Chapter Three
A Predator in the Dark
The specks of light given off from the countless numbers of stars blanketing the sky hardly lit the calignous forest road, shrouded in mist and hanging mosses from dead and rotting trees with blackened trunks and branches. It wound and wound around, twisting and turning like a serpent, and just as deadly as a serpent as well for it was very unsteadily built and completely unpatrolled by the local gendarme or police. Bandits plagued it like flies to a rotting corpse. Ahead was a small light and a figure emerged out from the darkness as it crept closer. It was small and crept around like a dog. It did not dare step any closer for the light was coming from a lamppost in front of an inn. Two older men stood under the lamp light and were standing closely to each other, speaking in whispers.
One man was graying at his mane and stood with the help of a cane. The cane was made of a wickedly shaped branch with a skull tip. The other, middle aged, stood tall and strong dressed in the armor of the local militia. The two leaned in real close and then the older man glanced around cautiously and discretely passed a half dozen gold coins to the soldier. The soldier took it and pocketed it, the old man nodded his head towards the inn and the soldier made his way in, banging his hand against a sign on the side of the door. The sign read, "Last Stop Inn".
The Last Stop Inn was exceptionally busy that night, almost every table was loaded with at least four men and women except one, a table in the darkest corner of the building, where a single woman sat. The bar was in quite fair shape and had an infamously wide selection of liquors and tonics. The counters were made of fine Mahogany and the tables were luxuriously covered in royal red tablecloths. The cups were not of pewter like in most bars in Valoran, but instead they were of rich-quality glass, without any blemishes or scratches. The people occupying the bar, with the exception of the lone woman in the dark corner, did not reflect the richness of the bar. Most of them wore the garb of the lower level peasant class, dirty and stained farmers, foresters, hunters, nurses, milkmaids and whores.
The woman in the corner, not extravagantly dressed, gave off an aura mischief and most of the patrons of the bar who were not too drunk had been keeping at least one eye on her. She was dressed in all black leather, skin tight and completely unadorned. She had strange metal knee caps and boots with steel heels. She had a brown leather utility belt with a few pouches as well as steel gauntlets up to the elbow on both arms. On her right gauntlet laid a strange mechanical device that looked like a metal box or shield boss. Her face, the only place where her pale skin was visible, was strong, attractive and unblemished. Her jet black hair was tied back in an extensively extravagant pony tail that was well kept and tied up with bow string. She had sunglasses resting against her forehead that were tinted an ostentatious red. She had a large brown cape hanging from her chair and a large black case. She sat with a pretentious glow, her leg raised high and resting against the table side. She was in the process of taking a long drag on her cigarette when the militiaman pressed his way into the bar.
He walked hubristicly into the center of the room, trying to draw as much attention to himself by walking heavy-footedly. An elderly man with a wooden cane crept in behind him and took his place behind the bar. "Now, now everyone calm down." he spoke obnoxiously, catching the attention of the entire room except the strange woman in the back. "I need you nice folk to clear out real nice like, we don't want no trouble." he spoke incredibly obtusely. The crowd of patrons murmured to itself and the least drunk started to stand and walk out, followed by somewhat drunk people dragging out the completely inebriated. The woman only scoffed at the request and remained seated, not even bothering to acknowledge him.
He smiled when he saw that the woman remained seated. He approached her slowly. "I said" he muttered "to clear out." he placed his hand on the woman's shoulder and she scoffed again.
"I am not 'nice folk'" she said as she took one last drag of her cigarette. She held it in her hand for a moment and flicked it away towards the barman. He shuffled uneasily at that.
"Have it your way." the militiaman said and he put his hand on his hilt and drew his sword a few inches from its scabbard. The woman reacted quickly and threw her fist into his stomach and smashed her other against his face. He recoiled from the first blow and completely fell flat on the ground from the second. He groaned as he struggled to get back on his feet. Before he could compose himself he caught a glimpse of a leg swiftly moving in to strike him in the bridge of the nose before he blacked out.
The young woman looked down upon him and spat. Then she looked towards the barman and walked slowly towards him. She pulled out a yellow piece of parchment. "You are not from around here, are you?" she asked coldly. He shook his head in the negative. Her blue eyes went down to the parchment and back up to the barman. "Do you hail by the name of Kieth Hammerstone?" she asked, her tone still grim.
"Some call me as such." he spoke nervously, "What does it matter to you?" he fondled the skull tip of his cane.
"You have been convicted of the crimes of Alchemy and Murder in the Demacian court." she spoke slowly as she read, making sure to dramatize every word. Kieth flinched at the accusation but then chuckled.
"What are you, some bounty hunter?" he spoke calmly and pulled out a bag of gold coins from underneath the counter. It was quite heavy. "I am sure there is more than enough gold here to cover what ever bounty is against me." he looked at the woman and tossed the coin purse.
In one quick blur, the young woman unfolded the device on her wrist into a small silver crossbow and loosed a bolt. It struck the coin purse and pinned it against the wall, inches from the barman's head. It was quiet for a few seconds until the velvet material of the purse ripped enough for the coins to start spilling all over the floor. Once the clamor was over she spoke.
"I am no bounty hunter. I am a hunter of those who practice the black arts. I serve and protect the innocent. I am the Night Hunter." she growled and the barman only smiled.
"Oh my dear, I know exactly who you are, Shauna Vayne. I have heard many stories about you, the tightly-clad, black beauty hunting down and killing those who lurk in the darkness." he laughed loudly. "I was only giving you a chance to change your mind before I had to kill you." Shauna scoffed again and loaded another bolt into her crossbow.
"Any last words, fiend?" she spat.
"Yes indeed I do," he started, "alchemy is not the only dark art I have been practicing!" He rose his cane in the air and spoke booming words in the language of lichdom. Shauna was about to loose but the ground quaked beneath her and she lost her footing. The wooden floor boards snapped and flew into the air, revealing the soft marshy soil underneath. Shauna looked at it and recognized the sight, and tumbled back towards the back table as hands and heads of skeletons began to protrude from the earth and rise. She opened the black case and a pulled forth a huge wooden and steel crossbow from it. She turned quickly around just in time to send a bolt smashing through the skull of a skeleton almost within arms reach of her.
She dropped in down on the table and shot another skeleton through the eye socket with her wrist mounted crossbow. Before she had time to load it a skeleton with flesh still rotting and decaying off of its bones grabbed her and threw her across the room. She stood quickly and grabbed a nearby stool from one of the tables. Two skeletons tried to grab her and she slammed the stool through the torso of one and crashed it against the skull of the other. A skeleton with an ancient longbow emerged and drew back on its bow and Shauna rolled behind an upturned table at the last second as the arrow whistled through the air and skimmed against her shoulder, tearing the leather and leaving a streak of red.
The table rocked as a skeleton with a battered old iron helmet tried to climb over and was immediately dispatched by a swift metal fisted punch to the neck, sending the head flying. Another arrow hit the table and Shauna popped up, crossbow loaded and blasted it, pinning the skull against the wall. She attempted to reload again but the still rotting skeleton grabbed her and tried to bring a knife through her chest. She kicked the monster back and tumbled backwards, reloaded and loosed one final bolt.
She watched the rotting skeleton as it slunk back and collapsed upon itself. She then turned her attention to the barman who was now cowering under the counter. She grabbed him and pushed him against the wall and walked back towards the back of the bar. She grabbed her crossbow and case and loaded a huge silver bolt into the weapon.
"By committing such crimes," she continued as if nothing had happened, "your life and soul is forfeit." she pressed the stock of the giant crossbow against her shoulder.
"I'll see you in hell you bitch!" he hissed and she bolt drove home into his heart.
Shauna Vayne rummaged through the inn and found almost a hundred pounds in fabricated gold. She piled the coins, plates, rings, bracelets and candlesticks into a single mound and opened up a compartment in her belt. From it she brought a small vial of transparent liquid. She pulled out the cork with her teeth and poured it upon the pile. It began to fizz and bubble immediately and after a few seconds, all the false gold turned into the coal from which it came.
She kicked open the door to the bar, walking out with the guard folded over her shoulder, unconscious. Her giant crossbow was now strapped on her back and the case abandoned. Inscribed on its flank was "Gastraphetes" She let the guard down and leaned his limp body against the lamppost. She turned to her left and caught a glimpse of a body lying face down in the road, a small pool of blood reflected the flickering flame of the lamppost.
Shauna approached it slowly and knelt down. It was a woman, perhaps sixteen years of age. She rolled her over and saw that she was killed by some kind of laceration to the neck. Her eyes were rolled back and her visage was that of horror. A branch snapped and the sound of leaves being trampled on radiates from the darkness ahead. Crossbow loaded, Shauna creeps slowly forward, her ears honed in on the patter of footsteps against the cobblestone street. Suddenly the noises ceased and she lost track of the creeping presence. She turned to look behind her and a beast flew forth from the shadows and tackled her down, clashing her head against the hard stone floor. The beast drooled a black ooze on her face and tried to stab down on her with a sharp claw-like leg.
Shauna managed to roll to the side and fling the beast off of her and back into the shadows. Its three yellow eyes were glowing, focused on her as she side stepped to counter its movements. She fired a bolt but the beast jumped high into the air and avoided it. It landed a few yards in front of her and charged, leaping on her again but Shauna caught it and threw it down onto the ground. It shrieked and narrowly dodged another bolt which hammered through the cobble and stuck deep in the turf.
The beast walked side to side, picking and angle of attack and struck, this time the beast bit down on Shauna's metal gauntlet and broke through it, causing blood to spill onto the floor. She managed to toss it off her once again and stood her ground once more, with a limp arm and her clothes torn from the roughness of the road and the sharpness of the carapace of the beast. It was small, but had jagged and hard skin. It walked with four legs, each sharp as a dagger. Each of its four legs led to a small body that held up a rather large head. Upon that head were the three yellow eyes, two on the bottom and one on top of the two in a triangle. It was colored a deep purple with a blue underside.
It pounded its legs into the ground, taunting her as it walked around her in circles, again waiting for the perfect moment to strike. This time though, Shauna purposely let her guard down, she faked tripping on the ground and the purple monster leaped at her. When it got close enough she stood and raised her arm and loosed a bolt straight into the mouth of the monster, sending it reeling back. It stuck the ground hard as it landed and went limp. Shauna watched it for a moment and took a step forward and fired another bolt into the head of the beast. It screamed and roared loudly when it stuck and was quickly silenced for the last time.
"Clever bastard..." she muttered before collapsing on to the floor. She laid there for a moment before sitting up. She managed to slide her hand free of the crushed gauntlet, but it caused her great pain for the bone was shattered and mangled. "I cannot set this myself, I need a doctor." she said to herself as she tore a hanging piece of torn leather from her abdomen and wrapped it tightly about her wound. She opened up another compartment from her belt and rubbed some green herbs against the minor cuts and scrapes on her body and tossed it down when she was done. She heard another sound and quickly turned, crossbow ready, to see that the monster was dissolving into the road, bubbling and swirling black ooze pooled under the corpse and then began to dry up once the corpse had completely dissolved, leaving no trace of it behind. She sighed.
"Hey over there! You! Stop!" she heard and down the road she saw a group of horseman galloping towards her. She ran quickly back to where the dead woman lied and slid quietly into the shadows of the night.