Chapter Six

  The New Order

  The trained stead Cailean brought Gwen to the Severed Mountains with had proven to be quite useful to get around. Heading southeast from the Severed mountains Cailean came across the lake and seaside city of Kildridge. He stabled his horse and was met with many looks as he made his way through the city. The Ursaling coat on his back had caused stirrings of rumors that a Huntmaster was in Kildridge. He came to one of the pubs by the ports. He looked over and saw the fleet of ships that traveled the frozen seas to gather fish and shellfish for the town. One of the things that made Kildridge famous was that it was the port that the Never Ending left from. It was a massive ship said to be the mightiest men of the land had ever constructed. A ship with a promise to sail the frozen seas and end once and for all the belief that the continent was the only patch of earth that the Goddesses rose over the water.

  It never returned. This land was all humanity had it seemed. A small patch of earth the Goddesses rose out of the crashing and cold waters of the Frozen sea. Something meant to be a paradise the Goddesses made before man betrayed them.

  Cailean asked around, asking if the humble port town was safe and if any monsters of winter threatened them.

  “In the lake outside town, winters awoken a Draguron in the lake, it's where we get freshwater fish, but the last three men trying to fish it have been dragged into the depths,” a citizen told him.

  “I need meat,” Cailean said to him.

  “Yes, the butcher, we’ll gladly give a Winter Hunter whatever he needs,” he rushed to lead Cailean to the butcher. The citizen rushed in, demanding that this brave hero be given anything he needed.

  Cailean approached the butcher, the Ursaling coat showing that he was a Hunter of the highest order. “I’ve heard of a Draguron, I need salmon, eight pieces should do,” he said.

  “Yes of course, of course,” the Butcher rushed to his snow case to fetch the pink preserved seafood and bag it for the noble Hunter. “Goddess bless you, Winter Hunter,”

  “May the Goddesses bless us all,” Cailean said as he reached into his pocket for what was left of his coin to pay.

  “No, no,” The man pushed the package of fish to Cailean’s chest and with his other arm pushed Cailean’s hand away from his pocket, “The Winter Hunters pay enough debt to eat free under any roof in the land. This is for your works, Winter Hunter. You pay us with your service,” he said.

  Cailean took a deep sigh, while he felt guilty and a bit ashamed at the idea of taking charity, he didn’t want to insult this noble butcher who was only trying to serve the land and Goddesses in his own way, “Thank you,” Cailean bowed his head to the man, “To see the spring is found,” he said.

  “To see the spring is found,” the butcher repeated.

  Cailean took his fresh fish and mounted his horse riding it just outside the town, following the path to a brackish lake just outside the village. He reached for a piece and threw it into the center of the lake, as it hit the surface of the water a great black and blue beast broke the surface and with its large jaw open it grabbed the morsel before falling back down.

  The Draguron was said to reach for a passing man, dog, or even child who got too close to the edge of the lake where it slumbered into the water before ripping it apart so fast there wouldn’t be enough time for its victim to drown.

  Cailean took a step back from the lake as he threw another piece closer to the edge, baiting the Draguron to leap closer to the edge. Cailean took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and took a step toward the lake. He concentrated on his hunter senses, letting time slow down. A faint show flake fell to the half-iced lake and rested upon it before being tossed by the exposure of the great creature. A monstrous carnivorous fish with two tentacles for arms lusting forward towards any prey that would be foolish enough to come within range of its strike. Cailean jumped back and drew his short sword, then leaped forward and twisted the blade in his wrist, pointing it down and making a sure strike in its skull, the blade puncturing all the way to the inside of its mouth. There between rows upon rows of jagged teeth, it began to tender the creature's simple brain as I bucked and screamed in pain. The Winter Hunter heled true to his sword and pulled it downwards, gashing the creature's weak skull open. In his studies, Cailean had learned that beasts of water, while ferocious, lacked the hardened bones of creatures who walked the lands. The Skull was easy to fracture as Cailean ripped his blade down and split the Draguron’s head in twain. The creature fell forward, its body still halfway submerged in the water as it lay lifeless at the lake's shore.

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  Cailean pulled his sword from the monster and cleaned the bile of its brain from his blade on the Ursaling coat before sliding it back into his sheath. He reached to his belt and took a pair of hooks, rooting them in the creature, far away from the killing blow so as not to rip it, and proceeded to drag it back to the small town of Kildridge.

  Cailean, being what people assumed was a seasoned and dedicated Huntmaster, came upon the small town with a bounty of meat that could see the town fed for several nights of this unforgiving season. Monster meat, while not seen as a delicacy by any measure, was enough to fill a belly and leave a man satisfied for a night in this horrible season. Some thought that the meat from the monsters of winter carried a kind of taint to it, and it was said that was the reason it didn’t taste as palatable as a freshly caught spring bass. Those voices dulled as the sun lost its luster and the nights got colder. Food was food, at least it was when it came to winter.

  Hurlron, Dewman, and Luris, the three boys who had been working odd jobs to keep a shared room in a local pub for an extended period, saw the Winter Hunter enter their town dragging what would be a great feast behind him. They rushed to the street to look upon the great hero, as the mayor came out to welcome the Hunter back to Kildridge and give him thanks for the bounty the protector and fighter for spring had brought.

  “I’m gonna talk to him,” Hurlorn said.

  “He’s talking to the mayor,” Luris said, “He’s too busy, what are you even going to say to him?”

  “I want him to train me,” Hurlorn said as he got up, “I’m going to be a Winter Hunter,” he said, “Look at the people, look what he did for us, for everyone. What men like him do, I want to do that,” he said, smiling, “I’m doing it, you got two options,” he looked to Luris and Dewman, two men he would always call his brothers, “You got two options, and stopping me isn’t one of them, you can say nothing and enjoy the feast, or you can join me, and bring the feast,” he said.

  “I’m in,” Luris said, getting a look from Dewman and Hurlorn.

  “Are you serious, you a Winter Hunter?” Dewman asked, then turned to Hurlorn, “I’m in too,” he looked back to Luris, “Just didn’t expect that from you,” he said.

  “What else are we supposed to do, either we die in this winter, or we die for something,” Luris said, gulping and fighting his fear like a true man, “So we’re all in?” he asked.

  “Yeah, yeah, we’re all in,” Hurlorn said as they watched the Winter Hunter drag the great meal through the streets as people started to gather and cheer for him. A song began to start, and people chanted the song of spring. The people were happy, an emotion that only the greatest of joys could stir in the trying months of the winter.

  “People are going to celebrate like that next time we’re here,” Hurlorn said.

  He took a step forward, Luris followed, and Dewman followed as well, the three boys left the pub and came to the street, seeing the great Hunter in the Ursaling Coat, he turned, almost as if he could sense he was being followed, and pulled the hood off his head. The boy’s all felt different levels of confusion. This great Winter Hunter didn’t look like he had much rind on him. He was only a few years older than they were, and he carried a kind of maturity to him that maybe he didn’t realize he did, but still, he was young compared to the image the three boys had of what a true hunter would look like.

  “Are you a Hunt Master?” Hurlorn asked, leading with the most pressing question.

  “I’ve had my rights,” Cailean said. “I trained with the greatest of Hunters, I've fought next to my brothers, I’ve seen men die, and I’ve taken wounds in war with winter, I’ve spoken to druids, a druid, I’ve been given title in ceremony, I’ve seen a turning, and I’ve seen evil, do not question the Rank of a Winter Hunter, not that it offends, but rank means nothing, not in winter,” he said.

  “We want to join, my brothers and I,” Hurlorn said, keeping his back straight and his shoulders high.

  This is what Cailean was told he had to do, a chance to rebuild the Order. The Druids had seen Hunters all across the land slain by both the Dark Stalkers and the monsters emerging from the Winter without end.

  “This isn’t a winter like you’ve seen before, this winter is different,” Cailean said, worried that if he did accept these three young, so young, boys that he would be condemning them to death.

  “We’re not afraid,” Luris spoke up, “We see the bounty you bring to our people, we want to bring bounty like that,” he said.

  Cailean looked over the three boys, one of them, the first one who spoke to him, looked like he might be fit for the job, another looked acceptable, but that last boy, the one who told him they weren’t afraid looked like, well, he looked like Cailean. He didn’t have the look of a Winter Hunter, but this was a trying winter that the world had found itself in. “There's a destiny you take if you fight in this winter, how familiar are you with the rights of the Winter Hunter, with the training, can any of you even use a weapon?” he asked.

  “Dewman’s good with a bow,” Hurlon said, motioning to his brother, “I’ve seen him strike a rabbit we couldn’t even see, and I can bury an axe in a tree trunk,” he lifted his arm and flexed his admittedly impressive bicep, trying to show off, “And Luris, he,” he looked to the scrawniest of his brothers and nodded, remembering how it was him that killed the great stag they brought to the town just a day ago, “He’s got what it takes, I promise,” Hurlorn said, “We can be taught, we can be trained, we’ve no family you need to worry about taking a son away from, we’ve seen over a dozen winters with no father to protect us and we lived through them all with nothing but our bond as brothers. We have nothing, we have less than nothing,” he said, looking down.

  I fight for those with nothing, and those with even less, the line from the Oath rang in Cailean’s head, and his decision was made, “Enjoy the feast tonight,” Cailean said, “Have your fill of drink and women, for dawn tomorrow you come with me,” he said, accepting these three boys under his tutelage, three boys that could be the new beginning of the Winter Hunter order.