With haste, they opened the door of their tent, revealing the taiga forest they were surrounded by.
The snow crunched below their feet, the cold wind howled ferociously.
The night was thick with darkness, swallowing everything beyond a few feet. But they moved slowly, carefully, each step measured.
Their ears guided them more than their eyes; they listened for open space, the crunch of leaves, the shift of wind.
It wasn't perfect, but it was a skill they'd practiced. Walking in the darkness wasn't new to them.
They closed distance to the location of the herd, guided by the constant piercing shriek of the whistle.
Strangely, not even one of the surrounding animals flinched, a small weasel above the trees just stared at the pair of hunters, seemingly unaware of the perceived sound.
"Jeez, just 'cause the animals can't hear it doesn't mean he should blast our ears off!" grumbled Louis in a whisper-like tone as he covered his ears from the stinging ring.
Caelen simply shrugged it off, after all, his ears were pretty much numb to the sound by now, Louis was still pretty much like a rookie compared to him.
The sound came from The Captains whistle, a strange artifact he held as his way to discreetly give orders.
A few drops of blood smeared onto it and suddenly you can hear every time he blows that darn whistle, it's super annoying.
Lucky for them the distance was relatively short, a five minute walk at most.
As they arrived near the scene, far in the distance could be seen more than a couple of deers, they were situated in a sort of clearing.
The Captains instructions were clear: the hunters with much more expertise in the trade would position themselves in the back, letting the new members take care of surrounding the prey and not letting it escape.
Apparently Caelen was to be situated on higher ground, surprisingly he was part of the group on the back, although his stealth skills were rather lacking, his skills with the bow were good enough to be considered a waste in lower grounds.
He stepped lightly at the base of a tree, his boots gripping the bark without a sound. The soft leather flexed with his feet as he caught the lowest branch and pulled himself up.
For a moment, one of the deer stuck out their head, clearly wary of certain danger wallowing nearby,they clearly noticed something, their breath, many untrained hunters were unable to hold their breath properly
They forced one of their hands to cover their nose and mouth, avoiding all possible outcomes of sound.
An eerie silence followed. The hunters stood rigid as stone to avoid the deer to drive the rest of its herd away.The piercing shriek of The Captain`s whistle was heard again.
It rang once.
They unsheathed their weapons.
Twice.
They drew and tensed their bows.
Thrice.
The arrows flew across the forest.
The sharp ends of their arrows met the flesh of the deers, killing a great part of the herd. The rest, wounded or intact, started scattering. The newbie hunters hurled out javelins, directing the herd to regroup at the center.
Caelen had in hand his shortbow, made out of common wood, a bow common for beginners. It had seen better years, its handle possessed a few cracks, and the bowstring was lightly frayed. He had taken care of this bow more than a couple of years, irreplaceable for him
It wasn't meant as a gift from his father, but turned out rather useful later on.
He quickly scanned the surrounding grounds, the light of the moon was the only thing allowing him to see.
He quickly depleted his arrows, hitting vital points,necks, lungs, and eyes,sorting these out wasn't much of an issue anymore. Deer were, after all, common prey an average hunter quickly could get used to.
One particular arrow flew across the hunting grounds, failing to hit its target.
It grazed the leg of a rather large deer.
He reached out behind his back for another arrow
Hold on, I had twelve left. Did I leave a couple behind?! Crap, then that was my last one…
That short break of focus caused his hand to slip in the branch
"Eh!"
A large thud broke the moment.
"Agh… not again," Caelen groaned.
He had hidden himself on one of the branches of the tree he had climbed upon, his left foot slipped out of the bark and made him lose his balance, throwing him to at least athree-meter fall.
Just after standing up, the same deer started ramming towards him, at an unreactable speed. The antlers hit his chest, managing to knock him down, soon followed by getting punched by the hooves, leaving his body full of cuts and bruises. Even a crack was heard among the punches.
Pain coursing through his body, he looked to his sides, all the hunters were busy dealing with the large amount of deer. There were over fifty deer, a vast amount compared to the measly fourteen members of their hunting team.
Realizing help was unavailable, he desperately grabbed onto the antlers of the deer, getting launched by the strength of the beast, straight into the hard bark of a tree
His body was starting to give in, his forehead was covered in his blood, a cut had formed from the impact
Ah... I won't die from this, right?
Dying to a deer kind of sounds pathetic.
Dammit, I'm supposed to be better than this.
With his last strength he slowly stood back up, pulling a sharp dagger from the utility pocket of his pants, his eyes half covered by his own blood now, his expression tensed to the pain.
"Urk..!"
No, of course I won't.
He took a step further, blood blurred his eyes, another step, he approached, arms up preparing for an attack.
The creature lowered its head, ears flattening as its gaze fixed on him, its hooves struck the ground in a violent rhythm, and then it started lunging forward, rapidly approaching Caelen
Instantly a figure came out between them, out from the darkness and into the moonlight, the familiar figure he had seen many times but never directly dared to see: The Captain.
He was a towering figure, wrapped in a wolf-fur mantle over scarred brigandine. His beard, streaked with gray, framed a face carved with old scars, and his dull, storm-gray eyes. A short sword hung at his belt, chipped but well-kept,. Around his neck dangled the whistle, flowery dark and white patterns painted on it. He looked less of a hunter and more like a veteran of war.
The Captain's eyes were filled with something intense—anger? Disappointment? Nobody knew. Caelen flinched, and his gaze turned away from his, his own eyes quickly softening back to normal.
Without a word, The Captain unsheathed a short sword from his belt, shining steel with a very slightly chipped blade, unnaturally sharp and polished.
Rushing ahead to the creature, he gripped the ramming deer by the throat with one hand, hoisted it like a sack, and with terrifying ease slit its neck in one swift motion. Blood sprayed from the deer across Caelen.
"This man's dangerous," would be the first thought of anyone upon witnessing the Captain, his mere appearance was enough to instill fear.
You really wouldn't want someone like him holding any sort of animosity towards you.
The captain was a deeply respected person, even if his appearance and power were to be feared, his sense of duty barely left any casualties in his line of work,
A voice could be heard from afar. One of the hunters yelled, "Captain! one of them is escaping!"
His deep voice, filled with anger, yelled, "Well, don't let it get away!" he said, turning around and disappearing as fast as he appeared.
The deer seemed to have outrun most of the hunters. Louis sprinted just behind the animal, trying to catch it.
His speed unfortunately wasn't good enough to match the animal.
Their distance gapped further by the second.
Desperate, Louis exhaled. He closed his eyes and made a first with his right hand. Catching the deer was essential; losing it not only would mean failure as hunters, but one deer alone could provide a family for days to come.
Failure was simply not an option. That was his thoughts to mentalize himself
A small light appeared unto his right wrist, delicate yet persistent. He extended his right arm, out of the light a chain came out of it, with an incredibly quick speed it rushed to one of the deer's legs. Locking one side to a leg and another to a tree, effectively chaining the deer to it.
The deer was tugged back by the chain, the second the animal stopped, from the darkness and into the light of the moon came out The Captain yet again, swiftly bringing down his shortsword to its neck.
Success.
Louis stopped by a tree trying to catch up his breath, his power still taxed him severely.
A small hole under his wrists closed, lightly dripping blood from it.