Lon'thul had definitely had better days. Moving unheard and unseen was something he did almost instinctively these days, but he was usually the hunter, not the prey. Of course, he didn't actually know if he was being hunted or just currently hyper-alert for no reason, but he really didn't want to find out the hard way. So instead, he kept moving as quickly as he could while keeping one eye on the underbrush to avoid stepping on any debris or vegetation that would reveal his presence, while keeping the other eye looking for movement where there shouldn't be any.

He was really looking forward to turning this around and becoming the hunter again. He just had to get through to the village first, and to do that, he had to remain unheard and unseen.

After making sure the movement off to his left had been nothing more than a loose branch finally dislodged by the wind, Lon'thul slowly resumed movement as he eased his foot over another twig in his path and resumed his journey, employing his own twist on every tactic and strategy any of his prey had used to lose him successfully once he'd started his hunt.

Usually, the hunter used a great burst of speed to run down his prey. Unless he got a clean kill, he'd use his greater bulk to wrest them to the ground, where he could then kill the animal at his leisure. The ones that got away usually did so by outmaneuvering him or outlasting him. So if a wolgen did get close enough to give chase, his best bet would be to try and make it chase him erratically, forcing the beast to constantly shift the momentum of its greater bulk and wear itself out.

Of course, he might be worried about nothing. Maybe he'd be able to walk right into the village the way Jack and S'haar had. Perhaps the beasts had already hunted the area clean and moved on, and as long as he was hoping everything would go his way, he might as well hope that the wolgens would simply roll over and expose their bellies for his knife.

Lon'thul froze when he heard a twig crack no more than a dozen feet off to his left. Ready to bolt, he turned his head slightly to carefully look out of the corner of his eye. Then, when there didn't seem to be a nine-foot-tall monster visible to his peripheral vision, he turned his head the rest of the way. Whatever had made the sound must have been small enough or quick enough to have escaped his notice, because there was nothing there any longer.

With a mental sigh of relief, Lon'thul steadied himself and resumed his trek through the forest. He knew he'd have to settle in to rest for the night before making it to the village. Not that he thought he'd get much sleep, but bumbling around through the underbrush in the dark was the perfect way to make sure every animal for miles around knew his exact location.

Lon'thul froze again when a gust of wind caused a cacophony of sound and movement through the forest around him. He'd used a similar breeze more than once to disguise the sound of a final lunge toward his prey. Once everything settled again, he resumed movement again. This was definitely going to be a long trip.

-

Jack was walking beside S'haar as they followed the guards to the village's edge for the demonstration S'haar had proposed. Looking up at the woman he would normally trust with his life, he couldn't help but feel a little put out by their current situation. "Tell me again why we're essentially being put on trial just for the privilege of getting to help save this village from a dire situation we had no hand in creating?"

S'haar smiled patiently back at him. "Because we are asking them to risk their own lives to help us in the hunt. It's only reasonable that they would expect us to prove we're at least able to back up some of what we claim before they risk everything on our words."

Jack shook his head. "It's not like they have a lot of options right now. So you'd think they'd be happy just to have any chance at this point."

S'haar looked off into the distance. "They have one other option. Split the village up and send everyone out to seek a future in other villages. Of course, many would die along the way, mostly the very old and very young, but enough would make it so their bloodlines could continue. Then, of course, they'd start out in those villages as the very lowest members of their new village, barely a citizen at all. Many would never make it past that, but a few may earn positions of respect and honor in their new homes."

Jack blinked a few times before responding. "You know, I get so used to the way things work in our outpost that I sometimes forget how brutal this planet can be." He held up a hand to forestall S'haar's counter. "Don't get me wrong, I understand it's mostly out of necessity. When you're uncertain of your own future, it's hard to be charitable to those in even more dire circumstances. The fact that the other villages would take refugees in at all is certainly a sign that they empathize with the plights of their neighbors. It's easy to look at what we've made and forget that it's the exception, rather than the rule."

S'haar looked down at Jack with a sad smile. "You know, our outpost isn't exactly safe against the perils of this world, either. It wouldn't take much to ruin everything we've created so far. Life can be a fragile thing."

Jack's expression turned into a frozen mask, and his eyes grew hard as the vision of the young raider sprang to mind. He struggled to pull himself back into the here and now before looking off into the distance to hide the wetness he could feel building around his eyes. It took him a moment more to find the breath to respond. "Yeah... I'm more aware of that than I'd like to be..."

S'haar politely looked away as Jack gathered himself again. "I think we both are. That's why we're here, doing what we're doing. That's also why we've followed you so far."

It was Jack's turn to smile sadly back at S'haar. "These days, it's you leading down the path we're all following. I'm just the mad wizard clearing the way for you to pass."

S'haar's smile reached her eyes as her mood shifted from melancholy to good humor. They were nearing the end of the road and would have to get to work shortly. "Well then, wizard, the path needs clearing, and you've been volunteered. Do a good enough job, and you just might earn this lady's favor!"

Jack shook his head again, though he couldn't keep a wistful smile from his face. "The things I do for love..."

-

They entered a clearing where S'haar had several large logs set up in a semi-circle facing the village wall. The village leadership wasn't too impressed, which the well-dressed guard from before made even more evident. "What, he's gonna beat up some logs? Anyone can do that. I don't see how this will prove anything!"

S'haar simply looked at him as patiently as before. "Bring over a few throwing spears and your best thrower. We'll start off by seeing what you can do."

The guard narrowed his eyes and started to respond when S'haar cut him off. "We're about to prove to you what we can do, but we also need to see what you're capable of offering us in return. I promise this'll be worth your while."

The well-dressed guard snapped his mouth shut before looking at one of the less well-dressed guards near at hand. The guard in question nodded and stepped forward, stretching his limbs as he did so. He was certainly larger than average, though far from the largest argu'n Jack had seen. A few other guards handed over some smaller spears that he then stuck into the ground at his feet.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

S'haar nodded respectfully to the large argu'n before speaking. "I want you to throw a spear at each target as fast as you accurately can, while also going for a killing hit."

The guard looked S'haar up and down before smirking and grabbing the first spear. Then, in an impressively rapid and smooth move, he turned and threw with enough force that the spear buried itself well past the metal head into the wood. Then, before the spear had fully sunk in, he had the second spear in hand and threw it again. The third and fourth spears were a bit slower leaving his hands but still flew accurately, even if they didn't bury themselves quite as deep as the first two, and the fifth barely grazed its target before hitting the wall and falling to the ground.

All five spears took him a little under a half-minute to throw, and he was obviously winded after the effort.

S'haar again nodded respectfully at the guard, even while he was glaring at the last spear, clearly annoyed at his own performance. "Well done. I doubt I could do much better."

Walking to inspect the targets, with a few village leaders close behind, she continued her examination. "The first two penetrated deep enough that they probably would have killed their targets. The second two might not have been killing blows but would have certainly slowed their targets down." She turned back to the guard who'd thrown. "If these targets had been a group of charging raiders, how many do you think you could have dropped before they reached you?"

The guard shrugged. "One for sure, two if I was lucky, or they'd been a little further back."

S'haar nodded as the spears were returned to their owners. "Speaking from personal experience, that sounds about right."

A few village leaders raised eye ridges at that but waited to see where this was going. S'haar pulled out her own two spears and held them out for the spear-thrower to inspect while she spoke. "The first thing the wizard here can offer is crafting techniques, unlike anything you've seen before."

She then turned and threw the spear in a way that made the previous display look slow and clumsy in comparison. While that spear was in flight, she shifted the second spear to her first hand and threw it again, the spear leaving her fingers just as the first hit home.

Jack couldn't help but smile. He enjoyed watching her show off a little. These two spears went noticeably deeper than any of the ones the guard had thrown. The first one was even sticking out the back of the log. The leaders looked a bit more unsure than before, but the one Jack started calling the guard captain still seemed to have his doubts. "Ok, that was impressive and would certainly be enough of a reason for us to open up trade with you under normal conditions, but that's not nearly enough to kill two wolgen."

S'haar walked over to retrieve her spears, pulling them out by bracing her foot against the log and kicking forward while she pulled back on the spear. That done, she turned back to the skeptical guard. "I agree, but as I already told you, I'm only the second most deadly person here. Set up some fresh logs, and our wizard will show you a little of what he's capable of!"

Jack did his best to even out his breathing as the new logs were placed. He quickly checked his rifle, trying to ignore all the eyes suddenly focused on him. Somehow this was almost more nerve wracking than actual combat. At least then, his mind was hyper-focused on what was coming next. Right now, he was only worried about not messing up and ruining everything.

He was also trying not to think about the last time he had used the rifle in combat.

Angela's voice cut in over his headset. Her voice held an edge she usually reserved for giving him a hard time. "Try not to worry too much. Even if you do screw this up horrendously, I've still got a trick or two to impress our hosts!"

Jack bit back his retort but smirked nonetheless. He felt some of the tension leaving his shoulders as he straightened up, ready to show what he was capable of. Ever since the second raid, he'd made it a point to periodically get in a bit of target practice, and now that he'd gotten past the jitters, he was confident he could pull this off. If only to spite Angela a little.

S'haar didn't bother explaining, just nodded in his direction. "When you're ready."

Jack closed his eyes, took a final steadying breath, then let it out before turning and raising the iron sights to the first target. Everything was over so quickly; it took Jack a moment to realize he was done, standing with the rifle lowered and pointed at the ground. It was clear that all five targets were no longer standing less than four seconds after his first shot.

The village leaders were more impressed, but S'haar wasn't done. Walking forward, she grabbed one of the logs and spun it around, showing how torn up the wood was where the bullet exited. "In a fraction of the time I could throw two spears, all five raiders would be dead, but not just them."

She dropped the log and led the leaders to the wall, where a hole was evident in the wood behind the targets. "Anyone standing behind the first set of raiders would no longer be a threat, either."

This time the village leaders looked surprised and began speaking amongst themselves. But, for once, the guard captain kept his mouth shut. In his stead, Lord Sal'zar turned back to S'haar and responded, "Now, that was impressive, but why do I feel you're still not showing us everything?"

S'haar shrugged. "Because we're not. No offense, but you haven't exactly given us any reason to trust you with our secrets..." she nodded a little differently to Jack, "well, with his secrets. You wanted a demonstration that we were who we said we were. I think this little display was more than sufficient to back up our claims."

Lord Sal'zar looked over to the guard captain, who nodded. Then, looking back to S'haar, he looked less despondent than before. "That you have. I now believe our best hope lies with you. I'm not sure we'll be in a position to properly repay you for your efforts, but if you can help us deal with this threat to our village, you will have our gratitude, and whatever else we can reasonably offer."

S'haar nodded. "Then let's sit down and discuss how we can help each other. We've got some time yet. We've got another friend coming from our Outpost, a hunter who can be of great assistance once he gets here."

Lord Sal'zar looked surprised. "Why did this hunter not arrive with the rest of you?"

S'haar smiled. "Because he didn't leave until we got here and discovered this village's situation. Once we realized what was happening, we called for help from the one person we could trust to get here safely."

Lord Sal'zar's expression conveyed the confusion his words were about to express when S'haar answered his unspoken question by nodding to Jack again. "Wizard, remember?"

-

Lon'thul was exhausted. It had been a ridiculously long and stressful day, and he wanted nothing more than to just collapse and fall asleep, but there were a few things he needed to do first. He'd found a small space wedged between some large rocks and thick brush. It wasn't nearly enough room to stretch out in, but it more than made up for the lack of comfort with the peace of mind the cover provided. After munching away on some tasteless, and more importantly, odorless, 'protein bar' Angela had insisted he take and washing it down with some reasonably cool water, Lon'thul wrapped his coat around himself and activated a heating pack on the inside.

It was warm enough out that he'd be in no danger of freezing to death, but he didn't want to risk getting so cold that he'd be too sluggish to act, if the situation came down to that.

In the dark, his vision was completely ineffective, leaving him to depend on the taste of the air and the sounds of the forest to alert him of any dangers. But, for some reason, it seemed unusually loud this evening.

When he was out hunting, he usually found the forest's sounds relaxing as he sat by a campfire. However, in his mind, every scrape of a branch in the breeze was a wolgen sneaking through the darkness, every animal cry was a warning that danger was near, and even the slightest breezes were carefully tasted to make sure nothing had changed from the last.

Sleep was a long time coming, and his dreams were far from restful. In them, he was running from something close on his heels. He tore through the brush as he tried desperately to get away from whatever hunted him from the shadows. But, no matter how much he juked or how long he ran, it was always right behind him, one step closer than it had been a moment ago. When it finally jumped out of the shadows to get him, Lon'thul could see the beast wore his own face. Its triumphant cry echoed his own voice as Lon'thul fell.

Then his eyes snapped open, and he was frozen in place. His heart was beating so rapidly and forcefully that it seemed to drown out the forest around him. He took a moment to calm himself down, making sure to breathe slowly and evenly. His heart rate had finally returned to normal, and he was just thinking about going back to sleep, when he noticed something was wrong.

The forest had grown far too quiet while he slept...