Power's Pride {Watty Awards 2013 Entry}

Chapter 5

By time the famous “Golden Lighthouses” of Palura were in sight three days later, Reba and The Hound had once again fallen into a meal routine. Every night, she would take him food and ask questions about his plans and intentions, and every night he would answer her with a silent glare. After their first unfortunate conversation, the Hunter always sat as far away from the gaps in the prison bars as his small cell would permit. Each time as she left him, he would break his silence just enough to ask why they had changed course - and she took perverse pleasure in mimicking his silence.

Reba had hoped that feeding him only once a day would weaken The Hound enough that she and Sam might gain a physical advantage over him. But the insufferable man was always exercising in one way or another whenever she went to feed him; it was as if he was declaring that five days of insufficient food was nothing to a Hunter like him. She added “highly irritating” to her list of reasons to hate the Third-High Hunter. At least she had finally figured out how to be rid of him once the ship docked - and she was sure that this plan would be free of bloodshed and wounded scalps.

She contemplated the lighthouses while finishing her midday meal. They had once been the inspiration for bardic tales - fabled to each be built of thick golden bricks formed by master craftsmen and enchanted to forever shine like the sun. But when prosperity bled out of the nation, desperate people had attempted to dismantle the lighthouses to supplement their meager incomes. They discovered that the “golden” bricks were nothing more than lightly-gilded clay. “A mirage of greatness … just like our country. And probably just as rotten at the core.” Reba scoffed in disgust as she turned away from the pretty lies.

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Two hours later, the ship had finished docking. “Hunter Taysonius, we have arrived in Palura. An entourage of your fellow Hunters are waiting ashore to escort you back to your duties. I thank you for safely returning me to my ship.” She smiled coldly at his raised brow. “Your colleagues will come to you here once Samantha and I have debarked. I expect you to be gone from my ship within the hour.”

With a curt nod, she wrapped her brown cloak around herself and the cat Companion in her arms before she walked off the ship. Instantly the sounds and smells of a bustling port city engulfed the two of them. Fishmongers cried out the prices of the catch of the day to people trying to barter with ship captains for passage to somewhere else while industrious street brats tried to beg or steal money from anyone who looked their way. Palura’s streets had been cleverly designed to weave visitors through the entirety of the large marketplace before they could reach the heart of the city. Luckily, Reba had visited the port often enough to know the value of having a list of necessary items and the importance of never straying from that list. She was confident that her shopping trip would be completed in time for her to visit a few relic vendors and still be able to sail out with the tide that very night.

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Tayson rubbed his aching left shoulder as he tried to ignore the embarrassingly loud noise that reminded him about the emptiness in his stomach. Six weeks ago he had been shot with a crossbow barb that narrowly missed his lung but had tore through his muscles. The accursed wound had become infected two days later, and his body was still trying to recover from the ordeal. That healing process had not been helped by the Witch’s decision to half-starve him. He hoped the other Hunters brought him food and a change of clothes. Much of his drinking water had been wasted in his futile attempts to rid himself of the stench of the Witch’s...fear.

He sighed to himself as his shoulder and stomach complained in unison again. There was no doubt in his mind who she had summoned to pick him up. Afterall, there were only a handful of Hunters left in the Guild who still believed it was their job to enforce Witch-Law in order to protect the Witchkin instead of the Humans. And of those Hunters, only one outranked him.

As if to validate that suspicion, heavy booted footsteps plodded onto the deck above him. Tyson focused on what he knew about the ship in order to calculate how long it should take his visitors to reach him. He was on a decommissioned S-3 Class  ship that had once belonged to the previous High-Hunter. Twenty years ago, such ships were highly prized by the Hunters Guild due to their relatively large cargo hold and the multitude of protection and navigation spells placed on each. The spells ensured that every ship could be sailed with only one crew member, in an emergency. But several years ago, the current High-Hunter had ordered all bewitched items within the Hunters Guild’s arsenal be destroyed - including the magicked armada. Two years prior to that decree, the Witch Erindel had inherited all her grandfather’s possessions, including his S-3. Given the size of the ship and the distance from the gangway plank to the entrance of the brig, Tayson knew the other Hunters would be joining him…

“Hunter Taysonius, I received a report that I might find you here...in Palura...327 leagues west of your assignment in Haneek.” Hard brown eyes met icy blue ones in a silent clash of wills as a bear of a man slowly descended the stairs.

The Hound raised his nose just a bit to glare directly at the man who had once been his mentor and a father-figure in his life. “Do you always run to answer a Witch’s call, Second-High? Here I thought you were a Witch Hunter. It seems, though, that you’re just a Witch-Lover.”

The older and much larger Hunter narrowed his eyes and clenched his jaw before responding. “And you, boy, are a disappointment.”

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Author's Note: I'm in need of an Alpha Reader who can help me stay on schedule and is willing to help me brainstorm ideas. Please PM me if you think you'd be interested. (To give you an idea, I've had this chapter written for over two weeks. But I've only now gotten around to publishing it...and I have no excuse for the delay.)

And, of course, if you like the story, please leave me comments/reviews. Thanks!