Chapter 1: The Hunter

“12 out of 21 deer have been killed by this hunter.”

Holding my spear, I am trying to catch my breath while paying my whole attention to the keeper. Keepers are the one who has the information of how many kills a hunter has in an hour.

“None other than, Raffi of the Ambrose’s!” I saw my father fixing his hunter’s robe while wearing his huge smile.

The whole tribe is excited especially the women of which gender I belong to. I started to walk to the wooden stage created by the tribe for this kind of ceremony. Everybody is happy and I hope this will last forever.

“Any plans to retire, Raffi?” the keeper joked.

That joke, however, was not plausible for the men who I beat in this competition.

“No plans to retire, just beat me if you can.” I shrugged and raise the pint of beer that was given to me by the keeper.

The prize is 300 gold and that alone is a motivation for me to win. I need a good amount of money to buy a new spear, arrow, and knives for hunting.

“As expected from the family of Ambrose!” Everyone clapped except my cousin Rendall and some of his age and gender-like species.

If looks can kill, he’ll be on the top spot.

“To award the first-place hunter for this year’s competition, here is the foundation of Ambrose’s, Finn Ambrose!”

The crowd went wild, all the beverages they’re holding were now being raised as a way to acknowledge my father’s presence.

“To all the hunters who joined, I think I’ll have to train you more.”

All the hunters bowed in embarrassment while the elders keep on teasing them.

“My beloved daughter has been and will always be the greatest gift I’ll never get tired of boasting about.”

He wiped his nose and sniffed, I tilted my head because I realized that he had 5 or more pints of beer before he went here. My father is not fond of using these kinds of words when he’s not influenced by alcohol.

“As the leader of this tribe, I award this hunter the promised 300 gold and a declaration to be the future leader of Guala!” He raised his closed fist which was then followed by all the people in our tribe.

I expected this from my father, I know he trained me for this. I also raised my fist which garnered loud applause and cheers from my tribe. Rendall, who heard what my father said, immediately turned his back and walk away.

After all the greetings, compliments, and cheers from the people, I suddenly felt tired. I excused myself and started to walk home.

“Hello there, the future leader of Guala.” I instinctively pointed my spear in his direction, a good thing that he has a small knife to block the tip of it.

“Yeah, whatever.” I hold my spear down and continued walking.

“I’ll beat you next year so buckle up,” he warned.

I nodded and jokingly punch his shoulder, making him laugh.

Rendall is the only cousin I have and he is kind to me. He may have some issues with his mood but overall, he can still function as a normal cousin.

“I hate competing when you’re also a participant!”

We both sigh, our father’s competition has been passed down to us so we have to act like everything is under swords and bows.

“We don’t have a choice,” I mumbled. Despite the competition of our fathers, we became best of friends and we can always rely on each other.

“I’ll go in, we both smell Earth.” I waved and he just stood there so, I also stopped myself from waving.

“What do you mean by Earth?” I laughed; he looks so confused.

“We smell like the soil when it was hit by the rain after a long drought,” I explained, I hope he understood what I meant by that.

I turned my back on him and went inside our home.

Our house is filled with memorabilia from our hunts. What I like the most is the head of the wolf that is hanging just above the fireplace. It is just a normal wolf but that is my first kill so my father decided to put it at the place where visitors can easily lay their eyes on.

Aside from the head of the wolf, I also love the small drawing of a feline that has two tails. The drawing is made by my mother because she likes to draw when she’s alive.

I can still remember that day

My mother, who is happily cooking was interrupted by a knock on the door. I do not know how long she stayed outside but when I went outside, I saw her lying on the ground with two huge werewolves on her side.

I froze, that is my first time seeing a werewolf. I thought that was just a story made by my mother. I didn’t cry nor feel anything, I just stayed still.

A huge blow of horn woke me up and I saw the werewolves run away. I immediately ran to where my mother was lying, all I see is a woman bathed in her blood and with a shattered lower body.

“There’s a kid!” The voice caught my attention and I saw a huge man riding a horse with his spears pointing at me.

My tears slowly fell and the man immediately removed his spear and get down on his horse.

“What did you see?” He calmly asked.

I wanted to say what I saw but there’s no voice coming out, it’s like I became silent and muted.

“Perhaps, a werewolf?” I nodded like crazy when I heard the word let alone my tears that never stops falling.

I looked back at my mother’s body; my heart suddenly started to beat so fast that I couldn’t breathe. Another man with a horse put a blanket on my mother’s body and kneeled so that he can face me.

“What is your name?” He blocked my sight of my mother’s dead body and so I had to face him with my tears still falling.

“R-r-raf-f-fi.” I sniffed, even saying my name is a hard thing to do.

He nodded, he suddenly removed the robe he has and put it on me. I realized how cold I was when I wore the robe. My feet are swelling and I can’t almost feel it anymore.

“Pack your things, we’ll go away from here.” He stood up and pointed his finger at our house.

I obeyed and packed all the stuff I need and I took one of my mother’s recent drawings. Riding the horse, I looked back at our house which used to be home.

We reached a place where a lot of people are having fun and drinking on the side. They look at us and raise their glasses, I don’t know why they are doing that so I just look down.

“Finn, who is that kid?” an old rusty voice from the crowd asked.

“My daughter,” he answered.

I raised my head to look at the man who saved me, I just saw him smile and gently tap my head. No one dared to question anything after what he said, they all went back to what they’re doing and the horses continued strolling until we reached an old house.

“Our younger brother was also killed by a werewolf,” the man with the name Finn said.

I looked up and saw how synchronous they are on their moves, even their walks are similar.

“I’m Finn and he is Polo.” He pointed out at the man who first saw me outside our house earlier.

“Raffi,” I shyly said.

They invited me to the house’s porch and gave me a hot cup of chocolate, drinking the chocolate made my breathing worst as I suddenly felt a hot liquid flowing over my cold body.

“Can you tell us how did your mother die?” Polo asked and Finn who is just inches away from him punched his left shoulder.

“The kid’s still in shock Polo,”

The two gentlemen in front of me fought for as long as I can remember until –

“Fighting in front of a kid?”

The two men stopped bickering and looked at the woman, she also caught my attention as I think she is the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen aside from my mother. Her hands are on her waist and her eyebrows are raised in a manner of scolding.

“Your husband asked the kid to describe how her mother died,” Finn replied.

“I-It’s f-f-ine,” I stutter, I am ready to explain what I saw.

The woman sigh and sat on the edge of the wooden chair Polo is sitting at. She smiled at me which made me at ease.

“You don’t have to do this now, come with me and let’s get you dressed.”

The woman guided me into the house and left the two men who are now starting to argue with each other.

“You can pick any clothing you want but make sure that it will keep you warm,” she said as we walk through a huge wooden closet in the third room of the house.

“Thank you,” I said as I finished wearing the clothes I picked.

“May I know your name?”

“I am Raffi,” I calmly answered, there’s something in her voice that is similar to my mother’s.

“Hi Raffi, I am your mother’s sister.” My eyes widened; I wasn’t able to process the information since a lot has been going on just for this day.

“The gentlemen outside don’t know about this so let us keep this as a secret, is that okay with you?”