Just off a back road passing through the back reaches of Caevalonia, a small campsite had been set up. Two bedrolls lay near the banked campfire, while the moons signaled an hour to midnight. Suddenly, the smaller bedroll exploded as a vaguely humanoid form sat up with a gasp.
"Hunter," it whispered in a young boy's tenor, cracking with both the promise of puberty and fear. "Hunter!" it hissed again, oddly shaped head twisting to glare at the other bedroll.
"What's the matter, Tanix?" a bass rumble drifted up from the depths of cloth. "Told you before, the privy's behind the big elm."
"No, it's not that!" The head twisted frantically, as if searching for something unseen. "Something's wrong."
Finally noting the real fear in the boy's voice, the figure sat up, moonlight reflecting off a round, bald head ending in a snout, and a man's bare, muscled torso. "Bad feeling wrong, or Dream wrong?"
"Dream wrong," the boy whispered fearfully. "Over there." He pointed, a trembling, four clawed patch of darkness in the black night.
The man turned and parted his snout, giving off a high pitched series of clicks. After a moment, he turned back and shrugged. "Nothing but trees, rocks, and a turn in the road. You sure, little brother?"
"You know my dreams are right!" Tanix snapped.
Hunter held up a hand. "Sorry. Yes, it's just...." He sighed. "They never seem to bring good news. Have we got time?"
The boy's head dipped in thought. "I... thinkso."
"Good." The man rolled to his feet, pulling on a vest beaded with seashells that nearly glowed white in the pale moonlight. He grabbed one of the logs and tossed it into the fire, gently blowing until the flames caught on the fresh tinder. Even as the cackling light began to illuminate the clearing, Hunter found himself idly wondering why people always assumed he would dislike, if not actively fear, fire. Aye, the gods had on a mad whim twisted his form before birth to resemble a combination of man and dolphin, but why the fucking hells should that automatically make him afraid of fire, have a love of fish - ugh, gods forbid! - and be friendly and playful all the time? Norms just couldn't seem to grasp that it didn't.
Tanix shivered and huddled closer to the flames, taking practiced care not to singe his fur.
Hunter sighed again. Of course, those same twisted gods must have been suffering insanity or some such thing when they decided to mutate his little brother. What had they been thinking - if they even had! - when they changed the son of a poor carver into a creature that could only be described as a humanoid hamster? Oh, he'd been embarrassed by that, when his little brother had been born a lump of damp, exceedingly cute fuzz, but he soon realized the benefits of having a kid brother that all the girls found adorable.
As always, his reminisces took a dark turn. Of course, those were the same girls that screamed and huddled inside while their brothers and fathers stormed through the village, calling him monster, killer, a demon that needed to be destroyed. Not a one had helped him, not a one recalled the heated looks, or the small gifts, or the few vague promises they exchanged with him. Not one dared help.
The wyrd shook his head, clearing the memories for at least a little while. "How much time?"
Tanix closed his eyes, rounded chin sinking into his chest fur. "Not too long. Maybe twenty candlemarks, tops."
He nodded. More than enough time. It took only half that to break camp, and the brothers were soon on their way to the place in Tanix's Dream. Hunter had learned early on that his brother's odd Dreams were not what normal people - or even he - had, and were not to be ignored. Occasionally the young wyrd would spout off things he had no way of knowing, sometimes future events, sometimes knowledge beyond his years. Sometimes, they even taught him magic, small spells that were often useful.
Hunter snorted. "Small spells" indeed. He should never belittle Tanix's talents, after all, it was his spell of invisibility that allowed them to escape the mob they once called friends and neighbors when they hunted the brothers down like animals.
"There!" the boy hissed, pointing to a bobbing mass of lights spreading through the trees, rapidly coming nearer. The brothers darted off the road and into the bushes, easily settling back to wait.
In moments, the mob came into view, chasing after a cloaked woman. As she passed in front of the brothers, she stumbled and fell. The mob of humans, sensing its prey's demise, howled in bloodlust and charged.
Hunter leaped onto the road, howling back. The humans checked their charge, suddenly realizing that a large, dangerous creature barred their way, fully prepared to use his spear to keep them back.
Before they had the good sense to retreat or time to regain their courage to charge, a skinny, gaudily dressed man shoved his way to the front.
"Foul monsters!" he declared grandly, waving his arms dramatically, "prepare to meet thy evil maker!" He shouted several harsh, alien syllables and pointed towards Hunter and the woman. His smug look of superiority crumbled into shock as the wave of yellow light flowing from his fingertips transformed into leaves that gently fluttered to the ground.
"After you!" Hunter snarled, spear darting forward to slam him over the head, an unnecessary move as a dagger blossomed in the human's throat eyeblinks later.
Seeing their champion fall, the norms decided to run. Tanix crept from the bushes as the last human fled, leaving Hunter to turn to the woman they'd saved.
She was no norm, that was for sure. She had canine features, long red hair, and black striped orange fur. She glared up at him from one obsidian eye, the right one covered by a patch. "I didn't need help," she snarled up at him.
She flowed to her feet and he stepped back self-consciously as she stormed over and took the dagger from the norm's throat. What had that penetrating, black eye seen? The outcast, the fish-man pretending to be human, dressed in a cast off vest and pants that had to be modified to allow his tail and fin to show to the world, the earrings that showed he had passed the rites to manhood piercing hide that had no ears? The murderer? The killer of babies?
She casually cleaned the dagger on the norm's robe and sheathed it. She turned and looked him over, evaluating. "Are you waiting for something?" she drawled sarcastically.
"C'mon, let's go," Tanix whispered, pulling on his arm. The man gave in and turned when the woman laughed mockingly.
"What's that supposed to be, a stuffed toy?"
Hunter stiffened and his jaw clenched. He slowly turned and glared at her, meeting her eye and promising death. "He is my brother," he growled, "and I'll kindly ask you not to call him that again."
"Hunter!" Tanix hissed, embarrassed by the insult but obviously more worried about his brother's over-protectiveness.
A delicate eyebrow rose. "Hunter?" she repeated. "And just how did you pick that name up?"
His chin rose defiantly. "It's what I do."
"Are you any good?"
He pointed to the necklace of teeth he wore. "A manticore, a scorpion, several basilisks, and five dire wolves. Sorry, but I don't keep track of the boar and deer." And of course, no need to mention how many times he'd managed to stumble over the odd critters while they were asleep, and how his job was normally just hunting normal sources of meat.
She looked very interested. "Really. Would you happen to be interested in joining a hunt? In a way, against the humans."
He tried to hide his interest. Finally! Something to do, other than wander around, hoping to find some place, some people, that would accept him and Tanix. But the woman wasn't exactly the most trustworthy person around.... "I don't work for anyone whose name I don't know."
"Of course, of course. I'm Vixette. My... friends and I are looking for a city. Tell me, have you ever heard of Uth Teleros?"
Disclaimer: Vixette, the Seekers of the Lost City, and pretty much everything else except Hunter and Tanix belong to Drakhen, while Hunter and Tanix belong to Norcumi. Respect that, or else. So ka?