Destiny of the Dragonborn

Hunting

Cheryl ran silently out of reach from the horrible place, into the woods. She slowed down and panted, looking around her. The forest looked scary at night but she would be brave.

She walked around cautiously, mindful that there were things that could hurt her.Something then grabbed her leg and she shrieked, turning around to see a black ant like thing with yellow eyes staring at her.

Scared, she kicked at it frantically, managing to get it off before she somehow scrambled up a tree and looked down at it. It made a cry before going away. Cheryl then decided to stay in that tree in case that thing came back again.
So she made herself as comfortable as possible before she went to sleep.

The next morning, she nearly fell out of the tree because she almost forgot that she was sleeping in it due to the creepy monster thing that grabbed her.She slowly climbed down and her stomach growled, she took out a piece of bread and some cheese before she sat down and ate them.

She continued walking, deciding to stay in the forest because there was a less likely chance to meet bad people, but again she had to be mindful of the monster, or wild animals.At the end of the day, she climbed a tree and slept there for the night. She repeated this process day after day.Then the day came when she ran out of food and she had absolutely no idea on what to do.

She didn't want to go to a town because she was afraid that the orphanage might be looking for her, but at the same time she didn't want to kill animals so that she could eat.Cheryl sighed, hiding her things in a bush, taking the knife with her. If she couldn't find anything, then she'd go find a town and risk getting taken back to the orphanage. If she did, she'd take her chance, but she would vow only to kill when she absolutely has too.

She searched in holes, bushes and trees and she couldn't find anything. She was about to give up and head back when she saw a rabbit sitting a few meters in front of her, its back towards her. She slowly crept up and just as the rabbit turned around, she pounced on it, holding it down as it squealed in fear.Cheryl stared sadly at it.

"I'm sorry rabbit...but I have to eat..."she whispered, before taking the knife and ended the poor animal's life. She found a nearby stream and went to gut the dead animal. She didn't want to do it, because she was disgusted by it but food was food and she needed to survive, so she did it, forcing herself to look at it.

She removed the guts and washed the rest of the rabbit before she went to her things. She hung it on a tree to dry before she went to find some wood suited for making a fire. She broke off some dry branches and dumped them at her camp site before she went to find something flammable.She found an abandoned bird's nest that was dried up and took that, before she found two sticks.

She headed back to camp and piled up some of the sticks and began rubbing the two sticks together.It took her an hour before she got an ember and she pushed it into the abandoned bird's nest and started blowing on it,slowly and steadily, picking it up gently,still blowing to keep it lit as it started to smoke.She put it underneath where the pile of sticks were and continued to blow and soon there was a flame and she whooped in delight.

"Finally!"she exclaimed, having a nice fire going now, she found a sharp stick,skewering the rabbit and cooked it over the fire.When she deemed it cooked enough, she took it off the fire and took a bite, the flavor immediately overwhelmed her taste buds. She didn't have this delicious food in ages. She finished it quickly, licking her lips and threw the stick away.She tossed some more wood into the fire, hopefully that would drive off the wild animals...and that creepy thing.

Speaking of that...One of them appeared to the side of her and she yelped, stumbling backwards. It snarled, blinking it's ominous, glowing yellow eyes at her. The little brunette instinctively grabbed a flaming stick from the fire and shoved into the thing's face, causing it to shriek in pain and moved backwards.Cheryl continued to do it, driving it quite a distance from the campsite and the fire. She whacked it on the head and then dashed all the way back to the fire.

She held on to the burning stick in case it came back again.After an hour without the creature coming back, Cheryl stuck the stick back into the fire. It was pretty late...looked about 10 in the evening. She tossed some more sticks into the fire before she climbed up into the tree and went to sleep.

When she woke up the next day, she put out the fire and took her stuff with her, walking for the most of the day. By noon, she got hungry again. She knew she couldn't just rely on luck to just magic up an unsuspecting animal for her to stab.She needed a weapon so she was going to make one.

She hid her stuff somewhere and took the knife with her. She looked around, trying to find some kind of springy wood. She eventually found one when she pulled down on of its branches, it bent quite a ways without breaking and when she let go, it sprung back up quite nicely, even if it hit her on the head.

She rubbed the small bump forming on her head, ignoring the pain since she had to stand it back at the orphanage. That was the only good thing that came out from being there, she could tolerate pain more.She sawed off the branch and took it back to her stuff, she rummaged through the pack and found some yarn, that'll do. She carved a hole at the top and bottom before she put the yarn through, just enough so that it held the bow in place when she bent it and was bendy when she fingered it.

She held it, trying to get comfortable with the feeling of it in her hands. She then placed it down before she went to find some sticks to make arrows with. She plucked off a few from a tree and went back, carving the wood with her knife.

One hour, ten arrows and a few dozen cuts later, she had a weapon...if they worked. She decided to do a few test runs so she found a nice tree and carved out a target before she stood a little far from it.

She fitted the bow in, drew back so that her fingers were close to her eye, just under it and released. It hit the target, but it wasn't a bullseye, but at least the bow and arrows worked. She just needed the practice.So she did just that.She practiced until she thought it was satisfactory enough for her to get something small. She walked around looking for an animal she could hunt and eat. She spotted a bird on the ground and hid behind a bush. She fitted an arrow in and drew it as silently as possible before she aimed. She took a deep breath before she let go...

And the arrow hit home.