Chapter 12: Just Another Day As A Rune Hunter

  What made you think this would be easy, Amara?

  Hire a rune hunter; find a rune; kill the man that murdered your husband with it. Being chased by hungry wild beasts was definitely not on my to-do-list!

  They fell easily to my arrows that made their mark, but when one fell another quickly took its place. And the chase continued.

  "Casper!" I yelled, the beasts snarling drowned out my voice. He had better not be dead! I paid him too much to just be eaten!

  A few precision jumps between trees gave me the lift I needed and the upperhand with several well placed arrows from above. After an evasive roll, I managed to get the drop on the remaining beasts. This was the first time I've had to put my training on Khalina island to use. If only Sergeant were here to see me now.

  I retrieved as many arrows as I could and headed back to where Casper and I must have separated. He did warn me about the dangers of this marsh. What did he call it again? Redjal el Marja?

  Men of the Marshes.

  Haven't seen any men yet; just mangy, blood thirsty, mongrels.

  The trees opened up to a lightly trodden path. With my bow loaded, I approached an object on the ground. I gasped. Casper's hat! And blood...

  Was it his??

  There were growls close by; like dogs fighting over scraps of food. I approached them with both caution and sadness. Was I about to stumble upon Casper's final moments? It was my desire for a rune that brought him to this accursed place. How was I going to tell my son I got a man killed because of it?

  It was as I expected. Those beasts had their bloody jaws in a body...but it wasn't Casper. It's not Casper! Was I wrong to feel relieved right now?

  Someone whistled behind me, dividing my attention. "Casper," I mouthed, with a smile. Thank goodness! He's in one piece!

  "Are you okay?!" I asked, keeping my voice low. "I thought you were..!"

  "Dead?" he said, brushing off his hat. "Like that amature over there?"

  I glanced back at the feast. "Do you know who that is..er.. was?"

  "We may have crossed paths before. Rune hunting is a competitive business."

  "Oh. Another rune hunter?"

  He returned his hat to its rightful place then leaned over and grinned. "Now, aren't you glad you came?"

  "I can handle anything you can," I replied, looking him straight in the eye.

  Our attention was snatched by the sound of a horse snorting. It was close and getting closer, slowly. An ominous feeling swept over me. I pulled back on my bow's string and took aim.

  "Uhm, you might not want to do that," Casper warned. He made haste into the trees and I was quick to follow. I'm only running because he was!

  He stopped and ducked behind a tree as the rider came into view. Tall, dark, and menacing, the rider was shrouded by a tattered hooded cloak.

  Men of the Marshes.

  The pack of beasts, done with their meal, casually approached the rider as if he were their master. He must have been, because they followed him like puppies as he walked over to their recent kill. Despite my curiosity, I couldn't see what he did next.

  "Let's move," Casper urged. "Quietly."

  I nodded.

  We moved as lightly as possible until we stumbled upon a clearing in the marsh. With no sign of any pursuers, I took a moment to breathe. "Are we close to finding the Rebirth rune?"

  Casper studied what looked like a pocket compass. "The darn thing keeps moving," he said.

  "You mean the rune? How do you know?"

  "If I were to tell you that," he said, snapping the compass close before I could get a look at it. "I'd be out of a job. Now, either someone else beat us to it, or...." He paused, then fetched a map from his pocket. "..it's floating down stream.."

  Unlike the compass, he let me take a gander at the map. There were a bunch of areas circled in red with the word 'death' written on it. 'Will wish you were dead' was on a couple spots; one of them down stream. What a lovely place to go Rebirth hunting.

  "Where are we on this map?" I asked.

  "Between a slow death and a painful one." He pointed at a spot on the map. "Right about here."

  "What's the plan?"

  "We make camp."

  At first, with that look on his face, I thought he was joking...

  Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

  ***

  He wasn't.

  A ring of fire was the only thing stopping the marsh's inhabitants from paying us a visit. All I saw were their blood red eyes; lots and lots of eyes. If that wasn't unnerving enough, the sound of horses circling us kept me on edge. And I thought the fiends around Khalm were menacing.

  I grasped my bow tightly and tried to steady my nerves. Casper spent much of his time carving a sharp edge into a long staff, with hands more steady than mine. If he had nerves of steel, then so should I.

  I cleared the fear from my voice before asking him, "How long have you been doing this?"

  "Too long," he replied, holding his focus on his work.

  "Were you always a rune hunter?"

  "Hmm...You could say that."

  What kind of answer was that? I was about to ask him another question when I heard a branch break under something heavy. "I can't stand this place!" I snapped, taking aim at a stalking shadow.

  "Save your arrows," Casper said. "They have the advantage at night."

  "What if they decide to rush the flames that protect us?"

  "They won't."

  "How can you be so sure??"

  "Because ." Casper dipped the pointy end of his stick into the fire. "This fire was made just for them."

  He hurled the staff into the night, impaling a tall shadow. And for a moment the frightening skeletal face of the cloaked stalker was exposed, before it turned and ran away; its head completely ablaze. The beasts gradually fell back into the shadows; they were watching us, though. I could still see a faint hint of their menacing eyes shimmering in the darkness.

  "I wonder where you came upon such a concoction."

  "I bought it off of a traveling salesman years ago. It was his last pouch. And, if you think Redjal el Marja is bad, you should visit the tropical forests in Mesheeka,"

  Tropical forest? Sounds lovely. "Is that where you're from?"

  "I'm a traveling man, Amara. I'm from nowhere." He got comfortable on a log and covered his face with his hat. "Now, try to get some shut eye while you can, hmm?"

  Was he really going to sleep in the middle of all this?? I wasn't.

  I'd probably wake up dead!

  ***

  I heard Casper call my name from afar, but I didn't want to open my eyes. The ground was surprisingly comfortable and dry for a marsh, and I....

  ..I...

  !!!!

  I fell asleep!

  "About time you got up," said Casper. "I was contemplating leaving you to the marsh."

  "I can't believe I woke up," I said, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. The fire was still burning around us, just not as bright as before.

  "That rune has been stationary for some time," Casper said, gathering supplies. "Let's go get it, shall we?"

  "How far away was it?"

  "Two or three miles through extremely unfriendly territory."

  "Okay, I'm ready. Just let me collect my..." I paused. My arrows weren't where I left them. "Casper, have you seen my ammunition?"

  "Here," he said, handing me what I was looking for. "I dusted them with kindling. They'll ignite soon after they're shot."

  "Can't wait to see that." I took a deep breath and back into the damp overgrowth we went.

  Thick, taller grass slowed me down a bit. Casper didn't seem bothered by it though. We must have walked a mile or so before I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. The grass rippled as they ran. They surpassed us in an instant and exploded from the field, cutting us off.

  "What manner of....!" I gasped, expecting to see the four legged enemy I was more familiar with. But, what stood before us was upright and just as feral.

  "Was hoping we'd avoid these," Casper said, drawing a sword I had no idea he had. "But, after their fresh meal, I should have expected them.."

  I fired a couple of arrows at the closet target; it dodged both of them. Before I knew it, the man-beast and its bloody claws were too close for comfort. I quickly rolled from its path. Thankfully Casper was in the perfect position to tear the man-beast down. He must have brushed his weapon with the same kindling, as his blade ignited in the air.

  We made a pretty good duo.

  Though our foes possessed the form of a man, they fought like the feral beasts they were. Sidestepping their wild swings and lunges was fairly easy. A few insisted on fighting close range, so I obliged them with my daggers.

  After the last man-beast ( finally ) fell, Casper rolled over its corpse with the heel of his boot. He drove his blade in it as if he was gutting a fish. What on Earth was he doing?? "Ugh! Their blood is foul!" I gagged.

  "Among other things," Casper said, digging around the man-beast's innards with his hands.

  It was a struggle to keep what little food there was in my stomach down. "What are you doing???"

  He yanked his bloody hand out of the beast's belly. "I'm earning my pay."

  "W-what?"

  "This is what you wanted isn't it?" he asked, opening his palm and revealing a glowing, egg shaped object.

  "Casper..." Its soft glow was captivating. And as I looked closer at it, the faint image of an hourglass burned into view. "Is.. that..?"

  "A Rebirth," said an unfamiliar voice, snapping me out of my fixation with the rune.

  I instinctively loaded my bow. "Who was this now?!?"

  "My name is Chakma, as if it mattered," she said. Her tone and posture reeked of arrogance. I already knew she would be trouble for us. She extended her hand. "Give that to me, Midaharian."

  "You need to put more honey than that in your voice , young lady," Casper said.

  "Honey you say?"

  He wasn't really going to hand that rune over to her, was he? My rune! I jumped between the two of them before Casper could respond. I don't know who this Chakma thought she was, but I've been through too much to give up the Rebirth. "You'd better leave. Now!"

  "I have no problem taking it from you," said Chakma. And before I could release an arrow, she screamed. It was a deafening, consistent shriek that only grew louder and louder. Plugging my ears did nothing. Her voice rippled through my ears, my head, my mind, until I couldn't take it anymore!

  I closed my eyes, hoping she would shut up!

  Then, she did. She finally did!

  I looked around; she was nowhere in sight. And Casper was flat on his back. Did I black out??! What happened???

  I felt so off balance. Crawling was all I could do. I called for Casper, but either my voice was gone or Chakma stole my hearing. He was unconscious without a mark on him. None that I could see, anyway.

  But, the Rebirth...!

  He didn't have it!

  I...it's gone!

  And so was she...

  Chakma....