Dek'thul heard the sound of metal clearing leather on the other side of the tree and realized his mistake in positioning quickly enough to dodge the blade from behind. Before he could catch his footing, a second and third strike continued to drive him back. Finally, his son dove forward, apparently intending to topple his old man onto the ground, but that was a miscalculation. Even with the element of surprise, the older hunter was far too massive to be so easily upended.

The hunter grinned victoriously as he spread his feet to absorb the impact better, but his grin quickly faded when his rear foot made an impact with a fallen log behind him. Without any time to recalculate, the older hunter braced as well as he could, only to fall over as his son slammed into him, noticing an odd shuffling of the leaves as he fell. To further complicate things, he felt his breath get knocked out of his lungs on impact with the ground.

Of course, Dek'thul was experienced enough not to let a little thing like not being able to breathe for a few seconds slow him down too much, and he already had his own blades out and swinging almost a split second later. Not that he intended to kill his son. The knives were wielded like decoys on a hunt; they were used to corral his prey into a position of vulnerability. Yes, if his son was particularly slow or inept, he could get badly injured, but without some risk, the boy would never become the great hunter Dek'thul knew he could be. Besides, the older hunter trusted in his training and his son's innate talent to keep the lad from being in too much danger.

As it turned out, his trust was well placed, and Lon'thul rolled away with inches to spare. Although, as Dek'thul regained his breath and his feet, he was surprised when no other attack was incoming. Instead, the forest was utterly silent as his son took the opportunity to slip back into the forest.

Dek'thul grinned. That was a particularly smart move on his son's part. After all, they were in his territory, and the longer the fight drew out, the more likely reinforcements would show up to aid the younger hunter. Even someone less skilled than the two combatants could quickly turn the tide of the battle, as Dek'thul had learned to his detriment back at the outpost.

He'd already been impressed with his son's patience and discipline by remaining in place for the better part of the night, then he'd shown great awareness of the layout of the land by backing his father into that log, and now he was displaying better tactical insight than Dek'thul had been expecting. The old hunter grinned; his son would indeed be a worthy successor if only his old pops could keep him from getting killed, fighting this lost war.

With his attack surprise foiled, Dek'thul decided to take a more direct approach and spoke loud enough to be heard clearly by his now hidden son. "You've come a long way, son! Not long ago, you wouldn't have lasted more than an hour or two before breaking from hiding. Also, staying in the exact spot you shot from? That took some real guts! You honestly had me questioning whether I'd miscalculated and you were somewhere else! I think that's the first time I doubted myself in fifty years!"

All that answered the hunter was silence. Dek'thul grinned. His son wouldn't give his spot away so easily. Good. The most difficult hunts were the most rewarding. Leave it up to his own son to provide the greatest challenge yet!

Dek'thul started to slip back into another shadow. Of course, with the sun coming up, it would be much harder to move between shadows unseen, but that made this more fun. But before he could make it into proper concealment, an arrow came out of a nearby shrub, burring itself into the tree near Dek'thul's head.

Evidently, Lon'thul wasn't going to let his father regain the initiative in this fight, but to do so, he'd given away his positioning. So without wasting a second to allow the lad to move, Dek'thul dove forward, throwing a dagger ahead of himself to force the boy to deflect it or move out of position rather than prepare for the charge. But when the hunter dove through the foliage, he was met by a large branch swinging for his head. It was clearly meant to knock him out or force the hunter to abort his attack.

Opting for the latter, Dek'thul threw himself to the ground quick enough to only feel the slightest of impacts as the branch skimmed across his scarred plates, and when he looked up, Lon'thul was gone again.

This time Dek'thul actually laughed out loud. "You keep this up, and you'll be good enough to take my place as the hunting chief of our village in no time!"

Again, there was no answer, not that Dek'thul had expected one. So instead, the hunter retrieved his fallen knife and took a moment to look around. The forest was utterly still again, but that meant his son couldn't have gotten far. In fact, only three spots Dek'thul could see were close enough for his son to have hidden in time but thick enough to offer half-decent concealment.

Walking toward what Dek'thul considered the least likely of the three, he continued to speak. "But you still have a lot to learn. There's more to being the hunting chief than being good at hunting."

With a slash of the dagger, Dek'thul tore open the underbrush revealing it to be empty. Half expecting another surprise attack from the back, Dek'thul turned around. Not sensing any movement, he continued to the next possible hiding location. "You have to be good at leading people and taking their various skills and aptitudes into account. You have to make judgment calls every day, which could get people killed or result in the village facing starvation."

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Dek'thul slashed open the foliage of the potential hiding spot, revealing it to be as empty as the last. Then, with a grin, he started walking toward the last, though this time, he walked a little more slowly. "You have to know when to cut your losses and run. Doubling down on a failed hunt, no matter how important it is, is a good way to get people killed. To get yourself killed."

He stood in front of the foliage, shaking his head at his son's stubbornness. He could even see traces of his son's passage into the underbrush. "It's time to give up this failed hunt and come home. You did well, far better than I expected, but this prey is too big to take down on your own!"

This time, his son's voice responded, coming from exactly where Dek'thul expected his son to be. "Maybe so, but who said I was alone?"

That's when Dek'thul heard movement from behind, right in the location he'd been about to hide before his son had shot an arrow drawing his attention. Turning around, he could see the young female hunter he'd blackmailed not long ago charging forward, spear in hand. She must have hidden there minutes ago during their first scuffle over the fallen log, her movements masked by the sounds of the fight and the breeze that rustled the underbrush. It was the only time he'd been unaware long enough for anyone other than the two of them to move within the vicinity of his senses, and his son had lured him into the exact position that would allow her to ambush him in this manner. The kid was even better than he'd thought!

Dek'thul used his dagger to parry the spear aside, but before he could capitalize on the opening, his son lept out and wrapped his arms around Dek'thul's neck from behind, using one arm to get enough leverage to pull the other tighter against the arteries in his father's neck. The older hunter prepped to leap back to throw both their masses against a tree to dislodge the hold, but that was when the female kicked him in the stomach, doubling him over.

As the older hunter struggled to think of what to do next, the world became fuzzy, dark, then black.

-

Lack'nul was having a hard time accepting his new role as guard captain. Less than a year ago, he'd been a mere door guard, and now the lives of everyone in this caravan depended on him doing this job to the best of his ability.

To be fair, not everything was on his shoulders. The rest of the leadership was more involved with the decisions of the guard than usual, but then again, they were also in a far more perilous position than a typical guard captain had to deal with...

Then there was the question of how he'd received his new position. It didn't sit right with the new guard captain. Even if Ger'ron had retired instead of... well, what had happened, Lack'nul didn't feel like he deserved the position. It wasn't like he'd earned his place through years of dedicated service or feats of heroism. He'd just been somewhat competent at his job during his short time in this new group's guard force, nothing more. He didn't have Lon'thul's talent, S'haar's skill, Em'brel's brilliance, or Ger'ron's experience. He was just the least bad choice for the job who wasn't already busy in another position.

When he'd first been called before the leadership of the caravan and offered the position, he'd declined. Even if no one else understood how important it was to have an experienced guard captain, S'haar should know better, but she'd simply pragmatically explained that there was no one better suited available.

Then he'd pointed out that Ger'ron had countless years of knowledge and experience that allowed him to lead both in the practice ring and on the battlefield, where all Lack'nul could do was tell any gate guards how to do their job correctly, and they didn't even have a gate right now! But Jack countered by telling him that before Ger'ron had taken the position of guard captain for the outpost, he too had been a gate guard and that the position one was in currently was not necessarily an indicator of where they were best suited.

Lack'nul then tried one last time to point out that he'd never be able to do what Ger'ron had done for the guards of this caravan. That was when Fea'en finally spoke up. She simply said that before he'd gotten himself killed like "the stubborn old male he was," Ger'ron had already chosen Lack'nul as his eventual replacement.

That hit Lack'nul in the stomach like a blow from a training spear, leaving him silent as S'haar asked if there were any further objections. Since he couldn't bring himself to countermand one of Ger'ron's final decisions for the guard, he simply shook his head no and finally accepted the position.

That was how the newly appointed guard captain came to be sitting in on the council meetings like this one, entirely out of his depth. He simply sat by silently, lacking even the desire to get himself a plate of the food being offered to everyone present. Apparently, the female, Sare'en, noticed his lack of food because soon he had a plateful of meat sitting in his hands regardless of his lackluster appetite.

That was how Lack'nul came to be present when Lon'thul led in several hunters, hauling one of the largest argu'n the guard captain had ever seen. His plates and skin were dyed various shades of black and grey, and bones and metal were woven in and around his tendrils, making them stand out like some wild mane, giving him a terrifying visage. He was bound hand and foot, with cloth wrapped around his arm spikes, preventing him from using those as effective weapons in a pinch. There was even a wooden gag in his mouth, which probably meant more to keep his teeth contained than to keep him silent, but the large argu'n held his tongue anyway while he glared at everyone present. They were taking every precaution to keep him neutralized while presenting him to the council now present.

With a bit of a flourish, Lon'thul grinned and bowed before speaking up. "Well, I suppose after all the time I've spent working with you all, it was time to introduce everyone. Lady S'haar, Lord Jack, and everyone else present, may I present my father, Dek'thul."

There was a moment of silence as who was bound before them sunk in for everyone, with all the subsequent implications. That moment was followed by a flurry of questions from all different angles. Lon'thul simply grinned like a wolgen who'd cornered his prey before he started answering questions.