Chapter Six: Sure Does Rhyme

The past may not repeat itself, but it sure does rhyme.

-Mark Twain

xxXxx

"Dang it!" the trapper cried out in frustration, almost ready to break the bow over her knee. "How can a nine year old make this look easy?"

With difficulty, she had managed to weave a target out of some dry grass, but unfortunately for her, she was better at making targets than hitting them. However, she had no problem with hitting around the target. The ground around the misshapen weave had several holes from her handful of arrows.

Why was this easier when a little boy was giving her advice? Sighing, she stomped forward to pull her five arrows out of the soft earth. "Maybe I should just stick to running down deer and such like I usually do."

"A trapper finds his weakness and makes it his strength."

Haru scowled at her father's counsel in disgust. But she sighed and stepped away from the target to try again. "Maybe if I aim for the ground, I'll get the target."

Nope. She ended up hitting a tree instead. A raccoon woke up and started making angry noises at her, almost like he was scolding her.

Frustrated, the trapper took three slow steps towards the tree, making the raccoon fearfully start hopping from tree branch to tree branch to escape her.

She pulled the arrow out of the tree, and tried again. 'If I was still Haru, I wouldn't have to worry about being bad at this.'

ooOoo

The pale woman gaped in amazement, her black eyes wide with disbelief. Her gloved hands started shaking against the tree they were resting on, one hand loosening its hold on her bag.

"… That place… is huge!" she gasped in horror.

The trees she was hiding behind were on a hill overlooking a road. Unlike the one she had escorted the Fitzwalter family on, though, this one was made of stone, and led directly to a large gate of a great wall. The wall was made of yellow blocks and was taller than any she had ever seen before. But she was high enough to look over the wall and into the village within.

The village was… well, it was definitely bigger than the village she used to trade with. It was bigger than a valley, with tall buildings that were crowded close together, as if the wall was the only thing keeping them together like a bundle of sticks. Some of the buildings were bigger than others, as well as more colorful. Two of the biggest ones seemed to be castles like Robin's, but much bigger and grander.

The young woman turned away from the sight and sat down next to the tree. "Do I really need to go there?" she whispered in horror. Her very flesh recoiled from the idea. She had never been in a village like that; she could get lost in a heartbeat.

'I don't want to go in there, it's scary! But it's been two weeks since I've eaten anything without meat. A place like that's bound to have a bakery, right? Maybe even a fruit stand? Yes, I can do this. I can do this.' "I can do this," she affirmed in her masculine voice. "It's just a town, nothing more. Get in, do my business, get out; nice and quick. I hope."

It took a bit more coaxing than that, but after another few minutes, she was able to stand, throw her bag of hide and extra meat over one shoulder, and come out from the trees. Her shoes reluctantly picked out a safe route down the hill and came down on the stone road. Although it took just about all of her concentration, she was able to keep her face void of all emotion as she slowly approached the gate.

There were two men standing guard and both of them were staring at her suspiciously as she drew closer.

When she was ten feet from the gate, the men crossed their long spears over the entrance; their stance ready for a fight.

"What are you?" one of them sneered.

"I am a trapper, looking for a trading post. There's bound to be one in a place this size," she answered in a calm, indifferent tone. But inside, her heart was racing like a drum.

"Are you a human?" the other one asked suspiciously.

As much as the young woman was tempted to crack a joke, now was not the time. "Yes. Are you going to let me through, or is there another village nearby?"

The first one pointed down the road with his spear, although he was chuckling cynically. "There is a 'village' that way, about two leagues. Why don't you try your luck there?"

"I hunger for something other than meat and I tire of waiting." She growled in exasperation. "I'm not looking for trouble. I just want to trade my furs and get supplies. I won't even stay the night."

"… Do we have your word on that?" the second guard asked slowly.

The first one turned to him in a fury. "Are you out of your mind, Theodore? This albino's sure to cause trouble!"

She opened her mouth to deny being an albino, but quickly shut it again. If they were this prejudiced against a person who naturally had no color, telling them she was cursed would just invite more trouble.

"I am not interested in trouble. I wish only to trade and continue on my way."

The guards exchanged a long look, silently battling out their opinions.

"Depending on how quickly I find a place to trade, I might not even take an hour," she added in a gruff voice, wishing to be done with this stupid banter.

"… We'll hold you to that," the softer-voiced soldier informed her as he withdrew his spear, his companion reluctantly doing the same. "You'll find a place to trade three streets in, on the left. Most trappers go there."

"Thank you." She shouldered her bag of game a little better and marched in before they changed their minds.

The villagers she had been used to had grown used to her over the years and the people she had seen while helping the Fitzwalter family had a reason to at least respect her. So although she was expecting it, she was still a bit taken aback at how the people of this large village stared at her.

They literally stopped in their tracks, even stepping out of her way in order to avoid allowing her to grow too close. The trapper did her best to ignore them and kept marching down the side of the road.

'Thank heaven I took a bath yesterday. That way they're just avoiding me because of my curse.'

Most of the people she saw were finely dressed and whispering among themselves as she passed by, but again, she did everything in her power to ignore them as she continued her firm march.

After what felt like years, she finally saw a trading post, bigger than the one Tasho ran, but still smaller than most of the buildings in town. She was grateful for that. If the trading post had been one of the bigger buildings, she probably would have chickened out of going in.

Taking a deep breath, she walked up the steps and let herself in.

There were three other traders in the room and all of them stopped talking as soon as they got a good look at her. Noticing that they were in a line, she simply moved to the back of it without a word.

But the man at the front wasn't returning to haggling. All he wanted to do was stare at her.

"I am certain that everyone present would like to do more than stand in line today, sir," she informed the shopkeeper between her teeth.

That made him snap to attention and resume haggling with the trapper he had been dealing with. But she could tell that neither of them were playing the game to its fullest potential, because the coins that exchanged hands when he was done were almost pitiful and the trapper didn't even complain.

"I'm willing to let you go ahead of me," the man in front of her said nervously while stepping aside.

"I can wait my turn."

"Maybe you can, but we can't," the other trapper said, also moving to the side. "I'd rather not be distracted by you while I'm trying to focus."

She tilted her head at him with a humorless smirk. "Am I that much of a distraction?"

"… A-Actually, you are," the shopkeeper stammered, wiping at his balding head with a handkerchief. "Let's just get this over with, shall we?"

"If you insist," she replied coolly, stepping forward to throw her bag on the counter.

ooOoo

By the time she left the trading post, her large bag was even heavier than when she had entered. But that was fine by her, since the weight was due to fresh bread, two cheese rinds, a selection of fruits and vegetables, plus two large jugs of ale for curing hides. To top it off, she even had a modest amount of silver coins in one pocket.

'I did even better than I do at home. Papa would be so proud…' Too bad a major part of her success had to do with the fact that the shopkeeper had been too frightened to make counter-offers.

There were many people outside the trading post, watching her every move as she stepped down the wooden stairs and resumed her march. She could tell that there was something different about the way everyone was staring at her now and it made her incredibly nervous.

It was the exact same way that the other villagers had looked at her. As if they had a right to judge her. But she kept her gaze ahead and her pace steady. It was a good thing she had no desire to stay the night, for she wasn't certain that any inn would have her.

Without warning, a rock hit her across the cheek, making her stop cold. She raised one hand to her cheek and felt the warmth of blood.

"Hey look, the freak bleeds," one small boy laughed, pointing at her as his mother pushed him behind her skirts.

The pale trapper glared at the boy, but kneeled down to pick up the rock.

"Don't you dare think of throwing that," his mother snarled, keeping herself in front of her child.

She merely looked at the woman… and crushed the rock between her fingers. Several fragments came loose and fell to the ground, showing what she was capable of.

Many who were watching gasped in shock, but again, she wasn't paying attention to anyone else.

She kept staring at the shocked mother, as she brushed her hand against her white cloak to be rid of the remaining pieces of rock. "I am not like you. I don't throw rocks." 'Not after what happened with the stupid snowball.'

One thing was for sure; this was not the place that could cure her.

Without another word, she shouldered her bag again and started marching toward the exit with renewed vigor. The other villagers were even more eager than before to keep their distance and that was just fine by her, if all they were interested in was throwing rocks at her.

There were a few uniformed men that were following her, but as long as they didn't try to prevent her from leaving the city, she didn't care about the reason why.

After what felt like eternity, she finally reached the gate. Trying to disguise her eagerness, she ran out of it and onto the road.

"So? What do you think of the great capital of Figlash?" the more arrogant of the two guards sneered at her.

She stopped long enough to give them a cold glare. "I find it to be much more impressive from a distance. In fact, I think the more distance the better. Don't expect to see me again."

As the man made a sound of indignation, she started running down the road again. After she was no longer in sight of the gate, she disappeared into the trees and never looked back.

ooOoo

"Honestly, what is so terrible about teaching kids manners?" she snarled as she kept hacking at the straw dummy with the sword she stole from the robber chief. It swung from the cord she had hung it from, but didn't offer a reply.

"I mean, throwing snow balls is one thing, but a rock? How could that mother have just watched him do it and then defend him?" She growled in exasperation. "Maybe it has to do with living in a village. Needing a common enemy and all that garbage." 'Oh, Papa... why couldn't you have come anyway? I miss you so much. I hate talking to myself.'

If she could just have a companion, maybe things wouldn't seem so bad. But who would want to follow her around the continent with no destination in mind? Even she didn't know where she was going!

She snarled under her breath, wishing that she would stop wishing it. "There isn't a human alive that would consent to that, even if they knew my secret."

ooOoo

It came in the middle of the night, a few days after trading with the Figlash capital. The pale woman's eyes snapped open at the sound, making her roll out of her tarp tent to go take a look.

There, through the trees, she could see torch lights and hear children crying. What was going on?

She began slipping silently through the trees, following at a safe distance.

"Shut your mouth, wretch! There's no one that can hear you," a greasy voice sneered as another cry became interrupted, and then louder, as if the child had been slapped.

Her blood immediately started boiling. As discreetly as she could, she continued to follow them, pocketing as many stones as she could find. 'I know I said I don't throw stones, but… those children need help.'

"I wanna go home!" one child wailed, only to be silenced with another slap.

'Okay, that's enough!' Feeling her grandfather's blood rise in her veins, she tilted her head back and let out her best bear roar.

She knew it was a bad idea to give them even a little bit of warning, but she was mad.

The men screamed in horror, just as she burst through the foliage and slammed her fist into one man's face.

"No, Forest Spirit!" one man blubbered as she picked him up and threw him at another one of the men.

The children, all bound to each other in a line with a rope, were also screaming in fear as one of the men struggled to keep them from running off.

There were eight men in total, and although they were scared of her, they put up more of a fight than the last bandits she had faced and were far more experienced.

Unfeeling, unthinking; she did only what her animalistic mind could understand.

She killed them. Savagely and without mercy. She broke necks, shattered skulls, and in the case of their leader, beheaded him with his own sword.

"No, don't kill me!" a thin wiry man begged as she approached, the last of the band and the one holding the rope on the children. "Please no!"

"Drop the rope!" she snarled, raising the sword to strike him down.

He immediately did so and raised his arms over his head. "Show mercy, I had no choice!"

No choice.

Mercy.

… No choice?

She blinked at him, and let out a groan of pain as a massive headache took over her senses. She held both of her blood-dampened gloves to the sides of her head and stumbled a bit in her footing while dropping the sword.

By the time she was able to open her eyes again, the man was looking through his arms, looking scared and confused.

"… What were you going to do with them?" she demanded harshly, gesturing at the terrified children.

"I-I wasn't going to do anything! But our chief, the man I work for, he wanted them for the mine."

"What mine?" she asked in a slow, deliberate tone.

"It's a coal mine. Coal sells for a pretty penny, but he didn't want to waste money on slaves." His speech was starting to even out, but he was clearly terrified of her.

She looked over at the children, huddled together in fear against a rock face on the path they were on. "Then where did you get them?"

"We, that is our band, stole them. I'm not strong enough to fight, so I figure out how we do it."

The cursed trapper glared at him. "You willingly take children from their homes?"

"I don't have a choice! I'd have been killed if I try to leave the thieves' guild!" the man protested, holding his arms over his head again, in case she tried to hit him anyway.

"You… you…" she struggled to say through her headache, too furious for words. "You… sit over there, right now."

"Yes sir," the man complied, immediately sitting down where she pointed him to.

"If you try to leave, not only will I hunt you down, I'll do worse than kill you. Got it?" she warned him with a snarl.

"I got it," he agreed fearfully.

Now that he was under control, she looked at the children again. There were ten of them, ranging in ages perhaps five to twelve. All of them were dirty, scared, and clearly tired. They also looked like they hadn't had a good meal in a while.

"You," she said, pointing at one of the children. "Come here."

The boy froze in terror and clung to a bigger girl's skirt, possibly a sister.

She put her arms around the boy and looked at the trapper fearfully. "What are you going to do to him?" she asked in horror.

"He's at the end of the rope. I'm going to untie him, if he'll let me," the pale woman replied, getting down on her knees and removing her gloves. Although her curse had turned the men's blood white as usual, they were still wet and the boy couldn't know what she was by touch. "Then I will do the same for each of you. Come on, I won't hurt you, little one. Wouldn't you like that rope off? I bet it hurts."

The girl on the other end of it was braver. The ten year old took a deep breath and marched forward, forcing the other children to follow so that she could offer the trapper her wrists.

The rope was tied very tightly and her wrists had a bit of blood from where they rubbed too much. Since the knot proved to be too tight, the trapper ended up using a sword's edge to carefully cut until she could work the rope loose.

It took a while to do all the children, especially since they were clearly terrified of her, but it was managed within the hour.

"I'll have to make some salve for those rub burns," she mused out loud as she cut the last boy free from the rope. "All right, little one; go to the others."

He nodded happily and ran into the arms of the same girl that he had clung to before.

"Are your parents alive?" she asked them gently.

They looked from one to another, perhaps wondering which one should answer.

"My Papa's dead. He wouldn't let them take me," one girl piped up.

"My mama got hurt. I don't know if she's dead."

"My daddy-"

"My uncle-"

"Big brother-"

All the children were talking at once now, some of them crying again. But at least it wasn't the hysterical cries from before.

"Shh, shh," she soothed them, running her bare hands over their heads and faces to calm them down. "I'll make sure that all of you get home soon. I just need you to wait for me until I return, all right? Shh, shh…"

Eventually, they managed to do as she said, even following her through the foliage to where her tent was. She used the tarp like a blanket for them so that they could sleep while waiting for her.

Although she expected the man to be gone by the time she returned with her favorite weapons, he was still sitting where she had told him to, his eyes now full of wonder.

"You aren't a forest spirit, are you?" he asked softly.

Since he didn't appear to be onto her real secret, she decided to tell him at least part of the truth. "No, I'm not. I'm a cursed trapper that can't keep my nose out of other people's business. Now, I am going to ask you some questions, and if you value your life, you'll answer honestly. Understand?"

"Yes, sir. What do you need to know?" the man asked, turning fearful again.

She looked at the bodies she had slain while pulling on her gloves. A part of her felt empty, but there was no time to grieve over the lives she had taken. "Are these all of the thieves in your group, or guild?"

"Oh no, this was only some of them. There are many more in our headquarters."

"Are there any more children there?"

"Only fifteen, and that's when we left a month ago. The rest have been worked to death."

Her blood began boiling again, despite the headache that still banged against her skull. "You are going to show me the way."

"N-No!" he gasped. "There's over twenty of them, they'll kill you!"

She smiled grimly. "Then my death will be honorable and they'll get a nasty surprise if they manage it."

"What do you mean? What surprise?" he asked in renewed terror.

"Suffice it to say; if they kill me, run. I won't say you don't have a choice, but I will say that if you don't help me save those children, the consequences will be… unpleasant." She gave a regretful look at the bodies she had just slaughtered.

Her hands shook in horror of her deed, but she didn't allow any other sign of remorse escape her control. "I've never thought I'd take a human life, but I'll do whatever it takes to protect the innocent. Are you going to help me or not?"

The man stared at her, but slowly nodded. "They're expecting the company with new children. Some of them will be awake to greet us."

The trapper smiled with grim determination and loosened the rusty sword at her hip. "Not for long."

ooOoo

It had been a long hard day, just like any other. Jenny's body was covered from head to toe in the dark soot from the coal mines and her leg still ached from when one of the thieves had thrown her against the ground. For the three loads of coal she had managed to bring up that day, the young girl was given a large spoonful of cold porridge and locked into the pen inside the caves that kept her and the others from escaping during the night.

One of the others, who had been there longer than she, was nearly skeletal from the miserable conditions. The thief that had brought him said that his end should come within a week. Then he'll be dumped into the same hole in the caves that they dumped their garbage and chamber pots into, along with all the other bodies.

Jenny bit back a sob. That was her destiny as well. All she and the other children were doing was delaying that day for as long as possible. She curled up on the dirty straw lining the cage and quietly cried herself to sleep.

But without warning, several loud screams from outside the cave woke her up hours later. Those screams… they weren't from new children.

One of the screams was more like the roar of a great beast.

"What's going on?" Jacob whimpered as he woke up as well.

"I don't know. It sounds like a fight with an animal!" Jenny answered, wondering if they were next on the menu.

One by one, all eight of the remaining children woke up, huddling against each other as the screams lessened, one at a time.

Finally, with a loud snap of bone and flesh it was over. The beast alone remained, groaning and panting heavily enough for them to hear.

Then words came. They were too soft to be heard from in here, no matter how hard Jenny tried to hear.

"What's happening?" Angie asked, but Jenny shushed her.

"I don't know, I can't hear!"

After what felt like eternity, the talking stopped and steady footsteps made their way into the cave.

Filled with renewed terror, they clung to each other, since something like this had never happened before.

The first one they saw was the man that had taken them there. The second…

He was unlike anything Jenny had ever seen before. By the light of the single torch he was holding, he almost seemed to be made of pale moonlight. There were cuts along his arms and face from the fight and sweat freely mingled with the blood that turned white as it oozed onto his skin. At his side was hanging a sword dripping with even more blood, though it stayed red.

His dark eyes turned to the pen and became shocked. "Is that all of them?" he demanded, running to the rickety wooden cage.

The skeletal one, Richie, began weeping in terror as the others withdrew from the pen's door.

"Yes, that's all of them. This is the only place Unmar kept the children."

The pale man gave him a glare. "You said there were fifteen. I count eight."

"There were fifteen when I left. I'm sorry, I have no control over what happens to them after they're brought here!" he protested, taking another step away from the man in the fur cloak.

He gave him another angry look, but tried to control it for the children. "Thank you for showing me the way and where the children are. If you promise never to engage in kidnapping again, I'll let you go."

"Oh, I won't. Not ever," he promised, stumbling over himself in order to run away. "Not after seeing what you can do."

"Good. Now get out and never come back; these children are mine."

The thin man didn't wait for more words than that. He ran out of the cave and out of Jenny's life forever.

"… What are you going to do with us?" she asked the pale man with a whisper.

The tall man looked at her and gave a strangely gentle smile. "First off, that pen is disgusting. I insist that all of you get out of it immediately." He grabbed the rickety door and ripped it completely off its cord hinges with one hand, since he was still carrying a torch. "Come along. I know someplace a lot nicer for all of you to sleep tonight."

Taking heart in the kind tone, Jenny grabbed Jacob's hand to help him out. In single file the children managed to crawl out, except for Richie. It was all he could do to sit up.

"Those monsters," the pale man snarled under his breath, handing Jenny the torch.

The little girl had to almost hold it against her chest with both arms in order to hold it upright.

"Be careful with that, I don't want you to burn yourself," the pale man warned worriedly. He then walked into the cage to take Richie into his arms and hold him close. "I should have been harsher with them."

"Did you kill all the thieves?" Angie asked with a tremble.

"All of them. Come along, little ones. It's a small distance to the other children, and I have fresh food."

"Food?" Richie rasped, clinging to his shoulder with a shaky hand as the man carried him out of the pen.

"That's right, and I'm a trapper. None of you are going to go hungry again for a while, if I have anything to say about it."

Little Jacob started crying with gratitude.

"Let's get going, and be careful with that torch," he reminded Jenny, gesturing with his head for the girl to walk beside him.

Still holding the torch, the little girl helped the strange man lead the way out of the cave, and deep into the woods; being careful to avoid the bodies littering everywhere. Their steps were swift enough to soon leave the caves behind him, but still slow enough that all the children could keep up.

As her cut and bruised feet became caressed by the soft grass, Jenny finally allowed herself to smile up at the pale man in the fur cloak.

'Guardian angels do exist!'