Snow swirls all around, veiling everything in an ever-shifting shadow of white. The wind whips the tiny droplets of ice into a stinging frenzy, turning trees into threatening shadows and low growths into mounds of snow. The storm is only just beginning, the temperature dropping rapidly, and every sensible creature in the forest or on the plain has long since ducked into burrows, dens, and thick patches of foliage, bunching together to conserve heat. Even some non-sensible ones are holed away, hiding from the weather for reasons of their own.

The insane ones walk out in it, a shadow amidst shadows, and settle in an open place, quickly becoming invisible in the immensity of the storm. Pale shadows cannot not feel the cold, do not notice the wind, and shut their eyes to the blinding brightness of the shifting walls of white. There they wait, safe, but only as long as the storm lasts.

Which is why they needed to find help, before the snow settles and the sun once again shows itself to the wintry world: before they can be found. They sit in the snow, unaffected by their surroundings, eyes closed, and listen.

~~~~~

Caathyn aLlaanmuu opened her eyes. It seemed as if she could still feel the not-chill of the strange snow on her body, chilling the spirit but not the skin. Instinctively she rubbed at her arms, bringing life back into them after the long inactivity and the strange storm her searching mind had been drawn to, and she rose, frowning. The lights in her cabin, responding to her movement, gradually rose back up to normal brightness. The blackened windows drifted back to their "open" configuration, showing a digital reproduction of the sight one would see if they dared use actual glass on a space ship: endless stars, going on for billions of light years in every direction.

Caathyn, the captain of the small Hunter vessel, strode across her room, still thinking back on the strange scene she'd touched. The deck shivered under her feet as, sensing from her motion that she was finished with her search for the moment, the ship once again started moving, itself, on the course it had been set before she'd settled down an hour before. She always stopped it when she sent her senses out in search of a mission; not everyone did, those with stronger minds and magics, but it made it much harder for her to find her way back to herself if her self wasn't exactly where she'd left it. The stars in the windows started moving, slowly at first, then more rapidly as the ship picked up speed. It was only an idealized version of what the stars might actually look like while they moved, of course; Caathyn had no idea what they would actually look like, if they could see past the ship's hull.

She stopped at her own private set of consoles, looking over the electronic and magical readings that the ship's crew and the ship itself gave out. The trio of pilot, engineer, and technician never seemed to leave their central suite of rooms, all nestled around the engine room, but they sent constant feeds of information through the ship to the Hunters who also inhabited it. Caathyn didn't know when they slept. She hadn't even seen them since they boarded years before and exchanged introductions-- and hadn't spoken to them directly since after their last, failed mission, when the ship limped back to its home planet for repairs. And the loss of another Hunter.

Resolutely, Caathyn turned her mind from that, and began tapping commands into the nearest console, to be relayed to the ship's crew. There had been a definite sense of danger in that scene she'd briefly touched, and the call of blood was unmistakable. This might just be the Hunt that they'd been wandering the universe to try and find, something they could handle, with their halved numbers, and still manage to do some good. A moment later, the deck shivered under her feet again, and the confirmation of her orders scrolled back to her across the screen: the ship had changed direction, angling now for where she thought that listening call had originated.

More orders were sent out, rapidly, and Caathyn strode out of her suite and down the hall. The ship was a small one, though larger than the tiny Searcher ships, with eighteen personal suites on the Hunter deck-- six for the Hunt itself, and twelve for any refugees picked up along the way or guest Hunts or Searches-- four large rooms on the deck above for meetings, meals, practices, and ceremonies. Storage of weaponry, food, medical supplies, power cells, and water lay below the personal deck, and the crew's deck lay below even that, with the engine room, their three suites, their personal ceremonial chamber, and an operations room, which was the only room in the deck the Hunters were allowed to enter except in an emergency. They didn't bother building electronic lifts between the decks, as there were only four of them, and Caathyn mounted the stairs to the top deck gamely once she reached them.

She found Aashuryn already waiting for her, dressed as if he'd been on his way to the practice room when the summons sounded from whatever console was nearest. He probably hadn't gotten involved in anything, as he wasn't the least bit disheveled; of course, that wasn't saying much, considering Aashuryn was rarely disheveled, even if he'd just spent an hour crossing swords with an enemy. As she stepped into the doorway, his hand went instantly to his sword hilt and his eyes went instantly towards the movement, sharp and wary, as if he expected an enemy here, on this tiny ship, even though he knew it could only be one of two people: his captain or his fellow Hunter, Zyrshaa. He relaxed only slightly when he recognized his captain, glancing away in the only show of submission he ever gave.

"Found something?" he asked bluntly.

"Yes," she replied, just as, and she took a seat at the conference table there.

"Finally," he grunted, and leaned back against the wall, where no one could get behind him. He almost never sat down in the presence of others, unless he somehow managed to position his chair against the wall and all the others where he could see them, even in his own apartments. Caathyn was a little disappointed that his paranoia hadn't abated in the slightest in all the five years she'd known him, not even over the past year they'd spent with their depleted Hunter team. Who could he possibly expect attack from, here? Caathyn? Wraith-like Zyrshaa? The invisible, uncaring crew?

Aashuryn's alert senses warned Caathyn of the third presence before Zyrshaa actually spoke, eyes flicking to the doorway at the first sign of motion there, so she was spared the surprise at the sudden voice behind her. "Finally, what?"

"Captain found a Hunt," Aashuryn answered shortly.

"Ah." Blonde, black-skinned Zyrshaa drifted in, as silent on her feet as always, and sank bonelessly into the chair next to her captain's. "At last."

Caathyn didn't really appreciate being reminded-- twice-- that they'd only had a single Hunt since the disaster when their party had been drastically reduced, and it had been disgustingly simple. "I don't know much, yet," she warned. "I know it's in one of the edge quadrants, Ru-ffaar Seven, one that's been Searched before but not Hunted. There are three sun systems, with between six and thirteen planets apiece, at least four of which are habitable, not counting habitable moons. I don't know yet which system the call came from; I'll listen again once we're closer."

"The call?" Zyrshaa repeated dreamily, staring at her long, gold-gloved fingers as if she could inspect the nails beneath the fabric.

"I was doing my daily search when I was drawn into a scene, a small group of minds-- three, or perhaps four-- within the center of a snowstorm, using the snow to hide. From what, I'm not sure, but the sense of Sythyn blood was unmistakable."

"This seems more like a Search than a Hunt. You're sure there's even an abuse of magic involved?" Aashuryn frowned, but since he always seemed to think there was an abuse of some sort involved in anything, she cast a scowl at him for questioning her just for the sake of doing so.

"There was the definite sense of danger through magical means-- and why else would a group of Sythyn-blooded hide in the middle of a snowstorm and send out a magical distress call?" Aashuryn inclined his head to her point, expression settling back into its habitual wary neutrality. "We should reach the quadrant in six hours; I'll make another search then, and call you back with more details. I just wanted to give you advance warning. Don't get yourselves involved in anything that can't be interrupted." The last she added with a glance at Zyrshaa; the flexible, gold-thread gloves were a sure sign that she intended to do some chemical experimentation, and that could last for hours.

Zyrshaa seemed to sigh a little-- though it could have been her imagination, as Zyrshaa only very rarely showed emotion or even expression. "Of course not, Captain," she murmured.

"Yes, Captain," Aashuryn echoed, nodding briefly.

"Dismissed, then."

Chapter Two

Back to Caathyn

Back to Aashuryn   -   Back to Zyrshaa

Back