Aesmin ran, footsteps thumping against the forest floor. Her legs flew across the ground and leapt over the obstacles in her path. Her speed had always been one of the few things she could rely on. Living in the slums had come with its dangers of course, but so far she could always outrun them. Yet she didn't think she had ever run as fast as she did now, not when other scavengers tried to take her food, and not when the odd drunk wouldn't take no for an answer. It still wasn't enough.

Her breathing came in short gasps, but she pushed herself further, passing another fleeing person, the cries of terror behind her driving her forward. She risked a glance over her shoulder and saw one of the scaled beasts on top of a man, teeth tearing into his flesh. She didn't look any longer. She had to get back to the road.

The woman ahead of her tripped and fell. Aesmin thought of stopping, but banished the thought as another look back saw a scaled monstrosity barreling towards them. The woman screamed for help and tears welled up in Aesmin's eyes as she ran. She couldn't last much longer. Her legs were on fire, and each step threatened to send her to the ground, only fear drove her on. A single misstep and she would end up like that woman. She bit back a sob.

Shitshitshit!

She looked around for any sign of salvation. Ahead she saw a tree with relatively low-hanging branches. Should she try for it? The thought flashed through her mind. Not knowing whether the beasts could climb had deterred her from trying so far, but she was running out of options. Another bloodcurdling scream behind her made the decision for her. She ran to the base of the tree and leapt, her hands slamming painfully into the coarse bark. Her feet scrambled for purchase, but she managed to pull herself up with a heave.

She felt an impact through the branch beneath her and turned to see another man had followed her. He had his arms looped around the branch and was kicking to swing himself up. He looked at her with panic written over his face.

"Help!" He shouted.

Aesmin reached down and clasped a hand onto his upper arm and began to pull. A growl sounded from below, and the man was ripped from her grasp a moment later. The force nearly pulled Aesmin over and she only barely managed to steady herself.

The man screamed, and she couldn't help but glance down. She wished she hadn't. One of the scaled beasts was tearing into the man's gut, ripping out vines of red even as he struggled. It only took a few moments for the man to fall silent. A small sob escaped her before she could clasp a hand over her mouth. The beast looked up.

Madness glinted in its narrow eyes as they locked onto hers. She felt cold as she stared into them. Then the beast snarled and jumped up, claws extended. She threw herself back, her back slamming against the trunk of the tree as the beast's nails dug into the branch she was standing on. Its own weight dragged it from the tree limb, and it fell with a thud, immediately springing back up and trying again.

Aesmin's head swivelled as she frantically looked around, her eyes landing on another branch above her. She wrapped her shaking hands around the trunk and began to climb up. Her nails dug painfully into the bark as she grabbed onto the gnarled tree, using the knots in the wood as handholds. Somehow she managed to reach the next branch and pulled herself up. Her heart almost stopped as she looked down. The beast was standing on its hind legs against the tree with its claws dug into the trunk.

No, please, no.

Even as she watched it jumped up, and its hind legs clawed against the trunk before finding purchase. With agonising slowness, it unlatched one of its front legs and reached further up. The whole time its eyes were locked onto hers, bloody spit dripping from its maw down its neck.

With a physical effort, Aesmin tore her eyes away from the beast and looked around for an escape. There was none. The next few branches above her were too high. She might have been able to reach them, except for the fact that she barely made it to this one and that the trunk grew smoother as it stretched into the air. No move gnarled knots in the bark or smaller branches to grip. She cursed. Couldn't she have chosen a better tree?

She had to try anyway. There was nothing else for it. The sound of someone shouting some distance away reached her ears; she ignored it, having heard the same many times before. The pained howl that followed, however, made her stop in her tracks. That was certainly not a human sound. There was another howl that abruptly cut off. She yelled for help, hoping that maybe some hunting party was nearby.

She glanced down at the beast, slowly making its way up. It had just reached the first branch. Aesmin backed away from the trunk, crawling towards the end of the limb, putting as much distance between herself and the creature as possible. She yelled again in the direction of the shouts. She didn't know if they heard her.

She glanced at the beast, wishing she had Enmon's spear. They had gotten separated when the creatures first appeared. She wasn't even sure if he made it.

Thoughts spun in her mind. Could she make it to the people she heard before the beast? Why did she even think it was a good idea to climb a fucking tree?

She backed away a bit further and saw the beast reach the branch she was on and began pulling itself up. She glanced around and looked back down. She couldn't stay here.

Screw it!

She jumped off the side, holding onto the branch with one hand. Her arm wrenched painfully in its socket, but it helped to slow her fall enough so that she could grab onto the one below and repeat. She hit the ground hard but forced herself into a roll. Blood rushed through her ears as she sprang to her feet and took off, hearing the frustrated roar behind her. It was followed by a loud thud, the sound of something heavy dropping to the ground.

Aesmin didn't look back, using every moment of the distance she had on it. She ran towards the howls she had heard, placing as many trees and thickets between her and her pursuer as she could. Twigs scraped her arms and hands and snagged on her clothes, drawing blood, she pushed through it all. A snarl at her back was all the warning she had. She leapt to the side, a sharp pain flaring in her arm as a shape shot past her. She stumbled but righted herself and continued, not looking at the wound.

She rounded a tree and ran headlong into a wall. She bounced off as pain shot through her skull. She landed on her backside and began to push herself up. Only then did she see that the 'wall' she had run into was a man. A giant encased in leather and steel with dark skin peeking out from beneath the gaps. Pale red eyes looked out from the slits in his helm as he looked at her in surprise. Aesmin's head snapped to the direction she had come from to shout a warning, but it was too late. The beast was already there. It leapt.

The look on her face must have been enough as the giant spun. He dropped the axe in his hand as he did so and raised an arm, just in time as the monster's jaws latched onto his bracer. The full weight of the beast pushed the man back only a step. He twisted, using the momentum of the creature to drag it past him. His fist pounded into the beast's side like a hammer. The force of the blow and the weight of the creature ripped it free from his arm and hurled it to the ground. It hit the earth hard. Scrambling, it tried to get its feet back under itself. As soon as it did so, a bolt embedded itself into its head with a sickening sound, the steel point protruding from its snout. For a heartbeat, it was still, then it collapsed.

Aesmin stared at the beast, heart racing, waiting for it to move. It didn't. Someone spoke. She looked up to see the big man looking down at her. Blood was dripping down from his hand where scales had cut the skin on his fist. He didn't seem to notice.

"What?" She asked, blinking a few times.

"Is there any more?" Came the deep voice again, this time recognisable.

She looked at him for a moment longer before shaking her head. "No, I don't- I don't think..."

Concern seemed to flash in his eyes. Or perhaps it was just her imagination, it certainly didn't fit the bloody giant. Aesmin followed his gaze to her arm and saw it too was covered in blood. Two gouges stretched across her forearm. She looked at it dumbfounded, wondering if it was truly hers. Then it began to hurt. She grit her teeth as the pain came. She cradled her arm and cried out as the pain flared.

"Let me see," The giant said and knelt down in front of her.

She tried to protest, but he effortlessly pulled her arm away and turned it over to look at all sides. Despite his hand dwarfing hers, his grip was gentle. She tried to pull back as the pain spiked, and his grip tightened just a bit, not budging a little.

"Looks worse than it is," He said finally and let go. "As long as we stop the bleeding and it doesn't get infected, it should heal."

He turned. "Kali!"

Aesmin looked and saw a woman about her age walked towards them. She held onto a crossbow, larger than any Aesmin had seen, with limbs that seemed wider than they should be. The woman was turning a metal lever that stuck out of some strange contraption on top of the weapon.

"You have any of salve Jerrick made left?" The man asked the woman.

She knelt down next to the two of them and gave the lever one last turn. It clicked into place, and she pulled out a crossbow bolt as long as Aesmin's arm and slotted it into place. She then turned to Aesmin, briefly meeting her eyes before looking at the wound. Her eyes were the same pale red as the man's.

"Beastblighted," Aesmin said the word before her mind caught up. She snapped her mouth closed. She looked at them with wide eyes, cursing herself for the slip. Did she offend them? Her mind ran with scenarios of what they might do to her. There were no witnesses here, and she had just led a beast to them.

"I didn't-"

She started and stopped as the woman looked at her with a raised eyebrow. The giant beside them chuckled. It was a deep rolling sound akin to distant thunder.

"We'll stop the bleeding, but then we are moving," the huntress interrupted her stream of thought. "We don't have time to spend here holding your hand while you get on your feet, girl."

As she said this, she took a stiff leather container from her belt. She opened it and reached in with two fingers, scooping out a blueish paste.

"Be still," the woman said. "This was made by someone who meant a lot more to me than you. If you make me waste it..."

The huntress let the words hang in the air, and Aesmin found herself nodding. The woman grabbed onto her hand then and before she could say anything, rubbed the paste onto the open wound. Aesmin cried out as a stinging pain lanced through her arm. It felt as though the woman had just rubbed a handful of salt into the wound.

"I said be still," The woman said and tightened her grip on Aesmin's arm as she spread the paste.

Aesmin grit her teeth and looked away, searching for a distraction. She found one in three more corpses lying a short distance away. One was a man she recognised as one of those that had fled alongside her. The other two were beasts. One had a bolt lodged into its opened maw, the point sticking out of the back of its skull. The other looked like it had been at the mercy of an overenthusiastic butcher who wasn't quite sure what cuts he wanted.

"There, that should stop the bleeding."

Aesmin looked back down at her arm. The pain was still there, but the stinging had eased. A hard blueish layer now covered the wound.

"Let's hurry." Aesmin heard the woman say. She looked up to see the huntress grabbing onto a handle at the front of the crossbow and slugging it over her shoulder. The two of them turned away.

"Wait!"

The woman kept walking speaking over her shoulder as she did so. "We don't have time to take care of you, girl. Either keep up or find your own way back. You should be able to if that was the last of them."

Aesmin glanced dead beast a mere stride away from her, a hole in its head where the bolt had struck. The giant had removed the quarrel while the woman was tending to her. Her eyes were drawn to the open jaws, the still-wet blood of the man who asked for her help glistening on its teeth. She quickly stood up and hurried after the two hunters. The huntress glanced at her but didn't say anything.

It didn't take them long to find there way back to where Aesmin had first seen the beasts. Along the way a few bodies were strewn about, chunks of flesh missing from where the beasts had torn into them before going after other prey. She had seen death before, even before the city fell. After the horde, she had thought she had seen enough of it to take away its edge.

...Perhaps it simply wasn't a thing you got used to.

---

Gase sat on the ground trying to keep his leg straight and his mind off the pain. He had a headache building in his skull, and his back was soaked in sweat.

"Hmm, it's about time we took you out on a real hunt," Holin said as he stood beside him. Gase had just finished telling him of his and Enmon's struggle.

Gase glanced at Hadi, who sat next to him. The boy had listened to the story with wide eyes and was now staring at the bloodied beast corpses still strewn about here and there. This wasn't a place for a child. If he could stand, he would have taken the boy away somewhere. Not that there was any place to go. Why did everything have to be so... He held back a sigh, no use complaining.

One foot in front of the other.

"You said hunting beasts in the wild would be harder than this," Gase said, turning his attention back to the hunter. "You do know that I cant walk now, right? And we just started training a few days ago."

Holin grinned. "I told you, didn't I? When you asked me to teach you, I said I'd be pushing you. If it weren't for the horde pulling in all the beasts from the surrounding area, I would have thrown you at them by now."

"You have got to be joking."

"Not at all. Sparring against a person will only help you so much against a beast. Besides, you have a mage who would be willing to heal you for free to preserve his precious subject. That isn't an opportunity you'll get again."

Gase looked over at the mage, some distance away. Beneath him was a man as pale as the clouds above, groaning in pain. Another hunter knelt next to him and kept a hand pressed on his waist to keep his guts from spilling out. The mage held out a hand and, even in the daylight, Gase could see the glow illuminating the man's waist from within. It shone, revealing a network of blood vessels as the man's flesh began to knit itself back together.

To Gase's surprise, and that of many others, the mage and his apprentice had shown up after the battle and offered to heal those who were too injured to walk or who's injuries threatened their lives. Many were sceptical on the offer at first. Such a service would usually be beyond the reach of all but the wealthiest of hunters.

"I reckon another day or so till we're out of the horde's pull," Holin continued. "Get ready for some interesting times."

"You mean a lot more people will die."

Holin shrugged. "At least they won't die a slow death of starvation."

They had already lost a few people. As they marched day by day, people tended to spread out. Weaker and older people fell the furthest behind and usually came trickling into camp when night had already fallen. The last day or two, some had simply not shown up. If not for the rest and d'yari meat of the previous day, they would have lost more. The beasts from today will help alleviate that at least.

"Right now, I just want to get back on my feet."

Holin looked down at him. "If you want safety then join the cityguard in Lok. You should at least be able to prove that you are worthy of their training now. But if you want to be a hunter, then you have to realise that there is no safety."

Gase turned his head to look at the line of corpses that were dragged off the road to the side. A few hunters, mercenaries and guards but most were noncombatants, people who had run but simply weren't fast enough.

"The world is a dangerous place," Holin said, his voice serious. "If it wasn't, hunters like us wouldn't exist."

Gase thought about that. About whether he wanted to become a hunter in the first place. He had asked Holin to train him mostly because he wanted to be able to defend himself and because he thought it might bring back more of his memories. He didn't have to continue with it.

But then again, he didn't have to jump into the fight today in the first place, yet just the thought of not doing so had been... loathsome. He guessed it came from who he was, in his old life. Even now, feeling like shit with a headache pounding away in his skull and a stabbing pain in his leg, he didn't regret his actions. And, if he was to find his family, then he would have to be able to survive the journey, he reminded himself.

"Holin!" A voice shouted.

Gase and the hunter both looked over. A woman with a crossbow on her back was walking towards them, next to a big man in leathers and steel. Gase recognised both of them as part of Holin's group, though he had never met them. What really drew his eyes, however, was the woman trailing behind them.

Aesmin.

Her eyes lit up as she saw him, and he felt himself breath a sigh of relief. Enmon had said that they had gotten separated when the beasts first appeared. A part of him had worried they would find her face down in the forest. Even if they had only met a couple of days ago, they had survived together these last few. That meant something.

She hurried over to him as Holin went to meet with the other two. Gase made to stand but winced as his leg screamed in pain. Thinking better of he lowered himself back down and gave her a smile.

"You're alright," he said before his eyes landed on the bloodied arm she kept close to her chest. "What happened?"

"It's nothing," She said, her eyes darting to Hadi and back before she looked at his leg. "Besides you're not looking too good yourself."

"The mage will take care of it. It is not as serious as some of the others'. I'll live," He said and gave her a slightly strained smile. She gave one back, and he found himself hoping his had been more convincing.

"I'm glad you fine," he continued. "Enmon said he lost sight of you in the confusion."

"He's here?" Aesmin asked and looked around. "We were foraging off the road when the beasts came. He didn't get hurt, did he?"

"No, he's fine. He's busy watching over the beast we killed so that others don't take the corpse. At least we won't be searching for food for a while."

Aesmin blinked and fixed him with a blank look. "You... killed one of those things?"

"Not alone," Y'rid rectified. He couldn't stop his eyes from looking over to the dead bodies. The high priest of Tella'nash was there as well, saying the rites over the dead while a crowd of people watched. Some stared, others cried. And some were already stripping the dead hunters that the priest had already passed of the possessions.

"In truth," he continued, pulling his eyes away once more, "we mostly helped out two other hunters. One of them died, and the other got injured. "

And we get a decent meal.

A few moments passed in silence.

"How did you get here?" He asked and glanced at the three hunters talking quietly, a few strides away. How did she end up with them? He looked back at her and saw her grimace.

She proceeded to tell him of how she got separated with a bunch of other people, how they had to run for their lives and got taken down one by one. She mostly kept her voice in check, but Gase could detect the slight tremor as she spoke of being stuck on a tree with the creature climbing up.

"...I asked Holin about that," Y'rid said, recalling the madness he had seen in the beasts he had faced. "According to him, the horde is still near enough to drive them insane with bloodlust. He believes they wandered into the horde's influence earlier today and was driven so. He called us lucky."

He couldn't help but give a rueful laugh. He gestured off to the side to the line of bodies, and Aesmin followed his gaze. "Somehow I doubt they'd think so."

The thing was, he was probably right. Stalkers, Holin had called them. Apparently, they were pack predators, and cunning ones at that. Like the hunter explained; they attacked in groups and worked together well, striking and distracting at the same time. They also favoured hit and run attacks under cover of night. Usually, that is. None of that had happened today, driven mad as they were.

Gase could only imagine the damage they could have done had they come across them a day or two later, outside of the horde's influence. When walking the crowd of people spread out in a long line that disappeared out of sight as the slower ones lagged. The beasts could have struck, then retreated before hitting again further down the line. Rinse and repeat. And at night, with people as exhausted and worn out as they were...

The approach of the mage's apprentice, Ivy, pulled his thought back to the present. She came to a stop in front of them with a weary and tired looking expression on her face.

"You could have just come to the front, you know," she said. "Master Lerann would probably have helped you first."

Gase shook his head, then groaned as the movement aggravated his headache. "There were others who needed it more. I could hold out a while longer. You can heal the wound though, right?"

He knew the mage could heal his wounds as he had done so before, but he wasn't sure of Ivy, given the markings on his chest. He hoped she could. Part of his leggings had been rolled up, and he could see the leg as nearly white with blood loss. The belt tied around it stopped any more blood from escaping if he didn't try to move it. Still, much longer and it would become a more serious matter.

Ivy inspected the wound on his calf and nodded. "Yes, it shouldn't be a problem. The wound is far enough away from the markings. Might have to do it in bursts so that the spell doesn't spread to them, however."

"What markings?" Aesmin asked beside them. Gase hesitated, trying to think of what to say. Luckily, he didn't have to say anything as Ivy's eyes turned towards her, dropping down to the arm Aesmin was cradling to her chest. She frowned at that. "Show me."

Aesmin hesitated before slowly holding out her arm. The woman looked it over with a curious expression and finally shook her head. "Doesn't look too serious. It'll heal with time. Whatever mixture that is, it is doing its job. Where did you get it?"

Aesmin nodded towards the hunters still engaged in conversation. "From one of them."

Ivy looked over and made a humming sound. A few moments passed before Gase cleared his throat to regain her attention. She turned back to him with a blank expression before realisation dawned in her eyes.

"Oh yes! your leg."

Reaching up, the apprentice clasped onto the amulet hanging around her neck. Being so near, Gase could see the carved symbols on the small rectangular silver plate. The inscription for the healing spell the mage used, he guessed.

With visible focus, she held her other hand just above the wound and closed her eyes. Gase saw Aesmin watch the process in fascination from the corner of his eye. And he had to admit, it would have been quite fascinating watching the torn muscle knit itself back together—if it had happened to someone else, that is. Feeling it happening to his own leg, it just felt unsettling. And warm.

Just as the warmth was spreading to his upper leg, it was abruptly cut off. Ivy paused for a few moments, then repeated the process. He felt himself beginning to relax as they continued, his headache even started to fade a bit.

It only took a few tries before the muscle was back together, and the skin fused over it. It didn't heal perfectly, like the disk of the mage did, but instead left pale scars as if the from an old wound. But Gase didn't care. As the pain disappeared, he couldn't help but sigh in relief. He had been trying to ignore the throbbing wound for a while now. Only now that it was gone did he realise how successful he had actually been in that endeavour.

Ivy mimicked his sigh of relief as she stepped back from them. She looked the wound over quickly before nodding to herself. "Should be good."

"Are you alright?" Gase asked her. She seemed a bit paler than when she started, and a term or two older as well.

"Yes, I'm fine, or I will be in a while. You're the fourth person I healed today. And the last, thankfully."

"Well, thank you," Gase said and rotated his ankle a few times. No pain. He quickly began to untie the belt around his leg.

The woman accepted his thanks. She stood around awkwardly for a few moments as he untied the belt, then suddenly nodded and walked off.

Gase shook his head as he watched her leave.

"She's a bit... strange," Aesmin said.

"That she is," he agreed and pushed himself to his feet, nearly falling down as his leg folded under him. Aesmin steadied him, and he nodded in thanks, before trying again, this time managing to keep standing. Aesmin gave him a look, but he waved it away as his leg started to feel like it was being pricked by a thousand needles. He slowly began to move about a bit, putting more and more weight on his leg.

"What?" He asked Aesmin as he saw her watching him with a strange look.

"Nothing. You just look... different somehow."

Y'rid looked down at his leg and chuckled. "I would suspect so."

"Not that..." Aesmin trailed off. She seemed unsure and, finally, she shook her head dismissively. "Probably nothing."

Gase frowned but didn't press the matter. Looking at the three hunters, he saw they were still busy in their conversation. Not wanting to interrupt them he turned to Aesmin.

"Let's go find Enmon, shall we?"

Aesmin nodded and, together with Hadi, they made their way through the groups of people. Some hunters were busy cleaning beasts with civilians nearby ready to take any scraps they might not want.

The mage and his apprentice had also only treated the worst of the injuries, and a couple of healers were moving between wounded combatants, smearing wounds with mixtures and bandaging them or stitching the deeper cuts with needle and thread.

"You sure that arm of yours is fine?"

Aesmin looked down at the arm and lightly tapped on the blueish shell that was around it. "The paste hardened, I'm not sure how it works but, I don't really want to mess with it."

They found Enmon where he and Gase had killed the stalker. He was standing in front of the beast's corpse with his arms crossed, looking irritated. Facing him was one of the priests of Tella'nash. Next to the priest stood two armed men, and behind them were a group of men and women carrying three more of the beast corpses between them.

Gase felt a sinking feeling in his stomach and quickened his pace.

"...get a piece, of course, like everyone else," the priest said.

"So we almost die to kill this creature, and you claim the meat? You expect us to go along with this?" Enmon asked incredulously.

"Everyone does their part, and you will get your share," the priest said gently and with a patient smile. "In times like these, we must pull together. Those carcasses," he gestured to the three behind him, "were given to us by others such as yourself. Hunters who protected the people and want to help everyone survive. They understood that there is no 'me against you' out here in the wilderness. Tella'nash looks after his own, and we are all his. Is it not our duty to follow his example?"

"He's no hunter," One of the armed men next to the priest said with a scoff. He looked vaguely familiar and had a shortsword stuck through his belt. "Probably just claimed the kill while the real hunter went to get treated. You smeared that blood on your shirt, didn't you, boy?"

They reached the group, and Gase stepped up beside Enmon, giving him a quick glance and nod. "Everything good here?"

The group's eyes turned towards him.

Enmon looked towards him then back at the priest. "They want to take our food. Say we didn't kill it."

"To make sure nobody dies of hunger, boy!" The same man from before said impatiently. "Open your ears and eyes. You couldn't even finish a fourth of the creature before the meat spoiled."

"We did kill this beast, and will take what we need," Gase stated clearly, looking the man in the eye. He paused for just a moment before adding. "But I'm sure there will be more enough left over after we take what we need. Like you said; we could only finish a piece of it. It would be a shame to waste the rest."

The priest nodded his head.

"I recognise you," another man said, "I saw you with that beastblighted hunter."

At the mention of the Thalsman, the expression on the priest's face grew cold. "This is true? You are consorting with their kind?"

For a moment, Gase was stunned at the shift. He noticed a few of those behind the priest scowling and one even spat on the ground.

"Why would that matter?" Gase asked after he recovered.

"Those beastblighted are bringers of calamity, making their home next to the Night that spawned these beasts," the priest said. "Is it any wonder that the horde formed mere days after they arrived in our city?"

Murmurs ran through the group at his back, some nodding vehemently at the words. A couple of spectators were slowly forming as the commotion drew a few people. Gase saw a hunter or two among them though none spoke up, most just watched with interest. He felt his irritation flare at that.

"One of their kind helped kill many of the beasts here," Gase said unable to keep his voice completely level. "He probably killed some of those very beasts your carrying, the ones you'll use to feed the people. I reckon quite a few people here owe their lives to him."

He looked around as he said this. He caught Aesmin's eye as she stood a bit away, holding Hadi by the shoulder. She shook her head, motioning for them to back down.

"An act of kindness does not undo a lifetime of evil," the priest said sternly. "I suggest you break ties with them as quickly as you can, before you too are corrupted. Tella'nash protects his people; do not turn you back on his kindness."

A chorus of agreement was expressed at the priest's back.

"Perhaps the Magus's men should stick to matters of magic," said a voice from the side. Gase traced the sound and saw a team of four hunters move forward to join them. Their leader had tied-back dark hair and a severe expression on his face.

The priest looked at the newcomers, his eyes falling to their belts, mouth twisting with disdain. Gase noticed that all four of the hunters wore identical knives. Long-bladed and single-edged, the weapons were held in strange sheaths that left their spines exposed, on which notches were carved.

"Tella'nash's authority reaches all areas, kalori," the priest said.

"Matters of the hunt fall to Kalor," the hunter said as he and his group stopped near them. "And he is unequivocal in his tenets, is he not, Sila?"

"Clear as day," the woman in his group said, looking at the priest. She stood holding onto a spear as it laid across her shoulders.

"The celestial Kalor acts with the Magus's will, heretic," the man with the shortsword said.

The newcomer's eyes narrowed, and he fingered a knife at his belt. "Perhaps you would like to say that again. It almost sounded like you called the Huntsman a servant."

The priest held up a hand, and the hunting party tensed for a moment. When he spoke, his words were directed next to him but were clearly meant for all. "Let them be brother, Tella'nash wouldn't want us fighting amongst ourselves, even if some have fallen so far as to turned their backs on our saviour."

The priest gave them all a look and shook his head sadly. Then he turned and walked away, his retinue following. The man with the shortsword sneered at the hunter before walking after the priest.

Tension slowly drained out of the air, and the spectators quickly dispersed, going back to what they were doing.

"That beast must have hit the two of you in the head," Aesmin said to him and Enmon as she walked closer. "Because that was fucking stupid."

Enmon gave her a glare as Gase turned to the hunting party.

"Thanks for the help."

"Didn't do it for you," the man said, his scowl falling away and being replaced by a smile. "That hunting party from the Order saved our lives back in Riversedge. And those Tellish priests deserve to be put in their place."

"Or a knife in the gut," the woman, Sila, volunteered.

"Well, you have my thanks in any case. I'm Y'rid," Gase said. It still felt wrong to use that name, even if he was getting used to it. The fact that he was getting used to it at all worried him.

"Ilos," the hunter said before introducing his companions as well.

"You going to eat that whole thing?" Sila asked as she gestured to the beast.

Ilos cleared his throat and gave her a disapproving glance to which she shrugged, unrepentant.

"We were up front scouting when the beasts attacked," Ilos said. "When we arrived, it was already over."

The disappointment in his voice threw Gase off for a moment.

"...Like I said to the priest, I'm sure there will be enough left after for a few more people. We can't eat everything, and carrying it around until it spoils wouldn't help anyone."

The hunter nodded with a smile. "Kind of you. Saves us having to scour the forest for the rest of the day. The woods have been awfully quiet with the horde and all. Except for today, of course."

"Right," Gase said and then looked down at the beast. "You know how to clean one of these?"

They talked more as they worked. With more than enough hands, and nearly all of them much more skilled than his own, the work was done quickly and efficiently.

Gase learned a bit from the group. They were apparently a party of hunters from further east and were slowly making their way west when the horde attacked while they were in Riversedge. Gase didn't ask what their business west was but, as the conversation went on, he realised that they didn't have any business. They were simply trying to take down as many different kinds of beast as they could. It struck him as a ludicrous task, but he learned they all followed Kalor, a god whose followers were almost exclusively hunters. This seemed to be their way of serving him.

Gase kept it to himself that he had never heard about the god before they had met. Something one of the priest's retinue had said stuck with him though. The man had called Kalor a celestial. While Y'rid memories were a bit hazy on the subject, Gase though he could recall something about them being the servants of the Magus. But these hunters clearly believed differently.

He didn't bring that up though, considering the reaction the hunter had had towards the man. Either way, they finished dismantling the beast in short time. He had tried to help at first, but they obviously knew what they were doing. After a few attempts at removing the scales of the beast, he had stood back and let them do the work, instead deciding to simply watch and learn.

One of the first things that the hunters had done was to sever the head. As they continued to work, Gase saw Hadi approach the head and look at it for a long time.

He and Enmon had to choose what they wanted of the beast first, a tenet of Kalor concerning who made the kill or some such. He didn't argue though, and they took about half of the meat for themselves. The hunting party left soon after, and only the four of them remained. Gase looked at the pile of guts, organs and scaled skin that laid to the side, a few people already stood nearby to claim it. Next to it, Hadi was sitting and poking and prodding at the severed head of the beast. It was one of the first things the hunters removed, being to head and provided too little of use to take it.

Watching the small boy play with the bloodied head sent a stab a pain into his heart, especially with the blank expression he wore. Gase walked over and reached down, picking up the head. It was heavy in his hands. He saw Hadi look at him almost reluctantly.

"We should get going," Enmon said.

Gase dropped the head. "Let me see that spearhead for a moment."

Enmon frowned at him but tossed the bronze spearhead. Gase caught it and knelt down. He pulled open the jaws of the beast and cut the gums on one of its fangs. Setting the spearhead aside, he placed a foot on the head and reached down to grasp the tooth. He pulled.

"What are you doing?" Aesmin asked.

"Hold on," he muttered through gritted teeth. With a tearing sound, to fang came away and he was sent stumbling back. He let out a lungful of air and looked at the tooth. It was perhaps a bit larger than his thumb. Tearing away the last bits of gum, he walked over and handed it to Hadi. The boy looked at him in surprise, but he took the fang.

It really is a fucked up world.

Handing the spearhead back to Enmon, he picked up his share of the skinned and cleaned carcass and slung it over his shoulder with a grunt of effort.

"Let's go."