Caracara's Hunt 65 Mairyan Legend

Their hide was midnight black, not light grey, and they didn't even have a lighter colored belly.

When they stopped for a small break to have lunch, no one went hunting. It would take a lot of time, and no one could be bothered to do it. Thus, they took out their dried rations and ate around the cart while stretching their muscles.

"What do Mairyans think about the beasts?" Arawn asked before taking a bite of the jerky. Corwal had left with him everything that wasn't on his horse's saddlebags, so Arawn wasn't lacking in supplies.

"You're still thinking about it?" Rain asked. "I don't think you're one of them."

Val cursed as he had trouble opening his saddlebags. When Betty came to help him, he thanked her, but his expression remained tense. He looked at the world around him like it had personally insulted him.

"Why do you think so?" Arawn asked. He tried to ignore the pang of guilt that came every time he saw Val having trouble because of his new situation.

"You would have turned already, most likely. The change happens at the height of emotions, when people are pushed into a corner. As they say, even a cornered rabbit will bite. That's why we call it Rabbit's Mettle."

If one's eyes had the possibility to pop out of their sockets, Arawn would have had to crawl on the ground in search of them. He even forgot to chew, just staring at Rain like she had grown a second and third head in succession.

Did she even hear herself? She was talking about creatures that killed indiscriminately! In what madness could anyone compare them to the fluffy, defenceless creatures that were the rabbits.

"I have to a.s.sume you haven't heard our legends."

Arawn nodded, his mind empty. How could there be such a different view of the same murderous creature in countries that bordered each other?"

"We actually pay attention to our people," Betty said with some pride. "It's a tragedy when someone turns, but it's always for a reason. They're trying to protect something precious to them."

"Yet you were all eager to put the beast down. If you—"

"Stop it," Rain ordered while finding a comfortable place to sit down on the cart. "When people turn, they are no longer themselves. We're not blind. Because of that, it's every Mairyan's civil duty to stop them from inflicting any hurt on their family and friends."

While trying to make sense of it, Arawn returned to chewing the dried meat. It didn't taste well, but it grounded him back in reality. "So what's the legend?"

"Many hundreds of years ago, there were no beasts in our lands. We lived as always, with kings vying for power and constant wars. This was before Karas locked up in their woods, so we had enemies on two sides. King Saena that ruled at that time married a princess from Ayersbert to ensure good relations with it.

"No one liked a foreigner, and she was put down a lot, but her heart was gentle and forgiving. She ignored all the hatred and went out of her way to help the people. She started many orphanages and fed the poor. Even the king was influenced by her and lowered taxes for those who couldn't pay them.

"In time, she became the most beloved queen of all time. However, the heavens are envious of those beloved by the land. Karas attacked, and the country was decimated. Fires burned everywhere. Struck by the suffering of her people, the queen followed her husband into the last battle to be with him whether victory or defeat.

"They were crushed. A squadron of enemy soldiers even snuck into the main camp. When they were about to kill the king, Queen Darline snapped. With tears in her eyes and 'I love you' on her lips, she changed into a monster that no one had ever seen before. Ether bounced off it like pebbles off a wall, and its claws were sharper than steel.

"The queen tore into the enemy soldiers, slaughtering them all on the spot. Then, as if aware of what needed to be done, she left the main camp and went straight into the enemy army. She was but one person, but hundreds of soldiers died at her hands. No magic could hurt her, and swords had trouble even penetrating her sleek black skin."

Rain turned smiled at that moment with a strange melancholy. "She died there, but the enemy retreated in chaos, afraid Mairya had more creatures like that. Once they were gone, the king himself scoured the battlefield to find his wife's body. When he saw her battered form, he fell on his knees and wept for three days and nights.

"With the queen's sacrifice, Mairyan soldiers had enough time to regroup, and Ayersbert's support came in as well. The country was saved, but the king never forgot what had happened. He mourned his beloved wife to the last of his days and built a stunning mausoleum for her.

"If you ever visit our capital, you should check it out. It's a building the size of which you have never seen before, and it's guarded by five thousand earth soldiers. In the middle of them, a beast of black onyx sleeps over the queen's grave. On her day, we all go there and thank her for the sacrifice while asking for her to watch over our families."

The ancient story brought a woeful atmosphere over the three Mairyans, and all of them fell into a contemplative mood. Arawn wanted to ask a few more questions, but it felt wrong somehow. The atmosphere wasn't right.

They finished eating while immersed in their own thoughts and prepared to ride away once more. Val needed Betty's help to get up, and his expression filled with helpless fury. There was simply nothing he could do about the cards fate had dealt him.

Sitting in the cart, Arawn thought back about the Mairyan legend. It was of little importance whether it was true or not. The real surprise lay in how different it portrayed beasts when compared to Bretian beliefs.

In Arawn's home, they were known as cursed people, or those with demonic blood. They were hated and despised, like a calamity that everyone had to face together. Yet Mairyans had found a way to worship them. In their eyes, beasts were an expression of inner strength. When a person was left with no options, they could turn into a mad creature to save their loved ones.

It was a beautiful fiction, but just that, a fiction. From what Arawn had seen and heard, people were turning in Ayersbert left and right, without any good reason. The n.o.ble woman's husband certainly didn't have any reason to sacrifice himself. The merchant near Ashta also hadn't been defending anything.

'I guess Corwal had the right of it when he said that no one knows who the beasts really are and how they came to be. It's like they're everywhere and nowhere, just common enough to make themselves known, but not enough to gain enough importance to be researched.'

When evening came, they found a clearing for the night before the sun hid behind the horizon. This time they did eat a warm meal, provided by Rain and Betty. It was quite welcome, and Arawn found himself feeling better.

"You're going to train?" Rain asked, and he nodded.

Although Corwal was somewhat crazy, his insistence on training had been right. Arawn stood up and went away from everyone to practice with the ether. It was different when he was by himself, and for a moment, he was lost at what to do.

Then, he called the ether to himself and attacked. It had been a while since he had gotten loose with it. When training with others, he could only send out a certain amount of ether, for it would block his own vision too. If his opponent found a way to get through his barrage, there would be no way to fight back since the enemy would be already upon him.

But this was only against combat mages at the level of Corwal, Mutallu, and Rain, the masters of their craft. Anyone else would be drowned out by his ether, and at that moment he chose to practice just that.

He pulled the ether to himself at an increasing pace. There was no way he could allow another event like what had happened with the beast. He had to be faster, much faster at congealing and sending out the ether in condensed ether blades. His companions' lives might one day depend on it again.

Too busy thinking about that, Arawn didn't spare a thought for what he was aiming at. Only when a loud groan followed by ear-piercing creaking reached him did he raise his eyes up. A dozen or so trees before him groaned once more and fell in his direction.

Shock mixed with fear as Arawn sent ether blade after ether blade above himself to cut up the branches and the trunks. There were too many of them though! No matter how many he cut, plenty more still went down at him, about to crush him.

"Arawn!" Rain shouted out, but he had no time to spare for her.

His hands were moving at an unrivaled speed. Up, up, up! The more ether blades he sent, the more chances to make it through he would have!

A few seconds more, and it was over. Arawn raised his hands to shield his head, fearing the worst. A couple pieces of wood b.u.mped against his skin before a shower of sawdust fell on him like white rain.

Sneezing, he dusted himself off and looked at the trees blocking him in from all directions. He might have went a bit overboard with his training…

"Are you okay?" Rain asked while jumping onto one of the tree trunks.

"Fine," Arawn muttered and called to the ether again.

He cut himself a path out and left the encirclement before turning around to take a look at his work. A large pile of trees lay where he had chosen to train. Some of them were even already cut up to make it more convenient to use them.

"If you wanted to prepare some firewood, you should have done that before we finished cooking our meal," Val said from where he still sat by the fire.

Arawn looked back at him with a deadpan gaze.