The knife struck the target on the wall.

A celebratory roar suddenly erupted throughout the tavern as Lio raised his arms up to the crowd of Aethe'venar. He spoke up to them with the flaunting posture of someone who had tasted victory.

"I told you! I am a great hunter! Perhaps greater than all of you!" Lio pointed at the packed audience while they laughed and guffawed at his assertion.

Elyne was among the voices laughing at the young Venar while she sat up on her barstool.

She sat alone by the counter and breathed in an aroma of alcohol and sweat while the rest of her tusked hunters populated the rest of the tavern interior. The Aethe'venar were either grouped up in a ring surrounding Lio's performance or bunched up against the railing of the upper level. Elyne could hear the wood groan and creak beneath the occupants spectating from above. She could also hear the tavern's outside walls being battered by the howling storm wind. It was any wonder that the building still stood for as long as it did. However, with the establishment packed with patrons and the space illuminated with lantern light, Elyne counted herself lucky to be settled in the warmth away from the exterior chill.

The limber huntress continued to watch Lio parade himself around her tavern like a peacock with its feathers sprawled out. To her, the young Venar's dark braided hair was too tidy, his tusks too smooth and his clothes too clean to be treated as anything but a pup.

"The cub throws one blade," Elyne addressed her hunters with a grin, "and thinks himself an Alpha."

Lio's cheeks flushed red as the whole tavern burst into uproarious laughter.

"I hit it right on the mark!" Lio protested. "I can't see anyone else-"

Elyne chose this moment to pull a dagger from her belt and hurl it at the same target on the wall, eliciting a look of wide-eyed surprise from the young Venar. He stared at Elyne's blade sharing the centre of the target with his own weapon.

"Well, that's-"

Lio was cut off when another knife buried itself into the target next to his blade. And then another. And another. When the young cub turned around, he instinctively ducked as several more blades flew through the air and landed on the target. One after the other, the Aethe'venar in the room hurled their blades at the wall target until the area surrounding Lio's weapon was cramped with hunting knives.

With a cluster of blades sharing the target on the wall, Elyne couldn't help but grin at the cub's embarrassed expression.

"You're good," said Elyne before gesturing to all the hunters crowding the tavern. "But you're among the best here. You might have stood out back in the Valleys but in this tavern, you're only the benchmark, cub."

Lio growled at the insult. "Let me join your guild. I promise I will not disappoint you."

"Are you begging, cub?"

The young Venar straightened up. "No. I'm just saying. If you give me a chance, I can prove myself. I can be a more valuable asset than any of the other hunters in your guild."

"More valuable than my other hunters? You think very highly of yourself, don't you?"

"I was almost a champion of the Great Hunt."

Elyne couldn't help but scoff at the way the cub's chest puffed up proudly. "There's nothing quite as unimpressive as the word 'almost'. Half the Aethe'venar here were 'almost' Great Hunt champions." Her words earned a low chuckle from the other hunters.

To his credit, he still continued. "I once assisted the Aethe'tempus with tracking a bounty."

"So have I. And so have dozens of others here. It's not uncommon for the Aethe'tempus to ask for our help. They don't like asking for it, which is what makes it fun when they do," said Elyne, eliciting another bout of laughter from the crowd.

"I was also tasked with tracking a spawnling once."

Suddenly, the hunters in the tavern fell silent.

This little pup hunted a spawnling? That was obviously a lie.

"You've...dealt with a spawnling?" Elyne asked with a raised brow.

If the cub had raised his chin any higher and his chest puffed out any further outward, Elyne was sure he would have pulled a spine. Remarkably, he was still standing.

The young Venar continued. "I was employed by a human town mayor to hunt down a monster that had been terrorizing the villagers. It took me four nights to track the beast. And on the fifth I bloodied it before finally killing it on the sixth." He looked down at the floor. "I'd be lying if I said that the hunt wasn't easy." The cub then turned up to fix a steely gaze on the crowd. "But I got the creature in the end."

A small smile grew on Elyne's face as the Aethe'venar murmured amongst themselves. Were they really buying this? She thought of calling the cub out on his falsehoods but decided against it.

That was when Elyne heard a familiar snicker from the back of the tavern, prompting everyone in the room to look to the source of the sound. The honey-eyed huntress softly sighed before turning around to face the only human in the tavern.

Agar Raj sat back in his chair with his feet on the table and his hands behind his head of chestnut hair. He occupied a table shrouded in a dim corner far from the rest of the tavern. Were it not for her night vision, Elyne would have probably never noticed Raj sitting where he did. Nor would she have noticed the towering figure sitting across from the human, donned in a pitch black hood with a large dark case strapped onto his back.

It was only when the silence filled the tavern did Raj finally realize the eyes on him.

"You think I'm lying," said the cub with an indignant tone.

For a brief moment, Raj locked gazes with the young Venar before facing the other hunters in the room. Then he glanced back at the cub with an expressionless gaze that punctuated the silence in the tavern. Everyone waited for the human to speak up for himself.

Eventually, Raj treated young Lio with a response that resembled a mixture between a shrug and a shaking head.

"Have you nothing to say?" the cub accused while he took several steps towards Raj. "I still don't understand what a human is doing in here? Is he a pet?"

When Elyne noticed the young Venar's hand resting on another dagger strapped to his belt, she moved to intercept the cub. However, the dark-haired huntress stopped herself when the black hooded figure stood up from his seat and blocked Lio's approach. The cub looked up to see two pale eyes staring down at him, prompting the Venar to flinch back from the colourless Aethelin face.

"Is that..." Lio struggled to finish the question.

The huntress shifted around on her seat as she gestured to the human still sitting down.

"The idiot with his dirty feet on the table is Agar Raj," Elyne introduced him before turning to the hooded Aethelin towering over the cub. "And that beast of a fellow standing in front of you goes by Vaspalla Praesal."

Lio's eyes widened at the sight of the hooded pale face. "Is he a...?"

"A Merdem? Yes," Elyne answered.

He then noticed the large case strapped to the Merdem's back. "A Vaspalla?"

Elyne responded with a nod. "Mm-hm. He came to me one night asking for my services. And in return, he offered me his. Their vocation is not too dissimilar to our own. After all, Death herself is a huntress, is she not?"

Praesal looked down at the cub with lifeless eyes and whispered in the common Aethelin tongue. "Would you like to meet my Mistress?"

Lio took an instinctive step backwards the same time Elyne spoke. "That, cub, was your cue to do the smart thing." She glanced down at the knife in his hand.

Elyne noticed the young Venar visibly struggle with his decision as he gripped the blade handle at his belt. Eventually, the cub conceded and reluctantly lowered his hand away from his weapon.

The huntress sighed a breath of relief while the cub retreated from the dim corner.

"Disappointing." A voice spoke in the common Aethelin tongue.

Elyne and everyone else in the room turned to face the stranger at the tavern entrance. However, she didn't need to look to know who the voice belonged to.

Standing by the doorway was Raecetor Vayam with his head of short, white hair on a strong warrior's body. He was flanked by the old Eyllum named Proel, if Elyne remembered correctly, and the young but large Lektus Muta who had one less eye than she remembered. Behind them, several other Aethe'eyllum also fanned out and arrayed themselves in front of the tavern.

"Any child too afraid to wield their weapon shouldn't be holding them in the first place," Vayam announced while locking gazes with the young cub.

The moment Lio stepped forward, Elyne shot up from her seat and halted his advance.

That was when she noticed most of the Aethe'eyllum's fangs coloured in red blood. The huntress glared at the visitors and hoped that none of it belonged to any of the humans from this town. She had worked too hard to establish her guild here and it was difficult enough to get the human residents to at least tolerate her as much as they did now. Elyne warned Vayam that if his horde so much as scratched anyone from this town, her contract was voided. Was the Raecetor stupid enough to break his promise?

She addressed Vayam in Naiye as well. "Raecetor Vayam. This is a surprise."

Vayam, Proel and Muta entered further into the tavern, followed by the rest of their subordinates. The Aethe'venar in the room shifted uncomfortably in reaction to the approaching carnivores which elicited a glaring standoff between the two camps.

Elyne tried to ignore the seething tension permeating the tavern as she spoke to the Raecetor. "Have you found what you're looking for?"

She was met with a brief silence before Vayam eventually answered her. "Sort of. But he slipped through our fingers."

"Aw. Well, that's too..."

That was when her eyes narrowed and searched the red-eyed crowd.

"Where are Sitio and Guis?" Elyne asked. "Where are my hunters?"

The Raecetor answered with another bout of reticent silence that irked the huntress. She was just about to ask him again when Vayam suddenly barked an order over his shoulder. On cue, the Aethe'eyllum moved aside to form a path for two of their brethren. The two newcomers trudged into the tavern and headed towards Elyne, each carrying a body over their shoulders.

No. They can't be...

"Wait, what are you-"

She was interrupted when the two carnivorous Aethelin walked past her and dropped the two bodies onto the counter. The corpses landed onto the wood with a loud, heavy thud that elicited a flinch from Elyne.

Then she looked down to see Guis and Sitio staring up at her with wide eyes on frozen faces. How long had they known each other? She had travelled far and wide with the brothers since their time in the Valleys. So to see them draped over the bar counter like hunted meat...

Her fingers lingered intimately near their faces before she brought herself to delicately touch their cheeks. Elyne closed her eyelids and kept them tightly shut to stave off the intrusive tears.

Who did this?

In the span of half a second, Elyne's body moved on its own accord as she drew her dagger and glided across the room. With her attack unplanned, she was surprised when the edge of her blade found itself pressed against Vayam's throat. The Aethe'eyllum all held up their weapons with hissing snarls in response to the assault. Despite the multiple fangs bared at the huntress, she continued to hold her ground and took confidence in the hunters who raised their blades.

Elyne looked up to meet Vayam's cold eyes. "What did you do?" she demanded.

Instead of an answer from the Raecetor, a large roar erupted from the large Eyllum beside him.

"Get your hands off him!" Muta yelled, stepping up to the huntress. Elyne remained unmoved by the Eyllum's approach while she heard Lio's footsteps shift forward behind her. Brave cub.

Luckily for him, the fight was stayed when the Raecetor halted his Lektus with a clawed hand. "Stand down," Vayam ordered.

Muta growled at the huntress.

"I said stand down!" he repeated himself. "Now!"

The large Eyllum flinched back and offered one last snarl before reluctantly obeying his Raecetor's command. After he had dealt with Muta's temper, Vayam then turned back to look down at Elyne.

"We did not do this," said the Raecetor. "We found them like this on the hunt for our prey. It never ceases to amaze me how one little rat can be so difficult to kill."

Elyne glared up at the Eyllum. Was their prey really this dangerous? She glanced at the Lektus' eyepatch.

"Would you mind?" Vayam asked, gazing down at the blade still pressed against his neck.

Elyne fought not to show that she had forgotten the knife in her hand by holding her glare with the Eyllum Raecetor. Eventually, she lowered the blade.

"A little rat?" The huntress mused. "Or a tiger in the brush?"

Vayam responded with a sharp grimace. "I refuse to associate him with that imagery. If you've seen him, you'd understand."

"Well, clearly he's dangerous. At the very least, he's elusive enough to force you to hire a pair of my best hunters." Elyne turned back to face Guis and Sitio lying motionless on the counter. "Yet even they weren't enough for the job."

What were these idiots doing?

She took a deep breath before turning to the hunters surrounding the room.

"Everyone out," she ordered.

When the Aethe'venar continued to stand awkwardly where they did, Elyne struck them all with a hard stare.

"Now," she said with a sterner tone.

With that, the hunters were jolted into shuffling out of the tavern, leaving Elyne alone with the Raecetor and his horde.

Vayam then addressed his own subordinates. "You too."

The Aethe'eyllum also hesitated for a moment only for their Raecetor to offer them a cold glare. As commanded, the carnivorous warriors waited for the Aethe'venar to exit before following after them. Even the bartender left the building. Eventually, the emptied tavern provided more space for Elyne and the three Aethe'eyllum war leaders with Raj and Praesal sitting in the back corner.

As well as the two corpses still lying there on the bar.

"They really should be moved," Elyne whispered to herself. "They shouldn't be here."

She actively averted her gaze from her motionless friends while she vaulted herself over the counter. The huntress then grabbed a bottle from the shelf and uncorked it with her tusk before ravenously gulping down the beverage. It wasn't until she was halfway through the bottle did she look back at the Aethe'eyllum.

"So," said Elyne, "Who are you hunting?"

"That is of no concern to-" Vayam started before being interrupted by the tusked huntress.

"Yes. You did ask for discretion and that was what I gave you. But now two of some of my best hunters are dead because of your hunt. They were my friends. You will tell me what's so important about this prey of yours or you will get no help from me."

In response, the Raecetor shared a glance with Proel beside him.

"Well?" Elyne pressed.

Vayam raised a brow at the elder Eyllum.

"Nun fecoent," Proel growled at the Raecetor. "Ni eloqeod ondoceri ollo. Ist nimu ollo nigutoo."

The Eyllum commander sighed at the elder's heated words and turned to face Elyne and opened his mouth. Then he stopped himself as his face frowned, reminding the huntress of someone who was debating with himself.

Eventually, the Raecetor looked up at Elyne and addressed her, directly. "You've heard of the Paravellan Empire?"

She answered with a nod. "This part of the island continent used to be ruled by them. However, their rule over this region was tenuous at best."

"Well, the Empire is no more. My brothers made sure of that when we stormed their capital. An inevitable outcome when the strong meets the weak."

A smile appeared on Elyne's face. "Hm. From what I've heard about the Paravellans, there were many words you could use to describe them. 'Weak' was not one of them. Everyone I talk to about the subject seems to agree that their demise was ultimately self-imposed. Their last years were plagued with political infighting, divisions and a cruel and incompetent emperor leading their government. Your attack on the capital was simply......opportunistic."

In reaction to Muta's menacing snarl, Vayam shot an arm out to stop the brute from charging at the huntress.

Elyne raised her hands in mock surrender. "Just what I heard," said the huntress before she took a swig from her bottle.

Then she turned back to face the three Aethe'eyllum. "As...enthralled as I am by the history of your rivalry with these humans, what does all this have to do with one Paravellan on the run? And why did Guis and Sitio have to die for it?"

Vayam took a deep breath and glared at the huntress who met his eyes with a level and unperturbed stare of her own. Eventually, the Raecetor capitulated reluctantly to her line of questioning.

"The night we stormed their palace, we were expecting a complete victory. Their armies were broken, their government fallen and we were on the verge of claiming back what was rightfully ours. But, alas, it was stolen away from us once again."

"What was stolen?" Elyne asked.

"A sword."

"A sword?"

Vayam nodded. "A sword that...once belonged to us. A sword that was taken from us by the Paravellans long ago and has once more been stolen by a scrawny, blue-eyed rat on the run."

"So my hunters died for a sword?"

"A sword that rightfully belongs to my people. They are deprived without it. It is no different than the Aethe'venar without their Great Hunt."

"Is that so? Because I hear differently."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm the leader of a very successful hunter guild. Arguably the best one in Pios." Elyne took another swig from her bottle before continuing. "Would you like to know the secret to my success?"

The three Aethe'eyllum offered her blank stares.

"Information," she continued. "I sent a pair of agents to the Red Plains to gather information on you."

"What?!" Muta growled as Vayam stopped him again from stepping forward.

"Why?" Vayam asked.

"I agreed to not ask questions about who you were hunting and why you were hunting him. But I never agreed to not ask questions about who you are and why you're here."

Elyne braced herself in reaction to the Aethe'eyllum straightening themselves up with visible tension.

"Now," said the huntress, "my agents do report to me of vague mentions of a human on the run and a stolen item. However, no one can seem to agree on what that item is. Some say a dagger; others say an axe or a spear. It's almost always a weapon, unsurprisingly. However, my agents suspect the older generations of knowing more than what they're saying which would suggest a secret they're trying to hide, not only from the younger generation but also from the outside world."

"I'd be careful if-" the Raecetor warned before Elyne cut him off and continued.

"But the piece of information that I found most intriguing came from reports referencing a rogue Raecetor that was apparently exiled from the Zersi? Zersa? Zerxita?"

"Xercitus," Vayam snarled which only encouraged a grin from the huntress.