We stumbled through the woods in the direction I had shot. There was a great deal of blood strewn about. I must have hit something vital.

We followed the trail for almost a quarter of a mile before we saw it. The deer was massive. It was also still alive. Barely.

I motioned for the others to stay put. I crept up to the deer, which faced away from me, my dagger at the ready. It struggled to get up once, then lay still, its chest heaving. As I leapt to deliver a mercy strike, it managed to rise and take two steps before falling again, causing me to miss entirely, landing on a tree.

Using the momentum from both my jump and the springiness of the tree, I launched myself onto the back of the deer, driving my knife and arm deep into its ribcage, slicing the beast’s vitals.

It shuddered and went still.

I gave thanks to the deer, and immediately began to dress and butcher him. Tren-sun and Piri-thak both assisted me in the task, and we finished quickly. The deer was too large to fit inside my Pack as it was, so we needed to come up with something better. I didn’t want blood all over it, and I didn’t think wrapping the meat up in its own skin would work.

“How should we get this back to camp, guys? I don’t think I can wrap it in its skin, as it probably won’t fit in the Pack as a single unit, and I really don’t want to cut the skin up,” I asked.

Piri-thak looked thoughtful for a moment. “Can you make another skin? If you can, cutting it up into parcels wouldn’t be a bad idea,” she said, scratching her head with a claw.

“Heh. I’d forgotten. With all the excitement going on, I guess it slipped my mind. Thank you, Piri-thak. That will work nicely. Tren-sun? Any thoughts on it?” I asked the young man.

“Huh? Oh, uh…no. Not really. That sounds just fine. Sorry. I’m a little scattered right now. Being shot in the chest will do that, I guess,” he said quietly.

“You are a warrior of the Haarthuu! You must accept that you will face death every time you go out to face the world. To do otherwise is unthinkable!” admonished Piri-thak.

“Hey! None of that, now. The man just went through his first and hopefully last life and death moment. It affects each person differently. He needs time to process this. No, he may not always have the time, but he does now. Cut him some slack,” I told the younger woman.

“Pah. That is weak thinking. He must be strong to be a warrior. He must be strong to be worthy of the title of Warrior of The Haarthuu!” she returned haughtily.

I couldn’t let that be. “Hand of air.” I said, feeling the familiar thump of the Hand’s materializing. I gently lifted her from her feet until she was eye level with me.

I let undisguised anger drip from my voice as I quietly said, “Let me make one thing very clear, Piri-thak: We will not confuse our health with our worthiness to be a certain thing. Everyone is different, and if I find out you continue to harass Tren-sun over this particular incident, I will show you what it means to be unwell. Am I understood?”

Piri-thak, terrified, nodded and I gently lowered her to the ground, letting the hand dissipate once she was safely on the forest floor.

I turned to Tren-sun and knelt. “Tren-sun. Are you okay? Do you need to talk about what happened?”

“I…I nearly died, Ivor. I nearly went to the Hall of The Ancestors to join them along with The Great Mother. I would have had nobody come to me with questions, none to call on their Ancestor Tren-sun,” he said, tears rolling down his scaled cheeks. “I can’t let that happen, Ivor. I can’t let my family end with me. There’s so much left that I still want to do. Yes, I want to hunt for my people. I will defend my people to my last breath, but I also value my life. I don’t know what to do, Ivor. I’m out here with everyone for the next two weeks, and I will do my best and work my hardest for my people, but I’m scared now. First the Dire Wolf, and now this? It’s almost too much.”

He leaned to the side, eyeing Piri-thak. “A-a-and what you said is wrong. Yes, a Warrior of The Haarthuu must be strong. They must be capable. But they also must know the risks. I have now faced Death. I am not ready to die, Piri-thak. I will do what I must to live, and to have a brood of my own. If I’m to ever be a leader, then I have to understand how precious life is. Now? Now I do. This will ensure that if I ever lead others, I will cherish them, mourn them if necessary and most importantly, love them. I will not heartlessly place them in harm’s way and expect them to die for their people. I will command them, just as I am now commanding myself to live for the Haarthuu,” he said forcefully, tears still rolling down his face.

He leaned back, looking at me. “Death is too easy, as we have just seen. Living? Living is the hardest thing in the world to do,” he said, his voice dropping to a whisper.

I laid a warm hand on the man’s shoulder as he sniffled. I heard Piri-thak walk up from behind me.

She laid her hand on his other shoulder and touched her forehead to his. “I See you, Tren-sun. Forgive my words,” she said softly. She disengaged from the younger man and faced me. “May we speak privately, Ivor?” I nodded and rose.

“Tren-sun? Would you start dividing the meat into fifteen pound piles? Don’t worry about getting it dirty. The Pack will preserve the meat perfectly. I’ll Duplicate the skin when I return, and we can set about to making little packages to fit into my Pack, okay?” I asked.

As he began to butcher the deer, Piri-thak and I walked some distance away, leaving the younger man to his work. She stopped near to where the other two does were killed.

“Ivor. Please accept my apology. I did not understand what you meant, but I think I do now. He has shown me that he will be cautious when handling the lives of others. That he won’t spend them needlessly. His declaration of living for his people struck me. I’m so used to us dying to defend our home that it has never occurred to me to behave in any other manner. I can no longer see the child he once was. There’s a man growing there. And one I am now proud to hunt and fight with. Forgive my words,” she said, her face downcast.

I knelt, wrapping my arms around her in a tight hug. “I’m so proud of you, Piri-thak. It takes a lot to admit your mistakes. Even more to sincerely offer an apology.” I held her at arm’s length, noting the blush creeping up her scales. “I hope your mind continues to grow and expand. I accept your apology. Let’s go give the newly minted man a hand with his task, huh?” I asked with a wink.

She nodded and smiled. Together, we went back and the three of us butchered and parceled the meat of the beast in a short time. Once it had been skeletonized, I selected a few of the long bones, and roughly cut the top part of the skull containing the antlers off. I hung this trophy from my Pack.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

“Shall we return?” I asked, receiving an answer in the affirmative from my friends.

The trip back was nearly uneventful until Piri-thak pointed out an odd patch of tall grass with several bleached skeletons in it.

“Bite-grass. Stay out of it, and you will live. Attempt to wander through it, and it will be the last thing you do. It grabs you with tiny thorns and drains your body. Fire kills it. This is one of two known plants that hunt for prey,” she said in a serious tone.

I wandered over to the patch, noting that the grass was up to my mid-thigh in height. It leaned toward me slightly as I approached. “How long does it take for this stuff to completely drain a victim?” I asked.

“That’s close enough, Ivor. Much more and it will be able to get you. For a small patch like this? About three weeks. Nothing approaches bite-grass unless it absolutely has to. Thankfully, it grows slowly. About a handsbreadth a year. My hand. Not yours,” she said.

I stepped back, marveling at the way the grass receded from my person. “So, if I wanted to, say, cultivate this stuff as a deterrent for my home, how much would I need to feed it?” I asked.

“What? You want to grow this stuff intentionally? Are you out of your mind? This is one of the biggest threats this world has. You are insane, Ivor,” she said.

“Nonetheless, I’m going to take some. Let’s see…” I said, slipping off my Pack and kneeling.

“Seek bite-grass.” I said, laying my hands to the ground.

In my head, I saw the patch in front of me, as well as its root system. They were thankfully shallow, so I returned to myself, and Shaped the earth around a square foot of the stuff, being certain to run the walls up beyond where the plant could reach. I extended the box down into the earth by about a foot, and enclosed the plant completely. Using a Blade of Air, I cut the rest of the patch down, then extracted the box and stuffed it into my Pack.

“There we are, one plant specimen acquired, one patch of bite-grass removed. I’m going to grow it under different conditions back in Haruma -in a safe, contained space- and determine how and if I can use this stuff to my advantage,” I said, shouldering my Pack once more.

Piri-thak and Tren-sun stared at me, mouths agape.

“He’s insane.”

“Completely.”

“We’re safe with him, right?”

“Yeah. I mean, he did save my life.”

“I guess that counts, then.”

Piri-thak shook her head and started back towards camp, followed closely by Tren-sun. I shrugged and followed the pair.

After another hour of walking, we made it back to the clearing. Thankfully, the Dome was still working. I walked up to its border and passed inside without an issue. The other two stood outside the dome, uncertainty coloring their expressions. I walked to the edge, and waved them in.

“Come on. This is what you’re supposed to see from the outside. You’re safe. I promise,” I said soothingly.

They slowly walked over to the boundary, and reached for my hand. I took hold of both of them and gently led them into the familiar confines of the camp. Once inside, their obvious anxiety melted away.

“I’ll never not be amazed at that, Ivor. This is some serious concealment. I can’t even smell anything from outside the boundary,” Piri-thak remarked.

“Really? Good to know. This means that if I need to, I can hide inside a Dome for as long as my food and water hold out.Not that I ever expect to have to do that,” I replied.

Tren-sun went over to his chair and sat, facing the embers of the previous night’s fire. He looked somewhat melancholy, so I directed Piri-thak to check on him.

“He’s still dealing with nearly dying, Piri-thak. I think he could use some kindness from a friend,” I said softly.

“Me? Why not you? You seem to understand what’s going on better than I do,” she said, just as quietly.

“Because you would do well to learn how to handle these things, too. You strike me as the type who is also vying for leadership. Good leaders know how to handle their subordinates in times of stress. You’re not going to be perfect, but you can learn to be effective, and that’s enough. Besides, I think he would prefer your company to mine, anyway,” I said with a wink.

She looked absolutely flabbergasted as I gently shoved her in Tren-sun’s direction.

I smiled and shrugged my Pack off, setting it down beside the tent. I had three deer inside. One of which was a little bigger than an adult bull moose. And a female Dire Wolf. It still amazed me that I could fit so much into such an apparently tiny space.

I could almost hear what my two friends were saying, and decided to distance myself from them, giving them some privacy. I wandered back toward the eastern side of the dome, and sat outside it, enjoying the warm sun and cold air.

In order to pass the time, I decided to play with my magic again. I had gotten adept at conjuring the sphere and cocooning myself inside it, so while that was happening, I decided to conjure a second sphere, just to see if I could.

It was actually rather difficult to conjure a second sphere, but I managed to do so after about ten minutes of trying. It was smaller than the first, about the size of a pea, and much weaker. It flickered randomly, like a candle guttering out. It was still the usual light blue color, the same as my ‘neutral’ energy. Manipulating it was proving to be exponentially more difficult than simply conjuring it was. I was barely able to roll it around in my palm before I had to give up from the exertion.

It was after my third successful attempt at rolling it around that I heard Liss-ran and Kilik-ma returning from their trek.

“See? I told you we were going the right way. There’s Ivor. Hi, Ivor! Are you the first one back?” Liss-ran said as she left the tree line.

“Hey guys. No, I’m with Piri-thak and Tren-sun. We came back together. Before you two go in, there’s some things I need to tell you,” I said, standing and dusting myself off.

The pair stopped in front of me, searching my face with looks of concern. “Okay. We’re listening.”

“Tren-sun was shot” -I held up a warding hand- “by another hunter this morning. He’s fine. I was with them when it happened. I’ll explain that in a moment. Just understand that he’s still dealing with nearly dying. Piri-thak is with him right now, helping him through it. He was shot in the chest by a crossbow bolt. Had I not been there, he would've died. As it is, his mind is still reeling.

“We have three deer, two does and a sentry, and a Dire Wolf in my Pack. I know that is hardly enough for this trip, but it’s a start. I’ve no idea how much more I can fit into my Pack before it’s done, though. I also managed to pick up some bite-grass for future experiments.” I finished.

“H-hang on…. So, you’re telling me that first, Tren-sun almost died, you somehow managed to also bag three deer total and a Dire Wolf, plus, you just happened to pick up some damn bite-grass?” Kilik-ma asked, his eyes wide.

“No. First, Piri-thak almost died. That’s why I have a Dire Wolf in the Pack,” I replied, walking back into the Dome.

The pair sputtered and followed me, peppering me with questions which I ignored for the moment. I was instead focused on the scene before me.

Piri-thak had Tren-sun in her arms and was holding him close to her, rocking gently. He seemed to be sleeping. This was confirmed by Piri-thak placing a finger to her lips as she saw us looking at the two of them.

I nodded and pulled the others into the tent with me. Once inside, we zipped the flap shut, and walked to the far corner where I laid out the events of the morning.

“...and that’s when we went after the sentinel I shot, and got him butchered and packed away. On our way back, Piri-thak pointed out the bite-grass, and I managed to acquire a sample I can work with and experiment on. I might be able to find a use for it,” I explained.

Kilik-ma and Liss-ran simply stared at me, their mouths agape.

“Are you insane?” they both asked in unison.

“Insane? Probably not. Reckless? More than a little. Curious? Definitely. What’s so insane about wanting to know more about this world I now live in?” I asked, spreading my arms wide.

“Uh… Um… Well. I don’t think that’s insane. You sure go about it in a foolhardy manner, though. I’m not sure how Elizabet puts up with your nonsense on a daily basis, Ivor. It’s a wonder you’re still alive,” Liss-ran huffed.

“Elizabet and Blainaut have both said those words to me at least once a week since I arrived here on Chaia. So did my mother,” I laughed.

We sat there talking for the better part of an hour when Tren-sun called at the flap.

“Hey guys. I’m sorry I passed out. Can we have lunch now?”