18th day of Earth’s Rest, Season of Ash, Year 56 of Age of Steel
[indent=20]“Honestly? You made a poor choice, Fow,” Arlen whispered, moving forward a step at a time.
[indent=20]“Try not to make too much noise, Arlen. Alright?” Fow, the hunting party leader, said. His attention was straight ahead as they moved through the forest. Fow was in the front as the best tracker they had with one more from their hunting party as back up. There were two more Jastai, each on Arlen’s either side. The young undergrowth willingly gave in under their progress.
[indent=20]Snap!
[indent=20]“Ah! Goddamnit! Who put it there?!” Arlen growled, blinking. A young twig slapped him in the middle of his forehead as it released from the man before him.
[indent=20]The sun has already descended from its afternoon heights and so the shadows in the woods grew longer. Or at least that’s what the Jastai in the hunting company saw. For Arlen, he struggled to see well enough to avoid stray branches.
[indent=20]“I said shut up!” Fow growled at him.
[indent=20]“And I’m telling you, you shouldn’t have brought me. I hunt in daylight when I can actually see!” Arlen shot back.
[indent=20]“Frickin, blind as a bat you are. Just let’s get to the place, alright? Somebody just take his hand already.”
[indent=20]“Oh hell no.” Arlen’s hand jerked back when he saw one of the hunting companions reaching for it. “I’m not a kid, nor disabled. Keep your hands to yourself.” He swatted at the offered arm as if it was a fly. From the way it moved, Arlen guessed the Jastai shrugged.
[indent=20]"I just need..." Arlen whispered to himself looking around almost getting to his knees. Then he saw it. A stone the size of a fist.
[indent=20]"What are you doing, idiot?!” Fow swiftly moved in front of Arlen to block the sudden appearance of brilliant light. “You wanna scare the game?!”
[indent=20]Arlen hugged the stone to his chest. He could see! And he saw Fow's very pissed off face staring back at him. “You know you’d look better if you smiled…” Arlen said trying to lighten the situation with humour, if not the stone. “Frowning will make you age fas—-“
[indent=20]Fow made one threatening step towards Arlen, squaring his shoulders. Arlen didn’t cower. Instead, his face grew still. The rest of the company followed in fashion.
[indent=20]“I’ll die first before I grow old. Now dim that stuff down at least.” Fow cast a wary look at the glowing object before turning away to continue.
[indent=20]Arlen could do that. And so the stone dimmed in light, but still aided Arlen in his progress with the hunting party.
[indent=20]Fow was one of the Jastai who weren’t entirely in agreement with Arlen’s belonging to the tribe. If it was up to the Jastai, he would not interact with Arlen much and the fact that Arlen had this ability to set things alight did not help their trust-building. So it was all the more surprising twhen Fow requested Arlen to join their hunting company this once.
[indent=20]And so there he was creeping through the woods, wondering just why he was there.
[indent=20]Then suddenly, Fow raised his hand and the party stopped.
[indent=20]The forest lay still, but even in that stillness, Arlen heard a whisper of something. It was like leaves rubbing together, or merchant’s dry hands eager to count the profit. Then even that stopped.
[indent=20]Crack! Something snapped between the trees and the sound travelled towards them, around them and then continued further on, bouncing from trunk to trunk. They all dropped lower in their crouches.
[indent=20]Arlen wasn’t accustomed to hunting in the forest. Despite having been hunting with the Jastai for years now, they always took him to open plains to shoot the birds.
[indent=20]Fow crouched even lower. They all heard it. One of the Jastai moved in front of Arlen, placing a hand over the stone, indicating with the other to dim the light further then curling his fingers into a light fist.
[indent=20]It was not a threat.
[indent=20]It was a message.
[indent=20]Arlen extinguished the light allowing the dimness to wrap around his sight. He saw the silhouette of the Jastai hunter move from his field of vision again. Though to Arlen it made little difference. He still saw quite poorly.
[indent=20]And the sounds of approach grew louder. Next to him, one of the hunters prepared his bow.
[indent=20]Arlen strained his gaze, face twisted in a grimace. Teeth bared and then not, lips pressed together and then pulled back. He barely made out an imposing creature walking into their view many, many yards from them. Four-legged, stout, tall.
[indent=20]It’s got a weird head, Arlen thought, the finery escaping him even as he tilted his head.
[indent=20]The man next to him drew his bow.
[indent=20]The sound of leaves brushing together reached them once more. But it wasn’t the leaves. It was the animal breathing. One big, deep breath that swelled its body.
[indent=20]Fow extended his hand back, forbidding the hunter from shooting.
[indent=20]Moments later, the animal moved on.
[indent=20]A few moments longer and Fow gave the instruction to continue. They all moved low to the ground still. Arlen shuffling his feet, stumbling here and there.
[indent=20]“Light it, already,” Fow grumbled and Arlen did not hesitate.
[indent=20]“It was mighty fine. Why didn’t you let me shoot it?” The hunter with the bow complained.
[indent=20]“Because we’re not hunting bucks today,” Fow stopped and looked at the ground. Arlen followed.
[indent=20]There on the forest floor, he saw the four-pointed footprint of the animal that passed. The earth was depressed in proportion to the animal’s size. Fow moved to the closest tree and marked it.
[indent=20]“So we can follow the tracks another day.” The party nodded.
[indent=20]They crossed the path of the buck and continued forward more leisurely. A while later, Arlen noticed that the forest lightened up and eventually he didn’t need the stone anymore.
[indent=20]“We’re here,” Fow whispered as they all dropped to crouch again. The trees thinned out, but Arlen knew they were not at the edge yet. The undergrowth lent them cover from their prey.
[indent=20]A meadow, Arlen thought. It was grassy with last whispers of wildflowers. On one end there was a very small hill and it was graced with multiple holes.
[indent=20]Arlen’s lips twitched into a smile. He now understood.
[indent=20]“Alright, Fow. Keep your hulks in the back. I want no one scaring the hares. Aim at the hill when they dash for safety,” Arlen said and moved to the forefront of the procession, pretending that he missed the way in which Fow’s face twisted. Not only did he not like Arlen, but he also did not like seeing his position of authority diminished.
[indent=20]The mixed-breed moved along the line between the forest and the meadow. He was careful in observing his surroundings, checking in on the wind. He turned his eyes upward, where the crowns of the trees would give him the answer he was seeking. And the trees barely swayed towards Arlen.
[indent=20]I’m in luck. Nocking an arrow into his bow, he turned his gaze to the meadow itself.
[indent=20]In a patch of weakening sunlight, there he saw a young hair warming his fur. Its belly nice and round.
[indent=20]Ready for Frost, are we? Arlen thought to himself as he continued looking. A few more hares were at the distant reaches of the meadow, some near the warren.
[indent=20]They’ll have to be fast, Arlen realized, wondering only briefly if the rest of the Jastai hunting party saw their prey as clearly as he did.
[indent=20]Either way, he picked his few targets because the second he would release the arrow, others were likely going to scatter.
[indent=20]So he aimed at the sleeping creature with that thought in mind, anchoring the drawn arrow at his cheek.
[indent=20]It was in a blink of an eye that his arrow buried into the animal’s chest. It didn’t have a chance to even wake fully from its dream before it went to sleep forever. The others, however, Arlen saw from the corner of his eyes straighten their ears before the race for safety began.
[indent=20]Arlen was already moving his bow in the direction of his next prey as he was nocking the next arrow. He had no time to aim as carefully. He let his instinct to take the lead. He hit his target and it tumbled.
[indent=20]The third arrow nocked into place. Arlen took aim. The bowstring slipped from his fingers like an impatient lover. He knew right away that the arrow would miss. And it did, burying itself well off the mark.
[indent=20]The meadow turned into a deadland. Limp bodies of a few hares laid scattered across the ground.
[indent=20]Arlen counted the two of his and then some four more.
[indent=20]When nothing moved for a while, Arlen broke cover and entered the deserted opening. Others followed in mirroring silence.
[indent=20]There is a reason, I don’t hunt in a forest, Arlen thought as he picked the dead hares before moving to the bow in the ground. As there was a reason the Jastai did not hunt hares. Arrows peppered the foot of the hill like commemorating posts.