centers. Villages like Koler and Utae were home to grassy plateaus and strong, windy conditions. It was where mama had grown up before moving in south and marrying my father. Before she and Oaye were slaughtered by the Tewase. Long before she knew my father would die before them.

I hung my head low as I made my way out of Kobe. I pocketed a small, sheathed, knife from a passerby and a cloak hanging from a hut. It would be a long journey ahead of me. I prayed I would make it in time to rescue Serri.