The Hunter of Hawk and Wolf

Beneath the noon sky, in the courtyard of Anse Castle, Sevha and the Hunters were practicing their archery.

After about an hour, when only three arrows remained in Sevha’s quiver, the other Hunters stopped their practice to watch him, their gazes filled with anticipation.

Sevha sucked in a deep breath and held it.

He gripped three arrows between his fingers, pulling them from his quiver at once. Then, holding the bow horizontally, he loosed them in rapid succession.

Thwang! Thwang! Thwang!

As the three arrows struck the edge of the target almost simultaneously, the Hunters gasped in admiration.

But Sevha frowned.

It wasn’t a long shot, yet the grouping is poor and the depth is shallow.

Sevha had just performed the Hawk's Talon, a technique said to have been used by the first chief of the Anse Tribe. It was a rapid-fire technique so fast it created the illusion of shooting three arrows at once.

If I use it for hunting at this level, I'll just be wasting arrows.

Sevha sighed, thinking he still had a long way to go before he could properly use the Hawk's Talon.

A puff of white breath clouded his vision. At the sight, Sevha realized the mild weather had passed and the cold was returning.

Winter will begin in earnest soon. After the funeral today, I need to properly prepare…

Just then, black smoke began to curl from a first-floor window of the castle.

“Fire?”

“Lord Sevha! The kitchen!”

Sevha and the Hunters rushed through the castle’s main entrance. They raced through the lobby and down the first-floor corridor, arriving at the kitchen door.

When Sevha threw open the door, the room was filled with thick, black smoke.

“Bring water—!”

Sevha broke off mid-shout as a window creaked open, and the black smoke poured outside.

A few seconds later, as the smoke cleared, the scene in the kitchen became visible.

The kitchen staff were looking toward the hearth, snickering.

In front of it stood Elise, covered in ash, a look of astonishment on her face.

“Elise?”

Sevha and the Hunters blinked, unsure what to make of the situation.

Then, one of the kitchen staff, suppressing a laugh, approached Elise.

“My lady, bread isn't supposed to be black.”

“Th-that… I know that…”

Sevha looked at the hearth and saw loaves of bread burned completely black.

Realizing Elise had only burned the bread, Sevha and the Hunters let out a collective sigh of relief.

Hearing their sighs, Elise looked at Sevha and hastily wiped her sooty face with her sleeve.

“Oh, when did you… What is it, Sevha? Nothing's wrong.”

As she feigned ignorance, Sevha pointed to the soot still on her face. Grinning mischievously, he said, “I came to see the latest makeup trend from the Empire.”

The kitchen staff and Hunters burst into laughter at the joke.

Elise wiped the soot from her face and pouted.

“Lord Sevha, at this rate, we'll bankrupt the county's flour supply. Please, take Lady Elise off our hands.”

At the staffer's request, Sevha gave Elise a polite bow.

“My lady, since you’ve made not bread but poison, you should be escorted not from the kitchen, but straight to the dungeon.”

“Sevha!”

With Sevha's final jab, Elise lunged at him.

To the sound of laughter, Sevha turned and fled.

Through the castle corridor, the lobby, and out into the courtyard they ran. For a moment, they engaged in a chase that was hardly breathless.

Hearing her panting behind him, Sevha stopped just before the inner castle gate.

Elise, catching her breath, began to thump Sevha with her fists.

“I’m sorry, Elise! I’ll never tease you again, so stop hitting me!”

“You say that every time and then you do it again!”

“This time I mean it!”

Though Sevha was obviously lying, Elise sighed.

Then, as if she couldn't help herself, she let out a small laugh, saying, “Should I believe you?”

“Yes,” Sevha replied, and a silence fell between them.

The quiet didn't seem to bother Elise; she just watched him.

Sevha, however, felt burdened by the silence and her gaze.

He turned away abruptly, blurting out the first thing that came to mind.

“Elise… We breathed in a lot of smoke. Want to go for a walk?”

“All right.”

Sevha and Elise walked out of the inner castle gate and into the castle town.

“So, Elise, I didn’t know you could cook.”

“I’ve never done it before, but I’ve watched my big sister cook so often I thought I’d be able to do it, too.”

“Your sister… you said she can’t take a single step outside her castle?”

“Yes. There’s… an issue, so my father has forbidden her from leaving.”

Not wanting to talk about her sister, Elise changed the subject.

“Even she can cook, but I can’t. It’s pathetic.”

“Why try to help in the kitchen if you don't know how to cook?”

“I wanted to help the people of Anse and be accepted as one of them.”

“Everyone already considers you one of us. We’ve known you for twelve years.”

“Then I’ll just have to bake them bread as thanks for accepting me,” Elise declared, clenching her fists in a cute display of determination.

“Just you wait. Next time, I’ll bake delicious bread for sure.”

At that moment, the two of them arrived at the square.

Around the wooden statue in the center of the square, the people of Anse were energetically preparing for the funeral to be held that evening.

Elise watched the scene with a look of confusion.

She said, “I wondered this last time as well… but everyone seems so cheerful for a funeral.”

“Never seen a funeral in Anse?”

“No. You didn’t even invite me to the funeral for the previous Count of Anse.”

“That was… a complicated situation. Anyway, the reason for all the liveliness is simple.”

Sevha approached the wooden statue.

It was a statue of the Goddess Diaka, a hunting hawk perched on her left arm and a bow in her right hand. She had been worshipped for generations by the Anse Tribe.

“Here in Anse, if you don't hold back your tears when another dies, you'll be weeping until the day you die yourself.”

Sevha placed the index and middle fingers of his right hand over his heart.

When he turned back, Elise still looked confused.

“You mean Anse is such a harsh place that you have to accept death as a matter of course? If that’s the case…”

Elise started to say more, but then closed her mouth, as if to mull over the thought.

Sevha watched her for a moment before they started walking again.

After passing through the castle town and greeting people along the way, the two climbed onto the outer castle wall.

Once on the wall, Elise marveled at the view: the sky beyond the castle, the winter flowers, the forest, and the Great Road.

“Anse is a beautiful place.”

“As long as you’re just looking.”

Elise smiled as if in agreement and looked down at the castle town.

Rows of shabby log cabins stretched out below.

Seeing the stark landscape, Elise seemed to find the confirmation she needed. She asked the question she had held back earlier.

“Sevha? The tolls from the Great Road must be enormous. Why do you continue to live like this?”

“Live like what?”

“I believe Anse could become the center of continental trade if you simply put your minds to it. You could make it a place where death isn't something you have to accept as a matter of course.”

“That… The first reason is that we can’t spend money carelessly when we never know when monsters will swarm or we’ll be invaded.”

Sevha kept his gaze on the shabbily dressed but energetic people below.

“The second reason is that we are content with this life.”

Content, even in a harsh life where death was common. Elise mulled over Sevha's words, recalling what she knew of the goddess Diaka.

The Goddess of Hunters and Moderation.

Having worshipped Diaka for generations, the people of Anse had moderation ingrained in their very being.

“You sound like Edgar.”

“What did my brother say?”

“When I asked him about developing Anse, he said that a fancy nest only attracts predators.”

Elise turned her eyes toward Anse Castle and sighed with worry.

“I think it will be hard to adjust to living in Anse after I marry Edgar. I am a greedy woman, after all.”

Sevha faltered at the mention of marriage. He spoke without looking at her, the words tumbling out before he could think.

“If you don’t want to… don’t. My brother will understand.”

Only after he’d said it did Sevha realize what an absurd thing it was to say.

He looked at Elise, about to take it back, but the words died on his lips.

Because Elise was gazing at Anse Castle—the castle whose master was Edgar—with an expression of pure love.

“It’s all right, because I love him,” Elise replied, her loving gaze fixed on Anse Castle.

Sevha watched her expression, then sat on the edge of the parapet, lost in thought.

Elise and my brother will be married.

Unconsciously, Sevha recalled a clandestine tale of a queen and her knight. He wondered what this nameless emotion was that made him think of such a tale.

But as always, no answer came. He could only feel the existence of a high wall—a line that must not be crossed—more clearly than ever.

To push the thought away, Sevha closed his eyes.

When he opened them again, evening had fallen.

He was standing on the path to the square, draped in the hide of the Brown Queen.

A low murmur rose from the crowd.

Sevha looked toward the square, where a feast had been laid out.

The people of Anse chattered loudly.

A pyre had been built before the statue of the goddess, and upon it lay the bodies of two Hunters.

A moment later.

Ting…

From somewhere far behind him, a bell rang out.

Immediately, the square and all of Anse fell silent.

Then, Edgar and Elise came to stand beside the pyre.

Edgar met Sevha’s eyes and nodded.

Ting…

At the sound of the bell, Sevha began to speak, his voice a low chant.

“Anse, my first hunting hawk.”

Ting…

“I give you hands and feet to descend to the earth where I can no longer go.”

Ting.

“Go and hunt the beasts who, in their greed, have crossed the forbidden line.”

Ting. Ting.

“Bring them before the court of justice, presided over by my sister.”

As Sevha finished, all the lights went out, save for the single torch before the pyre.

Then the bell began to ring faster, more fiercely.

Ting. Ting. Ting.

Next, several flames appeared behind Sevha, floating in the air. They were torches, held by Marina and the Hunters of Anse, who were walking toward him in two columns, carrying torches and ringing bells.

Once they flanked him on his left and right, Sevha walked with them toward the square and began to chant again.

“Your mouth exists only to warn others away from the line.”

As he drew closer to the square, a drum echoed from the darkness.

Ting, ting, DOOM!

“Your eyes exist only to gauge the line.”

As he reached the edge of the square, a lute joined the melody.

Ting, ting, DOOM, twang!

“Your life exists only to hunt those who have crossed the line.”

Marina handed Sevha a bow and an arrow, its head wrapped in cloth.

Sevha aimed the arrow at the pyre and drew the bowstring.

“So on the day you lose your voice, close your eyes, and your life ends.”

Then he released the string, finishing in a roar.

“Fly, and return to my side!”

As the arrow passed the torch, the cloth at its tip caught fire. The flaming arrow struck the pyre, which erupted in a conflagration that rose like a hawk taking flight.

The moment the Statue of Diaka behind the pyre was illuminated, all the torches in the square were relit.

The dreamlike melody of the instruments turned joyous.

Instantly, the people began to dance, their faces bright with smiles.

Taking in the spirited scene, Edgar took Elise’s hand and cried, “Let the Hunter’s Funeral begin!”

In response to Edgar’s cry, one of the townsfolk beat a drum with renewed vigor.

DOOM! DOOM…!

***

THOOM! THOOM!

East, on the Great Road, thousands of soldiers marched to the beat of a drum.

The standard-bearer at their head carried the Imperial flag: a two-headed dragon.