Chapter 6 - Monster Hunters

↤Chapter 5 - Sweeping
Abstract training swords were made from wood reinforced with an iron core to give it the weight of a real sword, they weren’t sharp but still hurt if you were hit with one. Vee was tired and sore from being smacked all over by the stinging pieces of wood, she was a young Abstract who had been born into the Guardians’ Guild and had begun her training there four or five years ago.

             She had been taught how to control her connection to the candelaum; she had been taught how to hold herself in front of royalty but she was still raring to be taught how to properly hold and swing a blade. Quizzical had been assigned to instruct her in two of the duelling styles used throughout Imagination, Frowbe and Shewbe. Frowbe was the more ceremonial swordplay, much more elegant and dramatic, combining long sweeping swordplay with exaggerated leaps and jumps. On the other hand, Shewbe was the more functional method of fighting, short thrusts and slashes intertwined with close-quarters martial arts. Unfortunately, Quizzical had been called away from training her to go and fight on the frontlines so she was stuck with one of the other Guardians, Gwein, pacing around her like a big cat surveying its prey

             At the moment Vee was practising a graceful strike in Frowbe, Gwein was pacing around her, the higher-status guardian ordering reformations to her posture and the grip on her sword. The younger woman was trying her best to keep up with the quick-fire orders from her superior but the changes she was making to her posture was never good enough for the older man.

             “You shouldn’t keep your back straight, you can’t move if you’re stiff like that.” Gwein reminded her, tapping Vee on the back with the flat of the wooden sword she was holding, “Hold your feet farther apart too, your balance will be off.”

             “Is there anything more you think I need to do?” Vee complained sarcastically, flicking her dark hair over her shoulder, “Hold my hands out in front of me and jump?”

             Gwein shook his head and walked around Vee again before raising his wooden sword and assuming a position similar to the younger woman.

             “Strike me.” He ordered, bracing himself for the incoming swing.

             Vee stepped forward and swung her sword in a loose, vertical strike, aiming for Gwein’s chest with the blunt blade. The older man simply stepped back and knocked the strike to the side before demanding that Vee strike him properly.

             “In Frowbe, you are trying to put on a show, show off your skill in swordplay.” Gwein spun and slashed the sword towards Vee, the blow being blocked quickly with a slightly panicked sweep of the wooden blade. “Don’t just strike and retreat, you are floundering like a blind dog!”

             Vee grit her teeth and launched another attack on her teacher, trying a horizontal slash this time. Gwein brought his sword round to meet Vee’s with a loud cracking of wood-on-wood. Vee was holding the blade too tight and the resounding force made her hand ache, she grit her teeth and pushed herself off and away from Gwein’s blade. She leant backwards and flipped – hands-over-head until she was standing about a horse’s length away from her teacher.

             “That’s more like it Vee, more of the flippy stuff.” Gwein grinned and rolled his sword around the back of her hand before twisting his foot around and launching herself towards Vee with all the ferocity of a hurricane.

             The younger Abstract jumped aside as Gwein landed hard on the floor, smacking his sword against the ground with enough force to warp the blade for a brief moment before he swept his leg towards Vee’s feet in an attempt to trip her. Vee jumped over the kick and aimed a swing towards Gwein’s head. The more experienced Guardian swung his sword up and deflected the blow, Vee was holding the sword too loose now and the blade flew from her grip, clattering to the ground behind her.

             “You win.” Vee growled under her breath, pushing herself up to a standing position and undoing one of the straps around her stomach to allow her to breathe easier.

             Gwein chuckled and picked up Vee’s blunted practice blade. “Aye, I guess I do. You’re getting better, Vee.”

             Vee smiled and took her sword back from her teacher. “May I leave, Gwein? I have some friends I am meant to be meeting.”

             “You’re allowed Vee. But get changed first, you smell like shit.”  The older man said bluntly, putting her own sword away. “And don’t get into any fights again, Quizzical won’t be there to save your ass all the time.”

             “Thank you Gwein, and I’ll try not to.” Vee replied, turning to her teacher and giving him a polite nod before turning on her heels and quickly exiting the room.

----------

             Vee was quickly out in the streets, walking quickly through crowds of people with her hood covering her dark red hair. The hood served a dual purpose, keeping the rain that was pattering around her off her head and also covering the crescent moon of the Guardians that adorned the side of her neck. She didn’t like being recognised as a Guardian, at least not yet. She was about twenty years old and nowhere near good enough to serve as a Guardian in the Abstract military. There were also some in the world that hated her kind, called them the righteous few and would take any opportunity to strike against the respected Guild.

             Vee understood them, just like the rest of the Guilds, being born as a Guardian was a lottery. You were either born into the club or you would never see the inside of the gilded hall, and there was a reason to hate the elite in Imagination, those who you could never be like simply because of an icon that appeared on your skin.

             The young Guardian wasn’t proud of what she did on the side, outside of her work as a Guardian. She worked alongside another group of Abstracts called an Aam, meaning hunters. They were vigilante-like groups that would take out high-paying contracts to kill some of the creatures in Imagination, she hadn’t been working with this group for long but they were friendly enough to her. She’d been without any proper friendships through childhood due to the very solitary upbringing Vee had in the Guardians’ Guild and she’d finally found some people that she could relate to.

             She turned the corner and spied their usual watering hole, the Crossroads Inn, squatting quietly in the corner of the road. She couldn’t wait to get out of the rain so she pushed through the crowd in front of her and slipped into the inn.

             She was immediately assaulted by the stink of stale alcohol, a few eyes briefly turned in her direction before she was immediately forgotten, the memory of a small woman drowned in the cheap drink flowing through the place like thick swamp water. Vee kicked the mud from her boots and strode into the dim room, looking around to find her friends. Spying one of them, Latro, sitting at one of the tables at the back of the bar.

             Vee slunk across the room towards the man, avoiding the gaze of a few other patrons before sliding into the seat opposite to Latro. The grizzled man looked up from his drink and smiled warmly at her, the scar on his lip twisting gruesomely, there was genuine warmth in the old man’s eyes though even past his old-soldier’s appearance.

             “You’re looking well, Vee.” Latro mumbled, rubbing one of his eyes with his hand. The man had been a soldier in years past, now, after his prime, he had fallen between the cracks of society and forgotten by any of his past friends. He’d been badly injured and retired from the military before he was done fighting so he’d taken up work here and there before being found by a group of Aam and agreed to go hunting with them. Four or so years later and he’d battled his way to the top of the mercenaries and taken up leading his own team in hunting the creatures of Imagination.

             “Thank you, you’re looking as good as you ever do.” Vee joked, making Latro chuckle, “When are the others getting here?”

             “Well the Poltergeist is out on official business, hunting a more interesting quarry than what we’re meant to be.” Latro began to explain, sitting up in his chair, “And who knows where the hell Finn is.”

              Finn wasn’t an Abstract, even though he’d been brought up in Imagination. He had been caught up in a dimensional anomaly when he was younger and was lucky to have been spat out in the middle of Perception. He was a faerie, one of the denizens of a world they liked to call the Underdark. The dimension was even more dangerous than Perception, filled with creatures that would rip and tear someone apart for doing anything as simple as glancing at them at the wrong time.

             Finn liked to travel alone, preferring to keep out of the main roads in order to avoid as many Abstracts as possible. He’d tried living normally in the city but that hadn’t lasted long, he’d been forced out of his home and had taken to the streets where he was living like a king under the bridge he’d been found beneath. The man was a natural-born thief and rascal, stealing from whoever and whatever he fancied. He’d joined the Aam just for something to do and a little extra coin in his pocket, discovering his acute senses were very useful for the tracking and hunting that was necessary in this line of work.

             Ten minutes after Vee had arrived in the inn, Finn had quietly entered and slipped into the seat next to her. He snuck her a sly smile that made her gently blush before leaning his head on his elbows and purring in his husky voice.

             “I hear our elusive friend has decided to skip out on us this eve.” He murmured to Latro, resting his chin on clasped hands, “Pity really, I like him.”

             “He’s dealing with some more official business, Finnigan.” Latro replied curtly, “Anyway we’ve got our own things to be dealing with, have we not?”

             Vee interjected politely, “Indeed we do, have you found some work for us?”

             “I have, not the best pay but we can haggle it up a little.” The soldier replied, taking a small piece of paper out of his coat pocket and unfolding it out on the table between them.

             The worn piece of paper showed a simple request, ‘Aam wanted to hunt a small pack of Traplions, 350 per head brought back.”

             “Three-hundred and fifty ain’t much at all.” Finn scowled, scanning the page over with his cat-like eyes. “Don’t tell me you’re going to have one of us stab ourselves in the leg to make it seem like one of them bit us again.”

             “Don’t worry, you won’t have to do that.” Latro answered the faerie before downing the dregs of his mug, “I know who issued this contract, they’ll pay at least four-fifty each, if not more if I get a little in their face.”

             Traplions were, never mind their name, dog-like creatures. They earned their name from the lion-like mane that they sported around their heads. They were large creatures, about half the height of a fully-grown man. Tough and muscled ambush predators, they leapt on unaware prey as a pack and ravenously tore it apart before the poor creature had the opportunity to cry out in surprise. With the war going on, Abstracts weren’t going out into the woods and quelling their numbers so they would become confident on small creatures before moving closer to the farmland surrounding the Abstract cities. When moving closer to the cities, they’d sometimes slaughter Abstracts who’d go out to venture the forests, then from time to time, they would descend on children who ran out to play in the trees.

                             Vee nodded and went to the bar to order Finn and herself a drink, getting back she was greeted with a rather intrusive stare from Latro.

             “You still not enjoying life as a Guardian?” He questioned, leaning his scarred cheek down upon his palm. “Covering up your sigil and hiding your sword.”

             “Not exactly, Quizzical is out today so I’ve got another one beating the hell out of me.” Vee answered, closing her eyes and rubbing one of the bruises on her arm, she had received it during one of Gwein’s rigorous training exercises earlier in the day. The senior Guardian had Vee running at a wall over and over again until she had mastered being able to phase through things on a dime. It had taken her a few hours of sweating and running into a wall before she could do it almost perfectly, Gwein had barely given her an hour to recuperate before the swordplay tutorial.

             “I feel for you, being where you don’t feel you belong.” Finn replied as he placed his drink back on the table. “I would have preferred to stay in the dark.”

             Vee smiled and thanked the cat-like man for his sentiment before taking a swig from her own mug as well, Latro interrupted them with a polite cough.

             “We’ll meet on the eastern wall tomorrow, early morning. I assume that there are no duties you need to attend to, Vee?” He asked, Vee shook her head and he nodded. “Good, good. Well, we’ll meet there, bring enough to camp in the woods two days at least. We’ll probably not be needing it but it’s better to be safe than dead in the roots of a tree.”

             “Joy, camping in a forest full of traplions.” Finn groaned, folding his arms across his chest and leaning back in his chair.

             “We should only run into them if you find them.” Vee retorted to his sarcasm, “I’ll need to be going soon, need to sleep off this bruise before tomorrow.”

             “Aye. Be off with you then Guardian.” Latro said, waving his hand at her dismissively until she had finished her drink, stood up and retreated out of the bar.

Chapter 7 - Showtime↦