The Hunter of Hawk and Wolf

Sevha and Edgar were walking. The brothers were dressed and armed in identical Hunter’s garb, each carrying a burlap sack.

But only Edgar’s footsteps disturbed the silence.

Sevha sighed at his brother’s inability to move with any stealth. “How long are you going to play walking bait?”

At Sevha’s rebuke, Edgar let out a hearty laugh. “It’s the body our parents gave me. I suppose I’m stuck with it until I die.”

The Anse Tribe trained in hunting from age five to twelve. Only the most skilled among them became a Hunter of Anse.

Edgar had trained as a child but could not become one. He had been born with a powerful build, a presence too great to be concealed.

“Not our parents, our mother,” Sevha corrected. “The Dan Anse line has always been small-framed for generations. Mother’s family, though… they’ve always been large and sturdy, yeah?”

Edgar nodded, watching Sevha walk. He had a nimble build, not large, but his movements were both powerful and fluid.

Sevha was like flexible steel—bending but never breaking.

“And thanks to that, you were born with a body perfectly suited to be a hunter.”

Sevha felt a flush of embarrassment at the compliment. He let out a dismissive scoff and changed the subject.

“Have you looked into who instigated the attack on Elise?”

“All the bandits are dead, so it will be difficult to uncover the mastermind.”

“It must be the work of an Imperial noble.”

“Yes. There are many in the Empire who are jealous that the Schreier family pays a lower toll on the Great Road. And the emperor was recently replaced.”

The Papal See was the guardian of the Great Road Treaty, and the Dan Anse family feared it could use the treaty as leverage to interfere in their internal affairs.

Thus, for generations, they had formed unofficial alliances through marriage with foreign families in exchange for toll reductions, keeping the Papal See in check.

The case of Edgar and Elise was no different. It was a political engagement, arranged because the interests of the previous Count of Anse and the current Marquis Schreier aligned.

We’ve known each other so long that we’re close enough not to seem like a political arrangement. But still...

A bitter expression crossed Sevha’s face.

Seeing it, Edgar steered the conversation elsewhere. “What were your thoughts when you heard the emperor had changed?”

“Surprising news, but what was the old man’s name again?”

“Sevha...”

“What? Most of Anse’s subjects probably thought the same thing.”

“The continent today is different from when the Great Road Treaty was signed. Anse must take an interest in the outside world and interact with it.”

Sevha stopped walking and turned to Edgar. His brother’s face was so earnest it was clear he meant every word.

“Brother. Do you think our people will accept that? And even if they do, how can we truly interact with the outside? The Labyrinth Forest is to the east, west, and south...”

Sevha took a few steps, and the trees gave way to a mountain range cloaked in perpetual snow.

“And the Frost Mountains are to the north.”

The Frost Mountains, rising north of the County of Anse. Their peaks were so high they would be difficult to cross even with wings. The terrain was so treacherous that legs were of little use.

“Sevha. It’s possible because we have the Great Road.”

At Edgar’s retort, Sevha looked toward the northern Great Road, which stretched long and winding across the mountain range.

But it did not continue over the mountains. It led only to a fortress halfway up, where something patrolled the castle walls.

“Brother. You know the Great Road is not perfect.”

As Edgar grew somber, recalling the problem with the northern road, Sevha cut through the gloom with a brighter tone.

“Let’s just get on with what we came to do.”

The high altitude, the rugged terrain, the something on the fortress walls—for several reasons, the Hunters of Anse could not properly patrol the Frost Mountains. Instead, they periodically scattered the fur and droppings of ferocious beasts.

The scent was meant to deter other creatures, preventing them from descending from the range. This was why Sevha and Edgar had come to the Frost Mountains today.

“There was no need for you to come all this way for such an easy job…” Sevha muttered.

“The Hunters are busy preparing for the funeral, so of course I should help. Which section is ours?”

“The middle of the Great Road.”

Sevha and Edgar walked along the road.

If the Labyrinth Forest was nothing but trees, the Frost Mountains were nothing but stone.

The air grew colder as they climbed. The snow dusting the surrounding stones grew thicker until the rocky fields flanking the road gave way to a vast snowscape.

The brothers stopped. On the ground before them, a phrase was carved with a blade.

Only death lies beyond.

Heeding the warning, they opened their sacks and began scattering the contents—tufts of fur and dried droppings—all around, onto the Great Road and into the snowfield beyond.

They worked in silence for a while. Then, a strong wind swept down the mountain. It carried a scent other than fur or droppings.

The smell of blood.

Sevha’s expression instantly hardened into that of a hunter. Edgar saw the change and wordlessly asked what was wrong.

Sevha gestured for silence and moved toward the source of the scent.

After a hundred paces across the snowfield, they came to a rock outcropping. Peering around it, they saw the carcass of a wolf on the pure white snow.

Strange. There are no bloodstains around the body.

Sevha raised his bow. Edgar drew his handaxe. For several minutes, the brothers waited with bated breath, but nothing stirred.

Edgar gave Sevha a look that said, “Cover me,” and approached the carcass.

Crunch, crunch, cru...nch.

Reaching the body, Edgar examined the wound. A dense ring of teeth marks circled its waist.

He recognized the predator that left such marks and shouted a frantic warning.

“Sevha! It’s an underground worm’s trap!”

Sevha bolted toward Edgar. In the next instant, the ground beneath the wolf carcass collapsed.

Just as Edgar was about to be pulled into the hole…

“Brother!”

Sevha grabbed Edgar and yanked him back. The two tumbled onto the snow, scrambling to their feet and scanning their surroundings.

Where the wolf had been, a pitch-black hole now gaped in the white snowfield.

Ssssss...

From beneath the snow all around them came the sound of something slithering.

“Sevha.”

“It’s an underground worm, all right.”

A monster that used small prey as bait to lure larger prey from beneath the ground.

“To use a wolf as bait means...”

“It’s so big a wolf isn’t enough to fill its stomach.”

As Sevha finished, the slithering stopped. An ominous silence fell.

Sevha gripped his bow, Edgar his handaxe.

Then, in the blink of an eye…

FWOOM!

The snow erupted behind them. From within, a worm three times the size of a man leaped out like a dolphin.

It was the underground worm. Its cylindrical body was covered in a brown shell. It had no eyes, but its maw was lined with dense rows of teeth.

“Move, Brother!”

Sevha and Edgar threw themselves in opposite directions.

THUD!

The moment the worm crashed into the snow, it burrowed back underneath.

Ssssss...

Sevha and Edgar listened intently to the sound of it moving beneath them.

FWOOM!

The worm burst from the snow again, lunging at Sevha.

He rolled aside and fired his bow, but the arrow snapped harmlessly against its shell. The worm nonchalantly disappeared beneath the snow again.

Ssssss... FWOOM!

This time, it erupted behind Edgar.

As Edgar rolled forward to dodge, Sevha shot another arrow. But again, it glanced off the shell, and the worm slipped calmly back into the snow.

I can lodge an arrow between its shell segments, but I have to stop it from moving first.

Just as Sevha recalled how to hunt an underground worm…

FWOOM! FWOOM! FWOOM!

A series of holes erupted around them, as if the snowfield were possessed by an evil spirit, sprouting countless black eye sockets.

Sssss...

The black sockets watched the brothers for a few seconds.

FWOOM!

The worm shot out of one hole and attacked Sevha. When he dodged, it immediately dove into another.

FWOOM!

Instantly, the worm shot out from a different hole, targeting Edgar. As he threw himself aside, it vanished into yet another.

“Brother! The bastard is trying to wear us down!”

“Is there a way to kill it before then?”

“We need to trap it on the surface with a steel net, but we don’t have one.”

At Sevha’s reply, Edgar tossed his handaxe aside without hesitation.

“I’ll hold it still. You land the fatal blow.”

“Are you insane? If I make one mistake—!”

Before Sevha could finish, Edgar met his gaze with steadfast eyes. “I trust in my little brother.”

Seeing the unwavering trust in Edgar’s gaze, Sevha faltered.

Then, his expression hardened once more into that of a hunter.

“Fine. Trust in Anse’s number one Hunter.”

As Sevha spoke, Edgar stomped his foot hard on the ground.

BOOM!

The underground worm pinpointed his location and burst out directly in front of him.

FWOOM!

As the worm charged, Edgar let out a roar and seized its gaping maw with both hands.

The worm’s momentum drove Edgar backward, his boots carving deep furrows in the snow and kicking up a cloud that obscured Sevha’s view.

When the snow settled, Edgar stood firm, wrestling the worm to a standstill.

“Sevha!”

At Edgar’s cry, Sevha fired his bow.

The arrow struck a small gap between the segments of the worm’s shell. Feeling the sting, the worm thrashed, trying to shake Edgar off and retreat into the snow.

But no matter how it struggled, Edgar did not budge.

Thwip!

Sevha seized the opening, lodging another arrow between its plates. The worm writhed, but Edgar refused to release its maw.

Thwip! Thwip! Thwip!

To the underground worm, Edgar was an unmovable fortress. Sevha was a hawk that missed no opening, no matter how small.

Thwip! Thwip! Thwip! Thwip!

As the tenth arrow sank into its body, the worm let out a piercing shriek and began to struggle desperately.

KAAAAA!

The desperate struggle finally broke Edgar’s stance, sending him stumbling backward.

But he did not go down easily. Even as he fell, Edgar locked his hands around the worm’s neck and roared.

“RAAAAAH!”

Pivoting, he heaved the underground worm over his shoulder and slammed it to the ground.

K-THOOM!

The instant the worm hit the snow, Sevha was already running, his own handaxe in hand. He snatched Edgar’s from the ground as he passed and quickened his pace.

“Brother!”

Closing the distance, Sevha tossed an axe to his brother. Edgar caught it and turned to the worm just as it began crawling toward the nearest hole to escape.

“Sevha!”

Sevha and Edgar flanked the worm. Just as it raised its head to dive into the hole, the brothers slammed their handaxes into either side of its neck.

KAAAA!

The worm let out a tortured scream. The brothers gripped the axes embedded in its neck and walked toward each other.

Crrrack...

With every step they took, the axes tore deeper into the worm’s flesh.

Crrrraack...

When Sevha and Edgar stood face to face.

CRACK!

The Underground Worm’s head was severed, tumbling into the hole before them. The headless body spewed a foul fluid and collapsed.

THUMP!

Covered in the fluid, Sevha and Edgar gasped for breath. Sevha slumped down behind the carcass, and Edgar in front of it.

“I don’t know why the hell I was born a noble in this godforsaken backwater!” Sevha lamented.

Edgar asked, “So, you hate being born a noble in this godforsaken backwater?”

Sevha paused. He climbed onto the worm’s torso and looked out over the snow-covered mountain ridges.

Below them lay the forest, and nestled within it, Anse Castle.

As soon as he saw the County of Anse laid out before him, all he felt was exhilaration. The frustration and anxiety that had risen after his reunion with Elise vanished.

He smiled and said softly, “I hate it so much.”

As Sevha spoke the opposite of what his smile conveyed, Edgar leaned his back against the worm’s body and looked down at the County of Anse.

He smiled, too. “My little brother really does love to lie.”

The brothers looked at each other. Seeing their smiles and their fluid-splattered faces, they burst into laughter.

They were brothers of opposite builds, but their smiles were strikingly similar.