Hunter

I, Orion, was there when the dragons fell.

I saw Sigrid and Alexandros take the central bulk of dragonriders as they came, with Asa flying off to the right towards some that were trying to circle around. I went the other way, veering left. Sirius growled behind me as we ran along shadows that felt solid as rock beneath my feet. We got within shooting distance of one rider, and I clenched my fist in frustration; if only I had my bow! To my surprise, shadows started to coalesce in my fist, branching out into a misty bow. I held it up, willing it to solidify. It did so. I willed an arrow into my other hand, took aim, and shot.

I wasn't used to shooting at flying targets while I ran through air myself, so I was astonished when the dragonrider cried out in pain and turned his dragon towards me. I clambered up nothingness as if I were scaling a cliff, handholds manifesting beneath my fingertips, Sirius scrambling alongside me. At the last second I realized that was a bad idea, and I grabbed Sirius and let us both drop just before the dragon bit the air where we had been a second ago.

The rider threw his head back and laughed, revealing teeth as pointed as arrowheads. Then he looked at me. His eyes widened in surprise.

"Wait, I know you! Didn't I already kill you?"

It took me a second to realize what he meant. This was the spirit that had struck me from behind in Haven. I glared up at him.

"You did a poor job of it."

He laughed again. "Oh come on, give me another chance." He urged his dragon towards me again. I ran and rolled to the side, then sprang up in leaps and bounds. I whistled to Sirius, and in response he sped off in pursuit of the dragon, nipping its tail. The spirit, who Wish later told me was named Sargas, growled at Sirius. He pulled a crossbow off his saddle and took aim behind him.

"Sirius, no!"

Neatly, Sirius dodged as Sargas fired off a bolt, and even circled back and retrieved it, then raced back to run alongside the dragon, looking for all the world as if he was laughing at Sargas.

Sargas laughed at that too. He had a very empty, hollow laugh. I stopped running and thought for a moment. I could chase him in circles, or I could make use of my experience as a hunter. I raised my bow, but Sargas saw and shot back at me. I dodged.

Fine. He wanted to hunt me instead? I would lead him on a merry chase.

I turned and ran down, towards a nearby cathedral. As I wove my way around towers, under and over archways, and through colonnades, Sargas followed in lazy turns and swoops. He cackled and shouted taunts as he went, his voice bouncing off the stone walls in disorienting echoes. Eventually Sirius's path merged with mine, and I stopped for a moment, looking around us. Making my decision, I pointed one way while running the other direction. "Go!"

Sirius ran off like a shot. I had read Sargas's flight path correctly; in moments he was on Sirius, shooting bolts not to hit, but simply for the fun of it. I ran the other way, over fountains and courtyards, until I reached the biggest colonnade that led to the cathedral entrance. I positioned myself behind a column and waited. On a wall in front of me was a decorative shield, polished like a mirror, and through it I could see down the colonnade behind me. The dark shadow of Sirius came into view, with the bigger shadow of the dragon behind him. Sargas had devolved from coherent taunts to mad barking, in mockery of Sirius as he barked his own perfectly coherent taunts.

One breath. Two. Nock an arrow.

I brought my bow up and stepped out from behind the column, turning to aim at Sargas in a fluid motion. His eyes widened as I let loose my arrow. Time seemed to slow. Sargas pulled on his reins, and in a stroke of luck his dragon's head came up and caught the arrow in its eye. It died instantly, and Sargas tumbled to the ground. Immediately Sirius was on him, growling and snapping. Sargas growled and snapped back, and fired a wild shot at me as he ran for cover behind a column.

Another wild shot almost hit Sirius, and I called him to me behind another column. He ran to my side and I patted him.

"Good boy," I murmured. A tense standoff ensued. I heard Sargas run, and I left cover to see him sprinting for the column next to him. I didn't have a steady shot, but I fired anyway since I apparently had infinite arrows. Sargas had realized his own supply was dwindling; no more wild shots as he scurried from column to column, cackling as he went. I frowned. In order to get a good angle on him, I would either need to run along my side of the colonnade and risk being out of cover when he decided to stop and shoot again, or sprint across the open path to reach his side and then hope to get lucky and guess correctly which side of the columns he would run along next. I didn't like either option, so I looked for a third.

"I've got one bolt left," sang out Sargas. "Want to make a game of it? See who can shoot faster?"

I actually considered it. If he challenged me to a duel, that would get him out in the open. But I shook the thought away. This wasn't an honorable fight. It wasn't even a hunt. It felt like I was tracking down a rabid animal.

Silently, I climbed my shadows up the side of the column and onto the roof of the colonnade. I shushed Sirius as we ran towards where I had last heard Sargas. Crouching near the edge, I held my breath and listened. Down below, he muttered threats and nonsense to himself. I summoned an arrow, and in a fluid motion pulled it back and aimed down as I peered over the edge.

I stared down in the eyes of the waiting Sargas; he had guessed my next move. I felt more than saw the bolt as it hit me in the shoulder, and I fell off the roof, skidding along instinctively summed shadows. Sirius leapt down with a snarl, only to be batted aside with a yelp as Sargas used the crossbow as an improvised club. He turned and smiled at me as I huddled on the ground in pain.

"Man to man now, yes? No more of this cat and mouse. Or I suppose dog and mouse."

I flashed back to beatings at the hands of Virgil, with Tristan watching impassively. On one hand, it would be nice to win in a fistfight for once.

But on the other, I didn't have to play this game.

As Sargas stepped forward, I scrambled up and away, between the columns and into the main path, shoving myself off a shadow wall to redirect momentum so I could run towards the cathedral. He followed with a curse.

"Look at you, running away like a coward. What, haven't got the guts to face me?"

Strange how running felt so different when my shoulder hurt. Would have made more sense if I was hurt in the leg. I pushed through the pain and ran a few more strides, hoping desperately that that had really been his last bolt. He was nearly on me, but I wasn't trying to gain distance; I was trying to gain momentum. Then, summoning a tiny slanted foothold in the air in front of me, I launched myself upwards. I caught the crossbeams of the colonnade roof and pulled myself into them, re-summoning my bow as I did. Sargas screamed in disgust at how his game was going and ran for cover, but he couldn't redirect his momentum as quickly as I had.

A moment more and he had an arrow sprouting from the base of his skull. He fell facefirst without a sound, his mad laughter and taunts finally silenced. Sirius ran up to me in the crossbeams. I patted him and reflected on how this was my first person I had killed.

I had thought it would've been either Virgil or Tristan.

Sounds of the continuing battle roused me from my dark thoughts. I dropped to the ground walked out the side of the colonnade, looking up at the chaos above. Sirius sighed beside me. I looked down at him.

"You're right, that was exhausting. But we've got work to do."

We sprang into the air, leaving the disintegrating corpse of Sargas behind us, along with my past.