Demon Hunters
Dmitri
yawned as the group marched towards the Maverick estate grounds. The leader of
the caravan had stopped Xena and Dmitri last night. The plan was to let Xena
and Dmitri, the youngest in the group, go and try to get permission to explore
the estate looking for Hati. Xena knocked gently on the door. There was no
answer. She knocked harder. Still no reply. “Are they not home?” Dmitri stepped
up and grabbed the knocker. Xena shot him an angry look. “If they didn’t
respond to my knocking, what makes you think they will respond to that thing?”
“I don’t
know…I just wanted to try it. M-maybe they just – ” Xena threw her hands up and
groaned. “Fine. Fine. Go ahead, play with your little knocker then, Dmitri.”
“Don’t be
like that, Xena. I’m just trying to help.”
“No, no
you’re not. You only want to bother or embarrass me.” Dmitri looked visibly
shaken. A bit of anger and fear flared up in his eyes for a moment. She heard
him whisper something under his breath. He pulled on the knocker and let it
drop into place. Before the echo had fully stopped, the door was pulled open by
a butler. He was not from the Maverick estate, or so the Regale emblem told
Xena. “Greetings, travelers. I hope you will excuse my curtness, but the Lord
and Lady are unavailable presently. I shall go and fetch one of their
retainers.” He closed the door and departed. Xena couldn’t believe that the
servants had not answered the door when someone knocked. But as soon as the
knocker was struck, there was an answer. She felt sick inside for being so rude
to Dmitri, but Xena would sooner die than apologize to him.
The door
opened up to reveal another butler. He was much older than the first one, and
had a refined look. His clothes were neat, and he wore a dress coat while the
other butlers wore only a vest. “Good day. I am called Winston and I am the
overseer while my Masters are away. I apologize for the delay. I was rather
busy, but that is little excuse. Make yourselves comfortable in the meeting
room, if you desire.”
“Thank you,
sir. But we will only be here for a short time. We would like permission to
explore your estate. We are on official Leneel Sect business.” Winston narrowed
his eyes and gave a pointed look. “I see. And what business is this, exactly.”
“Classified.”
Xena answered. Winston stood in the doorway and confronted her. “I do not like
your attitude, young lady. I do not take kindly to your kind to begin with, and
I have been rather frustrated of late. I would hate to vent that pent up rage
upon you.” Xena shot him a glare. “I will do as I like!” Winston removed one of
his gloves and slapped Xena with it. “Answer me like that again, and next time
I will use my hand.” Dmitri stepped between the two of them. “Um s-sir?”
Winston gave him a powerful glare. Dmitri swallowed hard and continued. “We are
looking for a powerful demon.” Xena punched him in the back. “That is
classified, Dmitri!”
“Ah…you
mean the Ice Wolf, Hati? Yes. I was aware of his presence. The beast has done
no harm to the estate, so I was going to leave it be. However, if you perceive
it to be a threat, you may remove it. I will be accompanying you. And I shall
bring along another, simply for my sake.” He turned and called up into the
house. “Ice! Come hither this instant.” A small boy ran down. It was eerie how
much the boy mirrored Winston. Ice looked as though he could be Winston’s
grandson. He bowed slightly and looked at the two church hunters. “Yes, Mr. Winston?
How am I to assist you today?” Winston pointed towards the guests. “We will go
and help these fellows. The plan is to go and hunt the demon wolf somewhere on
the property.”
“Okay, I
see. I am glad to help.” The boy turned to Dmitri and bowed. “I hope to be of
some assistance to you.” Dmitri nodded. The boy pointed off to the east. “The
creature has begun its assent up Mount Sickle. You had best hurry to catch it.
If you do not, I’m afraid that it will be nigh impossible to stop it.” Xena and
Dmitri looked at each other. They exchanged fearful glances. The boy nodded.
Winston continued his thought. “As you see, Hati is but one of three demon
wolves. Should Hati succeed in his quest, then the next one will be released.”
This
information confirmed what the Demon Hunters had feared. If this wolf
succeeded, then the world would be plagued by another. One more powerful than
Hati. It was just as the legends told. But Xena couldn’t help but wonder if the
legends could be wrong. Was the bedtime story she had heard so often a reality?
Xena dismissed those thoughts. “So, how do we stop it?” Winston shrugged. “You
had best take us to your group. We do not have much time and we have much to
do.” The duo nodded and departed with the butlers in tow.
*****
“So…they
move to destroy Hati?” Two church assassins knelt before the speaker. “I see…”
The one assassin stood. “Lord Tomas, what – ”
“By Rohda,
I will be addressed as High Priest!” The speaker tossed a glass of some drink
at the assassin. He caught it and charged up a spell. “At ease, brother.” The
other assassin said to soothe his comrade. Tomas fidgeted in his chair. “If you
are so eager to get your claws bloodied, go and kill the servants. The less
here the better.” The man took a deep breath and turned.
“I don’t
understand how Kyle can be so difficult.” The remaining assassin shook his
head. “My brother is simply going stir crazy. You should have let him track
down the Northerner.” The Priest shook his head. “No. He would have killed the
man. I needed you to do it.” The priest stood and ran a finger through his
greasy hair. “I’m not so sure it was wise to dwell underground so much. I
actually miss the dry sun.”
“Are the
preparations complete?” Tomas stood and motioned for Kyle to follow. “I need
you to go with the Gran Magus. Follow this Northerner and see that he returns.”
Kyle nodded again. “What are you planning, master Tomas?” The priest smiled
darkly. “They will not succeed in stopping Hati. The seal will be broken, and
Skoll will be released.” Kyle understood and finished. “You plan on releasing
Fenrir the dark wolf, correct?” The priest smiled. “Of course. And if that
monster isn’t enough to suppress the north, then I shall release our trump
card.” The priest pulled a vial of blood out from his sleeve. “If they manage
to stop Fenrir, then I will just have to release Mother Earth upon them.”
*****
Winston
stood with his hands clasped behind his back. Ice pointed to a small peak on
the map as Winston began to speak. “This is White Hill. Hati will need to wait
on the top of this smaller hill until the moon is at its peak. Once the moon
begins to descend, it will need to rush to the top of Mount Sickle. We don’t
have enough time to cut it off at the river, so we will need a new strategy.”
“Thanks
grandpa, but we knew that.” Winston looked at the leader. He slipped his hand
out of his glove and slapped her with the glove as well. Xena flinched slightly
at the sound. “Goodness…What is it with you women? Such rude behavior. Now if
you would please, woman, allow me to finish.” Winston put his hand back in the glove
and continued.
“As I was
saying, we do not have the time to cut Hati off at the river. We will need to
come up with a new method of attack.” Ice nodded and handed Winston a slip of
paper. “Unfortunately, it is entirely too risky. If we don’t manage to pull it
off, we may endanger the entire world.” The group looked at him with a mix of
dread and confusion. Ice finished Winston’s thought. “We will need to ambush
Hati as he is devouring the moon.” The more experienced in the group, including
Xena, laughed at his statement. Dmitri spoke over them. “How do we do that,
Winston?” He asked. Winston frowned and stroked his chin. “We will need special
weaponry. Perhaps equipment with runes inscribed on them, like your companion’s
sword.” Xena shook her head. “No way is he going to use my sword for your
random ideas. I’d rather die.”
“If we
don’t use it, you will.” Ice said with heaviness in his voice. The other
hunters finally stopped laughing. “Hold a moment. Go back to the part about it
eating the moon. Are you serious?”
“Of course
I am. Why else would I tell you? It is written in the legends. Am I wrong,
miss?” Xena shook her head. She began to tell the story she had learned. “Hati
is one of the three demon wolves. It was once a regular wolf pup, but powerful
magic changed it. It now has power over the Pillar of Sapphire. It uses water
and ice magic to destroy those who would hunt it.”
“But what
does this have to do with the moon?” Dmitri continued her story. “Hati needs to
eat the moon to gain power.”
“Shut up!
I’m telling the story! Hati has a brother, Skoll. Hati and Skoll need to pull
energy from the moon and sun in order to get enough magic to free their mother,
Fenrir, from a magical prison somewhere in Col. Hati will not so much eat the
moon as he will absorb its power.” The group began to chuckle again. They
apparently did not believe in the legends. “Well, that is just a legend.”
Winston smirked. “And legends are not the complete truth.” Now, the butler had
a smile across his face. “How pitiful. I would have thought that a member of
the great Leneel Sect would have a bit more faith in legends.” Winston shrugged
and turned on his heels. “It appears that we have little time to sit here
arguing. Shall we go or shall we stay? I shall furnish some appropriate
weaponry on the way up to the peak.” Winston waltzed over to the supply wagon
and began helping himself to supplies. No one bothered to stop him.
Dmitri sat
alone, watching the moon drift slowly overhead. It was odd. He thought he had
heard another voice in his head earlier. Xena had yelled at him at the estate,
and then he heard it. The voices had returned, but they were different. This
one was feminine. It was moving. Seductive. It was barely a whisper, but it had
nearly seized control of him. He could have hurt Xena. And to make things
worse, he kept hearing it. It would leave honeyed words on his ears. Teasing
him. Tempting him. But unlike the other voice, there was no malice in the
voice. It did not tell him to kill. It only told him to follow and obey. But
unlike the other voice, this one prodded him with consequences. Disobedience
would result in the death of those he held dear. Just as Dmitri would have
begun screaming, he heard footsteps behind him. Xena stood with her hands on
her hips. “Are you going to pout here all day?”
Dmitri just
shrugged and stood up. Once at a stand he apologized. Xena was quiet for a
moment. “Look, Dmitri.” The two locked eyes for a time. Finally, Xena spoke
again. “I…said somethings…in a way…that was…wrong.” The pain was clear on her
face. Dmitri smiled and put a hand on her shoulder. “It’s fine, Xena.” She gave
a half smile before brushing his arm off of her. “And what happened to you, Dmitri?
You seem…different. You no longer stutter, you no longer are quiet. You have
even done some things that I would have considered bold for you.”
The voice in the back of his head
whispered a reply to him. He responded. “I’m just becoming a better hunter,
Xena. I’m trying to become the partner you’ve always wanted.” The words dug a
hole straight to Xena’s soul. Before either had the chance to apologize again,
a howl rent the quiet night in twain. The camp was a buzz of activity as
Winston handed out the modified weapons. The group ran up to the top of the
mountain in chase of the Great White Demon Wolf, Hati.
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