“Fucking perv shit!” Renald swore through the peeping hole. The old man had finally stopped breathing, took fucking ages. If it wasn’t for the battle rush, Renald would’ve been freaking out already, royal style. There was no way easily getting out of this one.

“Renald?” Elbard asked from inside.

“Err.. put on some clothes, I’m coming in.”

The bathroom door was shut. Elbard and Renald were enough aware of him as it was. “What are we gonna do Elbert, the fuck we’re gonna do now?,” Renald cried, emptied of battle spirit.

“I dunno, calm down a bit! You weren’t even the one getting… you know. Virvid’s all tied up, let’s do something about that first.”

“You crazy? Calm down? I fucking killed someone. What if she’ll run and tell?”

“Calm down, we can solve this. She’s Virvid for Bärnhilds sake! For long have we known each other?” Elbard said, walking over to the unconscious girl. “Besides, what would she think if she woke up shackled with us two looking?”

“Shit, what if others come. It’s bloody full moon outside. We gotta leave Elbard, you coming with me?”

“Calm...down! If you leave now I’ll lose you. We’re not rushing things. Not until Virvid gets up.”

“Elbard, you’re with me right, you ain’t leaving me for this, are you? People are gonna come looking. They’re gonna come for me. It’s ok if you stay...You did nothing wrong man…”

“Please say you’re coming with me!”

“It’s gonna be alright Renald! We’re gonna fix this somehow. We’re not separating, I’ll go with you. Screw this hunt anyways. Screw that fucking grandpa Oak!.

“I need a beer.”

.

.

“Ey, you’re not snitching about the hole right?  I shot from inside the place!”

“No probs, you’re my freaking savior, remember. Virvid won’t know. Wait, you didn’t see anything anyways…”

“Weird, I thought that hole was sealed way back...”

“Yeah, found it when I heard the screams.. I told ya bows are better than the stick you idiots walk around with.”

.

.

“We should probably… you wanna open the door, get the keys.”

“Fucks sake, you were the one who shut it!”

“Well, I’m not touching him, you do it”

“Fine.”

They emptied the treasure chests onto the floor.

“You know, this is pretty much hitting the jackpot… Besides the fact that we’ll probably never set foot in society again.”

“Shut up”

“Guys, what’s happening?” a weak asked.

“Err, I feel bad...HUUUURGGEHH.”

“Shit, let’s get her some water”

“You  do that, I hate puke!”

“Virvid, you there?”

“What the heck just happened! Why am I lying here?”

“Well…”

“Old man Oak knocked you out, then he tried to ra…”

“AHEM!” Elbard cleared his throat, very loudly.”

“... Then the fucker went all crazy, attacking Elbard too! Luckily I came in just in time through the main door and shot him in the face.”

“...Pretty much, yeah.”

“This is crazy! I need to sleep.” Virvid muttered, drowsy.

“Shit, Virvid you can’t sleep now. We gotta get out of here!”

“Why?”

“Gosh, we fucking killed ol’ man Oak and others could come at any time! We need to grab our shit and leave!”

Virvid eyed weirdly at Renald.

“Chill out Renald, nobody’s gonna come. It’s night already!” Elbard said.

“Fucks sake! Don’t tell me you’ve never walked back during moonlight! “Well, yeah, but just once or twice. We’re pretty much safe for now. Look, I’ll keep guard for the night. We can’t leave Virvid with the ”

“C’mon Ellie! You’re strong! Tie her to your back or something.”

“Renald, look at her, It wouldn’t be good for her, she needs rest!”

“Ellie, I’ll tell you what wouldn’t be good for her: people getting here poking us with stupid... spears. How can you tell that there won’t be anyone from the village comming?  You think we can beauty sleep our way outta this!? You’ve seen what village warriors can do. Unless you can fucking break stone with your hands and jump ten feet into the air, you better get her on your back, now!”

Stolen story; please report.

“Rennie, the final visit was months ago, but you’ve got a point. We shouldn’t force risks on her. How ‘bout this? I’ll load myself full with stones, spears and whatnut. You get Virvid, she’s lighter.

“Fuck man, she’s all covered in puke”

“I’ll clean her up. Pick out what you wanna bring while I’m at it.”

“You’d better clean her good, ‘hear me?

***

The world spinned, but also bounced. It couldn’t be both, so Virvid opened her eyes to decide which one it was. She wasn’t sure why the world bounced up and down and span at the same time, but apparently she was also flying. She felt sick.

“HUUUURGGEHH”

“For fucks sake! She puked on me”

“Suits you, I didn’t rant about leaving straight away.”

The confusing motions were reduced to just spinning as Virvid was dropped to the ground.

The place felt familiar. Around her were trees, trees with deep etches.

“Alright! We’ll take a break, gotta clean you up a bit. How do you feel, can you sit up?”

Virvid looked up. Elbard was holding a water skin to her mouth. Funny, she had just had the weirdest dream about him.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m just, the world doesn’t wanna stay still.”

“You’ve had a pretty bad concussion. Don’t exhaust yourself.” Do you have anything you wanna say about...well this?”

Virvid took a look around her. They were in her glade. The glade of her Victory Tree. Why were they here? She didn’t want to see this place ever again. Someone had ruined it. Wait, Elbard was speaking to her. What was the thing he was talking about. virvid felt sleepy.

“We’re halfway to Elbard’s area. Hopefully, we’ll make it there before dawn. Then we’ll take a proper rest. There should be about a week before we’re noticed missing, at best two.”

These words, they sounded disturbingly familiar. Wait!?

“You… what have you guys done!? How..? The hunt! My score! Why did you, why did you bring me with you? I didn’t do anything wrong. This … AAAWWR *sight*.”

“It’s fine, you can still go back. There’s no evidence, well, besides the arrow stuck in masater Oak’s throat. Renald’s fucked for sure.”

“Fuck you, that was totally uncalled for!”

“... but you can get back if you want to. I’ll leave with Renald.”

“I.. want to to rest. Can we stay here for a while.”

“I’m afraid we’ll leave in a short while.”

“No, stay! Don’t leave me.”

“No problem, we’re bringing you with...”

“This time you’re carrying her”

“...we’ll bring you with us. Can’t leave you like this...Ey, Renny, don’t come bitching half way! You agreed to carry her.”

“Bloody hell... Then bloody clean her properly this time and hurry. People might come.

***

Getting to the forest had been easy, but once they got there, carrying Virvid got difficult. A two day trip had taken four, but eventually they made it to the end border of Elbard’s hunting area. Beyond lied the forbidden forest. Elbard had never gone there, he’d never needed to. If the score penalty hadn’t kept him away, then the tales of deep forests definitely had.

There was no great distinction as to where the forbidden forest began, but as they entered it, the trees gradually became bigger, their shadows longer and bigger.

“You sure? You really don’t have to.”

“Yeah, I guess I am,” answered Virvid. For days she had considered getting back to the barrack, but as she started walking on her own again, her mind set on joining them. Elbard was happy to have her in the group. He felt guilty about it, but being together with two of his childhood friends was just so much better than his days usually was for the past seven moons. He wondered how the other were doing. Smedgar, Belsemin, Sven, … He hoped their betrayal wouldn’t affect the others.

The night was arriving and they were looking for a suitable place to sleep. If they didn’t find one they’d have to head back to one of Elbard’s old ones, far back.

“Hey, over there, I might see a cavity!” Renald pointed at a hill.

He seemed to be right, but as they headed towards it:

“RAWR”

Holy shit, is that a bear!?”Renald shouted, readying his bow. Hearing his cry, the bear ambled towards him.

“Shit!” Renald shouted, running to get between the bear and its meal. He screamed as loudly as he could, trying to draw its attention..

The bear stopped, surprised of seeing a snack actually charging it. It had originally set off for the small snack, but since big snack insisted on getting eaten first, the bear didn’t mind helping him. It switched target, but then someone hit him close to his neck. A small twiggle had stuck to his hide. It hurt, making the bear furious. Where was the attacker? It turned a bit, but found nothing. Moving its head sent shivers of pain through its body. As soon as it had mauled the snacks, the mysterious attacker would be torn asunder..

The big snack ran in front of small-snack as if it could defend it. The bear cared little, but as it charged, the stick stuck  its hide, piercing it. It hurt, not as much as the unknown attacker, but enough to make the bear wary of the stick. As it tried to push it to the side, small-snack made a weird motion behind big-snack, and…

“Thud”

“RAWR”

The mystical attacker had struck again, but this time he had revealed himself. So it turns out the little snack… The bear was mad. These little bees dared to sting it... It smashed big-snack’s stick flying and rushed for little-snack, but…

“Chuck”

“RAAAWR”

A pain threatening of death struck it below the ribs. The bear immediately turned, its ancient instincts taking over. Behind it was a snack, even smaller than small-snack, but it too carried a stick.

“Chuck”

“RAAAWR”

The new snack had thrown its stick! Who could have guessed? The bear had never seen a snack throwing sticks before, but the danger was insane. The pain, it was the only thing there was. This was no longer about eating and helping others getting eaten, it was life and death.

Instinctively, the bear charged its true enemy. New-snack grabbed a third stick. The bear’s limbs were beginning to falling asleep, it had to finish this quickly. As it charged, the prey ran straight for a tree. With decades of experience, it prepared to round it on the right side. It didn’t matter which one new-snack would take as it was still moving forward anyways. Defying the bears world, this didn’t happen. The snack ran upwards the tree, making a weird flip,  instantly changing direction. It had been fooled!

“Thud”

“RAWR”

Small-snack had made another sneak attack, but it didn’t matter. New-snack ran for the the others. The bear ran after it as fast as it could, but its legs were weak and its body was getting heavy. Just cutting the distance to the unsnacky snacks would be an achievement by now.

Luckily, new-snack didn’t know its own good. It turned, sprinting towards its death. Furious and not willing to leave the world just yet, the bear opened its jaws, preparing to reap its last life. Still charging, it prepared to meet new-snack half-way, but new-snack abruptly stopped, sending another stick flying. The bear crashed to the ground, skewered through its mouth.

“Wooh, holy shit! Guess the cave’s ours now!” Renald said, first to breathe normally.

Wary of other bears, it took awhile to get off the edge.

“Those spears, holy shit, they’re insane! Just what’s in its steel, really? My arrows didn’t do shit to it,” Renald complained praisingly. It was quite obvious that the remarkable thing had been the one throwing them.

“Ey Elly, you had one of those too, how comes you did shit for damage?“

“You little fuck, if it isn’t obvious enough, I had to spend it all protecting your lil’ ass! Besides, I Only had one spear, had to throw everything when running for you.”

“Yeye, let’s keep saying that, shall we,” Renald followed up, determined to set the spirit of the evening.

Virvid smiled.

“Guys, check out this lifember, it’s huge!”

A huge lifember had condensed above the hairy giant kebab.Virvid grabbed it and passed it around. It was big and almost fluorescent. The ones dropped by wolves couldn't compare to it. An immense feeling of comfort radiated from it. You could even feel it without touching. They kept it, despite it being useless now when there was no way they'd score any more points in the hunt.

Virvid grabbed a heat stone, and rolled open a pelt. Renald stood first guard, letting the others get to sleep. A slight light shone as he admired a heat stone of his own in the dark.