The Other Side Of The Wall

Ch.1

Here in the woods was the only home I knew. My bow slung over my shoulder and back with my quiver filled with the magic boomerang arrows I had crafted myself. I hunted so often it was like a reflex nowadays. So those arrows were important. I would shoot my prey with them and they would not come out unless my hand pulled them. After my prey passed the arrows would return in my quiver. After 10 minutes of being embedded in flesh and my prey hasn't passed they would start to seep with poison, the FATAL poison of the Kelpie's saliva. It turned my prey's bloodstream into tar, clogging everything.

I stayed crouched in the bushes my horse a few feet behind me, she was watching with caution. Her chestnut ears pricked forward and black mane lightly swaying in the breeze.

"Iridessa, there is scarce prey today. What are you hunting? There is naught to be found." Sanji's voice rang clear in my head as she started to eat grass.

"It's here Sanji. It's hiding its scent from me, and from you. So stay quiet." My baby blue eyes scanned the woods ahead. I picked up a faint decaying smell and knew the Lurker had thought I had left. He was circling where we were. It knew we were hunting it. I slightly whistled for Sanji to know she had to be on guard and she did just that. Her ears pricked, her nose quivering as she silently sniffed the air.

A snap in the bushes and I withdrew my sword from its sheath. Close proximity was the only time I ever used the sword because it was faster to slash and stab then to draw the bow back.

I crafted this one myself too, using my magic to make sure the pale red blade was made indestructible so it would never lose its sharpness or break upon heavy blows made from enemies during war, the handle made so it would never use its blade and an obsidian rune mid-hilt making sure that I was cleansed of negative energy and had a clear head as long as I had it on my person, I had embedded 9 alexandrite stones on the hilt to increase my luck during hunting while I was after Schades or whatever else lurked in this kingdom. Like Lurkers.

Another snap, closer. I crouched on the heels of my feet sword arm cocked back, ready to lunge and pierce my enemy. An inhuman shriek rang through the forest and I leaped out of the bushes. The Lurker was hissing and snapping at Sanji. She whinnied frantically.

The Lurker was a disgusting vile evil Fae. Upon sight, they were to be slain. Its jaw hung loose and on an angle, the pale grey skin was smeared with blood and its clothes reeked of decay, eyeless sockets stared at me as it let out another shriek. Its four sharp talons tore at me and it lunged at me, trying to tear my soft flesh. I snarled at it as it shrieked again. I counterattacked with deafening blows and the Lurker soon lay on the grass starting to decay.

No one knows how lurkers are made, but we all know they used to be members of the Fae, they used to be someone's loved one.

Sanji watched me as I did what I always did for the fallen enemy or ally. "May the gods pardon you of your sins and trials, may the winds carry your wings as you soar through Avalon. Merry Meet and Merry Part dear friend." Sanji bowed and I dug a hole for the departed and the deed was done. 

All life was to be honored it was the way of the Fae brutal mischievous being's we were but were not completely monstrous. We had rules and orders to follow, we were not demons, we were not fallen. Something else entirely. 

I ran and hopped up on Sanji's back and we headed to the castle the woods coming alive again with the sounds of the forest as the threat was no longer there.  Mother was going to be pissed.