[b][u]The Huntsman[/u][/b] Taniks woke up screaming. He was lying on top of an operating table that he had set up in his makeshift headquarters in Thieves Den, a smuggling warehouse of sorts abandoned by the House of Winter, and given to him by their Kell Draksis in the jungles of Venus. He started to remember the roaring flames that had burned his arms, the gashes made by The Beasts claws, the fragmentation of his mind, caused by The Beast tearing it apart with its own. He stood up, stretching his muscles, inspecting his armor. He was furious with himself for what had happened this time. While Taniks had expected their fight to repeat it's endless patterns, with either Taniks wounding The Beast and it retreating, or The Beast would kill Taniks, who would just come back again. The Beast, the Ahamkhara, had taken the initiative of looking past this pattern, and had taken a different approach. He had tried obliterating Taniks' mind, rendering him useless, regardless if he returned from the grave or not. Taniks cursed himself, he had barely escaped the Ahamkhara's mental onslaught by committing suicide, stabbing himself in the heart. While not his most honourable death, he was still alive to continue the hunt. He thought back, wondering why he was even on this hunt in the first place. _______________________________________ One month before. Taniks entered the throne room of the House of Wolves Ketch. He was interested in what might transpire. Others in his position would have been terrified, offering various gifts, cowering in fear. Some might have even commited suicide rather than face Virixas, the current Kell of Wolves. Taniks was merely interested. The Wolf Kell was a fearsome sight to behold, as he sat on his throne, the infamous Lord of Wolves in the crook of his arm. Now that was a weapon that made Taniks anxious. Beside Virixas stood his advisors, Skolas the Rabid, Irxis the Baroness, and Parixas the Howling. Taniks stood before the Kell, and waited for him to speak. "What reason did you have for betraying me, breaking your contract?" Taniks was taken aback. "Betray you? Kell of Wolves, what would give you that impression?" "You sold those priceless artifacts to the House of Winter!" Virixas snarled. "You do not consider that betrayal?" "No. You were not paying me to secure those artifacts, you were paying me to retrieve these." He tossed a tube container to Skolas who fumbled with it. "You payed me to retrieve those navigational charts. As for the artifacts..." Taniks smiled. "Draksis payed better." Virixas stared long and hard at Taniks. "Seize him." he motioned to six of his Kell Guards, four approached Taniks with shock blades drawn while two aimed their shock rifles. Taniks stood motionless for a moment, letting his captors get close enough to secure him. Before they could react, he had drawn his four blades and slashed his captors throat, then threw two of his blades into the two with shock rifles, all in the blink of an eye. He turned towards the Wolf Kell, focusing his aggression on him. But the Wolf Kell had anticipated this and Taniks found the Lord of Wolves inches away from his chest. "Do not raise your blades in my presence again." the Wolf Kell advanced, and Taniks suddenly felt compelled to walk backwards to avoid having his chest melted. "Do not attack my guards again." he pushed with the modified shrapnel launcher, and Taniks stumbled. "In return, I will not underestimate you again." "Those seem like some reasonable terms." Taniks said grimly, eyeing Virixas' advisors, who had not lowered their weapons. Virixas followed his eyes, then gestured to them, and they reluctantly lowered their weapons. "Now, all that being said and done, your message didn't just bring me here to collect my reward, you said you have another job you wanted to hire me for?" Taniks sheathed his blades. "Yes, I believe I did." Virixas returned to his throne and sat down. "This job is a lot more straightforward then usual, but extremely more difficult to complete." Virixas leaned forward. "I want you to bring me the horns and pelt of an Ahamkhara." "Those are very hard to find, very dangerous. There have been rumors of one on Venus, but still just a rumor." Taniks pulled out the two blades he had thrown from the bodies of the dead guards. "My payment will have to be vastly more significant compared to resources for some star charts." "What is it you require?" Irxis the Baroness hissed. Virixas leaned back, interested in his answer. "Nothing you cannot afford to lose, my dear Kell." and with a mock bow, Taniks departed from the throne room. As he walked away he chuckled as he listened to the Kell and his advisors bicker with his enhanced hearing. _______________________________________ As he approached his personal skiff, The Blood Hound, Taniks was detained by the arrival of a captain, shouting his name. He turned to see Skolas the Rabid, one of the Wolf Kell's advisors. "What does your master want now?" Taniks asked, rolling his eyes. "My master's terms have not changed, I am here on my own accord." Skolas crossed his arms. "I have a question for you." "Ask." Taniks was getting impatient, he wanted to get off this Ketch. "Why did you defy my master? Is it not punishable by death to defy a Kell?" Skolas asked. Taniks sighed. This captain didn't know that much about him, which Taniks was fine with, he didn't need fame. What irritated him was the curiosity. "Death is no inconvenience to me. And I do not answer to the Kells. I am not some lowly Dreg who is chained to their orders and whims, I am someone who the Kell's hire because the quality of my service is worth the price I ask." Taniks observed Skolas' reaction. The captain seemed so eager to learn, to forge his own path, but was still bound by his loyalty to his Kell. "Now I have a question for you. Why does the Wolf Kell require the horns and pelt of an Ahamkara?" Skolas paused, thinking. "He views them as a symbol of his power, of the house's power. Personally? I think he secretly believes that they will grant him more power over his army then he already commands. A load of rubbish, in my opinion." "Don't be too quick to dismiss the powers of the Ahamkara as rubbish. They have a hold on the mind that only they can achieve." and with that, Taniks walked away from the captain, Skolas the Rabid, who stood still as a statue, thinking. _______________________________________ Taniks boarded The Blood Hound and prepared to take off. He checked all of the ships essential systems f‎or tampering, and to his pleasure, he found none. Even though he believed Virixas wouldn't have betrayed him, Taniks knew that his advisors weren't as content with his employment. He finished with his systems check, then stored his blades in his weapons rack, which was stocked with Shock blades and firearms. In a storage chest was his personal equipment, consisting of his Repeater Gauntlet, shoulder-mounted Tracer Turret, Ordinance Pouch, and Cloaking Device. A high pitched whine blared over the intercom. Taniks' pilot servitor, Syniks, was impatient to depart. Taniks had found Syniks as an Ether Runner damaged in a mine collapse. Instead of abandoning the Servitor, he had repaired it using scavenged parts, reprogramming it to act as his pilot for many missions. He had grown rather attached to it. "Are all pre-flight routines completed?" he asked. Syniks confirmed with an audible hum. "Then disengage from the Ketch. We are heading back to Venus." _______________________________________ [i]To be continued.[/i] Next Chapter: http://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/167392051/0/0 Fireteam X & other Destiny Fanfiction: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/114713352/0/0 [quote]so yeah this is The Huntsman, one of my favourite stories to write. For a while I was really obsessed with Taniks the Scarred and wanted to write a lot about him. So enjoy![/quote]