Haganto

Haganto breathed as slowly and quietly as possible with his back pressed against the rock. Then, extra carefully, he poked his head around it and took in the scene before him.

There was a young girl, probably around thirteen, though he could be wrong since he wasn’t the best at determining pure human’s ages. Her face was covered with dirt, specks of blood, and strands of sandy blonde hair that were matted together with sweat. Her brown eyes were full of fear and exhaustion and her freckled arms trembled as she poured a bucket of water over the tilled ground.

She matched the description that he had been given. The mayor's daughter was still alive despite popular belief and his own suspicions. That was nice, though it made his job harder. Haganto then focused his attention on the monster perched on a nearby tree.

The monster was covered with dark golden feathers, even her boney cheeks had a few stray feathers sticking out. Both her eyes and hair were a lighter shade than her feathers though both features seemed devoid of life. She had a pair of talons for feet and at the end of wings that were as long as her skeletal body, resided another but smaller pair of talons.

This monster was a harpy alright. Haganto had believed the mayor when he warned him of the monster but the sight was still confusing. Harpies, being children of the wind, preferred to live near the coast and very rarely traveled this far inland. Also, they mostly survived by stealing food from their victims, not by kidnapping girls to start gardens in a rocky area.

Something must have happened for the harpy to go to this extreme. Did this harpy get in trouble with her sisters, making her go into exile?

Then the girl tripped over seemingly nothing and dropped the half-full bucket of water. As a result, the harpy screeched and dove towards the girl. Quickly pushing the matter out of his mind, Haganto left the safety of the rock.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” the girl screamed as she desperately covered her head with her arms. The harpy’s claws were mere inches from tearing up her hands when the monster's face collided with the side of Haganto’s black club that was almost as tall as him.

The force from the impact caused the harpy to crash into the tree that she had been perching on earlier. Right after that, with a loud crack, the tree broke in half and the top part crashed to the ground.

Haganto then heard a gasp. He looked down and saw that the girl was now looking up at him with an expression that was full of wariness, fear, and confusion.

“You’re not really human, are you?” Haganto turn his attention back to the harpy, who instead of being angry like he expected, looked intrigued.

“I smell human on you but…” the harpy continued as she stood up and sniffed in Haganto’s direction. “I also smell giant...and ogre.”

Then she leered as she stared at Haganto’s single fang that hung over his bottom lip on the left side.

“Mostly ogre.”

Then she took a step forward.

“Why is someone like you defending a wretch like her? The people can’t be paying you that well. Wait, don’t tell me you actually wish you were a real human?”

The harpy then raised a clawed foot to get closer but stopped when Haganto pointed his club at her.

“That is the last thing you should be worried about,” he warned her.

Haganto, of course, knew that the harpy wasn’t going to back down. Too far inland or not, she had made a claim here. And harpies were far too persistent and stubborn for their own good. If he recalled correctly, his last fight with a harpy lasted almost half a day before he finally ended her life.

However, he had been alone that time. Haganto eyed the girl beside him. Despite kneeling on the ground, it looked like the only reason why she hadn’t keeled over yet was because of fear.

She simply didn’t have the strength to get back to the safety of her village on her own. Of course, she might have the strength to hide behind a rock, but it would still be a part of the battlefield. No, Haganto was just going to have to end this quickly.

Meanwhile, the harpy stayed silent as she eyed the club, the girl, and then the mountainous area around them. When she turned her focus back to Haganto, he adjusted his grip on his club, prepared for her to strike at any moment.

“Tch, fine, this place wasn’t safe enough anyway,” the harpy surrendered unhappily. “Too close...”

Haganto widened his eyes in surprise but his chance to inquire what she meant was lost for with a great flap of her wings, the harpy took the skies and within minutes, was out of sight.

As he watched her fly off, a sense of unease filled Haganto’s soul. In the tales of old and from his own experience, harpies had never back down just like that. The only two ways to stop them from terrorizing their victims was to either kill them or appease them in some way, usually by satisfying their hunger. Which was near impossible since harpies were always ravenous.

But...this harpy tried to hide it but Haganto could hear a touch of fear behind her last two words. Was this fear the reason why she wasn’t near the coast?

“Will she be back?” Haganto dug himself out of his thoughts and faced the mayor’s daughter, who now looked at him in disbelief and perhaps a bit of hope.

He sighed.

“No,” Haganto assured her with certainty as he put his club in the sling that resided on his back. Then he held out his hand to the girl. “Come. Let’s get you home.”

At the mention of home, the mayor’s daughter teared up and after a brief moment of hesitation, placed her hand into his. Despite the fact that her hand barely covered the center of his calloused palm, he gripped her hand gently as he carefully pulled her up. Then after a quick internal debate, he bent over and picked her up with one arm.

If she was going to keel over on him, it might as well as be in Haganto's arms.

And by the way, the girl snuggled into his hold, she agreed.

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Next: Chapter 2: https://vocal.media/fiction/the-new-job-qm4ger0hu1