Chapter Text
Eira observed the colors of dawn painting their forest with golden shades, still feeling like a stranger in her own land.
She’d seen those trees for almost twenty years, she grew up and hunted among them, but then, one terrible day, her home had suddenly become an entirely different place.
Up to two years before, those woods were touched by nothing but the cold hues of a neverending winter and white mists, but then the ground had shattered under their feet, the waters had come to claim the earth, and blue had almost entirely abandoned the heavens.
The sun now shined with a gold and greenish glamor upon them, and its perfect circle had somehow changed and twisted into a cursed shape, one Eira and her brothers had only seen before painted on the ancient stones left by the Children.
“I think I’ve spotted something, sister,” Endre called her not too far away. “We must take this one before the damned red capes do!”
“A deer?” Eira dared to hope.
“More than one,” he panted, “they were distant but from their movements they seemed a little too nervous and agitated already. I think something might be after them. We must hurry.”
“I do not intend to spend another day with an empty belly, brother.”
With that, Eira clasped her bow and followed him down the hill.
They moved among the trees with quick steps, both too afraid to toss away their fading vigor in exchange for the upteenth fruitless hunt.
She couldn’t remember a time in her life where she could go more than a mile without spotting a wild beast. The red capes had soon came and sought to that inconvenience.
Bloody bastards.
“...There...Look !” Endre whispered, pointing at the open field.
It was a vision to behold.
A deer and two hinds likely at bow’s reach, all three of them watchful and prone to flight.
“You think you can take them?”
Endre twisted his mouth.
“I could, I think... But it’s risky. They might fail to spot us from here, but if I miss the shot, they would flee and be soon out of range. We can’t afford to be so bold, but if we get closer —”.
Before he could end his sentence, their preys rushed away in panic, leaving the two of them speechless and astonished.
A moment later, the culprit of that mayhem darted through the field astride a grey stallion, chasing those beasts. Strangely enough, the horseman didn’t wear red.
“...Are you fucking serious?” Endre cursed, walking forward.
They both watched from afar as the rider and the three deers disappeared through the distant trees.
“Who in the fucking world hunts like that?” she hollered, distraught. “I swear, I’d hunt down that bastard just to kill him the way his stupidity deserves.”
Endre stood on his tiptoes, his eyes aiming into the distance.
“I think his stupidity served him well...”
“What do you mean?”
In response, her brother walked forward and reached the centre of the half snowy field.
“Here, look...” he called pointing at the white ground. But the whiteness was stained in red.
“...That cunt wounded one.”
“He did,” Endre smiled, “And left us a path to follow made of hooves and blood.”
Her grin followed his, but it was touched by uncertainty.
“What if he was a red cape without a cape?”
“Have you ever seen one without?” his brother joked, “For centuries people from the south have been covering themselves in gold and vanity with every given occasion. That’s where their sole value comes from.”
“But... only the red capes have horses here.”
“And they also hunt together. That one was alone,” he objected. “Maybe he’s managed to steal one from under their asses.”
“Given the strategy I’ve just witnessed, I doubt it...”
Endre sighed and gave her one of his charming half smiles.
“Eira, I don’t care whether that man was a red cunt, a cutthroat or a Thenn. The only thing that matters is that he was alone and that he might have done most of the work with one of those deers already. We must follow him.”
She couldn’t argue with that.
“Fine,” she sighed, “but if things go the wrong way—”.
“They won’t go the wrong way,” he huffed, dragging her along with him. “We are two and he’s one. We have bows. We have wisdom and prudence which he obviously lacks. We’ll take him by surprise.”
Still unconvinced, Eira had no other choice but follow him.
They marched for a long time following the horseman’s traces into the depths of the haunted forest, until they finally managed to find a huge red stain on their path.
“He made it... one of the beasts fell there. See?” Endre whispered. “Look at that trail beyond the stain .... he must have dragged the carcass somewhere nearby.”
The red smudge continued towards a more isolated place, one surrounded by rocks and a thick foliage.
Their research ended on a small cliff not too far away, one which didn’t exist before the earthquake could scar their land.
The place had evidently been occupied for some time, for several rough tools and bones were scattered all over the ground. There was also something resembling a bedroll and the traces of a dead fire, but most importantly, there was a deer’s untouched carcass left unwatched.
“Nice spot,” Eira commented, “You can observe a lot from here now that everything around has collapsed.”
“You sure can,” Endre mumbled, “What I can also observe is a rough camp and a freshly dead deer. Our friend, though, is missing.”
“...Unlike the horse,” she observed, noticing the grey steed quietly rummaging its nose in the grass not too far away. “Can we drop the carcass on that stallion and go back?”
But Endre’s face held an unusual somberness.
“This is not what I was expecting...”
“Listen, if we hurry we’re settled for days! Even better, with this horse we’ll have an advantage during our hunt,” she insisted, too tired and famished to accomodate his sudden change of heart. “You brought us here, brother! I didn’t come all this way just to go back empty handed. Come on, the more the waiting, the more the risks.”
He wasn't that persuaded, she could tell, but she also knew they had no other choice. Endre was equally aware.
And so, watchful, they both sneaked towards the camp, and then to the deer.
Endre crouched at its side, then tried to drag its body towards the horse.
“Fuck it’s heavy...” He hissed, obviously struggling despite his remarkable strength, but hunger and lack of food were among the worst adversaries they had ever faced.
“We should have brought that nag to the bloody deer instead of the other way around, you moron...!” she grunted, kneeling at his side to help him push.
Fuming, Endre opened his mouth to retort but, out of nowhere, a stone the size of a fist darted in their direction and hit the side of his face.
Shit!
Eira had barely the time to realise what was happening before his brother could fall unconscious to the ground with an half bloodied face, while her eyes roamed in search of the hand who had just thrown that rock.
Disoriented, Eira instinctively drew her bow, but she soon realised that their attacker was already at her throat.
She had a moment to detect him when he abrubtly jumped out from the shadows to flung himself against her.
In that very moment, Eira had the chance to acknowledge that the horseman they had been following from afar wasn’t a man at all.
It was a young woman.
“Stay back!” Eira shouted trying to target the assailant before she could reach her, but the woman charged at her rushing like a furious boar, a beast even bigger than Endre and who stood at least two heads taller than her.
Eira prepared herself to counteract the attack, but the woman engulfed her effortlessly like an avalanche. She immediately found herself hurled to the ground, while the forceful clench of her aggressor around her throat pinned her down.
“Let.. go!” Eira croaked punching her arm, but the woman tightened her grasp instead, making it almost impossible for her to breathe.
She uselessly tried with kicks and knees instead, but it was like hitting an unflinching rock.
As her own sight started becoming blurry, Eira recognized the familiar shape of Endre plunging on her attacker’s back, then wrapping his arms around the woman’s neck in order to drag her away.
Those fingers made of steel finally left her throat, allowing her to feed her lungs once again.
While she coughed and gasped for air, Eira observed his brother wrestling with the woman, half of his face covered by the blood pouring from his cheeckbone, mouth and temple.
She had never seen Endre struggling against anyone before, for both ability and strength had usually been on his side, but this time things seemed different.
That beast might have already been superior in both built and vigor, but mostly and foremost she was pouncing violently and furiously on him as if he was her worst enemy alive. It was an advantage he could not have even in his best conditions.
Please, brother... Please...
When a sudden roar of pain resounded from the woman’s mouth, Eira realised that Endre had managed to hurt her in some way. A small glimmer of hope touched Eira's heart, but it was suddenly replaced by panic when, instead of falling, that beast threw her brother against the nearest tree.
Endre slammed against the hard trunk, somehow managing to remain upright on his legs, but the woman immediately threw herself at him and unleashed a storm of raging fists that could have moved mountains.
Endre curled behind his own arms trying to cushion the unrelenting blows, but Eira knew he didn’t have the energy to react anymore, nor the strength to resist much longer.
I can’t affort to lose you too, brother. Not like this.
With an aching throat and a sore chest, Eira managed to rise to her feet and clasp her fallen bow, then nocked one arrow.
“Hey, you bitch!” she shouted with a cracking voice, feeling fire burning inside her neck.
The woman’s head snapped in her direction, her face rabid and yet stunned by the sight in front of her. She stopped in place, obviously taken aback.
“You’re quick to forget what’s around you when you’re mad, aren’t you?” Eira smiled, stretching her bow.
She was expecting her to surrender or, at least, back away and flee. Instead, the woman yanked Endre back, placing him in front of herself.
Eira felt her eyes widening in surprise.
Her heart hammered in panic when the woman started approaching using the helpless shape of Endre as a shield from her arrows.
Fuck!
“Drop the bow!” the stranger growled.
“The hell I will!”
But she was cornered. There was no way out.
Endre was in no condition to stand nor fight.
Her own advantage against such brute was in her bow, yet now her brother stood between their attacker and her arrow.
She could stay in place with her bow in hand and be killed after Endre.
She could drop her weapon and die like scum.
She could flee like a coward and leave her brother to that woman’s mercy.
We should have never come here, she cursed silently.
We should have followed the next prey on sight instead of acting like crows.
Step after step, the woman kept dragging along the half-deadweight of Endre, who could manage to stand only by leaning against his captor. It was like observing death itself moving forward, slow yet determined to claim a life, and death was now standing a mere few steps from her.
Fine, then. This is how it ends.
Sheer desperation led her to throw herself against that mountain of flesh but, unexpectedly, the woman shoved Endre forward in her direction, and Eira found herself clashing against her brother’s weight instead of their aggressor's fists.
They both fell ruinously into the mud, astounded and groaning in pain. Sprawled and trapped under Endre’s body, Eira could do nothing but feel the bow in her hand being snatched away with force.
“...Please don’t,” she found herself begging, hoping her father couldn't hear her.
The woman stood imponent above her, eyeing her with contempt, then broke up the bow in her hands as if it was just a dry branch.
“...We didn’t mean to hurt anyone,” Eira persisted pitifully, “...We were just... we haven’t eaten for... days....”
Deaf to her pleas, the stranger clasped Endre by one shoulder and moved him so that he was laying on his back at her side. Unburdened from her brother weigh but still trapped by the pressure of the woman’s menacing gaze, Eira didn’t dare to move a muscle.
That colossus remained watchful and wary, her breathing heavy although far more relaxed than a few moments before. There was a dangerous, silent warning still lingering in her green eyes, one to which Eira felt the need to answer by lifting her hands in surrender.
To her huge surprise, it turned out to be enough.
“...There’s a small stream down there,” the woman grumbled, slowly walking away. “It’s meagre, but the water is quite clean if you want to tend to your friend’s wounds.”
“...H-He’s my brother,” Eira stuttered.
“And I don’t care!” the woman spat sitting on a rock not too far away, “Don’t try anything ever again with me, or I’m crushing your legs and leaving you both to feed the wolves, is that clear?”
She could only nod in response.
“Good...” the woman grunted.
Weirded out and yet too exhausted, Eira patted her brother’s face until he opened his eyes.
“...Come on,” she whispered, helping him standing up again, “Endre, can you walk?”
He answered with a low groan, but started putting one foot in front of the other.
They headed towards the stream of cold water, though Eira couldn’t fight the need to steal a glance at the camp from time to time, as if expecting that brute to change her mind and come to rip them apart at any moment.
She helped him to kneel down and wash away his blood, then ripped away a piece of cloth to clean his wounds. Luckily enough, they seemed superficial, but the echoes of that stone would soon appear on his face with yellow and purple shades.
He was lucky it didn’t make him simple.
“How are you feeling?”
“...As if a landslide had just engulfed me,” he wheezed, “What about you?”
Eira brought a hand to her throat, still feeling the presence of that unrelenting clench in her flesh.
“I’ll survive...” she grimaced, clasping his shoulder, “We both will.”
“...Maybe this, yes...” he smiled, bitter, “...but what about next, sister? Look at the state of us. We won’t be eating today, nor tomorrow, I fear. Dying in a fight would have been quicker than starvation at least... and certainly less pathetic.”
Or maybe we should have simply died along with our father during the earthquake instead.
“Dying won’t bring justice to father, nor to the others who followed him into the earth," she reminded him, but mostly herself. "I’m not giving up, and I’m not allowing you to do otherwise.”
Endre opened his mouth to retort, but heavy steps alerted them before he could utter a word. Eira felt a sudden rush when the tall woman appeared from the trees behind them, standing imposing and severe.
“...You can skin a deer, I believe,” that beast exclaimed acridly, adressing her.
Eira watched her carefully, then searched her brother’s gaze.
“I-I can... yes.”
“Good. Move you pretty arse then...” she nodded before turning away.
“...W-What?” Eira blinked, astounded.
“If you want my food you might at least earn it!” the woman hollered, “I doubt you could do so in a fight, so you’re helping me skin the bastard because it’s heavy as hell, I’m tired as fuck and it’s all your bloody fault!”
With that, that beast gave them one last accusatory glance before heading to her camp. Speechless, Eira found herself staring at her disappearing form, only to be brought back to reality by her brother.
“I’m not sure of what’s happening, but I would do as she asks...” Endre murmured.