Kira swirled around, eyes wide as she looked for the source of the noise.
There!
A very large and very lone red firework was exploding in the sky in the distance. It was so far away that she was convinced that it was from another place altogether. And judging from the smoke trail it left, it likely was.
From near the hill that she could only just make out in the darkness.
All around her, many people had similarly stopped in their tasks to look at the fireshow. And the reactions were as wary as she could find.
A few were cheering and hollering, mostly young men. They were clapping their hands and pointing towards the red light in the sky, showing it to others who might have missed, embracing each other in victory...
...And at the same time, many were looking at the red light in disapproval, shaking their heads. Their faces donned a frown mingled with hopelessness as they turned away from the spectacle- from the light and the people finding the existence of the light joyful.
It was all very confusing for Kira. The light clearly signified something, but what?
"So it was bloody then." A voice suddenly commented, startling her.
It was the coachman. He had, for a fairly girthy man, stealthily sidled up to her as he looked nonchalantly at the firework into the distance. At her questioning look, he clarified, "The Hunt."
She slowly moved her head in acknowlegement, for what, she didn't yet know, "...Right."
He looked back at the dying beacon, and at her, and then back again, his mouth open in astonishment.
A scoff escaped him when she didn't provide the reaction he was looking for, "That is what the beacon signifies. There was blood spilled on The Hunt- human blood at that."
'The...Hunt? And human blood?!'
When she still didn't look like she was following, he huffed, his unkempt moustache fluttering as turned towards her fully, "You truly don't know what 'The Hunt' is?"
She didn't reply, berating herself in her head as he looked at her amusedly, "Huh. Interesting."
Okay, that was it.
Turning back around with a closed-lip smile, Kira walked away from him, hoping he took it as the hint it was and left her alone, Kira started walking back to the other side of the market instead.
He, apparently had no such social qualms as he called out, "Don't you want to know?"
She stopped in her tracks.
"Aren't you curious? Who else will you ask about The Hunt?" He smugly called out from the middle of the road, hand on his protruding belly.
Kira could see a few people turning around towards them, even in the busy district. At the scandalous looks she received she knew she didn't want to have this conversation here.
"Asking about..."
"...young people..."
"First the demon and now..." This comment especially made her breath catch in her throat. There was a chance that they weren't talking about the incident in the village, but she knew they were.
It was not even the first time she had heard the mention of a demon or a witch or an abomination. No matter the place- news travelled fast, even here.
She didn't know what it was, but The Hunt was not a very openly discussed topic apparently. She did not want to garner any more unwanted attention. Not after knowing the damage it could do first hand.
She deliberately missed the many eyes that had turned to focus on her as she gathered her skirts in her clenched fists.
Swiflty turning on her heels, Kira walked back towards him until she was face to face with the irritating man. Looking into his smug face, she knew that was exactly what he had intended.
Gritting her teeth, she asked him, "What do you want?"
He had the gall to look affronted.
He raised his hands from their perch on his belly as he gestured about, "Me? Whoever said anything about me wanting something? I am only your lowly driver, and will be seeing you to the capital. But you- I know what you want- you want to know about this place."
"."
"...And I can tell you, everything, even if the questions you have are very strange." He left her on her spot as he leisurely walked around her. "For anyone to ask."
He didn't wait for her to reply.
"A strange woman, washed up in the river and unaware about the The Hunt, and The Wolf-men, and our creators?" He nodded towards the elderly woman she had been talking to, looking back towards a stern-faced Kira.
He had been listening. And talking to people, even in the village they had left as she could gather from the comments.
She stood there, unblinking and daunted, as he completed his circle, standing in front of her once again.
He gave her an assessing once over, stopping at her feet.
"The mark on your ankle- that's the one, isn't it?"
...What?
Kira did her best to hide the bewilderment from showing on her face as she let the coachman- she still didn't know his name!- continue speaking. He hmmed in consternation, as he looked up at her blank face and down at the ankle again, hand on his chin.
"I recognise the signs- a woman, unfamiliar to the lands, with a strange mark on her that signifies the connection to the dynasty. And so close to The Hunt? You are her."
She couldn't hide her apprehension this time when he approached her, getting in her face.
"You are her. Yes." Abruptly he turned the conversation around, "Come on." He walked towards the cart.
"We will rest here for the night- To the capital at first light."
Kira's mind and instincts warred- she knew that this man was her only hope of getting to the capital and away from any straggling hunters who reached here for her from the village.
She had heard the news, the people gossiping about an escaped demon controller- a woman who had put an innocent child at risk and tried to kill an entire village.
The story had changed drastically but the basics were there- she was wanted.
And the only safe place would be on the other side of the walls of the capital. Where no one could go without proper documentation- no one but the coachman who Shira had said had a way in.
Although...
Looking at the man she was travelling with, she didn't feel very safe. He knew about her, and she was under no delusions that he was on her side.
Maybe she could take her chances alone? She fumbled with the thought...
"Come on! I need to rest my aching bones!" He wandered to where Ricky had been playing marbles with a bunch of village boys and grabbing him by the collar hauled him up and away.
Ricky scrambled to his feet, hurriedly taking hold of his marbles as he got his feet under him. Waving a cheerful goodbye at the boys, he turned around, he good-naturedly received a scruffing on his hair. "Uncle Gerard!"
Now with the older man's hand- she finally knew his name- Gerard- around the younger's shoulders, the two walked towards a sign she could see at the end of the road that read, 'Pete's Inn'. She trailed behind.