Chapter 11: The hunt.
Kità, a game I used to play with my siblings back at the orphanage. It's a straight forward game, the rules are simple. The target has only one priority: don't get caught.
While the seekers, search for you. If you're caught, game over. We play in the forest behind the orphanage, sometimes going as far as the ravine. You use every trick at your disposal to evade capture.
The target is given a sash, tied around their torso. That is the prize, the essence of the the whole game. The one who retrieves the sash is proclaimed the winner.
I am very good at this game, considering I've never been caught when I was the target. But then, I was playing with kids younger than me. Not cannibalistic bipedal titans of questionable origins.
Running from the giants reminds me of kità, only at an extreme rate than I was used to. Because this time the stakes were life threatening. Literally. Getting caught doesn't seem like a fun time.
I mean, who wants to be eaten alive? Or boiled in sludgy soup and slurped into the gullet of some hungry menace?
Yea, getting caught is not in our best interest.
Still, the giants gain on us. At least I think so. The sounds of their horns grow louder, nearer. It sets me on edge.
Was this what animals feel when I hunt?
I find myself praying to whatever god grants wisdom; Let my foes be inept idiots. Afterall, an intelligent enemy is a dangerous adversary.
As always, my prayers fall on deaf ears.
The sound of something heavy crashing --- breaking and snapping --- through small trees, saves me. I yell out a warning, while simultaneously diving to my left. A huge tree comes barreling down just shy of our collective heads, nearly taking off Quan's at the shoulder. A great steel pine, I note in passing. Fucking tree must weigh up to a ton, and they tossed it like it's nothing. Fucking hell!
Guttural sounds I can barely recognize as voices reach us from a distance. As I thought, they're gaining on us.
"Move faster." I pant, overtaking Quan as he picks himself up. My eyes roving around till I spot Kassia, unharmed, a little ways off to my left.
"I'm not as spry as I once was."
"You're barely thirty, old man. Move it."
There's a whistling in the air, it's low but my sensitive ears pick it up without flaw. "Projectiles." I scream. Just as an arrow flies towards me at insane speeds. It was 3 inches thick, with a length of 8 feet. The arrow head was carved from ivory, with serrated edges and a sharp, pointy tip.
Too slow to react, I scramble and fall. The projectile misses me by a few inches, hitting the pine behind me with a loud thunk and penetrating deeply. I shiver.
The arrow was the size of a proper spear.
Thinking fast, I channel vita to my back and hands, with my increased strength, I pull as hard as I can. The arrow comes out smoothly. Nearly costing me my balance.
It was still intact, made from some kind of redwood I've not seen before. The arrow head indeed looks like ivory, with black patterns dancing in it's depths.
Hefting my newly acquired spear, we run. It took a few moments to get used the the bulk of the arrow head cum improvised spear in my grip. It was awkward to run while hurling it with me. But I was determined.
I doubted my arrows would penetrate their natural armor, this was insurance. If it comes down to it, no way I'm going down without a fight.
As we run, more projectiles were launched in our general direction. Small boulders, trees, more arrows, a net made from interlocking tiny copper wires. Quan saved us from that one, slicing it apart with his blue flames before it could even get close.
Being hunted was as much fun as being kicked in the balls by a mule. These titans were efficient hunters. They attack from the south, west and east, leaving north our only avenue of escape.
I believe they're herding us into a trap, I relay as much to Quan, who's been thinking the same thing. We need to flip the paradigm, or we're not making it out alive. They have the advantage in the forest, but it'll be dark soon. Maybe we can get away under the cover of night.
Depends how good their sense of smell is, I think we can make it. We just have to avoid getting caught in the meantime.
By my estimate, I would say eventide is about fifteen minutes away. This is about to be the longest fifteen minutes of my life...
Up ahead, Quan comes to halt. I catch up in seconds.
"What's wrong?" I ask, winded from the chase.
"There's something in the air."
"Poison?"
"No. Hangman's root, it's a paralytic. They're burning it so the fumes covers a wider expanse." He rips off a piece from his cloak and wraps it over his nose. Kassia and I do the same. "They're fanning the flames, from the north."
That's the direction they've been herding us in. Fuck, I hate intelligent enemies. So much for hoping they'd be dumb blubbering giants, these savages are effective hunters.
I imagine they'd hate for us to miss dinner, with how much they're putting into inviting us. I'd love nothing more than to disappoint them.
Besides, if I've learned something in my short time alive, it's that you can't exactly get everything you want. But that world turned out to be a sham, the truth of this world is you can actually take everything you want, if you're powerful enough.
"We need a new plan, we can't go North, there's only death at the end of that road." Quan surveys the trees with a critical eye. "Anything from our resident murder-happy snake god?"
"He's been unresponsive, but I sense he's awake now." I can feel Ash doing... Something.
"I think we should go East, try to break through their ranks. There's not much pressure from that direction. Thoughts?"
"Hit them hard and fast, no point stopping to finish them off, the aim is to create an opening for a timely escape. You take point, Kassia and I bring up the rear." I've been getting strategy lessons along side my other activities.
"Clean, clear and concise, just how I like it. We'll make a strategist of you yet." He flashes that eerie smile of his, this time there was real warmth in it.
Our conversation took less than two minutes, the hunters are not far behind.
A relatively small boulder hurtles towards us, heading straight for Kassia. Quan pulls out a sword, the blade was made from a blue-green metal that shimmers and bends light. The hilt was simple, without grandeur and was wrapped in leather. The pommel looked like some kind of fiery gem, above the hilt the crossguard was wrought in gold, and shaped into the heads of two snarling dragons.
It is a masterpiece of weaponry. It is art given metal form. It is beautiful.
The blade sings through the air as Quan swings it lazily at the rapidly falling slab of stone. There was a slight distortion in the air and the boulder was cut into numerous chunks of rocks no larger than my fist.
"Where the fuck did you get a sword?" I stare in astonishment, forgotten were the giants on our tail.
Where was he keeping it? His hands were empty a second ago.
"This is Fíngr, the sword of tides. It belonged to my wife. Ready?"
I nod. We change trajectory with a burst of speed. Each of us flooding our channels with vita in order to move faster. We need to break through their ranks before our cores run empty. A daunting task.
Gripping my spear tighter and staring ahead. The task before me doesn't seem impossible, but it does present a challenge. I've been meaning to measure my growth in these last two months...
This smells like an opportunity.
I find myself smiling. I might be enjoying this.