Of Manhunters And Murderers

Of Manhunters and Murderers

 

We rode hard for the rest of the day, only stopping twice, the first time to take a drink and have a bite to eat. And as the sun started to set in the sky we stopped for a second time and built a fire to sleep by and keep warm.

Despite the cool evening breeze It wasn’t a particularly cold night and we would have been able to survive without a fire. But there was something about talking around a campfire, when in good company, that I had always found soothing. Even though good company for me in the past had often meant Pandora or my sword. Tonight was different though.

“Why are we heading to Hollowdell anyway?” Martyn asked, his eyes a mixture of intrigue and flames.

I stared out into the darkness, wondering whether or not I should tell the Manhunter of my purpose. “I heard from a man during my travels that civil war has broken out there” I replied, deciding it was best to keep my true intent a secret.

“And you intend to join in?” he said, his eyes opening wide. “Most men avoid war, you’d have to be either incredibly stupid or incredibly courageous to seek it out…”

He scratched at the stubble around his neck and examined his hand, before flicking what looked like a piece of skin into the fire. I didn’t exactly want to lie to him, but it was a necessity, no one wanted to tell a Manhunter they were going somewhere to kill a man, let alone a friend.

“For what purpose do you seek war Danny?” he sounded solid, like a piece of rock.

I grabbed the end of a stick, which was poking out of the fire, and worked it further in, stalling so that I could think of how to reply. Embers went soaring up and into the black night sky, for a second it looked like I had created stars of my own, but they faded just as quickly as they had appeared.

“Haven’t you ever just wanted to be remembered? I mean, as stupid as it sounds people are just like these embers” I said, shaking the stick so that yet more embers shot out of the fire. “Bright and beautiful, but they fade quickly, and unless someone sees them then who’s to know that they were ever there at all?” I murmured softly.

Even though I was lying through my teeth to the Manhunter I realised that part of what I was saying was true. Not that I exactly wanted to be remembered, but I didn’t want Piers and Katherine to be forgotten. They deserved better than that.

“So for glory than?” Martyn surmised. “Sounds like a good plan to me, so long as we make it out alive that is!” he laughed.

“What do you mean by we?” I asked. “I thought you said that men who seek war were incredibly stupid”

“Or incredibly courageous” he added. “And I’m obviously the latter” he said, puffing his chest up and grinning. “After all, I’ve already come this far with you, I’m not about to just leave once we get to Hollowdell”

Martyn wasn’t your typical Manhunter, nor was he your typical person for that matter I decided, as I watched him stare at the stars. Sometimes he could be nice, good would be a stretch for him but yes, he was nice, and I was staring to realise that he was smarter than I had initially thought.

“The stars shine brightly tonight” Martyn said softly. “Just look” he pointed up into the sky and I layed down onto my back to look.

They reminded me of the first time I had seen Katherine. A thing of such beauty, so still and so untainted, too far removed from anything to ever truly be spoiled.

The sky was a deep shade of blue that bordered upon black, and the usually tiny flecks of white that were the stars appeared larger than usual tonight. There was nowhere I could look where I could not see them, were like millions of glowing guardians who watched over and would protect the world from evil.

“Why did you become a Manhunter anyway Martyn?” I said, not a moment after asking myself the same question.

“When I was a boy my mother was murdered,” he replied with a lethal edge. “I swore that I would hunt down every last criminal after that day”

“That’s... I’m sorry, I don’t know what to say” I really didn’t.

“I’m joking Danny!” he said once again bursting into laughter. “Not everyone has a great tale of why they have decided to live their life in the way they do, for some people it just happens, I just woke up one morning and decided really”

I sighed and stretched out where I was on the ground, it wasn’t exactly comfortable. I would need to grab my sleeping pack from Pandora’s saddle; it had been a while since I used it.

“Where do you come from anyway Danny?” Martyn asked as I rolled my bed for the night onto the floor.

I scratched at the back of my neck and looked at the Manhunter for a moment, I couldn’t quite decide whether he was interested, whether he was just making conversation, or whether he was interrogating me. In any case it was beginning to get on my nerves.

“I’m from a place far to the east, I doubt you would have heard of it” I said, hoping to end the conversation there. The Manhunter had other ideas however.

“What’s it called than?” he asked. “I’m certain that I’ll know of it”

I opened my mouth to speak but no words came out. Honestly I didn’t know what my home was called, all I knew for sure was that it was somewhere to the east.

“I can’t exactly remember, I left home when I was only a little boy and over the years I must have forgotten the name of my home” I mumbled, saddened by this accidental discovery. I really did have no place to call home.

“Why did you leave home?”

Martyn’s constant questions were starting to bug me, not only was he obviously interrogating me but his questions were also reminding me of someone who at the time had seemed rather annoying. They reminded me of Elle.

I had once sat around a fire with her and been asked about where I came from, where I was going and why I was doing everything I did. Now that I looked back all her questions did not seem quite as annoying, they were almost like a warm memory. Almost.

Leaving her and the caravan was harsh I admit, even for me, but it had been the right thing to do. After all, the longer I stayed around people the more likely they were to die, I didn’t want her to end up like Piers or Katherine. I didn’t leave because I didn’t care; I left because I cared too much to allow my life to cause the end of theirs.

“I just did” I replied. “Not everyone has a great tale of why they have decided to live their life in the way they do, for some people it just happens, I just woke up one morning and decided really” I added mimicking the Manhunter’s voice poorly.

He shot me a look of contempt through the night and tossed more fuel onto the fire. This caused yet again more embers which all faded away into nothingness.

“I don’t really sound that stupid do I?” Martyn asked sounding almost worried.

“No of course not” I replied, smiling sadistically at the Manhunter. “You sound far stupider than I could ever put on with a voice” I added bursting into laughter on the ground.

Much to my surprise the Manhunter too laughed at my terrible joke, although not quite as heavily as I had. “After that I think it could be time for us to get some sleep, as always seems to be the case with us tomorrow’s going to be a big day” he said seriously.

I nodded. “Yes, I’ll bet it is Manhunter” I replied after composing myself.

 

 

Bursting from my dream I sat bolt upright and my eyes sprung wide open. It felt like someone had poured a bucket of freezing cold water over me, except for the freezing water was my sweat, or tears, or quite possibly a mixture of the two.

Lately I had been having nightmares about Piers’ death in the mountains, but that had all stopped when I had returned his sword and for a short time there had been nothing. Now though, my dreams were plagued with nightmares of Katherine and Symonds.

I’m back in my unfinished house lying on the floor unable to move, and I can hear them in the next room. I can not only hear Symonds’ filth but I can feel it was over me too, and her screams, I can hear Katherine’s screams. I can’t move though, I never can, I just lay there and endure the torture.

Sometimes I give up and just lay there and shut my eyes, trying to shut out the sound but it only gets louder. Other times I keep trying to run to help her but can’t even lift a single hand. Occasionally I catch a glimpse through the doorway, maybe blood, maybe even Symonds blood, always though, are tears and Katherine’s face.

Even though she never says anything, in that moment when she looks at me I know exactly what she’s trying to say to me. Why don’t you get up? Why don’t you help me? Why don’t you protect me? And of course, why didn’t you save me? I don’t reply, the only answer I can think of is “because I can’t, because it’s impossible” but that’s just not good enough.

Attempting to wipe the tears from my face and the thought of Katherine from my mind I rose to my feet. It was still dark and Martyn lay soundly asleep, although, I suspected that the sun wasn’t far away. The fire had died down and was now only a pile of smouldering ash and embers, watching the sunrise would be more productive than reviving it I decided.

Taking from my pack a piece of old chewy bread I selected myself a rock that wasn’t too far away and sat down, gazing into the east. Little did I realise at this moment that I was actually staring straight at my home.

I waited, but this time there were no ghosts for me to talk to while I waited to see the sun. Instead my only friend was the sheer silence of darkness, as lonely as I felt though I welcomed the dark, he was an old familiar friend.

I took a bite of the stale bread and started to chew with a considerable amount of effort. The crust was tough, and the bread itself tasted dry and lifeless. After my third bite I threw the revolting piece of bread away and it landed somewhere between a rock and a patch of pale grass.

The sun wasn’t quite as beautiful as I had remembered it being, just like the grass it was paler than usual. I still sat and watched the entire sunrise though, it gave me something else to think about other than Katherine and my own failure.

Martyn had just finished breakfast upon my return and was beginning to pack things onto his horse. I joined him in packing my own things and we finished the job in silence.

“How’d you sleep Danny?” the Martyn grumbled, rubbing his eyes.

Wrinkling my nose I shook my head at him. “Not well Manhunter” I said shortly after thinking about Katherine yet again. “How were your ‘sweet dreams’?” I interjected before he had time to ask questions.

“Much the same” he shrugged, then clambered onto his horse. “Let’s be off shall we?”

The Manhunter began to slowly ride away and he shouted something back to me but I couldn’t quite make it out. I looked on after him for a moment before Pandora pressed her nose against my shoulder, pushing me off balance.

“Sorry girl, just daydreaming” I replied apologetically, running my hand along her flank.

As I scratched under the horses neck she turned her head side on to look at me with her big black eye. I stared deep into the blackness but it was impossible to gauge any emotion from an eye that was completely black.

“You miss her too don’t you?” I said slowly, resting my head against hers. “You two did get along pretty well”

Even before I had truly cemented my place within Katherine’s life she had visited Pandora each and every day bringing her an apple to eat. Occasionally I had caught the two hugging each other. Or at least as close to hugging as a person and a horse can get.

Unlatching one of the packs on Pandora’s saddle I reached in and plucked an apple from the bag.

“Here you go girl, just like old times” I said, raising the apple to her mouth on my flat palm.

She took the apple from my hand and started to munch greedily, slobbering on me just a little but. After finishing she looked at me again, this time though I could tell exactly what she wanted.

“Sorry, that was the last of the apples Pan, maybe when we get to Hollowdell you can have some more”

She let out a small whiny at the mention of apples and started to bang one of her front hooves, kicking up a small amount of dirt and dust.

“Right about now though, we’d better go catch up to that Manhunter before he gets too far ahead of us, we wouldn’t want him getting into any trouble now would we” I joked with the horse, slowly running my hand along as I walked to her side.

Hoisting myself into Pandora’s saddle I set her off in a slow gallop over the hill Martyn had disappeared over. As we reached the top I looked out into the distance to find he was already a considerable distance ahead of me, and he was moving at a fair rate, his horse speeding over the plains.

I sped on after him through the rain. As Pandora started reach her full speed everything became a blur. The pale grass slowly lost all detail and became a stretched canvas of yellowy green, the rocks scattered about the place became spikes and slashes across this canvas. And the Manhunter started to draw ever closer.

“Took your time catching up” Martyn called back over his shoulder as I drew up beside him. “Although your house is one hell of a runner, I’ll give you that, for a second there I thought a lightning bolt was chasing after me”

I smiled and patted Pandora on the side of the head. “Pandora here was the fastest horse in all of Silvermouth…” I trailed off after mentioning Silvermouth.

I had once again forgotten that Martyn was supposed to be hunting me, even though he may not have realised it was me he was hunting. He had tracked me to Silvermouth, and as such mentioning my second home and been a mistake. And, after the incident with the other Manhunters he was probably starting to grow suspicious.

“Any idea how much further it is to Hollowdell Manhunter?” I asked, trying to change the subject so that he would not have time to think about things.

“I’m following you remember?” he replied shortly, pulling the unlit pipe from his mouth. “Or have we just been wandering aimlessly through these plains?”

“Well I figured since you rushed ahead you were our exalted leader now” I sniggered in response.

Pointing his pipe at me the Manhunter the leaned back into the saddle and laughed jovially.

I did appreciate his company sometimes; he was a nice distraction from the rain upon occasion.

“Well in that case I don’t have to answer to you!” he shouted triumphantly. “And as exalted leader I elect that you wash my feet, they appear to have some sort of fungal infection…”

I moved Pandora slightly away from the Manhunter and gave him a look of disgust. “You are absolutely revolting sometimes you know that” I laughed.

Pulling a strange face he continued to stare at me. “I’m not joking Danny, I really do have this thing on my feet, and there’s this other rash thing it’s all red and”

“I really don’t need to hear about that!” I yelled loudly, cutting him off abruptly.

He was terrible company a lot of the time too, although I suppose he was still keeping my mind preoccupied. Maybe he knew… I didn’t know.

“Manhunter, do you ever think with anything other than your poor sense of humour and your c**k?” I jested.

“Well now that I think about it” he said, stopping to scratch at the stubble on his cheeks. “No not really, and I’m not sure I have much of a sense of humour” he howled.

I joined in laughing with the Manhunter. It did not really matter if he knew or not I decided.

 

 

A few hours into the day after that was when we encountered a problem, well really we encountered someone else’s problem. We were somewhere between the Iron Plains and the Hills of Blood when the Manhunter heard something.

Martyn cocked his head at the sound he had apparently heard, for the life of me I hadn’t heard a thing. The rain was not as heavy today so I decided that I would indulge the man.

“What is it Manhunter?”

Returning the pipe to his pocket he motioned for me to stay silent and scratched the back of his head.

The area we were travelling through between the hills and the plains was littered with more rocks than usual. We were almost completely surrounded by rocky outcrops and small bushes that made it impossible to look at what lay ahead, or around as Martyn was trying to do.

Eventually the Manhunter made his way between a pair of rocks and out of sight, not bothering to dismount his horse despite the terrain. I followed slowly, trying to be somehow cheerful about the delay, but honestly I just wanted to get to Hollowdell already.

I jumped off from Pandora as the rocks started to become closer together and started to lead her through. Looking back for a moment to make sure she wasn’t worried I accidentally stepped into a branch protruding from one of the rocks. I swore and attempted to move around the small plant as it painfully scraped against my eyes.

My eyes started to water violently when I opened them and my vision blurred to the point that I could barely see what was ahead of me. I came to a stop when a large brown pink rock appeared from nowhere, then I realised though, that that rock was one of Martyn’s meaty paws. He must have dismounted too.

“What are we doing Manhunter?” I asked, trying to pinpoint exactly where Martyn’s face was, everything was still a blur though.

“Can’t you see over there that…” he stopped mid sentence.

Although I couldn’t see properly I could still see light, and as he stopped I saw a shadow pass over my face.

“What happened to you?” he chuckled quietly. “Walk into that bush did you”

I rubbed my eyes and tried to look angry, but for all I knew I was staring at a rock. “Answer my question, what are you doing?”

“Look just over there” he said, I assumed he was pointing too. “Can’t you see the… oh wait, no you can’t see, never mind, anyway I’m going to go take a look, with my functioning eyes” he laughed again.

 I listened to the large Manhunter leave, his footsteps were as heavy as always and I knew what direction he was going in. After Martyn failed to respond to my shout and my vision began to return I set out to follow him.

There was a large blurry brownish object several meters in front of me. The object was partially blocked by a shadowy figure that I assumed to be Martyn standing over it.

The haze over my vision was slowly starting to lift and I saw something round, it looked almost like a wheel. Then there were smaller pieces of brown scattered around the big brown mass. It was a damaged caravan I finally realised as my sight returned.

“What the hell happened here?” I asked, examining the scene with my newfound sight.

“Returned to the land of the seeing I see” Martyn said, grinning at me. Then he shrugged.

“I have no idea, however,” he replied pointing at a trail of disturbed earth that looked as if a body had been dragged through it. “ I say we look in that direction, we can tie the horses up here and go take a look”

“Or, we could keep moving to Hollowdell” I replied bluntly.

“Don’t worry, it’ll only take a few moments Danny,” he said smiling.

Had it been any other man asking my to stay I would have simply left without justifying myself, but it was Martyn. I felt as if I owed the man something I think. Nevertheless, I wasn’t going to stick around and chase trails in the dirt.

“You can stay here if you want Manhunter” I said, with some resounding trace of anger.  “But I’m not stopping”

“There could be people who need help, and you’re just going to walk away from that?”

Every fibre of my being wanted me to scream at the man and tell him that I was the one who really needed help. That I was the one he was really hurting and in need of help, and that sometimes my own problems are bigger than everyone else’s. I didn’t say it though; I didn’t have the heart to shout that at the Manhunter.

“I don’t have time for this crap Martyn, I’m leaving” I replied lethally, before jumping onto Pandora’s back. “I’ll see you in Hollowdell… maybe, if not then goodbye, I guess”

Martyn didn’t reply as I rode away, instead I could feel his disappointment weighing down upon my shoulders. And his eyes, his eyes were burning into the back of my head just as the eyes of Symonds’ man had done before I had tortured him.

It was only right that the man I murdered and the man who hunted me because of that murder would both give me the same look, I had tortured both of them after all. It didn’t matter though; my own problems were bigger than theirs’.

Reviews

[Alleyway Rover]

Overview: I think I see what your trying to do in this chapter, and I like what your trying to do. The execution needs a lot of work, though. As it is, I feel like you could delete this chapter and it wouldn’t affect the story much. The only thing that is different from the beginning was that Danny left Martyn behind and he could have done that in the last chapter fairly easily. It seemed kinda forced that Martyn would go to Hollowdell.

After the events of the last chapter, it makes sense to slow things down and let Danny reflect on what has happened so far and what that means to him. However it’s really hard to tell what it does mean to him from this chapter. A lot of it is rehashing things for earlier chapters like remembering Ella and recalling the events that caused him to seek revenge against Symonds. But theres no new information there. He’s really no closer to achieving his goal then he was after he tortured the man early part of the story.

Bottom line it’s a function of change again. He should be thinking of the events of the past and that should inspire new motivation to push the story forward.

Take this simple story for example: Let’s say you’re writing a story about an aging boxer. The last chapter covered his last fight where he faced a brutal and humiliating defeat. The next chapter would be a good time for the character to reflect on that event. Maybe he decides that his manager was right all along, he’s washed up and it’s time to retire and patch things up with his estranged wife. Maybe he saw his opponent throw some dirty punches and presses for a rematch. Maybe the loss makes him realize he’s become too lazy and soft and resolves to double up on his training before the next fight.

The character in this story would use the scene to think about the fight and, depending on the character, chooses the next course of action and pushes the story toward it’s next event. In doing so these moments in between moments of action tie them together and create real, thoughtful, dynamic characters.

It’s something to think about in these transitional chapters. How does returning the sword to the family affect his quest for revenge against Symonds?