21: The Hunting Game

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The Hunting Game

=Chapter 1: A fresh catch.=

It was late day and the sky was turning orange. Florandus Vindivicus walked foot by foot over a dirt path that lead through a well-known forest. He hummed a small tune to himself as he observed the passing foliage.

As if a spark shot through him, he took out his bow and launched an arrow in between the branches of a few trees. He stepped in the direction to retrieve his arrow when he happily saw his target. A couple thirty yards away he saw a boar lying in the tall grass with the arrow firmly latched into the beasts’ cordial cervix. The young man reached the kill and inspected his shot with a sense of pride. “Can’t beat a keen sense of hearing, hehe.”

The ranger took out his dagger and skinned the animal for its hide and meat, being careful enough not to hit a pressured artery and splatter himself in blood. He took what he could and moved on, leaving the rest to the forest’s animals or monsters. He looked away and chuckled to himself, knowing that he should set up camp and a fire before nightfall.

His senses may be sharp, but he still preferred to sleep unvisited by wolves or snakes. If wild animals weren’t a problem, then monsters would be. If one wasn’t careful a monster would cuddle up to them during their sleep and a sexual assault would follow at sunrise. Luckily only unseasoned or uninformed men and women met such a fate which only made it funnier when the story got out at a nearby town’s local inn or bar.

=Chapter 2: Setting up camp.=

After doing some foraging he struck together two firestones into a bit of dry leaves a few times, nurtured a starting fire and grew it out into a proper campfire till the heat warmed him. The young man made a spit and hanged his skins and meat around the fire to dry. The alluring thought of freshly prepared meat beckoned the traveler in him. The ranger took out his ice-picks so he could strike them into the bark of a nearby tree. He made himself a tree-chair out of the branch for flooring and the picks as handrails, he was careful to position the chair well above the fire so he would be warmed instead of cooked during the night.

He tried it out for a few minutes, smirking happily as he felt the warmth embrace him like a snug hug from a yeti or two. All he missed was a soft blanket around him; luckily that was what his cloak was for aside from hiding his weapons and keeping him dry from rain. If there was one thing the ranger knew for sure, it would be the decency of a ranger’s gear. Somehow the materials used for the cloak and leather armor where water and dirt-repellent, fire-retardant and unnaturally durable, needing only few repairs every now and then.

Florandus had asked a mage once to examine his cloak on any magic, but the mage found none at all. Only an old grandmother-looking arachne knew the secret behind them, luckily she resides in the Ranger’s HQ instead of being here. A list of remarks would come every person’s way every time they took their clothes to be checked by the old lady, nagging about bad maintenance. She would get angry, but her mood would always brighten at the adorable responses people gave her.

Florandus snapped out of the thought and went down to fix up some more things around the fire, laying stones so it wouldn’t spread and burn down the whole forest, place branches around the outskirts of camp to hear intruders and gather some water from a nearby stream to put In the fire for boiling. He ate some of the meat, drank some of the purified water and finally climbed into the tree, settling down into his chair for some good needed sleep. He sat in his seat and dozed off for a little while.

=Chapter 3: Drawing in guests.=

A funny dream of making love to a vampire was unpleasantly interrupted by the sound of snapping twigs reaching the ranger’s ears. He looked down upon his fire and noticed a shimmer skulking to the drying meat. Florandus took out his bow and aimed downwards to the humanoid looking silhouette. Once he noticed the figure only had something looking like two blades he tapped the branch he was sitting on with his foot, he kept his bow aimed at the figure.

At hearing the taps the figure looked up, showing to amber eyes that seemed more than surprised at the sudden threat. The ranger raised his eyebrow at seeing the figure both hold its blades threateningly in his direction while also shaking in a fearful manner. Getting a better look revealed that the silhouette was a mantis, her body had many lacerations and seemed malnourished at best with only scraps of cloth as clothing. Florandus swung his legs off the branch and landed point-blank next to the mantis with the arrow still nocked. The girl back paddled and fell to the ground as she squirmed away from him. She held her stomach with one hand while keeping the other in a fighting stance while glaring at the owner of the camp and the meat that was kept warm by the fire.

Seeing the girl in such a state surprised the young man, prompting him to lower his bow and point at one of the slabs of meat. The insect girl spared no time pouncing on the food. She greedily tore into it and devoured bite after bite. The ranger took most of the dried meat not in the mantis hand and packaged it up for later. After finishing the first slab, the girl grabbed the next till only the packed amount remained. She sat herself down leaning against the tree and glared at the armed man before her.

Florandus put his bow back on his upper-back and retrieved his picks, then took the hides and sat himself down next to the mantis. The ranger took some herbs out of his satchel and mushed them together in his hands, making some kind of dry paste. He moved to apply it on the girl, but she raised her blades to him. “Don’t you dare!” He frowned and held the paste to her. “Just apply it on your wounds, it will heal faster.” She sniffed the herbs and reluctantly lowered her blades to use the paste. Despite winching a few times she covered her wounds and began feeling more at ease.

He looked her over once more and began working the hide with a dagger and a sowing-kit. “So.. Who are you?” The mantis gave him a confused look, staring at the man as he made something like a loincloth. “Eve.” The ranger glanced at her exposed female genitalia under her torn rags. “Just Eve?” She simply nodded, crossing her legs to hide her sex. Florandus gently stroked her thigh, causing the mantis to shiver. “Don’t hide it, how else should I know how big to make these?” Eve blushed ever so lightly and exposed herself once more, looking at the cloth. “Is that for me?” She was met with a small nod.

=Chapter 4: Nightly comforts.=

“I gave you my food and the hides, mind telling me what gave you all those scars in exchange?” The mantis looked down to her hands and let out a small tear. “Two days ago our village was attacked by cross-bearing knights. I and the others agreed to meet up here. I’ve waited all that time, but nobody came.. I got really hungry and found this camp, which is how I came across you.” Florandus hadn’t heard or seen anyone else in the forest the past few days; maybe those knights had something to do with it.

He raised a hand and stroked eve’s head. “It’s okay. Just rest up for now, we’ll search for them tomorrow.” The mantis eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. “Y-you will help me?” The ranger nodded with a kind smile and stroked her cheek, causing another blush to befall on the insect-girl. She smiled relieved and rested her head in the young man’s lap, promptly falling asleep. The young man finished the loincloth and made a strapless bra, he put them on Eve, gave her behind a good feel and closed his eyes as well to join her in a good night’s rest.

=Chapter 5: Homecoming party.=

It was early morning; something itched the ranger’s forehead. Upon awakening he discovered what it was that itched him. The first thing he could see when he opened his eyes where two large bug-eyes staring at him curiously and a human looking face of a sleeping girl. She sat asleep on his lap, her arms tightly locked around him with her arm-blades functioning as a cross-beam. The mantis antenna’s on her head prodded and hugged the strangers scalp and blond hair while the girl’s thorax twitched on occasion. Having his arms bound in the embrace Florandus moved his head back and blew gently on the antennas, causing them to twitch and vibrate.

A few seconds of this was all it took to wake the mantis girl. Eve opened her eyes as if she hadn’t slept at all, smiling contently at the young man in her embrace. “Good morning, did you sleep well? I didn’t catch your name last night, and thank you for the food and clothes.” Florandus nodded and wiggled a bit in the bear-hug. “Yeah, you’re welcome.. The name is Florandus; could you let me go perhaps?” The mantis had a small grin on her face. “You promised to help me look for my friends, right?” The young man looked away for a moment before giving Eve a small kiss on her lips. “Well, I didn’t promise, I merely agreed. It’s different, but I guess helping you won’t be a big problem.” Eve frowned and tightened her hold before easing it. “You will help me.” The ranger nodded.

Once the mantis was sure he spoke the truth she let him go, followed by getting off his lap and onto her feet. She brushed the dirt off her legs and yelped when she made the discovery that she was now wearing the clothes the ranger made last night. With a beet-red face she turned to the young man. “D-don’t dress me up, I could have done it on my own!”

The ranger got up and retrieved the remaining items around the camp, hiding a small smirk. “I like your look more when you’re naked, I don’t mind if you prefer that.” The mantis’s thorax vibrated at the thought, but was quickly hushed by its owner. “No, this is fine. I’m not an exhibitionist; I come from a decent village.” Florandus came back to the girl and mentioned to the forest. “Do you have any idea where to look for the others? They might have gotten captured.” Eve nodded and took his hand, her grip was still weak due to the hunger and drought from the past two days, but she was definitely more determined than the night before. “If we go anywhere, we have to see the state of the village.”

=Chapter 6: Knights among the shrubbery.=

The Ranger and the mantis snuck through the undergrowth of the forest, the track from the river to the village was shorter than expected, but then again Florandus didn’t know how long it took for Eve to reach the river and how long she waited other than that both those activities took two days. They got close to a clearing where burned out thatch houses laid in smithereens. Where was now wreckage where once around twenty thatch houses placed in a circle with the largest in the center of said clearing.

A multitude of men and women clad in silver armor bearing crosses of brass could be seen inspecting the premise, cutting down the remaining houses and waving their swords through the bushes surrounding the clearing. The ground was covered in small puddles here and there on the sight, but no amounts that would mean anyone had bled out. Looking aside Florandus could look the shock on Eve’s face, seeing everything as it was now. He grabbed her trembling hand, granting him her attention.

She slowly calmed down and sagged down against his cloak. The man and mantis where suddenly alarmed by a shout from one of the men. Despite the center house of the camp having collapsed, the soldiers pulled what looked like green colored eggs covered in sludge out of the rubble. One of the soldiers carried a handful of eggs to a woman in silver armor. “Gillia, we’ve found these orbs in the main building, what could they be?” The woman held her chin and inspected one of them. “The monsters we captured are of an insect-species, these are likely their offspring. Take them all back to the fort; we can’t let them repopulate to attack us at a later date.”

The soldier nodded and together with the others they gathered the eggs in carts. Eve’s antenna’s stood up right and hugged Florandus face as she spoke to him in a hushed voice. “Did that woman say Caught? The others, they are alive, we have to find a way to help them.” Florandus placed a hand over the mantis mouth and nodded to her. “We have to get onto that cart, are you ready?” The mantis nodded furiously. The two then carefully crawled through the bushes around the clearing, careful not to make a noise or get close to any of the men cutting into the shrubbery. Once close the two waited till the man at the cart looked the other way for them to crawl under it, the space under the cart wasn’t much, but it was enough to hold yourself onto the beams to ride along with them. A call went out not long after and the cart along with the battalion of soldiers left the clearing.

=Chapter 7: Hitching a ride.=

A few hours of travel where all Florandus could tolerate, the cart stopped and words were spoken between the driver and a woman who sounded like Gillia. “Stop here, we will rest shortly, we will reach the fort before daybreak. The young man could see the Silver boots walk off towards a multitude of iron pairs to the right of the cart. Florandus gave Eve a pleading look and let go of the beams, flopping down on the dusty ground under the cover of the cart. In a hushed tone he whined while rubbing his arms. “Ah.. How can rock climbers’ deal with hanging from the wall all day? After this long my arms feel numb.” If it was anything else than complaining it definitely worked, Eve got an amused smile on her face and let go of the beams as well. “Shouldn’t you become an incubus then? You can hold out all day with that kind of stamina.” The ranger shook his head. “I’m not that numb.”

They laid there waiting and relaxing till the call went out once again, the two blackriders grabbed onto the cart again and together with the battalion they were lead into the fort’s gate not long ago. From his position Florandus could make up that the fort was a courtyard, a tower, a barracks and a prison with stone walls connecting all three buildings. A water-filled moat was dug around this wall making the fort its own mini-island. The cart was placed next to the prison entrance and the eggs were unloaded.

Just as most Soldiers spread out and returned to their original post a sword was pushed through the middle of the cart’s floor right between Florandus and Eve. The driver jumped from the action. “Captain Gillia, what are you doing?!” The soldier in silver huffed and pulled her sword out of the wood, inspecting the lack of blood on it. “I’m taking precautions; I’ve had this nagging feeling at the back of my mind that we were followed.” The ranger held a finger to his lips, motioning to Eve to be quiet. She nodded, peeking through the hole in the cart. Gillia sheathed her sword and walked into the barracks. The cart owner grumbled to himself and followed suit.

In the courtyard where now around 6 guards, one at the door to either of the three buildings and three more training on dummies on the dusty ground. The ranger sighed and once again whispered to the Mantis. “I overestimated the time it would take to get here; we can’t do anything on a clear day without being seen.” Eve frowned and took a stone from the ground. “How silent can you be? If I distract the guard, could you sneak into the prison?” Florandus didn’t like the sound of that, but nodded at her plan. He pulled his hood over his head and a bandana over the lower part of his face to conceal his identity.

=Chapter 8: Taking first base.=

Eve took a deep breath and jumped out from under the cart and ran out at the three men training on the dummies. She quickly sliced her armblades through two of them before clashing weapons with the third. Instead of blood, the wounds inflicted on the men bled Spirit Energy, making them feel weak and faint as the invisible spirit-fuel left their bodies. The guards at the doors all abandoned their posts and ran at the mantis and she was quickly cornered and pushed to the ground by the collective of men.

In this chaos Florandus entered the door of the prison and ran through a corridor that lead out into a big room where multiple cages stood build into the walls and filled with bound Mantis. Some of them where bloody and some bruised. In the room also stood 5 soldiers who were poking the mantis with sticks while throwing slander at them. One of the cages was filled with the pile of eggs. One soldier was leaning against the doorway of the room while the other four where neatly in a line before one of the cages having their fun.

The ranger took out his bow and shot the closest one through the back of the head with an arrow; before the body hit the ground he had already run up to the others and used his blade to slash through their spines. The soldiers slumped to the ground with weak cries before they ever noticed the intruder. Florandus tried to ignore his handiwork for now and dashed to the prison door where he pushed a beam in place to block the door. He took the warden’s keys and began freeing the captives. He used his sword to cleanly cut through the metal that barred the window in the wall.

Meanwhile Eve was pinned down on the floor, frantically shaking on the ground under the men holding her. Her actions slowed significantly when the silver-Clad woman from before came walking out of the barracks door with a big grin on her face. Her hair was orange and swayed behind her in the wind. Her face was fair, yet her body showed she was more than capable than the usual order-knight. “It seems my gut was right after all, twenty houses in the village and only seventeen monsters. Now you can be a good girl and tell me where the other three are, surely you didn’t come alone?”

Eve shook her head, not prepared to give the evil woman what she wanted. Gillia laughed and unsheathed her sword. “A though type, huh? Oh well, since we can’t get anything out of you I guess I’ll make it quick.” She raised her sword to end the mantis when the weak cries where heard from the prison. The Captain looked up surprised, commanding the guard to open the door. The man pulled on the door and bashed his shoulder against it without luck. “It is barred, Captain. Enemies are inside!”

=Chapter 9: The prompt Prison break.=

Inside the prison Florandus and the mantis where taking over the plan. The ranger ran at the cut open window and jumped up to grab onto the ledge above the hole in the wall. He pulled himself up to the roof of the building and found himself on the wall. At either side of him the wall was garrisoned with archers watching either the forest outside the fort or the commotion in the courtyard. He made use of this by taking his bow and shooting down the archers focused on the forest. One of them was hit in a non-lethal spot on his body, vocalizing his pain for the whole camp to hear.

At this the mantis in the prison jumped out of the window and into the moat outside the fort-walls. The water broke their fall and the mantis inside began chucking the eggs out of the window and into the hands of their monster-mothers below. Gillia growled at her soldiers to kill the intruder, while she pulled Eve into the tower. “A jailbreak it is then!? Let me tell you the principal of all or nothing. You can serve as bait for your friends!” Soldiers came running up the walls while the ranger shot down every archer trying to hit the escaping mantis. As quick as the mantis jumped out the window, same did all of them vanish into the woods with the eggs in hand.

Having cleared the way Florandus now found swordsmen at either side, leaving him to jump off the wall into the courtyard with a roll to break his fall, weaving through sword and spear to the tower. Taking on a sword was not an option as the courtyard was now filled with soldiers trying to get a piece of him. The tower door was blocked by a man holding a pike. The young ranger ran up the wall next to the tower and grabbed the ledge again, pulling himself upward to a second-story door which had not been locked or blocked. Behind him the air was filled with shouting and the sound of weapons and arrows swishing past his head.

He pulled the door shut behind him and darted through the room he was met with, looking for the ladder. Panic ate at his mind as his way out was filled with more than a small group of armed knights. He located a ladder, pushing up a latch and climbing up it into a room where he was surprised with the sight of the Captain Gillia holding her sword at Eve’s neck. The silver-clad woman glared at the Ranger’s appearance and closed part of the distance her blade had to the mantis neck.

=Chapter 10: A leap of faith.=

The room they were in was round and filled with a desk, a cupboard and a few tables with many papers on them. Behind the captain was a balcony that lead outside, hanging over the moat. Captain Gillia clenched her teeth and let out a near-growling voice. “So you are the one killing my men and aiding these monsters... Listen up, you are going to take off your hood and give me a good look at you before I cut off your neck. If you try anything this girl of yours will lose hers first!”

Florandus took a deep breath and a step back onto the hatch so that his weight would prevent the hatch from opening and letting any of the other soldiers below into the room. He slowly moved his hands to his head and pulled down the hood and bandana to show his blond hair and his childish smirk. He raised his hand and held it out to the fair knight; he mumbled something at her under his breath. His smirk widened when the woman took a step back, pulling Eve with her. “W-why are you extending your hand towards me? If you use magic on me I will kill her you know.” Florandus felt something bonk against the bottom of the hatch he stood on and took a few steps forward off the hatch. “Gillia, don’t be silly. You can’t kill that girl anymore; it is far too late for that now.”

The woman pulled Eve backwards even more as she spoke. “Why is that? What did you do just now?!” The ranger pulled no break as he tried to act out as if he had her in his grasp, each step bringing him closer to the two and them a step closer to the balcony’s edge. Florandus waved a hand through his hair and tried to mimic an evil laugh he had once heard, blowing a kiss to the silver-clad knight and speaking to her in a sinister yet calm tone. “Come now Gillia, be a good girl and come here.” Gillia took the sword away from Eve’s neck and aimed it at the ranger who had her with her back against the balcony’s railing. “Get back, I mean it!”

At that moment the hatch behind Florandus was bashed open by a bulky soldier. With Gallia’s eyes drawn to the hatch the ranger jumped in at her, ducking under the sword and tackling all three of them off the balcony. There was a look of unbelief on the silver-clad knight as the sun shone through her long orange hair and the ground was taken away from under her feet. With a loud splash they fell off the three-story tower into the water.

Florandus felt himself slam into the bottom of the moat after the splash, but the muddy floor broke the force of the fall the water did not. He and Eve quickly emerged from the water; they coughed the fluids out of their lungs. The young man looked back at the mantis and grabbed her hand. “We need to go!” Eve shook her head and pointed to the water. The captain’s armor was weighing her down, forcing her to the bottom of the water. The ranger grumbled and ran back in.

Eve ran ahead while Florandus felt around over the bottom and found the hard texture of the silver gauntlets. Panicked hands grabbed hold of him and using this the man pulled Gillia out, she gagged the water out of her system. Florandus pulled her face up to his before he ran off. “If you tell anyone how I look, I will come back and bewitch you to let me rape you. Understand?” The shocked knight feverishly agreed and began unclasping her armor, taking in the fresh air.

=Chapter 11: All accounted for.=

With the mantis escaped Florandus stumbled back through the trees, following the path and the cart-tracks on it back to the clearing. The sun moved low near the horizon, signaling dusk. The young man walked back to the river where the mantis tribe would originally have met up and came upon the group of mantis from before. Some were washing themselves which was quite the sight and others were caring for the eggs. Eve was amongst them, hugging her siblings and family.

Once she saw the ranger she ran up to him, kissing his cheek. She was far from the silent mantis he had met the day before, happily smiling at him. “Thank you for what you did to save my family.” He kissed her back and gave the others a friendly wave. “Don’t mention it, I couldn’t just stand by and see that happen to your family.” Eve gave him a sly smile and pulled him into a hug, her thorax vibrated slightly, ushering the man to stroke it. Eve cooed from the affection and kissed Florandus lips. "You know.. It's nearly mating season again. Would you mind if we made a headstart?" The young man took her to some bushes a bit farther away. "I don't mind that one bit~"

Later he was told by the others that they would move to another forest and make sure to keep humans far enough away from it. He was welcome to stop by whenever he could.

Florandus walked back on the path with new spirit and an excited spring in his step, leaving behind the mantis tribe and traveling for a new adventure.

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