27Chapter III: 'A menace from the trees'
"I can't believe it! I can't believe it!" Thom shouted, balling his fists and ready to punch someone very hard.
"Repeating it so many times doesn't change the fact that we're lost," Joann sighed, pulling out black hairs from the mare's tail. Not seeing the point in Joann's actions, the animal felt impatient, yet forced herself to stand still. "I told you we shouldn't have gone into Midosa."
"'I told we shouldn't have-'," Thom mimicked his sister in an annoying high-pitched voice before he was cut off by a hard slap on his left cheek. Joann had left the horse's tail and hit her brother with all her strength. Blazing eyes were glaring at the youth. The horse swished her tail and neighed unsettled, not liking the tension at all. The raven flew down from his place on a branch to Thom's shoulder, shrieking in a way which sounded suspiciously much alike to a mocking laugh. Before turning to Joann, Thom glared at the bird for a second. "What do you think you're doing?" he asked, dangerously calm.
"Hitting a little bit of sense in you," Joann sneered. Even the horse grunted uneasily at her cold tone. Watching Thom carefully, the girl leaned against a tree. The tension between the siblings had grown enormously past the last months. Constant travelling had done no good to both of them, and they needed an outlet for their agitation.
Thom glared at his sister, but before he could speak something unexpected, yet expected caught his attention.
A jumper in a tone of red that made your eyes hurt with pearl white stitches, buttons and decorative patches, above unusually plain black trousers. Thom wondered how he could have overseen it, and cursed his sister for distracting him, although that wasn't entirely fair. Long nose, cocky expression, and a small goatee decorated the hunter's face.
"Well, well. Just my luck. Two witches in one catch. The villagers will be grateful when I bring you to them. I suppose you won't mind not eating in your remaining time? It shouldn't take them long before they find a nice river to drown the pair of you in, anyway."
Nearly throwing Joann behind him, Thom growled deeply. He shook the raven from his shoulder, who took the hint and flew up in the trees, out of reach. The hunter barely paid attention to the bird; he was not about to let this treasure slip away.
After scolding her brother for being so rough, Joann looked more careful at the hunter. Vaguely, she wondered why she wasn't more afraid, was she so used to Thom taking care of her and protecting her that danger no longer bothered her? The horse slowly made her way to Joann, pushing her head against the witch as though urging her to move away.
Joann let herself be pushed backwards, but in the meanwhile she noticed this hunter wasn't the same as the one they saw before. This one was much younger, although he had the arrogance of someone who had brought hundreds of witches 'to justice'. The red coat was crowded with embroidery of silver stitches that portrayed various people together with valuable objects. For the millionth time, Joann puzzled why they didn't wore more discrete clothing, but she guessed it was because they were so proud of what they did. Unlike the coat, the trousers were nearly measly, making Horse guess he wasn't that long around in the business of catching witches, and of course, two of them at the same time would make him very loved. Sadness took over when Joann realised her last thought was all too true; they would always be hated by those who didn't understood what it meant to be a 'witch'. What a stupid term, anyway. She stroked the mare's nuzzle and instinctively held the animal closer to her.
"Leave us alone," Thom said softly, gripping the hilt of his knife. All right, maybe it wouldn't do much against that hunter's wretched mace, but Raven wouldn't go down without a fight. And damn, he was going to do his best to take that guy with him if he had to go.
Laughing at the small weapon of the witch, the hunter grabbed his mace with both hands. Andreas wasn't going to let this opportunity slip, and a witch with nothing more then a knife really didn't stand a chance against him.
"Joann, stay back," Thom ordered without looking at his sister.
Without questioning, the young woman backed away even further until she nearly tripped over the root of a particularly large tree. Leaning closely against the trunk and pulling the mare behind her, she cursed the lack of skill with a weapon. Desperately, Joann looked around for a large branch, or at least something she could use to defend herself. But it seemed that the hunter had picked out the perfect spot; there were only little twigs and leaves on the ground. So while Thom kept a close eye on the hunter, who slowly took one step forward, Joann grabbed the first branch she saw above to her, and hung on it, hoping that her weight would break it.
"Leave us alone," Thom repeated a bit louder, still blocking the hunter from reaching his sister and the animals. He took an aim at the man, just in case he had to throw his only weapon, but the hunter didn't seem to want to rush things. Savour the moment? Slowly, the predecessor approached the prey, and Thom cursed himself when he started trembling. What was wrong with him? Some stupid hunter shouldn't be able to scare Raven!
Just then, Thom heard a loud 'crack' behind him and, forgetting about the hunter for a moment, he spun around to see what was going on. He saw Joann lying on the ground in a pathetic heap of witch; the branch had finally given in to her, but it had broken so unexpectedly that the young woman lost her balance and fell. She let out a strangled warning to Raven, who had let his guard down.
The hunter jumped forward once he saw the opening, ready to strike at Thom with the long mace. Stumbling backwards, the youth fell down on the ground when –
When the weirdest thing happened.
Taking his mace backwards first, the hunter just swung the weapon towards Thom when he collapsed. He just... fell down lifelessly, with a loud thud when the mace hit the ground.
Oh, wait. Not so just.
After Thom processed what just had happened, he saw an arrow sticking out of the hunter's back. Breathless, Joann stood up with help from the horse and the tree, and she looked at the feathered missile wide-eyed. The youth looked frantically around him to see where it had come from while doing a miserable attempt at standing up. His hands kept slipping away because they were so sweaty, and his entire body was still trembling from the incident. And who had shot that arrow? For all he knew, it could be another hunter who wanted them for himself. The raven flew down and landed right in front of Thom, with a look that told the youth that he would be despised for the rest of his life if he didn't manage to pull himself together.
While looking around to see who had fired, Joann walked towards Thom to help him up. Although she tried not to look at the hunter, Horse couldn't help but notice that, although he was knocked out, the man was still breathing. In the meanwhile, Thom had stopped glaring at the raven and stood up without his sister's assistance.
"Who's there?" he asked loudly, and the bird echoed his question.
"You're welcome!" a light voice shouted back.
A very young man, nearly a boy jumped out of one of the trees, scaring the living souls out of the siblings and the animals. After she had recovered, Joann noticed how cheerful the boy looked for someone who had just shot down a man; his face was filled with joy for life and his green eyes sparkled with amusement. Apparently, he found the whole situation very funny.
"Don't do that!" Thom snapped, keeping a watchful eye on the two knifes tied to the boy's belt and the long bow around his neck. At normal circumstances, the youth already didn't like it to be startled, and this wasn't exactly the most normal situation.
Joann glared at her brother for the rude response and the mare stepped a little closer, not sure whether to trust this newcomer or not.
Playing with the feathers of one of his arrows, the boy smirked widely. "The very embodiment of gratitude, I see. Thom of the Raven and Joann of the Horse?"
Nodding slowly in response, Joann's face softened when she studied the boy further. He had freckles all over his happy face, which would have deceived her into thinking he was innocent any other day. Now however, she knew he would've killed a hunter without any remorse, or even any feelings about it. At least, that's what he implied. For such a young kid, he had too muscular arms, making him look slightly out of proportions, and a short neck and legs didn't help along. The female witch just noticed that his clothing was of a strange material when Thom interrupted her thoughts.
"Yeah, but why do you care?"
The boy chuckled. "I've heard of you two. You're supposed to be the first witches who're bounded by blood in a long time."
"You're a witch, too?" Joann asked, not capable to hide the surprise in her voice.
"You really think any other person would've helped you out a moment ago?"
She sighed heavily, knowing how right the boy was. "What's your name? I've never seen you before."
"It's Quin," he answered with a mischievous, happy smile on his face. Joann absently wondered if this witch was incapable of looking unhappy. "Of the Mouse."
"Mouse?" Thom's eye-brow quirked up, as though he doubted that Quin spoke the truth. But a second after the youth spoke, a white little rodent appeared from underneath Quin's long blonde hair. Joan shrieked and jumped a meter backwards, causing the mare to grunt uncomfortable. What was the fuss about? It was just a little hairy thing... "Okay, a mouse," the youth confirmed while shooting an irritated look sideways.
Suddenly, the hunter groaned and immediately got everyone's attention. "Still alive, eh?" Quin asked, not really expecting an answer while he bent down next to the wounded man. Harshly, and with no consideration for the hunter at all, Quin pulled out the arrow and cleaned it a bit with his jacket. Then he put it back in the sheath behind his back, where the boy kept the rest of his ammunition. The siblings looked at all this without saying a word, but when Quin drew the larger one of his knives, Thom grabbed the boy's wrist and looked at him with the most unkind expression.
Quin looked at the older witch in confusion, obviously not understanding why Thom had stopped him. But the youth simply shook his head and let go of Quin.
He flipped the hunter on his back, who spat blood in response. For someone who had been so arrogant before, the man looked most miserable right now. Red liquid trickled down his chin, and the fancy clothing wasn't quite as clean as before, although they were almost free from any blood. That changed, though, after a second, nasty cough. Still, the hunter's eyes remained closed, and Thom didn't think he'd regain concious very soon.
"Thom..." Joann said softly, unsure of her brother's intentions. "What are you doing?"
To tell one the truth, Thom wasn't sure of it himself. An earlier conversation with his sister kept ringing through his mind, boring its way into his head over and over again.
"Would you kill him if you have to? Can you do the same as Cole?"
Thom sighed. No, he could not. Even as he was staring down at the man who tried to do him in earlier, the youth couldn't even harm him if he wasn't in the heat of the moment. Was he that weak? Or was this no weakness at all?
To get Thom's attention, Quin coughed loudly. The youth looked up to him and saw how sceptical the boy was looking. "Say, I don't know what you two are doing here in the first place, but you shouldn't stick around."
Almost for the sake of arguing with Quin, who was really unnerving him, Thom replied with a tone which could've been a little bit more kind. "Why? Want to get rid of us already?" he spat out, although he wouldn't have minded at all if this was the truth.
Unfortunately for Thom, the boy shrugged. "It's not that, but Midosa is dangerous for people like you."
"You're a witch, too," Joann corrected Quin while playing with the black manes of the horse. She kept an almost paranoid close look at the mouse in the boy's neck, as though it would suddenly sprout fangs and tear her into pieces.
Quin rolled his eyes and stroked over the mouse's forehead, pretending not to notice the young woman's fear for the tiny animal. "I meant people who are unprepared."
"Oh."
"We're not unprepared," Thom sneered, picking up his knife, which he had dropped with the fall. He tried to forget about the whole hunter-thing, but just couldn't get it out of his mind.
"If you say so," the boy said, raising his shoulders. He chuckled when he saw Joann's look. "Don't worry, she won't bite."
Before either of the siblings had the chance to respond, the hunter coughed again, harder then the last time, and his pain was obvious. It seemed as though he tried to say something, but nothing came out of his mouth. Torn apart, Thom saw how the man's chest rose violently, his breathing rasped and irregular. It was so hard to believe that not so long ago, this helpless man had been a serious threat.
"I must've hit something pretty vital. You let me finish the job now, Raven?" Quin asked, mockery lacing his light and, at any other moment, pleasant voice.
Thom grunted and turned away, only to face his sister. It was like she tried to read his mind, so intensely did Joann look at him. Not planning on letting her know how he felt, the youth let his head drop. 'By the Circle, I'm supposed to protect her! Not to walk around like some idiot who doesn't know what he's doing.'
Taking the youth's silence as a consent, Quin grabbed his largest knife firmly, which had a slightly curved blade of about six inches. Clean and quickly, the boy didn't seem the least disturbed by his own actions. He wiped the blood off the knife with the hunter's own clothing and put it back next to the other.
A wave of nausea went through Joann and she grabbed the horse's manes to tightly that the animal turned her head to the young woman. Equally brown eyes met each other, and the serenity coming from the mare helped Joann to ignore the vile taste in her throat and resist her stomach, which was begging to let something go up.
"Do you two know where to go from here, or should I help you out?" Quin asked, sounding much more friendly then he did before. His green eyes went from Joann to Thom, the latter refusing to look at him.
Two contradicting answers were thrown at him, making the boy grin. For a second, the siblings glared at each other, neither willing to give up. Then Joann rolled her eyes. "Oh, come one, Thom. We're lost and I'd like to get out of this place as quickly as possible, if you don't mind."
Well, Thom didn't mind the idea of leaving the forest, but he did mind the idea of spending more time with Quin. The boy reminded him way too much of Cole; he had the same way of talking about hunters, as if it wasn't a big deal at all. Although Thom had never seen Cole kill a hunter, it couldn't be much different from the way Quin did it; cool, care-free and with no doubts about it at all. He wrinkled his nose, swallowed and gave a shrug, which the green-eyed boy took as a yes.
"It's settled then!"
Well, my first update since a while, and I'm proud to say that Bonding of Souls is off hiatus! (Like you hadn't noticed that yet)
Whiny piece of rambling of a frustrated writer: I hate writing Quin. He's a nuisance to write! ::grumble grumble:: One of the reasons why I just had to call him a menace. ::more grumbling::
Normal piece of rambling: I ramble too much. These author notes are getting too long for my liking O.O
lccorp2: I already said it, but that is one great link! Thank you for the other pointers, too. I've edited the grammar now, but I'm going to keep playing the 'teenager Dutchie'-card for a while. I'm sorry if that bothers people, and more language-rambling is in my profile if you're interested for some strange reason o.O
Aladailey: Pairings? Oh, I do love pairings :D Although I don't think the story will turn romance (to be honest, the more I set out the plot, the more I get drama-vibes from it O.O). ::hums Can You Feel The Love Tonight::
Plinky: I suppose you could compare the animals to familiars. A witch is bound to an animal and the other way around, but I hope to explain that later :D
Tala Lavara: ::cough:: These witches don't have 'magical powers'. I tend to compare them to witches of our own medieval times: people who were burned for no real reason. They're afraid of hunters because hunters want to, ehr, kill them. I would find that reason enough to be scared O.O You're very right about the clothing, I know, but I'm adjusting it. It's just that I hate clothing-description ::sweatdrop:: Also working on Madoline's familiar-thing; I finally found a site with more information on how bears act and all, instead of long descriptions on what they look like :D
Black Hellebore: Aik! My lacking action-writing-skills are being discovered! ::hides:: ::cough:: Sorry, I'll stop being a drama-queen now :D But the animals shall not talk! I'll try to describe more based on their expressions, sounds and behaviour, but if they actually talked (if that's what you mean), I'd get fairy-tale-feelings, and that's not exactly what this story is to me.
Last update: December 4th. (I added answers on reviews everywhere in the right chapter instead of just where I left off. Sorry if this confuses anybody.)