Bounty Hunter [REWRITTEN VERSION]

Chapter 32: Fortress in the Hills

MAIZE

They continued driving for another straight hour, per Maize's instructions, but by two she was telling them to ditch the car and to grab whatever they thought they would need for the remaining way. The rest of the trip would be off-road from there on forward.

There had been mild incredulous comments—not to her surprise, but it seemed they knew better than to argue with her. And so they had carried on into the woods on foot.

Another hour and it seemed the only one who had any sense of where they were was Maize herself. The terrain differentiated from soil to thicker roots to rock and then back, the further they ascended. The trek was tiresome, to say the least. None of them seemed all too conditioned for this type of environment when compared to the easy paths and roads of the city. Fortunately, she didn't hear any complaining, that was, if you excluded the annoyingly persistent question of 'are we there yet'—coming from Kishan, and more than once from the detective.

Also, quite frankly—though she didn't let it slip in her expression—she wasn't sure if she would be able to answer.

Truth was, she was struggling to navigate through the rough terrain of endless trees she had led them into, and at this rate, she wasn't even sure whether they would be able to make it to their location before nightfall—which wasn't an option. Without someone who knew what they were doing, a tracker, getting stuck out in the open woods at night was not an option. Especially when that was the time the time the things with teeth and claws came out to play.

Damn it. Maize was both mentally cursing herself and the difficult terrain. The only real directions she had to go on had been something she remembered being told once.

North as far as you can. Then from the point you see the fang-waterfall, head north-east from thereon. From there, you'll know where to find me.

Of course, that information had been given to her over two years ago. And while she was sure the location itself had not changed, the route to get there was a different story. The earth was constantly changing, and over the course of time that had passed, that could mean a lot for an environment such as the one they were in.

But it wasn't like she could do anything else. She followed North.

The fang-waterfall—or rather, the marking point in her only route instructions—was a slight sized cliff of rock that jutted out from the side of the mountain that gave way for the raging flow of water that poured from the mouth of the cliff in—as the name goes—a fang shape, and pooled at the base into a large river of mountain water. And they had passed that point nearly twenty minutes ago, and counting. Because she was counting.

And from her calculations and past memory, they should have been getting close by now.

"Holy shit, Maize, I thought you said it was a house," West breathed after a few more minutes, his gaze fixed wide-eyed ahead of him.

She stopped walking and looked forward with both relief and a hint of pride.

"I never said house..." she returned as she glanced at his expression.

Finally. They were here.

The four of them stood where the trees opened up to a large clearing, almost as if someone had taken a huge brush and ploughed a space within the terrain of trees. Resting in the centre, was a three-story fortress—almost military grade style.