The arrival of another startled him, and if he hadn't been as focused as he was at the time, he might have instinctively sent his arrow flying at them rather than the beast. The other was wearing goggles, and after a few short seconds, Eldridge was able to identify her as female.
His heroine.
She moved fluidly, her actions seeming to sync up with the piston-fire in his brain as he processed what was unfolding before him. She had sliced her arm to apply her own blood to her arrow.
A deterrent. Clever.
The blood-soaked arrow was shortly loosed after, and he tracked its progress into the thick of a tree beyond the beast. With another mental nod to her resourcefulness, and perhaps a mental note to remember to steal that move, he lowered his arrow at the same moment she had fired off her second one and it planted itself into the creatures heart.
He was making the motions to replace the arrow in his quiver and standing up when the female hunter approached him. Her goggles had been moved by then, and her eyes were now unobscured. The daggers she bore at him were cold, but the ones he glanced back were only fueled by a sense of wonderment and admiration.
She questioned his well being, and he almost chuckled aloud at the irony, instead choosing to mentally acknowledge it. Before answering, his gaze dropped from her eyes to her own wound, and he noted the old scar tissue that bordered the cut.
She's done that before.
He held his bow still, in his left hand, not entirely off edge yet. A firm nod answered the girl before he approached the now deceased creature. Turning his gaze back to her, he spoke.
"The contract said it was just a dire-bear."
He figured that explanation would be enough, if she was what he expected her to be.
His heroine.
She moved fluidly, her actions seeming to sync up with the piston-fire in his brain as he processed what was unfolding before him. She had sliced her arm to apply her own blood to her arrow.
A deterrent. Clever.
The blood-soaked arrow was shortly loosed after, and he tracked its progress into the thick of a tree beyond the beast. With another mental nod to her resourcefulness, and perhaps a mental note to remember to steal that move, he lowered his arrow at the same moment she had fired off her second one and it planted itself into the creatures heart.
He was making the motions to replace the arrow in his quiver and standing up when the female hunter approached him. Her goggles had been moved by then, and her eyes were now unobscured. The daggers she bore at him were cold, but the ones he glanced back were only fueled by a sense of wonderment and admiration.
She questioned his well being, and he almost chuckled aloud at the irony, instead choosing to mentally acknowledge it. Before answering, his gaze dropped from her eyes to her own wound, and he noted the old scar tissue that bordered the cut.
She's done that before.
He held his bow still, in his left hand, not entirely off edge yet. A firm nod answered the girl before he approached the now deceased creature. Turning his gaze back to her, he spoke.
"The contract said it was just a dire-bear."
He figured that explanation would be enough, if she was what he expected her to be.