18. Hunt

Cold wind rushes past you as you continue making your way deeper into the forest. It started lightly snowing a few minutes ago, however, that has started picking up along with the wind. Pulling your cloak tighter around your body you and struggle slightly to take another stride forward. The snow is up past your ankles and clings to your boots with every step. You're not sure where you're headed since it's too dark to make out your surroundings. However, the thought of turning back sends an uncomfortable jolt of fear through you. The unseen assailant hasn't caught up to you, or even found your trail, for all you know. Yet, you feel compelled to keep pressing forward into the dark unknown. You had made sure not to walk too deep into the forest before making a sharp turn left and walking parallel to it's edge. Despite this you can no longer see the boarder of the forest or hear the noise from the village. Glancing around nervously you start questioning your sense of direction. You had turned left, right?

As you're looking around you think you hear something in the distance. Straining to listen, after a moment, you make out the sound of someone making their way through the forest. You feel your heart sink slightly but quickly make your way behind a large tree. Sitting down in the cold snow, you press your back against it's strong truck, waiting anxiously. After a moment the sound of heavy steps trudging through the snow approaches. There's a pause and you wince when you realize there's an obvious trail of footsteps leading to where you are. Sure enough, the steps resume, and a moment later you see a shadow cast on the ground before you. Looking up you're confused to see an unfamiliar, male, Dane looking down at you. He, on the other hand, seems to recognize you as a slow grin spreads across his half covered his face. A long, dark, shadow runs across the top half of his face, ominously obscuring his eyes. You're surprised to see he doesn't have a beard, and dark of stubble sits on his wide jaw, as if he's just started growing it back in. Resting on his back is a large wolf skin that covers a thin cloak underneath.

He pulls the hood of the cloak down further over his face before taking a step forward. His large figure leans down slightly and though it's covered you can tell his body is quite broad. "Found you." His voice is deep and almost playful. You find that can't speak and remain still when he reaches down towards you. His fingers curl around your upper arm and you're pulled up in a swift motion. Your other arm is still under the your cloak and you slowly slide it behind your back, gripping the hilt of the dagger you're holding, tightly. Once he removes his hand and takes a step back you pull your arm out and plunge forward. The blade is only a couple of inches long but you just need enough time to get away. As you start backing up you see the man look glance down at the blade still sticking in his abdomen. He looks back up at you and the smile he gives you sends a deep shiver down your spine. Not wasting anymore time you quickly turn and start running deeper into the forest. Glancing over your shoulder you're slightly confused to see the man is only walking in your direction. It worries you that he doesn't seem in a rush to catch up to you but keeping moving ahead.

The heavy snow continues to hinder your movements and eventually you have to stop to catch your breath. Panting as you lean against a tree you keep your eyes peeled for any signs of movement. After taking another deep inhale you quickly snap to attention when you hear footsteps crunching in the snow. Not waiting to see what appears you quickly take off around the tree. Pale slivers of moonlight illuminate your way as dark, ominous, trees surround you in every direction. You startle slightly when the deep of sound of laughter echoes to your right. Your legs ache but you don't dare stop as a moment later the same laugh echoes to your left. The sound fades away and the forest is silent for the next few minutes. The wind picks up again as the snow continues whirling around you, slowly obscuring your vision, as it grows thicker. Your pace slows down slightly when you can no longer see in front of you. The sound of a branch breaking behind you rings out and you quickly speed up again. A moment later you can hear the sound of quick, heavy, footfalls following you. The sound increases as the figure gains on you, and you gasp when thick arms wrap around your torso, and you're pulled to the ground.

The man rolls you on to your back, before he laying on top of you, and pinning you down. You struggle against him and try pushing against his chest with your hands. He sits up slightly before grabbing your wrists and slamming yours back into the snow. The hood of his cloak falls back during the commotion and when you stop moving you look up to see his now exposed face. A thick, messy, patch of short hair covers the top of his head. You can see part of the sides and back of his head have been shaved around the same time as his beard. Moving your gaze down further they stop when they land on his wild eyes. Before you can get a better focus on him he leans down towards and whispers, "That was fun." He pauses for a moment before pulling away and getting off of you. He reaches a hand down to help you up but you ignore it and stand on your own. Once you're up he grabs your arm and swiftly moves behind you. He pulls your hands behind your back, and ties rope around your wrists, holding them together.

He moves to stand back in front of you and you wince as he reaches out. With your eyes still closed you feel him grab your waist and sling you over his shoulder. He continues carrying you deep into the forest and after a while he's joined by the hooded group of men you had seen earlier. Eventually, you reach what seems to be their camp and he tosses you down next to an extinguished campfire. He crouches down before it and in a few moments a fire blazes before you. Glancing around you see a few makeshift tents spread out around the perimeter and the other men retreat into some of them. The man walks over to you and roughly helps you to your feet. Wind and snow whip around your frame as his multicolored eyes bore into you. He studies you intently as if trying to figure something out. After a moment he says, "You must really be something for the King to pay me so much." Your eyes widen in surprise at his words and feel a small sense of relief. However, that quickly changes when he goes on to say. "Perhaps, I should take you as payment instead, and see for myself what is so special."