The Scarlet Huntress

Chapter 15: Healing & Help

We woke up late in the day to a rather loud and incessant banging on the front door. This was incredibly annoying because the sound, when combined with the pounding headache I'd developed, felt like someone playing a drum inside my head. I tried to ignore the sound, hoping that whoever it was would take the hint and leave, but after about five minutes it became obvious that that wasn't going to happen.

I groaned as I began to disentangle myself from Nocte, who must've come in after I had fallen asleep. My balance wasn't the best and I stumbled, falling against the desk and knocking a book off of it. The resulting BANG finally woke up Selena and she darted over to me.

"My goodness Lil, you like death warmed over!" She exclaimed, "and who on Earth is making that racket?"

"I don't know, but could you help me get downstairs, I don't think I can make it by myself," I asked sheepishly.

After I said that Selena pulled me up as easily as she would a child. What kind of work does she do in that shop, I thought, she's nearly as strong as I am! She slung my arms around her neck so that she was giving me a piggyback and slowly made her way downstairs. After depositing me in my room she tossed me a blue house dress to change into. I could still remember making that dress. How the woad had stained my hands for days and the painstaking hours I had put into sewing it. I hadn't worn it since Luka had died, it had been his favorite and I couldn't bear to. Goodness gracious, I'm getting soft, I told myself, quit being a baby and put on the stupid dress.

I changed my clothes and brushed my hair out, I then wobbled my way into the kitchen to find that Selena had already let our uninvited guest in. I needed to remember to tell her to be careful who she lets in. There are some creatures, the undead in particular, that have to be invited in. That is why I typically conduct business on my porch. Now I have a very unhappy Farmer Milner pacing around my kitchen, he began to speak as I sat down and I knew that this was going to get ugly fast.

"Well, well, look what we have here. It looks like little Red isn't nearly as good as everyone says," Milner spat contemptuously. "I knew I should've hired someone else, it was my mistake for trusting a little girl to do a man's work. Guess I'm going to have to hire someone else."

Lena stood at the table staring at the man in slack jawed shock, it took her about a minute to recover. When she did she had a dangerous look in her eye, similar to the one she had when she'd broken Tommy Jenkins's nose on market day a few years back, and I could tell that she was about to rip into the man. Knowing that Milner's son was going to come calling on Selena any day now, I held up my hand to stop her.

"Good morning Mr. Milner," I began, enjoying the surprise on the man's face, "why don't you take a seat and we can talk business." The man quickly obliged, and although he tried to cover it I could tell that my politeness had thrown him off his game. Which is exactly what I wanted, keeping him off balance will make this so much easier for me.

"Now then, I'm guessing that something happened, why don't you tell me what's going on?" I asked.

"Night before last, while you were visiting that blasted grandmother of yours, that beast came back and broke into my barn. It killed my mule and finished off the dog, then it decided to string the pieces all around the property, I'll be finding parts of them for weeks!" Milner exclaimed.

I noticed Lena, who was still standing for some reason, had paled.

"Lena, you may want to sit down for this conversation," I told her before returning my attention to Milner. "I see. I dealt with a similar situation yesterday, that wolf ripped my chickens apart and strung pieces of them all through my house. Nearly killed my cat too. However, while I was 'visiting my blasted grandmother' I had a run in with the creature in question and managed to kill it, meaning that I have held up my end of the deal."

"I will also tell you that even if the wolf wasn't already dead, you probably wouldn't be able to get another Hunter to take this case. We are a pretty tightly knit community and the first thing they'll do is ask me why I'm not working this job. I'm guessing you can see where I'm going with this?" The blood drained from Milner's face as he realized exactly what kind of position he was in.

"W-well that's b-beside the point! You took too long to kill that monster, and now I'm down a mule and a guard dog!"

"Mr. Milner, I know that this really isn't my business, but I have to speak up," Lena interrupted. "From what I understand you never put a time limit in your contract, and Miss Sumner never could've predicted this. Furthermore, her contract was to kill the monster that was after your livestock, which she has done. In other words, if you refuse to pay her you will be in breach of contract. Good luck getting help from another Hunter ever again."

"Plus, if you're in a tight spot I'm more than willing to defer payment until next fall. We could also renegotiate the payment altogether if we need to," I added.

Farmer Milner noticeably brightened when I said that, but if he thinks that he'll be able to negotiate a cheaper payment then the joke's on him. I know my worth, and this job has already been more trouble than I bargained for. The only reason I'm dealing with this witch on top of the wolf is self preservation. As far as I'm concerned my deal with him has been kept and his part in this was over.

"Alright, you've got yourself a deal," Farmer Milner agreed and left without so much as a goodbye.

As soon as the man left Lena let out a huge sigh of relief and I relaxed my posture a little bit.

"Is he always like that Lilli? If he is I don't know how you stand it," Lena said.

"He's not usually quite that bad, but yes, pretty much," I shrugged. "It's very obvious that he despises the fact that he's having to rely on someone for help, and that conversation just confirmed that part of his problem is that I am a woman."

"Well that's a ridiculous reason to have a problem with you. Is it just you or is it all women?"

"Honestly I'm not really sure, the only other woman I've seen him interact with is you. But I could tell that he didn't like it when you spoke out of turn, especially since you were standing up for me. I guess he doesn't like a woman with a spine."

I went to get up but Lena wasn't having any of it, she came around the table and pushed me back into my seat. I knew better than to try and push my luck and stayed down. Lena then went down the stairs that led to the root cellar, which we called my 'rabbit hole.' When she came back up she had a basket full of vegetables which she swiftly put to use. It didn't take me long to realize that she was making me chicken and barley soup. I guess that I wasn't hiding the fact that I felt bad as well as I had thought. After about ten minutes Lena broke the silence.

"You know that Jimmy Milner came calling the night that you were gone? Apparently he's had his eye on me for a while and he said that Father was okay with it," Lena said.

"Your dad did mention that Jimmy had asked for permission, and asked me what I thought of the boy. I mean Mr. Milner is a piece of work but the boy seems pleasant enough. Is there some kind of problem?" I asked.

"Well yes and no. I don't really know Jimmy and he definitely doesn't know me. It just seems a little, I don't know, odd. I also didn't really like the look in his eyes when he was talking to me," Selena cringed, "I know that you have much more important things to worry about right now, but I was hoping you could help me out? What should I do?"

"Well, I hope I'm giving you the right advice but, I think you should trust your instincts on this one. I don't really know the boy either, however, I do know what his father is like. If you get a bad feeling you shouldn't ignore it, the only reason I'm still alive is because I pay attention to those feelings. And before you ask, I don't think that your situation is that dire."

By the time I had finished Lena had the soup cooking and had come to sit down beside me. We sat there in companionable silence until breakfast was ready, not breaking the silence as Lena got up and grabbed a pair of bowls and spoons for us to eat with.