Stranger Spirits

An Evening Spent With the Huntress of Sancho [Chapter Six Part Four]

"On it." Atticus and I nodded in agreement. With Alfred leading the way we all made it outside. The sun was beginning to fall under the horizon turning the sky a rose-red color. People were moving tall wooden sculptures along the streets.

Once the villagers successfully moved one of the towering sculptures to the desired position I silently moved towards it.

"Can you imagine how much time someone spent making this one sculpture?" I turned to my right to see Alfred standing beside me admiring the craftsmanship. "You may have noticed that on all of the decorations around town there seemed to be five animals that were consistently displayed: snakes, boars, foxes, skunks, and vultures. Those are the five forms that the God Nicoli took to test humanity." Alfred rested his hand on my back as he explained each animal in detail. "Nicoli came to this town in the form of five different animals that have been known to have a bad reputation. A young maiden helped each of these animals when others looked away." I turned towards Alfred listening to him explain the lore of the upcoming festival.

"I hope one day I can know as much as you. Living in my village, I never really got the chance to learn about cultures beyond our own."

He turned towards me and gave me a slight smile. "You'll have plenty of time to learn. You just need to savor the knowledge when given the opportunity."

"Thanks," I laughed, "It's reassuring to hear that." It really was. Maybe I can learn more from being out of our village...but where will the path end? What am I going to find in Ilcryst? Alfred and I separated and began to move towards a cluster of villagers receiving orders from a leader. The woman began to point people off and eventually, she stepped towards us.

"I'm going to need you three to move some pillars."

"Maam," I stepped forward, "I'm currently recovering from injury so..."

"Vaughn! We will actually be needing you to keep an eye on Luna!" Murpheous came towards us with Luna at hand. "Luna told me how she actually liked being around you so I thought it'd be best if you stuck by her for the rest of the day."

Gods kill me now. "I'm glad to help!" I hope they didn't see my eye twitch as I smiled at the family standing before me. Luna gave me a cherubic expression and my heart melted. At least she was adorable.

"Let's go Dawn!" She took my hand and started dragging me off.

"It's Vaughn!" I turned around and called out to my group. "I'll see you guys later!" My voice rattled as I almost tripped over.

The rest of the day was long and arduous. Luna was...something else. She loved playing outdoors never seeming to stop to relax. There was always something new for her to find. I had to pull her away from ladders in fear that she'd start running around on the rooftops. I would by the end of the day learn that Luna is most definitely a savage killer in the making. She'd play around with pigeons and lizards to later snap their necks. I should honestly tell Murpheous about this sort of behavior. It's definitely not lady-like. Grabbing two handfuls of animals each we sold the animals off to the local butcher.

"Goodness child, you've really outdone yourself today!" The frail-looking butcher let out a loud laugh. He hobbled over to his work desk making me feel guilty for having my own walking stick. He shakily hovered his chopping knife at the first dead bird's neck. "This will be great for the Hutcherson's down the lane!"

"Right?!" Luna beamed as my mouth dropped. How can this butcher be praising this young girl for killing a bunch of innocent animals?

"Yes." The old man croaked and in a flash, he was chopping the heads away with such keen precision. It was simply astounding! Within a minute he had beheaded all of the birds! Not being able to look away I watched as he plucked, skinned, and gutted out the birds. His timing was impeccable! I've never seen a man at his age work so efficiently at that speed!

As I watched in shock I made sure to pull Luna a step back so no blood would get on her. Once the old man was done with his work he wiped some beads of sweat off of his forehead letting out a shrill whistling sound. "Well! Thank you once again, Luna, my huntress." The man returned to his previous composure and walked to another desk to clean his hands with a cloth. "I look forward to working with you again." The man then handed Luna some coins.

"Give it to this guy," Luna haughtily glanced my way. "He needs it more than I do."

I pursed my lips managing to swallow some ill-formed comeback to her statement. I really was in no position to deny money. "Thank you, Luna. I really appreciate it." I tried giving her a sweet smile but it probably looked forced.

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Hey again! I know, it's not Sunday yet but tomorrow I'm going to be with my boyfriend for his graduation so I know I won't have any time to post! To all the graduates out there: good job and good luck!

-Ryan