Chapter Two: The Hunter

xxxx

They had been on the run for three days.

The Woman in the Shadows took a broken twig in her hands, shifting it this way and that against the light of the morning sun. Her skill was such that some people thought she used some sort of arcane sorcery, something that aided her in tracking the whereabouts of her prey. Had she been inclined to listen to such babblings, she would have laughed. Assuming she was capable of it.

North. That was where the signs led. Perhaps they stopped once or twice to rest their steeds, perhaps just half a day. There was a small encampment a few leagues behind, the marks of a fire hastily buried one morning when some of the people in the group had decided they were wasting too much time. A few bone scraps, picked clean by carrion eaters. The Woman in the Shadows muttered an oath under her breath, before steeling herself once more to do her task.

The hunt was on. Her prey would not escape.

xxxx

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

Vincent whipped around, nearly throwing himself off the Chocobo and shouted "for the last time, you infernal girl! We still have half a day's travel before we even reach the village!" Yuffie gave him an indignant look and huffed, muttering something about "uncouth blacksmiths and their manners towards their betters." Aeris patted her best friend comfortingly, concentrating on the direction they've been traveling for the past few days. "Master Strife," she said. "This seems to me like we're entering imperial territory. May I ask as to the purpose of this entire journey? I feel as if you owe us all an explanation."

"There isn't much I can tell you that won't convince you that I'm either mad, or about to become so," the blond knight replied. "Are you truly prepared to hear me out?"

"My mind is open, Master Strife."

"Very well milady," Cloud said, nodding. "I shall explain it all tonight at the first place of lodging we find. We have slept on hard ground long enough." There were murmurs of agreement all around, even among the men, who up until that point slept in rotating watches to raise their guard whilst on the path.

The village of Gongagga rose in a distant clearing in the thicket upon the setting of the sun. It didn't take a lot of time for the group to find the inn at the center of town, such was the diminutive size of the settlement. Cloud and Vincent had both brought traveling supplies enough for three, and with the addition of Zack Fair and the heir to House Kisaragi, the need for replenishment increased greatly, reducing the estimated week the provisions were supposed to last. Zack still wore his formal dress garments under his worn journeyman's cloak (which was on loan from the blond knight), and Yuffie had to make do with a long coat fashioned from an extra set which was supposed to be Aeris' change.

The women were shepherded into a single room, the biggest available on such short notice, while the men were led to a small dormitory, such that a hired man-at-arms might lodge in. Vincent went outside the inn after a brief exchange with Cloud, and the group from the fiefdom found themselves left under the watchful green eyes of Master Strife. "So," he said, plopping down on a chair in a secluded corner of the inn's common room.

"Where shall I start?"

"Why don't you start with explaining how in Odin's name you found enough audacity to kidnap milady Aeris?!" Zack exclaimed, before noticing the surprised stares of half the people in the room. "You have much to answer for, scoundrel," he added in a whisper. Aeris gave him a disappointed stare for his outburst, but had to agree with her liegeman's sentiment. Yuffie merely looked on, her face schooled to not show any interest or the lack of which.

Strife took a deep breath, wishing for that one moment he had not stowed his Ultima Weapon. He felt so naked without his blade. "Like I said," the swordsman began "my story is such that it takes an extremely open mind to take in. Lady Aeris has already given me her word that she will take it at face value at the very least. Both of you," he pointed at Zack and Yuffie punctuate his statement "have seen the lengths some people are willing to go through just to cause her harm. Will you make the same promise to hear me out?"

"We do swear," the pair chorused.

"Then I could ask for no more," Cloud said as he leaned forward and lowered his voice below the din of the crowd. The others clumped closer, listening intently. "My story begins in a faraway realm, one which for the past nine centuries had enjoyed a peace between two tribes. The peace was broken not eighteen years hence, when an assassin pierced the security of my lady liege's estate and put her to the blade."

"I extend my sympathy to you Master Strife," Aeris said when the blond looked away. "I feel as though you had been very devoted in your service to your lady."

"Thank you for your concern, Lady Gainsborough. But unfortunately for all of us my tale does not end there."

"While the grief was still fresh in Milady Infalna's household, I learned of intentions to kill her last surviving heir," Cloud continued. "She would be the one destined to restore greatness to the house when the day came, greatness taken prematurely when milady's light was extinguished. My masters convinced people of the court, people whom Lady Infalna's House owed allegiance to, that the only recourse was to send the child away to a faraway land, some place where she may grow up in a manner worthy of her station and at the same time learn the ways of the court enough that she will be ready when she returned."

"The king had wanted to wait for her twentieth naming day, leaving provisions for all to be explained on her eighteenth. Unfortunately," the blond paused to take a sip of his drink. "Our plans had to be changed."

"Did this have anything to do with the three warriors who were pursuing us?" Yuffie interjected. "They were most unusual people."

"The Hand of Sephiroth do have a big part in this," Cloud conceded. "They were the most feared emissaries of milady's foes, and at no time in their presence can anyone who earns their ire ever feel safe."

"And yet you chose to do just that when you subjected them to your sorcery."

"Sir Zack, would you like to continue my story or shall I?"

The pair held each other's gaze, animosity flowing like static through the air between them until a word of rebuke erupted from Aeris' lips. "The both of you will be civil or I will leave this room and surrender myself to the Hand!" she barked. Both men muttered a barely audible apology at this.

"I had no choice," Cloud continued. "Either I face them then and there and risk one of them breaking off to kill Lady Aeris or take a risk and hold them there with magic. Such a spell is of common use in my land, and would serve as a proper deterrent in any case."

"You burned half of Gainsborough Forest down, Master Swordsman," Zack pointed out.

"And you would rather I preserve the trees and sacrifice your liege?" Strife countered. At the knight's silence, the other man continued. "I had hoped to avoid such a public spectacle, in all honesty. But the Hand had moved too quickly, as if there was someone in the court of Gainsborough who might have found her first and pointed the Hand in her direction."

"So now you cast doubt on the loyalty of Lord Gast's liegemen?!" Zack roared, jumping out of his seat and reaching for a sword hilt that was no longer there. "I should have your head for this blasphemy, Master Strife!"

"Zack Strife you will restrain yourself and be silent!" Aeris seethed. "This is no behavior for a knight to engage in, let alone a knight who claims to be in my service!"

"My apologies milady, I was merely—"

"You were merely exposing your lady's heritage to people who might place us in danger," Yuffie interrupted, her voice turning cold. "Did you not realize what kind of calamity you've placed us all in?! How many people in this common room have heard your little tirade, Master Fair?"

"Lady Kisaragi—"

"The matters of a liege lady's safety is a serious thing for a liegeman to consider, Sir Zack," Cloud said, his green eyes seemingly glowing in their sockets as they trained securely on the other man. "If Vincent and I had not planned on contingencies like this we would certainly find ourselves in a pinch, would we not?"

Zack bent his head, his lips stretched tight in a frown. "I will suffer a rebuke from Lady Aeris," he said after a moment. "I will even suffer a rebuke from the Lady Kisaragi. But I will under no occasion ever find myself suffering one from you, foul knave!" The brunette turned to the heir of House Gainsborough and said "I beg forgiveness for my behavior, lady. I feel as if I must retire, lest I dishonor you and Lady Kisaragi any further."

Zack Fair, Knight Commander of the Fifteenth Squad of House Gainsborough, left in a huff, trailing his borrowed cape behind him. Aeris watched him go, an anguished expression coming to her face at the thought of being the cause of such a bitter argument between two people. "Milady," the cryptic blond warrior said, laying a hand on her shoulder. "Your liegeman is loyal and only wishes to lay claim to the responsibility of your safety. In any other circumstance that would have been a noble act indeed, but even a warrior of his caliber would be hard-pressed to fight even against one of The Hand."

Aeris hung her head, unwilling to wound her liegeman any further. "I shall go and make sure his pride is not too damaged," she said. "Your words are well met, Master Strife, but I fear that one day your lack of tact will one day push the people closest to you away."

Cloud watched her leave, trailing after the knight. He must have sat there for a few minutes more when a finger tapped him on the shoulder. "What about you then, Master Strife?" Yuffie asked. "Would you consider yourself strong enough to protect my best friend? Even with your sour comrade?"

"I pray the gods help me accomplish even that much milady," Cloud murmured. "The presence of more people to protect does make things more complicated than they should have been. But I promise you this: I will keep you all as safe as my blade would allow."

The blond warrior turned to look directly at Yuffie's eyes. "Make no mistake," he said. "I am not belittling your skill as a warrior, formidable as though they may be to the ways of man. But it is time for you to face the truth. We will be facing things the likes of which your own nightmares might shrink back in fear."

"I am strong enough to protect myself, Master Swordsman!" the Wutain huffed indignantly. "You need not worry about me like I'm made of glass! All I ask for is the chance to prove myself for what I can do! Odin's beard! I'm the blood of a hundred Wutain warlords!"

"Then I pray you hold on to your courage when the time comes for it to be tempered in the fires of conflict," Strife continued. "Your loyalty to Lady Aeris is admirable indeed. But I beg of you to learn the limits of where your strength can get you. Some battles just aren't fought. " With that, he took his leave.

xxxx

Damnation upon it all.

Vincent found himself perched on the chimney of a building with a vantage point of the inn's main entrance, the clawed golden gauntlet Nanaki weighing heavily upon his left arm, the killing edge Dark Nation clutched in his right. Both were two of the best weapons he had ever forged in his lifetime, far greater than anything he could ever make in these pathetic excuses for smithies these mortals had here in Midgard.

The interference of The Hand had changed everything, and now he must accompany this accursed group all the way to the borders of Asgard if any of that blasted Einjarjar's wards were to have any chance of being alive when that blasted swordsman even makes it halfway there. For what seemed like the fiftieth time that eve, he cursed the day he ever decided to take his sense of honor with him when he left those hallowed halls.

Life would have been so much simpler without it dragging him down.

A panther black as night slithered silently behind him, followed closely by an oversized wolf with a bright red mane on its right flank. "The way is clear, milord" Nanaki said. "There is none for at least fifteen leagues who may approach without our knowing it."

"Both of you continue guarding the same areas," Vincent said. "If you feel that anything might pose a threat to the people in that inn you must strike silently and quickly. We must be able to remain unobtrusive until the gates of Asgard are in sight, if not upon us."

"Aye milord," came the reply from Dark Nation. "Thine will is our command."

"Have you grown weary of your tasks of old already?"

The blacksmith snorted, not even bothering to respond. Cloud stood behind him, directly at his left flank. "It took you long enough," Valentine said. "I'd been standing here a good four hours."

"What news?"

"Nanaki and Dark Nation see nothing that would endanger us thus far," the other man replied. "There has been news from Asgard's pigeon cotes in the city," he handed Cloud one of the rolled pieces of parchment in his hand. "Your convoy to the north will take five days to get ready. As it will take us three days to get to the rendezvous point, it might be more advisable for us to stay tomorrow morning and evening here so we can depart in the darkness."

"I don't like the idea of staying in any one place long for people to remember us."

"Alas for you, Master Einjarjar. That's the only choice for us thus far."

Cloud mulled this over and nodded. "You may be right about that Master Blacksmith," he conceded. "We can only hope the mortals don't do anything foolish before we leave. You know as well as I do what the Vanir might be capable of doing when they find out we brought potential hostages through their territory."

"They won't leave her side. You know this."

"This does not make things any easier for us in any case," The Einjarjar said, training his eyes on the inn's door. "Permit me this one question if I may."

"You may."

"The Knight I had no choice in bringing, but why did you bring the girl?"

"It's a hard tale to believe."

"Try me."

So Vincent related the tale of how he attempted to use a fire-based concussion spell to incapacitate her and flee. "I don't know how she managed it," he related later. "But as I was finishing the incantation she had succeeded in drawing power from Dark Nation's protection barrier. No one alive should have been able to use that aspect of her skill set."

"A curious development indeed," The blond replied. "The only one who should have been able to use that move was Lu—"

"Don't say her name," The blacksmith seethed. "You have no right to speak it."

"But it has been four hundred years."

"The centuries pass by too slowly for me to allow anyone else to so callously say her name."

"You grieve for far too long."

"And you hardly grieved at all," came the counter.

For a long time the two men stood face to face, faded reflections of each other and the pain each felt. Much was said in the moment's silence they spent, yet all of that were words that probably should have never been said at all.

xxxx

The Woman in the Shadows was close. She could practically taste it. The trail grew warmer with each passing hour, and all the signs pointed to the fact that Infalna's brat was currently headed in the direction of a small village to the east.

She took comfort in the fact that she was only a day away, and not a week.

Infalna's line would end by her hand.

xxxx

"Do you make a habit of sleeping outside doors?"

Zack Fair jerked awake, his hand on the Zweihander he placed to his left just before he retired. Valentine perked an impeccable eyebrow at the gesture. "What—" he began, before he was cut off with "the morning comes, Master Fair. We'd best breakfast before the day catches us off guard, as it apparently did you."

Zack glared, but took the arm offered him. He joined the blacksmith to the common room, where apparently only the golden haired knave sat. The knight took the seat directly in front of him, as if daring the other man to make him leave.

Cloud didn't, which seemed to slightly infuriate Fair. It was irrational, that much he could admit to himself, but there was something about the other man that sent his hair standing on end. There was deception there, the knight saw. Something that screams in his instincts at the top of its lungs saying false! He could never trust Cloud Strife. If Lady Aeris knew what was good for her, she shouldn't either.

Which is not the case, unfortunately.

The knight took a sip at the offered mug of tea, still wondering why the ladies were not with them. A short glance at the windows told him the reason: it was a few hours from dawn. The moon was setting in the horizon, and there was a barely perceptible haze of orange seen from another window on the other side of the common room. Even the inn's serving maids were sleepily bringing them food and drink.

"I'll need to ask you to cooperate with us for the next few days," Cloud said absently, reading from a folded piece of parchment. "Of all of us you have possibly the most knowledge of the areas we have to traverse before we get Lady Aeris to a place the Hand cannot reach her. You, Master Valentine and myself have to make sure she and Lady Kisaragi can get there with as little trouble as possible."

"Exactly where do you plan on taking her?"

"I'm not at liberty to say that right now—"

"That's not an excuse I'm willing to accept," Zack said, speaking over the rim of his mug. "I swore fealty to my liege lord at the age of sixteen. Swore an oath to always serve him and do everything in my power to keep him alive. With Lord Gast's current status unknown—distressed as I am to admit this—that oath falls to Lady Aeris."

"You know nothing of oaths of fealty."

"Oh? And you do?"

The two warriors stared each other down, neither one willing to back off. "You try my patience, Master Knight," Cloud said, the inflection on the last two words sounding like he was speaking an expletive. "But this does nothing towards the accomplishment of my mission. There are things in this world far beyond your comprehension—"

"And not yours?"

"Speak one more word and I'll…"

"Enough of this bickering," Vincent cut in. "Both of you. Master Fair, I realize the extent of your concern. And you are right to question our motives. But at this point we, unfortunately, cannot explain any further than this: Lady Aeris has family from the lands we came from. Her death has caused considerable grief to the people and until she can make an appearance there nothing can be done to help the realm find any peace. Even you must agree that such an endeavor is something Lady Aeris herself will approve of."

Zack nodded grudgingly. Aeris Gainsborough did have such a disposition, and it has served her well in winning the hearts of the people she would one day be destined to rule. The big question on his mind right now is the identity of this family member his liege lady was supposed to aid. He had never heard of any land in the direction they were travelling in that might have any relationship to the Gainsborough. But then he was merely a knight. Perhaps the land was simply too far away for a lot of communication between the two to take place.

Still, the nagging feeling in the back of his head persisted. But there was no reason to voice out further suspicion just yet. The two will make a mistake. And when they do, this entire web of lies will come falling apart.

"I will concede you point, Master Valentine," Fair said in a carefully measured tone. "But only because I consider you in higher standing than your comrade. I am willing to go along with your plans. For now."

"I could ask for no less, Master Fair," Vincent replied.

Breakfast was eaten without further incident, and the two court women joined them an hour later. The rest of the morning was spent planning their itinerary and judging the amount of supplies the party would need, and assigning people to go to the markets later in the morning to make their purchases.

xxx

The Woman in the Shadows stood at the gates of the village. The quarry was here.

She could feel it.