The Huntress (The life of Zoe Nightshade)

Chapter 15- Orion the hunter

"Okay Milady, I trust thee I just feel bad if I give them false hope and they end up dead." Artemis looks at me sympathetically and pulls me into a hug.

"you and your sisters are no longer my huntresses you are my family and sisters in arms, I would never send you into a dangerous situation if I could avoid; now go along and pack we'll be leaving soon.

We all meet in the centre of the clearing with backpacks with all our belongings and our weapons at easy access, none of us wanting to be caught off guard. "Okay girls, listen up. Those of you who have faced Orion before know how dangerous he is and those who haven't he is a formidable foe. While he is a male don't underestimate him. He is unhinged and extremely aggressive, so all of you will do exactly as I say as we don't want any more casualties, understood?" Artemis commanded and we all nodded mutely. Those of us who remember Orion before he turned slightly upset but also vengeful because of our lost sisters.

"Good," Artemis continued, "this will be strictly surveillance, no advances until we get a feel of his numbers and allies. Let's go."

We all let out a cheer and follow Artemis into the forest.

We have been going through the forest for so long it's now dark. The wolves every now and then taking us in a different direction but we can generally tell anyway. It's surprising we hadn't already found Orion's trail all we had to do was follow the destruction. There were broken trees, dead animals and flattened bushes everywhere we looked. The closer we got the wider and more chaotic the path of destruction became, entire trees uprooted the killed animals started showing up in clumps rather than individually before eventually we reached a clearing and were overwhelmed by the smell of blood and rotting flesh. Artemis told us to wait and she went on ahead while we waited in the trees but ready to defend our leader if we hear any sign of a struggle.

After about 10 minutes we start to worry because we haven't heard anything from Artemis. We couple of us older hunters were considering sending a scout group to see if we could find her and but leave the less experience hunters in the safety of the trees. We were about to go until we heard a rustle coming from in front of us. We immediately make a protective circle leaving no one unprotected. "Who is it?" I call out taking initiative being lieutenant. We all raise our bows at another rustle until we hear Artemis's voice, "stand down girls it is just me." We all let out a breath of relief.

"Thee scared us, Milady," I exclaimed.

"Sorry girls, Zoe, Phoebe Atlanta, Alish, Jade, Hannah, Sierra, Felicity, Lucy and Emma can you come and meet me in the clearing," she called. We all looked at each other, we were the only 10 let from when Orion was our brother and Artemis sounded upset. We cautiously left the safety of the forest only to gasp at the sight. There is piles upon piles of dead animals, ranging from birds and squirrels, to wolves and even a couple of humans. We could even see gold dust suggesting that he had killed many monsters as well. The causes of death range from snapped necks, arrows in the heart (him still having the accuracy that caught Artemis's eye seemed like an insult) or even just a gory death where limbs and even organs had been removed. While that was all horrifying it was, as upsetting as this it is, expected, it was what laid in the middle that shocked us.

In a pile of corpses and blood was the most shocking sight: Orion lay dead a hole in his abdomen, the splinters of his bows and arrows on the ground underneath him. His wound is tinted green and there is no more blood spilling out showing that he died long ago of blood loss and poison. Next to him is the carcass of a massive scorpion it's severed tail next to it and a sword through its abdomen. "What happened, Milady?" I wondered.

"Orion's violent actions caught the attention of his mother Gaia. He was disrupting the balance of the Earth killing too many creatures so she sent this giant scorpion after him to kill him, as it did. It's poison is extremely powerful and its stinger extremely sharp, it's mandibles are barbed and can chew through our flesh," Artemis responded sadly. We all bowed our heads, while Orion had killed many of our brethren he was also our brother many years ago. He didn't wish for this fate it was thrust upon him. Artemis stands, "He deserves to be remembered forever."

She makes her way over to Orion and kneels next to him. She hovers her hand over his body and chants in Ancient Greek so softly that we struggle to hear and understand it. Orion's corpse begins to glow silver and the hole in his stomach closes over before his body breaks apart and floats up into the night sky creating a new constellation of a man wielding a sword and shield. "All hail Orion the hunter, first decent male and the immortal son of Gaia. He lives on in the stars," Artemis announced. We all bow our heads in respect. Artemis then goes to the scorpion and repeats the actions. It appears in the sky not too far away from Orion, "All hail Scorpio," she announces again, "the constant foe of Orion, their conflict will remain immortalized in the night sky forever." We all nodded.

We sat there and remembered when Orion first came to our hunt and how sweet he was. We remembered the good times, the old Orion wishing to forget about this darker insane version we last saw. Eventually we decided to go back to the rest of the hunt and made the announcement. Many of the hunters looked ecstatic but noticed our grave faces and kept in their cheers. "We are truly sorry Lady Artemis," a young hunter, Bella, stepped forward the rest of the hunt agreeing. Artemis smiled, "Thanks Bella but the past is the past and Orion made a mistake he couldn't come back from but now I have all of you to be my family." We made our way to the nearest clearing not full of dead creatures and set up camp before going to sleep.

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Hey guys,

I know I haven't updated in ages again, but its a lot harder for me to find time during term to update between school, surf life saving, swimming and for half the term touch football but its holidays again for about 7 weeks so I should update at least one more chapter.  Please give me good constructive criticism and tell me what you think.

-Ella