The Hunt

[Jay Carpenter]

Staring out, Jai tried to guess how long it would take them to walk to the upslope beyond. Under an hour, he would wager but distances could be deceiving.

"What is deceiving?"


He hadn't realized he'd spoken. Nor that someone had come up beside him. Nisele stood there, kohled eyes forward as his had been, sparkling with secrets. She did not so much as turn when Jai studied her. She simply smiled and slipped her arm through his elbow like he might escort her to the flowers below.

He smirked, but otherwise did move much at all. "I'm surprised you're coming, My Lady. Were you not interested in horses only?"
Her eyes glittered with amusement and suddenly her lips brushed soft air across his cheek. A foreboding whisper.

"I suppose I am not the only one with two interests at the same time."


He must have looked confused because she waved it off to chatter on about other superficial topics.

By the time the men were seen again the sun was dipping low toward the horizon like a heavy eye fighting off sleep. It gave way for a comfortable dusk, warm and pleasant. And the first vestiges of an overnight mist to come shone faintly in the lowest of places like some ghost on the edges of sight. The guards paced quietly around the throng of those drinking and snacking. Horses were strewn downwind, pitched with enough lead to graze at their will. All in all, it was peaceful. More like a picnic for the upper class rather than an escort of people waiting around for the procession of hunters to return.

Jai's legs were already burning by the time they began to climb back toward the rest of their group. In this, he was not alone. Imaad's jaw had taken a grim set a league back. Antony's jokes were shorter, the glances tired. The huntmaster dragged every step like his feet sank into mud. In the lead Daryen's pace never slowed, but from the way he kept hiking up the weight on his shoulder, Jai knew the exertion was burning in him as well.

Then the reason for their oddly shaped outlines showed itself. Each man bore a dismembered quarter of elk on his shoulder. Each went about their own way to carry it too. Some gripped the long leg sticking awkwardly in front of him like the handle of a club. Another hung onto the round flank like a massive sack of grain. Jai hooked his elbow around the meat where it began to narrow from the thigh. He gave up using his hands, slick with blood, a mile back.

Focus. Jai grit his teeth through the cramp rippling down his arm when he hiked his own weight; the thing weighed more than most men. He tried to remember what insane motivation made him swear to play this game without the Power.

He couldn't remember. But if bloody Imaad could do it, Jai could too.

He slid the hindquarter to the ground and perched his hands on his knees like he'd sparred for hours. The sudden relief of weight was short lived: it felt like talons dug across the tops of his shoulders like a death grip. Aches resurfaced from earlier he'd forgotten in the chore. Stomach, shoulder, head. There were no shortage of curses thrown around. His own included.

His elation faded when Liridia's face loomed first thing, far before finding Nythadri's. He was rather curious to see what she thought of their spoils.

"Men and blood."
She guffawed, then walked away muttering something about juvenile obsessions. Her warder stalked after, but only after tossing over a fresh water skein, and an approving nod. He grinned like greeting an old friend and nearly emptied it on one drink.

That was when he looked down, turned his hands over, and started laughing.

After Imaad, or so he would brag, felled the elk, massive by the numerous points slung to the huntmaster's back, the backbreaking work began to skin and gut the beast. It trailed buckets of sweat down the inside of previously soaked shirts from the stalk of killing, followed by the hour of wandering before the beast finally died from the arrow in its throat. Everyone dug elbow deep into its carcass then, cutting out tender organs. Jai could still feel their bloodwarmth in his palms: heart, liver, spleen, intestines, lungs. These lesser choices were not shunned by noble company, but taken as prized offal. With nothing left to wipe the sweat away from salty eyes, smears of what was on every man's arms now rubbed trails across their faces.

Jai dived into the beast as much as everyone else. Except Nisele. She conveniently held a skein open and waited for the men to dump organs inside. Jai's offer to unburden her of its weight was met with scorn; in their last hour she finally accepted. The color of innards literally stained his skin pink, as though from dipping himself into clothmaker's dye, up to the elbow where he'd rolled his coat sleeves. The first hitch of the leg up to his shoulder left another wide smear across his chest where he'd loosened his shirt half way down. The overlaid coat fully unbuttoned hours ago. A glance at Antony gave him an idea of what his own face must be like. He looked as if he'd taken a head wound.

Jai stretched, rapped a few knuckles into his back, and searched the faces for Nythadri.

Orders were went out to move and Saidin fluxed. Jai glanced when the flow of a gateway widened. Apparently the self-imposed shackle from channeling was lifted once they were back at the starting line did not apply to hauling meat because Daryen held onto his quarter all the way through to the other side. Looking rather heroic when he turned in the frame of unnatural light to wave everyone through. Hair flowing in the wind on the other side, a courtyard of stone under his feet, and torchlight flickering his frame in menace as if saidin itself blazed down, Jai shook his head, hiked up his (and Nisele's) share of the burden, and followed.

On the other side, the strong scent of saltwater hit him like a wall.

"The Aryth Ocean."



Edited by Jay Carpenter, Sep 27 2016, 05:24 PM.