[h3]Kadoka[/h3]
[hr]

The elf was a few paces beyond his doorstep when he heard the cheer from the hilltop. He paused, squinting slightly against the sunlight, and then groaned audibly. The keg was heavy on his shoulder, and the wood warm to his cheek, but no one would be drinking its contents today. 

"I'll be damned if I am going to waste any of my darlings hard work on a bunch of seaborne scum..." He muttered as he turned back and made his way inside. The warmth of the sun vanished at once and was replaced with the cool relief of the shade. The earth smell of the home always made him feel better but not today. Whenever that braggart and his band of murderers came to town, Kadoka headed out of town. 

With a sigh of regret he set the keg back down in the store room before collecting his bow and spear. A sharp whistle brought Kita to her feet. She stretched, her shaggy coat a dull brown in the sunbeam she had chosen to occupy. Pudge stirred for a moment, eyeing them from beneath her wing before settling down on her perch again. She only joined the night hunts.

Kadoka slipped out the rear door of the house, made his way through the bee hives, and into the woods. He could be away for a day or two, with any luck, the pirates would be gone, or better yet, dead, by the time he returned.