Fate

Seven

Tonius inwardly cursed. His unwanted legacy would be the death of him, he was sure of it. The whole reason the Hunters even existed was to destroy out of control creatures like him. He'd be lying through his teeth to a man he was already pretty sure knew what he was, but he wasn't about to allow this Hunter to take Elyssa anywhere.

"So, what? You think that means us?"

Patrick appraised him. "The bounty was for one Seer. Name, Elyssa Jordan." Tonius was appalled. How the hell had the person who commissioned the bounties known Elyssa's second name? That had been a closely guarded secret. Not close enough though, it would seem. "And one for the Daemon. Alias, Tonius Parker. It was the second bounty that caught us by surprise," he said. "We'd all heard the stories of the creature that looks like a child, but kills like a beast. I'd sent Hunters after it on more than one occasion, none of which ever came back alive. But the stories faded into legend, and people assumed that the creature had died. There hadn't been word of it for seasons. Until now."

"Sounds like you're chasing myths, not bounties, Hunter."

Patrick chuckled. "That is often the way with us, it's true. But seeing as you match the descriptions so well, I feel that I must warn you. You may encounter trouble in your travels."

"Thank you for your warning," Tonius nodded stiffly. He didn't like the way the old Hunter was eyeballing him. He knew. He had to.

"But of course." Patrick picked up his bow. "I only wanted to say my piece before I regrouped with my men, so I'll be taking my leave."

Tonius turned so that Elyssa was still out of sight as Patrick passed by. "Hunter! Wait. Who is it that set up the bounty?"

He paused at the mouth of the tent, already raising the flap when he turned to look back at them. "That's the funny thing about this bounty. There's no one to contact for payment, or any names listed besides the targets. But my man got the information from one of the bounty hunters. A man named Bear. He might know more. You can find him North of here, in Blüdborn." With a nod goodbye at Micah, Patrick was gone and Tonius could feel rage swallow him up.

Bear.

∞∞∞∞

The entire camp was dark and sleeping as Tonius and Elyssa stole their way though. After Patrick had left, Tonius had excused himself and Elyssa, and they had gone back to their shared tent, standing in silence before he said what they both were thinking.

"We should leave. We've spent entirely too much time here as it is and Bear is closing in fast. He's only a town away. We need to get to Haven."

"I agree. It's time we move on." Tonius faltered. He had wholly expected her to put up more a fight about this. He knew how much she liked it here at the circus. Hell, he'd come to like it as well, despite his earlier misgivings, and honestly didn't want to leave. They could have easily built a life here, had their circumstances been different.

"You agree with me?"

"Bear is dangerous. We know that. If he catches us, it won't be good. I knew that staying with Micah was only temporary, right from the start."

The decision had been made. They were leaving. Tonius thought it best that didn't tell anyone, just in case Bear and the others did make their way here looking for them. At least then Micah could truthfully deny knowing anything about where'd they gone. Tonius felt slightly bad about just taking off in the middle of the night, which he found to be unusual. It's not like this was the first time they'd just packed up and moved on without so much as a word. But this was the first time that he had genuinely enjoyed the company of other people.