Caracara's Hunt

It had been easy to cover great distances when he was a beast, but he didn"t know how to change. Besides the fact that it was extremely painful and had required a self-destruction the last time he did it, his mind had also been overtaken by the monster in him after a while.

It wasn"t an option then, but he couldn"t travel on his human feet either. If he did, five executions might pa.s.s before he reached the capital. Humans were simply not meant for swift traveling.

A horse neighed nearby, and Arawn glanced over in that direction. A young n.o.ble was arguing in whispers with a servant. The horse he was riding neighed and tossed its head while trying to step away.

The young man swore at it, but the animal didn"t stop. It really wanted to leave.

Puzzled about that, the young man looked around and noticed Arawn standing nearby. "Lord Arawn!" he greeted in delight and jumped down from his animal. He wanted to come over, but the horse froze and refused to take a step in Arawn"s direction. Its eyes were wide and panicked.

"What"s wrong with you, buddy?" the young man muttered under his breath, but the horse didn"t seem to hear him. Its eyes were only for the predator before him.

A low growl came from Arawn"s throat before he even understood what he was doing. It was a command of sorts, an order to stand still.

The animal shivered upon hearing it, but stopped struggling. Not even its tail flicked about anymore.

"Whoa!" the young n.o.ble cried out. "How did you do that? I want to learn it too!"

"I…" Arawn was about to say he had no idea when his mind grasped what had happened.

He took a couple steps forward, testing if the horse would bolt away. Any other would have done it by then, but despite shivering, it didn"t move.

When he was close enough to touch, he raised his hand before the horse"s nose. The animal sniffed it and snorted, but didn"t pull away. It was out of fear more than acceptance, but Arawn didn"t mind it at that moment.

He had never been this close to any animal. Unlike humans, they were smart enough to run away from him. Smell, presence, or something else always told them that he was a monster best avoided.

The horse"s head had a soft texture. Its skin was warm, and he could feel the animal"s fear through its trembling.

"Can I borrow your horse?" Arawn asked in a soft voice.

The young n.o.ble looked at him in surprise. "You want… my horse?"

Arawn nodded, gently sliding his hand to the horse"s nose. The animal was terrified, but it was just an instinct on its part. Arawn"s close presence wasn"t endangering it in any way.

Unbidden, the memory of the beast they had killed rushed to the forefront of Arawn"s mind. When they had found it, the beast had been lying on a sunny spot while a family of hares played before it. The long-eared little animals were terrified, but the beast had been able to order them about, and it didn"t seem like it had had any plans to hurt them.

"Well… okay?" the young n.o.ble said with uncertainty in his voice. "Did something happen?"

Arawn nodded. "I"ll bring him back safe," he promised and took the reins from the young man"s loose grip.

He hadn"t ridden a horse before, but he had seen other people doing it. With only a little bit of fiddling about, he pulled himself up on the saddle.

Not knowing any commands, he just ordered the horse to go in a low growl. It wasn"t speech that he used, but an intent which all animals understood. There was no need for words among them.

The horse started at a trot, then began to gallop once they were out of the courtyard. Its hooves clacked against the cobblestones, and people dashed out of the way in advance. Some swore in anger, but no one was too bothered. n.o.bles often didn"t care for the danger they posed by galloping through the busy evening streets.

Arawn felt like he was about to fall apart. Or fall off. Or fly off if he was even more unlucky.

He had never known that it was so uncomfortable to ride a horse. If he had, he would have considered getting a carriage. It was slower, but at least he"d survive in one piece till the end.

In a while, the horse calmed down. Upon realizing that the beast had not approached it because it was hungry, the animal relaxed and focused on its task. Its single-minded devotion to it was quite admirable.

Or it would have been if Arawn didn"t feel like he was calling death over with each stride. To distract himself, he focused on the fact that he now knew what could be seen as the language of beasts.

It was crude and simple, but despite never even hearing it before, he had somehow come to know it. That should have been impossible, and yet…

The only explanation that could make any sense would be that the beast inside of him knew it, but what about it? Humans weren"t born knowing their language, and different countries even had different ones. It was only Ayersbert and Mairya that more or less shared a language because of their close connection over hundreds of years.

So even if Arawn had a beast in him, it shouldn"t have been able to give him any a.s.sistance. Yet for some unknown reason, he knew how to speak the language of beasts. His throat was different when in human form, but beasts didn"t speak in exact sounds, the pitch and intent behind the sound were far more important.

It allowed him to convey his meaning, and it wasn"t just some dream of his. The horse had listened to him.

Arawn ruminated over it for a while, but nothing else came to mind. Somehow, it had to have something to do with the beast in him.

Having seen a couple maps before, Arawn knew the general direction of the capital and had the horse gallop there. When it got tired, he slowed down the pace so it didn"t tire itself to death. There was a long journey ahead of them.

Hours pa.s.sed like that, and Arawn"s legs screamed of abuse, but he didn"t stop. As long as the horse could continue, he would not let himself take a break. He didn"t know how long Val had, and he wasn"t planning to risk it.

When the horse could no longer go on, Arawn brought it to the side and with his keen hearing located a nearby stream. Both of them drank from it, and the horse went to sleep while Arawn realized that he had forgotten to take any supplies.

Hunger gnawed at his stomach, and he wondered if he could even make it to the capital like that. There was a bush with bright red berries a few meters away, but he had a feeling he"d only make himself sick from eating them.

There were animals in the forest, but he couldn"t eat them raw as a human. His stomach would certainly riot, and he"d have to spend a whole day trying to clean it up. And he didn"t have a day to waste.

With a grumble, he found a softer patch of gra.s.s under a tree and closed his eyes. A few days without food had never killed him. He had been spoiled by the plentiful food and warm shelter lately.

Just as he fell asleep, he heard the horse neigh loudly. It sounded disturbed, and Arawn"s eyes flew open.

Blinking the drowsiness away, he felt the ether underneath him move. That couldn"t mean anything good, and he rolled away while wrenching the ether away from whoever was holding it.

Sheathed in light, he jumped to his feet and looked around. A couple trees away stood three men dressed in rags. Two of them had been sneaking toward the horse while the third stood with his arms raised. There was utter disbelief on his face at that moment.

"My ether!" he cried out.

Still half asleep, Arawn didn"t pay attention to what he had just done and rushed forward. He grabbed the bandit by the shoulders and place an ether blade by his neck. "Any of you move and he dies," he said in a low, gravely voice. His voice was still hoa.r.s.e from having just woken up.

The other two bandits froze, eyeing him with wide-eyed stares.

"We didn"t mean nothing!" one of them instantly offered. "Just pa.s.sin", pa.s.sin". No harm, right?"

Arawn was about to let go of the man he was holding when he smelled something. Was that beef jerky?

He took a step back, but the ether still gleamed at his fingertips. "Give me your food, then no harm."

The man he had caught before grimaced and made a dash for it. Arawn created an ether wall before him. It couldn"t stop the man if he really tried to get past it, but it had some substance, and it was dazzlingly bright.

When the man stumbled, Arawn sent an ether blade by his feet.

"No harm, no harm!" one of the other two men shouted out at once and brought out his sack with food while nudging his companion with a shoulder. ""Ere, "ere."

They ran away after placing their sacks down, and Arawn didn"t stop them. He grabbed a slice of smoked meat and calmed the horse while eating it. Then, he returned to sleep.

Life was quite good sometimes. It actually sent him a few wanderers so he wouldn"t have to starve.