Wolf Heart

Chapter 51

One Quadrum Later

Planet: Eteran

MERYN

Music sounded throughout the pub. It rang through his ears as he leaned in the corner, where the bartender, Lorin, returned with his payment for a job well done. Meryn nodded at them when they joined him on the wall. "Thank you for filling in for Urya today," they said as they handed him a bundle of cash. "You moving on from this place, Meryn?"

"Yep." Meryn tapped his brow. "A Hunter's work is never done, or so I've heard the saying go among Hunter Guilds," he said with a smile and placed the cash safely into his bag. "It was quiet today."

"It's usually quiet when you're filling in, I've noticed," Lorin pointed out. "I'll hate to see you go. You do bring a sort of calmness to the pub — that, and some of my patrons are a little scared of you?"

"Whatever for?" Meryn questioned, but dragged his attention to the nearest table, where a group of gossips chittered among themselves without care of who overheard. A dangerous game — and his specialty as a Hunter. Information gathering, to avoid and prevent whatever disaster flew his way.

"I heard the pirates have been completely pushed out of this solar system," one woman said. "Good riddance. I heard from my partner that they have some sort of superweapon in the Strike Forces — whatever or whoever it is, they have the pirates running far from here."

Meryn waved his goodbye to Lorin and left the pub. Flames tickled the edge of his view, but he brushed it with the incoming winter chill. Every breath counted, smoke no longer burned his world. Activity bustled within the small Eteran city of Quvta, so he dipped into one of the side alleys. Winter's going to hit early... He studied the blue-grey sky, full of clouds heavy with snow. Maybe I can pick one or two more odd jobs before I have to go on my way...

He reached the outskirts of the city to find the nearest holoboard before taking out his datapad. No news reported save for the aforementioned pirate bands erased or shoved out of his home solar system. It feels like it's been ages since Eastpoint... Since I've seen any of my friends... He sucked in his lips and listened to his heartbeat, grounding him back into the chill of winter. Fingers wound around his own collar, he sat in the biting wind with a memory of Aelius, who returned from a housecall with James, expression grim.

He sighed, then let go of himself. Thoughts intruded on his mind at another terrifying possibility, that the Eastpoint Massacre had taken James in the end.

No. Dwelling on it won't help me. One more breath, he exhaled. Time to get moving.

As he headed deeper into the alley to head for the shipyard where he parked his scout, the chill shifted into an eerie sense of foreboding. He rubbed the bridge of his nose at the clanking boots against fire escapes. "You've got to be kidding me," he mumbled. "How many times do I have to tell you people I'm not interested?"

Two shapes blocked his escape routes. "We want to talk, Matthey," the smaller one said. "That's all."

Meryn scoffed, then raised his fists to energise his edevic gauntlets. Guarded claws extended from the knuckles. I don't want to have to use lethal force, but I'm getting really tired of this. "I warned the last two who came that if you all kept bothering me, I would hurt you," he hissed. "How in the Void Hells do you keep finding me? It's creepy."

"We'll answer that question if you come with us."

One came too close for comfort, and he reacted on instinct. He shoved his wrist into their neck, and his back slammed into the wall of the alley. He yelped, but Meryn didn't stick around to check on him, not with their dogged determination to 'talk' to him.