The Bloodkeeper

Chapter 4

When Artemis opened his eyes, he saw only blackness, and rumbling beneath him from what he recognized was a wagon. His arms were tied behind his back, and he felt that someone else's wrists were bound to his, theirs much smaller, and he wriggled against the bindings.

"Stop that, you're giving me rope burn," said a whisper he found familiar.

"Iris?"

"Artemis?" Iris asked with a bewildered tone of voice. Artemis nodded, but realized she couldn't see him so he said, "Yes, yes it's me."

"What the fuck are you doing here?" She asked almost angrily.

"I could ask you the same," said Artemis calmly.

"Shut up!" said a gruff male voice. "Or I'll skip the kidnapping process and just kill you right here!"

Artemis and Iris stayed quiet. Artemis tried to pay attention to every turn, and every smell, and everything he heard that could be distinctive. He heard it when they passed by a rolling creek, and heard an unusual amount of crunching beneath the wheels that told him that they were in a forest.

Finally, the wagon stopped after an hour, and Artemis felt the wagon shake as their kidnapper got off of the driver's seat. Moments later, big meaty hands grabbed Artemis and Iris and pulled them off the wagon with zero regard, dragging them across the wooden cart. Artemis swore he felt splinters pierce his skin in several places and he was sure Iris had that experience too.

The meaty hands hauled them across a forest floor, and then, they stopped for a moment. Artemis heard a door open and suddenly they were being pulled over wooden floors, then, he stopped again, another door creaked open, and they were thrown inside the room, where they tumbled and then laid against the cold stone floor as the door slammed shut.

When Artemis took a sniff around the room, he reeled with the pungent stench of blood covering what seemed like every inch of that room, he could smell it everywhere.

"Eugh," Artemis exclaimed.

"What?" Iris whispered.

"It smells..."

"Like blood, I know. We're in danger, couldn't you tell?"

"How are we gonna get out of this?" Artemis asked.

"Watch me," She whispered confidently, then began to wriggle her wrists.

"Stop, you'll give me rope burn," Artemis mocked.

"I actually know what I'm doing, dickhead," said Iris, as Artemis heard a click, then heard the distinct sound of a knife slicing rope.

"How did you get a knife?" He asked. "He took my knife,"

"This is a hidden knife," Said Iris, whispering. "Now shut up and let me concentrate."

Soon enough, the rope was cut and the cords fell away. Artemis pulled his hands in front of him, then grabbed the bag on his head and threw it off of him.

What he saw was horrifying, so unimaginably terrible. What he saw, combined with the smell of blood, made him want to vomit.

"What the...?" He asked, as he saw several, as in fifty to one hundred tails just hanging from the wall, along with an almost equal number of shriveled fauna heads. On shelves, several organs floated in jars.

"This is a Fauna Hunter's house," said Iris. "But what does he want with us?" Artemis looked at her, and saw the look of realization dawn on her face as she saw his ears and his amber eyes.

"Holy shit!" She said. "You're...you're THE Artemis!"

"The?" He asked.

"Is this Calvin?" She uttered quietly.