Chapter 4
Chapter Four
Willow
My brother releases my hand and places his palm on my back, pushing me toward the path. I stumble before regaining my footing as I peer around the clearing.
Both sides of the path are packed with dozens and dozens of men. At first, they’re all looking forward, but slowly they start to realize I’m there and turn toward me with varying looks of interest.
“Go!” my brother hisses, nudging me again.
I step forward, my hands clenched tightly together in front of my chest as my gaze darts around the clearing.
Everyone is dressed in similar attire to my brothers in medieval-style clothing.
Many wear tunics, and some look as if they have some sort of armored plates on their chests.
Swords and knives hang from many of their belts, with the occasional bow and arrow.
They aren’t going to try to hurt us, are they?
My knees throb from the hard fall, and I can feel pain shooting up my side.
Unsure what else to do, I follow the path through the crowd as all the men turn to look at me.
A handful turn their noses up before looking away, but many grin when they see me.
I notice how some of their eyes glint with excitement, and one man even squeezes himself between the legs when I look at him.
That has me moving faster until finally the crowd ends and I spot Larissa and the other two women standing on small platforms at the very front.
An older man stands in the center of the space, and when he sees me, he smiles and gestures toward the empty platform beside him.
Silently, I move to it, knowing there is nowhere left for me to run but the forest behind him and the women, and I have a feeling they are about to send me in there, anyway.
Stepping up on the platform makes my legs and side ache, but I try not to let it show on my face, afraid these men will see my weakness and think it will make me an easy target for them to catch.
As soon as I’m on the platform and turn to the crowd, the older man starts speaking loudly as he addresses the entire crowd.
“Good day to you, friends! I am so pleased to be here today to host the very special two-hundredth anniversary of Mating Hunt!”
He pauses as people cheer and whistle. When I look out at the crowd, I realize it’s not just the men cheering, but what must be spectators behind them.
From this raised position, I can see my so-called brothers standing beside an older woman and three older men. Are those the other Willow’s parents?
“This year things are going to be a little different,” the man beside me tells the crowd. “To commemorate this special event, we’ve given the hunt a few little twists.”
I glance at Larissa and the other women and see them watching the old man with interest.
“There are four new rules you need to be aware of. First, the women will now be given an hour head start, to make this more of a challenge for you young men.” He smiles at the crowd before continuing.
“Second, you will all be split up from the groups you signed up with and must track your females individually. We have given you all your randomly selected start times. If you find each other in the forest, that is fine, but you must start alone.”
I don’t understand any of that. They signed up in groups?
Those other women had said the first group of men to find us became our mates, but I got distracted before I could contemplate the part about it being with multiple men.
But there could be a hundred men here, and there are only four of us women.
Glancing around at the spectators, I realize there are barely any women at all. Is that normal here? Or is that just because most women in this world know to stay clear of this archaic tradition?
“Third,” the man continues. “It’s no longer the first group to find her that gets to claim her as theirs. It’s whoever has her in their possession when the horn is blown in one week's time.”
My wide eyes turn to Larissa, who also looks surprised. I thought this would be over in a few hours. I have to hide in this forest for an entire week? I swallow the lump in my throat as I glance over my shoulder into the woods.
The forest is pretty dense, and I have spent my entire life trying to go unnoticed, but hiding in a forest is another thing completely, especially when I’m already in pain.
Not that my efforts to go unnoticed had done me any good in the long run. My father, the leader of the cult, had still given me to his right-hand man, a fifty-five-year-old man named Paul.
When I refused, the two of them pulled me from my bed and beat me until I passed out. As soon as I regained consciousness, I ran. They should have known better than to not lock me up, and I didn’t take that mistake of theirs for granted as I hurried away from the compound and through the woods.
Woods not too dissimilar from those behind me. I’m not sure that I’ve ended up in any better of a situation than I was in then. In fact, with all these men smirking up at me like I’m their prize to be won, I might have jumped straight from the frying pan and into the fire.
As I scan the crowd, my eyes connect with a pair of bright blue ones. The blond Viking cannibal stares at me with an intensity I feel through my entire body. I’ve felt true fear before. That’s how I felt when my father demanded I submit to Paul. This doesn’t feel like that.
I’m scared, yes. But there is something about him that makes me not want to look away. It’s like looking into the eyes of a predator and choosing to get eaten.
“The final rule,” the old man says from my side, gaining my attention again, “is that this year we are allowing killing.” I look at him in surprise as a gasp escapes me.
He looks over at my worried face and chuckles.
“Killing each other, not the women, of course. Harming a woman, as you know, means instant disqualification.”
I frown as I look back at the crowd. How would they even know if I was being harmed out there?
This doesn’t look like an advanced society.
I doubt there are hidden cameras covering the forest. He continues speaking, saying something about how this tradition has been passed on for generations and how lucky everyone is to be a part of it.
I tune him out as I seek out the cannibals again, unsure why I feel I need to look for them.
This time, I spot the spear sticking up that the third man is carrying.
I find them all standing together, shoulder to shoulder, as they stare up at me.
I fidget on my platform, feeling uncomfortable with all the attention.
They don’t smile, they don’t even move, they just continue staring as the old man carries on.
“Alright, ladies, please turn to face the forest.”
I startle at his voice and see Larissa and the other two turn on their platforms, so I do the same.
“Your sixty-minute head start begins in three… two… one.”
A loud horn goes off, making me jerk in surprise as Larissa and the other two women jump off their platform and run into the woods. I watch them with wide eyes until the old man tells me, “Go on!” as he gestures where they have already disappeared through the trees.
I take one more quick glance behind me, seeing dozens of sets of narrowed eyes on me and quickly jump off my platform. The impact sends a bolt of pain through me, forcing me to my hands and knees, but I quickly recover, getting to my feet and heading into the forest.
I have no idea how big this place is. Should I just go straight for an hour so I can get as far away as I can? I decide to go on an angle to my right as that feels less obvious.
After a few minutes, I glance back to see what sort of trace I'm leaving behind me. My bare feet might be an asset, leaving less of an imprint than a shoe, but I have no idea what sort of tracking capabilities men here have. To be safe, I start to veer more to my right.
Ten minutes later I find a creek and stop to take a drink of water, hoping it’s safe to drink. I’m too thirsty to care right now.
I can’t believe they sent us out in the forest for a week with no food, no water, and no weapons.
This is ridiculous. Why would any woman sign up for this?
But I think back to Larissa and the other two women’s excited faces.
They were hoping to get caught. They weren’t actually trying to hide, like me.
I suppose if a man found them straight away, they could provide them with food and water until the six days are up.
That isn’t a good enough incentive for me to make this easy on those men, though.
I have no idea how serious they are about forcing me to be with the winners of this hunt, and I’m not eager to find out.
If I can figure out a way to get food out here and a good place to hide in, I’m hopeful I can last the seven days on my own.
Twenty minutes later, I notice the trees ahead starting to thin, so I slow my pace. When I get to the edge of the tree line, I have to take a step back, a fear of heights forcing me away from the edge.
It appears as if I’m on top of a cliff with a straight drop to the valley, at least five hundred feet below. My wide eyes take in everything. The land goes on as far as I can see. It’s mostly all trees, but I can see what must be small villages scattered throughout.
Taking another step back, I look to my sides. This is the edge of the forest. I should have gone straight instead of limiting myself like this.
I start to jog away from the cliff at an angle away from where I started, as I try to calculate how long I have left.
Maybe twenty minutes before they release the men?
And if any of them head straight in my direction, probably another thirty or so if they are running at full speed.
It’s hard to guess since they will be much faster than me.
I’m sure they aren’t malnourished, either. I don’t even know when I last ate. Was it really only last night that I escaped the compound?
I don’t know what else is in the woods, but I need to find a place to hide near a water source, and hopefully, food. Although I have no idea what’s edible in these woods, I could try to watch the wildlife to find out.
After a couple of minutes, I slow down as a humongous tree looms in front of me. The trunk, instead of being one large shaft, is made up of several pieces that intertwine around each other. When I move closer, I can see some gaps between them.
Glancing over my shoulder, I listen for a moment, making sure I can’t hear any footsteps, and when only the sound of birds chirping can be heard, I step right up to the tree trunk and look for a space big enough to slip into.
There are so many twists and turns to the trunks that it takes me a minute before I can find a way in.
I have to climb, though, which will be difficult.
But then I’ll be able to slip down inside.
My arms are weak, and it takes me several attempts to pull myself up, scraping my arms and legs as I move.
I let out a small breath of relief when I finally make it above the gap. I take a seat for a minute so I can catch my breath and look around for any sort of food, but nothing stands out. It’s only going to be harder when the men are released, but hiding feels more important than eating right now.
If I go back to the stream early in the morning, maybe there will be some wildlife I can follow to find edible plants.
A horn sounds in the distance, and my body tenses up.
The first group of men are being released.
I have no idea how many that is; the old man had just said they were staggering them.
I glance down the hole between the trunks where I plan to hide and start to second-guess myself.
Not only is it a bit dark and probably full of bugs, but will I be able to pull myself out of there once I get in?
I look up, wondering if I can hide higher in the branches, but they appear too far apart for me to reach. I’ll never be able to get up there.
Looking at the surrounding trees, I wonder if some of them would work better, but then, in the distance, I hear what sounds like a war cry from a man, and I quickly turn, placing my feet in the hole.
Fear makes the decision for me, and I try to gently lower myself into the tight space, but my arms give out, making me fall into the hiding hole, scraping my skin as I go, and I cry out in pain.
I try to rub my sore arms but hiss when I make contact, realizing I’ve ripped through my dress and broken the skin. A bit of blood comes away on my fingers, and I groan in annoyance. Hopefully, there are no animals out here that are attracted to the smell of blood.
I find a little spy hole to peek out of and make sure the coast is still clear.
The hole is bigger than I would prefer, about a foot tall, but it’s only two inches wide, and I feel confident nobody could grab me through it.
I take a moment to look around me. Luckily, I don’t see any bugs, and the space is just big enough for me to sit down.
Exhaustion hits me hard the second I think about sitting, and I decide to give in. I haven’t slept since the night before last, and even that wasn’t a good sleep with the looming knowledge that I was to marry Paul.
I have to bend my knees, and it’s a tight fit, but with my peephole higher up, nobody will be able to see me unless they press their face right up to it.
It’s the safest place I can be right now to take a nap.
Because now that my head is resting against the inside of this trunk, I can’t keep my eyes open.
Just a little nap so I have the energy to find food later.