Ed’s POV

I crouched behind an old-growth tree and took a deep, slow breath, careful not to make any unnecessary noise. Waiting 10 ft. away was a nightmare, munching away on my most recent kill. The shot that took the deer in the heart was some of my most brilliant shooting, and this shithead was just eating my hard work. If I don’t retrieve my kill, or replace it with this 22 hand horse, I am going without meat...again.

Nuala eats like a rabbit, which I assumed was a forest-folk not eating meat thing, until she made me assist a haruspex ritual and the monthly consecration. I learned that the ritual involved butchering a living nightmare, and using its life energy to power a minor insight spell. The consecration uses the remaining energy to power a bane that persuades the more dangerous predators to stay away. Needless to say the whole ordeal was bloody and unsettling and explains some of the more inventive stories about diablerists.

Worst of all, the spells appear to ruin the meat, so the past week’s meals consisted of wild salads with mushrooms and unidentified nuts, as well as elven honey cakes and tea. I was desperate for red meat and this hunting expedition was to prove that I can be useful for more than menial tasks. Nuala, for all her beauty and mystery, is a harsh taskmistress and worse, she has me doing every chore and drudgery involved in the ritual spellcasting. I think she is trying to drive me away, but her forest abode is the safest place I have been since mum died.

I am too close to reasonably escape this big bastard. If it sees me, I am going to be run down and killed. Besides, this nightmare has moved in and is eating MY deer. I am going to kill this fucker, butcher him, and enjoy myself some demon horsemeat. I produce my dagger and look at it.

Dagger

Common Steel

2-4 Dam, Deadly

Although the damage it does is pathetic, I honed my dagger on a whetstone and have plenty of butchery experience. This is perhaps the most foolish thing I have done; this coming from the man who agreed to apprentice for a witch because she was pretty.

As quickly and silently as possible, I approach the nightmare. It may seem silly to attack such a monster with a knife when a perfectly good bow is available but a nightmare’s hide is tough enough to blunt most arrows, while a dagger naturally ignores armor. If I attack just so, it is possible to slash this monster’s veins and inflict hemorrhage.

I approach as quiet as a void-cat, prepared to strike, when the nightmare looks up from his meal and begins to turn his head. Well, he who dares, wins. I lunge forward and stab the beast's neck. The creature fountains blood; I am showered in icor. Nightmare blood is more black than red and covered in the stuff I look like a tar monster or swamp creature. The nightmare is only momentarily stunned from the attack and bites me. It grinds its teeth into my shoulder and its razor-like teeth sink into me.

For a brief moment, all I know is pain and I can feel my vitality ebb. Pain is a strange thing though, it can cripple a man but it is also an excellent motivator and right now I am motivated to kill this beast and feast on its flesh. I stab at the head this time; the knife sinks deep and I clearly get something important as the monster whinnys, rears back, and employs its hooves against me. I am fortunate enough that I am already falling under the creature because this causes its hooves to miss my head. I land prone beneath the monster that begins to lose its balance. The nightmare decides to fall on top of me, dropping its 1 ton bulk on top of me.

This is about as shitty as being drowned in the Avon. I groan, in pain from both the horse and the unintentional pun. My legs are trapped beneath this beast, probably broken; I am losing consciousness. I can feel my lifeblood drain away and I pray that when I meet mum, she isn’t too disappointed in all my bad decisions. Just as I am getting comfortable with my self-loathing and impending death, a familiar pair of forest green eyes peer at me from above.

“Hi” I manage to croak out.

“Hello, Edward. I would say it is a good job, bringing down a nightmare during your first forest hunt, but we usually try to avoid bringing them down on top of us.”

She is smiling at me. This evil bitch is smiling at me, a dying man. The nerve of her. Sure she is breathtaking, but I am literally breathing my last… In the middle of my mental rant, I notice that the pain slowly receding. I am breathing easier, and my legs feel less broken. The horse is no longer on top of my legs and has been moved onto a sled, that Nuala proceeds to drag with no small effort.

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“Well,” she says breathlessly “are you going to help haul your kill?”

I stand and do a quick examination.

Head

Minor Concussion

Left Arm

Minor Bleeding, Shoulder Wound

Right Arm

Minor Elbow Dislocation

Torso

Broken Rib (2)

Left Leg

Hairline Shin Fracture

Right Leg

Minor Foot Dislocation, Thigh Bone Fracture

Well, I am not in good shape, but considering the fight, Nuala must have done some healing, otherwise I would be in the ground and not up and about.

“Yeah, let’s move this meat” I take up position next to her and begin to slowly drag the carcass back to the house. It will provide meat for days, weeks even, and it needs to be prepared. I feel so tired.

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Nuala POV

I followed Ed on his hunt, to ensure he would be safe. When the nightmare began to feast on his kill, I figured he would do the smart thing and retreat, using the trees for cover. It appears I overestimated him, or perhaps I underestimated Ed because he managed to bring down the creature. I watched him work himself into a furor and charge the nightmare like a steelhead boar; he managed to stab the creature in the throatlatch. I am not sure if the strike was deliberate but the hell-horse panics and bites his left shoulder, hard.

Well, my apprentice is not one to take dying lying down, and jabs the knife into the beast’s eye, effectively dooming the steed. It releases Ed, rears back in pain, then proceeds to die on top of my novice. So the good news for me is I haven’t lost my companion. The bad news is he is beneath a 1 ton monstrosity in a growing pool of blood, both his and the horse’s.

I use some of the blood to perform a quick ritual of might and shift the nightmare off Ed’s hips and legs and onto a hastily prepared travois. The thing is simply two sturdy poles lashed together with a rope net to carry the kill and was a part of Ed's hunting supplies. He is going in and out of consciousness, mumbling about his mother and giving the kind of crazed oratory only the dying can. The damage is significant; both legs are shattered, there is a grievous, bleeding wound on his left shoulder from the bite, a rib is poking out from his chest, his right arm, from the elbow on, is bent at an odd angle still clutching the butter knife, and he appears to have some head trauma from the fall. I have healed people nearer to death, but it will be a close thing.

To make matters worse, my apprentice is going into shock; without healing, he will be dead within minutes. I begin some minor ritual work to help stabilize him, and using some of my more precious healing herbs, begin the healing process. To start I inscribe a healing circle using the spilled blood, then I crush the herbs into the blood and begin the process of restoring vitality. He will still be broken but I think the best I can do is keep him from dying for now.

I work from the most important injuries first, his legs are in terrible shape, and the spellwork to properly set bones is painfully slow. He should be unable to move on his own for a few months. As I finish the work on the spell, something very unusual happens, his body immediately begins to absorb the spell. The spellwork imprints itself on his skin and I watch as his protruding rib visibly begins to slide back into position.

I feel myself smile. He is a warlock. Ed, my apprentice, is a natural warlock. He does not need to perform any binding or inscribing rituals. My smile grows wider, first he hunts a stag with a single arrow, then he slays a nightmare with a glorified butter knife and now he is a warlock. I couldn’t be more proud. I frown for a moment, I can’t possibly tell Ed lest it go to his head. Then my smile returns as a sacrifice the remaining blood on the ground to expedite Ed’s healing. He won’t be in perfect shape for a few weeks, and he will likely be a bruise for the next few days. But that is a much better than bed and fever ridden for two or three months.

After an hour of my ministrations, my novice's eyes flutter open and stay that way. His incoherent mumblings have stopped and he rasps out a “Hi”. Quite an informal address from apprentice to master, but I will forgive him.

“Hello, Edward. I would say it is a good job, bringing down a nightmare during your first forest hunt, but we usually try to avoid bringing them down on top of us.” I say sweetly. It is quite high praise, if I do say so myself. Bringing down a nightmare is a worthy hunt for any forestkin, not to mention a heavyfoot like Ed.

The healing took its toll on me, so hauling this corpse will not be easy if he cannot help. "Well, are you going to help haul your kill?” I question him.

He grumbles back “Yeah, let’s move this meat”. And takes position beside me. I frown, I should really enforce decorum with my apprentice, but his desperate efforts at pleasing me are too cute. It would feel like chastising an enthusiastic hellion puppy. As we slowly make our way back to my home, I consider the best way to train my novice.