Strange requests are not uncommon for a Huntsman. Kill enough monsters, stop a dozen or so bandit raids throughout two years, and people soon think that you'd drop everything to weed their fields. Or save their cats from a tree, and agree to marry their daughters. A horrifying prospect to be stuck with a girl who is known only for having a great personality. Or just being attached to a girl in general.
But the request put to me by two of the best Huntsmen in Remnant, sitting across my desk, was the strangest I have heard to date.
"You two want to talk. Talk. To Raven Branwen."
"You makes it sound impossible," Taiyang Long answered. Leaning forward in his seat as he spoke. Matching the blonde Huntsman's posture by resting my elbows on my desk, consequently risking permanent damage to the old wood. I stared back at the muscular, sun-dusted blonde. Wondered how he could fit his shoulders into that short-sleeved leather jacket of his. I then replied.
"Master Long. You want me to help open a channel of communication to the most ferocious bandit leader this side of the Ever-swell River. A woman who is known as the 'Black Plague of Patch, ' and the 'Warrior Princess of Blood.' It is my experience that the communication skills of people with such epitaphs generally extend only to the demand for capitulation and plunder."
"She'll make an exception if we tell her that her brother wishes to speak to her." Qrow Branwen replied from the filing cabinet on which he was leaning Wrapped up in a red-lined cape and nursing a sterling silver hip flask.
"Forgive me again for bluntness, Master Branwen. But your familiarity neither stopped Raven from pursuing banditry nor made her any less of a public nuisance. Would bringing up your relationship with her now help in any way, shape, or form?"
Scratching at his six o'clock shadow. Qrow shrugged his razor-thin shoulders as if conceding my point while Taiyang cut in.
"All that you said is redundant. Qrow and I will deal with Raven, but you are the only one who can track her down quickly. The question is are you willing?"
Was I?
"Are you?"
That was a good question.
"Raven is too dangerous to approach with anything less than lethal force. To do otherwise is to put people at unnecessary risk. That is something I cannot agree to."
"Not even for a chance at promotion?" Qrow drawled from across my office.
"I can lose a chance at promotion. But I can't lose the support of the people I am sworn to protect."
"Huntsman Wilson Pink." Taiyang whispered hoarsely, his throat gripped in some manner of strong emotion, and his expression struggling with a matter over which his spirit was intensely conflicted. "you must help us. The truth is, Raven has kidnapped my niece."
Waving Qrow away from him, Taiyang continued.
"I don't know how. Or why, since Raven doesn't even care for her daughter. Whatever the reason, or method, Raven has made off with the niece Qrow, and I swore to protect with our lives. Now you are the only one who could locate Raven before she escapes beyond our grasp. So I'm begging you, man to man, Huntsman to Huntsman. Help me!"
Flinching in response to the sudden outburst at the end, I relaxed. Snorted. Then eased slowly out of my chair.
"You should have led with that," I said as I grabbed paper and scribbled out a series of orders. "and that promotion had better come with a new office larger than this broom cupboard."
The dumbfounded expression on Taiyang's face demanded a further explanation of my change of heart.
"Helping people is a Huntsman's duty," I replied. Slipping a ring into my left hand as I stuffed the notes away into convenient pockets in my trousers. "And if your niece is in Raven Branwen's hands? She is one of those people who needs a Huntsman's help."
"Besides," I added. "I like your honesty. So."
Crossing the cramped office to a coat stand in the corner, I plucked a stiff-brimmed hat off the hook and shoved it tightly onto my head before snatching off a pink mantle from the second hook and throwing it around my shoulders. Decorated lengthwise with a pair of crossed antlers. Although at that size, the garment could be considered a waist-length cape.
I then snatched my twin crescent halberd up from where it stood sentry over the office's bare wall. Supported by a plain wood stand. Its leaf-cut blade flanked on either side by two crescent moon hooks. Sporting a blue dragon cut into its side. Snarling down at prey with a smooth sapphire blue body which was coiled to pounce on and devour.
Finally, I strode over to the front door and poked my head out.
"Aide! Take these orders to Cardin and the town's Scoutmaster. I need a troop from the militia and the most up-to-date maps of the area about Raven Branwen's movements, and if anyone asks. Say Huntsman Wilson Pink is organizing a bird-hunt."
It took two days to triangulate Raven's location from the reports I requested. It took a further three days of hard riding to get to the clearing where the Warrior Princess had set up camp. Now Taiyang, Qrow, and I were observing the stockaded mass of tents and campfires from atop a nearby hill. Resting our horses while considering our approaches against that fortified position. At the same time another quartet of Huntsmen, with their accompanying militia troops, milled around at the base of the hill out of sight from the campsite.
Qrow drank. Heavily. Obsessively deep pulls from his ever-present hip flask.
Taiyang cursed. A lot. Muttering fierce expletives under his breath everytime his horse shifted beneath him while scouring the camp with an old, battered brass telescope.
Closing my eyes and tuning out Taiyang's frustration. I settled into my horse's saddle, then focused my attention on everyone's breathing.
The Eldest Dragon breathed the first life into Remnant, the universe he shaped with his claws. When he relinquished command over his creations to his successors, his slumbering breath became responsible for the continuation of existence. Each breath taken, and expelled, is a reflection of the life and death cycle beneath which all living things are subject.
In recent times. This breath is called 'Aura.' To perceive it is to sense the world beyond its material limitations. To grasp it is to unleash the full potential of the human body thus pushing one's physical capabilities to the extreme. To do both is to master fundamentals necessary to be a Huntsman.
There are also those who could perceive the source of the Aura, rather than the Aura alone. This manner of insight comes from one of the many gods, birthed from the myriad ideas of the human consciousness.
This blessing manifests as a Semblance. It is the key with which the chosen is to embark on a path of wild destiny and strange circumstances.
Right now I was taking note of the remarkable calmness permeating the camp. Evidenced by the steady flow of Aura from all the camp's occupants. Strange, considering the circumstances by which Raven was forced to put up her tents here in the first place. This valley is rich with game and has easy access to water. Thanks to the Yaruga River up towards the North-East. But it makes raids difficult due to its distance from any towns worth sacking nearby.
Which was the point, I suppose. It was a hard position for Raven's enemies to attack. Encamped as she was in such an entrenched position.
"That's Raven's camp alright," Taiyang finally declared, "good work in tracking her so quickly Huntsman Pink."
"Less tracking and more knowing where to find Raven I must confess. She has had a string of bad raids over the last month. This valley was the only place she could have retreated to safety."
A crackling snort of laughter burst out from Taiyang's left.
"Guessing you were the cause for Raven's bad luck huh Pink? And she calls me the jinx."
"It was more of a series of fortunate circumstances for the towns raided by Raven. Which allowed them to repel the bandit leader despite her ferocity and reputation."
"In any case," Taiyang interjected over mine and Qrow's discussion. "you have helped Qrow and me a great deal. Leave Raven to us. You watch our backs when we go in, and have your men stand by on this hill. Ready to back us up when called."
Acknowledging Taiyang's orders. I ducked my head towards the small mouthpiece that was clipped to the collar of my cloak, and connected to a radio hooked onto my belt. Ordered my retinue to guard the river instead. Based on the lack of disturbance of the aura alongside both banks of the river, compared to the woodland paths branching out from the camp. It seemed likely that the river was to an escape route. Which was why it was kept clear of any traffic in and out of the area. Like a fire escape.
Satisfied. I kicked my horse in the flanks and set off after Qrow and Taiyang where my halberd was bouncing on my shoulder in time with my mount's gait.
The lack of any tension in the camp's breathing was beginning to prove disconcerting as the three of us rode down the hill. If the reports were right, Raven should be running low on supplies and facing the threat of mutiny, at best. So why is everything so calm? A ruse? Or some new development which had arisen in the past week?
"Good afternoon! Boss Branwen is expecting you. If you three would please follow me. And don't worry, you may keep your weapons. A gesture of goodwill from my mistress."
The man who met us as we rode up to the camp's gate wasn't calm. He was confident, just like everyone I rode past as they bustled about their duties. At this stage, the lion's den was beginning to smell like a trap.
One that consisted of lime soap. Mixed with week-old ladies underwear.