Make Them Bow

There was a strange sense of peace that settled within the woman as she strolled through the grey twilight, the large stones around her cast in deep shadows that made it nearly impossible to make out the intricate markings carved into them. The humidity made the air feel heavy, though she appreciated the cooler temperatures of the early morning, knowing the once the sun finally rose above the horizon, the wet heat would dampen her dark pelt and make her usual day to day tasks much more exhausting to preform. The one good thing that had come from the weather was that the scent of herbs seemed to hang thick in the air, meaning the resource was plentiful, though once picked, they would rot before they dried and would quickly become useless. If she were going to pick them, she would be better off taking any valuable findings north, back to boreas, and moving farther inland. The farther she got from the coast, the better. Surely the air would be drier inland.

As she moved through the clearing, she breathed deeply, faintly aware of the ache in the side of her face from where she’d caught the forceful hit from the young tiger she’d fought with the Abraxas Emoper. She sorted through the different scents she detected. Wormwood, moss, lamb’s ear, and… could it be? No. The faint scent of another creature from a past life. One she had left behind. It was so similar, but it was… different. More wild than the scent of her homelands former neighbor. But maybe… Maybe they had enlisted a young warrior to hunt her down and drag her back to face punishment for her alleged crimes.

Bristling, she stalked towards the scent until a vaguely familiar form came into view. The allied king's bastard son. She had heard rumors about him before she left, heard that he had possessed a similar ambition to her own. A need for more. Was he here to try and win a reputation for himself by dragging her back, or had his ambition been his downfall just as hers had been? It was like seeing a ghost, him being there, so far from the place they had both been born and raised. If he hadn’t been sent after her, if he wasn’t looking for her, the chances of him happening to end up in the same place as her… “What a coincidence, seeing you here. What brings you so far from home, old friend?” There was a subtle edge to her voice, as if she were challenging him to try and bring her down. Her father would never have involved other kingdoms in their own affairs, but her brothers were weak and cowardly, and she wouldn’t put it past them to send some other king's bastard to do their dirty work. She watched him carefully, waiting to see what his first move would be.