31rst of Spring 515 AV
He barely made a sound as he drifted through the forest. Nothing could hear him, and nothing could see him while he hid under the shadows of the night. If he were a predator, he would be the most deadliest creature around.
Soon the shadows would begin to end, and light from the moon would shine to reveal him. That was when he would meet
the hunter. The man with the dark heart, the killer with the red eyes. For a while now he felt like he was being hunted, but by regular animals, not this man who disguised himself as a friend. Now he knew, though, and knowing only made him furious.
He would reveal himself to the true hunter, but not now. Now he stayed in the shadow and watched with hungry eyes. There was a howl of wolves in the distance, and the hunter looked towards where it sounded, shaking within his boots. He liked the sight of this man being afraid, eyes opened wide and waiting for something to take his life. He liked it a lot.
In the shadows, there was a twig that laid near his feet. He stepped on it, and it made a crunching sound. The hunter jumped and looked towards him, but could not see him. The hunter raised his bow and searching for an arrow. The time was soon, the bell of justice nearly tolled. When it did, he would step out and bare judgement. All he needed to do was wait.
There was a large ringing, and the hunter looked off into the distance of the night sky, breath rapid with fear. It was time. He stepped from the shadows one foot at a time. The hunter looked at him, and soon felt safety.
"Dammit Logan! Don't scare a man to heart rush!" Hunter shouted.
"If you have a heart attack from me then you are truly a coward," Logan jested, moving closer to hunter. In his fingers was the knife he found in the twin's bag. It was held loosely, but easily accessible for use if Logan felt like stabbing something.
Hunter scowled. "I ain't no coward," he said defensively.
I would beg to differ, Logan thought. "Did you find Byron, Hunter? It looks like you didn't move an inch from that spot where I left you."
"I moved! But I got nothing. After three bells of search I came back here to meet you. I swear, the longer I waited for you the more these woods played with my mind. I could hear echoes Logan, echoes! I think it was the dead, warning me to leave this forest. Did you find Byron? Hurry up and tell me you did so we can leave this cursed forest."
Hunter shook even as Logan stood in front of him. The forest
did get to him; it played with his mind and now he stood a man turned child, lost in a world full of monsters. It was almost pathetic, and would have been had Logan not been the same way just a few bells ago.
"I found Byron, but not alive," Logan said sadly. "The wolves got to him before I did."
Hunter looked relieved. "At least we know where he is. Further in the morning I'll return to fetch him for his family, I know where they live. For now, let us get out of this forest."
"Alright..." Logan looked defeated. He walked next to Hunter, and together they began their trek back to Sunberth. But before they could really begin, Logan stopped to ask Hunter a question. "Who did you really aim for?" Logan wondered. "Me, or the wolf."
Hunter looked confused. "Wha-" he began but lost his train of thought when he felt a dagger flow through his stomach. His eyes were once again wide with fear, and a little bit of sadness when he realized what was taking place.
Logan's eyes were that of hatred, and he slammed Hunter against a nearby tree with that same loathing. One hand held onto Hunter's right arm, the other held onto Hunter's throat. Logan's dagger was in Hunter's stomach, so deep in that it could barely be seen. Blood was drenching Hunter's shirt, but it was moving slowly, not fast enough to make Hunter die from blood loss.
"Mur..... Mur..... Derrr," Hunter let out, but Logan's palm on his throat prevented him from saying a single word. Even still, Logan understood. And with a heavy voice he said, "It's not murder when you kill to survive."
Logan ripped the dagger from Hunter's intestines and sent its tip through Hunter's neck. This time, the blood came out in gushes. Hunter choked on it, and lost breathing capability. With sadness in his eyes, Hunter stared at Logan while he breathed his last breath, spoke his last words, and lived his last life.
Logan stood over a dead body now. His heart was racing rapidly and his breath's were heavy. He thought he would pass out and die, like Hunter did, from the lack of air around him.
Logan fell to his knees, fighting his own self for breath that he could not find. His eyes ran back to the dagger in his hand, and he threw it away as though it was melting away his skin. Logan was wheezing, he knew, and crying. He would have passed out right there if it was not for the warming touch of Byron's hand on his shoulder. Logan looked up at Byron, and Byron looked down with a worried expression.
"Logan," he said uneasily. "We must go..."
Logan looked behind Byron and saw eyes. Yellow eyes with vicious intent within them. There were multiple, maybe even hundreds. They infested the forest like termite in wood. Logan did not know if he was imagining them or actually seeing them.
Byron held Logan up, and together than began to run away, back to Sunberth. Logan did not look back when he heard the low rumble of wolves, and then the wild howls of victory. He kept facing straight, even when he heard the sound of them tearing apart human bones. He just looked forward, and never looked back again.
When they reached the streets of Sunberth it was nearly day time. They had made it to the next day, they were alive. Byron nearly fell to his knees in happiness, but Logan could not celebrate with him. They agreed to spend some time drinking away the night before, and found the nearest bar to them. Byron paid for the drinks, and Logan drunk as much as he could.
"Logan," Byron called to him while he was on his fourth drink of wine. Logan looked up from his cup for the first time. He didn't even notice it, but he had been crying as he drunk. "We made it," Byron said confidently, but in a way that demanded for Logan to agree.
Logan said nothing.
He had been quiet ever since they came back to Sunberth, even while he and Byron sat together at the bar. He tried to speak, but every time he would say something those words of his would play back in his mind.
It's not murder when you kill to survive, he had said, and he had meant. Once again he had killed another man, and once again it will haunt him. He will remember it.
Logan looked back down, only to look up again at the sound of something hitting the wooden table. In front of him stood a dagger.
The dagger that he had used to kill his second victim. He stared at it, searching for the blood of Hunter that it was stained with. None was there, Byron must have cleaned it before he planted it inside the table.
"We made it." Once again, Byron said those words, but a lot firmer than he did before. Logan looked at Byron, tears still running down his face. "We made it," he said back. "We made it," he meant.
They parted ways after Logan and Byron had more drinks. Byron told him that he would deliver Logan's pay later, and a little extra for all that he had done, then he walked off to his home, leaving Logan standing in front of the tavern with the dagger in his hand. Byron said that it was called an ear dagger, and claimed it strong enough to cut through steel.
Logan looked at it, uncertain of whether that was actually true. It looked sharp enough to cut through bone, but not steel. Logan placed it in his pocket, and it felt right there; as though it belonged in that place, next to him.
Silently, he looked off to the Sunset Quarter, where his home was. He wanted to go there and he wanted to sleep this night off, but he knew that he would not find peace from sleep. So instead, he turned the other way and walked to a brothel. There was where he would spend the remainder of his day.
