Current Story of the Month

The Hunter
By: Rogue - rouge_chic23@yahoo.com

 Ara eased herself through the underbrush as quietly as she could, trying to plan just how she would kill the gang of bandits that had murdered her whole village while she had been out hunting. They were only a day or so ahead of her but they had to avoid the Imperial patrols just as she did, but their group is harder to hide and they are likely to have slaves, which will make them move a lot slower.  She just hoped that she got to the bandits before the imperials.

 Ara stopped and studied the tracks.  According to her reckoning, they had stopped for several hours and then started moving around the remains of a campfire, most likely an Imperial patrol. Judging by how close together the prints where, the bandits must have slowed to a near stop to get by and as she had been moving at top speed that put them no more then half a day in front of her.

***

 The man-tiger crept with the utmost amount of stealth until the young human woman was in sight.  The man-tiger’s tail twitched as he watched the young woman kneel down by the tracks of a group of fellow humans. The man-tiger slowly lowered itself to the ground and continued to do so until it looked like he was sinking into the ground, and then leapt at the women, stretching itself to its full extent.

***

 Ara sensed the man-tigers presence before she actually heard it.  She pretended she didn’t notice it, even though it was noisy by tiger standards, so she knew that it was relatively inexperienced.  Counting on this knowledge she loosened the sword in her scabbard and waited for it to pounce, as she knew young man-tigers would do.  A more experienced tiger would not pounce but instead rush its pray from behind.

 The man-tiger sprang from the underbrush with terrifying speed, counting on the element of surprise it thought it had.  The man-tiger did not expect the sword that flashed out of its sheath and cut it in half.

 Ara cleaned her blade and sheathed it.  After giving the man-tiger the traditional death greeting, she wished could take some of the meat instead of wasting it, hoping to try some.  Her older brother, who was always traveling, had told her once that man-tiger was one of the tenderest meats in the world. Maybe that imperial patrol will come by, find it and enjoy a nice dinner instead of those field rations they are always forced to eat.

 Ara took off at a jog after the bandits now not worrying about the imperial patrols as it was now behind her and two days or more separate patrols, usually. So she didn’t have to worry about hiding until she got closer to the bandits.

 Ara followed the trail left by the clumsy bandits until they crossed the river, at which point she lost it. Perhaps they weren’t as clumsy as she had first thought. After almost two hours of searching, she came upon a red scarf, one that would have been used in a harem, something a slave would drop in hopes of being rescued. A few minutes later she found the trail again and set off with renewed energy.

 As it approached dusk Ara spotted campfires and immediately disappeared into the forest. Ara spent the next three hours slowly and quietly creeping closer to the fire. When she finally crawled beneath the final bush between her and the bandits, she saw that a army could march past them and they would not hear. A dozen or so were sitting around one fire singing and drinking.  Around one of the other fires was about twenty, watching four dancing slave girls, cheering and drinking heavily.

 As Ara drew her sword slowly she pricked her self on the bush to her right. Ara glanced at it to see what kind of bush it was, but as she looked her eyes started to blur and lose focus. She lowered her head as fast and quietly as possible to avoid making noise when she blacked out, which she was now sure she was going too, damn sleep shrub and sure enough, she lost consciousness.

 Ara woke up to the sound of footsteps, which almost caused her to panic and run but she controlled that urge and was glad she did or she would have been killed by a back patrol of Imperials. As her head cleared a bit more she looked a the campsite and from the way it looked from her hiding place the bandits had packed up and left only two hours ago, which meant she had been out for almost two days. The back patrol hung around for a little while and then proceeded on their patrol route.  After they rounded the corner of the road, Ara left the bush.

 The patrol leader halted his squad at the bend and looked back to see a young red headed girl leave the bush, near the campsite they had just left. She was armed with a sword and several knives; she didn’t look to be more then twenty.  The patrol leader watched as she rushed from the bush, stopped abruptly, cocked her head, listened and then took off following the tracks that the patrol had spotted leaving the campsite. The back patrol wheeled around and followed the young girl at the patrol leader’s orders.

 Ara approached the bandit’s campsite much more cautiously this time and as darkness fell she prepared herself for the upcoming attack she was going to make.  She bit off a chunk of jerky and chewed thoughtfully as she watch the camp. The bandits where much more alert then the last time she had tried to sneak up on them. Ara wondered if they were worried about the back patrol coming after them. When she was done with her jerky she brushed her self off and stood up into a half crouch, drew her sword and attacked.

 The first bandit never made a sound, as he didn’t have time.  One minute his head was the there next it was gone.  At the first campfire only three bandits where able to draw their swards, the rest only saw a fiery haired woman, a sword and then nothing. The remaining twelve bandits drew their swords and slowly advanced on her. 

 Ara stood in a half crouch, eyeing them.  Then with no warning, launched herself at three, deflecting their blows and slicing their necks.  While doing this she turned in mid air and through four knives at the rest, hitting two. Then as she turned one of the bandits stepped out of the shadows and swung at her, but in mid swing he stopped and fell, with an arrow sticking in his back.

 The rest of the bandits spun around to face this new enemy only to be struck down by more arrows. After they all lay dead, the back patrol stepped out of the shadows. The patrol leader looked at Ara and she looked back at him.

 “BROTHER!!”  The patrol had no time to react, one second the young women was facing them with swords drawn, then she was embracing the patrol leader. He embraced her and then held her back so he could talk to her.

 “So, Sis, what have you been up to?”

 She looked at him and smiled.

 “Oh you know, the usual.”

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Current Story of the Month

  About the Author

Name: Rogue
Web Site: devoted.to/lowcal
Geographic Location: Monte Vivsta, Colorado, USa
Other Vital Stats: Is soon Going to be hosting a web-comic on her home page.  We don't know what it will be about yet, but we anxiously await.