Orn moved silently through the trees, and stopped at the edge of a small clearing. Through the bushes he could see the injured hob hunched over in the tall grass. Orn had tracked it for many miles and was happy to finally catch sight of the creature. He slowly knocked an arrow and waited for a clean shot.

The hob searched the tall grass with a club clearly searching for something.

A rabbit probably. Orn thought, as he watched the injured creature sweeping the grass side to side with the large stick. The monster’s injured arm hung limp at its side, and Orn saw the wound in its shoulder. Definitely an arrow wound. I expected they did something like that to create a trail for us.

Orn continued to watch the hob as its hunt slowly brought it closer. The hob seemed oblivious to the danger, keeping its eyes firmly on the ground in front of it.

Just a little closer. Orn slowly pulled the arrow back and aimed for the creature’s head. Now look up.

He held tension on the bow but the moments seemed to drag on into an eternity. His hands shook as the exertion of holding the bow grew, until he could not take it any more. Shifting his foot, Orn stepped on a dead branch causing a loud crack.

The hob’s head snapped up, its eyes searching the treeline for the source of the noise. Before it could recognize the danger though, Orn’s arrow buried itself in the creature’s face.

He watched the hob go limp and fall to the ground. Knocking another arrow he began to slowly walk toward the monster. Orn kept a light tension on the string, ready to use another arrow at the slightest sign of movement. The tension only left his body when he got close enough to see the hob clearly.

Orn’s arrow was buried in the creature’s left eye almost to the fletching. No way it survived that.

Sighing he rolled his shoulders and tried to work the soreness out of his muscles. It had been a stressful few days. Awoken in the middle of the night, he was marched two days straight into the deep forest only to be given a trail to follow. Now I just need to bring back proof.

“So how does it feel to be a real hunter now?” Kao appeared on the other side of the dead monster.

“Painful.” He replied wincing as he rubbed the side of his neck. How long did I hold that shot for?

“It cannot be that painful if you are grinning like that. That is unless…” Kao’s face twisted into a look of horror, “...unless you like pain.”

Orn threw his bow at her. Kao smiled evilly as it passed harmlessly through her.

“Just checking.” She clasped her hands behind her back, and started to pace around the monster.

Orn pulled out his knife and knelt beside the hob. Then he started the unpleasant task of getting its beast stone, and his proof. Kao stopped pacing and bent to watch him work closely.

Once he had rinsed his hands and the stone. He then held the thumb sized stone up to the light. The sunlight trickled through the hazy blue stone. “Darn.” he muttered. The stone was not clear enough to hold mana.

“Orn, only you would be disappointed at this.” Kao said tucking her hair behind one ear, “unbound knights fight hobs hoping to impress potential lords. You do know that right?”

Orn casually dropped the stone in his bag, and wrapped the creature’s ear in a rag Uncle had given him. He then stepped over the man-sized beast and grabbed his bow from the grass.

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“How is that impressive?” Orn scoffed at the ugly humanoid creature, “Every hunter has to do it. Besides you saw how easily it went down.”

Kao sighed and shook her head. “Do not compare the hunters here to normal people. Also most of them have to use more than one arrow to take down their target.”

Orn did his best to match the mocking tone she like to use, “So does that mean mi’lady is impressed?”

“I am always impressed by how little my idiot knight understands.” She said using the tone he was trying to imitate. “But, I am happy that you managed to finally kill a monster without getting hurt.”

“The goblins do not count.” Orn objected as he started back to the trees.

“Then what about the gnoll? You got a bad cut on your arm.” Kao countered casually twirling as she walked along beside him.

“That was from a thorn vine, and it was a scratch.” Orn objected, as he began to retrace his steps to the camp.

“Kobald.” Kao offered, her head appearing from behind a tree a few paces ahead.

Orn stopped and looked at her offended. “I did not get hurt hunting that. It was half dead in a trap when I found it.”

“But you were so excited to confirm you you it, you ran into a tree branch.” Kao laughed loudly, “Your expression when you bumped into it was hysterical. Or did you hit your head so hard you do not remember?”

“That does not count. The kobold was dead by then.” Orn mumbled as he walked past her. He tried to push that embarrassing moment from his mind, and his feet fell onto the game trail.

They continued arguing as they worked their way through the dense woods. Kao wished him goodbye when she noticed they were getting close to where the older hunters were waiting. “Try not to get injured on the rest of the way to the camp, my accident prone knight.”

Orn grunted, but could hear the hunters laughing and did not dare respond. Instead he shot the giggling goddess a glare as she disappeared. She was waiting for this, I am sure of it. She just has to get the last word in.

Shaking his head he approached the campsite. The voices went quite as he came to the edge of the clearing. “Come on boy we know you are there.”

Orn eased out of the trees and walked towards the fire they were gathered around. “I did not want to interrupt.”

One of the hunters nudged the old man next to him. “He thinks he can sneak up on us.” The other men laughed at the idea.

Orn shook his head and sat down at a clear spot near the fire. While the men watched him, he pulled a bowl from his pack and ladled out the stew over the fire.

“Well come on boy, tell us what happened. I cannot believe you would have come back without succeeding.” One of them said as they all leaned in.

Rolling his eyes, he left the spoon in his mouth and tossed the beast stone and rag to the man nearest him. “Not much to say. I tracked it for a couple miles to a clearing. I got a clean shot and I took it.” Orn shrugged, then went back to the stew. It is amazing how much better food sates when you are exhausted.

The man holding Orn’s proof turned to the others, “We did not hurt it too badly, did we?”

“No, it was just scratched.” The oldest man said stroking his beard. “How about you tell us exactly what happened.”

Orn groaned internally, understanding that the mouthful of food he had now was all he would get for some time. Placing the spoon in the bowl he quickly explained everything that had happened since he left them. Every so often they would interject a comment and he took the opportunity to shovel in another bite of stew.

When they were finally finished questioning him, they directed him to a hut near the camp sight. “It is a short walk back that way, at least one of us should get some sleep. We have the watch, so get going, you are dead on your feet.”

Orn considered reminding them he would already be asleep if they would have stopped asking questions, but somethings were not worth it. Instead he walked in the direction they pointed him smiling. I cannot wait to see Emmy’s face when I step out of the woods to meet her at the stones.