The Great Hunt

[Yennefer]

@Nateorious x

@Shadowmancer​

 

[Yennefer]

The forest groaned and moaned as the footprints of three hunters made their way into the heart of the greenly abode. They whispered amongst each other, armed with utensils of death, strapped on their leather-like jackets as they perused the heavy dense trees of the uncanny woods. One man, who appeared to be leading the group, raised his right hand in the air as if signaling the other two to halt in their tracks. He sniffed the air around him like a hound looking for prey and remained so for sometime before he pointed again, beckoning the others to follow. "We shouldn't be here..." one of them said who was following the one at the lead. "Yeah... we just farmers... hunten aint what we do!" the other one proclaimed, agreeing with his fat friend. "Hush you idiots!" the leader exclaimed. "She can hear you..." The three continued deeper and deeper into the forest finally hearing the footprints of beasts not to far from their location. They all halted, unsheathing their weapons as they closed together in a huddle, their backs facing one another. "What was that?!" The fat one whispered. "Its the bitches pets..." The leader replied uttering his last words. As they all looked about scanning the moving taunting trees a village, not to far heard the blood curling screams of three men. The old watchmen who guarded the entrance to the forest looked at the looming entrance, slowly peering to the moon as if it was the one at cause. "Another one... well three..."

 

[Shadowmancer]

Screams echoed through the clear night air, over the trees of the Veiled Forest seeming to be projected at the village. The sound sent shivers through the guards, their armor quivering as their bodies trembled in fear. They dared not enter those woods, but would dutifully defend their village. Or so they believed they could be that brave.


"That witch...she's done it again.." One said with a shutter to the other, more stocky guard.


"One of us should let general Berrett know." The stocky one said with a far off tone. There was a pause as the two men looked on at the forest, occasionally eyeing one another. Suddenly they turned from their post, shoving the other as to not be left guarding alone. In the end, the stocky one had pushed his way through the gaurd door, slamming it shut and leaving the thinner man alone on the other side.


~-~-~-~-~-~


It was midday when a loud banging came to Ryic's front door. He glowered at the door in silence and shadow. He did not wish to be bothered. There was a pause and the banging came again, louder and more irritating.


"This is General Berrett, open up." Again, silence came from the inside.


"I know you're in there Ryic, let me in."


Suddenly the door opened and a tall, dark figure stood looking down dully at the General.


"Whatever it is, the answer is no."


"Now, how can a man say 'no' to money in his pocket and approvals from his king?"


"Money is no object to me and I do not care for the approvals of any man, or dog, for that matter. Now let me be." He began to shut the door before Berrett thrust the hilt of his sword in the doorway.


"You have a debt to pay, Ryic." He said in a darker tone. "However, I have a proposal that any wise man would at least think on."


Ryic paused, his sharp eyes looking coldly upon the man as he studied him before turning and walking away, leaving the door open for him to enter.


"I knew you would see the side of reason." Berrett said as he entered, shutting the door behind him.

 

[Yennefer]

"You are the last of us Mythal..." The Ancient tree whispered as if containing the souls of hundreds. "Let not vengeance dwell in your heart but the will and fortitude to live on." The winds rustled beneath the canopy under the heart of forest, moving around it as creatures, who made the woods their home, encircled at the old thing as if paying homage. The Great Mother kneeled before the tumultuous gathering of the ancient creatures, facing the ancient colossal tree in a meditative reverie finally breaking it by whispering "Hear me ancestors of the woods, I beseech you and call upon my predecessor. Come forth, spirit of Abnoba, and part wisdom on a child of the forest..." The grove grew deathly still as the winds around them danced violently, shaking the forest itself as if coming alive and then quickly collecting together as a makeshift spirit that stood before them all. Mythal rose her head but remained in her position. She slowly raised her hand to dismiss the flock that gathered around them and then faced the looming spirit ahead.


"Blood has been spilt on the ancient land yet again Mythal. They are growing restless." The spirit said, facing down on the barked skinned old nymph. "Once long ago they feared us. They dared not hunt in our woods even if their people had to starve but now... now everything has changed."


"It has..." Mythal solemnly replied. "I fear that our day is coming to an end. The ancient trees that once patrolled the great wood has remained deathly still and the trees that inhabit the trenches that border our lands have gone eerily silent. My power as the Samhain is wavering as each tree falls under the clutches of man and the humans have grown bolder with each strike they befall on us. I fear more blood will be spilled by this skirmish. Our blood..."


"Do not waver child." The spirit commanded with a booming voice, shaking the forest itself as the ravens cawed as a result. "If Fate herself has decreed our end then we must accept it. Like many of those before us, we have fought to preserve this land. Even if this forest burns to the grown nature herself will not allow our demise. Fear not Mythal for we will have our day of reckoning."


As the spirit disappeared within the ancient tree, The Great Mother rose to her feet as thorns of black started to emerge on her skin and everything around her. "Then let us begin."

 

[Shadowmancer]

"Once you've done this, lad, your debt will be erased."

Ryic pulled the cinches tight on the worn out saddle of his peppered grey steed, his eyes dull as he thought of the conversation from the previous days.

"I would have been better off dead, Saol."


"Oh, come now, that's no way to speak. You are privileged to be serving the king under his merciful hand."

Ryic's face soured as he muttered under his breath until he finally drew his thoughts to the present and mounted his horse. The day was overcast and a cold wind blew at his back. A sharp clanking and clopping came from behind him rapidly as a group of four armored men rode their horses with purpose to his side.


"Let's move out." His voice was cold and his stare, intense, as he urged his mount forward out of the city and onward to his destination. Soon he would be rid of his demons.


-~-~-~-


Rain dripped and trickled from the leather armor that was strapped and tightened over the bodies of the men, adding a new heaviness to their shoulders. Three days had past since they had left for the Veiled Forest and the storm that hung above followed them across the plains with low, solemn clouds. It lurked in darkness behind them, growling and throwing lightning in wild directions now and then.


Ryic looked up at the sky, squinting as he studied the clouds. There was going to be a break in the rain soon and he knew they would need to stop; they were not too far now as he could see the tree line just ahead, a few hours ride from where they rode.


"We will rest there." He called back at the tired men as he indicated a small group of trees just off the road. As the group came to a halt, Ryic dismounted and scanned the area. There had been rumors of men vanishing and trees growing their roots as quick as a man could move, but he suspected bandits were the cause for most of these stories.


"Stay alert." He ordered as the men tethered their horses. "I do not have time for unawareness and weakness." Ryic stood, his arms crossed as he faced the treeline, his eyes scanning, studying and calculating the depths of what lay in wait for them.

"Privileged is not the word in which to describe this thralldom, nor do I find anything about your king to be merciful. I was merely a convenient opportunity in which he capitalized upon."


"Well then, consider this the key to your freedom, Ryic. Kill her and you may live out your miserable life without interference from the crown."

 

[Yennefer]

A raven danced above the party in a circling motion as it peered down from the darkening sky. It seemed to caw profusely forming a rhythm of some sort as the noises came together as one. It almost sounded like a voice but before it could caw again, it perched itself on a branch tilting its head intelligently as it watched the group move about. Its eyes shifted in color twinkling here in there, only acknowledgeable by those with gifted sight. It stayed that way for sometime, its gaze heavily infixed on the group especially on a particular individual that caught its attention. It stayed there, waiting, studying, observing, perching still almost like a toy as it watched with its shifting eyes. It cawed one last time and flew off.


From afar near the edges of the forest just by its entrance laid a stone slab inscribed with runes long forgotten. Thorns of black slowly formed around it as it blocked the ancient glyphs from sight and formed cracks on the stone from its tight grip. A hand slowly emerged from the darkness that cloaked the forest's interior and then came out a women clad in leaves. She said nothing, her gaze firmly held on to the group and just like the raven, she studied and observed. For a while she remained that way, using the darkness to cloak herself from sight but when rain started to fall, she slowly retreated into the shadows behind. As rain began to pour with more fervor than before the tree that once sheltered the group began to rustle and momentarily stop.


A face emerged from the darkness "You will be eaten when the sun falls and the moon rises."

 

[Shadowmancer]

Ryic looked above as the crow circled and cawed in almost a taunting way. He glowered and set his jaw at the irritant when he noticed something strange. A glimmer of colour, only for a moment and when he narrowed his eyes to get a better look it flew away.


Ryic expelled a tired breath and uncrossing his arms, he turned back to his men who were adjusting saddles and beginning to pack their things. There was a sting in the air as the rain came down. Not much longer.


Then, with an abruptness the trees around them rattled as if a wind had blown through them and just as soon as it had come they became eerily still. Ryic glanced at his men as their faces turned cold and pale before a chilling voice warbled behind him.


Ryic turned, sword drawn, as he saw a face appear within the tree.


"You will be eaten when the sun falls and the moon rises."


"The only thing that will be eaten this night will be your words." He growled. "Do not let her strike false fear into you." He said to his men, who had also drawn their swords, some more ready to run than fight. "The witch will pay for the lives of your brothers she has stolen."

 

[Yennefer]

"And to think I tried to show you all mercy..." The tree boomed shaking the still air into a fervent tremor.


The air then became silent once again as more ravens began to congregate around the group, their blood misted eyes now more protruded than before in a grotesque like way. Their caws too sounded extremely strange for they no longer carried the voices of birds but the screams of man. Each sound that echoed from their beaks bellowed with the horrors of The Great Mother's victims, each scream, each yell, each plea for help, uttered once again from the malevolent birds themselves as they flew above. More and more came until the very sky itself was blanketed with utter darkness, filled with the anguishes of the dead. The roots from the tree itself began to dug into the deep earth as its branches stretched and creaked, forming hands then claws filled with pitch black pigmented thorns. The roots that was buried into the ground earlier soon emerged before them, encircling the group into a quartered like fence, it too also permeated with black thorns. The face on the tree then began to look more defined. It looked like a shape of a woman.


"Look above you humans of destruction. Your fate lies before you. The sins of man shall be cleansed with blood and we shall rule once more..." Before it could even wait for the groups reply, the devilish like birds dived down, its beaks and claws out to strike.