Chapter 6
The sun's first rays crested the top of the mountain. The early morning sky had blood-red streaks throughout fortuitous of the battle to come. Dawn found me in a hunting stand 15 feet off the ground in a tree facing down the mountain about a quarter mile down from my house. This was the largest game trail leading to my house so I assumed at least one of the men would be on this trail. I hadn't slept at all that night, but I hardly noticed with all the adrenaline coursing through my veins. I had spent the night preparing myself for the battle that now was just moments away. I quickly went over my preparations for the upcoming battle, it wasn't ideal, but it was better than nothing. I didn't have time to make any traps more complex than the few tripwires with glass bottles attached, hidden noisemakers to try and alert me to the enemy's presence, though they only worked if they walked into them. I had three of the noisemakers spread out down in front of me in the forest and three more spread out around my house.
Since I didn't have time to create the traps I would have liked to, instead, I focused on what I could. I camouflaged myself to the point I was nearly invisible standing in the woods. I also mixed up a powerful poison made up of 4 castor beans and dried hemlock, oleander, and monkshood. I used my mortar and pestle to grind these up into a very fine powder, almost as fine as flour. Before preceding any further I wrapped my nose and mouth in a cloth, put on leather gloves, and wrapped thin see-through linen over my eyes. I didn't want to take any chances on this lethal poison entering my system. I had made more than enough to coat the 12 arrows that would fit in my quiver, so I transferred three-quarters of the mix into a glass jar. I laid each of the arrows on the table and grabbed a small jar containing pine sap. I used a small brush to apply a thin layer of sap on the arrowheads, coating the entire surface of the broadheads. Holding the arrowheads over the mortar I used a small silver scoop to sprinkle a thin layer of the poison onto both sides of each head. I tapped the excess off each head before lying them back onto the table to allow the sap to fully dry. Once this process was completed, I transferred the rest of the poison into the glass jar and corked it, then took all the tools and my face wraps outside. I placed them all into a bucket of water to cleanse them of any trace amounts of poison, even a tiny amount of this stuff is lethal and it’s a gruesome way to die. Suddenly, I heard glass shatter nearby, the fight was on.
I nocked an arrow and waited for them to come closer. Two men appeared in the woods in front of me about 50 yards away. I waited to see if any more men would appear behind them, but they must have spread out through the forest. My theory was confirmed when I heard more glass breaking off to my left. When the masked men were only 40 yards away I drew back my bow and took aim at the man on the right. My breath was shaky, but my hands were steady. I had never killed anyone before yesterday, but I was determined to end this hunt here and now. Either I would kill them, or I would give them no choice but to kill me. There was one thing I knew for certain; I was not going to become a slave today.
The men drew closer ever so slowly. They had witnessed one of their teammates die by my hand yesterday and they must have suspected I was somewhere close after they ran into my noisemaker. When the men were 30 yards away, I let my arrow fly. It plunged into the man's chest, dropping him instantly and without a sound. His teammate ran over to him. Upon seeing the arrow protruding from his chest he let out a cry of surprise and warning to his squad.
"Man down! Be on guard, the Scholar is somewhere nearby!"
I quickly drew back another arrow and let it fly towards the man. The arrow struck the man in his thigh and he screamed in pain, blood dripping onto the foliage beneath him. His screaming quickly stopped as the vomiting began. A few seconds later the vomiting stopped just as quickly as it began and was replaced by a seizure. The man fell to the ground as he seized violently, thrashing violently I was sure his squad mates could hear him. His mask was torn from his face while he seized and I could see the white foam pouring from his mouth and blood leaking from his nose. Shortly after the man stopped moving and it was clear he was dead. 30 seconds from the start of the vomiting to the end of the seizure, with my poison arrows that's all it took for a deep flesh wound to result in death. I heard the sound of men crashing through the forest on both sides as men ran toward my position, drawn in by the screams of their squad. I quickly nocked another arrow and waited on the hunters to realize they had become the hunted. Two down, three to go.
The three men arrived at the crumpled bodies of their fallen comrades, two from the right and one from the left, at about the same time. Their attention was quickly drawn to the man who fell victim to my poison. One man crouched down and began inspecting his fallen comrade closer while the other two scanned the surrounding woods for me.
One man broke the silence, "What the hell happened to him?"
"Poison. A very potent one from the looks of it."
My eyes narrowed upon hearing Marketh's voice. I searched for the man it came from, but they were all too far away and wearing masks. It was impossible for me to identify one of the men as Marketh.
"Keep your eyes peeled," Marketh said, "even a flesh wound from his arrows is fatal."
"And a rather unpleasant demise from the looks of it." Another man said with a hint of fear in his voice.
As the man who had been inspecting his fallen comrade begin to stand up, I let my third arrow fly. His fate was sealed as I watched my arrow plunge into the back of his shoulder. The man howled in pain as he fell to the ground while the other two men cried out in shock and dived behind trees to take cover. The placement of the arrow was not a fatal shot itself and the man shortly started to suffer the effects of my poison. As he began vomiting, I heard a shock of surprise come from behind one of the trees. When the vomiting turned to seize however that shock turned into outright fear.
"Who is this guy Marketh? What kind of Scholar is capable of doing these things?" The man's voice had terror starting to creep into it.
"One raised by an assassin. I fear we may have underestimated him."
"What are we going to do?"
"We're going to capture him and take him back to Gregin. The plan hasn't changed and now we know what to expect from him."
"Are you kidding me? He's killed four of us in one day!"
"I know, but death is a potential on every mission we take. This is no different than any other mission we undertake. All other missions we would see through to the finish and so we will with this one."
"You're insane, I can't do this, I won't die at the hands of a Scholar! I have to get off this mountain while I still can!"
"No, you fool!"
The man ran from his hiding place behind a tree on the right. I took aim as he ran and let my arrow fly, praying that it would find its mark.
"If anything out there cares about me let my arrow fly true," I prayed, "the only reason I've done so well is due to them under-estimating me and their small numbers. If he gets away, I'll be hunted down and captured for sure."
My breath caught in my throat with hope and anticipation as I watched my arrow fly. Suddenly blood splattered the forest floor in front of him as my arrow pierced his neck and protruded from the other side. He tumbled down the mountain from his momentum and stopped when he hit a tree. While I watched the man tumble, I failed to notice Marketh's bow trained on me. White-hot pain flashed through my leg as an arrow tore through the edge of my left calf creating a rather large gash. I cried out in pain and looked down to see my torn bloody pant leg. I slid down the rope connected to my tree stand and ducked behind the tree, frantically looking for another place that had more cover.
"It's just you and me Acelith, son of Acerin. You must know you are no match for me. Surrender now, don't throw your life away as your father did."
"Marketh!" I roared "Come and get me if you dare!"