Bounty Hunter [REWRITTEN VERSION]

Chapter 45: The Ambush

MAIZE

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Maize ignored the warning as she stretched her arm forward, reaching for the next tree branch in front of her to pull herself higher.

She looked over her shoulder to throw a smug look at the detective left behind on the ground a few meters below with his arms crossed as he observed her assent with a dubious expression.

"Remind me again why you even bothered to follow me out here if all you planned on doing was nagging me the whole time?" she called down in response, turning away to focus on her course ahead as she heard his answer. Trees surrounded every which way they turned, and Maize could feel the rough bark of the large old tree under her fingertips as she balanced on its larger branches.

"Because when you left you gave off the feeling that you were going to go out and do something stupid that warranted for supervision," he replied snappily just as Maize stepped on a not so stable branch that sent a clump of chipped aged bark skittering dangerously away before it fell to the ground. "And oh gee look at that, I was right."

Maize rolled her eyes, knowing he couldn't see her from as high as she was. "I don't need your supervision...or your annoying input for that matter," she retorted.

She could hear a rumble of muttered words from the detective below, but she allowed the sound to flow onto deaf ears as she continued to climb.

A silent yearning she had kept inside since they had come here; she had been waiting for the chance to get a few moments to herself, find a worthy tree that soared higher than she could see, and climb. She wanted to experience the adrenaline of ascending up a perch so that she would be able to turn around and look at the world from a viewpoint higher than she could ever be on her own. To look out at the spectacle around her and feel at ease, just looking, just seeing.

Her mentor had always taught her that the most beautiful thing you could ever see was what you chose to view around you. And now, she chose to look not down but forward, ahead, reminding herself that there was always more, so much more.

The world was unconquerable, no matter who you were and what you tried. The earth and sky would always be a wild expansion beyond anyone's control. And she revelled in that, accepted that with ease, like a calming peace of thought that eased her mind.

"Did you fall asleep up there or something? Don't tell me you got caught daydreaming," the detective's voice called out to her when she hadn't moved for several moments, breaking her from her thoughts and her brief moment of serenity.

Suddenly annoyed, Maize spun on her heel with one hand still gripping onto the branch above her and turned with the intention of giving the detective a sharp piece of her mind. But she hadn't been expecting the sudden strong gust of wind that blew into her face and rocked the branches upon which she clung to for balance.

In her haste to try and grab onto another branch with her other hand, her footing underneath her fumbled, and suddenly, Maize lost her grip entirely.

She was falling, but luckily, it wasn't as if she had been thirty feet in the air. She knew from the distance she had climbed, the most server thing she could expect to suffer from was maybe a few scratches from the twigs below, a sore body part, a bruise at most. She could live with a bruise. She had survived much worse before.