Ch4 Falkirk
109 1 2
X
Reading Options
Font Size
A- 15px A+
Width
Reset
X
Table of Contents
Loading... please wait.

Nadia approached the walled town after carefully observing it from a distance. Wearing the Bone Stalker Armour drew a few looks, but from what she could tell they were more looks of greed than of anything else.

She passed through the gates untroubled, although the guards did ask her to remove her hood briefly so they could check her face against bounty posters.

The town of Falkirk barely qualified for the designations, with the roads being little more than muddy ruts that reeked of sewage and rot, and the wooden buildings seeming quite ramshackle, but it was where it was for a purpose, and that purpose was hunting.

Teams of hunters were based out of the town, hunting the magical beasts of the Wildlands and supplying them to the rest of the world, and while the town could be charitably called ‘deeply unpleasant’ or a cesspool, it held a steady population.

Nadia made her way through the town, spotting several places with particularly heavy traffic. Most prominent among them was a large stone building, one of the few of its kind within Falkirk. The sign on the front of the building bore an insignia, but little else, and Nadia saw large numbers of hunters entering and leaving the building.

Deciding to investigate, Nadia made her way over finding the interior filled with various groups clustered together around multiple teller windows and boards covered in notices. Making her way over to the notice boards, she examined them briefly. Each of the notices was a supply request, requiring hunters to bring in the carcass of this or that creature, or for certain amounts of a certain beast’s keratin.

As she read through the notices, Nadia could feel various eyes on her and turned around to meet a set as they approached. It was a tall and rugged man with dark hair and a dense beard that looked fairly well kept and piercing blue eyes.

Please don’t be an asshole. Nadia thought to herself as she looked at the man.

“That armour… Bone Stalker?” The man’s voice boomed over the crowd, to the point where someone could have heard from across the hall. His piercing gaze was fixed on the shadows of her hood as he waited for an answer. Nadia nodded, hoping he would get to the point.

“Good enough for me. I’ve got a group of four heading out into the Wildlands, but we could use a fifth with a bit of grit. We’re after an Iron Bear. Pay’s fifty each. What’s your speciality?”

Just like that? She wondered. “Sniper, tracker.” She replied. As soon as he heard her reply, the large man let out a hearty laugh, offering his hand. “Name’s Jake. I run one of the best crews in Falkirk, ask around about me. If you can shoot and track like you say, I can make a permanent spot for you.”

Well… I’ve got no money, and I can’t sell any of the survival equipment… fuck it. It puts me one step closer to getting my feet under me. “Alright, Jake. Name’s Nat. When do we leave?”

The burly man chuckled, waving for her to follow as he led the way to the rest of his crew. “Listen up boys! This is Nat, shooter and tracker. With her, we’ve got a full crew to take down an Iron Bear. Get your shit and let’s go, you can introduce yourselves on the way.”

~

“Nice to meetcha, I’m Rodney.” One of the crew introduced himself as they made their way east, into the Wildlands. “I’m not much to look at, but I’m a damn good trapper. Been with Jake since last season.” He said.

Rodney was a too-skinny man in his thirties with a self-deprecating personalty, but what he lacked in stature and presence, he made up for in nimble fingers and natural cleverness.

“I’m Nat. Sniper and tracker, like Jake said.” She replied. She’d kept her hood up, which did a good job of concealing her face, especially with the visor that the Bone Stalker Armour had; she was worried that with how healthy her complexion was compared to the average, it would end up causing trouble.

“We’re lucky we ran into you,” Said Rodney. “We just got back to Falkirk from a job in the foothills to the northeast. It’s hard to find reliable shooters, let alone trackers.” Nadia listened quietly as Rodney spoke at length about the various jobs he’d been a part of with Jake’s crew, and from the sounds of it, they ran things very professionally.

More importantly, it didn’t sound like his crew were among those that’d attacked the Oman clan.

“Where’s your bow?” Rodney asked suddenly after glancing at her pack.

“I don’t use a bow.” She replied, before spinning the story she’d come up with when she and Arus had talked. “I use a rifle, a kind of weapon made by the Mern. It can shoot further and hit harder than a bow, but it makes a lot of noise doing it. And if you run out of shots, you have to track down some Mern to get more. No one else knows how to make them.”

“Ah, yeah. I’ve heard the runts make all kinds of gadgets, they’ve got some real good trappers, too. Stuff you wouldn’t believe. I’ve always wanted to meet one of their tinkerers, just to pick their brain about traps.” He said with a regretful sigh.

“What kind of traps do you carry?” Nadia asked, curious.

“Ah, got the usual. Steelthread snares, iron jaws, more caltrops than you could shake a stick at. Nets, smoke pellets, and even some Firegel for when things get ugly. Most trapping is done in the moment though, gotta make it fit your circumstance, and it’s not like you can just carry a pitfall in your back pocket. Nope, that’s why I always have my mattock. A lot of people swear by shovels, but if you want to make a pit in a hurry, a mattock is the way to go…”

Rodney went off on a tangent talking about the merits of mattocks versus shovels and hatchets, and dusk soon fell, bringing the group to a halt.

“We’ll camp here for the night,” Said Jake. “Should be close to Iron Bear territory, we’ll head out to find ours tomorrow.”

With very little ceremony, the crew began breaking out bedrolls and setting up a cook fire.

“I’ll keep watch while you guys eat. I’ll whistle if I see something.” Said Nadia, extending her armour’s claws and climbing high up into a tree while the rest of the group just stared in surprise.

Nadia settled herself into a comfortable perch high up in the canopy, pulling out the survey drone that had spent the day charging. Very carefully, she sent it up into the sky, out of sight of the hunters below.

~

“Rodney must be sweet on that one,” Another member of Jake’s crew, Jonas said, gesticulating upward. “Didn’t stop talking the whole damn day.” The rest of the crew laughed uproariously while Rodney just shrugged in his usual self deprecating way.

“A man can’t enjoy talking to a member of the fairer sex about his livelihood, Jonas? Maybe you’re just too simple to value real conversation.” Rodney shot back.

“Oh ho ho, lover-boy feeling protective now? Don’t you worry, Rodney. If she’s looking for a man, I’ll take care of her.” Jonas retorted. “I dunno, Jonas. See the way she keeps her hood up? She probably looks like your gramp’s ballsack.” Georgie, one of the haulers cut in.

“I won’t mind it, George. Just gotta turn her around when you fuck her; problem solved.” Jonas joked.

“Keep running your mouth, Jonas. If she decides to tear you a new asshole, I’m not going to get in her way.” Jake cut in. “You guys know the drill. No one’s irreplaceable.”

Jonas dropped the act immediately at Jake's words. “Sorry, boss. I’m just playin’ around. Rodney gets too sensitive.”

“It’s not me you need to worry about, Jonas. You idiots may not have paid attention when I recruited her, but that woman’s wearing a Bone Stalker for armour, which means she either bought it, which is pretty damn unlikely, or she killed one. Don’t be a fucking moron.”

The group collectively swallowed at Jake’s revelation, and the mood in camp was much more subdued as they finished eating.

Fweeee~!

A sharp whistle came from overhead, and Jake was on his feet in an instant with a large shield and spear in hand. The rest of the crew scrambled to their feet, taking up positions in an outward facing ring with their weapons ready.

There were a few moments of tense silence as they waited for whatever was coming to approach, before the crew stared in shock as there was a loud Crack~! Followed by the body of a large snake dropping to the ground from above less than 10m away.

“Fucking hell!” The group cursed, looking at the dark green scales of the python, wary of more. Georgie and Jonas leapt in fright as Nadia landed nearby, having climbed down to inspect the kill.

“Very manly.” Nadia said flatly as she passed Jonas on her way to the snake, causing Jake and Rodney to burst out laughing while Jonas scowled.

After removing the snake’s head carefully, Nadia dragged the rest of the carcass back to the group. “Mind if I keep this?” She asked Jake, gesturing to the head. He waved a ‘go ahead’ gesture at her, and settled back down by the fire.

Nadia handed the snake’s carcass to Georgie as she went back to the tree she’d been perched in. “I’ll take first watch.” She said, turning back to Jake. “Who am I waking up, and when?”

“We do three watch shifts. Wake Rodney up before midnight.” Jake said, and Nadia made her way back up the tree.

Up in the canopy, Nadia deployed her survival shelter, settling in to watch. Despite having the drone tracking nearby movement, it was always possible that something could happen during the night, and she’d still need to be paying attention to the surroundings.

Once she was settled in, she had Felix absorb the snake’s head, but apparently it wasn’t enough to unlock a new form on its own.

Her watch was fairly dull, with no more incidents following the unfortunate snake that had been trying to catch the group unawares, and soon enough midnight came and she woke Rodney.

“If you see anything, whistle and I’ll wake up.” Nadia said before climbing back up to her shelter, high in the tree, finally lying down to rest.

~

Nadia woke to a whistle, noticing the sun was rising above the canopy. After checking that nothing was wrong, she packed up her shelter and descended the tree.

“There’s snake skewers if you want some breakfast.” Jake gestured towards the several sticks resting over the coals, each with several bits of meat dripping juice.

Nadia nodded and grabbed one of the skewers from the fire, enjoying the fatty flavour of the toasted meat as the rest of the camp was packed away.

The crew moved on as they finished eating breakfast, aiming to enter Iron Bear territory by evening. Nadia spent the trip listening to more of Rodney’s stories, finding the skinny trapper to be relaxing company while she kept an eye out for motion indicators.

Several times throughout the trek, Nadia would stop, take aim with her rifle, and fire, startling the rest of Jake’s crew. The initial grumbling quickly halted when they would pass by the corpse of a dead snake that had been waiting in ambush however.

The group positioned themselves closer together as the sun began to set while they still had distance left to cover, more and more frequently asking Nadia if she could see anything approaching.

They arrived at the entrance to a river valley long after dark, with a moon hanging low and bloated in the sky, casting pale light down through the canopy.

Nat could feel a tingle at the back of her neck, but couldn’t quite pinpoint the source, and decided it was better to let the group know.

“Jake, there’s something off, here. We’ll be safer up trees.” Nadia kept her voice low as she spoke, eyeing the surroundings.

“Isn’t that overreacting a bit?” He asked, doubtfully.

“I’m certain there's something going on, but I can’t tell where, or what that is. If we're being stalked, they’ll probably make their move once we’re asleep.” She replied.

Jake gave her a hard look for a moment before making his decision. “Right, boys. Find a tree and get up it. Double time.” He ordered, moving towards a nearby trunk with purpose.

Jonas, Georgie and Alec did the same while Rodney looked flustered for a moment.

“Hop on my back, Rodney.” Nadia said, flashing her armour’s claws. “Th-thanks.” Rodney flushed, embarrassed.

Rodney’s figure was very light, and with the claws, Nadia made the climb to the canopy easily.

“Hang onto that branch a moment, I need to set out my pack.” She twisted, allowing him to rest in a large ‘V’. Moving out along a horizontal branch, Nadia attached her pack to the limb, deploying the platform and tent before climbing back up to Rodney.

“Come on, it’s plenty roomy, but I may need to shoot.” She said, hoisting him down to the platform.

“Right boys, get comfortable and lash yourselves in. We’re sleeping high tonight.” Jake called out to the rest of the crew, receiving grumbles in return.

“Rodney and I will keep watch.” Nadia called back. “My accommodations are a bit more comfortable than yours.” She added with a chuckle.

Within the survival shelter, Rodney was shocked to have a relatively solid floor under him, not to mention a full tent.

“This is a hell of a setup you’ve got here” Rodney mumbled as Nadia opened up one of the tent walls, securing netting in place that would allow her to shoot from cover.

“You should get some sleep while you can.” Nadia ignored his comment. “We may be in for a fight before long.”

Rodney nodded, pulling out his bedroll and some travel bread, getting ready to bunk down for the night while the rest of the crew were situated however they could manage in their respective trees, tied in for safety.

 

Time crept by slowly with Nadia’s sense of unease growing stronger, she focused, subvocalising music lyrics to help keep a handle on her fear.

 

The sounds of the forest had gone quiet, and the air became still and oppressive as if from nowhere, a dense fog began to roll across the ground, rising until the forest floor was completely shrouded.

Nadia's body began shaking as frost formed wherever the fog spread, leaving everything it touched blanketed in ice.

She clamped her mouth shut tightly, trying to keep her teeth from chattering as she watched the fog as slowly swirl below, radiating a chill unlike anything she’d ever experienced.

Nadia turned to look over to where Rodney lay, only to find the man staring out into the mist, a mask of stark terror covering his face while he clamped a hand over his mouth.

I was listening to Disturbed's cover of The Sound of Silence while writing this final scene, but I'd rather not violate any copyrights by including the lyrics that Nadia was singing internally.

2