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Silverine was sitting at the table. He looked up, and we looked at one another. This silence was going to be hard to break. I shut the door, and pulled up a seat opposite the Lupogriff. I looked at him, and saw that his face was matted, as though with water. Had he been crying? Finally, I broke the silence.

"Arachno says I'm fine."

That got him started.

"Good. I'm sorry Alduin, but I,I took you for a creature much less, fraility.You seem so immensely strong that it's hard to believe you wound so easily."

No comment. But he did have a point, I do seem tough, but in reality I'm a rake with a rib cage people have wanted to play the xylophone on. I rubbed my moustache reflectively, and spoke, looking at the table.

"I know."

"I'm really sorry."

"I know." I repeated.I forgive easily, my over-active mind gives me surprising insights towards what another is thinking, and so I can see his side of what he's trying to say. I am flawed in many ways, but I wasn't going to refuse Silverine's apology. By the look on his face, he had done quite enough kicking by himself.

"Well, I guess I'll see you at the Hunt tomorrow." I said, with a smile.

Silverine looked surprised.

"I wonder..." he tailed off.

He bowed to me, and walked out. Draco walked in.

"He didn't try to tear you to shreds?"

"Come on Draco, you know him better than that." then I spotted the grin on his face, "Haha very funny. What's the time?"

"Dinner."

"Excellent, I'm starving."

We walked to the food store, and the placed was packed. It appeared most of the population had come to the store.

"Why the increase?"

"The scouters from off world, the ones who hardly come here, have arrived for the ball." Draco nodded at another dragon. We sat down at a table that mysteriously cleared itself, and the three foxes, the lion, the two dragons, and myself waited for our meal.

Rumour is a strange mistress. Somehow, although someone might have been nearby, one person had found out about the afternoon's, excitement, and several people clustered around our table. I drew a pack of cards out from a pocket, and started playing Last Card with the foxes and Draco. The two others watched with interest, as I explained to them and the half dozen around us the rules.

"It's reasonably simple, you have to keep to the same number or same suite, and try to get rid of all your cards. If you can't play, you pick up another card, like Gareth just did. Then there are special cards. The two means the person after you picks up two, the five means pick up five, eight means the next person misses their turn entirely, and the Jack means the direction of play reverses, so if I play one," which I did," then Alecto gets another turn."

Devlin nodded, understanding the principles. Draco played a five on me, I played another five, Alecto played his five, and Tufty had to pick up fifteen, and was promptly out of contention. Alecto won, and I picked up all the cards as our food arrived.

The meal was delicious, as usual, and after the food was finished, we spoke. Draco and Devlin were laughing about something, and I was thinking more about the other Hunted.Were they thinking what I was right now? As I did, I spotted a creature sitting at a table by himself.

This was an exceptional sight to behold. He was clearly a wolf, his wolven head twitched in irritation every few seconds, and his lanky legs and chest were furry, but that was only half of it. From his back, curled inwards behind him, were a pair of red wings. Instead of a silver fur tail, a long serpentine tail, also red, and his arms were devoid of fur, and were instead a dark red. His clawed hands were together in thought,but he was listening keenly to another duo talking about the Hunt.

I abandoned the table, shuffled past a stallion, and sat down opposite him. He turned, and looked at me.I looked at his expression, and had a guess.

"You're one of the Hunted, correct?"

The creature looked at me thoughtfully.

"I am." he said finally. I smiled, and extended a hand.

"So am I. My name is Alduin."

The creature smiled, and reached forward, shaking my hand in a firm grip.

"I am Valmeero Daggeroth, but you can call me Val."

"Good to meet you. I thought we were all being kept seperate."

Val laughed, leaning back.

"Probably don't want us working together, Alduin. You took on Silverine, didn't you?"

"And lost." I clarified.Val laughed again.

"What are you, about six foot?"

"Six foot two."I acknowledged,"he's somewhat taller. Any plans for tomorrow?"

"Apart from running like hell?"he grinned. That smile was infectious.

"It's a solid plan." I admitted, chuckling."Tried and tested."

Trust Draco to break in at this point.

"Time to go, Alduin. You need your beauty sleep."

"I don't, because I'm not beautiful. I need it for the fact you're going to chase me across the width of Central tomorrow."

Val sat up straighter.

"That's a relief."

"What is?"

"He won't be going for me." I smiled as he burst into laughter, and Draco followed suit. Then we departed the food store, and headed back to our quarters.

After a relaxing sleep, I woke. The day of the Hunt. God was I nervous. I got out of bed, and drew on my black trousers and combat boots. Then I got out my bag, and put on a new T-shirt. This one was mostly red, but the centre was emblazoned with yellow and orange flames silhouetted behind two black Chinese dragons. I put on my pair of dark glasses, smoothed down my hair, and kicked my rifle into my hand. As I rummaged through my pack, I found my ammo for the rifle. I drew out twenty normal rounds, and one wrapped in a special bag. I might need all the luck I could carry.

After this, I placed a bar of chocolate in my side pocket, and walked into the common room. Everyone had beaten me up again, and they looked up. Draco whistled at my clothing.

"Someone's looking good."

"Well, if I've got you two after me, I might as well advertise it." I grinned, and got the laugh I was after.

"Well, as a matter of fact, that's what the crowd likes during the introductions. They like the Hunted to put on a bit of a show.Not much special, but just a trick or two. A magician might cast a spell, a fighter might make a interesting move, etc." Draco commented drily.

"I see. Can I ask something of you later?"

"Certainly." Draco nodded.I was thinking about my entrance. Something involving Draco, a hooded cloak in my room,a match, and a bottle of methylated spirits. I loved that chemistry lesson, because it was completely chaotic.

The morning was quiet, although several people came to wish me good luck for the Hunt.Most of them I had never seen before, and it was quite gratifying to hear all these compliments and comments of encouragement from complete strangers. At lunch time I teleported back to my house to get my entrance sorted out. I nabbed a bottle of purple liquid from my workshop, a gas lighter, and a black cloak that had gauze over the hood, so that no one could see the person's face.

Thus, as we arrived back, I drew a few looks of astonishment. Devlin looked at my gear.

"And what's that going to do?"

I grabbed the cap of the methylated spirits, poured one capful, and then poured it on to my naked arm.Then I flicked the lighter, and lit the liquid.

It moved fast. My entire lower arm went up in flames, but without masses of pain.After eight seconds, the flame winked out, and my arm was untouched. There was a collective laugh.

"Ah," Alecto smiled," trickery.Let me guess, the fuel burns with a low temperature."

"Correct, go to the top of the class and fall off." I bowed deeply."Tonight, I'm going to have that over my frame, and when he says my name, whoomph."

There was some clever comments from Draco and Devlin, and afternoon came around. I started feeling rather nervous, as though I had an audition or a concert in the evening. To try and quell the butterflies, and the dragons, I went to my bunk, crossed my arms and legs in a yoga position, and started concentrating. I find this quite helpful, the ever present search for calm. Draco and Devlin took the hint, and with Simba went away. Alecto came over and sat by me.

"Slightly worried?"

"No."

"Very worried?"

"Yes." I replied curtly, closing my eyes. Breathe in deeply.

"Don't. It's all part of the fun." Alecto gave me a playful nudge.I rocked with it, and breathed out slowly.

"Yes, but it's also a competition, and I for one do not wish to lose."

"No one has ever won, Alduin. Besides, who you're really competing against is the other Hunted, to see who goes for the longest."

"O.K., then I'm not going to come last in that."

"You won't." Alecto comforted. Breathe in.

The hours ticked by with a sort of unstoppable tide feeling. Some people claim that time travels faster when you're having fun, but it also travels faster if it's coming towards something you really don't want to face.Before long, it was six o'clock, and Draco and Devlin returned for a light snack. I joined them, because there was no way I'd run on an empty stomach. But instead of water, I drew out from my backpack a plastic bottle of liquid. It had the letters L,I,F and T, and then a funny + sign on it.

I drunk the entire bottle in two glasses, and after that I stood up, feeling the fizzy charge through my system with sugar. Warmth flooded through my limbs, and I felt more confident. Say what you will, Lift+ really does work. Then I started preparing. So did everyone else. I went into the bathroom, stripped myself down, and started covering myself in methys. To a casual observer, I was doing this with the same sort of ceremony as Denethor did when he covered himself in oil. Once I was completely covered, I put on my black trousers, my boots, which I also covered, and my dragon shirt. My hair had been matted down by the liquid, and as I slipped on my glasses and finally my cloak, I looked pretty cool, in all modesty. Then I came out.

Devlin and Draco were there, wearing identical trousers, black with runes of blood red running up.Devlin wore a single band of gold around his head, and he looked like a prince. They wore nothing on their tops, their scaled body could hardly look any better. Simba was wearing a very fetching tux and suit, he was always a very formal lion. Tufty was wearing a bandanna and light clothing, he did get involved in the Hunt. Alecto wore a very pretty necklace, and Gareth, well, he was wearing artfully ripped clothes and snapped manacles, and looked god awesome.

"The were fox." I commented drily at Gareth.Then I explained. Once, in a game of D and D, my charcter had been scratched by a were tiger. Next full moon, I had been shackled down, manacles, ropes etc, and as soon as the full moon rose, I rolled a Strength check. A natural twenty, on a twenty sided dice. The ropes broke apart, and the manacles snapped like glass. My friends playing had so much trouble getting me down.

Thus laughing, we had a last joke and, at the stroke of seven we walked out of our room. My hood was up, and my rifle over my shoulder.Several other creatures joined our little band, as a sort of walking bus. We headed in a direction unknown to me, although that didn't mean much, I was still lost.After ten minutes of walking, we came to a great set of wooden double doors, and Draco grabbed the handles, and flung them forward.

What I saw was by the far the most wonderful building I had ever encountered. It was a massive hall, about the length of a football pitch, and had six Corinthian columns around the edges o the room, in the same places as holes on a pool table. The walls were wooden,and had brilliant works of art and tapestries on them.The dome was crystalline, and had massive chandeliers hanging down, with many little electric lights. It was like a giant Renaissance baronial hall.It was magnificent.

Draco caught my look, and smiled.

"Nice little place, ain't it." he commented drily. As I looked down and into detail, many more amazing things drew my attention.

I'm leaving the Scouts for the end, for obvious reasons. The floor was stone flanked, what looked like white marble. A single red carpet rolled up to a raised dais at the other end, where upon sat Silverine, his garb like that of a king or a lord.He was sitting behind a table, and beside him were no more than ten chairs. On the lower section were five tables, all full with food. The food was untouched at the moment, obviously it was meant for a feast later on.

Draco supplied with a point of interesting infomation.

"All the newcomers sit beside Silverine for the feast, so the Hunters know who to look for." he grinned. I rolled my eyes at him, and then looked around some more.

My fellow scouts. God, there must have been at least five hundred in the hall, and such a mixture. Every single creature you could try and imagine. Dragons, I swear there was a unicorn, foxes, wolves, lions, dogs, various types of cat, I could go on and on.Draco saw me looking around.

"Yes, six hundred or so. These men and women you see before you have covered ninety eight percent of the known planets."

"And how many planets is that, in the Universe?"

"About a tenth of a percent, probably less." Draco shrugged. This time I laughed. Long job prospects, good career option.All the scouts were talking among each other.They seemed to be regaling with each other stories of most amazing proportions. As me and Draco walked forward, the others had already assimilated into the crowd, several broke off and headed towards us.

"Draco, my boy.How are you?"

"Draco, what was the Blizzard planet like? We heard some stuff from one of the glowers."

"Draco, who's your young charge? Is he a newcomer?"

Draco held up his hands for brief silence, and got it.

"This is Alduin, most of you have heard about him. He's one of the Hunted, and I'm betting I'll have him in thirty minutes."

"One hour, thirty minutes."I emphasised the word hour, and ran a hand through my slicked hair. It was slicked back by the methys, and I actually looked quite cool, what with the cloak, although the hood was down, the glasses, and the high powered rifle over my shoulder.

There was a collective laugh. Draco chuckled.

"He has high hopes, I don't."

"Yes, you don't. Alecto does. Silverine does. I do."

"Devlin doesn't."

"Devlin doesn't know what he's facing." I managed a nasty smile, and heard the outbreaks of laughter from the people around us.

Draco laughed, and tried to clap me on the back. It was a nice gesture, but I ducked, and his hand passed over my head. I straightened, and looked away.

"Has anyone told you you have a SERIOUS CONTROL IMPULSE PROBLEM?" I lifted my voice at these last four lines.Yes, I know I nicked the line from the Riddler, but I got a huge laugh from everyone, dragon included.

"You're going to have your work cut out with this one." a sleek white snow leopard spoke. This figure was a sight to behold.

Firstly, he was my height, and his cat like face was laid back. He was the epitome of cool, and looked it. His arms were folded, and his top half was bare, his white colour pure as the snow he had obviously concealed himself in. He wore shorts only, and a belt, which in one side had a small hand gun. Oh good, I wasn't the only person with a gunpowder relic. His bare feet were crossed in a cool pose, and I thought to myself, god, he looks hot.

Draco saw him, and spoke.

"Ah, Thomas. This is your initiation ceremony isn't it?"

"Yes, Draco." the leopard purred." What is the record for a Hunted?"

"One hour fifty."Draco smiled."You intending to break it?"

"But of course." Thomas replied.

Draco then introduced me.

"This is Thomas Nagoya, one of our other newcomers. Expert in camo and concealment, fires a handgun with almost perfect accuracy, what else can I say?"

I shook the paw of Thomas. He smiled, and I spoke.

"Good to meet you. Nice to know I'm not the only one with an ancient weapon. Both Marksman and Draco think I'm out of date."

Thomas laughed. "Marksman said the same to me, then I hit twenty perfect shots. I spent considerable time training on my home planet."

Probably very intense training. I shrugged the rifle off my shoulder, and handed it to Mr Nagoya for inspection. He took it like a art critic recieiving a painting, and looked at the working bits.

"Impressive.Not a top line weapon, but fairly good."

"I got twenty perfects with that. Of course, it isn't a laser guided sniper rifle, or a Barrett 50cal., but it suffices."

"What is a Barrett?"

"High powered rifle. Fires a bullet at three times the speed of sound, it's range is four miles."

"I like the sound of it. But I prefer a handgun. Less work."

"True, but I can't fire a handgun.Too light. This is comfortably weighted."

"To each his own." Draco interrupted.

Thomas handed me the rifle back, nodded at me, and walked off. Draco looked at him.

"He's going to be a hard one to catch."

"So am I." I said, slinging my rifle over my shoulder again.

We walked through the crowd, occasionally stopping to talk to various animals of all shapes and sizes. I spotted a G'zara, one of the two foot high gnome like creatures Arachno had described to me, and a lean eagle like creature that reminded me of the Avians.

I arrived at the top table, and Silverine, sitting on a large throne, nodded to both of us.

"We are about to start the feast, Draco.Alduin, will you be on my right hand?"

"It would be an honour, Silverine."I replied, bowing. I walked up the dais and around the table. The tables had been covered with pure white tablecloths, and candelabra.Various meats and fruits covered the centre of the table, and empty plates for each newcomer. As I sat down, Silverine stood, and his loud voice boomed out through the hall.

"I welcome all of you to the Scouter's Ball, for the New Year. Will all the Hunted step forward?"

Immediately there was a series of shuffling, as people made their way to tables and the benches that ran either side of each table. Several creatures came forward, and randomly took a seat each on the dais, looking around. Nagoya had taken the opposite side of Silverine to me, then Valmeero. Then a dragon. I could see a wolf behind him, a black one with faint tinges of purple on his body. He looked at me, and I saw a flash of purple in his eyes.I nodded politely at him, and turned to look at the creatures on my side. There was a very beautiful dog like being sitting next to me, and then a jet black panther. At the end was a pure white bunny/ humanoid creature. He seemed to be slightly nervous, and was waving his hands over his plate. As I watched, the plate rose gently, and then settled. A magic user, I had heard there were a few. Then we all turned and looked at Silverine.

"Thank you. As Chief Scout, I hereby declare the Scouter's ball to begin,and also the enjoyment for all!"

There was a round of applause, and Silverine sat down. From one corner a group of musicians started playing soft, lilting music on a variety of odd instruments, mostly stringed. I would guess that one was not dissimilar to a harp, the sound was so melodic.

Everyone started reaching forward for food, and the sound of clattering began. I myself took a delicious looking salad, and some meat. Then I drew from within the folds of my cloak, another bottle of Lift+. I filled the glass next to me to the brim, emptying half the bottle, and then stowed it away. The dog looked at this aside in a curious manner, and spoke. Her voice was soft, but firm, if you could have the two terms side by side.

"You have your own selection of drinks?" she enquired.

I turned, and smiled, nodding.

"I got poisoned last time I drunk anything here that wasn't water. Besides, this is also enervating liquid, to make me perform better. May I enquire of your name?"

"Certainly. My name is Time Dancer.And yours?"

"Alduin. I'm the human everyone's talking about."

The black panther leaned forward,and spoke over Time Dancer's shoulder.

"Time Dancer is possibly the most understated scout in this bunch. Who do you think will perform best?"

I debated hard."Of the ones I've heard, I would go for Thomas Nagoya."

"He is good, but there is another kind of talent. Time Dancer is very, very good." the panther replied.Time Dancer gave me a patronising look, and then turned to the panther.

"Grant, please, I'm not understated."

"And I'm the queen of N'var." Grant laughed.

Time Dancer turned back to me, and her soft voice enquired.

"What about yourself?"

I managed a decent laugh. "Me? All I've got is trickery, a touch of speed, and that's about it."

"And a fierce reputation, as the grapevine says. Didn't you fight Silverine?" he nodded at the Lupogriff, who was speaking with Thomas.

"I did, and lost. Should I also point out he's going for me, along with Draco and Devlin?"

Grant burst out laughing. Time Dancer gave a small smile.

"Well, at least I'm safe for a while."

"Draco really is as good as all that?" I said, waiting for the inevitable yes.

"Yes." Grant replied."No one here,not even Silverine can fight off Draco, possible exception of Devlin, but they've never fought."

"Well, they are cousins." Time Dancer added gently. She gave a slight laugh, crystal clear as a mountain stream.

Silverine turned around, and spoke into our conversation.

"I had immense confidence in Alduin's abilities, he's just not going to last long. I have a pet love for Alduin, so Grant can rest easy. I note Thomas also sounded relieved when I said I was going for Alduin.But Alduin has managed to handcuff Draco, from what I hear."

"Alright, which of the foxes told you that?" I said, sighing as all four within hearing range turned and looked at me.

"Gareth."

I looked at Gareth down the hall.

"I'll kill him." I sighed in despondency."But, that was only because I had handcuffs, and pulled a lucky trick on him."

"That's not the point." Grant replied, awe stricken." You captured Draco."

"And had it off with him." I added,getting the worst of it out."That's why I'm regretting I'm here. Silverine wants to catch me because I almost beat him, well probably not. Draco wants to get me for the fact I broke his virginity, and Devlin is his cousin and I like Devlin, so it works both ways."

"You had sex with a hell fire dragon before?" Grant asked.

"No, why?"

"Just asking." Grant replied innocently. I noticed, behind Grant, the rather shy bunny. He was eating, and not talking to anyone. I called to him.

"Hey, can you pass me an apple?"

The bunny looked up, slightly terrified, then relaxed, and levitated an apple over Grant and Time. I caught it one handed, and thanked him.

"Cheers, very nice trick. What's your name?"

"Winslo." the bunny replied.

Grant turned, and engaged the bunny in conversation. Time dancer gave me another smile, and then started eating. There was no cutlery, most of the food was finger food, but I wanted to stay free of grease, and not just because I was going to be setting light to myself later on. I flicked my Swiss Army knife out, and used the flat fork. Silverine was tucking into a huge steak, and Time Dancer was daintily eating something of the same vein. As I looked down the hall, I spotted Draco and Devlin together, describing something to a bunch of creatures, and then I saw Simba and a female lioness, who seemed to be old friends.Tufty and Gareth were sitting opposite one another, and Alecto next to Gareth, and seemed unable to resist from pulling the broken chains Gareth had dressed up in.

Well, at least they were all having a good time.Most of the Hunted ate very quietly, like myself, and after that first conversation even Grant said little. A tenseness seemed to spread through all of us. After I finished a light meal, I kept fiddling with my rifle, unloading and reloading, the kachunk noise seeming soothing in the mounting minutes. Thomas Nagoya appeared to be disassembling his pistol, and then reassembling it expertly. Winslo was practising his levitation on objects around him, and Grant was drumming his fingers on the table.

The time struck nine, and the feasting stopped. People stood up and started mingling again. Silverine let us leave the table, and I ran into Simba.

"Oh, hi, Alduin. This is my cousin, Abigail. She's here for the hunt, she's one of the Hunters."

Abigail was about our height, and her sleek, curvaceous body seemed to hide immense strength and intelligence. She had a rifle like thing on her belt, and she was smiling widely.

"Excellent. I will enjoy this." she said. Simba added.

"Abby is very good with electronics, she's one of our techs every now and then. You may have noticed the weapon on her belt." he gave me an enquiring glance, and I spoke.

"It's a taser, delivers electrical charge into the subject. We have versions on Earth, and can I point out that they can kill?"

Abby laughed.She purred a reply." Our methods are, refined. You have nothing to worry about, save the pain of electric shocks racking your body."

I saw Draco walking over, and when I judged him to be within range, I spoke.

"I don't know, Abby, I don't like the idea of being tasered."

"It won't hurt too much." she smiled.

Draco joined in.

"Come on, Abby, I've got dibs on him."

"Good, then you can watch as I get to him first." she purred. Draco sighed, rolled his eyes, and clapped a hand on my shoulder.

"Alduin, don't worry."

I drew my rifle, and headed for the exit.

"I'm not going to."

After half an hour of yoga calming outside, with my rifle in my hands and Draco beside me, I felt much better. This psychological warfare of listening to everyone argue about who would get to me first was taking it's toll. Winslo was outside, firing rays of ice at the wall, obviously he was slightly nervous as well. Thomas had come outside to warm up, testing his run and cornering, I suppose he was thinking like us.

But nothing could stop the inevitable, and soon we all went back inside, as Silverine called.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I welcome you to the part most of us enjoy, the traditional Scouter's Hunt!"

There was a drum roll as we shuffled back in, and the doors shut. Draco stayed back as we came to the front, and listened. Silverine continued.

"Now, for our newcomers, I will give a basic speech. The Hunt was devised before any of us were born, as a test of new scouts, to be held every New Year. It is a test of your strength, intelligence, cunning and bravery. Your task is to evade capture until midnight. On the stroke of ten, you begin with a two minute head start, and at two past the hour, the Hunters set out. You know the rules. Now, when I say your name, step forward."

"Thomas Nagoya."

The snow leopard walked forward. He very calmly spun his pistol around in one hand, and then switched it over by tossing it into the air and catching it. He stood beside Silverine, looking calmly at the audience.

"Valmeero Daggeroth."

The wolf/dragon hybrid came forward. He blew a jet of flame into the air over the heads of the crowd, to an appreciative round of applause,his wings unfolding. He stood beside Thomas.

"Time Dancer."

She walked forward, performing no trick, acting in no way. This was Time Dancer, take it or leave it, her body pose said clearly. She turned, and glared coldly at all the audience.

"Brendan Dowski."

The red dragon with the chest of gold walked forward, breathing fire, and striding menacingly forward. He did look cool, well hot, you know what I mean, and he stood at Silverine's other side.

"Grant Agheera."

The black panther went into a series of backward somersaults the length of the hall, and came to a sudden halt beside Brendan. He must have superb balance to try a trick like that.

"Doran Veli!"

The black wolf came forward. An elf, probably under orders, charged at him, but at the last second, without even spotting him, the wolf stepped aside, and the elf went straight into the crowd on the other side.

"Winslo." Silverine announced.

The ground heaved, and light burst forward in a display of pyrotechnics and fireworks as the bunny came forward, looking calm and relaxed. Now that was really good acting. Ice formed where ever he walked, and spread out like erratic lightning bolts in every direction, and then melted.Then Silverine gave a small chuckle, and then clearly enounced.

"Alduin Raptormaster."

I had my lighter out, and I lit the methys on my arm. I walked forwards as it spread across my frame, discarding the cloak. My shirt was blazing, my trousers on fire. My shoes were flickering flame across the leather, and all my skin seemed to be torched.Fire elemental or not, it did seem very sauna like. As I came to Silverine, the flame winked out, and everyone saw me properly. No one had seen my T-shirt, and there was one or two whistles, and a round of applause. I turned and formed alongside Winslo.