Chapter 11 A Merciful Heart
"You will die here, little bitch!" Finn curses me, slamming my cell door shut and locking me up with the jiggling keys. He marches off, his footsteps growing softer until the wood door slams shut—I scream, my eyes flying open—a hand clamps down over my mouth, muffling me! Finn! Heart racing, blood pumping, muscles tensing, I thrash about, throwing blind punches and kicks at him in the dark!
"Shh! Stop, lass! Stop!" he whispers harshly, deflecting all my blows. He manages to pin my legs beneath his and my left arm at my side, almost laying his whole body atop me! God no! He's going to force himself upon me! I fight against him with every bit of strength I have and pound my free fist into his side and back, trying to land a blow to his head, but he manages to deflect me every time!
"Calm down!" he whispers. "Shh! Calm down, calm down." He softens his voice. That's not Finn's voice. I stop punching the man atop me and quiet myself. I know that voice.
"That's it. Easy." The man slowly lifts his bear-sized hand from my mouth, the winter cold pricking my lips and skin where his hand was, though I barely feel the cold because of my fever. I breathe in and out shaky breaths, my chest quivering, my eyes stinging with hot tears.
"Eric?" I whisper, my voice shaky. Please let it be him. This man has not forced himself upon me yet, so perhaps it is him.
"Aye."
An ocean of relief pulls me under, calming my heart and steadying my shaky breathing.
"That's it," he say softly. He squeezes my arm gently and slowly climbs off me, freeing me. A strange feeling comes over me. I feel…exposed, empty…alone. There was something about the weight of his legs upon me that frightened me at the beginning, but now…I miss them. I miss his hand upon my arm and the gentle squeeze he gave me. Why? Perhaps it was the protection, the shielding? Or perhaps I'm still a little drunk.
I brace my hands against the forest floor and slowly push myself up, preemptively biting my tongue to keep silent from the burning pain of my wound. Despite the pain, I manage to sit up and look at the shadow of the hunter crouching beside me, overwhelming me with his size and strength.
"Wh–what happened?" I whisper.
He sighs, his colossal shoulders dropping. "Ye woke up screamin', so I had to quiet ye. We dinnae want ye attractin' oulinders or any blighted man out here."
My eyes widen, fear filling me. "Blighted man!? There are others in this dark forest!?"
He nods, twisting my gut with terror. "Probably. Anyone still alive out here, except us, is deranged from continual exposure to black blight shroom spores. If ye breathe in the spores long enough, yer mind melts inside yer skull, turning ye more and more feral before ye finally die. Those infected by the spores will violently attack any man and creature they see."
I shudder, my mind conjuring up an image of a deranged man, his eyes glazed over, his mouth frothing at the corners, his pale skin mottled with the black of the black blight shrooms—a terrible thought emerges. "Am I…am I becoming feral!? Am I blighted!?" I ask, panic starting to take hold of me.
"No, lass, ye are no' blighted. If ye were, ye would have tried to bite out my throat by now."
"Mm," I hum and nod quickly, still shuddering with fear…or with something else. I feel a little strange. Sweat clings to my skin despite the winter air. My flesh tingles about my mouth endlessly. I try to stop myself from shuddering, but my body shakes beyond my control.
"Yer shaking. Are ye cold?"
I shake my head. "No, I'm just…shaking." I try breathing in slowly and breathing out slowly…breathing in slowly…breathing out slowly. I'm still shaking!
"Ye should eat. Ye huvnae eaten for more than a day."
Nausea churns my stomach. "God no. I'm not hungry, but I'll drink some ale if you have some to spare." My trembling hand reaches out on its own, my fingers eagerly waiting to clutch a skin heavy with ale.
"Ye should eat to keep up yer strength," he says, but he reaches into his satchel and pulls out a skin sloshing with a lot of ale in it.
"I'll eat later," I answer, my voice shaking. He pulls the cork out of his skin and hands his skin to me. My fingers wrap around his skin tightly, but my hand shakes terribly while I lift the skin to my lips, splashing some of the ale out of the skin and onto my hand. Despite my shaking hand, I manage to wrap my tingling lips about the rim and start downing the ale. I chug, chug, chug much like the hunter did two or three days ago, eager for that numbing, pleasant heaviness in my body.
The hunter chuckles as I continue drinking the ale and says, "I'm a bad influence on ye."
I almost laugh, nearly choking on the ale, but I manage to pry the skin from my mouth and swallow the last of the ale safely down my throat. I look at the hunter's shadow and nod, a small smile creeping onto my lips. "You are."
He and I chuckle…both of us…together. I…I haven't chuckled for two years. Our chuckling dies quickly and the hunter snatches his skin out of my grasp!
"Hey!" I almost try to steal his skin back, but I stop myself. I'd be a fool to lunge at him. He might think I'm blighted and kill me.
He laughs quietly at me and lifts his skin to his mouth. "I jus' want a drink." He takes a swig of his ale and offers his skin back to me.
"Oh," I murmur. I glance down at the skin clutched in his steady hand and look up at the shadow of his head. I wish I could see his face right now. Is there amusement in his eyes, a mischievous gleam, or that smirk that he had on his face two nights ago when he called me out for staring at him?
"Thank you," I say softly, accepting his skin with my shaky hand. I barely see him nod while I take a smaller swallow of his ale, more conscious of the fact that he will want more. I offer his skin back to him.
"Huh," he says aloud and takes his skin from me. "Are ye done?"
"No." I shake my head. "I just thought you might want more."
He nods. "Thanks," he says, pleasant surprise in his voice. He takes another swig of his ale and passes it back to me.
"Thank you." I take my swig and hold it out to him again.
He chuckles and accepts it from me, taking his swig before passing it back to me. I chuckle with him and take my drink. A strange feeling enters me as we continue passing his ale back and forth between us. There's this…excitement in my stomach that puts a grin on my face. I feel happy, but there's something else accompanying it.
He passes it to me. "Ye can have the rest."
The excitement in my stomach fades and my smile lessens. "Are you sure? I liked sharing your ale with you." My eyes widen as realization hits me. The buzz from the ale has loosened my tongue. "I was having fun." I sigh aloud, the revelation sweeping me off my feet even though I'm sitting. "I haven't felt the excitement of fun for fourteen years and you helped me to feel fun again."
He laughs gruffly, keeping his voice low and quiet. "It's the ale, lass. No' me."
I shake my head at him. "It was definitely you. Perhaps the ale loosened me up, but you"—I point at him, my hand less shaky—"it was sharing your ale with you, passing your skin between us…" I drop my hand in my lap. "Laughing with you, that's the fun I'm speaking of. If you weren't here laughing with me while I numb my pain with this"—I lift his skin up and lower it to my lap—"then I would not have felt fun again."
He laughs once and nods at me. I feel his eyes upon me, scrutinizing me, thinking only what he and God knows.
"Drink the rest and get some sleep," he says. He rises to his full stature, towering over me like a bear rearing up.
I nod and watch him as he walks past me out of my sight, his leg lightly brushing past my shoulder. My nerves in my chest and stomach tingle from the brief brush of his leather trousers against his leather coat. I chuckle aloud at the thought. It's not as if his skin brushed against mine, but it was the weight, the movement of his—
"What're ye laughing at?" the hunter asks from behind me, amused.
I twist around to look up at his towering shadow, my cheeks heating up more. "I…" I trail off, drinking in the broadness of his shoulders, his strong chest, how the bottom of his chest tapers down to his slender waist—the hunter laughs, hitting a particularly deep timbre in his voice that sends a pleasurable chill down my spine.
"Try to sleep," he says, turning from me and walking to the edge of the clearing. He sits down against a tree to keep watch throughout the remainder of the night.
I finish off the rest of his ale and cork his skin. "Hunter?" I call to him softly.
He looks my way.
"Catch." I toss his skin his way. His hand shoots up and catches his skin midair. "Ha! Good catch."
"Thanks, lass." He nods once and stows his skin away in his satchel. "Now try to sleep."
"Alright." I lay down on my side, laying my head on my arm for a softer place than the splintered twigs and thorny brambles of the forest floor. The ale has successfully numbed my pain and pushed the pleasurable heaviness throughout my body. There's something small inside me warning me to keep my guard up, but I ignore it and let my eyes drift shut. I trust the hunter enough to help me get out of this forest and to find the nearest help for my wound.
Day five, I think. Just a little farther and we'll be out of this hellish dark forest.
"Get up, lass," the hunter says, shaking me awake. I rouse, groaning softly from the dull burning pain in my back.
"Com'on, get up." He grabs ahold of my left hand and hauls me to my feet! Fear fills me and I almost yank my hand out of his, but I stop myself. His grip about my hand is strong and secure. I lift my groggy eyes to look at the shadow of his head.
"We're nearly out of this forest. Jus' a half day's walk." He gives my hand a gentle squeeze and releases me. "How are feelin'? How's yer wound?"
"Uh," I groan softly and clutch my right side. "It burns a little and I know the pain is going to get worse throughout the day…unless you have ale to spare?"
The hunter shakes his head, my heart sinking. "Ye drank the last of my ale."
"Oh God." I sigh heavily, guilt wringing my heart. "I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have drank the rest of yer ale—"
"It's fine," he says, cutting me short. "We need to move. Can ye keep up?"
I barely nod, still feeling the heat from my fever and from my embarrassment. God, I've become a drunkard. Even if he does have ale left and he is only lying to keep some ale for himself, I have consumed far more drink than he has.
"Yes," I answer meekly.
"Good." He turns, waving his hand for me to follow. "Keep up."
I force myself to remove my hands from my side and follow him, already biting my tongue to keep from whimpering and sobbing. I know my wound doesn't hurt terribly now, but knowing that the pain is going to get worse throughout the day, perhaps to the point of it being unbearable, the fear that I may not be able to make it out of here when we are so close—it all only adds together to worsen my physical pain.
I can't stop shaking, but I'm not shaking from the cold. All around my mouth, my flesh tingles without end, but the tingling is not a result of the cold. Despite the winter cold, my body feels like it is on fire! Perspiration clings to me like a second skin. What I wouldn't give to take off all my clothes just for some cool air, but I cannot do that in front of the hunter! Perhaps I'm shaking from my fatigue and weakness? It's taking all my strength to walk after the hunter, let alone stay on my wobbly feet! I know my body is consuming itself just to survive, but I feel this newfound weakness in my muscles. There's a new crushing, aching pain in my bones and joints that I have never experienced before. I know I should eat, but just the thought of food—I wrap my arms about my stomach, feeling the tightness in my throat and the nausea churning my stomach. God, the thought of eating right now makes me want to retch, but I have nothing to retch up.
"How're ye holding up?" the hunter asks, drawing my eyes to him.
"I'm…" I trail off, my jaw dropping at the sight ahead. Beyond the hunter's broad back, the trees thin out, allowing grey daylight to break through! "Oh my God," I murmur, my heart racing, my spirit soaring. I almost forget my burning wound and my aching joints.
"That's the edge of this damn forest—" I take off past him, running for my life to get out of this damn forest! This almost seems unreal. I may never have woken up since I downed the last of his ale, but God, don't let this end!
"Greta!" the hunter calls after me, but I don't stop. I never stopped for all the maids and servants who warned me to stop running through the castle lest I trip, and I'm not about to stop for the hunter! I run through the thinning trees towards the daylight! Sweet, precious daylight no matter how dim and grey it is!
"Lass, wait!" The hunter snatches my arm and stops me dead in my tracks!
I almost scream, but I resist the urge and wheel around the face him, burning with anger. "What are you doing!?—" My anger hitches in my throat. The hunter is bathed in grey daylight now, his face stern, his eyes burning.
"Look," he says sternly and nods to the towering, rotting tree beside me. I manage to look at the rotting tree—I stop short. The rot is only visible on one side of the tree. The other side, the side facing the edge of this dark forest, is charred black…as if a direct blast of fire struck this tree sometime in the recent past. I timidly reach out towards the charred trunk and brush my fingers along it, collecting fresh soot on my fingertips.
"The soot is warm," I whisper, looking up at him.
He nods slowly and lets go of my arm. "Look all around ye." He looks about us, scanning the terrain with cautious, grave eyes. "See all these trees along the edge of the forest?"
I carefully scan all the trees marking the border of this dark forest. Black char and soot covers all the sides of the trees facing the outside of this forest. Whatever happened to these trees, it was not too long ago that this happened based on how warm the soot is. I look at the hunter, his hard, focused eyes still scanning the trees and surveying beyond this forest. He stalks past me to the very edge of the forest, but he does not move beyond the cover of the last thick tree. I walk as softly as I can to him, but he holds up his arm, stopping me just behind him. A weight lifts off my shoulders, lightening the load upon my brittles bones and easing their pain…it's the air. It's far less dense out here than it was in that dark forest. I draw in a slow breath, this breath entering my lungs with much more ease than when breathing in the forest. I must have become accustomed to the heavy, thick air of the forest because I did not know that I was having difficulty breathing until now. I selfishly breathe fast, almost crying out with joy from the fresh air touching the fragile insides of my lungs. Hopefully, we pass through no more dark forests.
God, it hardly matters! I shake my head of the joyous thought and look beyond the hunter. About a strong stone's throw away is a cobblestone bridge that has fallen into disrepair. It spans across a deep gulch that has dried up God knows how long ago. A terrible ache enters my heart. No doubt this is Ravenna's doing. I know she has done this, but there is still apart of me that questions it. Perhaps she never truly meant to drain this land of its life as she has done. Perhaps this gulch still flowed with water some years ago. I remember Sara mentioning how the land has become infertile, which would lead to widespread famine.
"What happened to all these trees?" I whisper, looking back at the hunter.
He shakes his head, not sparing a glance back at me. "I have my suspicions, but I cannae say for sure." He glances back at me, his gaze grave despite his eyes burning into me enough to permanently brand me. "The most important lesson I can teach ye right now is to pay attention to everythin' around ye and make yer guesses from that."
My brows furrow. Pay attention to everything around me and make my guesses from that? I frown. "What do you mean?"
He closes his eyes and sighs, exasperated. A small pang strikes my chest. I feel stupid.
He opens his eyes and says, "Just stay close and keep quiet. Com'on." He looks ahead at the bridge and stalks toward it, taking each step cautiously while he scans all about him. Fear fills me, but I follow after him closely, caught somewhere behind and beside him. I don't want to be right at his side within danger's reach, but I also don't want to be right behind him where he can't grab my hand quick enough and run off with me should we need to flee.
As we steadily draw closer to the bridge, I look down at his careful steps. He moves along like a panther despite his bear size, avoiding the little rocks and twigs strewn across the frosty earth. Back in that damn dark forest, the ground was blanketed with thorny brambles and sharp twigs. Wherever I stepped, I was always crunching the twigs and brambles underfoot, but not out here in the open. There's the occasional pile of twigs and small stones, but there is plenty of barren earth to place my steps.
We reach the edge of the bridge where the earth meets the lumpy grey stone and the hunter stops. I stop just behind and beside him and watch him while he surveys our surroundings. He told me to pay attention to my surroundings. The most important lesson, he called it. I look about the bridge and on the other side of the dried up gulch, finding nothing but an endless stretch of nearly destroyed road reaching into the horizon. I sigh and glance down into the dried up gulch below—skeletons. A lot of them. Many of the skulls have sharp, serrated teeth. Two large finger-like appendages sprout from their spines. Wings. These dead creatures, from what I'm seeing and have already seen thus far, resemble that oulinder the hunter slew.
My brows furrow and I search the bed of bones for human remains…none. There are mostly oulinder skeletons and a few that look to be wolves and deer, but that's it. Another souring ache fills my heart. Perhaps most of these oulinders, wolves, and deer came here seeking water and died from thirst when none could be found. God, that poor horse that carried me to safety was consuming rotting twigs for nourishment. Is there no greenery to be found? Is it because of the strangely dry rain that there is no greenery? Or is it because Ravenna has drained all Tabor of her fertility and turned this once rich, fertile kingdom into a dead wasteland? How could she do this?
"Com'on," the hunter whispers and starts slowly across the bridge. I step onto the bridge after him—the hunter stops suddenly, holding out his arm in front of me.
"What is it?—"
"Shh."
A low, rumbling growl sounds behind us, sending tremors up my feet into my chest! The hunter and I wheel around to face the growling creature. A massive serpentine head mounted on a long slender neck rises up from the side of the bridge. The creature's leathery skin is pebbled and grey like the stone of the bridge. He peels back his thick lips, brandishing his large serrated teeth. He lowers his head like a bull preparing to charge, showing off his twin horns which look like trees sprouting from both sides of his head. The creature rises more until he towers over us, as tall as three bears atop each other, showing us his stream-like body and large wing stretching out from his back in a daunting display. A dragon no doubt, but one wing? Where is his other wing? The dragon plants one large, clawed foot on the edge of the bridge, shaking the bridge beneath me. The dragon's amber eyes lock with mine. He throws his jaw open wide and roars.
"LAMIA!" the hunter yells and swings his large axe, striking the dragon's leg planted on the bridge! Bright red blood sprays at us. The dragon roars in pain, withdraws his leg from the bridge and lashes out at us, sending the hunter and me flying off the bridge! The impact of the dragon's blow doesn't register in my body until the blink of an eye, a crushing pain spreading across my chest and stomach—I land hard on my backside in a bed of sharp bones, forcing the breath out of me. A shock tears through my body, shredding apart my aching muscles and reawakening the crushing weight in my bones. I struggle to sit up, groping for any purchase amongst the sharp, splintered bones. I manage to look up at the bridge. The dragon rises up past the bridge, his amber eyes falling upon me, his thick leathery lips quivering as he growls. He opens his maw to reveal the black abyss of his throat. A yellow glow lights up at the back of his throat! God, I'm going to be burned alive!
A hand grabs my arm and hauls me to my feet. The heat of the dragon's breath wafts over my face, drawing more sweat out of my skin.
"RUN!" the hunter orders. The hunter and I spin about and clamber up the gulch over the sharp, splintered bones on the opposite side of the dark forest, the hunter barely dragging me behind him. The rushing of the dragon's fire sounds behind us, the heat licking at our backs! The hunter dives with me behind a large tree stump. The hunter and I scramble to the stump and press our backs against it while the dragon's fire rushes on our right and left, the tree stump parting his fire about us like a rock splits the raging rapids! The rush of the dragon's breath ends.
SCREECH! The dragon strikes at the stump behind us, cracking, splintering wood. I dare a quick glance at the hunter. He pushes himself into the stump as much as possible, gripping his menacing axe in both hands. Past him, a few flickering flames and embers from the dragon's fire burn on the ground. That explains the scorched sides of the trees.
The hunter glances at me, his eyes burning, grave. "I'll draw the lamia's attention! When I do, get'away from here!"
Panic takes me. "WHAT!?—" He rolls over onto his knees and braces his hand against the ground in a skillful stance, ready to leap into the fray!
"Hunter, don't!" I reach out for him, but he springs out from behind the stump and charges down the gulch! "HUNTER!?—"
"DINNAE LOOK BACK! GO!"
SCREECH! The ground trembles beneath me with the dragon's pounding steps! I roll onto my hands and knees and peer past the stump. The dragon bounds back down the gulch, chasing after the hunter!
"ERIC!" I scream. The fool! What is he doing!? He's going to be burned alive! The dragon lowers his head and reaches with open jaws for the hunter! I scream—CLAMP—the world comes to a standstill. My heart plummets and tears sting my eyes. Eric…hopelessness and despair claw into the last of my hope. What am I going to—the dragon rears up, screeching in fury. A blurry, bear-sized man runs out from under the dragon's belly! My heart takes off thrumming and soars with hope.
"Oh thank God!" I cry out, relief washing over me like a wave, but the hunter stops and turns to face the dragon, stealing my relief. The hunter swings his axe at the dragon's throat, scraping off a few grey scales as the dragon jerks his head back. The dragon's amber eyes go to the hunter's axe. The dragon snarls and turns his body to the side, brandishing his tail lined with serrated spikes on both sides.
Fear grips me tight in its grasp, constricting my chest like a corset. "Oh God." If the hunter's arm or leg gets caught between those spikes when the dragon twists his tail, the spikes will easily severe the hunter's limb! The dragon starts swinging his tail at the hunter's legs! The hunter leaps out of the way, nearly getting his left leg caught between the dragon's tail spikes. The dragon screeches and swings his tail back and forth, forcing the hunter to keep dodging out of the way so that he has no opportunity to attack. Back and forth the dragon swings his tail, forcing the hunter back farther away from the bridge. My brows furrow, all of this vexing me. I don't understand. The dragon could easily turn the hunter to ash with his fire, but he continues this arduous dance with the hunter, swinging his tail just close enough at the hunter's legs to continue forcing him back. For that matter, the dragon could easily sever the hunter's legs, but he only draws just close enough to force the hunter farther back from the bridge. Frustration prickles under my skin. Why!?
Pay attention to everything around me and make my guesses from that, the hunter said. I look down into the gulch, glancing over all the bones once more to search for human remains. Nothing. This dragon has never killed a human, or at least not here at this bridge, yet the dragon is forcing the hunter farther away from the bridge. Why!? I look to the bridge—I freeze like ice. There, tucked away within a pile of tightly woven branches beside the bridge, is a clutch of five large, bright green eggs. The burnt trees, the oulinders and wolves, the deer—this bridge is the dragon's home, and he—no, she, is defending her home and her young! She is not trying to kill us, but rather chase us away! She burned the oulinders and the wolves because they posed a threat. The deer she burned to consume. The blighted men…I'm not sure why none of them made their way here, but there are no human remains. Surely there would be some, even of blighted men, if she killed them.
I look back at the hunter and the dragon, the dragon still forcing the hunter farther down the gulch away from her clutch of eggs! If only I had grabbed hold of the hunter. If only we had run! There's no telling how long the dragon will keep from killing us. If she feels threatened enough, she will kill us with one blast of her fire!
As she takes another swing at the hunter's legs with her tail, the hunter swings his axe in the path of her tail, his blade slicing through the flesh, bone, and flesh of her tail with ease. The severed part of her tail lands in the gulch with clacking and clattering of bones. She hollers in pain and pulls back her bleeding stump. Enraged, she turns to face the hunter head on and swipes her claws at him! The hunter leaps back, her claws swiping within mere inches of his stomach. Just as the dragon brings her foot back, I see the sudden focus of the hunter's eyes upon her chest waiting for his chance to strike!
"NO!—" The hunter charges beneath the dragon and swings his axe over his head, slicing precisely between the protective plates of the dragon's chest. She stops in the midst of the fight and stiffens. The hunter runs out from under her belly while a shower of water and bright red blood spills out of her chest onto the gulch of bones. The dragon lets out a hitch pitched whimper, the pitch of its whimper burning my ears and placing a terrible pang in my chest. My eyes drift to the hunter, seeing him perched halfway up the gulch. He watches the dragon closely, waiting for her to collapse like a predator waits to the wayside for his prey to collapse before moving in to feast. Disdain and disgust for the hunter fills me. The man who made me feel safety for the first time in fourteen years, the man who I made the choice to trust despite all that was warning me inside not to, is gone. This has made it very clear to me how I have been deceived. The hunter is more beast than man, while the dragon…I look at the dragon.
Her legs tremble beneath her weight. She struggles with the last of her life to stay standing while the pouring of water and blood out of her chest lessens. Her head droops down towards the earth, her body slowly swaying from left to right, right to left, left to right. She lets out a pitiful whimper and collapses to the earth with a ground-shaking crash. A sob escapes me. She gave her life for her unhatched brood and now her brood will die without their mother to protect them and feed them.
The cracking and splintering of bones draws my teary gaze to the hunter as he moves down the gulch towards the felled dragon, treading over the bones of all she killed to protect her children, readying his bloody axe for the final blow!
"No!" I scramble out of the stump's cover and race down the gulch towards the hunter, almost tripping over all the bones.
The hunter does not stop his advance towards the dying dragon. "Go back, lass," he growls.
"No!" I manage to pass the hunter and place myself between him and the dying dragon, forcing him to stop his advance. "Lower your weapon!"
"What th'hell's wrong with ye!? I told ye to get away from here!"
"I will not!" He sidesteps to get around me, but I move with him, blocking him with my weak little body. He could easily pick me up and throw me aside. He very well could, but that fear does not change my resolve. "I will not let you hurt her anymore."
The hunter looks at me briefly with bewilderment and scoffs. "She's goin' to die, ye are only prolongin' her pain!"
His words stop me cold. I look back at her. She has moved her head along the gulch of bones while my back was to her, her dull amber eyes gazing in the direction of her unhatched brood. She whimpers in a terrible, mournful way, her dying eyes glistening…with tears! She knows her children are going to die and she is desperate, powerless, and dying. Bones crack beneath the hunter's heavy steps as he marches into my sight right up to the dragon. He brings his axe down upon the back of her neck, severing her head from her body. Her struggling body slumps to the ground. The little light left in her glistening amber eyes goes out.
I slowly shake my head and lift my gaze to the hunter. "How could you?" I murmur.
He growls and lifts his bloody axe in both hands. "What did ye mumble!?" He moves to the dead dragon's ankle and swings his axe at the joint, severing her foot from her corpse.
Burning rage fills up my chest and spills over the brim. "How could you!?" I march right up to him, not caring for my own safety anymore. "It was you who told me to draw my own conclusions from what's around me! There are no human remains about us! She was not trying to kill us! She was—" I stop. What if the hunter failed to notice her eggs? He would take her eggs and sell them too, no doubt.
"I knew that," he snarls, crouching before the severed dragon foot and setting his axe aside.
"What do you mean?" I ask, my worry growing. Does he know about her eggs?
He shakes his head, not sparing a glance my way while he draws a knife from one of his sheaves and proceeds to cut the dragon's flesh from her bone.
Anger fills me, lowering the pitch of my voice. "Oh, I know what you mean. I was right about you before I made the choice the trust you. You have not a shred of compassion in you. All you have is a greedy, cowardly heart."
He stops in the middle of slicing flesh from bone and looks back at me, his eyes burning with anger. "What!?"
"You slaughtered this poor dragon just to turn a profit, just as I'm sure you plan to do with me! Or perhaps you wanted me to flee so you could be rid of me and not have to kill me yourself! If you were any man, you would kill me right now instead of sending me off to die under the pretense of saving me!"
His brows furrow hideously over his eyes and he slowly rises to his full stature. "A man disnae kill the innocent."
"And yet you slew this poor dragon." I gesture to the dismembered corpse of the mother dragon. "She was not trying to kill us! She was trying to—" I stop myself again, reining in my tears and anger. I cannot let him know about her unhatched children no matter how much my emotions are surging out of me right now. "I trusted you," I say quietly. "I should never have trusted you."
The hunter scoffs and looks down the gulch. My brows furrow and I follow the direction of his gaze to the bridge. My heart takes off racing, my worry growing for the eggs.
"I dinnae have to prove myself to ye," he says coldly and marches off towards the bridge, snapping brittle bones under his feet! He knows about her eggs!
"No!" I follow after him. "Leave her babies alone! A single tooth of hers is worth far more its weight in gold than just one of her eggs!" God, that's probably not true. Just one of her eggs is probably worth far more than a single adult tooth.
"Yer ignorant to many thin's," he says, reaching the bridge and ducking beneath it in stride. I pass beneath it without having to duck because of my short stature.
"Eric…please," I plead. We come to the end of the shadow cast by the bridge and stop right at the edge of the dragon's nest. I look at the hunter, his eyes focused intently upon the bright green eggs.
"That dead dragon is enough," I say softly.
"Aye, she is." He crouches down before the nest and picks up one of the eggs in both hands, handling it with great care. "Take this," he says, holding the bright green egg up to me like an offering.
I shake my head and take a step back. "I will not aid you in killing them, too."
"Ah," he groans with exasperation and closes his eyes. He forces his eyes open and shakes the egg once to draw my eyes to it. "These eggs willnae survive in this cold. We need to place them inside their mother's chest for warmth."
My eyes widen. "What!?" I'm a little disgusted, a little annoyed, but mostly surprised at the thought of burying the eggs inside their mother's chest. To do such a thing, and that the hunter does not plan on taking the eggs and selling them for profit, but wants to give them the best chance for survival…unless if this is some sick obsession of his—to stuff unhatched dragon eggs inside their mother's chest.
"Ye want to save these eggs or no'!?" he asks.
"I–of course." I hold my trembling hands out and allow him to place the egg in my hands. His hands leave the egg, the sudden weight of the egg pulling my hands down! "Oh!" I tighten my weak arm muscles, saving the egg from landing upon the sharp, splintered bones.
"Tsk," the hunter scoffs at me and gathers the four remaining eggs one at a time, carefully stowing three away in his rucksack and the fourth beneath his arm. A small pang fills me. I know I'm weak, but for him to scoff at me hurts me. It shouldn't hurt me, but I cannot deny feeling the pang.
"Follow me," the hunter says, rising to his feet and starting back toward the dragon's corpse. I follow him beneath the bridge and across the gulch of bones, willing myself to ignore the clacking and clattering of bones beneath my feet. The bones snap beneath the hunter's weight, but they only knock against each other beneath my steps. I look at the hunter's back…his strong back. He said he did not need to prove himself to me, yet here he is carrying four dragon eggs back to their dead mother so we can place them inside her chest and help them survive. Is that even possible?
"Will putting these eggs inside their mother's chest work?" I ask the hunter. "Will they survive?"
The hunter shakes his head. "Whether they will survive or no' isnae up to me, but doin' this will give them the best chance." He glances back at me before looking ahead, a strange, sad look in his eyes.
My brows furrow. "What?"
He sighs heavily as we reach the dragon and stop before the deep gash in her chest. "I planned on puttin' her eggs in her chest before ye said a word about it." He crouches before the dragon and takes the egg beneath his arm in one hand while he grabs the bony plating of her chest with his other hand and lifts it, the flesh inside tearing while he opens up the wound more.
My anger lessens, the temptation to let my heart soften for him awfully tempting. "Truly?" I ask quietly.
He carefully puts the egg inside its mother's chest, squishing and squelching sounds coming out of her wound. He pulls his blood-covered hand out of the gash and looks up at me. "Aye, lass. Truly." He…sounds sincere. He holds his bloody hand up to me, waiting for me to hand over the dragon egg in my hands.
I swallow hard and carefully set the bright green egg in his hand, feeling as though I am entrusting all the good left in this world to his protection. "Be careful with that," I tell him.
He looks at me briefly, another strange but hard look in his eyes. He looks down at the dragon and places the egg with great care into the dragon's chest.
A troubling thought crosses my mind and I frown down at him. Why did he say he planned on trying to save her eggs before I said a word about it? To prove himself to me even though he said he did not have to prove himself to me? Because he had a sudden change of heart? The hunter brings his rucksack around his body, carefully lifts one egg out of his sack, and places it into the dragon's chest. No, he is lying to earn my trust back. I admitted to him that I chose to trust him, though the trust I placed in him was minuscule enough to keep away the possibility of betrayal. I still remember seeing him standing to the wayside waiting for the dragon to bleed out. He let her suffer. The hunter lifts the fourth egg out of his sack and places it inside its mother's gaping, bloody chest. Perhaps he could not end her suffering while she was still standing because she was a threat? He brought a swift end to her when I let him pass me—he severed her head with one swoop of his axe! God, if he could do that to a dragon three times his height, there is no fathoming how easily he could take my head off my shoulders.
He takes the last egg out of his rucksack and stows it away inside its dead mother, just as careful with this egg as he was with the first. I look over the gulch of bones, over all the oulinder and wolf skulls. What about any oulinders that come here now? Wolves? These baby dragons are left to oulinders and wolves without their mother to protect them. I look down at the hunter, opening my mouth—he rises to his feet and pulls his skin of oulinder blood out of his rucksack. He pulls the cork out and splashes the oulinder blood onto the dragon's chest, thoroughly saturating her wound. He corks his skin and stows it away in his rucksack. That must have kept the oulinders from us for these past few days, but that is beside this moment. He acted before I spoke this time. Perhaps…perhaps he is being honest? But what would he have to gain by being honest with me?
The hunter goes back to the dragon's severed foot and continues cleaning flesh from bone with his knife, stowing the bones and claws safely in his satchel. I sigh and look down the gulch at the bridge, not wanting to see him—the bridge and the gulch beneath it tilt to the right, making me stumble that way over the bones.
"Lass?" the hunter asks. "Ye alright?" A hand catches my arm and pulls back, keeping me from toppling over.
"I'm f-f-fine," I slur, suddenly finding it hard to purse my lips enough to speak properly. "Wha's…hap'ing?" The world tilts back and forth, my head feeling too light.
"Lass?"
"I…" I blink a few times, trying to right the world again, but darkness steadily closes in about the bridge and swallows it up.
