Maldock pulled out the wanted poster from a festoon of belt pouches for what might have been several times already. He scanned the portrait of their quarry with an arched, querulous brow, taking all of her dull, unfamiliar look in with considered effort.

His employer had promised a hefty sum of coin for her demise, twice if taken alive, so he had to make sure to tell the difference. After all, he couldn't distinguish between beastmen and the like. Ferrets looked all the same to him.

Their target was a ferret, boldly named and inked in black on the wanted poster by the name of Farah, a thief who has made a nuisance with certain clients. How powerful they were, Maldock couldn't be sure. But he supposed that if their clients had the expense and influence to reach three human hunters from a faraway land and be contracted into their mix, then it was good enough.

“It's not going to change anything, ya know?" began a voice, a raspy, guttural wheeze, behind Maldock's right. Though it sounded unfriendly, Maldock heard a smile behind the words.

Maldock sighed inwardly, irritation slowly forming around his face as he turned.

Two hunters, their names were Jakos and Alta, appeared before Maldock's cold, hardened gaze, standing sentinel over the small grassy hill and out to the wide yonder world of mammalian lands. They were commendably silent so far, as expected from hunters. Well, it wasn't silent no more once Jakos spoke his thoughts aloud.

“And what is it, Jakos, that is not changing?" Maldock said, his voice close to annoyance.

Jakos pulled back the brown hooded surface to reveal his brutal, aging features and a smile that had jagged points for teeth. "You know what I mean, old man," he said with amusement, intentionally using the given title to infuriate Maldock even further.

Maldock still considered himself ripe around the age, maybe beyond his fifties, but he had the strength and vitality to push above his weight when necessary. Besides the point, Jakos was no longer the youthful, energetic man he was, given the hunter was five years behind him.

“You, looking at the bounty poster of our little friend of ours," Jakos continued. “I've seen you read the poster many times over, and it boggles me that you cannot read these beasties."

Maldock said nothing, brows furrowed. He then turned back on the poster, earning an airy sniff from Jakos.

“Fine. Be like that, old man. But I still say we go out blazing and cut off the beastie's head to save the trouble."

Again, Maldock said nothing, refusing to be baited. Jakos was impertinent. Jakos had always been impertinent, almost at the edge of insubordination since their long partnership together. But then again, Maldock trusted his blunt honesty about these things, and it hadn't crossed his mind about taking her head.

Maldock continued to scan the poster once more, with the name printed boldly in a statement as well as the 'Dead or Alive' to emphasize the claim. Her portrait was nothing out of the ordinary nor glamorous to behold. To him, the ferret looked outrageously plain, dull, and that was a problem. 

Since travelling across the new frontier, Maldock had some kind of ordeal when reading the faces of mammals. While some humanity, like Jakos for reference, could recognize the two-legged mammals with near-perfect translucence, Maldock's inability to distinguish between the normal animal back at home and the abnormal, aberrant mammals was a weakness that continued to grate on his nerves. It seemed somewhat unbefitting for a hunter like himself that he could not perceive these strange creatures.

Maldock restrained the urge to sigh and tucked away the poster. “And that… Is why I'm in charge." 

Jakos humphed at that, but a smile was creeping from his lips as they began to motion toward the supposed settlement in the distance, shrouded in a blanket of trees. 

While hunters sought an easy kill for a more straightforward reward, the group Maldock commanded inspired a different kind of philosophy, especially when it concerned with live targets. It may be easier to end their quarry, but the method was a tricky affair. Too messy - too outright barbarous, meant for murderers and amateurs. But most of all… It would likely cost them.

Maldock and his hunters were strangers in a strange land, far away from home. Humans were still a rare sight in these lands, and killing a mammal in the open might cause problems, bring many questions and leave behind a sour flavour of bad news. 

And so, Maldock had decided to use a cheaper option, using words, reason, and diplomacy to get them this far, and their efforts had been rewarded. 

Finding the ferret thief was not an easy prospect, Maldock admitted, despite their methods. It had taken some currency and a bit of intimidation to get her whereabouts. Indeed, it would have taken much longer to find the thief if not for Alta.

Unlike Jakos, Alta was not a woman to waste words. And when she spoke, it was the terseness Maldock could appreciate. But unlike Jakos and Maldock, she was the youngest member of the three, barely past her twenties, with considerable scars that were unhealthy and a lack of emotions that resembled her as a marionette.  Still, despite her appearance, her vaunted tracking skills were not one to be questioned, and her accuracy in finding their quarry had been on point this far.

As if reading his thoughts, Jakos chuckled. 

"She will go far with that one," he said, eyeing her from behind Alta and out of earshot. "If she keeps this up, a satisfactory promotion awaits her back home."

Maldock nodded briskly, for once agreeing with him. He thought he heard the barest hint of warmth behind his tone, a rare emotion that belied his blunt crudity.

Then, Jakos later smiled an unfriendly smile, an expression which Maldock distinctly recognized. "But I know you well, old man. You still do not trust her."

The way he said it implied a factual statement rather than a simple query, and Maldock shook his head. "No. I do not." 

They said no more after that and double-timed their pace after her. 

Ever since Alta had joined the group, they had watched her with keen interest. The woman was efficient, concise with words and overall a good tracker. 

Jakos had been easily impressed by this set of feats and seemed to beam with pride like a teacher to a student. Maldock was not. 

He didn't trust her, didn't trust anyone he did not know. Trust was a rare commodity in this day of age, both out in the field and those he considered his trusted allies, and he rarely gave anyone the luxury for it. Even Jakos had to earn it the hard way, and that had been years before the two had climatized at equal footing. 

They soon progressed down the small hill and later into the forest's edge. Little sunlight could reach through the tight-knitted dense canopy, which grew almost pitch-black as they went deeper into the trail. The trees around the forest were huge things, gigantic growths of wooden barks that scaled as tall to nearly reach the clouds and comprehensively wide in mass. Their branches outstretched from one another, coveting the light in dominance for space as dark leaves sealed much from the sun.

The three hunters strode on, regardless of the sudden shift of their surroundings, with Alta at the lead, not minding the many sounds of wildlife now given voice. When the path became too dark to traverse, they needed no torches, for lantern posts from both sides of a mammalian-made trail lit the way in a gentle firefly glow that led straight to their destination.

From what Maldock and Jakos could scrounge for information along the way and Alta's sensible tracking instigation, the thief held up in Fool's March, a hamlet outpost of unremarkable note, backwater and remote, and the perfect ideal place for hiding away from unwanted parties.

“Still cannot believe stories," Jakos stated suddenly, eyeing his surroundings keenly for any threat. Maldock noticed his metal gloves clench slightly, as if readying for the blow that would never come. The hunter was nervous.

“Hard to believe the fool lost everything," Jakos went on. His voice had a bitter edge, but Maldock heard a tinge of fear behind it. “But I suspected that anything goes in this accursed place."

Maldock looked around the forest, at the massive trees and overgrown green tethered in a cycle of life and death. But there was also something else, a feeling in his gut that screamed of danger. Not in a conventional sense, but rather esoteric and magical. Jakos was right to be concerned - this place was unnatural.

The hamlet's name was derived as it was stated. Maldock had heard enough stories and rumours from the mammals to know that Fool's March was built as a staging ground for the baron's growing influence. Apparently, this baron, either brave or foolish, or both, had sought to expand his domain and planned an expedition to claim the forest for his own. That sort of ambition, however, didn't work out in his favour, and not only did the baron lose his fortune, his standings, but his entire bloodline family.

Maldock couldn't be sure what dark forces had fallen on the baron, nor did he take heed to listen to the gossip-mongering masses these mammals conjured up. Still, the hunter in him knew that some rumours held nuggets of truth behind the fabricated shell, and he shouldn't discard them so easily. Whatever the case, he and his hunters would deal with it when the time came.

After trekking through the dark forest for hours, crossing a questionable, dubious wooden bridge over a stream bed armoured with rocks, the three hunters noticed the lantern firelight grew bright in number ahead and came to a gradual halt. 

“Trouble," Alta gestured, her voice utterly flat and colourless but carried its meaning. 

A makeshift bulwark came into view up the slope of a small hill, blocking the hunters in their path. A group of mammals stood guard over the area and wore a dark complexion on their faces as if they were wading through hell. 

“Militias?" Jakos whispered beside Maldock. There was suspicion behind that one word, and Maldock inclined his head slightly.

“Maybe," Maldock's eyes squinted, seeing their appearance shamefully untidy, unkempt, but very well-equipped for mere militias. “But maybe not."

One by one, the mammals spotted the three arriving hunters until all eyes were on them with suspicion and spite. 

If Maldock had come to suspect, the group leader stepped forward to make their presence known. A tall minoan bull figure, masculine and robustly broad in a bodily frame, stretched his lantern out to view the new arrivals, one chestnut eye glaring.

“Who is stumbling in the dark?" the bull demanded. It had a rough, unfriendly tone behind it.

Maldock and Jakos shared a glance at one another, as if weighing their options as to who will speak first. Alta remained as she was, staring silently up ahead, not answering the equine's query. 

Then, after a moment passed, Jakos sighed inwardly and shook his head. “Fine, I'll do it."

Maldock nodded in thanks as the hunter stepped forward, arms up in a gesture of peace to reveal almond-shaped gauntleted shields strapped around both forearms.

“Hail, friend," Jakos answered to the equine in a heavily accented Arvosh: their beast tongue. “We are but simple travellers who seek passage to your hamlet. We have come a long way, and we seek food and shelter for the time being."

Maldock had known that it galled Jakos to be this cordial with mammals, and he would have done it in his stead. However, given that the three had studied the Arvosh language before their arrival, only Jakos was more fluent than either of the two. 

The bull stared down at Jakos, silent. He looked back at the group, muttering to someone, then back at them. “Strange visitors looking for a mere respite," he called out dubiously. “What purpose do you seek on Fool's March? You know the history behind the place, correct?"

Maldock imperceptibly noticed that a couple of the mammals were moving into position, their bows ready. Alta became aware of this and eyed them flatly, bringing her own in response.

“That we are," Jakos admitted, though whether he noticed the mammals moving into a sniping position or not, he did not show it. “And that is our purpose for the visit. We have a… friend that is waiting for us."

“Oh? A friend, you say," The equine said sarcastically, earning a dark chuckle from the mammals behind. He stretched his lips in an unfriendly smile and leaned slightly forward on the barricade.

Jakos' lips quirked in a frown, and Maldock sensed his fellow hunter's contempt rising, seething out from him that he could almost feel it. 

“Well, then, friend," The equine continued, still darkly smiling, emanating an air of arrogance. The last part made it sound like a curse, and he shared a similar notion close to Jakos. “I take it you have the gold to pay for the passage. Might, uh, remove your hood so all of us have a better look."

Jakos went silent momentarily, then shrugged as he undid his hooded surplus, earning a couple of gasps and wide-eyed astonishment from the group. He smiled at the shocked, imbecilic expression that marred the equine's face. 

"What's wrong?" He shot back, his smile widening wild and viscous. "Never seen a human before?"

Before the bull could respond, ahead in the distance, something exploded. Several bursts of smoke erupted from the group of mammals, obscuring their vision as a cacophony of alarm rose into volume. 

Without an inch of hesitation, Alta made the first move and let loose a shot straight for the bull's head. The arrow impacted with a meaty thunk, but the mammal stirred just in time for it to hit him on the shoulder and backed away into the smoke. Then, the fighting turned in earnest.

Maldock watched as Jakos sped upward on the hill, crouching low so he could avoid the missile fire zipping around him. Despite his age, it seemed Jakos still had the reflex and stamina to leap over the bulwark and plunge himself into the gathering smoke.

The screams grew even louder now as bones crunched by a weighty impact and sadistic laughter pierced the air, which Maldock definitely recognized as the sound belonging to Jakos.

He was soon already halfway up the hill, trodding on Jakos's wake while narrowly dodging a hair's breadth of a missile that zipped across his ear. His one hand gripped tightly around the handle of his short sword. The other was chains wrapped around his forearm, and at the end that dangled freely was a blocky ball of spiked iron.

While Jakos was in the middle, causing mayhem, and Alta engaged the archers with her longbow, Maldock finally reached the makeshift bulwark and swung his chains. A nearby mammal, a feline with black-white stripes, got caught in surprise by the ascending spiked iron ball and fell, twitching as Maldock followed another swing at the next target and another. 

Maldock counted at least a pack of mammals that guarded the checkpoint, but by then, they would have already dispensed half of them, most done by Jakos's handiwork. He followed the sound of his fellow hunter's laughter to find mammalians littered the ground, either dead or dying. His eyes locked on a shadowy silhouette against a downed mammal, rising up high from his long-handled mace before descending the blow to crush the beast's skull. 

Jakos had been a blur of movement, viscous and merciless to the extreme as he moved to the next. It was why Maldock kept him so long and tolerated his presence. The man may be a crude bore, savage and with little respect for authority, but none could deny his gifts in a spur for violence.

The laughter grew more distinguished as Maldock came within sight of Jakos, who was locked in a bitter struggle with a red-maned fox. The hunter was not without harm. Several cuts and bruises riddled his face and body, but he was laughing regardless of the pain, almost seemingly enjoying himself in this wanton abandon for a good fight.

The maned fox had her cleaver, if Maldock judged based on her body language, against one of Jakos's gauntleted shields. Despite her small, lithe frame, she was able to push Jakos back an inch or two, but so focused she was on the front that her back was left exposed. 

Unaware of her timely death, Maldock plunged his short blade into the fox's back, the tip of it jutting from the other end. The maned fox wailed in pain, then was immediately silent by Jakos as he swung his mace.

“Glad that you could make it," Jakos wiped the splattered blood from his face. His tone was jovial, childlike.

Maldock nodded tersely, then turned around sharply as another mammal came for him from the smoke.

Back to back, the two hunters fought. They moved organically well to one another, saving the other from a deathblow and ending the said mammals in turn. Maldock had difficulty keeping himself centre to the moment as Jakos's laughter was loud and obnoxious to the ear. It had stirred a certain uneasiness for some mammals, but for Maldock, who had been with the madden fool for so long, it had begun to grate his nerves.

For about several minutes of fighting, everything went still and quiet. Maldock heard the sound of many footsteps, but they sounded like they were growing faint and far away rather than getting close to them. It was then a moment he realized that the mammals had enough and were summarily broken.

However, one, at least, hadn't surrendered quite so easily. 

Something heavy approached Maldock from behind, followed by a metal impact as he saw Jakos off his feet in the air. Jakos must have protected him from this unsuspected blow, and despite his quick reflexes, he was not strong enough to ground against the heavy force and was sent flying. At least the fool had finally stopped laughing.

“Freaks of nature," a voice growled, voice dripped in venom.

Maldock whirled and saw that it was the equine from earlier, wielding an obsidian greatsword, double-handed. The mammal stood imposingly in front of Maldock, about a couple inches apart from height and twice in bulky mass, but the hunter in him knew that every beast this magnanimous size would eventually fall.

The bull eyed the hunter down with undisguised contempt and attacked. He slammed the greatsword in a downward stroke, but Maldock sidestepped the blow, causing the ground to a spiderweb of cracks.

His chain rotated and swung, the spiked ball of iron impacted squarely to the side of the equine's raised arm. Maldock was rewarded with crunched bones and painful grunts, but the mammal swung the weapon around in a clumsy side arc, and the hunter quickly backed away, almost being sliced in half by its killing edge.

The two danced together in a game of death, dodging, slashing and striking, panting a little harder on Maldock's part. He, unable to parry that massive greatsword, had to rely on speed and precision and landed a few blows that should have already knocked his opponent out. However, the equine had an enduring constitution that was notable for his kind and kept the onslaught, attempting to exhaust him. 

Maldock hated to admit that it was actually working. If he had been ten years younger, then he might have won. But he was not, and he could feel his breathing hard and ragged, his actions more sluggish. Some of his joints stiffened and ached from the ongoing stress, and it wouldn't be long before the equine had the chance to overpower him.

When it happened, the bull finally grabbed hold of the chains that Maldock threw and yanked it. A brief tug-of-war settled between two opponents, but Maldock was no match for the mammal's might, and he stumbled face-first. A solid kick impacted his gut just as Maldock was about to rise and flew a couple of inches away from the mammal.

Pain blossoming throughout his body, Maldock coughed and wheezed out strands of blood. He heard a mocked snort from the mammal and the heavy footsteps of his approach.

"Is that the best you humans can do?" The bull asked, expelling a dark chuckle. 

Maldock cursed silently, struggling to force himself to stand. He never got the chance as something grabbed him by the throat and hoisted the hunter up from his feet.

"To think my kind feared you lot," the bull tightened the grip, earning a grunt of resistance from Maldock. "How utterly laughable."

Maldock squirmed and writhed to break free from the mammal's hold, but he felt his strength waning. He cursed in his thoughts, wondering where Alta and Jakos were. Their assistance could have been appreciated right about now. 

His eyes glared at the equine's mocking smile as Maldock struggled to reach a weapon, anything to make a pleasing red out of the mammal's face. Then, as if some omnipotent power had heeded his bid, something happened.

Maldock heard a whooshing sound closing in on where they stood, and something impacted the equine's forearm, releasing his iron grip. Coughing sporadically, one hand rubbing the bruise around his neck, the hunter looked up to see that a long-handled handaxe had plunged deep into his flesh. 

The minoan bull mammal pulled the weapon with ease as small traces of blood fountained out from the exposed wound. He tossed it away, features twisting into pain and rage, then turned around to scanat the thrower.

The smoke was still heavy and obscured much of everything, but Maldock thought he saw a green blur of movement in the glinted light. Something giggled in the cloud, a mischievous, feminine sound, and the handaxe the equine threw away was nowhere to be seen. 

Something, no, someone, stirred among the cloud, and Maldock's eyes confirmed a green shapely form motioned from behind the rear of the equine. Not long after, the large mammal screamed as the green figure slashed at the back of his leg. He was forced down to one knee as he swung uselessly and futilely at the attacker, who was not even there.

Despite this sudden surprise of aid, Maldock took this chance at the equine's distraction. He had lost his short blade from the melee, but he still had the chain around his forearm as he whirled it in a single, increasing momentum.

When the hunter flailed the spiked ball straight for the mammal's head, the damage resulted in a satisfactory conclusion. Bones crushed by the impact along with the meat within, the equine fell like a toppled tree and did not move. 

Maldock stared at the fallen mammal, breathing a little hard from the pain, before he braced for another surprising attack like this one. There was none. Even as he waited for several minutes, it seemed that the equine was the last thing he had to deal with.

His shoulders loosened slightly, gladdened that this ceaseless fighting was all over. Maldock should have expected it would turn out like this, knowing that all hell would break loose once the smoke bombs exploded. He had guessed the culprit might have been Jakos to start up the engagement, but he never assumed Alta to be the starter.

He muttered a curse to himself, making a mental note to report his superiors once this hunt for the thief was over.

The smoke that filled the area soon subsided to reveal a scene of carnage. Mammal bodies littered across the small hill, some moving, some not, but all were too battered and bruised to continue fighting. 

“Ah, you're breathing, I see?" A familiar voice spoke up, and Maldock shifted his glare at the imbecilic Jakos approaching, his sharp teeth of a smile glinting by the lanternlight. Mammal blood coated around his face and his leather tunic as if he were a butcher. 

Perhaps the madman was, Maldock thought.

“Glad that you find this all amusing?" the hunter rubbed his eyes, feeling the tremendous headache now at the madness around him.

Jakos boomed out a laugh, unaware of Maldock's rhetorical sarcasm. “And what fine a sport these beasties are, eh," he sniffed, then tilted sideways to glance at the down equine. “Though, I see you have some fun with that one. A sad shame, really. I've always wanted to fight that one. Spoilsport." 

Maldock wanted to throttle him, but he remained resolute with the patience as much as he could afford. He took a deep breath, then expelled it out slowly. 

“Where is Alta?" he asked, quickly changing the subject.

Jakos responded with an approving chuckle. “Hunting the mammals that had escaped from us. Wouldn't want anyone to rat us out of our position."

Maldock grunted, somewhat approvingly at this. At least the woman was efficient if nothing else. 

The two hunters then moved on to other matters, standing beside the downed equine.

“This is no coincidence," Jakos said without preamble. “This one is too skilled to be a mere militia. In fact, every one of these beasts is not what they seem."

“No, they are not." Maldock had sometimes forgotten that the hunter was observant if his bloodlust were in check.

They were silent for a moment. It stretched even longer until Jakos broke it at last.

“I take it… You were not the only one who did this." 

Maldock shook his head as Jakos crouched low to inspect the gushing wound on the mammal's leg. “Nor was it any of us that threw the smoke bombs. Someone is helping us, and I wonder why that is the case."

Jakos looked up at Maldock, then at the green shadow at a fair distance, then back at him, who looked somewhat nonplussed. He slowly rose to his feet, his sharp smile fading from his lips as he pointed an index finger. 

“Perhaps," he said, low and deadly. “We should ask our little friend over there?"

The mammal wore a hooded green cloak with the attire tinted a dark greyish hue. Her fur, if the two hunters could judge her bodily appearance, was wholly snow white except for the black smear around her eyes as if she was some mixed raccoon and her fluffy tail a stripy-coloured pattern. She wielded two weapons around her sash. One was a plain-looking short sword, and the other was a long-handled handaxe, the same one that Maldock recognized.

The green-hooded mammal, this ferret, took several steps forward and smiled. It was a mocking smile, a mischievous, deviant expression, which was almost unwholly similar to Jakos's own. 

“What's wrong, boys?" The female ferret said, her voice fluent and somewhat lilting behind its quality. “It's almost as if you're seeing a ghost."

Maldock blinked, then several times more. He rummaged through the festoon pockets that hadn't been damaged from the fight until he pulled out the wanted poster of their supposed target, Farah. 

As he did this, trying to match the similarities, Jakos stared at him, one brow raised. “Really?"