Blood On Ice (The Saga of the Ancients)

Chapter 1 (Part 1)

Chapter One
Dangerous Misgivings

"Watch your step, don't snap any branches and try to avoid leaves, alright Frey?" he whispered silently up to his sister.

"Yes, brother," Frey responded in a barely audible whisper as she pulled a homemade arrow out of her quiver. If you can even call it that.

The quiver is more like two pieces of leather that keep the arrows tied together. Tight enough not to fall, but loose enough to pull out quickly and without them snagging on each other. The arrowheads are the result of two rocks that were cracked and chipped at to make a razor-sharp edge, too poor to buy arrows from a shop or smith, and they are attached with two thin strips of leather and pine resin.

"Alex? What animal is this track?" Frey asked her brother quietly.

"That, my dearest little sister, is what we are looking for. And by the looks of it, we are getting close. So, no more talking from here on out unless I say it is alright." He replied chuckling quietly to himself.

As he carefully stepped, Alex watched as his sister did the same. Frey has gotten better at moving quietly around leaves and branches. Sometimes she will step on a branch, but the soft-soled moccasins she got as a gift from Alex always allow her to feel the branches and twigs before she puts enough weight on them to crack them and to alter her path without making noise. The small snap from broken twigs may seem obsolete but the prey could hear the noise and would get spooked. Which would lead to an unsuccessful hunt, and even worse, no food to bring home.

When Alex saw the familiar sight of the sun's rays that had started to break through the dense canopy, he stopped. As Alex saw the sun directly overhead, he stopped, grabbed a handful of grass and tossed it up in the air slightly to gauge the movement of the wind, sighing contently when he watched it fall straight back down to the earth. No wind means that the prey won't be able to sense their scent from too far away, but it also makes this thick and humid forest supremely hot.

Reaching forward, Alex tapped Frey's elbow, and gave her the signal to nock the arrow on her bow and keep it at the ready position, three fingers on the string with the pointer finger above and the middle and ring fingers below the nocked arrow. With his hands, Alex tells Frey to move slowly and carefully and that the spot is getting close. The spot in question is a small meadow hidden in the middle of the dark and humid forest on the outskirts of their hometown. In the spring, the meadow is adorned with hundreds of different colored wildflowers. The summertime, though, is when the prey is most often found here.

Having crept forward to the edge of the meadow, with just a small hedge of bushes between them and the meadow, the two siblings wait.

For hours, they crouched patiently, Alex and Frey stay hidden behind a small bush, praying for an opportunity that their next dinner might come to the meadow today and they can bring home the first good meal in weeks to their mom and another sister; Grace. The sun slowly but persistently crawled overhead, and with each passing hour, it fled further to the horizon. The meadow, being in the middle of the forest, got darker well before the town gets dark due to the thick canopy and the tall trees that surrounded it.

Seeing the last purple and pink colors disappearing from the sky, Alex sighs. "Frey, I think it's time we call it a night. We don't want to be out here when the wolves come out." Alex says while taking one last scan of the meadow.

"Can't we wait for just a-", Frey started as her protest is ready to burst forth.

"Don't Move!" Alex whisper shouted to his sister, interrupting her pleas to stay.

Having seen a dark mass slowly creep out on the far side of the meadow, Alex slowly slides below the top of the bushes and slowly moves into position and came back above them directly behind Frey.

"Don't move and be patient. Wait for an opportunity to present itself. I will tell you when to drawback then you will fire when you are ready. Ok?" Alex asked Frey, compressing his excitement.

Hearing her gulp and seeing a slight nod, Alex nods in content. Noticing her deathly grip on the bow, he reached forward and slowly loosens her grip reassuringly.

The dark mass steps further out into the meadow as the shadows push further and further into the middle of the meadow. Painstakingly slow, the animal creeps closer and closer. Finally, after what feels like hours but what is no more than a few minutes, it turns broadside at only about 25 yards. A giant boar.

Squeezing Frey on her shoulder, he lets go of her, the signal to drawback.

Frey draws back on the big longbow slowly and shakily, seeing how giant the bow looks, being held by a girl so small it is almost comical. Frey gets to full draw with shaky arms, takes a breath to steel her nerves, and fires.

Hearing the successful thud of the arrow striking the target followed by the token squeal of the animal, Alex smacks Frey on the shoulder in congratulations. Smiling, Frey turns to her brother, "Brother, that's gotta be the biggest boar in the area," Frey says excitedly. Stopping when she sees Alex's look.

Almost in slow motion, Alex yells at her, pushing Frey out of the way and ripping the bow and quiver from her hands, "You idiot look at the target and make sure it's not coming towards us!"

Alex turns, draws, and fires another arrow into the giant boar no more than five yards away with barely a glance. Sending an arrow successfully into its front shoulder, he smiles and looks into its screaming face, seeing its fiery red eyes cursing him.

"Get up the trees now!"Alex yells at Frey, who seems stuck on the ground, too afraid to move on the far side of the boar that is now separating the two.

"Grab your knife, and get up the tree!" Challenging the boar, Alex incites a charge and dives to the right barely dodging the giant animal; rolling back onto his feet, he fires another arrow that bounces off the top of its head. "Damn" Alex thought to himself.

AN: Thank you for taking the time out to read my new book "Blood on Ice". This is the first of a trilogy. I have completed a rough draft of the first half of the book and will upload one chapter in two parts every week. I will consistently upload. If there are any critiques, I am open to hearing them!! Please Vote on my book if you enjoy it. The Next Part is schedule for Nov 15th, 2023,

Thanks!!!