Of Hunters and Prey

It was a sunny morning in one of the many border forests of northeastern Rindel.

On days like this, Piter loved to watch the sunlight slip through the treetops and shine on the flowers. He often walked that landscape to the sound of birdsong and the scent of morning dew.

Like his father and grandfather before him, he was a hunter, a profession far closer to that of an adventurer than even the village guards. And although it was dangerous, especially on the frontier, he would not trade it for anything.

What he would have liked to change, however, was the path that led past the entrance of the Abyss. A cavern so named since time immemorial, for no one knew whether it had an end or if it reached all the way to the very gates of the underworld.

But even if he disliked going near that cavern, it was his duty.

There were legends of a deformed, never-before-seen monster that had once emerged from the depths and wrought havoc on the towns and villages of the region.

To prevent another tragedy like that, hunters were always tasked with keeping watch for any change in the Abyss, so they could raise the alarm in time if something ever happened.

Piter did not put much stock in that legend, yet the enormous entrance to the cavern had always unsettled him. Something about it made him uneasy whenever he gazed into its impenetrable darkness.

This day, however, there was something different in the air. Looking at the Abyss, that usual sense of unease did not come over him.

!!

Thud
Crunch
Thud
Crunch
Crunch

Who would have thought that on that very day, when the world seemed at peace, footsteps would be heard coming from the depths.

Piter nearly stumbled backward, but he managed to keep his balance and ran as fast as he could to hide behind a rock at the entrance of the cavern.

It was not until he saw the silhouette emerging from the darkness that he finally breathed with relief.

It was a human! Thank the gods!

An incredibly handsome young man, dressed like a noble… but a human nonetheless!

"Lad, you nearly scared me to death!" exclaimed Piter as he stepped out from behind the rock.

The young man did not seem surprised by the hunter’s appearance, though Piter thought he must have seen him hiding. The entrance of the cavern was lit, after all.

"Forgive me, that was never my intention," the youth replied, visibly cheerful. Strangely, the hunter felt that joy spreading to him as well. "But what an incredible coincidence, I did not think I would meet someone so soon."

"Tell me about it, I wasn’t expecting to meet anyone at all…" said Piter with a sigh. "Tell me, lad, you don’t look like an adventurer, but if you’re wandering alone in these parts, you must be one. Am I wrong?"

"I am only a traveler," answered the handsome youth, waving his hand dismissively. "I found this cavern just as night was falling, and it seemed like a good place to spend the night."

"This cavern? A good place to spend the night?" Piter asked, unable to believe what he was hearing. "If I had seen it for the first time, I would have taken it for a giant’s lair. You must have guts to sleep here…"

"Of course, I would much prefer a proper inn," the youth laughed, and his laughter seemed to brighten the surroundings. "That being said, could you tell me how to reach the nearest city?"

"Oh, so you’re not from Rindel, eh? Well, it’s not very big, but the closest city is Dastion," Piter answered thoughtfully. For some reason he wanted to respond to the questions of this mysterious youth as best he could. "It lies to the southwest. You’ll have to cross Lake Coren, but there are several villages on its shores where you can find lodging."

"That is exactly the opposite of the path I took to get here… but well, this time the journey will be on the surface," the youth murmured to himself. "Although Lake Coren… could it be a transformation of the name Coaliren over the years? Now that I think about it, Meldior…"

"Something wrong?" asked the hunter, puzzled by the barely audible muttering of the young man.

"Ah, it’s nothing, forgive me," said the youth with one of his strangely charismatic smiles.

If Piter had been a woman, he felt he would already have fallen in love… would his wife hit him if he told her that?

The youth bade Piter farewell and began walking in the direction he had been given.

"But to cross the border alone…" Piter muttered, scratching his head once the young man had vanished into the undergrowth. "Well, everyone has their own way of avoiding monsters."

Satisfied with that reasoning, the hunter adjusted his bow and quiver on his back, ready to begin his day’s work.

***

To make bread, strictly speaking, all one needed was water and flour. Of course, it neither tasted much like bread nor looked like it, but it was the best she could manage in her current situation.

Before being cast out of her home after her parents passed away, Isara had managed to salvage a few kitchen tools: a small pot, a pan, and some other odds and ends.

Although by now everything was rusted and nearly unrecognizable from exposure to the elements, it still served to heat her mixture of flour and water.

"Mmm… I need to think of another sales strategy…"

Unfortunately, she had not earned much with the green flowers, but if she cut the makeshift flatbread that always came out of her mixture, she could save half for the evening.

"I’ll have to go look for more nuts or maybe some berries…"

The little girl was drawing water from the lake to boil in her small pot when she heard footsteps approaching from behind.

"Hello, little one. We heard you’ve been living here all by yourself… wouldn’t you prefer hot food and a roof over your head?"

What had appeared was a handful of rough, unkempt men, the kind she was used to seeing drinking at the tavern.

The men approached the girl with smiles on their faces, yet their aura was that of hunters stalking their prey.

Isara knew that feeling well. She had hidden from it many times while living in the forest, or she would have ended up like the remains of rabbits and selnes she sometimes came across.

But the men knew what they were after and had left her no room to escape in front, and behind her lay the lake, blocking her way out… yet it was there that a small whirlpool began to form.