The Hunters

Chapter Six: The Gala

Veronika

I heard a voice in my sleep taunting me and laughing. "Hello love," the voice said and laughed. I snapped awake away from the pain of it all "Jack Hill" I thought attempting to shake the man from my mind. A few more days passed and I had the same nightmare over and over again the first words Jack had said to me, a laugh, and then I would wake up every time sweating. My wounds were still sore but I pressed through it all knowing I had other things to do. I took the old bandage off of my leg then put a new one on. The cut on my arm had mostly healed same with the burn and the bruises weren't as purple as they had been. I changed into a simple outfit of jeans and a black short sleeved shirt. I walked out of my room to find Walter buzzing around cleaning as he usually would in the morning. "Hello madam you will find Marco in the garden and tonight is the royal gala do you think you're ready," Walter asked. "I am always ready to deal with a bunch of nobles who attempt to woo me because they're not good enough to be suitors for the princess," I laughed trying to not focus on the pain that still lingered in my body. "Indeed you are," Walter replied with a slight laugh. I walked out to the garden and found Marco looking at the white roses that lined one of the hedge walls of the garden.

"Beautiful aren't they?" I said walking up behind Marco he must not have heard me walk up because he slightly jumped at my words. "Yes, they are," Marco responded after he was settled again. "My mother tended them a lot so I care for the roses when I can," I said looking at the roses. "Do the roses wilt with the passing of the seasons?" Marco asked since it grew colder by the day and Winter was right around the corner. "Amazingly no they don't wilt with the change of seasons, when they start to wilt that means the plant itself is dying," I said inspecting the petals of the plant. "Are you ready for the gala?" I said as I looked at Marco. "You know I hate politics," Marco scoffed and I laughed at the snide remark. "Oh but Marco it's not just politics there's fashion and food and we're guests of honor so we'll be introduced by the Queen herself," I said like a small child imagining a grand ball gown. "Whatever you say, the only good part is the music and the food," Marco said. "Since when were you a fan of classical music?" I said confused. "I listen to it when I need to focus," Marco said he seemed a bit embarrassed at the fact that he listens to classical music. "Guilty pleasure I see," I said with a laugh causing Marco to blush. "Uh yeah, yeah, I suppose you could call it that," he stammered his face growing a brighter red by the second. "Why are you embarrassed by classical music?" I asked. "Well no one listens to it so I thought that maybe you'd make fun of me for it," Marco said. "Marco I'm not going to make fun of you for listening to classical music," I said with a laugh. "Oh well then um I think I'm just going to get ready," Marco said trying to get out of the situation as quickly as possible. I looked at Marco as he left and shook my head with a slight chuckle.

I walked back into the estate then into the library. I pulled the book and opened the door to our base. "Walter how goes the contract," I said wanting to know whether Marco deposited the materials we gathered from the wyrm. "Marco has put the materials from the wyrm into storage but our buyer has yet to take them," Walter said checking the buyers status to make sure they hadn't bought yet. I looked into our storage room where small boxes stored pieces of wyrms that had been molecularly deconstructed so they could be carried around easier and they could be easily put back together. The pieces of the wyrm were still accessible and people often paid good money for horns and teeth to use as building materials or people would craft figurines or statues from them. Wyrm hunting isn't illegal but it's frowned upon unless the wyrm is corrupted which is why we only hunt corrupted wyrms. I shut the door to the storage room and walked out of the secret room. I walked through the bookshelves and pulled a book. The title read On Bow Making by Ardius Finch. I had read this book over and over again as a child. I sat down under a window and read the book studying the diagrams and descriptions of making bows and arrows. Hours passed as I read the book and before I realized it the sun was starting to fall. I gasped knowing I needed to get ready for the gala. I rushed to my room and chose a deep blue dress that flowed as I moved but the top fitted me perfectly and was adorned with rhinestones that sparkled with every movement. I put on a pair of black heels and braided my hair pulling it up into a half up half down hairdo then I put a hairpin the shone with sapphires that had a string of white pearls hanging from it. I put on the necklace with my family crest on and a simple band of silver with elegant engravings on my finger. I put on some silver bracelets on my right arm and silver dangling earrings. The dress had a sleeve over the left arm which I was thankful for since it covered up the fresh scar that Jack Hill had gifted me with. I turned to the mirror did a quick smokey eye and a deep shade of red lipstick that went with my dark hair and pale skin.