“I really should’ve gotten a pet, in retrospect. A retriever, maybe. Wouldn’t have to bother with all this... You see it?” “I saw it, alright. Think it fell over there… See that? On the bush? It’s blood.” “Hm. Yeah, I’ll go and grab it. You have another sack?” “Just give me a second...” While Ioannis’ reluctant hunting partner Polonius fumbled with the knot of sacks hanging off his bandolier, Ioannis himself crouched into the bush, reaching at the roots with his hand to find and grasp their dying quarry. After a few seconds of touching thorny branches, Ioannis’ hand finally made contact with the textured toes of the bird he’d shot – another pheasant. This hunt was shaping up to be a bountiful, if not repetitive one. He pulled the bird from underneath the bush, unsheathed his sword just enough to reveal its cutting edge, then cut the pheasant’s neck open on it. The animal bled out within seconds. “The sack.” “There, there,” Polonius said, holding out the sack towards the kneeling Ioannis. “We’re lucky, you know. Neither of us has a trousse. If we’d found any big game, we would’ve had to drag it all the way back to town.” “I’d watch my tongue if I were you. Speak of the devil, and in he walks. Wouldn’t want to deal with anything of the sort at this point.” “With all your talk of science, I wouldn’t have expected you to be a superstitious one, Ioannis.” “I’m not superstitious. I just think that the world has a dark sense of humor.” “Always the poet, aren’t you,” Polonius said, shrugging. Ioannis, having finished stuffing the pheasant into the sack, tied its mouth shut and offered it back to his aide. “Here, be of some use,” Ioannis snarked. “I thought you were carrying them?” Polonius retorted, unexpectedly agitated. The premise of having to carry more than what he was already carrying was one that he had not expected, it seemed. “I’m already carrying five of them, you dimwit. For Mara’s sake, just take the damn thing.” “Fine, fine.” Polonius snatched the sack from Ioannis’ hands. “And I’m not a dimwit, you know. I’ve spotted all this game for you-“ Loud rustles shut them both up. Something was making its way through the woods. Something large. [b]ROOOONK[/b] The rustling got louder. They could hear cracking sounds – from branches caving in underneath their new guest’s legs, no doubt – from the way it sounded, it was coming towards them. “Ah, Mara have mercy! The spear! Ready your spear!” Dropping the sack, Polonius braced his spear forward just in time for its tip to pierce into the chest of the charging assailant. This did not stop it, however, and the beast – a large boar, frothing at the mouth – simply pushed itself further into the spear, knocking a screaming Polonius down on his rear. Ioannis drew his sword and struck at the beast’s face, but the frenzied boar simply whacked Ioannis’ hand away with its tusks to deflect the strike and cried again, this time equally in anger and in pain. [b]RRRROOOOOONNNNNNNNK[/b] “Do something! DO SOMETHING!” Polonius roared, his hands barely keeping the shaft of the spear stable. Despite the lugs on the spearhead made specifically for the purpose of keeping a boar moving in further and goring the wielder, either its flared tip had made a wound too wide for this to apply, or this boar was simply too angry to care. Ioannis first looked for his sword, but then, deciding it to be useless against this monster, grabbed onto his air bow. Unlatching the tube open with a pull of the forwardmost trigger, his sweaty hands then proceeded to fumble open the satchel of shot on his belt. Grabbing a handful of shot, he dropped some, but then again, he only needed one for this – he likely wouldn’t get another shot anyway. Stuffing the lead ball down the breech of the tube, Ioannis snapped it back shut, and began furiously cranking the spanner backwards to fill the weapon’s mechanism with enough air. The moment the weapon reached maximum pressure, he rushed forward, pressed the muzzle of the bow’s tube right behind the boar’s eye, and pulled the trigger. The weapon went off with a silent [i]crack,[/i] and with it, the boar went silent, leaving only a hyperventilating Polonius as a source of sound in the midst of the clearing. “…Well, don’t say I didn’t warn you.” [hr] The two hunters who were making their way through the city walls seemed to be exhausted, but also proud – in fact, one even could notice a smug sense of superiority on the one who wasn’t pulling the ramshackle sled with a dead boar on it. Then again, despite all the load he was bearing, the one bearing a spear seemed no less happy. They came to a stop in the midst of the town square, looking at each other. “So, what’ll you do now?” Polonius asked. “I’ve heard that there’s an ‘Adventurer’s Guild’ or something that’s been recently set up nearby,” Ioannis replied, stretching his arms. “I’m running short on money, and I know I’m not going to find hunting partners every other time. No need to risk finding my own work and running alone in the woods when I can just hole up amongst those boys… So, you agreeing to my offer or what?” Polonius puffed. “Oh, fine. Have the damn boar. Not like I want to spend any more time with it anyway,” he said, dropping the piece of rope that he’d been dragging. Ioannis would’ve objected but felt that he would be pushing his luck a bit too far. “I’ll be off from here, then. You take care of yourself, and, uh, thanks for the help out there.” “Likewise, Polonius. Likewise.” The spear wielding hunter took off, a bundle of sacked pheasants in hand, and after watching him walk away, Ioannis began pulling at the big haul, intently walking towards his – hopefully – new place of employment.