'The Last Boar'

There's so much you can say about Ria. She's a woman of her own mind. A strange and imperfect person, tanned and brow-heavy, stubborn yet prone to smile - I personally like her. But... That doesn't excuse what she did. I'm not sure what can really excuse that... The council will have their justice and they don't much care for whether someone's extraordinary, all they care about is that the system works and keeps order. All they care about, is keeping their stomachs full of wine, brandy and deer meat.

The only thing that could win them over is the taste of a boar, the boar they had the hunters run extinct. I suppose if worst comes to worse I could always... But it has been a terribly long time since I've saddled my bow and quiver, I'm not even sure whether my ticket out of the village is still valid or whether the guards will stop me on sight, completely embarrassing me in front of the market traders, drawing attention that any friend of Ria does not need right now. Everyone knows the traders do more business in rumours than they do coin.

And even if I can get out of the village, who says I'll be able to remember where I saw it. I mean, anything could've happened! It's not like there aren't carnivores out there with just as much hunger for boar as old, bearded men, growing pot-bellied and jowled. Is this it? Is this what will get me back in the saddle? Not starving, not a fantastic pay-day, no, but a friend... A friend that still hasn't promised me forgiveness. Will this be enough? Once someone's in the grave, you can never clear your debt. As I pull the chest out from under the bed, I wonder whether I always knew this is how it would go. Whether I knew I would one day have to renege on a promise, a matter of honour and set forth to hunt... The last boar.

"Where exactly do you think you're going, Kiarn?" A powerfully built guard in partial armour asked as a hooded man approached the Main Gate.

The hooded man held out a piece of fabric sewn with the Council's seal.

"And that would be the old, now unusable hunting seal, Kiarn. You're going to need to turn around and beg audience with the council if you want the current one."

The guard shook his head, not necessarily mean-hearted, but evidently finding the entire attempt preposterous.

The man atop the horse, 'Kiarn', stayed where he was and his head didn't move an inch either way. He just sat there, his hood so far forwards that his countenance looked more like a shadow's trick than a human face, the face the guards immediately paired with the brown/white horse he was riding.

"Kiarn, come on now! Be off with ya'!"

The guard's hand swung out in a shooing gesture and the medium sized horse leant back a little, maybe a little more than one would expect from a seasoned hunting nag. Was Kiarn simply encouraging it to be timid with a little tug on the reins? Before the question darting directly into the guard's mind could be answered, Kiarn had a mishap. He fell, directly into a puddle and began writhing around, bucking as a scared horse does in panic.

"Kiarn? Kiarn! Men! Guards!"

The guard surged forwards and tried to pull the hood from Kiarn's face, but it appeared to be tied on with rope, thicker than looked comfortable. Other guards ran over, one bringing a trader of medicines over with him, who told the guards to stand back as he began rummaging through a case of potions, herbs and medicinal rubs. Behind the guards and the trader, who was at this point checking to see whether he would be paid for his services before helping the seizing man, a different man climbed up and hopped over the gate, his hair the colour of blueberries and his clothes the thin, multiple layers of a sneak-thief. The guards didn't see him, they were too busy attending to Kiarn, telling the trader he'd better help the man or the council wouldn't be happy. By the time one of the guards eventually got the rope loose and the hood removed, the man that had jumped the fence, the man with the unnaturally blue hair, he was long gone, into the forest across the clearing, carrying a finer bow and quiver than the rider since revealed to be someone else.