Cat and the Hunter 1/3

She reached the inn just before dusk. She had a long journey behind her and an even longer one ahead of her. She had been travelling along the eastern Wind Trail, occasionally taking shortcuts through the forest for three days already. She had felt the hardships of the journey so far considerably and intended to take advantage of the opportunity offered to her by fate.

"At last a warm meal and a roof over my head…" She thought with a silent sigh.

In front of her was a wide pathway worn out by thousands of wheels and trodden by thousands of feet of passing merchant caravans, pilgrims, tourists, or lone wanderers like herself. To the right and left were vast stretches of green grassland, used by locals for grazing ovium - fluffy animals resembling white clouds on four legs that provide the local people with a constant source of food and bales of material for sale. The horizon was obscured to the traveller by a small hill on which a mountain settlement had been built - wooden houses assembled from logs and roofed with tiles were sometimes painted in elaborate floral patterns or had intricate wooden finishes. Also visible was a small wind temple, probably built of fieldstone. She had recently passed a wooden plaque with an inscription burnt on it: "Collis". In Ventuan, the native language of the elves, it meant roughly the same as a hill.

Quite a lovely name, thought the traveller as she gazed at the cattle grazing nearby.

The inn was a medium-sized wooden building with a ground floor that housed the inn, a first floor, and an attic. The roof was covered with clay tiles, providing much better protection from the rain than straw thatch, the colour not dissimilar to that of dark mountain wood. On the first floor, several rectangular windows could be seen, probably belonging to rooms for rent. As she approached she also noticed the inn's beautifully finished doors and windows - wind and field flowers were carved into the wood. As she stepped inside she could smell the aroma of roasting venison and mulled wine seasoned with a fair amount of spices imported from the south. The room was set up with wooden benches and heavy oak tables covered with linen napkins. In the depth of the room, a moustachioed innkeeper sat behind the counter, busily engaged in his work of wiping clay wine jugs. In the centre of the room a large bonfire was burning, and above it hung an impressively sized grate with a roasting hog and several chickens. There weren't many people in the inn, a small company occupied a table near the roasting meat, and apart from that individuals were sitting at two or three tables. Melanie was just about to approach the innkeeper to rent a night's lodging when she suddenly felt a piercing gaze behind her. She looked behind her and in the centre of a table with a sizable entourage, she noticed a stocky half-elf in a black doublet piercing her furiously with his eyes. At his belt was a scabbard made of reptile skin, in which there was a slightly shiny blue steel blade. To Melanie this was a clear sign that the sword was enchanted, the slight blue aura indicated a lower-level spell, but until the sword was used she was unable to know the effect of the spell. The half-breed rose from his seat and headed straight towards her.

By the winds of the west! Why now of all times... Splendid! She thought.

"Hey young lady, perhaps you would like to keep me and my fellows some company?" He said in a dandy and charlatan's voice. He certainly did not have good intentions, which the girl could sense even without looking at his body language.

Reluctantly, she turned towards him, but the moment their eyes met, the man's face, like a stop-motion animation, went from a lewd smile, through a grimace of surprise, disbelief until it reached the grand finale of scorn. The girl knew this expression all too well. Indeed, the girl's face did not have the physiognomy of a human, an elf or even a nyriad. The cat-like eyes and nose were partially covered by short but lush and shiny, dark honey-coloured hair. But it couldn't hide the sparkle of her eyes reflecting the faint light of the hearth.

When the half-breed stopped a short distance from her she measured him from foot to brown-haired nob and said, "She doesn't want any trouble, She's just going to buy supplies," If she could avoid an unnecessary brawl with this, she could sleep in the open again. She said in her mind with resignation.

The half-elf looked at her with a grimace half signifying disgust half anger. Suddenly, with a swift movement, he spat in the direction of her footwear.

"Chimera," He said, indicating that he treated the word like the worst insult.

Mel belonged to the Mirne race, which was characterised by certain animalistic traits such as feline ears, tail, and cat's eyes, had moderate magical abilities, and possessed better reflexes and agility compared to other races. It was also distinguished by its more sensitive senses: smell, hearing, and sight, e.g. cat eyes, thanks to which the representatives of this race had the ability to see much better after dark or in dark places. The species, due to its, after all, wild nature, was regarded by some inhabitants of the continent as a subrace, a mistake of nature, or, what was even worse, some mad scholar. Few people were aware of the former existence of a distant western civilisation, which used to be as advanced as any of the former Kingdoms. Exterminated and enslaved, it had already been wiped out before the First Monster War, also known as the Great War. A few years before the war, most of the kingdoms passed a decree obliging the Mirne to be given rights on an equal footing with the other races and to grant every representative of the Mirne (who had hitherto been slaves) a house and property. This was to encourage the Mirne to cooperate in the war, as the main front was just to the west. However, this did not save the "feline race" from aggressive intolerance, which was unfortunately displayed by the majority of the inhabitants of the Nine Kingdoms.

The girl looked into his eyes glowing with anger, only now noticing a group of mercenary thugs lurking behind the man. She cursed in her spirit.

"Nasty chimera!" Took up the half-elf after a moment.

You are repeating yourself, She retorted him in thought while biting her lip.

"This is no place for any of your kind, get out of here while you've still got the chance!" The half-breed ignored her completely.

Mel began to slowly analyse the situation, a half-elf with an enchanted weapon and four human mercenaries against herself – tired after a long day's march, exhausted and hungry. If she had any chance it was a very slim one. Preoccupied with the whole situation, she did not notice the black cat, which began to rub against her legs very intrusively. When Mel noticed the black cat lapping at her feet, she immediately noticed an important detail – one of the cat's eyes was an intense blue, and the other was an aggressive green. The girl shook her eyes in astonishment.

"Stella?!" Mel shouted in surprise.

Green-blue lightning began to flash around the black animal and suddenly a beautiful white-haired elf dressed in green-blue travelling clothes appeared in the place where the cat had been a moment ago. However, the most interesting thing about the girl was that her eyes differed in colour one was green, the other blue.