Changed (The Hunters #1) (30 page)

“
Ah, there is our last
traitor.” He smiled coldly. “Stand by the others.”

The girl that had brought Rosa to Lord
Constantine disappeared in the woods. Rosa grabbed her purse and
walked toward the others. Rosa wondered which betrayal they had
committed.

Lord Constantine cleared his throat.
“You six are here, because you are traitors, and you know that it
it’s punishable by death, but this time we will be doing something
different,” he said while looking at them with a dangerous glint in
his eyes.

“
We will play a game,” he
continued.

Rose
frowned.
A game? What kind of
game?

“
All of you are probably
familiar with the old game, tag, and have played it, when you were
little; our game is like that, yet still different. There will be a
catcher, but none of you six will be the catcher, it will be
someone else that you cannot see. The catcher will chase you and if
he catches you, you will die. Then you have to find a dagger, which
is hidden deep in the forest. A red flag will show you where the
dagger is located. Whoever finds it first,” he looked at Rosa, “is
going to win and won’t die.”

Rosa pressed her lips together and
tried not to show her anger. She could not believe that Lord
Constantine was serious with this game. He played with their lives
as if they were not worth anything.

The boy next to Rosa swore under his
breath.

“
There will be only one
winner,” Lord Constantine said, his gaze never leaving Rosa. If he
didn’t want Rosa to die, then why play in a game where she could be
killed?

“
Lord Constantine, to be
sure I got this right,” said Rosa. “You want us to find the dagger,
while being chased by a ‘catcher’ who is trying to kill
us?”

He nodded. “You learn quickly,
Rosa.”

“
Why play this game? Why
don’t you just put a bullet in our head?”

The answer lay in his eyes. It was
because of her, as he said in his letter. He wanted to see her
suffer, and survive. What would he do if she did not win the game?
What would happen then?

The questions were burning on her
tongue, but Rosa didn’t ask him. She didn’t want that the others to
know that this game was because of her.

“
If you look to the west,
you see a white flag,” said Lord Constantine, gesturing with his
right hand. Rosa looked where he was pointing and saw something
white that was blowing in the wind. Rosa noticed that Lord
Constantine had put stress on the word “West”, but maybe she’d only
imagined it.

“
There is a compass on the
ground and two daggers. Whoever first gets there gets the tool that
will allow them to defend themselves. The others get nothing,” he
continued. “So, my hunters, get in the starting
position.”

Rosa was afraid, but she took a deep
breath. She would survive this.

“
Jennifer,” Lord
Constantine called. The black-haired girl appeared and stood beside
him. Rosa wondered if the girl had waited the whole time behind the
trees.

“
Jennifer will give the
starting shot,” said Lord Constantine, smiling. “I want that the
game should take only a few hours. I don’t want to spend my entire
evening in this forest, waiting for the winner.” He looked back to
Rosa.

“
One more thing. The bags
stay here. Rosa and Lisa put your bags away.” Rosa looked at the
girl. She was small but had a tough look. She dropped her bag. Rosa
did the same.

Lord Constantine clapped his hands.
“Perfect. Then start the game, Jennifer.”

Rosa tensed every muscle in her body
and prayed to God. Then the starting shot was heard and the six
hunters started to run. Rosa quickly overtook all, but the boy who
had cursed was just as fast as she was. They both reached the white
flag at the same time. Rosa grabbed the dagger. The boy took the
other dagger. Then they both reached for the compass. Rosa tried to
shove the boy aside, but the boy was strong and punched her hand
away from the compass.

Suddenly, the boy went still and
coughed. Blood splashed on Rosa’s face. She winced. The boy coughed
more then he collapsed on the floor. Rosa saw a knife stuck in his
back. The others stopped and looked horrified at the
boy.

Rosa frowned. Where did the knife come
from? Then she saw a shadow standing high on the tree. The catcher!
He began to throw all the knives in his hand.

Grabbing
the compass, Rosa started to run towards the east. She heard
screams, which told her that the catcher had caught a couple of
others. Suddenly she heard steps behind her. Immediately she knew
that it was the catcher. She swore.
Why
does he hunt me now
?

If he’d throw a knife at
her now, he would certainly hit her. Rosa quickened her pace. The
catcher came dangerously close. A knife flew right past her head
and landed in a tree. Rosa instinctively ducked her head. Another
knife flew over her head into the floor. Her heart hammered against
her ribs. She ran as fast as she could. Her feet drummed on the
forest floor. Rosa had to put distance between herself and the
catcher; otherwise, she would not survive the
persecution.

Rosa didn’t know how long
she was running, but she was no longer hearing steps behind her.
Carefully she looked over her shoulder. When she saw nobody behind
her, she stopped. Due to her already heavy breathing, and the
rustle of her blood in her ears, Rosa couldn’t hear
anything.

She had escaped the catcher. Sighing
in relief, she looked for a place where she could hide. Rosa found
a bush that was huge, and would give her a good cover. After she
sat down, she took a deep breath.

Her heart was still pounding wildly in
her chest, and she was tired and sweaty. However, her hunting
instincts were awake. Everywhere danger could lurk. She would to be
vigilant, something she had learned in her hunter
education.

Rosa’s heart gradually calmed down,
and she could breathe normally again, but it was something vaguely
weird with this game. Earlier, as the catcher had chased her, she
wasn’t hit by his knife, which was odd. Not that she would have
wanted the knife to hit her, but she had to wonder why it appeared
as though the catcher had missed. The catcher had hit the boy from
a tree—so why was he unable to hit her, when he was so
close?

Rosa mentally slapped herself for not
realizing it earlier—she was supposed to win the game.

She was sure that this was
Lord Constantine’s plan, and the reason why he put her in this
deadly game. She would not die, and she would win this game. But it
shouldn’t be easy for her to win.

Sighing deeply, Rosa massaged her
temple. To understand him and his motives, you had to be a mind
reader. Lord Constantine would do anything to achieve his
goal.

Rosa sighed again and lay down on the
forest floor. She knew she should go on, but she was tired and
hungry; a little break wouldn’t hurt.

While lying on the ground, her mind
drifted to the incidents that had happened.

Her life was completely out
of line. She wouldn’t have dreamed of committing an act of treason,
but since Jason was in her life, she had nothing but trouble. He
stepped in her life like a hurricane.

Rosa
threw the thought away and stood up.
Time
to find the damn dagger
, she thought, and
wiped off the earth from her black pants. She put the compass in
her pants pocket when she suddenly heard something behind
her.

Rosa paused in her movement and
listened. There were footsteps coming closer followed by a few
snorts.

An animal.

Rosa firmly clutched her dagger and
turned slowly around. She had been right. It was an animal. A wolf.
It came toward her with its teeth bared. His sharp teeth gleamed in
the moonlight. Slowly and quietly, she walked away from the animal.
However, it came toward her.

“
You’re a good doggie,”
Rosa said, holding up her hands. “You’re not going to attack
me.”

The wolf tilted his head to one side,
and it seemed like he was watching her with a quizzical look. But
something was not right with this animal. His eyes were glowing and
his face was angry, although Rosa didn’t do anything to make the
animal angry.

I hope
he does not attack me
, she thought, and
walked further. When the wolf didn’t move, Rosa slowly turned
around and quickened her pace.

But then she heard a hiss just as the
wolf attacked her.

Jason and Marco entered the
room. Jason’s father was sitting on a chair and his shoulders were
tense.

Without saying anything, Jason and
Marco sat on the couch in front of Gabriel. The two boys looked at
him expectantly.

“
So, Father. What do you
want?” Jason said. His leg began to burn again.

Gabriel looked at them. “I’m assuming
you figured it out that the three rebels are fire
users.”

“
You think so?” Jason
replied, folding his arms across his chest. Gabriel gave him a
warning look.

“
Yes, Archangel Gabriel.
We have,” Marco replied politely. Jason rolled his eyes.

The archangel nodded. “And two of them
have died, right?”

Marco nodded.

Gabriel sighed and leaned against his
chair. “This is not good. Not good.”

Jason frowned. “And why is that not
good?”

Gabriel looked at him. “We wanted to
sign a contract with the Fire Lord. Do you think, Jason, that after
this action, he will?”

“
Why do you want to sign a
contract with the Fire Lord? In addition, we couldn’t have known
they were fire users.”

Gabriel leaned forward. “Jason, think
about it.”

He did not want to think about it. He
was tired and wanted a salve for his leg. “I’m too tired for that.
Just say it.”

“
They could help us
destroy the hunters,” Gabriel replied. “Didn’t you read the book I
gave you?”

Jason
looked with tired eyes at his father. “Did I
ever
read a book?”

Gabriel
growled. “Jason, this is serious. After all,
you
have killed the fire
users.”

Jason gritted his teeth and clenched
his fists. This was his father; always pushing the blame on his
son.

“
I
didn’t know they were fire users,” he said between clenched teeth.
“And
you
had
given me the order to kill them.”

Gabriel looked at him coolly. “Don’t
put the blame on me, Jason.”

“
But it’s
true!”

“
Get out! I do not want to
see you anymore.” His father turned his gaze away. Jason angrily
walked out of the room.

“
Jason,” Marco called
after him, but Jason didn’t turn around.

Angry and frustrated, he left the
house.

Rosa had no time to react. The wolf
was too quick. He lunged at her and they landed on the floor. The
wolf pressed Rosa with its heavy weight on the ground. Without
hesitation, the animal dug its sharp claws into her right
shoulder.