HeartBorn 3: Falgor the Hunter

Heart pounding, Talon the thief raced for his life. He knew that the man-hunter was after him, he just didn't know where. Quickly whipping around to try to catch a glimpse of the hunter, his try was to no avail. No hunted ever saw the hunter. But he was never far away. As the outskirts of the forest grew in sight, Talon knew that it would only be a matter of time before the hunter had nothing left to hide in. Naturally, the thief thought that he had outwitted the hunter. But like countless before him, it was he who was being outsmarted. Talon tripped, and falling flat on his face turned to see what had caught him. A green-fletched arrow, stuck sharply in the ground had made its mark on his leg. The hunter had him. With no other option now, Talon stood and drew his twin long dirks. Until he noticed that he only had one. As he had been keeping the inside his tunic, the second dirk now laid deep in his side, but in a spot that was completely painless. His other arm went completely limp, and Talon saw another arrow, blue- fletched. The hunter was marking him. Now defenseless, the thief could only watch as a figure dropped from the trees, and stood, pulling a bow back further than Talon thought possible. The thief never saw the red-fletched arrow that found and burrowed its way into Talon's forehead. The hunter had hunted, killed and would now receive what he came to claim.

Trenut had beaten all in the Serengai's camp, and he seemed to even out best the master. When the Serengai could teach him no more, Trenut left the camp, in order to seek out his brother, Hekian, and try to solve who he was in a past life. "I don't see why they encourage the use of swords at the Serengai. I have grown just as formidable without the common weapons." He said, as he swung his Heart-thorn staff around in a deadly whirlwind. Then he heard a snickering in the bushes, as though the creature hidden there was under the impression that Trenut did not know of his presence. Lowering his staff off of his shoulders, Trenut faced the oncoming danger. If you can call a highland goblin raiding party a danger. There were only five, and Trenut felt sympathetic, that these hapless five were about to get a beating that they would never forget. As one leapt for his throat, that goblin found a new compassion for the flexibility, and toughness of a Heart-thorn staff. Within sixteen blows, the first goblin lay, poleaxed on the ground. With one of their own kind dropped in such a way, the other four goblins screeched and ran away.

Falgor stooped over Talon's body, searching the belt pouches for the two emeralds that would make this kill all worthwhile. As the hunter found his quarry, he felt a presence striding for him. He stood up, notching a bloodied red-fletched arrow to his bow, pointing it square at a weak spot in the giant man's armor. That was, until the man pulled a massive bag of gold out of the folds of his flowing cloak. "Falgor the hunter, I believe that I have found a prey for you that isn't a lowly robber, or a rebel leader. Tell me, what have you heard about, Regan the blade-master?".

End of chapter three