Posted by
Bryn January 19, 2013 -
787 views
"... No, no, no, no!" I scold Dragon, as she misses her quarry for the fifth time. "You're aiming too high!"
"I'm trying!" She yells back at me as she quickly pulls out another arrow and places it on the string, by the time she was ready to shoot, all of the deer had left. Dragon kicks a nearby tree out of anger. Doing so caused a flock of birds to fly away from the tree. After a little bit Dragon calms down. "Maybe I should just give up, I'm skilled in a crossbow, not a longbow." She says trying to hand me back my bow.
"No. I know you can do it. You just have to learn how to aim properly... Here, let me help." As I try to encourage her to continue on, I walk up behind her. I place my arms around her to help her place her aim. "Now, take a deep breathe, and when you are ready, fire." She looks at her target, an elk feeding on some grass. She takes a deep breathe... And lets go of the string. The arrow flies through the forest with unbelievable speed. It hits her mark, and the elk falls down.
"Yes!!! I did it!" She cheers. I walk up to congratulate her and she hugs me tightly. "Thanks for teaching me." Before I have enough time to say 'you're welcome' she shouts "WATCH OUT!" pushing me to the ground, an arrow hitting the tree behind us. I look to check who shot the arrow and see a group of two men and one woman, covered in Fur armor, armed with swords that are shining.
"THERE'S THE MUTT MATES!" One of the unknown men yells.
"Miss, stay away from that man, he's a danger to everyone. Just stand aside and we will end this." Says another man.
"You are not going to hurt him, he's my friend." Dragon says aiming her crossbow at the group. "So unless you want a hole in your heads, I suggest you leave"
"We don't want to hurt you girl, but we need to kill that creature." Says the man that I assume is the leader of the group. "Men, get them." One of the men charges after us and Dragon pulls the trigger on her crossbow, the bolt imbedding itself in the man's chest and felling him with a pain filled groan. Dragon ran behind a tree, granting herself some time to reload her crossbow.
The woman of the group charged at me screaming "DIE MUTT!!!" I pulled my steel sword from its sheath and slashed at her, she was just as quick as me and blocked my attack. I swung my sword again, this time aiming at her legs. She quickly blocked that shot as well, then immediately kicked me in the stomach and sending me reeling back. The woman raised her sword ready to attack me but was stopped at the last second, a bolt protruding from her left shoulder missing just her heart. I plunged my sword into her chest to finish the job, removing the sword from her as she died on the blade. As the last of the men died the leader appeared, furious. He pulled out his bow and loaded an arrow on the bowstring. He aimed it at me and then switched to Dragon, and then back to me out of defense.
"YOU KILLED THEM!" He screamed at us, still pointing the bow back at me.
"They didn't give us a choice." I say to him. "You can walk away right now, no one else has to die."
"You killed good friends of mine..." The man said in an almost hushed voice. "SO HOW ABOUT I RETURN THE FAVOR?!" He quickly aims the bow at Dragon. There is no way she will react in time... I've got to do something. I run in front of her as he lets the arrow go... It hits me in my back as I just barely make it in time. I fall to the ground. The last thing I hear as I start to fade in and out of consciousness is Dragon’s pain filled cry "NOOOOOO!!!"
I slowly open my eyes, and I can see a fire nearby. I struggle to sit up and feel incredible pain near my right shoulder, I gasp in pain and fall back down.
"Korin!" I hear a voice say quickly. I see it is Dragon, she appears to have been crying. "Are you ok?"
"Yeah..." I tell her as I take short breathes to prevent pain. "My Shoulder hurts, but I'll be fine. How are you?"
"I'm fine, after you fell down from the arrow, I picked up your sword and stabbed him in the stomach. I got worried since you stopped moving and I thought you were... You were..." She says as she shakes her head trying to block out the thought that was happening in her head I assume. "There was no way I was going to be able to take you to the nearest town in order to get you proper healing, so I made a camp and tried to treat your wounds. When I checked the arrow wound it appeared to have made a burn mark on your back, but I don't remember seeing any fire on the arrow..."
"Do you still have the arrow?" I ask her, I think I know what happened. She hands me the arrow as I inspect the arrowhead. "Just as I thought... Silver."
"Why would bandits have silver weapons?" She asks.
"They weren't bandits. Bandits don't say they don't want to hurt you, they kill you and steal your equipment." I answer her. "I don't know who they were, but they knew what I am... That worries me."
"Don't worry, we beat them this time, if they find us again, we'll beat them again." She says giving me a rather cheerful smile, I can’t help but smile back at her... But I know we barely survived three of them... If there were more?...
Dragon had made some beef stew and said that when morning came, we were going to head back to town. I ate some of the stew, but not feeling hungry, I gave the rest to her. After we finished eating, she said goodnight to me and we went to our own tents. As I laid in my bedroll, I thought to myself, maybe this hunting trip wasn't such a good idea after all...
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