She sensed movement, and whirled to face it, drawing back the string of her bow and sighting down the arrow shaft. A rabbit bolted from a bush in front and to the right.
A split second decision and Adrianna loosed the arrow. She was somewhat surprised when it actually hit. The rabbit fell instantly dead with her arrow sticking out of it, and Adrianna lowered her arms.
She'd actually hunted, for the first time ever, and managed to bring down prey. It was no monster, true, but it was something. A wide smile came over her face.
After trying and failing to shoot the next two rabbits she came across, Adrianna managed to hit another. The sun had passed well overhead and she'd moved some way into the forest, so reluctantly she began to head back, the two rabbits hanging from her belt.
As she walked back the way she'd come, she realized that she couldn't even take her catch home. Eli didn't much care what she did when he was gone, as long as she was productive and the animals were fed - but if she put rabbit in the pot for dinner tonight he would definitely question her.
Cursing, she took a detour, and knocked on the door of one of their neighbors. Esther was a young woman with two children whose husband had died recently. She was too proud to mention it, but Adrianna knew sometimes Esther struggled to keep her family fed.
She gave Esther both of the rabbits. No questions were asked and Adrianna didn't offer an explanation.
She walked home with a warm satisfied feeling. Easy. It had been easy. She needed practice on moving targets, that was for sure; but she'd done pretty well considering it was her first time.
Adrianna told herself she would be content with that for now, but somewhere in the back of her mind she was already planning her next venture.
2.
She snuck out every day that week and spent time in the forest.
By the time her brother got home she had everything done, and dinner already started on the stove. The animals were fed and cared for and the cottage was cleaner than usual.
In the evenings she worked on her arrows, making stock to sell, and surreptitiously building up a collection of silver tipped arrows for her own quiver.
Eli didn't seem to notice that she didn't ask, remind or nag him about hunting. Perhaps he thought he'd scared her quiet. Knocked some sense into her. Maybe he was simply so pleased at her productivity and her cool civility that he simply didn't think of it.
She brought home rabbits most evenings, stopping by to give them to Esther. In a moment of triumphant joy she managed to flush out a fox and bring it down. This, she kept, determined to use the fur to make something for herself.
The forest in the day seemed un-threatening. She kept telling herself not to lose the fear of it - and once or twice she was reminded, when she heard a far-off howl or spotted the tracks of some giant beast. But Adrianna started to wonder if everything she'd been taught was true.
Did the hunters exaggerate, for the protection of the townsfolk, or for some other reason?
.
She was in the stable brushing down Ranger one afternoon when she heard shouting at the front of the cottage.
Frowning, she put down the brush and, wiping her hands on her apron, walked around to see what the fuss was about.
Esther was at the front door, shouting and knocking, wringing her hands in frantic worry.
"Esther?" Adrianna called, and the woman ran to her.
"Thank God you're here," she gushed. Her face was red and her eyes puffy, as though she'd been crying.
"What is it?" Adrianna asked, with a sinking feeling in her stomach.
"I... Benjamin has gone missing." The woman bit her lip. "I usually have him with me when I'm in the orchard, and I think..." her breath hitched in a sob. "I think he wandered into the forest. He... he would sometimes go that way, just into the trees, you know. And I'd just retrieve him. But he just started to walk last week, and I had no idea he could just up and run so fast, and when I looked for him, I couldn't-"
Adrianna held up her hands to halt her frantic stream of words. "This is a job for the hunters."
"I know," Esther wailed. She grabbed for Adrianna's hands and held them tightly, pleading. "But they just went out. They won't return until late now. I know..." she paused, biting her lip again, and lowered her voice as though someone might overhear. "I know you hunt. That you know about the forest. I thought we could just go catch him before he gets too far. By the time the hunters get back, he could be..."
Closing her eyes for a moment, Adrianna considered.
"Besides, I can't let them know I can't even take care of my own children." Esther paused, then started quietly sobbing to herself.
Adrianna sighed wearily, pitying the poor woman. "Don't talk like that," she said. Then she disentangled herself and opened the door, quickly locating her bow and quiver and drawing a cloak around her shoulders. "Who is looking after Simon?" She handed another cloak to Esther, who put it on without protest. It was starting to get cool outside.
"He is apprenticed to the woodcarver now. He sleeps at the workshop through the week."
"Alright." Addy slipped the quiver on and set her jaw in determination. "Take me to the place you last saw the boy."
.
Esther walked behind Adrianna, holding the cloak closely around herself and cringing around as though the very trees might attack her.
At the merest crack of a twig or rustling noise she would cower close to Addy and clutch her shoulder. Adrianna was not the most patient girl, and had to grit her teeth and repeatedly remind herself not to snap at the woman. She was just anxious, and scared on top of that.
The sun was getting ominously low and the light filtering through the leaves increasingly dim.
Esther had started her quiet weeping again some time ago. "Surely we can't find him before dark now." She kept saying. "It's too late."
Adrianna didn't answer. They hadn't gone too deeply into the woods, because she was sure a toddler couldn't have gotten far, and was more likely to walk in a random pattern than a straight line.
She was beginning to worry though - If they didn't find him it would be partly her fault. For not waiting for the hunters. For taking the wrong route. For bringing Esther into the woods where it was now close to night time and much more dangerous.
She was silently musing on this when she stopped suddenly, causing Esther to bump into her back with a little yelp. "There."
A pair of small woolen socks were laying on the ground, partially inside-out as though they had been pulled off.
Esther whimpered, and started to cry again. Sternly, Adrianna held a finger to her lips in a gesture of silence. The woman immediately obeyed, covering her mouth with her hand.
The grass and brush was disturbed all around, the signs of human passage obvious. Adrianna pushed aside first one bush and then another, until she spotted something. She smiled. "Come here."
The distraught mother obeyed, and they looked down at the sleeping form under the bush. Ben was curled up in a cozy looking hollow, holding a rather twig-tangled blanket under his chin. He looked so peaceful he might have been safe in bed at home.
The boy wailed when he was picked up, upset to be woken, but soon settled as his mother fussed over him.
Addy looked up. The moon had risen. It was round and near-full, making the evening bright, but the sun was all but gone, leaving nothing but a faint yellow light through the trees to the west.
"We don't have time for reunion s," she said, ushering Esther in front of her.
All of a sudden a shiver ran down her spine. She sensed the atmosphere in the woods had changed somehow.
She began to rush them along, making Esther panic in turn. The dusk bird-call and even the buzz of insects had stopped, and there was an almost unnatural quiet.
"Do you know which way we came?" She asked. "It's straight ahead." She pulled an arrow from her quiver and held it ready, just in case.
"Yes," panted Esther.
She heard the faint snapping of twigs and crunching of dry leaves.
"Go," she said, turning around and nocking the arrow, aiming her bow behind her. "Just run on ahead. Don't stop until you get to your house. Lock the door. I will catch up."
Esther wasted no time in obeying, fleeing with the sniffling child in her arms.
Something huge burst from the trees. Addy barely had a second to react, but it was long enough to identify the creature as a werewolf. Without hesitation, she fired.
She heard the soft thud of impact as her arrow found its target, and the beast let out a rage-filled roar. Her panic caught up with her. With a shivering breath she reached for her quiver, fingers fumbling for another shaft.
The creature had stopped in its tracks. It quickly began to recover, though it hissed in pain and batted at its wound. She could see the white fletching of the arrow sticking out of its shoulder. A wisp of steam came from the wound, the reaction of silver in its flesh. She had missed the heart. But all she needed was one more shot. One more...