The air was still, and water rippled no more, polluted with blood, the red clinging to her scales and clothes slowly dripping back down.

  Split’s legs were burning, and her body hurting, but she wasn’t done. ‘So you want this to end?’

  She dove under the water and began to swim all that she could, using all of the strength she had left, getting distance, and then turning around and heading straight for Nokmao.

  With the cool water all around her, she extended her fists like a spear to better aim her body, slicing through the water like a blade, and with full force, Nokmao returned in kind as she smashed both of her fists down; it all commulating in an eruption of water where…

  …

  “Urg…”

  “Urg…”

  Wheezing with labored breath, Split found herself suddenly floating on her back, awakened by the dwindling, gentle rain both had created, only coming to her senses as it completely stopped.

  “Are you dead?” Nokmao asked her voice very near, but equally as labored and wheezing.

  “No,” Split replied. “Are you going to kill me now?”

  “In a moment I want… I want you to feel the terror before you draw your last breath.”

  “Don’t breathe so loud then, let me enjoy the quiet.”

  “I will… ARG…!,” she grunted in pain. “I will do as I please, disgrace.”

  “You can’t move,” Split said.

  “Did you want to gloat before taking my life. Tell me, how will you do it?!” Nokmao demanded. “Eat my flesh, snap my neck, or leave me here to get eaten by some stray animal?!”

  ‘You are so noisy,’ Split sighed. “I can’t kill you.”

  “Don’t mock me, of course... oh... You can’t move either,” Nokmao realized, falling silent for a moment before chuckling to herself, eventually laughing. “Well, isn’t this great, all of that to kill you, and we are both going to die by some animal that wanders by!”

  “You are loud,” Split complained.

  However, Nokmao wasn’t listening, continuing to laugh to herself, for some time until eventually the pain won out, as laughter turned to grunting, and eventually loud breathing, but never silence.

  “I should have hit your throat.” Split sighed.

  “And yet you chose my chest, isn’t it funny we both wore down every weapon and tool we had, but now when all is said and done, my voice will still cut you mercylessly!” Nokmao laughed.

  “The only thing funny is the former hunter commander, and the new hunter commander beating each other up and then getting killed by a little weak Moli,” Split wheezingly replied.

  “Yes, funny, but I will survive this. Once I have the strength, I will kill you, no matter what.”

  “You will die too.”

  “I’ve commanded the hunter’s better than you ever did, killed the toughest of creatures, and honed my skill to near perfection, to die by your disgraced hands, it is not an insult on my life that I will bear in HER imbrace!”

  “And yet I was a commander before you,” Split replied, her few words a dagger that cut deep.

  “SHUT YOUR SNOUT!!! You were chosen by that saggy, moronic zillo, not my m...” She stopped in the middle of the word, but it wasn’t out of pain. “...Not by Nokuscha. She saw my skills, my potential, and my hard work... She wouldn’t have chosen you to replace her. Nokfem that saggy zillo couldn’t see past someone's magic and forced Nokuscha to be silent as she chose, you! Of course, she wouldn’t fight it and spend her last moments with her... family.”

  “If that is so, why are we both lying here?”

  She could hear her very breath fill with rage, “I HAVE WORKED... ARG!!! All my life to get better... ARG!!! To be the best I ever could be! I’ve been marked eternally by my bow, and it’s my greatest pride!”

  “I’m fast, you are fast, but that doesn’t make me better with the bow or blade,” Split replied.

  “So what, you were taught like the rest, not that you could follow orders, you did what you wanted to do on your own, putting me and the rest at risk!” Nokmao shouted.

  “Not you, not the rest, only me.”

  “What, do you think because you attacked first, got up in any beast you met, that you didn’t put our lives at risk, because you risked your own first! I still remember your first hunt. I trained you in what you needed to know, and you defied my orders at every chance you got!” Nokmao venomously spat. “Yes, you took down some weak, wounded animals on your own, and it filled you with confidence, the wrong kind, and then when you met something all of us should have taken down together, you spooked it, almost killing yourself and others, and yet I was lectured for your disobedience!”

  “I was, too,” Split replied. “Nokuscha threatened to have me leave the hunters.”

  “She’s not the kind of woman to spout empty threats,” Nokmao hissed. “So what did you do, to still be one after?!”

  “I told her ‘Teach me’ and she taught me to be a better hunter, without my magic. She said, ‘Magic is fine, but it shouldn’t be what makes a hunter, a hunter.’”

  “She taught you personally! Don’t lie to me!” Nokmao growlingly hissed as the water around her rippled.

  Yet Split continued. “She was happy I wanted to learn, smiling as she waited for me to hit the target perfectly. She was like that with everything she taught me.”

  “Stop lying! I was with her all the time... ARG! I learned from her all her skills and techniques, even the ones I thought were useless as a hunter, because she saw my potential! When would she even--?!”

  “When everyone slept. When she gave me a goal, I practiced until I could or until she returned.”

  Nokmoa began to growlingly hiss, “You expect me to entert--“

  “I expect nothing from you,” Split cut her off. “I’m only answering your questions.”

  “Oh, you are only answering my questions, are you? Then answer this: what exactly made you so high and mighty when you became commander?! I was always better than you, and you knew it; that’s why you tormented me so. Was it because you were chosen by the sagging zillo?”

  “I never tormented you; you were only another noise that needed to be silenced. If anything, I didn’t think any differently about you than any other. All of you are only sounds to me out here,” Split answered. “And it wasn’t Nokfem who chose me, it was Nokuscha.”

  “...”

  ‘That shut her up, maybe finally I can enjoy the silence--‘

  “AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGG!!!” Roaring her lungs out in what was mostly pain, but probably also anger, she began to rise, “SHUT YOUR SNOUT YOU DISGRACED LIAR!!!”

  ‘Still so noisy,’ Split sighed as she had to get up, her body screaming in pain, greater than she’s ever experienced before, but even as she forced it to move, she stayed as silent as she could.

  She struggled immensely, even with he ease the water provided her to move, getting to her feet, her legs threatening to break under her from this alone, but even so, she wouldn’t allow it. With her mouth agape and heavy panting, Split looked back to see Nokmao in a similar position, only with a look that she’d seen in blood-mad animals, those who protected their young, or knew the red cloak was near.

  Nokmao was the first to turn, with Split following a step behind, both exhausted and wounded, barely able to stagger forward, limping with each step as they closed the distance.

  Nokmao raised her fist and struck Split in the snout, almost falling over while knocking her back, screaming, “SHE WOULD NEVER HAVE CHOSEN YOU!!!”

  Staying on her feet, she returned with a punch of her own, “She did.”

  Nokmao didn’t even look, like she noticed a few fangs flew into the water as she stuck her chest, “YOU WEREN’T THERE!!!”

  Split struck her gut, “I was.”

  “...HISSSSSSSSSS!!!” Nokmao lumberingly swung her arm like a boulder, striking between her neck and shoulder. “I’LL KILL YOU, YOU LIAR!!!”

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  Striking up under her snout, Split had her toppling back, “I don’t lie. I was there with Nokuscha and Nokfem when they told me I was the new commander.”

  Reeling from Split’s punch, Nokmao suddenly stopped, looking like a tree you weren't certain of when it would fall, but unlike one, she roared, her eyes filled with madness and rage as she tightened her core, snapping her body forward, and rushingly staggered over, striking her chest with the force of a hammer, a snapping sound audibly echoing all around them. “SHE DIDN’T CHOOSE YOU THAT SAGGING ZILLO FORCED MY MOTHER TO CHO...!!!”

  She stopped halfway through her yelling, realizing what she’d said.

  ‘Did I hit her head? Nokuscha isn’t her mother; she died years before her.’ Split kept her footing and, despite the pain, raised both of her arms and brought them down like a pair of mallets on top of Nokmao. “She wasn’t forced to choose me.”

  “ARG!” she roared in pain, almost doubling over, but using her falling momentum, she grabbed onto Split’s torso, forcing her back while hitting her side.“OF COURSE SHE WAS, MY SKILLS I LEARNED ALL FROM HER, AND MY LEADERSHIP WAS BETTER THAN YOURS EVER COULD BE!!!”

  Split once more raised her arm and brought her elbow down on Nokmao’s back with such force that it dug into her body like a spear, causing them both to separate. “My leadership was different, not worse!!!”

  “THEN WHY YOU?!!! SHE NEVER CARED FOR MAGIC!!! SHE WOULDN’T CHOOSE YOU BECAUSE OF THAT!!!” Nokmao yelled as she lumberingly rushed toward her with both arms raised and hands open in a gripping motion, aiming for her throat.

  However, Split grabbed her by the shoulders and kept her at bay, both struggling as no doubt Nokmao’s body screamed in pain like her’s as both stood at a standstill, neither able to overpower the other.“That’s why it pained her to choose me!”

  “WHAT?!” Nokmao yelled, only the slightest bit of shock visible on her face.

  Split tightened her grip. “Skills, experience, leadership, nothing truly set us apart; that’s why she was crying! Because it was only our magic that was different, and why I was chosen!”

  Her words cut through, as for one moment, Nokmao was in utter shock.

  And that was all Split needed as she threw her to the side into a nearby tree, but of course Nokmao would react in time and dragged her with, both slamming into the hard surface and separating, falling on either side, both utterly more bruised than before as they both lay still, half submerged in water and half lying on the muddy ground.

  “I hate you... I hate how you talk... I hate how you look... I hate what you do... I hate everything about you... And I hate that some small part of me believed you for a moment,” Nokmao panted her voice clear even from the other side of the tree.

  “Thanks for being honest,” Split replied.

  “That’s the only thing you can say?!” Nokmao growled. “You tell me a story I almost believe, that makes me sad, and angry... angrier than I’ve ever been!”

  “Why do I need to repeat myself? I don’t lie,” Split said in a tired tone.

  “And even if it is true, what do I do with it?!” Nokmao questioned. “Am I supposed to kill you, then forget everything?!”

  “If you are able.”

  That last comment got to Nokmao as she growled loudly, her anger probably enough to boil the water they were both half in, though with how big it was, it would take some time.

  For now, neither of them could really move, so she wouldn’t be able to shut her up and was forced to listen.

  “Well, isn’t this great? Amito is embracing me early,” Nokmao bitterly chuckled.

  “What are you talking about?” Split questioned.

  “I can feel my body being swallowed by the mud and water,” Nokmao said, her tone both distressed and not.

  “Pull a leg out then,” Split simply replied

  “You would like that, so you can kill me when I’m weakened, but I won’t have it end like so. My death will not be by your hands, but Amito’s. She is the one dragging me down, she is the one who will bring me his robe, but I...! I killed you!” Nokmao bitterly chuckled. “Those wounds! You won’t make it back, my wounds will kill you before another animal can find you!”

  Even breathing too hard was painful, but even so, she forced her body to move, gritting her fangs as she managed to make her way around the tree. She was right, the ground here was soft and would have you sink if you stood long in one place, not that she had to worry.

  Nokmao’s eyes glared at her as she fought to get up and meet her snout to snout, but her feet were trapped, and her arms were too tired.

  “Come to do it yourself?!” Nokmao yelled. “Come at me, do it, it won’t change that I killed you!”

  Split walked up to her, went down under the water, and grabbed Nokmao by the waist. She punched and hit, but there was barely any force behind it, not that she had regained much strength herself or had much left, but she had enough.

  Focusing on her legs, she pushed off the ground and jumped out of the water, carrying Nokmao with her further up on land, landing on top of her, as enormous pain erupted from her legs, causing her to grunt so much she nearly didn’t notice Nokmao’s maw clasping around her neck.

  However, her fangs hadn’t fully set in. “If you wanted to kill me yourself, you made the worst mistake you could.”

  Her words were slightly muffled, but even so, Split understood fully and responded. “It wasn’t a mistake.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because that’s not how a hunter should die.”

  “If you think I’ll let you go--“

  “Will you kill like a hunter or a beast?”

  Her maw began to close, and fangs dug down as she growled, but as quickly as her killing intent was showing, it vanished as Nokmao let go, and Split rolled off her.

  “So this is how we are going to die, getting up after a moment of rest, to beat each other bloody, until you can’t take any more of my punches, or I slip on a root or rock and you take advantage.”

  ‘Will she never stop breathing so loudly?’ Split wondered. “If that’s what you want.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?!” Nokmao angrily inquired. “You wanted this as much as I, a chance to take the other’s life to prove who was best!”

  “I only wanted to end this.”

  “Yes, to kill me, not that you will be able to...!”

  “I don’t want to kill you.”

  The words left Nokmao frozen, silent for a good while before she erupted in laughter.

  “HahahahahahahHa… ARG!” She had to stop from the pain, all of this seeming so absurd, yet as she spoke, there was a faint giggle in her voice. “What do you mean you don’t want to kill me?! All this time, you’d hit me with arrows, tried to stab me with a sword, and beat me to death, how can you say that?!”

  “I knew if I didn’t use all the tools I had, I would be the one to die,” Split replied.

  “So why didn’t you want to kill me, after everything?!”

  “Because I don’t hate you, I deserved all you did to me.”

  “Being repentive does not make you any less of a coward, hiding behind your brother to escape battle and punishment.”

  “…”

  For some time, both of them lay there, the blood flowing from their wounds ever so slowly diminishing as the blood stagnated. Eventually, their panting grew quiet, and silence filled the air.

  ‘Finally,’ Split sighed, relishing it.

  However, it was only to last a moment as Nokmao began to stir, rising from the ground.

  ‘Here we go again.’

  Split too got up ready for whichever punch would come her way, but none did. Nokmao, simply, while in pain, slid down the mud into the water and began to limp.

  “Looking for weapons?” Split asked.

  “I’m leaving.”

  “Why?!”

  “Don’t get the wrong idea, I want to kill you, maybe eat you afterward, but I couldn’t bear the thought, even if your chances of doing so are small, being killed alongside you,” Nokmao groaned, clutching her bleeding side. “You are too pathetic for me to risk it.”

  She limped a couple more steps, slowly sinking lower and lower into the water before tripping on something down there.

  Floating on the surface, Split walked over to her, ripped off part of her own clothing, and began to tie it around Nokmao’s wounds.

  “What are you doing? Stop it,” she demanded.

  “Listening to Kenneth, you learn a thing or two,” Split firmly said, lifting Nokmao up by the arm to get her standing. “…And it is like you said, I won’t survive going back alone.”

  “With how miserable your life is, I’m surprised you want to continue it,” Nokmao groanened, “But since you will, consider this and act of charity, last one your pathetic tail will ever get.”

  The stroll out here had been a far more pleasant experience than returning, but at least they didn’t have to contend with any predators. Those who had been drawn knew well they wouldn’t escape unscaved, even with how weakened both of them were.

  Besides, they hadn’t wandered too far from the village, so the predator presence was slim to begin with. The gate was still open, fortunately, but even on the side where the current was being sucked in, it was hard to resist in their condition, let alone climb up over the edge once inside.

  Both were panting, lying on the stones for a moment before getting back up.

  Together, they wandered to the silent, cool streets of the village until they finally arrived at Kenneth’s prison. Taking the lead, she opened the door, an action that was always so simple, one that was now far more difficult.

  “To die a hunter is a brutal dream, don’t you think?” Nokmao asked while staring up at the moon.

  She didn’t answer, her effort in opening the door, allowing for nothing else.

  “In a certain way, we chase it all our lives, like the prey we hunt, whether we want to or not, whether we want it to be peaceful, bloody, or victorious.”

  Managing to open the door, Split, tired, her breath labored and weezing, turned to face Nokmao, the pair sharing a look they hadn’t since they first met.

  “Please don’t let this kill you.”

  Before she could react, Nokmao slammed her palm into her chest, pushing her down the stairs, and watched as she hit the ground hard, everything becoming black in an instant.

  “Urg…”

  ‘Guess I’m not dead, everything still hurts,’ Split thought as she opened her eyes, none but Kenneth Nokstella, and the little heretic Kolu around.

  “You're awake, you were out for some time, but I managed to stop the bleeding all over your body,” Kenneth told her. “That was the good news, as for the bad, your spine is bruised, one of your ribs seems to have cracked, the fact that you haven't bled to…

  On he went in that deep voice that was so wrong for a man, but it gave him a little more respect when a conversation began.

  “…all and all, you are in bad shape, so don’t move and just answer these questions. Do you know where you are?”

  “I’m here in your prison,” she answered.

  “Good enough, now how many fingers am I holding up?”

  “Four.”

  “Okay, who’s the commander of the village? Can you tell me her name?”

  “Nokuji…”

  “Now, tell me your name?”

  “Split…”

  He somehow looked displeased. ‘I’ve been watching him for too long, if I can tell.’

  “Not that, distasteful, slanderous name, your real name, Nok-whatever.”

  ‘Why won’t he call me it? Why is he so annoying about it?’ Split wondered. “I know my name.”

  Kenneth loudly sighed, “Guess I’ll have to take your word for it. Now just sit tight, I’ll go get Nokset, he’ll heal you right up.”

  “Don’t,” Split said. “He isn’t needed. Your healing is fine.”

  “Appreciate the trust in me and my skills, but ain’t taking any chances,” he said in a firm, almost dominating tone that a woman should have, except she didn’t like that it was aimed at her. “I don’t know what happened, and don’t say something like all was because you fell down the stairs. You are hurt severely, and that’s only what I can see. You might not be bleeding from any orifice, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t bleeding internally.”

  “That’s where the blood is supposed to be,” Split replied.

  “You know what, you might not have time for this, so stay put, Nokstella, Kolu, remind her not to move if she does it too much. I’ll be back soon,” Kenneth told the two young ones.

  “Yes, Papa!” Nokstella cheerily said, running over to Split, trying to look tough and intimidating, though the only thing that was somewhat intimidating to Split was the fact that she was a kid. So fragile and loud.

  The heretic, on the other hand, had her a little weary, even small like that, its claws were sharp, though even so, the one most at the moment that had her attention was Kenneth as he left.

  “Why won’t you listen to me?” She questioned. “Are you not a follower of Lorizo?”

  “I agree choice is important, that’s why I’m choosing the best for you,” he said. “When I get back, you’ll be fully healed, and we’ll make sure your memory is in order. We can talk about Nokiolite and her students. I want to know more about them all. Their ability to become invisible is fascinating.”

  He then left through the open door, Split sighing.

  “Now you listen and don’t move, understood,” Nokstella commanded, puffing up her chest.

  “Be quiet, and I won’t,” she told her, finally, after such a long time able to enjoy the silence.