A Hunter's Journey

Chapter 1: The Outsider

The rider responded for the first time. "What do you want?"

The girl's expression was one of amazement. Though the voice of her opponent was low, she could barely pick it out under the howling wind, it sounded like the voice of a eighteen year old.

"What the hell - you're just a kid! Well, I'm still not gonna show you mercy. Show me what you've got."

"So you're a bandit then? You're awfully forthcoming for one."

"You dolt! If I'm looking for easy money, you think I'd go after a lousy drifter like you? I wanna see how good you are!" The wind shot with a sharp snap. The girl cracked her whip. It didn't look like she was doing any more than playing it out lightly with her wrist, but the whip twisted time and time again like an ominous black serpent in the light of the setting sun. "Here I come! If you fancy some good eatin in the village of Sitka, you'll have to go through me first."

The youth remained motionless atop his mount. He didn't reach for his sword or for anything in the matter. What's more, when the girl saw how nonchalant he remained when challenged to battle by a good looking lady who gave no reasons but showered him with a murderous gaze, a tinge of concentration rushed back into her expression. Letting out a breath, the girl struck with her whip. The weapon was made from intertwined bristles tanned over several long months with application of animal fat. A direct hit from it would cut flesh.

"What the?..."

The girl kept back, her expression changed. Her whip was supposed to strike the youths left shoulder but for some reason, just at the instant she saw it hit him, the whip changed direction and shot instead for her own left shoulder. The youth had reversed the direction of the whip without the slightest injury to himself and turned the attack back upon its source. To grasp the speed and angle of the whip striking so fast it escaped the naked eye, and to have the reflexes to do something about it, was something that defied description.

"Damn. You're good!"

Worked by her right hand, the whip did not strike her shoulder but danced back through thin air, yet the girl stood rooted to the spot and made no attempt at a second attack. She realized his fighting skills were as high above hers as the heavens were over earth.

"Out of my way, please." the youth said as if nothing happened.

The girl nodded and stepped aside.

The youth and his horse passed by her side, but when they'd gone a few steps more, the girl once again stepped into the road and shouted, "Hey, look at me!"

The instant the youth turned around, the girl grabbed her cape with her left hand and pulled it off in one single motion.

For a moment, the glow of Twilight seemed to lose its red hue.

Clad in not a single stitch, a naked form so celestial none say the goddess Venus herself could have fashioned it glittered in the breeze. At the same time, the girl extended her other hand and undid her hair. Her luxurious hair flowed in the wind. Her nakedness alone had been beautiful, but this was truly enchanting. The wind twisted around, bearing nothing but the scent of a woman in her greatest age.

"Let's try this again!"

Once more her whip cracked.

Through some masterful handling, the single tip whistling toward the youth split into eight parts just as it was about to strike. Each tip has a separate target, coiling around his neck, shoulders, arms, and chest with slightly different timing, making a hit much more difficult to avoid than if all struck at once.

"You sure fell for that one," the girl laughed. "That's what you get for letting a little nudity distract you." She hollered the words, conceding nothing to the snarling wind. And the, almost disappointed, she suddenly added, "You're the ninth. Looks like I'm out of luck after all. How do you wanna play this? You drop the weapon you've got on your back and ones around your waist and I'll undo you in no time."