The Hunter of Hawk and Wolf-Chapter 38 : Chapter 38

On a hill near Rasseu, Sevha was training Shri, a hawk that had recently managed its first flight.
His gaze fixed elsewhere, Eshu let out a deep sigh.
He said, “I don’t believe a hawk is what you should be training right now, Young Master.”
Eshu was watching the training grounds below.
On the grounds, conscripts stood in disarray, holding wooden staves in place of spears.
Before them stood a line of knights, and at the very front, Teresse and Legra, like a commander and her deputy.
“Are you really entrusting the conscripts’ training to that suspicious woman? Why are we wasting time like this?”
Shri finished circling the sky and returned, landing lightly on Sevha’s forearm.
Sevha fed Shri a strip of dried meat, his mind on a scout’s he’d recently read.
It wasn’t a on the Tusk Tribe, but on the Count’s movements.
The Count marches in ten days.
If he marched any later than the Count, he would lose the commoners’ support.
That left him about a week to train the conscripts.
In one week, Sevha had to forge these men into the steel net he needed.
And yet, he had insisted on entrusting their training to Teresse. Naturally, Eshu and the knights couldn’t understand his choice.
Eshu asked insistently, “What is your relationship with that woman?”
“I told you, we just met beyond the mountains.”
The knights had heard Sevha and Teresse were together in Anse. Knowing they had crossed the Frost Mountains together—a suicidal feat—they suspected the nature of their bond.
Eshu continued, “You’re aware of the rumors, aren’t you?”
“That she’s an illegitimate child of House Blanc, like me?”
“That was the rumor three weeks ago.”
“That she’s my secret wife?”
“That was two weeks ago.”
“That she’s controlling me with magic?”
“That one will probably start making the rounds next week.”
Sevha burst into laughter, but Eshu’s brow furrowed. This was clearly no laughing matter.
Sevha stopped laughing and waved a hand dismissively. “Calm down. The reason I entrusted her with the training is….”
He trailed off, his gaze drifting down the hill.
Shri stared directly at Eshu.
Just as Eshu met the hawk’s sharp gaze, Sevha finished his sentence.
“...because she’s the easiest piece to discard.”
“What?”
“The conscripts only have a week. If Teresse trains them well in that short time, good. If she fails, the men will grow resentful, believing they’re being dragged to the battlefield without proper training.”
“Then…”
“Then I’ll simply have her stripped and flogged before the men. That will be the end of it.”
“Are… are you serious?”
“I’m more serious than I would be about flogging you if you failed.”
Sevha’s tone was somewhere between jest and earnest, leaving Eshu more confused than ever about their relationship.
Just then, Teresse’s voice carried up from the base of the hill.
“For one week, starting today, I will be your instructor. I am the young master’s handmaiden… Tena.”
Neither the conscripts nor the knights assisting with the training answered her.
They merely stared, their eyes full of suspicion.
It was an understandable reaction. It’s easier to question a stranger’s origins than to obey them.
But Teresse paid their reactions no mind and continued.
“First, form squads of four with men from your own villages and streets. Then fall in.”
The conscripts didn’t move.
The knights didn’t repeat the command.
Legra, standing beside Teresse, could see that no one intended to obey. He glanced up at Sevha on the hill, his eyes a silent plea for help.
Sevha sighed and sent Shri into the air. As the hawk cried out and took flight, the knights finally repeated Teresse’s command.
“Fall in!”
Overawed by the knights’ authority, the conscripts reluctantly formed ranks.
Even so, the question
Why must we obey this woman?
was written plainly on their faces.
Teresse’s gaze swept over their expressions before she spoke again.
“The squad you’ve just formed is the one you will live and die with until the fight against the Tusk Tribe is over.”
To this, Eshu had a surprisingly positive reaction.
“A decent idea. Men are less likely to abandon neighbors and kin.”
But her next words were even more unexpected.
“And… whether here or on the battlefield, if any one of you disobeys an order, I will punish only the youngest man in his squad.”
The words had barely left her mouth when Eshu’s jaw dropped.
“The mad bitch…”
Instantly, the conscripts’ eyes blazed with fury.
“You’re taking hostages?”
To make the youngest man bear the responsibility for a squad of neighbors and kin was a clear threat: obey, or watch someone you know suffer a terrible fate.
The conscripts roared their outrage, telling her to stop her nonsense.
Eshu said, “Are you just going to stand by and watch? If this continues, the men might desert… Young Master?”
Eshu looked at Sevha, only to find him playing with Shri.
“Young Master!”
“Let’s just watch. That woman’s a mad bitch who thinks provocation is how you start a conversation.”
Right on cue, Teresse gave a perfectly detestable smile and continued her speech.
“What’s the problem? Responsibility is borne in proportion to ability, isn’t it? And the younger you are, the greater your ability. Take Legra, here beside me. He’s stronger than any one of you… even the knights.”
The moment Teresse finished speaking, the conscripts, the knights, and even Eshu froze.
They were not the only ones.
Legra stared at Teresse, his expression screaming,
What did you just say?
And Sevha… he just smiled.
He muttered, “Not just a mad bitch, I guess. A genuinely mad bitch.”
Instantly, both the conscripts and the knights wore savage expressions.
“Did you just insult us? Claim we’re weaker than that boy?”
Far from cowering, Teresse’s expression grew even more obnoxious.
“Why is it an insult to call the weak, weak? Isn’t it just an objective assessment of your place before the coming battles?”
Her provocation did not stop.
“Or perhaps you’re incapable of assessing your own place? What a pity. I’m not very good at persuading fools.”
At her insult, the knights’ rage boiled over. The conscripts, already incensed by her threat, surged with them.
Just as the fury of both groups reached its peak…
“Ah, how about this?”
Teresse suddenly shouted, “Legra! Run!”
The command hit him, and Legra was running before he even knew why.
Without giving anyone a moment to think, Teresse yelled, her voice blazing with challenge.
“If you want to deny my words, then run! If you can overtake that boy, I’ll retract every word and apologize!”
Instantly, two thoughts fired through the crowd.
The knights:
We cannot let this insult stand.
The conscripts:
We can’t let our boys be taken hostage.
United by a single purpose, the knights and conscripts began to run, chasing Legra.
Eshu clicked his tongue as he watched the scene unfold.
He wondered, “Young Master, does that woman not know how to apologize?”
“Apologize?”
“Of course! Legra will obviously be overtaken…!”
“Nonsense.”
Eshu faltered at Sevha’s curt reply. “Forget the conscripts, but you think the
knights
can’t overtake him?”
Sevha grinned, watching Legra run the perimeter of the training ground.
“When you chase a Hunter of Anse, you don’t try to overtake him. You just look for a chance to strike him in the back.”
Eshu looked back at Legra.
In that short time, the knights and a few of the stronger conscripts were already on Legra’s heels.
Eshu thought they would overtake him at any moment.
But they never did.
“Why…”
Whenever it seemed Legra was about to be overtaken, he’d speed up.
When his pursuers slowed, he slowed.
But when they rested too long, he would suddenly surge forward again.
After a few laps of this, those chasing Legra were gasping for breath.
Eshu fumed. “A Knight of Blanc, exhausted after such a short run?”
Sevha laughed at that. “Don’t be angry. They tired quickly because Legra is playing them.”
“Playing them?”
“When a Hunter of Anse pursues his prey, he ensures they never know where or how they’re being hunted. And…”
Sevha continued, watching Legra’s pace change so erratically it was almost nauseating.
“When a Hunter of Anse
is
pursued, he baits his quarry until they’re exhausted, until they show an opening. Even when he is the prey, he is still the hunter.”
Soon, conscripts began to collapse, panting. With every lap, the number of fallen men grew.
Then, even the knights began to drop.
Watching the scene unfold, watching Legra run, Eshu finally understood.
“He’s baiting them, making them exhaust themselves.”
“Right. If the knights had paced themselves for a longer race, they might have caught him. But it’s a bit late for that now, isn’t it?”
A short while later, every last conscript and knight lay collapsed on the ground.
Teresse then smiled and called out, “Legra!”
“Yeah?”
“You can stop running now!”
“Okay!”
Legra, looking perfectly fresh, trotted to a stop beside Teresse.
Teresse patted Legra on the head, then addressed the fallen men.
“Now that you’ve all assessed your place, I see no need to retract my words.”
At her declaration, the faces of the knights and conscripts showed a mixture of humiliation, despair, and helplessness.
Sevha watched them, now plunged into a humiliation as deep as their earlier rage.
She plays with people,
he thought.
She had taken their loved ones as hostages. She had insulted the honor of knights.
Teresse had weaponized their righteous anger, luring them into a contest they were bound to lose.
And by forcing them to suffer a miserable defeat, she made them crumble with a despair as powerful as their initial rage.
There was a problem, however.
A soldier who obeys only because his resistance is broken is useless. The obedience required on a battlefield must be voluntary.
Just as the thought crossed Sevha’s mind, Teresse let out a deep sigh. She approached the men and knelt before them.
“I… I was too harsh. I apologize. I never truly intended to take your kinsmen hostage. I never meant to insult you. I only wanted to show you what you must protect. And what it takes to protect it.”
Her voice was gentle.
More than gentle, it was sweet.
“You wanted to protect your young neighbors and kin, didn’t you? You wanted to protect your honor? You now know the anger of failing to do so, and the despair that follows.”
One by one, the conscripts and knights lifted their heads, staring at Teresse as if enchanted.
“If you do not wish to feel that despair again… then you know now that you cannot be content, cannot be complacent. You know you must strive harder.”
Teresse smiled gently, a smile as soft and as treacherous as a swamp.
“We have only one week. It’s a short time. But let us strive together to protect what we must.”
Teresse rose, took the hem of her skirt, and made an elegant curtsy.
“This is my request.”
Instantly, the men’s expressions changed from despair to resolve.
And then, the knights and conscripts rose and fell into orderly ranks.
Only then did Teresse release her skirt. She spoke, her voice full of hope, like a messiah promising salvation after the apocalypse.
“Let us begin the training to protect what we must.”
Eshu looked down at the scene, thinking as objectively as he could.
That woman seeps her desired emotions into others.
The thought reminded Eshu of how Sevha had persuaded the refugees.
The young master drags out the emotions he desires.
Eshu compared them in a single thought:
One controls from behind, the other leads from the front.
He turned to Sevha and began, “Young Master, I’ll speak frankly. That woman is….”
But Eshu couldn’t finish.
Sevha was studying Teresse with the eyes of a hunter, a gaze so sharp it could make a man’s blood run cold.
And he spoke the very words Eshu had been about to say.
“She and I… we’re a terrible match.”