The Gods' War

Chapter 14

            IT WAS THE day of the Great Hunt. The sun had not yet risen. Sarah donned her hunting gear and took her sheath of arrows and her mother’s bow. She walked through the trees thinking of the best places to hunt, and new trails she had found. Her mother – the midwife – joined her in silence and walked with her to the gathering place.

             There the others were waiting with their partners and their parents standing close to them. Sarah didn’t have parents; she had the midwife.

             She walked over to Ladenal and nodded to him in greeting. The Elder counted that everyone was there and started telling them the areas they were not allowed to go to; these included other villages’ hunting grounds.

             The Elder spoke, “I wish you all good Hunting. The sun rises, go now with your partners and prove you are worthy!”

             The children’s parents all said goodbye to their children, as did the midwife to Sarah. Then Sarah led the way to the Hunting Grounds.

             “Come on,” Sarah said to Ladenal, “There’s an animal trail I found a day ago that I wish to explore.”

            “Lead the way,” he said with a smile.

             Sarah found the trail after an hour of running through the forest, by which time, Ladenal was completely exhausted.

            “Can’t we rest for a while?” Ladenal asked bending over and clutching his ribs, “I can’t run anymore.”

             Sarah really did not want to stop, “I’ll carry you if I must, but we will not stop until we have killed at least one animal.”

             “What about that squirrel you shot on the way here?”

             “That doesn’t count. Come on.”

             So they ran on. And while they were running Sarah shot three rabbits and two more squirrels and put them all in her bag to carry the meat. Ladenal was terrible with a bow and could not run fast enough to stab a rabbit with his short sword. Sarah, in anger, stopped for a while and fashioned a slingshot for Ladenal to use.

             “Here,” she said as she gave the slingshot to him, “use this. Collect some stones along the way.”

            “Thank you,” Ladenal replied, feeling ashamed.

            They ran stealthily on – well, Sarah did; Sarah thought Ladenal could be heard all the way back in their village. Sarah stopped next to Long River, knelt and drank. She told Ladenal to do likewise.

             Sarah looked around them. On the opposite bank, there stood a great stag, some distance off, with large antlers, drinking from the river. Sarah silently strung an arrow.

             “Don’t move or speak,” she told Ladenal.

             Then she let the arrow fly. It flew true. Sarah quickly forded the river with Ladenal behind her and reached the dead stag.

             Ladenal’s mouth hung open, “You shot that? How are we going to carry it back?”

             “We’ll leave most of it behind. Then we’ll put what we can carry in our bags. Help me skin it.”

             They spent a long time skinning the meat and putting what they could in their bags. Then Sarah washed out the pelt in the river and rolled it up. She placed that and the antlers in her bag as well.