Chapter - 10

Morning came quickly, it had been four days since I had last seen Hunter. The air was cold, dark clouds covered the sky. The day itself felt just as I had, sad, lonely, and scared. I woke up and started to head towards the dining room table. My father sat at the table eating his breakfast, "Good morning" he said, I barely heard him, I walked in a sluggish manner, my head hung low, "Morning" I muttered as I sat down at the table. My father looked at me as I began to eat, his face was filled with sadness. "He will be alright," he said in a reassuring tone. I didn't look up at him but nodded in agreement. I finished my food and headed towards the door, as I opened the door the smell of salt and mist hit me, it was cold but I didn't seem to care, I didn't pay much notice to the feeling as I started my daily chores.

A few hours had past and I was nearly done with my daily tasks when I saw Hunter's father walking towards the docks. I decided to walk to him to ask him if he was alright, he walked differently than he used to, he walked sluggishly like I did and held his head low just as I did.

He stood at the end of the docks staring into the ocean, I walked up behind him and lifted my head up, I opened my mouth to begin speaking but he interrupted me, "He will come back to us. He's a strong man and nothing in this world will stop him from coming back to you Asta. Not even the gods themselves." he said, my mouth hung open. He turned around to face me, his eyes were glossy, and his face had lost all its color, seeing him like that had made my chest feel tight, I placed my hand on my chest and squeezed it. Hunter's father walked up to me and put his arms around me, no words where said, but none were needed. We where both scared for Hunter, we both wanted him home and we did not know when that would be. I threw my arms around him and held him tight. "It'll be alright lass," he said in a soft caring voice. We stayed there for a moment before we both decided to walk back to the village together.

As we reached the edge of the docks we heard a horn blow, we looked at each other confused as to what it may be. It came from the north side of the village when I realized the direction it came from my body froze, that was the direction Hunter had left for. I stood there motionless, holding my breath, my mind was blank I felt scared, happy, sad, excited all at once. But the only thing going through my head was his name... Hunter. When the second horn blew I started to run, I could hear my heart pounding in my chest and it felt as if it were about to break out of my chest. I kept on running and running, I broke through the village border and had a clear view of the forest. My heart grew louder in expectation, all I could hear was the sound of the wind, blowing against the leaves of the trees, and a faint sound of leaves crunching and branches breaking. I didn't know what to expect, it was only a few moments but felt like a thousand years, I saw movement in the edge of the forest, my eyes grew wanting to Hunter emerge from the forest. My father ran to my side and watched just as I was. I saw a shadow emerged from the forest, it was a man, the shadow was hunched over slightly, my heartbeat grew stronger and stronger as the shadow got bigger. I saw the bushes at the edge of the forest bend, a man slowly stepped out of the forest and into the dark light of the sun. He held his stomach with his left hand, and with his right, he held an ax. My eyes began to water slightly, that was Hunter's ax, I slowly looked further up and saw him. Hunter was standing in front of me. I locked eyes with him, I was in awe, he had kept his promise and came back to me, the tears streamed from my face I wanted to run to him and make sure he was actually there but my body was frozen. I did not want to run to him and then find he was just an illusion. The figure came closer and closer with every step, my eyes followed it as it walked right up to me, no sound was heard. It was now right in front of me staring at me. "I'm here Asta. I am right here" Hunter said. My hands were shaking, I reached out to touch him, as my hands touched his rough skin and I felt the warmth in his chest, "Hunter!" I yelled as I wrapped my arms around him and held him tightly, he held me in his arms and placed my head on his chest, he rested his head on mine and said: "I made a promise, and nothing would make me break that promise". Asta looked up into my eyes and pressed her soft, warm lips against mine and kissed me with a loving embrace. The others who were there began cheering for us and the men who emerged from the forest.

After a while I pulled away from the kiss, I hugged Hunter once more, then released him as his father ran up and hugged him as well, "My boy is back!" he yelled, cheers arose from the village chanting Hunters name. Hunter raised his arm in victory as they cheered his name. After a while of cheering for Hunter, the chief came up to him with a serious look on his face and said, "We must talk boy." Hunter looked to the chief and nodded, I hadn't stopped holding onto Hunter as we began to walk towards my home.

We got to the door of my home and my father had held the door open for Hunter and me. The air was dense and cold, Hunters face changed from a look of happiness to one of sadness and distraught, we went and sat at one end of the table, Hunter held his head low, staring at the table. I sat beside him, my arms still wrapped around his right arm, I felt as if I needed to hold onto him to reassure myself that he was actually here and I was not dreaming. "Tell me everything." my father said as he rested his head on his clenched fists. Hunter took a shaky breath and lifted his head, he looked into my father's eyes, and began to speak, "We found a dragon, my lord. But it was not the one Asta and I had seen, it was larger, much more vicious, and was battle-hardened. The dragon we had seen was pure white and small in size, this one was dark in color and had scars all across its body. We set up an ambush to defeat the beast." Hunter paused for a moment, his eyes became glossy and it looked as if he may start to cry, "We engaged it and we lost two of our men, my Lord." Hunter finished. The chief closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "Did they die in battle." he asked, "Yes Lord." Hunter replied, "What are the names of our fallen brothers?" the chief asked, Hunter, held his hand on his heart as if he were in pain, I started to squeeze his arm tighter, "Dreng and Egil my Lord" Hunter replied. The chief's face was now filled with a grim expression, "Those where some of our best fighters. The gods will welcome them into their halls with open arms." the chief said.

My father looked at me for a moment, he was watching how I was holding onto Hunter's arm, holding him as close to me as I could, he knew I wished to have some time alone with him. He nodded and stood up, "Hunter, we shall discuss this matter later on." my father said, Hunter, nodded in acceptance. Once my father was out the door Hunter stood up, his head still lowered to the floor, "It was me, it's my fault that those men are gone, I sent them out to die." he said as the tears began to drip from his face. The sight of him crying broke me, my chest began to tighten and I felt as if someone were stabbing me in the heart with a dagger. I stood up as fast as I could and grabbed Hunter and hugged him with a loving embrace, "It's not your fault my love. Do not blame yourself you did what you could!" I yelled at him. Hunter wrapped his arms around me and held me tightly as he rested his head on my shoulder, I could still feel the tears streaming down from his face and landing on my shoulder. "It will be alright my love, you came home, you came back to me." I said as he held me in his arms, "Nothing in this world will ever be able to keep me from being with you, not even the gods themselves can prevent me from being by your side." Hunter said in a shaky tone.