Bounty Hunter [REWRITTEN VERSION]

Chapter 37: Impressive

MAIZE

Ryder had disappeared. Nobody—not even Maize—knew where he went and took Kota with him. It wasn't like he had made a move to explain anything before he left. Of course. He didn't care that much. In which, his leave, naturally it seemed, led to Kishan's questions and Alec's immediate suspicion. Maria was elsewhere, roaming the house or in her room still hoping for rest most likely. Maize still had it in mind to still keep an eye on her, Cassandra's cautions not lost on her mind. Though she thought she had analyzed the agent enough after the past few days to deem that she seemed to have no malicious intent whatsoever. She was not a threat to them. In fact, Maize rather liked how she seemed to unintentionally keep Kishan more reeled in. He wasn't as prone to acting out while she with him and he was always paying attention to her when she was around. Unfortunately, since she wasn't now, Maize had to deal with the both of them solely.

It was no secret that they harboured a sense of wariness about Ryder's character, Maria included. Her friend's obvious dislike towards them and no hesitance to make that fact exceedingly clearly hadn't inspired much confidence or trust in him, though Maize had declared, more than once, that he would not give up their location, no matter what. That wasn't who he was.

Though it didn't seem to matter what she said to Alec. The detective did not like the guy—especially not after the charade that had taken place that morning, and she highly doubted with the detective's level of stubbornness that she would be able to convince him of otherwise. Definitely not when the two of them, Alec and Ryder together, were more difficult to deal with than apart.

She felt like she had her work cut out for her. Which was something she as the infamous ember bounty hunter didn't admit to often.

She had been in desperate need to relieve some pent-up stress. Usually she would do so by taking a new assignment and hunting for a criminal. But since there weren't any criminals for hundreds of yards—convicted anyway, she added to her thought as her mind flashed to Ryder—she had to get creative in her search for an activity.

She stood outside, her boots making implants on the velvety soil with how planted she kept her centre of gravity.

It hadn't been hard to find the small training spot a few feet into the woods near the back of the main property. The tree trunks naturally formed a round arc around her as the dirt beneath her feet lay flat with years of being patted down. It made an excellent place to practice. A board of carved wood had been hung on the three largest trees in front of her, creating an open series of targets about a hundred yards away from where she stood. 

Maize held six blades between her two hands, each one long and slim with pointed edges glinting in the peeking light through the leaf canopy above her. Each of her targets was directly in her line of sight, easy to concentrate on with the red dot in the centre of each board that had already been marred by countless repetitive strikes into its wood.

She had been at this for over an hour already since noon had passed.

Each time she retrieved her blades and crossed the distance to her launching spot, her focus reset like clockwork. This was something she remembered practising for countless hours on end when she was a child. A face flashed before her mind. Not the one that haunted her more recent memories, but one that she affiliated with warmth and caring. An old teacher. Also gone, but his lessons remained ingrained within her bones.

He had been no easy mentor, she thought to herself with a recollecting smile as she thought of the countless lectures and many more scoldings she had received as a kid. "Good times," she sighed to herself with a small chuckle as she readied her arms and spread her legs apart in a grounding stance. Her old teacher, even now, wouldn't have accepted her slacking off.