A Tale That Dawned [Book 4 of Selvina's Tale series]

Chapter 7: Hunter's Quarry

Artemian slammed his empty tankard atop the table and glared across the room at the bar wench, busy chatting with new arrivals. She heard the noise and her expression changed from joy to annoyance. Reluctantly, she filled a new tankard, strolled over to his table, retrieved his empty one, and slammed the new one on the table. Golden beer sloshed about, dripping out of the tankard and pooling at its base.

"I'm not paying for this one!" he cried out before taking a great gulp and wiping the foam from his lips.

"I don't want your stinking coppers anyway!" she fired back, though he knew she really did. He sat in one of Our Lady's dirtiest and ramshackle taverns dubbed The Smiling Rat. It was busier than usual as it was one of the few remaining places a man could come and drink his sorrows away. That Black Knight had destroyed half the city and the only taverns left were ones like this one or those far too expensive for lowly folk such as himself.

I had been great once, he thought before taking another swig. Artemian the Great Hunstman, they had called me. Now I am nothing...

He recalled the day where his life had changed to the worse, an act that seemed to happen more consistently the more alcohol he drank. He remembered the three women, strapped to stakes and awaiting death by flame. Though his mind was foggy he could still clearly see the middle woman, Belle, bulging in size, growing fur, and becoming the beast he had been hunting for so long. He had battled it and barely escaped alive.

Artemian glanced down at his left leg and winced as a lance of pain speared through his body. It had been broken and shattered in several places and was still healing, though doing better than he'd expected. Frenisian healers had done their best to save it and, though they had been costly, the money appeared to have been well spent. After that, the drinking had begun.

Belle had always been the most beautiful woman he had ever set his eyes on and though he had met many pretty women, he had never stopped wanting her. That monster everyone called Beast had taken her from him, however. At least, that was what he had always thought. It was all changed now. Belle was Beast and Beast was Belle. He couldn't have one without the other and couldn't kill one without killing the other either. The woman he had always wanted as a wife was also the creature had had wanted most to slay. What was a man supposed to do with that?

His failure at stopping Beast had been noticed by many, however, and no one wanted to hire a bounty hunter that couldn't complete a job. Work was hard to come by these days and Artemian spent his days seeking the bottom of a tankard. It was the only hunt he always completed.

It was proving far more expensive than his healing leg, however.

He had already lost his home in a ridiculous bet, foolishly revealed to strangers where he had stashed his savings in drunken stupor, and very nearly had his bow and quiver of enchanted arrows stolen. The weapon was the only thing he retained from his old life as one of Faeryum's greatest bounty hunters. He still needed it, he said to himself. Beast still needed to die. If he couldn't have Belle than neither would that vile creature. It was the one goal he had left, even if he had yet to undertake it.

One more drink, he thought for the umpteenth time. After this drink I'll go hunting. Yes, just one more...

He had just finished his tankard and was about to slam it on the table for another when a commotion at the door gave him pause. A large, rotund man with dirty teeth and a bald head walked in with a great grin on his sweaty face.

"Next round is on me, Leela!" he croaked with a guffaw. "It's a good day for Cookie and I want to share it with all these friends of mine!" He then flipped a gold coin across the room and it landed on the bar counter, spinning about before falling flat.