Chapter 4: Departure and Dogs

Theresa Lu was a force to be reckoned with.

One of six siblings, she had learned to take initiative if she wanted to stand out. When the Lu family needed meat for the kitchen, it somehow ended up being her who had grabbed a bow and learned how to hunt with her father.

She’d taken to it like a fish to water.

Theresa had become one of the best hunters in Alric and—through hunting—she’d learned patience, silence and determination. All traits needed to stalk prey. As she’d once told Alex, many people thought that hunting was about taking a perfect shot: piercing one’s target through the eye or heart and dragging the carcass back to the dinner table. At times it was like that, but for most hunts, it was about puncturing a blood vessel and watching the prey as it took off into the woods.

Then the hunter would follow: they’d track by prints, by drops of blood or by scent if they had a dog. If they kept the trail, they’d eventually run their prey down. Humans were endurance killers, and Theresa embodied this.

Now her sharp eyes watched him with the same predatory look she got when she was on a hunt. She’d asked him to let her come with him: that was her arrow striking him. Any excuses he’d make? That was the trail of blood. All she had to do now was follow him: him talking with that quiet patience until he finally grew too tired to argue and she at last caught him.

“I want to come with you.” She said again, locking the door and advancing on him. Her steps made no sound across the floorboards. “I know what you’re going to say-”

“Yes,” he said quickly. “Please come with me. I sure as hell could use the help.”

He decided to skip all the build up and just jump into the trap himself.

He was rewarded by her pausing mid-step and blinking in surprise. He always found her cute when she didn’t have her ‘deathstalker face’ on.

And when she did, as a matter of fact.

He did not have issues, he assured himself.

Her face quickly went ‘deathstalker’ again when she regained composure. “Good. I was already mad at you for not telling me about that.” She pointed to the bright forceball floating above his finger. “So I’m glad you didn’t make me chase you.”

He shrugged. “We both know how it would’ve ended; when I’m not worrying that a bunch of priests are going to burst down the door at any second, I’ll ask you why-”

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A heavy knock slammed against his bedroom door.

Alex and Theresa froze, slowly looking at the doorway like it was some portal to hell. His stomach sank. They couldn’t have found him already, could they?

“Theresa!” A familiar voice boomed through the door. “Are you in there?”

Alex sighed in relief. He was safe. It was just Theresa’s father.

The door rattled in the frame.

“Why is the door locked?” his voice cracked like a whip. “What’re you two doing in there?”

Nevermind, this was much worse.

Theresa went as white as a sheet. “Father!? Were you listening at the door?”

“I followed you!” he laughed in triumph: a harsh, barking laugh that promised death. “I was young once too! I know how it is: the young man you’ve grown up with is going to be leaving on a loooong journey! You might not see him again!”

“Father!”

“And who knows who he might meet in that big city, yes!? So you go and speak to each other, talk about your feelings, one thing leads to the other and then I’m a grandfather before any of my children are married!”

Theresa turned bright red and buried her face in her hands.

“Wait, Mr. Lu!” Alex cried. “It’s not what it sounds like-”

Click.

A key turned in the lock.

Theresa and Alex gasped in unison.

“If there’s nothing wrong, then I guess there’s no reason why I can’t just come in, is there?” Mr. Lu announced darkly from the hall.

“No father!” Theresa cried, starting for the door. “Don’t come in-”

“Ahaaaaa!” the middle aged man burst into the room. “I’ve got you-you….you….”

Mr. Lu stared at the glowing mark on Alex’s shoulder, his mouth hanging open.

Alex’s tongue went renegade again. “This isn’t what it looks…you know what? Nevermind. It is what it looks like.”

The older man’s face went grim. “Downstairs. Both of you, now.”

“So, it might not be all bad,” Alex finished explaining, tapping the jester’s face.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Theresa, Master and Mrs. Lu huddled in the kitchen, listening as he went through what he’d learned about the mark. “It helps you learn, and it doesn’t seem too specific on what it lets you pick up. And I can still work magic; that means there’s holes in the way it interferes with you. If I can figure them out, it might even help me…but I need time to do that, and I’m not going to have it by going around and being the servant to four ‘Heroes’.”

He looked up at them seriously. “And that’s that. I’m going to the Generasi and I’m taking Selina.”

“Good.” Mrs. Lu clutched his hand. “We’ll help you.” She turned to her husband. “Right, darling?”

Master Lu was gripping the counter so hard that his knuckles were white. “Life stole your parents’ lives, and it wants your future, too? Well, it can’t have it.” He placed a hand on Alex’s shoulder. “But it’s dangerous to go alone: you’ll take the Lu family’s most deadly weapons.”

Theresa looked at her father sharply. “Great-grandfather’s swords?”