THE ANCIENT HUNT

WHO ARE YOU?

She stirred at dawn and rolled to her side before slowly opening her eyes to see that she was in a strange environment, she looked around the room and wondered where she was but the more she looked, the more she got confused.

"Where am I? what am I doing here? where is Mica?" Shael asked herself several times as she glanced through the room with the help of the small light coming from the lantern placed at the far end of the room

"Did I get captured? did I get sold? who bought me?" she muttered to herself anxiously before seeing a mouse pass by the room making her jump in fear, she screamed and ran for the door but it was locked from outside

"Why am I locked in here? is there someone outside?" she called but no answer came till she decided to cuddle up in the corner near the fire and did not sleep a wink before morning came

She was about dozing off when she heard footsteps approaching the room, she wondered who it could be, a slave master? her capturer? Argan? or any other person that is dangerous? She quickly stood up and positioned herself in an attacking manner

"Even if I will be killed, I have to defend myself first, I can't die easily" she concluded and stood there waiting for the door to get opened

Immediately the door was opened, she screamed and ran to it with a flying kick. she crashed into the governor who wanted to enter the room when the servant who opened the door stepped aside

"What the hell do you think you are doing?" the governor yelled holding unto his nose only to look up and see that she had woken up

"Who are you all?" she asked folding her fist while getting ready to attack again

"Is this what you should do to someone who rescued you? why are you talking with your fist instead of asking calmly?" the governor asked moving closer to her but she stepped back and wanted to charge at him again since he was moving closer and was not stopping

"Don't come closer" she warned but the governor smirked

"What? do you think I want to eat you now? I have been taking care of you for days and didn't eat you but you think I suddenly want to..." he blabbered but was met with another kick on his face and before he reacted, she fainted once again

"Get this woman treated, I want her to pay for her crimes!" the governor yelled holding his cheeks and they went to call the doctor to come check up on her again.

The doctor rushed there to see her lying on the floor but this time she was snoring heavily instead

"Get her on the mat, she's still sleeping" he instructed and they quickly placed her on the mat as instructed

"She's still not that sane, when she wakes up you have to approach her gently so she can slowly remember what happened to her so don't bother her when she's finally awake" the doctor explained before also prescribing some herbs he brought along

She slept like that throughout the day till she finally woke up in the evening but no one was still by her side, this time she was gentle about her waking up

She stood up and turned the knob to the door and it opened easily, she slipped out of the room and was walking slowly through the long corridor which was empty

"Did all of them go somewhere?" she asked herself looking around before she saw a maid coming with a basket of fruits in her hand

"Are you awake finally? I should inform the governor" she heard the maid say before she could open her mouth and disappeared straight through the corner

"Tell the governor? who is the governor?" she muttered and went on her way before she saw a man of average height coming on her way with some people behind

He was putting on a lilac robe and black shoe tightly tied, a band was peaking from his hair as he marched all he could with his pot belly sticking out of his body

"Is this the governor?" she asked herself as she gasped when she remembered that he was the man she sent a flying kick in the morning

"If he's the one then I think I'm doomed" she said to herself as she tried to hide but it was too late

"Hey! you there!" the voice roared and she turned to look at him with a weird wide smile

"Are you talking to me my Lord?" she asked feigning innocence making the governor scoff

"Do you think I'm talking to the bird passing by then? of course I'm talking to you" the man yelled at her making her shudder

"Are you awake now? if you are then follow me because we need to talk" he added and turned back heading to a room by the side of the yard

she quickly followed him and scanned everywhere as she entered the room to see it was a study, the shelves there were huge and tall, painted in blacks and each section of it were filled with books

"Wow! the smell of books" she remarked as she entered and closed her eyes to feel it

She had been a big lover of books and she reads them whenever she was not sleeping or playing the erhu

"Are you going to stay there all day?" the voice rang through and broke her stare with the books

"I'm sorry my Lord" she quickly said and ran over to him who was already seated by the table there

"Have your seat" the governor gently told her and she wondered why there was a change in his tone, he was yelling at her like he would devour her seconds ago so what was up with the caring and low voice now?

"So I found you passed out in the bushes on my way back from the farm, because of my human nature who could not turn his back when I saw another fellow like me passed out brought you home here and treated you for close to a week even though all I got was a kick in the nose in return" the governor started and she quickly stood up to apologize

"I apologize for that my Lord, it was not intentional" she explained herself while bowing her head

"It was not intentional and you went that hard? wow! if you were prepared then my nose would have been shattered off my face then" he remarked and she quickly defended herself

"No My Lord! I'm not that strong" she replied before biting her lips when she saw his expression

"Have your seat" he told her and she quietly dragged the chair back so she could sit on it

"Do you remember anything about yourself?" he asked clasping his hands together as he placed them on the table in front of him

"I remember that I work for a very rich man before I had to flee for my life" she lied trying to hide the fact that she worked for the king at the palace, she doesn't want to make a mistake that will cost her, her life either by her being sold back to the palace which means she will have to see Argan again and that's an automatic death

"You work for a rich Lord? and who can that be? does he stay in this town?" he questioned further and she thought about her answer for a while

"I don't remember the location anymore or his name but I did work for someone great, you can even tell from my clothes that I was no ordinary maid" she replied with a bit of confidence showing off her clothes which make the governor grunt

"I can see that you are from a wealthy environment seeing how you are dressed but what do you think you will be here? I hope you are not thinking that you will be pampered, since you can't remember anything about yourself then that means that you will have to work for all the expenses I paid for while taking care of you, I thought you would be able to provide information that will fetch me money when you wake up but too bad you have lost your memory" the governor replied before calling on one of his men who rushed in with immediate effect

"Take her to the maids quarter, get her clothes changed and tell the head there to assign some jobs to her" he instructed and immediately the man motioned to her to stand up and follow him which she did quietly without protest

*******

A hunter went hunting and was some meters into the forest when he decided to change his route since the mountains would be slippery thanks to the rain that fell the previous night, he turned to the left and walked down the mountains till he got to the canal flowing by the foot of the mountain and stopped there for a while. He stood there to wash his face more when he noticed something peeking out from the side of the rock, he paused for a while to see whatever it was before slowly moving closer to get a better view and by the time he walked to the side of the rock, he was shocked to find a slashed man in between the rock and the water

"What on hell is this?" he remarked as he saw the lifeless body hanging in between the rocks and the flowing water