oh noes

Dream 4

Tch…I’m off my game today.
Remember, me…focus. It’s just you, the trees, and the wildlife.
I nock my bow and aim at an unsuspecting squirrel precariously perched on a tree branch.
A small thought wiggles into my head.
Maybe you should spend that money Ellie got?
Absolutely not. I let go of the string…great. Another miss. I watch the squirrel scurry back to its hidey hole.
A squirrel won’t do. I need a deer. The fur is nice, but they don’t offer good money for that.
All your troubles would be solved if you just gave in. You could live in a comfortable house with Ellie…buying the things you need without needing to worry.
Yeah, and what about when it runs out? Sure, there’s a lot…but there’s not nearly enough for us to live out the rest of our lives in complacency.
Who says you need to spend it all at once? Convert it into silvers, go slow…We can make this last long enough for you to get an actual, paying job.
And what if I can’t?
Inner me laughs. There’s never a “can’t.” It’s always a “can” - but only if you believe it to be so.
So you’re saying I can survive a fall off a cliff if I believe I can? Please.
Those are two different things, I’ll have you know.
It’s just as stupid either way. Life doesn’t work how we want it to.
Heh…If you say so. Inner me disappears.
Ugh…
Not taking the money and using it would be stupid.
But…using it and possibly endangering Ellie…that’s even worse.
…We’ll wait another week. If nothing happens by then…

I start taking quiet steps through the forest, trying to spot any wildlife that I can shoot down. A few birds scatter here and there, but I’m not interested in those.
…nothing here…
…nothing there, either…
… Holy smokes. Deer.
I send a quick prayer to Fortuna and freeze, not wanting to make any other noises that might scare it away. I slowly crouch, inching out of its line of sight.
Its ears flick and it takes small steps forward. Shhhh…you needn’t do anything unnecessary…
I pull an arrow out of my quiver and nock it, aiming for the deer’s front leg. There’s no way I’m killing it in one hit…I’ll have to disable it so that it can’t get far.
Thunk.
The deer cries out in pain and tries to run, but collapses after it puts its weight on its injured leg.
Just in case…
I shoot its hind leg.
It cries out again, kicking in fear.
I get up from my spot and approach it, taking out my knife. It’s a shame about this…but Ellie and I need to survive, too. There’s no two ways about it.
The wounded deer twitches when I touch its throat and put the knife to it. It desperately cries out and tries to move…but it can’t. It’s over.
I force the knife into its neck as it screams, almost as if it’s begging for mercy. Blood splashes onto my hand once I finally make it past its hide.
Its cries are replaced with gurgles of blood, and then wheezes. Eventually…it stops, altogether.
I run my hand over its warm corpse. This is way too big to fit in my bag…I’ll have to hack the deer apart.
I work the knife into its joints, popping bones out of their sockets. I wrap the legs in cloth before I shove them into the pouches on the sides of my bag. As for the torso, I cover it with a massive piece of cloth before shoving it in.
Ugh…this is heavy. At least we’ll be eating well tonight…I’ll have the butcher carve it up for me. I’d ruin the value if I did it myself.
I begin to make my way back to the town.
The hide would probably go for…at least twenty to thirty silvers. I’ll talk with Ellie and see if she wants to keep the meat or not.
I sigh. Knowing her, she’d probably want us to keep it. She’s always been such an annoying brat when it comes to these deer…the few times I managed to find one, she’d said that since I killed it, I should eat it…something about appeasing the spirits and whatnot.
To be honest, it does sound rational - if I were a deer who was just murdered by a hunter, I’d at least want them to use my corpse in some way, not just sell it.
…However, I would’ve also wanted to be alive, so I’d probably just haunt the hunter for the rest of his life and drive him to suicide.
Oh, well. We’ll see what Ellie says when I get back.

After a couple dozen minutes, I’m finally back at the town. I pass by a string of familiar shops before I stop at the butcher’s. The bell dings as I open the door. Honss sees me walk in.
“Hey, Sterling! How you doing, buddy?”
I wince when he says the name I gave to him. Gods, it feels so cringy…it feels even worse when I remember I told Birch to call me that a couple years ago. Ugh…I’m never living that down.
“...I’m fine, Mister Honss. Would you mind chopping something up for me?”
“Did you catch another deer?”
I nod.
“Oh, look at you! Doing so well. The usual, right?”
“Yep. As always, try to get the hide cleaned as much as possible.”
“No problem, bud. Bring it here.” He holds his arms out as I slide the bag off my back and hand it to him. He unwraps the parts and sets the cloth aside.
“Oh, hey! You’re getting better at this!”
“...I don’t think so.”
He laughs. “It’s a lot better than when you first brought in one of these…it looked like a shark had tossed it up and around.”
I wince. Yeah, that…that wasn’t pretty. “You did give me a little bit of training…”
“Awww, that was nothing. Just a lil’ thing in exchange for that work you did. Would you be open to doing that again, by the way?” He takes the pieces of meat to the back, where I can’t see him.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t mind.” It was easy money, really…
“Ahhh, wonderful.”
There’s a quiet pause before he speak again. “Wanna hear this story about this other kid I was helping a couple years back? Seeing you reminds me of him. A little.”
“Um…sure.” Might as well.
“He’s one of Flint’s kids. Did you hear about the cultist incident? He was one of ‘em.”
Flint…the worst slave trader in town. Sells his slaves to whoever without concern for their lives…and that Gurrund thing, too. Good thing they were caught before any more kids died…
“Is that so?”
“Yeah. Had the Cursed mask and all. Good kid. Always ready to help out. Cheerful, upbeat. There was always something wrong though…I felt disturbed just looking at him. Well, anyway…Flint sent him to get some meat from me and he waited outside.”
“Did you mess it up?” I ask jokingly.
He laughs. “No, I would never! Absolutely not. Wouldn’t want that kid getting beat to a pulp.”
“Then what did happen?”
“I was preparing it and all…and then I looked outside and he looked deathly pale. And, you know…he was looking pretty happy a couple minutes ago. Maybe a scribble in his book or two. And when I took a look outside to see what was making him so nervous, I saw the man.” I can hear his cleaver as it hits the chopping board.
“The man?” Chop.
“You know…the guy who lives in that rich house by the forest path. That man. He comes around here once every two years or so.” Chop.
…the scary one. The stories all sound like crap to me, but…better safe than sorry. I always warn Ellie to never go there.
He continues. “So, anyway, the guy was staring straight at the poor kid…no wonder he looked so distraught. The kid moved around a little bit, glared at the icicles…guy wouldn’t go away. So I hurried up and added a lil’ extra meat in there and sent him on back to Flint.” He sighs. “I hope he made it without any trouble…but then again, he doesn’t look much better now.” Chop.
That sounds creepy…hope that never happens to Ellie. I’d shoot him dead if I ever caught him getting anywhere close…
Mister Honss comes out with the meat and wraps it in wax-soaked cloth. He hands me the hide, which I promptly stuff into an old potato sack.
“Thanks, Mister Honss.”
“No problem, bud. Anything to help ya get by.”
I wave at him before leaving the shop.
On my way back, I think about what I’m going to say to her.
‘Ellie…we’ll be eating well tonight.’