Chapter 11: Search and Destroy

Chapter 11: Search and Destroy

Master shuddered again, twitching beneath his cloak as tears rolled down his face. He tensed, pulling the clothing nest tighter. As a man, Master needed more rest to stay healthy, so Khukri opted to lay where he’d left her, watching as he wriggled like a trapped beast.

His eyes flicked open, revealing narrowed pupils amid a red sea.

“Master?” Khukri pushed the bedroll aside, rolling to her knees as she prepared to help. The moment he saw her, she froze.

His head snapped her way, horror filling his eyes as his already racing breaths doubled, leaving him gasping with each heaving intake. Wood spilled noisily across the tent as his back slammed into the pile, bulging out the tent’s face where morning light filtered through. His fingers brushed against one of the thicker logs and he immediately grasped it, cocking it back as he slipped among the scattered timber.

Instinctively, Khukri dropped to the floor, raising her knees to protect her chest and groin while covering her head as best she could with her arms. She waited for the impact, teeth clenched, but a moment later, the tent flap opened, spilling sunlight across her, then disappeared, leaving her alone.

After a tentative peek, Khukri uncoiled and quietly crawled to the entrance, listening to Master’s slowing breaths. He was by the fire pit, if she remembered the camp’s layout properly. “Master?” she asked, returning the firewood to its place before he returned.

“Sorry,” he said between staggered breaths. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I just... I forgot where I was for a minute. Are you okay?”

Khukri looked back, searching for the log he’d chosen as his weapon. “There’s no damage,” she said, checking behind the cart. “I think you were having a nightmare. You kept apologising too. It was mostly mumbling, but you said sorry a lot.”

The breathing slowed, moving from ragged to deep and even. “Yeah. I’ve been having those since Sari...” He hesitated, then his tone slid towards the confident way he spoke when trying to hide. “Since I left home. Going from waking up every day in the same room to a forest filled with wild beasts might cause a bit of stress, who knew? It’ll pass.”

He was making light of it now, likely in an attempt to hide his fear.

“Why’s it so damn cold?”

Master changed the topic. Apparently, his nightmares were a subject he wanted to avoid. “It’s winter,” Khukri explained. “It’s cold in the mornings, but it’ll get warmer, now that the sun’s up.”

“But we’re in the north,” he insisted. “Even the Northern Isles don’t get this cold in the winter, and the whole of the Othelan Republic and Canine Sea are between here and there.”

So, Master spent his winters in one of the northern islands of Tythic, interesting. Khukri stored the information, mentally noting to sift through everything later to see if anything contradicted or gave her a way to influence him. “Look up, do you see the mist?”

A long pause later, Master responded. “Yeah, I was wondering about that...”

Khukri bundled up the bedroll, pulling it tight against her chest as she moved to the entrance. “The Direwood’s covered in it, and outside the outpost, there are treetops too. It blocks out a lot of the sunlight, but at night the mist comes down. It gets everything wet, and in the winter it sucks up the heat. By morning, everything’s freezing. Here.” Khukri held the bedroll through the tent flaps. “It’s still warm.”

“I can handle it,” Master said, ground crunching as he pushed to his feet. “Use it for yourself.”

“Wolves don’t get cold,” Khukri said, waiting with the bedroll in extended arms while tracking his approach.

“Right. I forgot about the snow.” Master took the bundle from her, then pushed into the tent, offering her a nervous smile. “Thank you.”

Snow again? She lowered her head in deference, moving aside to let Master pass and envelop himself in the thick fabric. “Master? I still think it’s too dangerous to keep me, but if you insist, could you explain my duties?”

His expression hardened as he set the missing log atop the new pile. “There’s a lot I can’t say. I stepped into something deep, and there’s folks back home that’ll pay for it if I don’t keep quiet.”

“You said you needed protection,” she prodded. “I can’t defend you properly if I don’t know what I’m up against.”

“There’s a woman.” Master turned away, poking his arms from his cocoon to pull boxes from the cart. “Via, a free hunter. Except, this year, instead of hunting beasts, she’s coming for me. She’s got enough money to buy slaves for hunting, so we’ll be outnumbered.”

Master’s enemy was a single free hunter and her pack? A danger if they were caught in The Direwood, certainly, but hardly the most formidable force. “If your enemy’s an experienced hunter, you’ve chosen the worst territory for your fight. If you head for a city where her species is uncommon-”

“It needs to be here,” Master insisted, pulling a leather backpack from the bottom crate and proceeding to load it with marked cloth bundles. “There’s a price on my head. I don’t know the exact amount, but I’m guessing my corpse costs more than you did, and alive?” He shook his head grimly. “If anyone knows who I am, they’ll target people I care about. On this side of the Canine Sea, communication with the mainland is limited, and people don’t ask questions when someone disappears. Via dies, or I do; either way, everyone back home is safe.”

He’d opted to ignore the scenario where he won, then got beheaded by security. “I’ve never killed a person,” Khukri said.

Master hesitated, staring into his bag like it contained a bottomless pit. “Killing beasts isn't so different from killing animals.”

Khukri‘s ears perked as she glanced his way. What the hell did a man like this do to get that kind of price on his head? “If I get caught, they’ll hold you responsible. They’ll even force you to revoke your ownership and order me to tell them everything.”

“Sorry,” he mumbled, shaking himself off. “Obviously, she’s got the stronger position, so fighting on her terms isn’t happening. Issac, on the other hand, is even stronger, so we’re going to convince him I’m royalty. That way, when Via comes for me, Issac’ll do what I can’t, and I’ll disappear onto the mainland. By the time you tell them everything, no one will know where to start looking.”

The plan wasn’t good, but at least it ended with returning to her pack, instead of being disposed of as a murder weapon. “Convince him you’re royalty?”

“You’d be surprised what people believe when an idiot says it loud enough.” Master shouldered the bag, giving it a solid bounce. “I need to stand out if I want to have a chance, though, and I need you to help me do it.”

Issac? That flamboyant dalmatian that bought her from the training camp? He’d certainly have enough pull to protect Master, but she didn’t like the odds of convincing him. “Issac isn’t going to care about what I have to say. I’m a slave, the only thing he’ll worry about is if I’m going to go feral. Just like everyone else.” Everyone with sense, anyway.

“I don’t need you to talk to him.” Master set the bag down and retracted into his bedroll. “I can handle that part. What I need is attention, and that’s where you come in. I told him I was going to hunt, so for the first week, we hunt.”

Hunting? Hunting she could do.

***

Khukri shouldered her spear and strode from the tent. Misty tendrils hugged her armour as the sun’s warmth dragged moisture back into the everpresent cloud overhead. “Normally, a single hunter targets smaller beasts that feed on plants.” Khukri looked back as Master followed with his strange axe. “If we’re looking to impress, we’ll want predators. There’s four types that bring in the real money, but alone, our best bet is mist wraiths. They feed when the mist comes down, but during the day they hole up in nests and sleep.”

“Hold up a moment.” Master turned, heading around the tent instead of toward the exit.

Curious, Khukri followed. Around the side and back of their campsite, which Khukri swore was barren, the ground rustled with a carpet of grass that reached her ankles. She stopped at the edge, kneeling to examine it as Master disappeared around the back.

The grass was composed of broad leaves, unlike the thinner type from her training camp. She pushed aside the dirt, making sure the plant actually entered the ground, then stood. Master had to be out here last night planting these things, it was the only thing that made sense. Only, it didn’t. Between the freezing mist and limited sunlight, plants like this couldn’t survive out here; they’d be dead before tomorrow.

Along the tent’s back wall, a rack held seven barrels equipped with spigots, an unnecessarily lavish expense. Without explanation, Master walked down the row, twisting each lever until the barrel’s contents drained into the field. Satisfied, Master left his plants to drown, leading her toward the exit. “Okay, so how do we find mist wraiths?”

The question caught her off guard, having completely lost her place. “Master? Those plants...”

“They’ll be fine,” he insisted, pulling the curtain aside and ushering her out. “Just don’t tell anyone, okay?”

A dubious look crossed her face as she led him from the campsite towards the nearest outpost exit. It was bad enough he didn’t realize how much danger she posed, but it was clear now Master had no idea what he was doing.

“Khukri? The mist wraiths?”

She looked up, realizing she’d been inattentive while lost in thought. “Sorry Master. I’m a tracking specialist. I’m attuned to a mist wraith’s scent, so if we get close enough to one, I’ll find it.”

Master followed her through the opening, exchanging nods with the women guarding it. “Okay, let me know if you smell one. Actually, Via’s a dog and a hunter. Is she going to be able to smell me?”

“Depends.” Khukri picked up speed, moving into a jog as they passed the walls. It was early in the season, so there’d still be beasts close by, but they’d be competing with other hunters searching for easy prey. “The first type of scent tracking is to smell them directly. Distance varies based on the environment, and it takes a month of study to remember a scent without something to reference. If she’s trained for it, she could detect deer, but you’d be indistinguishable from other workers and hunters. Though in all likelihood, she hasn’t trained for that. Deer aren’t typically profitable targets.”

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“I replaced all my clothes when I started running, and I’ve been rubbing different plant oils into my coat. Will that change things enough to fool her if she has some of my old clothes?”

Khukri glanced back. He was still too weak to control her, and hopelessly out of his depth, but at least he was sufficiently paranoid. “You probably didn’t need to go that far. If you ditched your clothes then the time you spent sailing should change your scent enough.” Khukri ground to a halt, sniffing the air.

“Already?” Master asked.

She crouched, closing her eyes as she ground it between her fingers and let it spill onto the earth. “There was one here last night, but that was a while ago, and the forest is massive. It could’ve easily gone too far from the outpost for harvesters to travel.”

The sound of Master crouching snapped her from the trance. He stared intently at the ground ahead of them, then looked around before sighing. “I’ve never hunted before. Can you show me the tracks?”

With a bewildered blink, Khukri forced herself to hide her smile. “Master, hunting’s my job. It’s not something you need to learn.”

“I’m supposed to do something,” Master said, staring at the ground as though to will the tracks into existence. “Something important, and I don’t know what skills I’ll need. So, can you show me, please?”

It wasn’t unusual for an owner to think themselves important, but usually, they had some idea of why. “There’s no tracks.” Khukri grabbed a fistful of dirt and held it for him to see. “Animals and beasts constantly lose bits of skin and fur. Girls with sensitive enough noses can train to follow those bits. That’s the other way we can track.”

He rose, letting out a dejected grunt as he shouldered his axe. “Of course. Another thing the pervert goddess decided girls get. Fine, what now, do we follow it?”

Pervert goddess? Was he talking about Deianira? Khukri flung the dirt ahead of them, then wiped the remainder onto her leg. “You’re in charge, Master. You told me to tell you when I smelled one.”

Frustration flashed across Master’s face, and he worked his jaw before reigning himself in with a long sigh. “I don’t know the first thing about hunting, you do. Frankly, all I’m doing is slowing you down. You go ahead and take the lead, and just tell me if there’s anything I can actually do to contribute.”

“I can’t,” Khukri insisted. “Hunters that think for themselves lose market value. You bought a premium hunting slave. We’re tools, we’re weapons, we act as extensions of our owners. We. Don’t. Think.”

“Don’t...?” Master’s face twitched in disbelief as he turned in place. “We’re the only ones here, no one’s gonna affect your ‘market value.’ If you’re worried about me, then fine, I give you permission to th-”

Khukri rose, whirling around and coming within inches of Master as she bared her teeth. “I said I can’t!”

He jerked back, raising his free hand in wide-eyed surrender.

As fast as the rage came, regret followed. She folded her ears and lowered her head, tucking claws beneath her armpits so he’d know she didn’t intend to hurt him. “I... I”m sorry. I’m strong, and useful, and obedient. I swear I’m worth what you paid. Just, give me orders, please.”

Master watched her warily, as though she might go feral and rip his throat out, but nodded. “Alright. Follow the mist wraith, can’t be worse than running around hoping we trip over one.”

“Yes, Master.” Khukri turned away, picked up the scent, and took off with Master close behind.

They followed the trail wordlessly for an hour before Master started panting, and a half hour past that he stumbled to a stop, falling onto a boulder for support. On her approach, he offered a half-smile. “Sorry, I just need a moment. I’m not used to...”

He wasn’t terribly out of shape, for a man. Most male owners took their pack to the spot they liked most, then had hunters search the area while they rested. Then again, most owners wouldn’t let her outbursts slide. She closed her eyes, kneeling as she drew in air, searching for any trace of their long-gone mist wraith sleeping nearby. Why had he bothered to buy her? If he wanted a girl who thought for herself, there were plenty substandard hunters available. She was a broken-in wolf, half her wildly expensive price tag was ensuring she’d obediently agree to whatever insane notion passed through his skull. All he had to do was will her to act, and she’d obey. Her entire life revolved around raising her value for someone like him; she’d trained till she couldn’t stand, brought down beasts for profit, and never questioned orders. Not once. She was the perfect slave, so why didn’t he want her?

Her nose twitched as she caught a whiff of something. “Master?”

“What’s up?” Master asked. “Is it close?”

A deeper breath, just to be sure. “No. Over that way, far that way, there’s a velkammer.”

“I don’t know what that is.” Master’s boots scuffed the dirt as he approached. “Is it one of the valuable ones?”

She nodded. Of the beasts in the Direwood, a velkammer was second only to the spikeback. She’d participated as a flanker in bringing down over a dozen, but that was with a team of the best hunters money could buy. At bare minimum, you’d want a six hunter strike team. “It’s valuable; bringing one down on your first hunt would impress just about anyone.”

Master crouched next to her, excitement filling his voice. “Can you kill it?”

Could she? Bringing down a beast like that was simple; you poked a hole in it and let it bleed. If it attacked a member, the others moved in to strike from behind, and if it ran, you chased it until it was exhausted. The goal was to minimize the time within the beast’s striking distance, but alone, it could focus on her, or run too deep into the forest to harvest. Still, the question wasn’t about if she could safely kill it. She’d seen them move, seen them bleed, seen them die. So long as she got one perfect strike on an artery, it’d die. “Yes.”

“Okay, kill it.”

Her eyes flicked open as she burst into a sprint, snatching her spear from the tree before plunging headlong into the forest after the velkammer’s scent. Energy surged through her blood as she ran. Risking his entire investment on a gamble to bring down a beast was beyond reckless, right in line with what she’d expect from a man who thought to pass himself off as royalty. Sure, he didn’t know what he’d sent her against, but she’d been there to answer questions, and he only had two. It was more accurate to say he didn’t care what he sent her against, so long as it served his interest. Not that it was her place to judge.

Khukri pulled her hood up, securing the padded leather over her ears and tightening the faceguard. She intended to live through this, damn it, and Master wouldn’t have sent her if he expected her to die. A velkammer was valuable, but he’d get more money for returning her. If she died, Master would be... now that she thought about it, if she died, Master would be alone two hours from the outpost, with no idea how to get back. Two bad habits then: being reckless and tying their fates together.

Khukri pulled the cloak close and dropped low as she crept from tree to tree. The beast was twice Khukri’s height, and double that in length, with four powerful legs fanning out from its sides. A shining segmented carapace covered it from head to tail, each plate overlapping slightly to make it harder to score a hit. With a powerful push, the beast slid forward, the smooth carapace on its underside easily slipping over rocks and dirt without leaving a scratch.

The creature’s most prominent advantage was its armour, of course, but a predator didn’t get that size by hiding in a shell. Those legs could pick up speed fast, allowing a burst to quickly overtake its prey. The claws posed little threat, with its arms locked on either side, but its jaw was big enough to swallow her whole, and strong enough to shred flesh and bone.

Her spear hefted as she stepped out of hiding directly behind it, keeping light on her feet to avoid notice. Its defence was impressive, but held obvious weak points. For one, the shell around its head had holes for eyes, though she didn’t like her odds of getting that close to its teeth. The other openings were gaps in the joints of anything that required more range of motion, like its legs or neck.

In the last few steps, Khukri picked up speed, coming to a full sprint before crashing into it from behind and ramming the spear between the plates on its hind leg. The beast screeched, scrambling at the dirt as it whipped its head around, massive jaw agape. With everything she had, she gripped the spear, spitting up clouds of dirt as the beast’s momentum pulled her away.

Its jaw snapped shut on open air, causing the beast to slow for the second she needed to coil her legs and drive the spear deeper. Again it screamed, twisting to bite her, and again, Khukri clutched the spear and let it drag her to safety. The massive black plates on its side clamped together, limiting the velkammer’s turning radius as the gushing wound left semicircles of blood in the dirt.

It continued wailing as it pushed with the legs on the side opposite hers, moving into a roll. Khukri released the spear, letting it snap under the beast’s weight as she retreated from the unexpected manuver. With a defiant scream, Khukri leapt at a tree, digging her hind claws into the soggy wood and spraying chunks down as she vaulted into the air. The beast’s back slammed into the tree with a heavy squelch, catching Khukri’s ankles at the apex of her jump and pitching her forward to violently slam into the beast’s side.

Pain shot through her shoulder and chest, leaving her stunned, then her perch shifted, rolling back as the beast righted itself. Her claws scrambled against its shell as she tried to get traction, but the ground leapt up to meet her, and when the beast’s feet landed she was flung clear. At the last second, Khukri pulled the heavy blade from its sheath in a downward grip and plunged it into a front leg joint, holding on for dear life as momentum tried to rip her away.

Blood wept down the blade, coating the hilt and turning her hands red. Her ears twitched as the monster opened its mouth two feet from her face and released a deafening roar, giving her a clear view of the endless chasm adorned with razor teeth. She roared back, wrapping her legs around his and ripping the blade free, only to repeatedly slam it down with both hands and shower her face in blood.

The beast leaned, vigorously shaking the leg to dislodge its attacker, but she held the shell firmly in one hand and blindly stabbed with the other. It lurched, sending the damaged leg into the ground with brutal force as it began another roll. This time, Khukri was ready, decoupling from its leg and releasing the blade. Her foot found the handle firmly jammed into the beast, allowing her to vault onto its back and scurry to the other side. Blood and wet dirt squeaked against the carapace as she slid across the rolling wall, catching the flailing leg on the opposite side and using it to propel her across its stomach before the roll returned it to the ground.

As she slid, she caught sight of the plates on the beast’s neck, parting to expose its bare throat as gravity pulled the heavy head-shell back. Khukri completed a full rotation of the beast and grabbed the knife with both hands. A fresh coat of blood sprayed across her as the beast completed its roll, jerking her violently against the blade and tearing through a foot of flesh.

When the beast tried to flick her off, Khukri wrapped her legs around it again and resumed frantically ramming the blade home. Without warning, her prey sprung forward, legs digging into the ground in a frantic charge. As Khukri continued to stab, she waited for her chance. The next time it rolled, she’d slide the knife deep into its neck and let gravity sort it out.

Through blurred eyes, Khukri looked up just in time to see the ridge, but too late to do anything about it. A wall of dirt and rocks raced forward, smashing into her as the beast buried its side in dirt. Earth sprayed around Khukri as the massive weight crushed her, catching the back of her cloak and tearing it from the hood. Her lungs compressed, forcing air from her while stones scratched and scarred the leather. Her head jerked about, buffeted as the padded hood softened and deflected potentially lethal impacts.

A gnarled root raced along the wall, catching her face and the lip of her hood, tearing it clear and pooling blood in one of her eyes. Instinctively, Khukri released the blade with one hand to protect her head, aggressively crashing through incoming obstacles and trying to ignore the pain. Her armguard frayed, leaving a trail of bloody leather against the wall as flesh eroded beneath the earthen tide.

She gasped, pulling in breath as the beast burst past the ridge, showering the air with a cloud of pebbles and dust. The beast’s leg lowered, helping it pick up speed once more as it charged a tree. Khukri’s body screamed in protest as she forced her bloody, unarmoured to grip the handle. The tree raced towards them, barely giving Khukri time to brace her hind claws on the shell’s rim, then at the last second, she ripped the knife free and leapt with all the energy she could muster.

For a moment, she was weightless. She sailed into the air and swung the knife with both hands. The velkammer jerked as it slammed its side into the tree, blowing moss and bark free with a resounding whack. The impact slowed the beast, and the weight of its head-shell pulled the forward, exposing its throat for a moment. Khukri’s knife found the gap between plates as she sailed past, then momentum carried her forward, ripping its throat out in a half-second.

She hung in the air, savouring the gargling death cry of the beast, then she hit the ground. Dirt exploded around her as she landed, and a sharp pain shot through her back. The world went fuzzy as she bounced, spinning on the ground as she impacted repeatedly and left a trail of blood. Everything stopped when she smashed stomach-first into a tree, knocking the wind from her one more time.

Gasping and wheezing, Khukri propped herself up on the arm that still obeyed her and retched. Blood and vomit spilled into the upturned earth before she collapsed with her back to the tree, watching the velkammer stagger around, blood gushing from its torn throat until it slumped to the earth with a low gurgle..

Her head swam as she set it back on the green cushioning, staring up into the mist and breathlessly cackling through blood-soaked teeth. I was so worth what he paid for me.