Just One Drink (178 page)

She looked over her shoulder and saw her brothers in the distance trying to keep up. They were doing their best, but she wasn’t surprised that they were struggling to keep up. Karla was built for running. She had a slender frame, like her mother, but had legs like her father. She had never really had to work at it, being that it came easily thanks to genetics. She had petite breasts which often upset her, but she knew that what she lacked there she had on her ass two fold.

So, as her thighs chugged along through the woods she saw that the buck had begun to slow down. It’s movements were becoming more sporadic and it was obvious that it was doing its best to shake her from it’s tail.

Every animal had the same strategic tendency to try to bob and weave, but when your hunter was a human, nothing could save you. As the buck slowed down, Karla pulled an arrow out of her quiver. She notched it as she ran after the buck.

She slowed down a bit and hopped atop a tree that had fallen during a storm. She lined up her shot and loosed the arrow. It lodged into the back of the buck, causing it to stagger. Karla waited, hoping that it would fall, but even though it staggered it continued onward. She swore under her breath and continued after it.

The buck entered a clearing after a short bit where it fell to the ground. Karla entered the clearing a few moments after and saw it hit the ground. She approached the buck slowly and pulled the knife that she carried in her boot out of the sheath.

She knelt down beside the creature and listened to it’s raspy breaths. She glanced at the arrow that had pierced its back and knew that she must have hit a lung. Being this up close to such a majestic creature nearly brought a tear to her eye.

Holding the knife up to the neck of the deer she whispered a short Nordic prayer under her breath thanking the gods for such a wonderful gift on her birthday. She wouldn’t let it go to waste. Karla drew the knife across the buck’s neck and stood up, allowing it time to die.

As she stood up she glanced back in the direction that she had come in, expecting to see her brothers or father following. However, there was no one to be seen. She looked in different directions, realizing that this clearing was the connection of a number of different paths.

Karla slowed her breathing to try to see if she could hear anyone coming. Closing her eyes she tried to isolate any noise. The only thing that she could hear was the last, dying breath of the buck beside her.

She bent down to finish the ritual of killing the buck that she had seen her father perform before. There wasn’t much to it, but she wanted to make sure that when they caught up to her that they knew she was ready to be a hunter just like them.

She turned the buck over so that it would drain the blood and not taint the blood, but as she reached over to do that she heard a twig snap in the distance. Turning around, she called out to her brothers and father.

“Father, brothers, I killed the buck. Come and see.” She turned back to her work but didn’t hear or see them coming. She stood back up slowly, fearful of who she may have just called out to. As she stood and looked towards where she originally heard the noise, another twig snapped behind her. Spinning around she caught a glimpse of a shape in the distance and she walked towards it. She picked her bow up off the ground and drew an arrow from the quiver.

Tentatively she stepped forward, trying to see if she could find the mysterious shape she had seen. Sadly, she was unable to find anything. As she strained her eyes into the distance something rushed past her ear.

Karla pulled away and quickly looked over at a tree where an arrow quivered in a tree. Ducking she spun around and loosed an arrow in the direction of the first arrow. As she did this she saw two arrows fly in her direction. She dodged both and took off in the opposite direction.

She hadn’t gotten a good look at what had shot at her, but in the quick second she had to look at the arrow that nearly killed her she had noticed that the fletching looked familiar. She felt her legs turn to jelly as she stopped running.

Her brothers were the ones who were shooting at her. This was an elaborate prank to get her away from the hunt. Angry more with herself than at her brothers she turned around to confront them and to walk back towards the village, but something caught her attention.

As she turned around she wasn’t confronted by her siblings but rather a large figure. He was about the size of her brother and he towered over her. His hair was long and tangled, his face covered in a matted beard. He was dressed in a cloak that blended in with the surrounding forest.

Especially now that it was spring and the forest was lush it was no wonder she hadn’t seen him. Karla looked up in horror into his piercing blue eyes. With two steps he was on top of her and before the last thing she remembered was him snatching the bow from her hand.

****

Karla’s head throbbed as she struggled to open her eyes. She decided that it must have all been a terrible dream and that she must have eaten something strange before heading to bed that would have caused her to have such a vivid nightmare. But as she reached out to grab at the blankets in the bed she realized that they were not her blankets. In reality they were the blankets of the man who knocked her out.

She bolted upright and scanned the room, searching for the man. Her hand shot to her boot where she expected her knife to be but found only the sheath. The knife had been taken. Slowly she realized that she was alone in the room and listened closely to hear the sounds of an axe chopping wood coming from outside.

She had some time to gather herself and try to get away. Her eyes darted around the room as she looked for a weapon of some sort. She knew that she wanted to get her bow back, but she had a feeling her family would just be happy that she made it back alive, regardless of the bow.

Karla slid out of the bed and laid on the floor in an attempt to avoid the windows. She didn’t want to risk the chance that he would look in and see her. Crawling along the floor she saw a number of things that she wasn’t expecting. For one thing, on the table there was a plate of food made up and a mug of water sitting next to it.

She looked at it and felt her stomach growl, but she couldn’t trust him, let alone his food. Another thing she found was that her gear was laid out nearly on a chair next to the door.

She crawled over to it and hung the quiver across her back and slid the knife back into her boot. Karla then delicately picked up the bow and opened the door quietly. As the door creaked open she came face to face with a large wolf.

The beast’s muzzle was covered in blood and it began to snarl quietly. The hair on the back of the wolf’s neck stood up and bristled as Karla very calmly closed the door in the wolf’s face.

The lock on the door engaged and the wolf went ballistic. The large beast began to bark and scratch at the wooden door and Karla tore across the room towards the other door hoping that the large man would make his way to calm the dog and not think to go to the other exit. Karla had hoped incorrectly though.

As she reached out for the cast iron handle the door flung open and she was once again confronted by the large man. Not to mention the wolf which had torn around the house and bounded inside the room. The wolf was on high alert and it was obvious that there was very little that Karla would be able to do. However, the man didn’t do anything except for give her a command.

“Put the bow down slowly.” Karla was shocked to hear the man’s voice. It was raspy, but it was much more delicate than she had been expecting. Judging by how they had met she assumed that his voice would match his violent acts.

She did as she was told though and set her bow down on the table. Instantly, the wolf relaxed and sat down, its tail wagging. The man also relaxed, also in sync with the dog. “Some guard dog he is. If you don’t have a weapon he thinks you’re here to feed him.”

Karla stared at the man incredulously, completely unsure of how to even handle her current situation. The man made the first move though and reached out his hand. “The name is Rolki. It’s great to finally meet you.” Karla didn’t move, still frozen in her spot.

“I understand your hesitation. I live here and there have been a number of times I’ve seen you out in the woods.” However, I can’t get too close to the village so I watch from afar.” The man shook his head and laughed. “I know how strange it sounds. But I envy you and how gracefully you’re able to make your way through the woods.”

“If you envy me then why did you kidnap me?” Rolki stared at her in confusion and then made a face of understanding.

“Oh, no. You must have hit your head when you tripped. I saved you.” Karla looked at him, her expression unchanging. “Those men, they were trying to kill you for the buck. How hard did you hit your head?” Karla shook her head and sat down in the stool that was sitting next to the table.

“No, those were my brothers. They were playing some kind of twisted joke gone wrong.”

“Oh, well this is embarrassing,” the man said as he sat down in the chair on the other side of the table. “I saw them shoot arrows at you and rushed in to help. That was when you stumbled back.

I tried to catch you, but ended up just grabbing the bow from your hand as you fell.” He pushed the plate across the table to her. “Please, eat something. You must be starving.” She was, so she reached out and grabbed a piece of the dried meat that was on the plate.

“So, this is all a misunderstanding?” Karla’s teeth tore into the meat as she waited for his answer. He reached out towards the plate and grabbed a piece of meat.

“I swear to you, I would never do anything to endanger anyone.” She watched him in silence as he ate the dried meat, flecks of meat got caught in his beard which he gently brushed aside. As they ate in silence Karla was still slightly unsure about this man. She couldn’t help but be taken by him though.

He had changed out of the cloak and was only in a pair of trouser and a tight fitting shirt. His arms were as wide as tree trunks and she could see the definition of his muscles through the shirt. He was, in essence, the perfect man in her eyes. As she finished chewing the jerky that he had given her, she sat back in her seat.

“So, tell me your side of the story. Why were you banished?” The man’s jawline got taught and he tossed the piece of meat to the dog who gladly accepted. Leaning forward in his seat, Rolki raised a finger towards her face.

“What have you heard?”

****

Karla sat in fear while Rolki stared into her very soul. She had thought his eyes were almost beautiful before, but under this kind of scrutiny she felt as though they were almost too dangerous. His pupils seemed to shift and change as if convincing her to tell him everything that she knew.

He was clearly blessed by the gods with those eyes. She looked down at the plate of food, but his hand flew out and grabbed her. His hand caught her just under the jaw and even though it seemed like his hands could crush her, they were delicate.

“I-I-I,” she stammered. She didn’t know what to tell him, because she was scared that if she said something wrong that he would punish her for it. As if he had read her mind his hand relaxed even more and his fingers grazed her cheek tenderly.

“I only heard about you for the first time today. My brothers treat you like a horror story that you tell children so that they behave.” She could feel tears welling up behind her eyes as she spoke.

“There’s no reason to be scared,” Rolki said. “I know that you aren’t the one starting these rumors.” Karla took a deep breath and exhaled, calming herself.

“They said that about twenty years ago you disfigured your wife and she killed herself.” Karla looked up to try and read his expression, but she couldn’t seem to get any kind of read on him. His face sat still and somber.

“They said that she cursed your name and that you were banished to live here.” Karla looked away as she finished, “and it was my father that banished you.” As she said that last bit, Rolki took his hand away and sat back in his chair.

“So you’re the daughter of the Great Haygar.” Karla looked up and saw a smile creep across Rolki’s face. With a small laugh he continued. “That explains a lot.” He pushed away from the table and began to pace the room.