Chapter 2
She remained hidden as the man searched around in the wrong direction. Above and behind him she sat on a limb, under the cover of leaves and darkness. She kept her breathing steady and quiet, tempted to throw another rock to see if this time he'd give chase like a dog. She loved to toy with these people, something amusing to do before her hunt began.
The Huntress first saw the threesome when it was still daytime, pulling their luggage out of their smashed little ship. She wondered which of the three the pilot was and who exactly taught him to land. She found it funny that all three were bald, like they were part of a cult or something.
The littlest one of them couldn't have been more than 14 years old, and obvious from the movements, a female, was energetic and full of life, always smiling. She looked happy to be on solid ground.
The Taller one was robed and seemed humble enough, and had a wonderful singing voice. He reminded the Huntress of a priest. That confused her, what would a priest would be doing way out here in the bush?Then, there was the man with the goggles. She noticed him immediately, his presence jarring something inside of her. She didn't know him, but she knew his type. He was a warrior, a person not to be toyed with.
And to the Huntress, a Challenge.
She kept her eye on the group for about an hour, then left to get some food and check on her home. The last group of hunters came awfully close to where she lived and she didn't want that to happen again. She even lashed the cowardly one to a tree to get her point across to the next hunting party.
And there would be a next.Finding her home in decent condition, she kicked back and relaxed a while. She didn't want to return to the crash site until dark, when it would be easier for her to keep a close watch on the Warrior and his companions. The Huntress knew they were not like the others on this planet, the rich men who came for blood and trophies. The way they landed was enough of an indication of that. But the Warrior worried her. Something in her blood warned her to be cautious.
Staring down at the top of the man's head now as it swerved back and forth, she fingered the steel blade at her belt. She wasn't going to use it tonight, but brought it as a precaution. It was still warm from the previous day's work and she smiled, remembering the wolf's appreciation. It had given her a small lick, a strange behavior from a fully-grown male, before it died from its injuries. That had touched her deeply and reminded her of why she did what she did in the first place.
An owl swooped down and caught something in its talons nearby, the ruckus startling the man, causing him to spin around to face in her direction. The Huntress felt her breath catch when she saw his eyes for the first time. She wondered what the silly looking goggles were for, and now she knew.
A shine job.
She'd never seen one in real life before, only illustrated in medical textbooks. As his eyes flickered from place to place they gave off a silvery blue reflection. She kept very still, knowing any sudden movement would alert him to her position.
Damn, he can see in the dark, much better than you, get away from here, now!
She debated with herself, unsure whether to jump down from here and kill him now while she had the element of surprise, or sit and wait and hope he didn't see her. Her hand settled on the knife and she prepared herself for battle, watching the man step closer to her tree with his own weapon ready. A low growl came from between his clenched teeth as the muscles in his shoulders knotted. He knew she was there, he just didn't know where.
"Riddick?" A high feminine call pierced the tension and the man stopped. The Huntress tilted her head to the side, and saw the young girl tripping her way through the bushes nearby. "Are you decent?" she inquired.He took a moment to reply, looking a little unsteady. "Yah, I'm over here." Said the man in a deep baritone grumble. He slowly stood up straight and stuck the steel shiv back in the waistband of his pants, shaking himself a little.
The young one found him, placed a tiny hand on his arm. The contrast between the two was amazing, her thin paleness against his dark biceps. The huntress found herself curious as how they met and what their relationship was.
"Thought you got lost out here." "No. I heard something. Got distracted." Came his terse reply. "Of course you did, it is a forest." The man looked around him once more casually, and muttered "Yah."The Huntress held her breath until the pair was out of sight, then let herself unwind. Damn, that was close.
She decided against following them back to the camp and watching them some more. That would be tempting the Fates just a little too much. She got to her feet and jumped to the next tree, swinging on it and letting her feet dangle before dropping silently to the ground. Home was quite a distance away and she wanted to sleep now. The last couple of days had been tiring, and she was sure the next few just as entertaining.
The new day came in peace, shedding its light all over the forest and into the rivers. The night creatures settled in their nests to rest, while the children of the day stretched and yawned, thinking of food.
The Huntress sat cross-legged in a rocky outcropping 20 feet above the rapids, watching the sun rise. Pink and purple clouds spotted the sky, a sign of the coming storm.
She yawned loudly and sipped at her tea, marveling at the beauty of the scene as she did almost every morning. Her long black hair hung in thick dreadlocks around her tanned brown shoulders, and she decided a bath in the river would do her some good.
Still half asleep, she recalled her dreams, reminding herself to write them down when she returned home. She dreamed of the bald man, Riddick, and the dead wolf from two days ago. Their faces faded in and out and soon merged. They were one in the same, the wolf and the man, peering at her with their silver-blue eyes. Then she'd hear a piercing cry and the wolf and the man vanished, only to be replaced by fire. She could feel her skin singe as it licked at her legs.
She woke up screaming. It took a long time to get the picture out of her head, but it came back as soon as she fell asleep again.This dream is a warning, she thought as she padded barefoot to a calmer part of the river. She skipped over a tangle of roots and ducked under a low hanging branch, startling a nested deer. She said hello to it and moved on.
Either that man is dangerous, or he brings danger with him.
She placed her cup on a boulder nearby and removed the shreds of her clothing. The cool spray coming off the river gave her goose-bumps, making her reluctant to fully immerse herself in the icy waters.
And what's with the wolf eyes and the fire?
The Huntress dipped her toes into the water, squealed, and quickly pulled them out again. A squirrel chirped at her with a sound much like a giggle. She gave it a dirty look.
She turned from the river and walked towards the squirrel, which lay splayed out on the side of the tree. Its black beady eyes flicked over her and she grinned at it.Next time I'm taking you with me.
And with that she spun on her heel, ran a few feet and leapt off the edge, plunging herself all at once into the river.A few minutes later she sprung up out of the river with a growl. Now you remember why you only do this a couple times a month, she chided herself as she crawled shivering onto the rocks, now clean and refreshed. The squirrel had disappeared but she could still hear it chattering somewhere off in the forest. Knowing there was nobody around for miles, she lay on her robe to sun herself, running her fingers through the knots in her hair. The dreads hadn't come out completely, but they were a lot more cooperative.
Facing the sky, she thought of her new guests. A decision had to be made now and dealt with today.
With the dreams and his eyes and the new frequency of Hunters in my forest, I can't risk having them around.
If he's dangerous, I can deal with that. Kill him.
If he brings danger, I don't know. What danger could he bring?
It doesn't matter. You know what can happen. You know how to deal with it.
Leave the others, get rid of the Warrior.
Having made her judgment, she left the river and hiked back to her home. She found some relatively fresh clothes, some combat pants off of one of the hunters which she had made into shorts, and an old T shirt she cut the sleeves off of. She remained bare-foot, preferring the feel of the land under her toes over the constricting rubber heel of work boots, plus they gripped tree branches better.
The Huntress found her weapons, all the guns she had taken off the hunters recently and hadn't disposed of yet, and her knife collection, tucked neatly into a box under her bed. She yanked it out and searched through it, wanting to find some back up weaponry, just in case.
Finding nothing interesting, she kept her usual foot long blade and grabbed a gnarled wooden staff instead. Good for a beat-down if that's what it came to. And taking into consideration the size of her main opponent, it would probably end up that way. Though she hoped it wouldn't.She flipped on the radio she salvaged a year ago from a particularly dumb hunter, and listened for signals. The last thing she wanted while she was hunting a group was to have another show up. Hearing nothing interesting, a party being about 20 miles away and mostly just drinking, she switched the radio off.
The Huntress moved quickly, dashing through the bush with the speed of a deer, dodging roots and limbs easily. She knew these woods well, knew where each obstacle was, where the paths dipped or were blocked.
As she neared the old wolf den she sprang up into the trees, climbing higher with every jump. Soon she was above the forest looking down. The clearing nearby stood empty except for one lone raven. She jumped to the next closest tree, landing solidly on its foot-wide branch, and settled there for a while to watch.
She knew exactly where she was. Below lay the two wolves and their killer was tacked to the tree 10 feet away and 15 feet down. She knew she couldn't be seen from the Clearing and wouldn't be seen until they were directly beneath the tree.
The two wolves below, she noticed, were already mostly consumed. The two nearby hunters, stripped of most of their clothes, were also partially eaten. The flies had gathered for dinner, swarming around the corpses. Three crows were also dining, squawking at each other over the meatiest bits.
The Hunter she had bound to the tree was in better condition. Only his legs and face had been feasted upon. Looks like the rest of the pack got a meal out of him at least.
The whole area reeked of death and it took all of her strength not to drop her staff and plug her nose. That was the only thing she hated about the slaughter of the Hunters – The stench. But she would tolerate it, if it got rid of them, even for a short time.The bastards kept coming back, despite her numerous warnings. They ignored the body count, too full of lust for the kill. The Huntress couldn't understand these people. She only hunted and killed for food or survival, and she made an effort to use as much of the animal as she could.
But these people, they hunted for sport, for trophies. They had to respect for life and they killed indiscriminately. Pregnant females, children, didn't matter. And to make the offense worse, they'd take one small bit as a trophy and leave the rest, or just poke at the kill for a minute before moving on to the next one.
They didn't even have the guts or possibly the skill to use anything but high-powered rifles or some other gun.
What a waste. She'd seen whole Wolf packs cut to pieces by men with machine guns, Does with their young blown up and sliced up for souvenirs. Some time along the way the Huntress lost all respect for Humankind. It was about four years ago she'd decided she'd had enough of watching these cowardly people destroy her territory. It was about time they knew what it felt like to be hunted. To be killed erratically and strung up like trophies in a den.She was reluctant to admit that there was one thing that frightened her about her philosophy. That somewhere in the past four years, she learned to enjoy it.
The screech of the raven brought her out of her reverie. The bird shot past her in a panic, stirring up the leaves as it went. The crows on the ground flapped their wings a little but stayed put, reluctant to leave their feast just yet.
The Huntress looked over into the Clearing to see what had frightened the Raven, hoping like mad it wasn't a bear, and was surprised to see her prey hiking casually over the grass in her direction, carrying bags. She was pleased with her good luck. She didn't even have to chase them down! This made her job a lot easier.
She settled back against the trunk of her tree and pulled her favorite blade out of its sheath with a little regret. These people, like she thought earlier, were not like the ones she was used to. They didn't carry guns. They were not here for the Hunt. And at least two of them seemed like decent enough human beings. The Huntress didn't want to kill them.