Snippet #1530158

The forest may seem silent to those who have not lived there their whole life but Asteria knew differently. She heard the sound of the breeze blowing through the canopy, rustling the leaves to and fro. The faint rush of water coming from the east where the river tumbled over the nearby cliff and into the lake below. The shrill cry of the eagles as they dove to catch their prey and the light chatter of the animals that spoke to each other in their native tongue.

It was this cacophony of sounds that the young ranger was trying to tune the junior huntsman in to so that they could pick out the hesitant steps of the buck from a hundred yards away before it even came into view. So she was surrounded by three young men, all crouched in their various hiding places, ears set to the sounds surrounding them as they tried to pick out prey. Something, anything, to bring back to the tribe for supper.

Asteria heard it first, a barely audible crack of a branch from about forty meters northwest behind a small cluster of shrubbery yet she made no movement. This was the boys’ lesson, not her own. Their tribe had barely enough rations to dole out amongst its members but if the three young hunters didn’t learn now, they would never be ready to take her place when she left on the morrow.

Thesnio, the slender blonde to her left, quickly notched an arrow and let it fly, obviously the first to detect the beast and he had to have hit something because the stillness was pierced with a shrill scream. The leaves on the bushes rustled slightly before a small boar, perhaps 20 to 30 pounds, came rushing out headfirst to meet them with an arrow lodged deeply in its flank. Then, working as a team, the other two boys helped to control the prey, each lodging an arrow into the boar and bringing it to a halt as it slid across the forest floor, landing on its side about 10 paces in front of them.

“Good job, boys! Nice ear, Thesnio! I see a piece of sweet roll in your future!” She patted the young boy on the back as the trio of adolescents moved forward to field dress their kill and as they began their work, Asteria leaned against a nearby oak, letting her gaze drift over the next generation of hunters and the first thought that entered her mind was: Will I be here to see them become men?

It wasn’t the first time such a thought had entered her mind. In fact, the past few days were filled with nothing but worry even though her actions wouldn’t let her divert from her usual itinerary. Get up, get washed, clean her armor and her weaponry, fletch new arrows if need be, then be out and hunting before dawn would break. If she caught something then she would dress it and haul it back to the tribe, if not she would make herself useful in other ways by either gathering firewood or drinking water from the nearby stream. Every 10th day she would lead a small band to the nearest human village for trading purposes. Her schedule was easy to follow and had never been broken.

Until now.

On the morrow, she would leave the life she had known since childhood and be sent off on her own. She almost felt as if it was a form of punishment but deep in her heart she knew better. Her tribe had been settled in the lush and fruitful Aerire forest for 7 generations and recently their good fortunes had changed. The world had become chaotic, the dark ones had begun their war upon the lands and her homeland had become as barren of wildlife as the deserts. Whole herds of beasts had disappeared in the span of a week, far more than had ever been lost and when one of their elder tribeswomen, Elikua, had cast her fortune stones to read the reasoning they had only told her one thing.

“Asteria must meet her fate against the dragon.”

After she had read that message in her stones, Elikua had looked up from the ground, her grey gaze piercing through the bonfire and resting on Asteria herself. The young ranger felt her eyes widen as she was told of her destiny but she dared not show the fear and terror that welled up inside of her heart at the prophecy. No, she would nod sternly; accepting the fate for the tribe’s wellbeing even though she knew in her heart there would be no defeating such a beast. At least, not by a Senior Hunter of the Arik’toa tribe.

Where would she even start? The fortune bones had not even given her a starting place much less the exact location of the dragon’s lair. Should she wander aimlessly until either she died or her tribe did? What sort of honor was there in that?

Her reverie was broken as the youngest of the three lads, Mau, ran up to her with the boar’s pelt in hand, the fur of the legs folded up neatly in his hand.

“What do we do with the organs, Asteria?! We ain’t gotta eat them, do we?” The boy wrinkled his nose as he looked at the package before turning his gaze back up towards her face.

The young ranger laughed, reaching down and mussing the boy’s hair with one hand before taking the package from him so that he could go help the other boys carry the boar’s carcass back to camp.

“We find a use for everything Mau, don’t we? Everything and everyone….” Trailing off, she led the trio of freshly anointed hunters on the winding path back towards their tribe, worry filling her heart about the journey that she would begin on the next morning.