My other option is to make some distance down the rocky shore, but I’d be out in the open and the hunt would only continue. From the sounds behind me, the hunter is quick and would catch me on an open plain, that was even if he bothered to continue pursuing. He may still have his bow with him and I’m not willing to risk my life on a hunter being a bad shot.
I am about to look for some bushy undergrowth to dive into when distant movement catches my eye. Someone is out at the far side of the lake, fishing perhaps, but the water is expansive enough that I doubt my voice would reach them even if I could guarantee their help. No, they couldn’t come to my aid even if they wanted to. I am on my own.
It is then that rough, scarred hands clamp over my mouth. I bite at them and taste blood in my mouth, but they only clamp down further. I do everything in my power to wrestle free. I kick, fight, drop to the floor and twist sharply, but the hunter easily overpowers me. He had approached me without my noticing, of course he had. I can hear him grit his teeth every time one of my attacks makes contact, but he simply moves to restrict me from doing the same thing again. Eventually I have become immobilised in his arms, completely at his mercy, a trapped animal awaiting the inevitable.
I know I have reached the end now, I can only hope that it is over quickly, praying that I don’t have to endure the long hours of suffering my father was condemned to before the mercy of death claimed him.
My lungs are starved of air, my vision fades to black, the floor rushes up to greet me.
CHAPTER FIVE
A gentle breeze tickles my face, bringing me back into the world. I must have been out for hours, the sky is already a gentle purple, a slowly drifting wave consuming the last few patches of sunset orange as evening approaches. It is cooler now and the nightly symphony of clicks and hissing has already begun. It surrounds me. I am about five meters from the opening of the den. Inside, hushed unfamiliar voices converse excitedly from inside.
Still sleep-ridden, I attempt to rise to my feet before finding my hands and feet bound and promptly slump back to the ground. The action hasn’t gone unnoticed however and the people inside have silenced, I sense movement.
Moments later, a conscious Guy accompanies the hunter into the dusk. I am slashed by the cold blade of betrayal, whilst the hunter clearly hasn’t hurt Guy, the man had knocked me out. Not even mentioning that he’s been the evil in the shadows all these years, the reason why Alice will never know her father. They’re together, Guy and this man, they’re the demons of the forest.
“Untie him.” So, Guy can speak. His voice is slightly deeper than mine and he utters the words with a commanding tone that I have never possessed. Without hesitation, the hunter obediently bends low and cuts my restraints.
“Dale, I’m so sor-” his words fall on deaf ears as I jump up and drive my fist into his stomach, proceeding to rain fury on any part of him within reach, issuing a violent stream of curses with each contact. I aim for any bruising or partially healed cut I can get my hands on, aiming to undo all of Ida’s and my mother’s work. After barely a second of vicious, targeted connections, thick arms encase me. Not again, I wait for the coming unconsciousness as the hunter holds me. His arms wrench mine into my tailbone and pin me there to face the boy I had begun to consider a friend. I glare at him trying to convey the extent of my hatred.
“Stop,” Guy wheezes, struggling for breath. Immediately my captor relinquishes his grip. Had he been alone or had fought back at all during my onslaught, perhaps I would have taken another shot at Guy, as it is, I rise in silence, fuming.
“You’re one of them,” I accuse venomously.
“We didn’t know,” Guy responds, predicting what I’m about to say next.
“YOU KILLED MY FATHER!” I scream.
Tears sting my eyes and all the blood has been squeezed from my clenched fists. I see Guy through a red haze, waiting for him to give me any excuse to tear him apart. He has the dignity to refuse to meet my eyes, inspecting the leaves at his feet slowly getting splattered from his gushing nose before raising his head to look past my shoulder.
“Please give us a moment Edwyn,” Guy requests, wiping himself on his sleeve. I don’t turn as the hunter makes himself scarce. Once the rustle of disturbed leaves has faded into the distance, Guy resumes, “My people didn’t mean your dad any harm-”
“Your people?! What do you mean your people?!”
Guy looks sheepish and hesitates, the urge to cause him as much pain as humanly possible strengthens for him daring not to answer my question immediately.
“My dad, King Theodluin… he’s… he led our-”
“King?!” I interrupt. He can’t be, Breyden is the only king.
“Yes. King.”
“So, you’re a-”, the realisation strikes me like a hammer to the gut. Fresh tears wet my cheeks, “You’re all murderers,” I whisper.
Guy, the boy we had healed, the boy we had fed, washed, clothed… he is a killer. All this time, we had treated him as one of our own, and yet he had known that the people his father commands, the people that he commands, had torn our family apart.
I stand silently, for what seems like hours, as my blood begins to boil once again, as the depth of this treachery truly dawns in my comprehension. I stare at Guy’s beaten face, showing my infinite pain at his betrayal.
“Dale… Dale I am so sorry-”
“Why?” my voice cracks with emotion, “Why did
