Aloisia bobbed her head in a single nod, not wanting to argue the point. Instead, ensuring Kaja could stand on her own, she went to the nearest tree and broke down a branch with her blade. Stripping the smaller branches to make a smooth pole, she began securing the bound legs of the doe with Mavka’s help.
Kaja started back to her own kill, where Neiris and Dhara were tying it to a branch of their own. Aloisia signalled to Mavka, inclining her head. But as Kaja approached, Dhara told her she would certainly not be carrying it back.
Under Dhara’s instruction, both Kaja and Neiris were to be on look-out with Mavka, as they headed back to the mares. Aloisia and the other three huntresses bore the weight of the kills. The doe had been old, but it hadn’t made it lighter. She balanced her branch across one shoulder, keeping a blade out in her other hand. While her shoulder would not thank her for it, she resolved that she’d rather be armed and alert, especially if the bear had not been alone.
Luckily, if the bear had any companions, they did not show their faces. They made it back to the clearing, and exhaustion wore on them all. Their kills were wrapped in coarse blankets and set upon their mares for the ride back to the guild. They would present them to the Temple come morning.
The steady beat of hooves lulled Aloisia into a near trance as they made their way back. As the guild came into view, she spotted light in the windows of her house. Either a thief had been rather foolish, or Tristan was waiting for her as he’d promised. After all, he knew where she kept the spare key. The thought of seeing him sent a wave of calm through her, though she was still restless in her need to enter the Dead Woods in search of the blue flames.
The huntresses rode to the store house, joined to Dhara’s home, where they would leave their kills until morning. Aloisia dismounted and heaved the doe from her horse, carrying it on her shoulder into the building. There she found a hook from which to hang it by its bound legs.
She guided her mare back to the stables and patted her on the nose. “Good girl, Jem,” she murmured as she passed the reins to the stable hands.
Kaja looped an arm through Aloisia’s as they headed towards their homes.
“Do you want to come inside?” Aloisia asked. “Tristan’s in there.”
Kaja nodded.
“Are you sure you’re all right?”
“Just a bit shaken.”
Aloisia squeezed her arm as they entered her house. Tristan glanced up from where he lounged on one of the log benches, setting down his book beside him.
“Finally,” he said. “I wondered how much longer I’d have to wait for you all to return.”
“It’s been a trying hunt,” Aloisia explained, starting into the story of what had happened with the bear. She fetched three tankards as she spoke, filling them with ale from a small cask she had propped on a table against the wall.
“A bear? By the Divines, that’s terrifying.” Tristan sipped his ale, alarm upon his face.
“In the woods, nature rules. We are naught but invaders there,” Aloisia said over her tankard.
Kaja stared down into her own. “Did you see its eyes?”
“The darkness there…” she trailed off, unable to put words to what she’d seen.
“It was unnatural.” Kaja caught her gaze. “I thought perhaps, with how fast it all went, I’d imagined it.”
“No, I saw it too.”
“Darkness?” Tristan frowned.
Kaja cradled the tankard in her palms. “I’ve seen nothing like it before. Then again, I’ve never been so close to a bear before either.”
“True enough.” Aloisia barked a laugh. “Let’s hope we never get so close to one again.”
“I’ll toast to that.” Tristan clanked his tankard with theirs.
A faint smile tugged at Kaja’s lips. Aloisia couldn’t shake the wrongness she felt at the thought of the bear, of its eyes clouded with darkness.
“What of the Temple?” she asked, shifting attention from the hunt. “How was your first proper day as an ordained priest?”
Tristan sighed. “They have everyone they can spare researching the markings on Brighde’s body.”
“That’s good, surely?” She tugged at the bandage, still wound over her palm.
“It would be if we were making any progress. We’ve had little success thus far. From what we can deduce, it looks like a language. However, it matches nothing in our books. Or at least the ones we’ve searched.”
