Hunter

Three dead now.  How many voices had I heard?  I didn't know, but I felt dangerously confident as I ghosted through the tunnel to the next area.  Up ahead I could make out the sound of metal striking metal and maybe...water falling?  Yes.  Perfect, it would mask any sound I made.

The tunnel opened into a larger cavern with some faint natural light on the far end streaming in through a small waterfall that fell into a pool.  Near the pool was a makeshift forge and anvil, and one of the humans was working with a steady ting ting of metal on metal.  A ramp led up from that work area to the ledge I was on, and stairs went up from there to a wood and rope bridge that crossed the cavern.  It looked like there was also a sitting area at the top of the stairs.  The noise from the waterfall and forge drowned out any voices, and I wasn't sure how many targets I had to be wary of.

I waited and watched for several minutes and was finally rewarded when two men came into view at the bridge, one of them walked out to the middle and leaned on the rope while the other went out of sight again.  At least three then.

There were torches in the area, but many of them had gone out.  I moved in and to the right and quickly froze.  There was a male sleeping in some bedrolls just around the corner.  I growled and stepped to him and left a dagger in his neck.  Shouldn't have scared me like that.

The one at the forge kept walking to a nearby barrel and quenching his work...every two or three minutes it seemed.  I waited until he turned back to his furnace and rushed down the stairs, under the acrid cloud of steam that he left behind, and drove my knives into his kidneys as he thrust his work into the forge.  Shame about that...wonder if it could be salvaged.

I eased the body down to sit on the floor and collected my knives.  I hoped that this area was shadowed enough that he would appear to be waiting for the metal to heat if anyone looked and went back up to the safety of the shadows.  Nobody complained or called out, so I moved up higher to the bridge level.  The man on the bridge was lost in thought, but I kept an eye on him anyway.  I was not well hidden from his vantage.

At the top of the stairs was a surprisingly well appointed sitting area, with some chairs and two tables and an area set aside for cooking and food storage.  A burly male was seated at the close table nursing a cup of something, and when I passed he slumped forward like a drunk.  I turned to the bridge to get the last of them and that movement might have been a lifesaver.  An arrow pierced my side and I charged.  I didn't have time to hurt, if I let him get another shot off I was dead, but if I could get in close I could...take a bow to the face.

I fell back from his tooth-rattling punch and lashed out with a dagger blindly.  I felt something tear in my side from the arrow, but no new pain, no new arrow.  The stars cleared from my eyes and I could see him drawing back again and I was looking down the arrow and I twisted forward and hacked at the rope bridge and felt something tear at my hood and hair and then we were falling into the water and the water was soon running red.

I pulled myself out of the water and the arrow had pushed through my side during the fight.  I broke it and pulled it free and almost blacked out before the pain receded.  I hoped there was no one else hidden here, because I was in no shape to fight.  The forge was warm and I didn't know if I could move yet.