It's been a little while since the last character death chapter, so I think this one's a little overdue!

As always, I'll be doing a second update this week, but it might be on Tuesday rather than the usual Wednesday since I might be working away on the 5th.

Anyway, I hope you like this chapter - I'll probably be back Wednesday with a happier one!

Tragedy: At the end of the day, H'aanit's still Z'aanta's prentice. And a dragon's a beast far greater than any she's fought before...

A Story Swept Away

In the old days, dragons had been as common as rats and ten times as civil. The legends say that there were even ancient hunters able to tame them, to communicate with them as well as they did with humans.

So H'aanit had often thought it odd that only three remained, as dangerous and distant as the Gods themselves.

And yet, time and again she'd heard her master tell the tale of how he'd hunted the Cliftland's dragon at the behest of the Knights Ardante. In one such telling he'd insisted that he'd taken it with his last arrow, his axe as dull as a butter knife and Hägen as tired as a sloth.

But, in all his tellings, Z'aanta had reassured H'aanit that if she ever accomplished a feat as impossible as that, he'd believe her and listen to her every rendition.

"Thou shalt hearen this tale, Master. Over and again, until thou beggest me to stop, just as thou didst to me." H'aanit muttered assuredly as she readied her bow, Linde ever at her side and ready to pounce at the word.

This was her chance to prove herself a hunter worthy of the name, a woman worthy of being the great Z'aanta's prentice. This was to be her first story of many.

And then the dragon flapped its mighty wings and whipped up a gale that sent Linde flying back into the forest with a growl.

"Linde!" H'aanit turned to watch her companion disappear into the snow, removing her watchful eye from the dragon as it prepared its next strike. With a silent sweep of its tail as H'aanit looked away, the dragon knocked the wind out of the huntress and sent her flying against the trunk of a nearby tree.

"Uff!" She grunted as her back hit bark, breath tearing out of her lungs as she struggled to see through the stars in her eyes. H'aanit fumbled with her footing in the deep snow, hands shaking as she begged herself to keep a strong grip on her axe.

The dragon came again, claw raised high above her.

Another time, she would have called Linde to tear at its flank, distracting it as she rolled beneath its belly and sliced at its wings. Another time, she would've stood a chance as the beast bared down on her.

This time, all H'aanit could do was watch in horror as it brought its mighty claw down, ripping her from the tree and flinging her into the snow as she bled out through new cuts. This time, her hunter's wits and reflexes left her as she realised she wasn't as strong as she thought she was, as she realised she might've bitten off far more than she could chew.

At least Linde ist not heren, she thought to herself as she lay in the snow, unable to move even a finger as the dragon roared above her. At least she wilt not have to seen my failure.

With her breath beginning to come back to her as quickly as her blood left, H'aanit could only chuckle darkly to herself as the dragon circled around the herb-of-grace. It'd be a story for the scholars if she could pull a win from here, and yet she knew it wasn't coming. She knew there would be no winner here today, certainly not her.

But perhaps, perhaps she could injure the beast so that, when Alaic or Susanna came looking for her, they'd stand a chance. Perhaps, she could even communicate with the beast like the hunters of old, like she did with Linde.

With great difficulty as she continued to bleed out, H'aanit tightened her grip on her axe and began to raise herself as slowly as possible in the snow.

"Thou art a formidable foe!" She called to the dragon, catching its attention enough to make it fall to the ground again. "I can see why thou commandst the forest."

The dragon began to pick its way over to her, snorting in the snow as it smelled the blood of what had surely been a felled foe.

"I will not taken that command awayst from thee," H'aanit said as she continued to raise herself slowly, wincing as she realised that death was far closer than she would've liked. "Nay, I needst only a handful of the herbs thou protecten."

The dragon's face was but feet from her own. With one hand on her axe in the snow, ready to raise it to strike, the huntress leant heavily on her other as she looked at the dragon and begged it to understand her. "Wilt thou letten me take some so that I may leave thee in peace?"

The dragon stared at her, wings tight by its side as it seemed to process her words. For a moment, it even seemed like it understood, like it would comply with her wish.

And then it raised its claw and spread its wings.

And then it struck as H'aanit threw her axe into its forehead and rolled as far out of the way as she could.

It wasn't far enough.

In a matter of seconds, the dragon brought its sharp claws down on H'aanit's exposed side and tore it clean through. With a series of cuts as deep as those, she would've been dead in minutes. However, the dragon seemed keen to add insult to injury as it reared up on its back legs, roaring about the axe between its eyes. It flapped its wings wildly, creating gusts and whirlwinds that swept H'aanit into another tree, cracking her back with such force that, were she to survive the massive blood loss, she'd be paralysed for life.

There would be no winners there that day. The dragon would have an axe planted in its brain for the rest of its life and H'aanit… H'aanit would not be able to rise again from her place, bleeding in the snow.

It was a tale not meant to be told, not meant to be understood by those who came looking for her after. It the tale of H'aanit's last hunt.

"My apologies, Master…" She muttered as the snow beneath her began to feel as warm and welcoming as her blankets back in S'warkii. "My apologies… Linde…"

Shortly, her body would be left for the scavengers and those who came after her, her comrade and partner for the wild. It was the way of wild beasts, and yet H'aanit had fallen into the circle of life as easily as they did…