Their names pass through my mind. Ersa…. Chloris… Kathika… Isleen… I say a promise to each of them, their faces seemingly fading from my memory.

"I will avenge you… I will live," I whisper into the air. They died for pure wickedness and nothing more. Our town, in the shadow of the castle, has suffered greatly from the loss of these women. No more. Not another mother or father, sibling, or friend, will lose a woman to The Huntsman and the queen. I cannot allow it. If I can turn the tables, I can avenge them. All I need is a weapon.

Barks reverberate behind me, skipping across the trees. The hounds seem hungry. They long for a bite of flesh, their liberation granted at the gates where they can finally hunt. I hear a chanting above the noises of the hounds and a shiver runs down my spine.

The Huntsman.

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