[Erevan Burkwood][Session 2 - Level 1][Part 3]

The teen continued on his journey as the somber thoughts passed. He crossed over several hills swarming with burrows of lemmings. Burkwood set some of his rations down for a burrow as he passed through their territory.

Erevan was taught by his father that lemmings had a part to play in the ecosystem. They were vital to the North and the natural flow of energy through the ecosystem. Erevan said a small prayer for them. Not to any specific deity, but to nature and the forces that guide the balance between the worlds of man and animals.

Burkwood straightened himself and found his next step crashing down into the entrance of a burrow. With a few pulls of his foot, he realized his foot would not come free. He finally wrestled his already wounded leg out of his shoe. After some struggling Erevan unfortunately abandoned his buried boot.

“I guess the food wasn't good enough.” Erevan grumbled.

Erevan continued traveling, now with a serious limp, and a sock getting wet with snow. His wounds felt like they must have reopened. The young hunter knew he would have to change his bandages when he made camp again.

He arrived at a flowing river. Upstream, water and ice were cascading down a beautiful waterfall. With the sun hitting it just right the natural landmark became a vibrant display. A full rainbow of colors casted around the area like shadows.

Erevan wished his father was here to see this with him. He would have told the teen some facts about the waterfall; like a great fight happened here or that the water flows out to a great ocean. The teen realized if he ever saw an ocean, it would be without his father, and there would be many more moments like that.

He rolled his shoulders before he followed the river and found a ford hidden by banks of snow and trees. He threw his supplies over his shoulder and dragged the sled across the shallow river passing.

The weapons and some of his supplies could get wet without much worry, but his clothes, blankets, and food needed to stay dry. All of that was over his shoulder. He didn’t want anything being ruined by getting wet. Anything that could be dried easily he would do so with a spell once he reached the other side of the river.

Erevan dragged his sled up onto the bank of the river. He spotted something on the trail ahead of him. A deer, half eaten, most of its chest cavity gone. Erevan reached around to his sled and grabbed his father’s musket.

As he turned back around a twig snapped. Erevan looked over, he spotted a tree, and a few leaves fluttered downward. The young man slowly looked up, spotting a shape moving in the tree, something with white fur and black spots. A giant cat, a snow leopard, and its pupils grow wide.

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The leopard leapt from the tree. Erevan tried to backstep, but one of the creature's paws smacked him. He fell back as the claws raked down his chest, shredding the outer layer of fur he wore.

Burkwood managed to keep a handle on the situation, kicking the panther away from him, as he raised the musket and fired. The gun was held improperly, in the heat of the moment it recoiled, and slammed into Erevan’s nose.

The young hunter shook his head and looked around. The snow leopard wasn’t in front of him. He slowly stood, his heart beating out of his chest, as he scanned around the area. The snow leopard leapt from behind the cover of brush and snow.

Erevan, on edge and ready, swung his musket. The leopard collided with the axe head on the end of the barrel. It slammed into Erevan knocking him back, but it fell backward leaving space in between the two of them.

“You messed with the wrong mage!” Burkwood yelled.

With a flick of his finger the ballista fired at the beast. The bolt flew through the head of the leopard puncturing through its body like a skewer. And it fell limp.

He fell to his knees. His vision was obscured by his own breath as his body rattled from the cold. It seeped in through his wet feet and he could feel the ache in his leg once more. He dragged his supplies further from the river with a limp in his step.

Erevan started to make camp; he lit a fire, field dressed the snow leopard, before he put it on a spit. He bandaged his own wounds, changed his clothes, and used an incantation to dry himself. The leopard was charred by the time he was done cooking it. Cooking had never been in the list of skills his father drilled him on daily.

He tore into the gamey flesh with his teeth. Devouring the food he felt he had earned. Though something about eating meat disturbed him. He had to use whatever he could to kill the hunters, but he couldn’t dwell on it if he wanted to survive.

The teen unfurled his bedroll and got cozy in it. He drifted to sleep while listening to the sounds of the waterfall. He tossed and turned as his dreams gave him no respite.

Burkwood woke up the next day feeling grumpy and groggy. He filled up on leopard and rations, he filled his canteens, and reloaded his ballista. He carried on towards the village that he’s been desperately trying to reach.

Burkwood dragged his cart out of the woods and through the open gates of an outpost. A wooden fortification, it had flags waving over the entrance, they bore the symbol of the Hunter’s Guild. One of the walls was knocked down. Blood and viscera that was several days old was scattered across the fortifications.

Burkwood dragged his sled into the fort and took a few minutes to search the buildings. He ducked in and out of wooden buildings finding very little. Some salted meat, some stale bread, and a few weapons. Burkwood had very little training with traditional weapons and thus preferred the firearm in his hands if anything.

He took a moment to check a stone structure in the center of the fort. It seemed to have been a guard tower and the bottom floor served as a home for a family. Nothing of interest was left.

Though Erevan did stop to look at a few marks on one of the walls. The marks were straight lines, parallel to the ground, that listed a name and how many inches they were from the ground. The names were Lonny and Celise.

Erevan gulped, he didn’t expect to read that name again, and didn’t feel like dwelling on it. He quickly moved on from the grim scene. He went back towards his sled and dragged it out the other side of the fort.

Erevan crested the next hill and looked out. He spotted a few smoke plumes in the distance. As he crested a hill the village came into view. Burkwood had come near here with his father before, but he was forbidden from entering towns. Today he would break that rule.