The Moon Goddess' Chosen

219 Chapter Two Hundred Nineteen

Jackeline had been assigned to help in following the rogues that retreated after the fight in Brigadia. After a failed attempt at trying to prove whether the Rogue King was among the group that had left the remote town, their results had come up inconclusive. All they had to go on was the words of Katie Sirius. Staring into the fire they had lit that night in the woods, her mind soared through whatever topic she could find to alleviate the boredom that surrounded her.

The whistling sound of an arrow got snapped her out of her reverie to welcome the female hunter that came in swinging. The only people that had been assigned this job were a small group of five women all blessed with the gift of agility. It was the perfect team that could keep their distance from the rogues if anything wrong happened.

“Well, the rogues are increasing in number, that’s for sure,” the woman shrugged, slumping down next to Jackeline, “Jackeline, be my pillow. I’m tired...”

“Hey, find your own pillow,” Jackeline piped up when she realised what was about to happen. The woman let herself fall onto the previously relaxed woman, “Ugh, you’re filthy. Get off me... This isn’t funny...”

“What do you have to report, Elena?” another woman asked, ignoring the obvious goofing around that was happening before her. Jackeline’s assailant, Elena, spoke up without bothering to release her friend.

“Well, the rogues are definitely picking up more numbers on their way to the capital. I don’t know if it’s too early for us to confirm their target, but I would say they are going straight for the capital. It doesn’t matter how many detours they take, they seem to have that destination at the focal point of their movements. They have currently made camp five miles from here. The group is so large that it’s too easy to locate them now. Attacking them, however, would be suicide,” Elena reported to the other woman.

“Get off me already... I’m not your personal cushion, you know...” Jackeline finally forced the woman off her, getting up to her feet. The irritated woman shuddered and walked away from Elena with every intention of putting as much distance between the two of them as she could.

“Take a seat, Jackeline. We should all be present to hear the rest of Elena’s report,” the other spoke to her.

“I’ll listen from way over here, thank you very much. Shouldn’t we wait for the others though?” Jackeline asked, right before the sound of a twig snapping reached their ears. Jackeline’s hand instinctively flew to the quiver while the other readied her bow before she realised they weren’t in any danger. From the cover of the trees emerged two more women, each carrying a pair of rabbits.

.....

“Today’s hunting session was a major success,” the one ahead of them announced, caring nothing for the volume of her voice.

“Four rabbits, I wonder who’s going to gulp down all of that,” their leader replied, “I declare a meeting to discuss our next course of action.”

“What more are we supposed to do except report the rogue’s course of movement, Sera?” Elena asked the woman, curiosity leaking into her tone. As far as they had been concerned, they had done everything that had been asked of them and they would continue to do so.

“Well, that will all depend on the answer to the next question I have for you, Elena?” Sera spoke up. The two women that had arrived got comfortable and began preparing their catches for supper. Skinning them as quietly as they could.

“What would that be?”

“If you were to estimate the numbers you saw today, how many rogues would you estimate to be in that large force of werewolves?” Sera asked her. Everything went dead silent as they waited for Elena to tell her the answer.

Failing to realise what the answer to that question would determine, the woman shrugged and answered based on her opinion of what she had seen, “I would place those mutts within the ranges of thousands and they only seem to be getting more with time.”

Sera remained quiet for a while to think over what the woman had said. Jackeline thought she saw the woman’s hands shaking while she held them closer, “Well, it’s worse than I thought it would be. It would be safe to assume that the rogues are only going to keep getting more and more in number until they reach the capital. If a force as large as that gets to the capital, I don’t think the hunters will be able to contain their rampage,” Sera confirmed.

Jackeline’s heart went into a panic at the mention of the capital defenceless, “Did you tell me there were Mighty Warriors stationed at the palace? The rogues won’t be able to get past them.”

“I’m afraid you overestimate the abilities of the world’s strongest hunters. The king has something planned... Deploying a force that large could only mean he’s fighting for something he’s sure will tip this war in his favour...” the woman sighed, rubbing her hands together. Jackeline got the feeling she was trying to keep warm, “We’ve been given a new mission... And simply thinking of it gives me chills.”

Waiting for the woman to continue proved to be the wrong move as she remained quiet after telling them, “Well, don’t just stop there. Tell us what the mission is going to be,” one of the cooking hunters spoke up.

“Well, we’ve been asked to get even closer to the rogues and find out what it is that they are trying to achieve here. We are to blend into the shadows and confirm the reason for the rogues coming together on such a large scale,” the woman spoke up.

The others were quiet for a while, waiting for the woman to cheer up and tell them that she was joking. After a short wait, they realised she wasn’t lying one bit. The rogues were gathering in a large number and the woman had just told them to march straight into their midst and carry out espionage amongst them, “You’re kidding, right?” Jackeline was the first to speak up.

“I don’t think she is,” another spoke.

“No, Brenda, you have no idea what’s going on inside her head. I want here it from her,” Jackeline snapped at one of the hunters cooking.

“You heard exactly what I said Jackeline. We’ll be infiltrating the force of wolves and finding out a way to bring them down. A week point... We need to find out what the rogue king is planning if the hunters are to stand a chance against the rogues in this coming battle,” Sera confirmed before an argument could break loose.

“I know what you are saying, Sera, but I also know just how impossible it is for us to pull off something like that. We’ll be dead before you could know it,” Jackeline argued.

“That all depends on if you let yourself get caught. Our orders are clear... We shall find out the rogues’ plans and report to headquarters, lest we risk the lives of countless many in the capital of Sirius,” Sera spoke up.

Every hunter knew the price of becoming one. They would lay down their lives if it meant they were going to protect humanity. It’s how it had always been and there wasn’t a sign of it changing. However, after the fight in Brigadia, Jackeline didn’t believe she could fulfil her mission at all by putting herself in obvious harm’s way. She couldn’t betray the people she’d sworn her loyalty to and watching herself bring herself into a suicide mission was not an option for her either.

“I don’t agree with that strategy. We should find a way to get that information that will not lead to our deaths,” Jackeline said to them. Looking from one face to another, she realised none of the others would look her straight in the eye. All was lost before she could say anything about it... “Don’t tell me you would all walk straight into thousands of wolves looking for information that could get you killed before you came out.”

It was like her words reached deaf ears. They barely reacted to what she said... and it irritated her. They all reminded her of someone else... Someone so reckless that she’d done... that exact same thing. “If there is a chance...” Elena had begun...

“I’ve heard enough. I’ll take a walk...” the woman turned around and walked from them, “You’re all crazy... Every single one of you.”

“This meeting...”

“Is over as far as I’m concerned,” Jackeline completed before vanishing into the cover of darkness. The hunters about the fire were left in silence, wondering which was crazier, the fact that they had just signed on a mission that had almost no chances of survival or the fact that one of them had outright told them it was a stupid thing to do. Up until this point, it had been unthinkable for a hunter to think of their own safety before that of the humans they were meant to protect.

“So she really did go berserk in Brigadia...”

“Hey, you’re not allowed to bring that up,” Elena scolded her comrade.