Chapter 44: 44-The hunt
The roar of the crowd was addictive. Over three thousand people shouted in the arena, cheering for their favourite hunters.
"Liodnir! Liodnir!"
The screams got louder and louder as Liodnir approached his targets and shot them down in one move.
"Arghh!" Beastwomen broke into loud screams as he hit his target and won more points at the competition, which put him ahead of the other beasts in the race.
"Liodnir! Liodnir!" The cheers from his fans got louder.
"Our seats are over there," Princess Sheana pointed at the empty seats in the private booth.
"Lead the way," Nytherael said, carrying snacks in hand.
Princess Sheana didn’t waist to be told twice. She led the way and guided Nytherael inside. Her mood lifted as she thought of watching the hunt.
"Why are you excited to see the hunt?" Nytherael asked. He wasn’t against having fun or entertaining the distraction by focusing on feeling merry for the first time since he awakened from the lake. But the hunt, that wasn’t first on his list for ideas of fun.
"Growing up within the palace walls, I always heard stories of the hunt, and they were so good," her face brightened up as she spoke. "I told myself that the first chance I get, I’ll come to one of the shows."
"Okay then, let’s enjoy ourselves," he followed behind. Her reason was enough for him to buckle up and enjoy the show with her.
Princess Sheana dragged Nytherael to the front row while their fellow beastfolks settled in the seats behind them.
Nytherael passed some of the snacks to Rhysandor and to her, ignoring the others.
"Who are you supporting?" Sheana asked, biting greedily at the essence flat breads Nytherael passed her, the butterflies in her stomach setting off.
Nytherael glanced at the board. His eyes scanned through the list of beasts participating in the hunt. "Liodnir seems to be in the lead. Maybe we can see how he fairs before we show our support."
"Support?"
"The audience is allowed to back their favourite hunter with crown shards."
"Crown shards?" Princess Sheana didn’t have to full her satchel to know that she had no crown shards to waste.
Despite being a Princess and the daughter of the ruler of the dynasty, she had no allowance, and even as they were assigned on the mission, the king gave them no shards to use.
She was poorer than the mouses that crawled through the palace walls for bread crumbs.
"I’ll just enjoy the show," she smiled weakly, the truth aching inside her.
Nytherael picked up on her dejection and her falling enthusiasm. He reached into his pocket and fetched a small bag full of gold crown shards.
"Here," he handed the bag to her.
Any beast in Princess Sheana’s place would’ve felt embarrassed to receive such a generous amount of shards from another.
But Sheana was not most beasts. She grew up using shamelessness and seduction as a shield against her wounds. So, she didn’t hesitate and took the bag.
"Thank you, friend."
"Are we friends now?" Nytherael teased with raised eyebrows.
"Birds of the sane feathers should stick together. Additionally, I’m going to need a surplus flow of shards for my needs, and you look rich, so... we definitely are friends," she responded, shamelessly declaring that she’ll be leeching off of him going forward.
"I am rich, and I could use a beast to help me spend it."
Nytherael went along, taking no offence about her blunt declaration. Having her honesty was better than accepting a pretentious friend who’d hide their true intentions of approaching him.
Liodnir! Liodnir! Liodnir!
The chants got louder as Liodnir narrowed in on his next kill. It was an unsuspecting antelope that was busy grazing.
"Why don’t you vote for him," he leaned in and whispered to her, pointing at a matron walking by. "His job is to accept offers on behalf of the hunters, and the biggest sponsors can even earn the reward of having a meal with the hunter," he explained the rules to her.
Princess Sheana felt a thrill of a new happiness course through her. She dipped her hand into the bag of shards and then called for the matron.
"I’d like to vo... vote..."
Nytherael stepped in to help her. "She’d like to back Liodnir for the rest of the hunt."
"Oh, yes," the matron reacted happily. "Liodnir is the best hunter we have in the arena today. He has a lot of fans, and many sponsors have placed their votes. To gain the first spot, then you’ll have to..."
The matron swallowed his words when he spotted the golf shards. With the economy being as high as it was at current, it was difficult to find a sponsor willing to waste gold shards on hunters.
Most fans voted with bronze shards, and the richest supporters were willing to spend a limited amount of silver shards, and here a guest was, bidding with gold shards.
One hundred bronze was worth one silver shard. One hundred silver was worth one gold shard. Princess Sheana counted twenty gold shards in her palm and looked over at Nytherael, "Is this enough or too much?"
"For a first vote, it’s right about enough," Nytherael answered, he’d been gone a long time and didn’t know the current rate and value of voted in the arena, the experience was a first after a long time for him too. But he figured they’d know their position after the ranking of supporters went up.
Princess Sheana’s eyes lit up as she handed the twenty gold shards to the matron. "Here. My vote is for Liodnir!"
The matron quickly seized the gold shards before the guest changed her mind and took it back.
"My lady, you’re very generous. Liodnir will appreciate your support dearly."
"Thank yo..." she paused, her attention was drawn to the screen, a hovering projection in the air at the centre of the arena that showed Liodnir drawing his arrow against the bow, aiming at the antelope.
The arena fell silent. The fans waited in anticipation as they watched the screen without blinking.
She held her breath, waiting like other beasts. When the arrow was released, her eyes imagined Princess Aenyra as the antelope, her in Liodnir’s place and the arrow being fate’s arrow of love.
When the arrow hit the antelope down, she felt her breath hitch as heat pooled in her heart and body.
"Glorious!" She commented, floored.
