4 – Sweet and Salty

I walked away from the training ground towards the palace when my best friend caught up to me.

"Great shooting, Scott." Chase said, changing from a run to a walk beside me.

His electric blue eyes looked into my grey ones.

My head turned towards him. "Thanks." I smiled. "You too."

My memory did in fact prove that to me too. From the sideways looks I got to the sneers directed at me, their silence spoke volumes.

There was another thing too: someone I've never seen before.

A new guy.

I thought back to where I could've possibly seen or even passed him, but I couldn't.

At all.

"His name's Hunter." Chase said.

Gosh, am I that easy to read or does he know me too well?

"I just know you really well." he confirmed.

I groaned.

"How do you know him?" I decided to ask, trying to get some info on this guy.

Chase shrugged. "Bumped into him by The Ground when you weren't there yet."

"What's his personality like?"

"Whoa," Chase looked at me weirdly but I ignored it. "It must've been like a five second exchange. He seemed okay. Ladies are stuck to him like glue for some reason. Why are you so interested in new people all of a sudden?"

I knew that look he shot towards me. It was his infamous 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵-𝘢𝘳𝘦-𝘺𝘰𝘶-𝘶𝘱-𝘵𝘰 look.

I rolled my eyes. "Just curious. Haven't seen him anywhere before."

We walked the rest of the way in silence. We passed some old stone houses leading to the palace that could only house two people, so how families lived there was beyond me.

I glanced the other way for a few seconds but long enough to see a dark haired boy look up, smirk at me, and walk away.

Hunter.

I couldn't understand what the female species saw in him, really.

"I gotta go and help my mother pack for winter." Chase piped up. "See ya later, Scott."

"Later."

*

My boots made a slight 'crunch' on the snow as I moved silently so as to not scare the deer away.

𝘠𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘢 𝘣𝘪𝘨 𝘰𝘯𝘦. 𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳.

My head swiveled in opposite directions to make sure nothing else would jump out between the snow covered trees.

I also had to breathe less to not let the steam from my mouth be visible. That deer's senses would put a regular human to shame.

I was well above that pack, that was for sure.

My urge for wanting to catch it to bring it back to the palace burned inside my blood. I wanted to prove to my father I could do this.

Again.

If this deer felt the slightest bit scared or threatened, it would charge with the intent to kill. Standing on the outskirts of Darkwood, I dared not to get any closer. Even being this close to the woods, danger and horror suppressed my face.

My legs moved swiftly behind another tree, leaving prints in the snow.

𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘻𝘦𝘯 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥.

Raising my bow and arrow up against the tree, I steadied myself. My eyelids fluttered closed and drew the arrow back.

𝘚𝘯𝘢𝘱.

Someone else is here.

My concentration broke. Out of default, my hand released the arrow.

𝘕𝘰!

The arrow veered into the deer's neck instead of its eye. Horror struck, my hand flung to the back to retrieve another arrow but time was already gone and the deer came charging.

I moved to the side as it went past me and not to me, aiming for someone 𝘣𝘦𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘥. I wasn't fast enough as its horn slashed my oblique. I restrained myself from screaming out aloud.

I pressed my hand against the wound as I leaned against a tree. Warm, sticky blood seeped through my fingers. At least I'm not going to die at the claws of a Dicktalon.

Bloody thing.

The deer hadn't come back but rather were struggling at the hand of someone else.

𝘞𝘩𝘰?

My vision blurred and black spots appeared and vanished. A sweet and salty substance spread through my mouth.

"Skyler!"

𝘞𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦? 𝘖𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘐 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘰?

Just then, I felt someone's arm behind my back. Pretty dark hair was the last thing my mind put together before the world around me faded into darkness.