Hunter Or Huntress

The morning following the festivities had been a slow one. Edita had overslept for the first time ever, and everyone had sorta just let her snooze or were themselves paying for the drinks and sugar high of the day before. Tom wasn’t in a hurry either. Down below all he would get was more hard labor, though he was feeling just fine, so maybe the cider and the strange cactus liquor were safe to drink.

Colonel Hashaw was being rather understanding with them all, but they did have places to be and people to appease. The colonel was carrying the matching earring to Nunuk’s to facilitate communications between the Lady and Paulin down below. They did need to know how long they were planning on having their guests stay down below since winter was approaching. Theoretically they could probably winter in the caves if given enough supplies to make it through, but they would be completely without support. Bizmati would be unable to assist them and their supplies were still only meant for those at the keep as it was.

Either way, they weren’t staying, so their retreat to gods knows where would have to be worked out. Tom was pretty sure they would end up going to some inquisitorial stronghold to either go through their findings or receive further training on what they were all dealing with here. Who knew, maybe one or two would even be allowed to go home, though he did quite doubt that. In the end, it wasn’t his problem.

What was at least potentially his problem was that he very much doubted Paulin would be enthused by the evening’s festivities. As such it had been agreed in flight that no one was to speak of the partying. It was only Edita, Tom, Jacky and Linkosta that were going from the keep, so that should be fine, and Baron’s crew was easily enough convinced under threat of no beer next time if they blabbed.

Down in the caves Glira and Major Jortun had been awaiting them. With no less than four dragons at the keep now, counting the two traders, they could afford to place one of the two heavyweight warrior dragons on hunting detail at least some of the time to provide some fresh food directly from above. Glira had volunteered, preferring that duty to acting as a glorified watchdog.

In by the vaults, not much had changed. Paulin seemed utterly disinterested in what they had been up to in the evening. She was far more intrigued by what news had been brought for her from Joelina. The archivist had retreated to her private corner of the atrium where her sleeping equipment and a small tent had been erected for her.

Tom had definitely been expecting to get summoned to said corner once she finished with her letters, but much to his surprise, no such misfortune befell him. Instead, he got to watch Edita and the other artificer work pretty much all day, asking all the questions he wanted for a change.

During the brief pauses in questioning a sort of professional silence had settled in as they worked. Edita had been a little hesitant of what to say as she didn’t want to talk about the day before as per their agreement, and Tom wasn't really any better off.

She had made some polite attempts at small talk though. Which is to say she had listed off questions as from a list: what had Tom gotten for Jacky and he for her, what the weather was like, and how his family was doing.

Tom elected not to answer that last one, and eventually Edita seemed to work out the slight flaw in that question.

“I oh… sorry, you don’t know do you?”

“No, not really. I know dad is dead and my mum pretty much is, but hey, now they seem to live in my skull, so that’s nice,” Tom grumbled in reply.

“They what now?”

“It is a long story, just chalk it up to humans being weird.”

Edita nodded, clearly wanting to ask more but having no clue how. Thus she just got back to work on salvaging componentry in silence.

The work was progressing swiftly now that the people with the relevant expertise could be left to it, with the remaining rabble of academics, and of course Tom, being trusted with a few menial tasks to speed things up. Though Tom whipping out the power-drill, for taking care of the soft metal rivets that held much of the structure, certainly sped things up, even if Raulf was likely going to be in quite the mood once he discovered the thing was missing.

They were on a timer after all, and they needed to beat the worsening weather. So they all stayed in the cave for the next three days straight. One night Tom and Jacky did get the privilege of sleeping at Baron’s side, having made a delivery of crates to the dragon and elected that walking all the way back today was just a waste of time. It wasn’t that cold inside the island, but it certainly wasn’t warm either. Jacky had been getting plenty of use out of her breathing hot water bottle, but Tom could definitely use a hot water bottle too some evenings. Luckily Baron was essentially just that. The massive creature downright radiated heat, even if he himself was grumbling about how cold the stone was.

When the disassembly work had finally been completed, what remained had to be dragged to where the dragons could get at it, which had proven a herculean task for a bunch of paper pushers. Jacky had done the work of three or four at least, which she of course didn’t rub into anyone’s faces whatsoever.

Once out, Baron and Glira had dragged it all to the mouth of the tunnel network, the blue dragon not having bothered with a hunting trip this last day. She had also been complaining of the deteriorating weather quite a lot, though it soon came to an end once Jortun asked if he needed to book lessons for her in spring.

Once hauled out of the depths, the worthless scrap that didn’t need to be burned or recycled was unceremoniously thrown into the sea below. Tom had crawled out to the edge on his stomach, looking down to watch it fall, drawing a fair bit of attention from the various watching dragonettes who clearly didn’t quite understand his fear. The sensation of looking straight down for miles from a ledge was a bit more than he was good for, and it wasn’t like he minded them staring.

“You know I would just catch you, right?” Jacky questioned from next to him, watching with bemusement.

“I know, I know. We’re kinda hardwired to be scared of ledges. We don’t do well in freefall,” Tom replied. He was quite sure that if he was actually standing she would have pushed him off for the funnies.

“Oh is that so?” she questioned, poking at him a bit with a foot which caused a whole swarm of butterflies in Tom’s stomach as he took a sharp breath. Jacky just laughed. “You aren’t kidding are you? Hah! Does your head not know that a fall from the top of the keep or here is about as deadly?”

“I don’t think it quite got the memo no… and gone,” he concluded as the debris vanished into a lower flying cloud. “Damn… that’s far.”

“Just remember only the unlucky and the unworthy know how far it is to hell.”

“I suppose that is a way to put it. If we find the bitch’s ghost maybe we can ask.”

“Hah, sure,” Jacky dismissed, looking back to Baron. “Right, get up lazy ass, loading time.”

The dragon did not seem to appreciate that comment, simply staring at the woman who did shrink a little under his gaze.

“Sorry… We’re ready now.”

“Why is she apologizing? She is right?” Glira questioned merrily, making a show out of giving the crews room to work. Something Tom was absolutely certain she would not bother with save for the sake of the joke.

“Oh I see you have taken some of your mate’s lessons to heart, Glira,” Baron retorted, watching her with interest. “I do say it was high time you picked up the mantle of logistics, it suits you.”

At that Glira’s grin rather swiftly faded, the female dragon seemingly short on comebacks to that.

The ground crews had let the two dragons go about their business as they loaded them both up with everything ranging from heretical artifacts to be disposed of to simple scrap metal.

Tom and Jacky helped out on Baron’s side, namely because he could fit less stuff on account of his rather extensive armoring. Tom was fairly sure this was about as heavily armored as a dragon could be, though the capital might prove him wrong, you never knew.

Despite the extensive platework, he did still possess some belly netting, and the armor had both handles and metal eyes built into it, clearly meant for securing cargo, even if there were far fewer than on Archeon’s or even Glira’s harnesses.

With the dragons all loaded up and the cargos secured, they had boarded. Tom did honestly find it rather cramped aboard as most of the academics seemed to find the back of the red dragon more comfortable, he was warmer after all. The crew all more or less retreated to the netting below or hung themselves from his sides in some other fashion, the dragon making some rather annoyed grumbling sounds as he looked to the far less crowded Glira.

“Can you not fly by your own wings?” he finally questioned, seemingly having had enough.

“It is cold, we would freeze!”

“Have you seen how far down it is?”

“I am already exhausted, the boxes are so heavy!”

“We have been working for nearly 2 weeks, it is only fair.”

The cacophony of replies came, Tom able to literally feel the dragon roll his eyes at the collection of paper pushers.

“It is an easy start old fellow, simply drop into it and we shall be on our way,” Victoria encouraged, the old dragon looking to the edge.

“I am aware, I am getting too old for this,” he declared, rising to his feet and starting to slowly make his way to said edge, peering down into the nothingness. Tom held on tight, glancing back at Jacky behind him.

“Why aren’t you going by yourself?”

“Gotta be ready to catch you, dumb dumb,” she replied with a chuckle. “Besides did you know that-”

Tom felt himself going weightless and he clutched the metal handle like a damn child as the dragon rather unelegantly dropped off the edge, letting his weight and cargo drive him downwards, speed rapidly building before slowly pulling up.

Jacky was laughing her ass off at Tom’s expression as hegrumbled a few half-hearted curses back at her.

“Oh so worth it. Right I’ll get off now, you got it Baron, besides, no fat ones here,” she called out towards the dragon, making good on her word and letting spread wings carry her from the dragon’s back.

“Not with the food we are getting!”

_________________________________________________________________________________

With Tom and co. down in the mines once more they had gotten back to work in the keep. First order of business had been the two trader dragons they had sitting out in front of the keep. Nunuk had seemingly come to an agreement with them for the time being, meaning they had over twice the muscle power available now to help with construction.

Things had been swift as logs were brought, sawed, hoisted, and held in place all with the strength of their larger brethren. Saph had been a bit doubtful if they would actually manage in time, but with the likes of Arch hoisting beams up to roof top level like it was nothing they made frightening progress.

It would only be a matter of days until it was time for the final furnishings, and then they could start moving the stuff that had been haphazardly stored in the keep down into the warehouse. And with the second bunker now long since completed, they even had space to separate finished dangerous goods from raw ingredients.

It was backbreaking work to keep up with the dragons, but that was hardly an alien concept to them, and so on the third day the final shingles were laid and the dirt floor given a final smoothing. Just in time too. It was getting colder now, rapidly. Soon enough bad weather would see them all confined to the inside of the keep, save for short jaunts to the outside. Even on good days it was getting very chilly for Sapphire's tastes. One needed to keep moving and keep working even with warm clothes. Worse still the first night frosts were starting to set in.

But with the main structure done that did mean the warehouse could technically be furnished and filled, even if the weather did turn. They just had to keep the warehouse sorta warm too and it could be treated as a quick run through the cold. The last hunts of the year however needed to happen soon, if the weather would let them. Dragons may be able to keep hunting for a while longer, but for the huntresses time was almost up.

They did not strictly need the provisions, but one last supply of fresh meat would be a nice addition. The last late crops needed to be harvested and taken in as well before they were lost to the frost. There were cabbages, various herbs, and other cold resistant plants. Tom had given Raulf some plants to plant late in summer, though Saph didn’t actually know what it had all been. She did remember the funny looking green bulbous plant that was apparently called broccoli. Tom had claimed they could handle a bit of cold, or more rightly relayed that the book he had told him they could. Once harvested they just needed to be stored cold as did so many other things coming out of the fields.

That was of little concern, since there were plenty of cool places in the bottom of the keep. And with the storage rooms being emptied out into the warehouse, there was plenty of room. Wiperna had made some remarks about how she hoped the kids might like these new vegetables better. It was hard enough to get them to eat their vegetables, but in winter when the selection became even worse it often proved extremely tricky. Essy added that maybe they could use Tom as an example to the kids. He always ate his veggies, far more so than he should in several cases actually. The human did claim that was how he normally ate, so who were they to judge?

Baron and Glira had returned that very evening carrying their resident human as well as Jacky and seemingly just as many boxes and packages as Arch and Galaxer had flown in with. They were immediately moved to the warehouse and had “Do not touch” written on them in bold, large, thickset runes. What proved substantially more of a headache were the academics which had been brought along. It was apparently far, far too cold for them to stay outside now, which to be honest Sapphire could understand. Even with whatever heating devices one might scrounge up, tents were hardly known for being warm in winter.

As such they had all been packed into the keep. The kitchen tried its best to feed them all something which would both be cheap and result in a minimum amount of complaining. Which did actually go better than Sapphire had expected. That was probably down to the standard of food they had all been receiving down in the caves. She too had gotten a taste of it, and even a simple stew made in a proper kitchen was certainly a welcome change from something like that.

Even so, things could not stay like this. They were packed to the rafters with people. The plan was clear enough, the following morning Arch, Galaxer, and Glira would all depart. They were not being told where to, but Sapphire guessed it would not be a city. They were taking the academics and all the apparently heretical or important artifacts with them, leaving what materials the keep might be able to make use of to lighten the load.

That would leave the keep with Yldril, Jarix, and Baron, of which Jarix and Yldril would of course be staying the winter. Baron was to take to the skies tomorrow morning and fly a round of the island, both as a precautionary patrol and to inform Grevi and Tiguan that the time was coming to return home.

The two younger dragons would be given a day or two to make it to Bizmati Keep from which they would fly as a three for the capital, carrying home the Hylsdal work crew as well.

It sounded simple enough to Sapphire, though she couldn’t help but feel a touch bad for Deriva. They were being left in the open right on the lead up to winter. And to be honest, she didn’t understand why they weren’t any more concerned with anyone having a look in the caves before winter, if anyone was desperate enough to risk the weather it should be quite doable for them.

Tom and Jacky had cleared that up at least somewhat. The caverns below had been trapped, and literally everything had been cleared out of the first three vaults by now. Meaning anyone having a go at it would need to brave the traps and crack open the last vault. Even so, Jarix was supposed to go check just before the dragon was put to sleep for the winter, weather allowing of course.

Sapphire had elected to just let smarter people worry about such matters, besides the arrival of the dragons also meant they had all their huntresses in one place once more. An ideal time for the final hunt, though there was one point of contention they had to deal with first, which was brought up that very evening.

“So we need to bring Tom, right?” Saph asked, looking down the table as people ate.

“I mean… I think we should, yeah. Isn't it a tradition every huntress goes?” Jacky replied as she chowed down on the meaty rye thickened stew. Saph had spied some pieces of smoked meat in Jacky's portion, which did have her wondering if it was worth trying that with her own bowl.

“Hah, Tom the huntress, that never gets old,” Pho chuckled.

“He's more huntress than you,” Jacky added with a smirk.

“Well I suppose that does settle if he is a hunter or huntress then,” Pho concluded with a huff, leaning back a bit. “Figures he would be the woman of the relationship.”

“Listen up finchwing, the moment you are half the woman of Fengi, I'll let you make that joke,” Jacky retorted, Fengi throwing a quick glance at the larger huntress before electing to keep quiet.

“Finchwing, pah. I'll beat you one day you overgrown goose,” Pho fired back in her usual brash fashion.

Jacky just shook her head at being compared to one of the fastest birds in the sky, looking to Saph with a look of ‘get a load of this kid’ and carrying on with the conversation. “What about Jarix? He's been helping out a lot, is he a huntress too now?”

“Oh don't let him hear that. Actually no, don't let Yldril hear that,” she corrected with a snicker. “She's hard enough on him as is when they are working all day.”

“Isn't that the truth,” Fengi agreed, nodding to herself a little.

“I think he’d best stay. You are supposed to bring back your offering by yourself. Having Jarix carry it for you is rather cheating,” Essy added kindly. “He has done enough, let him rest a little.”

“Not to mention it gets freezing cold up there when you aren't doing anything. We don't all have a Tom to hug on the way back and forth,” Saph said, looking to Jacky, who just smilled.

“And going hunting in warm traveling clothes does seem a touch… odd.”

“You mean heretical,” Saph corrected, “It's the last hunt after all. Gotta look good for the gods and all that.”

“Oh look at you spouting about religion all of a sudden, didn't you give like a stupid little sparrow last year?”

“A green-tipped brown tit I will have you know. And it was bloody hard to catch.”

“What about me? Do I need to go? I'm kinda busy right now,” Fengi added, evidently unsure how she fit into the ritual this year.

“But Fengi, it's only the fourth time you get to come, isn't it?” Esmeralda said in a concerned tone.

“Fourth time?” Bo questioned, tilting her head. “I thought you had been here for much longer than that? Didn’t you get copper when you were just 17?”

“I got it at 16,” Jacky added with a confident smirk. One of the perks of growing up at a keep rather than joining, you tended to get a bit of a headstart on everything.

“No, I was coppered at 19,” Fengi corrected. “The queen of the hunt decides who gets to come, and no offense, but don’t expect to be allowed this year,” Fengi replied, looking down to the two greenhorns. “You aren’t ready.”

Bo nodded in reply, getting back to her food. Saph was not quite sure if she seemed disappointed or uncaring.

“Isn't it just another hunt? And in the cold too? Yeah, thanks. I’ll stay in here,” Pho retorted, seeming more amused than disappointed.

“It is a bit more than that young woman. It is the last hunt of the year. The last chance to prove yourself. Do well and you may even earn yourself a promotion, not to mention win Naulk's favor. If it goes well that is,” Essy explained kindly. It made sense the city dweller didn't know after all.

“Ooooh.” Now Pho seemed to get why this hunt mattered, though Saph was sure it was more about the money than the gods for her.

“Do you perform the sacrifices to Naulk as well? I know not every keep bothers,” Bo added, seeming more familiar with it all.

“We do, yes. Each huntress must find something to give back for the year’s bounty, and someone from the Bizmati family must give something back to the forest. These days Dakota usually handles that task.”

“Oh yes, I see. A gift to the forest.”

“More like a gift to the unicorn of the forest,” Jacky chuckled. “Don't we just get her some beans or cabbage or something?”

“Normally yes,” Essy clarified with a motherly nod. “But we do have some interesting new things of Tom's, and Kalestine has had a very hard year, and she has been quite helpful indeed.”

“What, like the droccoli?” Pho chuckled. “Looks like the strange cross between green leaf cabbage and uhm… uhm…”

“Yes perhaps that,” Essy said, coming to the rescue of the young huntress who thus far was not doing well on botanical knowledge.

‘Perhaps we should have a competition between her and Tom on who would eat the poison berry first,’ Saph chuckled to herself as she shook her head a bit.

“What about those strange orange sticks? I had to dig up hundreds of them,” Bo added with a bit of a grumble. “Though they don't taste that bad. Got a nice snap.”

“What, the carrots?” Jacky questioned with a head-tilt. “I'm still disappointed in those, Tom said they were sweet. They definitely aren't by the way.”

“THAT'S A CARROT!” Fengi broke out loudly, standing up at the table, getting everyone’s attention. “Why didn't you tell me?!”

“I uhm… what?” was all Jacky could come up with, and Saph, for once, understood the confusion.

“What's so important about carrots?” she asked. She felt like that word had been mentioned before, but she couldn’t place her finger on when.

“I have wanted to have a carrot ever since that thing with Yldril happened. I just had to have one. But we don't have any. Or so I thought!” she broke out, looking to Esmeralda.

“I told you I had never heard of a carrot. You should ask Raulf about it.”

“I did! He didn't know either.”

“I suppose he must have forgotten,” Essy explained away apologetically on the farmer's behalf.

Fengi seemed to calm down just enough to realize that, more or less, the whole hall was looking at her. She quickly sat down again, looking uncomfortable. “Right… sorry… I probably should have asked Tom. I just didn't think he would know about what a unicorn might want.”

“It's quite alright Fengi, you think Kalestine might want carrots then?”

“Oh yes, get her some of those. I don't know why, but she craved those things like you crave your next breath.”

“Well that's that settled then, get her a basket of carrots,” Jacky chuckled, going back to her stew. “Better than having us eat them.”

‘Why does a unicorn know about something Tom brought?... We don’t have any carrots here? Raulf would definitely know if those existed,’ Saph pondered to herself before realizing something else. “Speaking of Raulf. What’s the weather gonna be like for the next few days?”

“You know it isn’t actually half-bad right now outside. A bit windy, but that’s not really new.”

“I swear it is always windy out here,” Bo added with a sigh. “So annoying to fly in.”

“I suppose we better ask him… I will go talk with Dakota too. I am sure she has worked out it must soon be time as well,” Essy then said with a nod, getting up. “Perhaps we best hurry.”

__________________________________________________________________________________

“You could have told me a little bit ahead of time,” Tom grumbled as he got his pants back on. They did kind of need a wash, if he was being honest. He had been sweating quite a lot down in the mines, but he didn't really want to pile up more laundry to get done if he could help it. Poor Ray was doing most of it with cold water, and he was already producing more stuff that needed washing than half the keep combined.

“Sure, I could. If I had known. We only worked out they wanted it to be today at dinner yesterday,” Jacky protested as she was getting her equipment ready. “Apparently Raulf thinks the weather is about to get a lot worse, and it might be too cold when it passes.”

“Oh yes, ‘cause his magic proved about as reliable as one of our weather girls last time,” Tom sighed as he slung the bandolier over his shoulder. It had actually been a while since last he wore it. A few rounds were still missing he'd needed it.

During winter he would have to get some more brass reloaded. He did still have a few of the ones made at the keep in there, and they would be fine for hunting. The factory loaded stuff he would save for when he truly needed them. He would just have to clean everything afterward since he was quite certain that his boom powder was corrosive as all hell.

“Oh come on, he’s not that bad,” Jacky protested as the revolver holster was strapped on. “Imagine not having someone like that at all?”

“I think I can. Seems like it would be about the same. You bringing that thing today?” Tom questioned with a huff. “You know the ammo for that thing doesn’t come cheap.”

“Well, you know, just in case. I haven't worked out what I want to try to get yet.”

“I hope it's something small 'cause I'm not walking back home,” Tom replied as he got up, going to grab his boots from outside the door.

“Sure you are. You have to hunt by yourself today.”

“Yeah but… in the forest, right?” he questioned as he peeked outside the door to grab them.

“Oh no it's three, two, one, go. Right from the platform,” Jacky replied with an evil sounding snicker as Tom looked back inside the room, boots in hand.

“... You're shitting me, right? Why the fuck would you do that? In winter?”

“It's not winter yet, but to show you got what it takes. If you've gotten too old, you'll die. If you’re too stupid, you'll die. Can’t find your way around, you’ll die.”

“That doesn't seem quite in line with the Bizmati spirit to be honest… And I definitely can’t find my way around.”

“It's how it's always been done. It's our day to give something to the gods. Only a bit of what we get of course, unless it is something very small. A token of thanks and all that. Maybe a trophy, the best cut of meat, the hide, something like that. The rest we have for the feast or for winter.”

“Riiiight… I see a slight problem with this plan on my front. Well a few problems to be honest.”

“Better get the quad bike.”

“I'll be driving all damn day! I will get lost, and for what? Besides what if something nasty has a go at me or something? It doesn't sound like something Nunuk or Dakota would approve of. Not to toot my own horn, but I am kinda important.”

“Sure you are, that's why she asked Jarix to babysit you. Don’t worry, he’s not actually allowed to help you, but maybe Zarko will show you the way home when she gets bored.”

“... I honestly cannot tell if you are joking.”

“Perfect. Let’s get going then,” Jacky concluded, getting up and going to grab her bow from the wall before stopping, looking at it hesitantly. “Hmm… new bow… or shotgun?... Decisions, decisions.”

“You know if you just bring slugs and buckshot the shotgun will take care of whatever… and if you remember the very very nice goggles I told you you could borrow, maybe you could let me know where the deer are at?”

Jacky turned around to look at him, pondering for a moment. “It’ll be waaaay too cold for me when it gets dark… but I think shotgun, yes,” she concluded, leaving the bow alone as she went to leave the room, walking past, stopping for but a moment as if going to speak. “Aah… actually I have no idea. Good luck,” she went, giving him a pat on the shoulder and walking on out the door.

“Oh for the love of… dammit.”

“No no Naulk, like in Nauliker. You’ll get it one day,” Jacky jested from down the hall, claws clacking away.

‘I swear I should have made sure she couldn’t walk today… wait is that why she didn’t tell me?! Oh mother- no no not that… god dammit.’