The story of a Lone Wanderer

Part 4 - Restless Night

Forest. After a day of travelling through plains and hills, the green sight of the forest was very welcoming. In the background, Brad could see his target – mountains. It's still at least half a day of riding on horseback, however it's a travel through forest which is known for a dangerous wildlife and occasional Indians. Brad hoped not to meet either of them.

It was a late afternoon, so it was time to look for a spot to rest with his horse. From the map that Bazza him, he could see that there is a small lake nearby. He decided to head towards it hoping to find a space to have a nice meal and good night's rest. While going through the forest, Brad saw plenty animals, but those we're mostly some birds or occasional squirrel.

He has arrived at the lake and noticed something remarkable, lake was completely still, there was no wind whatsoever. It was so quiet, he could hear his own heartbeat.
Next to one of the trees, he spotted something unnatural, a circle made out of stones. Someone has also camped here, but there were no traces of firewood in the circle and it hasn't rained for a few days which meant, whoever was here, was long gone.

Brad has taken the packs off the horse and began collecting some sticks and pieces of shrubs for the fire. He piled it up in the center of the circle, took out the match and lit it up.
He took out the pan that was provided to him by the merchant, along with the food to cook in the said pot. After a hearty meal, it was getting quite dark so Brad decided to sleep for the night. He laid down the blanket given by Neptune, sat up against the tree and looked at the moon that was making a huge reflection on the lake which was still unaffected by any wind.
After some time, he fell asleep.

Normally, person sleeping in the wild is woken up by sunlight, not by the noise made in the brushes next to you. Brad, awoken by said noises, noticed that it's still dark and couldn't see much in the brushes, thanks to the clouds that were covering the sky. He stood up and reached for his belt with the holster. Not knowing what could make the noise, he took out his gun and tried to be prepared. He decided to step closer to the nearby tree, to try and look what was there. On his way there, he stepped on the sticks which made a cracking noise and alerted the beast which now showed itself to Brad. He could clearly see now that the beast, was a boar and it was charging right at him. What little time he had, he managed to jump away but the boar managed to hit his hand which resulted in the gun flying away from Brad.

He knew that he needed a plan and he needed it quickly. His only cover were trees and gun was about 20 meters away from him. Without the gun, he had no chance against the beast.
He jumped from tree to tree, closing the distance to the gun however the problem was that the gun landed in an open space with no trees to cover him and right now, he was at his last tree being 5 meters away from the gun. Another problem was that the boar wasn't far from him either, but since he had no other choice, he made run for the gun and the boar noticed it as well and started charging at him again. The distance to the gun and the boar was closing in, but then, Brad decided to leap for the gun, grabbed it and rolled while dodging the boar. He looked at the boar, pointed his gun towards and quickly shot all 6 bullets towards it.

If the boar was stationary, all of those shots would hit but the boar wasted little time and after missing the charge, he charged again while dodging 5 bullets from Brad. 1 of the shots has lodged itself in the back left leg of the beast which hasn't resulted in any major injury and didn't stop the boar from charging. The boar knocked Brad down with no escape possible.

Boar was charging yet again and Brad has realized, that it was his end. He closed his eyes and awaited his inevitable death. He waited and heard a noise of something like a log falling to the ground. He opened his eyes and saw the boar, on the ground, dead. He walked up to it to inspect it and what he saw, scared him even more than the boar. It was an arrow. Arrow which was lodged in the head of the boar. Brad looked around to look for the source of the arrow and yet again, he was scared for his life. He was sure what to look for this time, an Indian. He didn't have to look very long, the Indian came to him. Brad saw a woman walk out from behind the tree with her bow drawn and aiming at him. She circled around him to have a better look at him. Brad being smart, threw his gun away and put his hands high in the air.

The woman, not moving at all, asked him "Who are you?", Brad being surprised that she could speak English, replied "Zylb-b-b-brad". Brad was scared and when he is scared, he tends to stutter while talking. "Why are you here?" the blonde woman asked without missing a beat "I'm just passing though and wanted to rest for a night, I'm heading towards the mountains." A bit more relaxed now and not stuttering anymore, Brad felt something cold running down his arm which he was still holding up, it was blood. When boar charged at Brad and knocked the gun from his hand, its tusk has pierce Brads hand. He only has noticed it now after the adrenaline stopped being pumped so hard and he started to feel that it hurts like hell. Blonde has noticed the injury the cowboy has sustained, lowered a bit her bow and said "You're not the first person today I saw travelling towards mountains today." "Was it a small guy in a suit with 4 larger men?" asked Brad. "Yes" "Well, then I know that I'm going in the right direction" said Brad while smirking and squirming a little from pain.
Woman now completely lowered her bow "What do you want from that guy?"
"Ha, it's quite simple, revenge." "Well, you are gonna have to wait, you're not the only one wanting to kill him" She said while putting the bow away and arrow in the quiver. "That man murdered my entire tribe" she proclaimed. "And he has killed my family" Brad added quickly while also lowering his hands.

"Seems like we got I common goal, we could help each other" Brad said while trying to not squirm so much from the pain. "Looks like we do, but you're no help to me in this state, we have to stop the bleeding" "I've got some bandages in one of my packs, let's go" he said and started heading towards his little camp, she followed, light on her feet, barely making any sound, "What's your name?" "Zylbrad, but everyone just calls me Brad. What about you?"

"Shenpai, the Dragon Tamer"