Loud screeches and the panic-struck flapping of wings disturbed the silence in the Verithal passage. I crouched on the soaring pinnacle of rocks at the outskirts of my village and closed my eyes, listening closely for sounds carried by the wind.
There was a scuffle up ahead. Our hunters ambushing a soldier. The singing of blades. A startled horse's neigh and hooves trampling on the soil. Familiar voices yell.
Familiar, save for one.
I concentrated on the unfamiliar, trying to single out the one unknown voice in the fray. A man. He slurred his words like someone had struck him. I couldn't decipher what he tried to say or his language. One human? Possibly a scout. They had grown bolder the past few months, venturing further into our territory.
If this was a human, it was very close to our village now. Some of our council members had already spoken of the need to pack up and move even deeper into the woods. But Rhadoron, the leader of the hunters, insisted we couldn't lose more ground and had to make our stand here.
"Farun? What are you hearing? Is it a human?"
A woman's voice pierced my ears with a sharp, stabbing pain. I gasped and snapped out of my trance. The sudden assault on my senses disorientated me for a moment, but as my vision cleared, I looked into my sister's wide, grey eyes. She was perched beside me on the Listening Rocks.
I scowled, my ears still ringing. "Lysira, how many times do I have to tell you? Do not jump me when I'm in a trance. Even the feathering of wind through the grass and the trickle of water are loud, let alone your yelling."
Lysira smiled sheepishly, twirling a strand of dark brown hair around her finger. "Sorry, I was just curious," she said. "So, what was it?"
I sighed and turned to the road leading into the forest ahead. "A human. A scout, I think. Bad news."
"Really? Here? At our little village?"
"It would hardly be surprising now, would it?" I bit. "We cultivate much of our food. Destroy the supply, and we won't be able to support the hunters at the front."
"So, you truly think it's a human?" Lysira pressed a hand to her forehead to shield her eyes as she gazed at the road as well. "We should go take a look."
"What?" I wrinkled my nose. "Why would you want to go see a human? It's dead by now. As it should be."
Lysira prodded me in the ribs. "Come on, where's your sense of adventure?" she teased me. "Aren't you a little curious if they're as ugly and filled with warts as our uncle claimed?"
"No." I crossed my arms. "The only good human is a dead one, and the only reason to see their faces is to put an arrow through it."
Lysira rolled her eyes. "Oh, don't be such mudbug. Let's go check it out."
I didn't bother fighting my sister as she pulled me down with her. Lysira was incredibly pigheaded and if she wanted something, there was little I or anyone else could do to talk her out of it. But I did mutter half-hearted protests under my breath as we stepped onto the road together.
I looked over my shoulder. I had no intention of brazenly asking our hunters about the human they were fighting. Lysira, on the other hand, was shameless. If I left her alone, she'd probably make a fool of herself in front of them.
"I'm going back," I declared. "What's with your sudden curiosity about our enemy, anyway?"
Lysira raised a brow. "Oh, I'm the curious one, am I? I wasn't the one sitting on the Listening Rocks, spying on the hunters."
I narrowed my eyes as my face grew hotter because Lysira was right. "Seeing a human this deep into our wilds is a terribly bad sign," I said. "I needn't remind you, do I?"
Lysira shrugged. "I thought you'd be thrilled with this, Farun. An invasion of our grove means more hunters are needed. This could be your chance. At the very least, this is an opportunity you study the beast you may soon have to kill."
"Not if it's up to Ariste," I muttered.
Ever since the humans started invading our wilds, I'd been asking, begging to help in the fight. And all I'd been hearing in response was a resounding 'no' to the question if I could train and become a hunter. I couldn't understand Elder Ariste's reasoning. I was cautious, stealthy, and my ears were better than everyone else's. Ariste had told me so himself. I didn't understand why he kept denying me the chance to defend our people. He refused to give a reason; only that I was needed in the village instead.
I exhaled. "Let's just head back to the fields," I said in a last attempt to make my sister abandon her plan. We've been away from work long enough—the druids will wonder where we are."
As I spoke, however, I heard the familiar stomping of feet and leaves crackling on the path ahead. A few moments later, Rhadoron and the other hunters emerged from the bushes. Despite just having done battle, Rhadoron looked pristine like always with shimmering silver hair, sharp, green eyes and not a single blood splatter on him. Much to my surprise, the hunters were dragging someone with them. I mistook it for a corpse wrapped in a blanket with rope at first, but then it wriggled. Muffled protests came from underneath the blanket.
"What did you catch? Is it a human?" Lysira called out. "Can I see it?"
I cringed and hushed my sister. But obviously, the hunters had heard her.
Rhadoron, who walked at the front, smirked at me despite Lysira being the one addressing him. "None of your concern, children," he replied, marching on and clearly not interested in a conversation.
I grimaced, taking a step back to let the hunters through, lest I'd simply be bowled over. But then Rhadoron suddenly stopped, holding up his hand to stop the others as well. There was a brief silence, and then he turned to me and my sister.
"You really want to see it then?" he asked.
"Yes!" Lysira eagerly responded, immediately stepping closer to Rhadoron and the tied up bag.
I was torn between keeping out of this like I intended... and some curiosity tugging at my mind. I didn't want to move closer nor did I want to leave now, so I ended up standing a little distance away from Rhadoron, Lysira, and the prisoner as I watched on.
After a curt nod from Rhadaron, Ceph, one of the other hunters, undid the ropes and unwrapped the blanket. The prisoner also had a hood covering his face, which Rhadaron yanked off.
I had never seen a human up close, nor had I ever truly desired to. All I wanted was to protect my home and make the humans to leave our woods for good. But now that one was on the ground in front of me, of course I looked.
The first I noticed was a mop of blond hair and expensive-looking purple robes. The human's skin was ghostly pale, like it had never been touched by the sun. Wimpy and frail. Useless, like he'd never worked a day in his life. I wondered why the hunters would make an effort to keep this one alive. He was lucky to have survived an encounter with Rhadaron at all.
I didn't know what my appeal was today, but everyone seemed to choose to look at me despite me being the least involved in the situation.
Pale blue eyes opened with a groan, and the human blearily looked past Lysira and the hunters at me. "Hello," he slurred in the human tongue.
I narrowed my eyes, but it didn't deter the human from speaking. A sudden smile curved up his lips. "Well, I can't say I often wake up alone, but being with an elven man is new."
A chorus of chuckles went up from the hunters at the confused human's words while I felt an embarrassed heat rise to my cheeks. "Do not address me, human!" I tried to hiss, hoping I remembered the words of the human tongue right.
It seemed I did because the human understood me. His dazed smile broadened. "Alright. Don't get upset, pretty boy."
"Pretty boy?" I repeated in a stammer while the hunters laughed.
The human gestured weakly with his bound hands at me. "Mind taking these off, love? They're rather tight."
My jaw dropped at the sheer audacity of this human. I was at an utter loss for words, especially in the human tongue, to respond to this insult. It was Rhadoron, of all people, who had mercy on me. He covered the dazed human's head with the hood again.
"Come on, is this really necessary?" the human whined. "I liked it better when I could see you. Pretty boy? Where did you go?"
All the hunters looked at me with various levels of amusement. I'd always wanted their attention, but obviously not this way. This encounter right here had made it far less likely they'd ever see me as worthy of joining them. I'd just stood while the human made a fool of me. Rhadoron smirked like a cat who'd just caught a fat mouse and I knew the hunters would be spreading my new nickname among the others in the village. Idiot human. It was ruining everything. Even my sister Lysira visibly struggled to keep the amusement out of her expression.
"If we're done here, I best go back to my duties," I pressed out of my throat tersely. I turned on my heel and started walking.
"Where are you going, pretty boy?" Ceph mockingly called after me.
I grimaced, beet-red, as I heard the others laugh. I knew I should've just left when I had the chance. Why did I stick around to watch? While scolding myself for my stupidity, I hurried away from the path and towards the berry bushes growing just beyond the village outskirts with my tail between my legs. But a few moments later, I heard light, fast footsteps in the grass following behind me.
"Lysira, I'm not in the mood to be teased," I spoke tersely, but when I turned, it wasn't Lysira behind me.
"Rhadoron," I breathed, promptly coming to a halt.
Rhadoron regarded me with a raised brow. "You're coming with me to interrogate the human. A much better use of you time than plucking berries for the druids."
I gaped at Rhodoron. No matter what had transpired, there wasn't a single world in which I'd say no to him."Of course," I replied. "But why?"
Rhadoron smiled faintly and he leaned closer to me in a conspiring manner. "I'll let you in on a secret, Farun. The only reason this human still breathes is because it's a special one. He's a prince. And you're going to play nice with him."
I opened and closed my mouth. "I—what?"
"Did I stutter? You will play nice with him." Rhadoron's smile faded, replaced by impatience. "You've been begging for a chance to join the hunters. Get him to talk, and I might put in a good word for you with Ariste."
Rhadoron gave me one lingering up and down look and turned to march away.
I stood frozen on the spot, stunned by the sudden opportunity I was given. My heart hammered in my throat.
A chance to join the hunters falling into my lap? After months of pleading and not even getting a word in with our Elder? It almost sounded too good to be true. The thought of being nice to a human left a foul taste in my mouth, especially if it was against this disgusting one. But for a chance to join the hunters, I'd play as nice with him all day every day.
I shook my head and hurried after Rhadoron, towards wherever our destination was.