Chapter 25: Chapter 24: Everything That Happens Once Can Never Happen Twice. But Anything That Happens Twice…

Today had been a good day for Mack. He didn’t catch as much as normal, but he made some friends. The group was certainly weird, but all of them felt genuine despite not showing their faces- you feel the need to hide less of who you are when you’re hiding your identity. He had caught himself happily humming a few times while waiting for prey to wander by, and was doing so as he butchered his bounty to make it easier to transport back.

 

He had only really talked with Elly to a good extent, but with today’s trip back and later opportunities would let him get to know the other two in their group. It was sad that one direction was basically off limits due to the bandit reports- Mack didn’t like the idea of fighting other people at all. He didn’t like hunting large animals for the same reason: he couldn’t take them out in one shot and make sure they didn’t suffer.

 

Finishing up with his preparations, he started to try and find the road back. He probably had plenty of time to get to the meetup location and wait for the others, but he liked to be early to everything, so there was some unnecessary urgency in his steps. He was actually able to find it easier than normal due to a short-ish, cloaked figure (likely Elly) walking where it obviously was. They were too far along to catch up to without running for a few minutes, so he decided to just follow behind and if they noticed and slowed down, that’d be nice.

 

As he saw the figure follow the road’s turn into a particularly thick stand of trees and go out of sight, he thought there might have been some movement in the bushes- but he was likely just letting his imagination get ahead of him. The talk of bandits and robberies had put him on edge recently. He kept telling himself that when he could have sworn he made out the sound of blades being drawn- but hurried his pace none the less. It would be ridiculous for an ambush to be here of all places, non-farm goods merchants preferred the western road. When the wind stopped rustling the leaves of the trees, what he heard made him break into a sprint.

 

Chastising himself for his foolishness, he readied his hunting bow and hid away in some bushes as he approached- finally getting close enough to see what was going on. To his horror, Elly was being held with a knife to her neck by one figure as three more surrounded them. It looked like one of them was comparing a list or picture to her. Why did someone want to hurt her in particular? Mack thought she must have passed out from shock as he would have, because Elly went limp in the person’s arms causing them to have to readjust their grip.

 

Just as they pulled her closer, the mugger holding her made a choking noise as a black spike suddenly emerged from the top of their head. With a motion similar to someone throwing blood off a blade, the hemorrhaging corpse of the figure was thrown aside, revealing a long tail connected to Elly. It was suspiciously clean as blood simply rolled off it as its owner catapulted forwards, catching another of the group off guard- although that might not have mattered. They were torn roughly in half with a spin, including the sword half being drawn from its scabbard. The remaining two had enough time to swear and ready themselves before Elly closed the distance faster than even the most agile rabbit Mack had seen.

 

These guys had clearly been trained as even in the face of inhuman capabilities, because they managed to make some solid swings. Only one connected with flesh, stabbing a deep wound into Elly’s side- but her only reaction was to crush the man's wrist whilst ignoring the sword still in her, giving him a violent trepanning- leaving more hole than head. To the last person’s credit, they did manage to attempt a strike with a dagger- but having your throat caved by a kick stops most actions.

 

Standing in the middle of a bloodbath- sword still sticking in one side and out the other- Elly only stopped to stomp each head into paste before taking off in the direction of the city at a speed not even worth trying to catch. Mack stayed where he was, too stunned and nauseous to move for the better part of ten minutes before absently getting up and following. He was eventually found by Mouse and Pebble as they made their way back to the city as well- but he refused to say what made him so uncharacteristically quiet.

You are reading story Spiral Hill at novel35.com

You can find story with these keywords: Spiral Hill, Read Spiral Hill, Spiral Hill novel, Spiral Hill book, Spiral Hill story, Spiral Hill full, Spiral Hill Latest Chapter