Chapter 1

Lothar

Hunger gnaws at my belly like a living beast. Masticating my entrails, making my limbs tremble, and yet I remain fixed in place, silent as the sun drifting through the sky.

Rooted in shadow, I crouch a dozen paces from the tunnel exit. Outside, the sun still burns in the sky, rapidly dipping toward the horizon. The blood red hue reminds me of the hunt. The hunt I must soon undertake.

Once, we dwelt below, and the Drokan dwelt above. And there was peace. We Skuyr had plenty to eat, the bountiful underground caverns filled with both food and light. Then the blight came, bringing darkness so absolute to the deep denizens that we were forced up, up, ever upward.

The caverns are bare. There is little to eat beyond bitter tasting moss and mushrooms which are mildly poisonous. My brother Moro says one gets used to the flavor after a time, but I have yet to experience this. What I want, what I need, is meat.

The Drokan rule the surface lands. We tried to only send small hunting parties to the surface, but quickly they clashed with the Drokan. Now they attack our kind on sight. Our peoples have never been friends, but now we are enemies.

Indeed, the Drokan call us ‘skuut’ which is their word for ‘enemy’ or ‘antagonist.’ Our real name is Skuyr, which means ‘the people who dwell below in the light.’ The Light Bringer once lit up our caverns with brightness and prosperity. Why they have abandoned us, I do not know.

I only know that there are mouths to be fed, including mine. I must risk the surface, but I will not do so until the sun is firmly set, no matter how badly my belly aches to be filled. The Drokan have new allies. The Sky People. They came crashing out of the skies many moons ago, and quickly formed an alliance with the Drokan.

The Sky People have bows that shoot not arrows but beams of burning light. This light does not give life. It takes it away. I have seen too many of my brethren burned beyond recognition by the sky people’s lightning. I will not join them.

When the sun finally vanishes beyond the hills to the west, becoming only a blurry red line on the horizon, I finally make my move. The purple hour of twilight fills the air with magic all its own. I would appreciate its beauty, but my urgency prevents this.

I must find food. If I go another day without repast, my limbs will weaken to the point I cannot hunt. If I cannot hunt, I will starve. The Skuyr are desperate. We have been slowly starved by the Drokan until our selfishness has reared its ugly head. Even I am not immune. What I catch tonight, I will consume all on my own, and not even share with my brother, the last relative I have left alive.

I am Skuyr. I am prowler, hunter, stalker. Killer. Once I was something more than this, a Hunter-Protector, but no more. Now I am one thing above all else.

Survivor.

I will not let the Drokan starve me out. I will not allow their sky people allies to burn me with their damnable life taking light.

The Drokan encampment is not far away. I choose to go there, toward danger, because it will be easier to liberate the kills of my enemies than to find my own. No doubt they have hunted this area thoroughly.

I avoid their patrols with ridiculous ease. The Drokan think that the Skuyr only attack in the deepest night. That is their folly. I slip through the light woods, moving from shadow to shadow like the embodiment of the night itself.

My nostrils flare as I pick up the scent of burning meat. My belly rumbles so loudly I fear one of the sentries will hear. I fill my belly with another swallow of water from the skin at m y side. It does little to abate the hunger, but it does sort of help for a while. At least I will not give away my position because I am hungry.

There are some of the sky people allied with other sects and clans of Skuyr, but I’m not fortunate to know any. I am able to sneak right up under the Drokan’s noses, as well as those of their sky people allies.

I see their meat, but it’s too well guarded. I’m so desperate I nearly charge their position. Better to die in battle. It would be swift, not slow and agonizing like starvation.

Then I see an opportunity present itself. Perhaps the Light Bringer has decided I am worthy to live and given me a boon. I do not know. I only know that one of the Sky People breaks off from the others, moving into the darkened woods by herself. All alone.

She looks to have some meat on her bones. Succulent meat, and the Sky People are soft. They are not powerfully built like the Drokan or the Skuyr. Without their light bows, they are no match for one of us. And this human does not have any such thing. She does have a small case at her side, but I don’t think it contains weaponry.

I follow her into the deepening darkness as night asserts itself. Her red shock of hair leads me out of shouting range of the camp. Perfect.

The Sky Woman stops by a bush of bloodberry. The berries are inedible to Skuyr, causing hallucinations, vomiting, and death. I’m not sure what effect they have on her people, but she uses a small metal ‘grabber’ to pick them. Perhaps they are poisonous to her as well.

I cannot fathom what she is up to. She drops one of the berries into a case clear as glass but lighter and less translucent. She makes some scrawling in her tongue on top of the case and moves on deeper into the woods.

I watch, fascinated, as she gathers more items. Roots, leaves, and berries. Most of them no one can eat, but she is interested in them all the same.

Her movements are surreal, sinuous and graceful. The swell of her hips and chest are oddly appealing. I shake off such thoughts. This human is for meat, and for no other purpose.

I will hunt her. I will take her. I will devour her.

The Sky Woman pauses by a merrily babbling brook, little more than ankle deep. This is perfect. The sound of the rushing water will drown out any screams that might reach the camp.

That is, if I allow her the time to scream.

I move in closer, ever closer. Like a noiseless, patient web weaver. My belly rumbles again, and I almost can’t stand the agony.

I will fill it soon. Very soon.

And no one will be around to hear the Sky Woman’s scream.