A deep breath in, a slow breath out. Letting the arrow loose when he paused before breathing in again, it flew cleanly through the air. Going through both lungs, and exiting out the other side just behind the opposite front leg, the deer fell.
Whistling, Axl stepped out of the trees.
"You really are a good shot, you know that?"
Rolling his eyes, Vikter smiled. "Of course. Who do you think I am?"
Axl walked over to the deer and inspected the shot. It went straight through, killing the deer immediately. Vikter having absolute faith in his shot only smiled as he walked past his friend and retrieved his arrow.
The deer was probably one of the smaller ones Vikter had caught, which he was fine with. The village didn't need to restock on food quite yet, but they were always open to getting more food.
The deer itself would have grown to be one of the weaker ones in its pack anyways. It only had one row of its razor-sharp teeth instead of the normal three rows. It was built stockier, making it incapable of traveling as far and fast as the rest of the pack, the reason it was left behind.
Its antlers were thinner than most as this time of year, and they were growing straight back, not in front of the face like a mask nor straight up so it had to tip its head forward for them to act like a spear. The antlers might have even ended up growing into its own back had he gotten old enough.
The antlers weren't big enough yet, but that did mean that the quartering away shot he took would have been harder to hit since those vital areas would have been better protected.
The senses of the deer were also worse, not surprising considering how close they had gotten to the deer. The smaller ears and four milky grey eyes were also give aways. The razor sharp hooves had done little to help it this time.
Vikter looked back at his friend.
"I know I'm a great shot, but you don't need to stare at every one of my kills."
"Sure I do," responded Axl, "I need to know as soon as you mess up so I can make fun of you for it."
Vikter rolled his eyes.
"If you practiced shooting as much as you studied my kills you might be as good as me."
Axl waved his hand at him. "That is too much labor, I'll be happy with my fishing job for a while."
Kicking his friend lightly in the butt, Vikter smiled.
"Lazy bum."
"Hunting fanatic."
The two looked at one another and smiled. They would often make jokes and poke fun at each other, but they got along better than most relationship in the village. It would not be uncommon for them to finish each other's sentences either.
That being said, they were almost complete opposites. Vikter always enjoyed hard labor and his independence. He would go hunting, take long walks, or nap often. He would help out his village or the old lady that he shared a hut with, but he would not offer his help.
Axl was the opposite; he was always energetic but knew when he was being too much and would often control himself in formal situations. He would always be in the village, doing add jobs and playing with the kids younger than him. Ironically, he loved to go fishing. For the simple fact that he found it relaxing. Vikter would often find him asleep, even if there were fish on the line. But anything that required him to be alert for long periods of time, especially with hard labor, he would always find a way out.
The villagers didn't mind that much. He was always doing so much that they didn't mind letting him do his own thing.
The entire reason Vikter liked to tease him about being lazy was only because he didn't like to hunt or be active for long periods of time. Besides that, he was very active around the village.
Axl was in a good mood today, not that he never was, but he volunteered to travel out and go hunting. Something he didn't like doing since it often required him to work hard.
Grabbing a nearby log, they tied the legs of the deer around it and lifted it up.
Normally the deer would have been gutted right there on the spot since Vikter would often hunt by himself. Not today though, his friend had followed him out and Vikter intended to take advantage of that. That and they also were not that far from the village. By Vikter's definition they were not that far from the village.
Together they lifted the log and began to make their way back to the village.
"What about the other traps you set up for smaller game? Do we not collect those?"
"They will only be a few hours old." Vikter answered. "We need to give them a few more time before we can get any real catches. I normally check every morning for them."
Squirls and hares also made great food, especially now since winter was ending soon. They would be much more active and easy catch. That being said Vikter had to be careful otherwise they would chew through them with how sturdy their teeth were or tare them apart with their claws.
If not careful, even the weakest animal would be capable of taking out a human. Vikter was not concerned though, as soon as he was able to start hunting, the other men of the village took him out and he learned quickly. He was a natural, or so he was told. It was also the least he could do since they took him in.
Some of the people in the village were from a city South of here, escaping a tragedy almost 12 years ago. Apparently, he had been one of the people who survived, but he was the only person in his family to make it. Nobody really knows what happened.
The people willing to talk to so rarely, and they always said that it was demons, nobody human had destroyed the city. They had blocked out the sun, swallowing everything. They had lit fires but made it so nobody could see or even sense the flames until the city was already burning to the ground.
The kids and villagers were skeptical of the stories since it is so wiled, but no one questions it. Rumors sometimes make their way up the mountain from other villages about strange occurrences from the grasslands and seas about people who do weird things.
But the difference is those are people. The survivors say the ground itself opened up and let the demons out. They came from everywhere at once, breathing destruction, and not human.
They even say that the humans brace enough to fight back were swallowed by the black that came with them. The ship that brought them here was apparently blessed. Never had a sea vessel moved as fast as theirs had when they were escaping. No one knows why that is, but the kids make jokes that the ship was so scared of the demons it grew wings and flew up to the mountain.
The mountainous people even adopted the ship, believing the ship was alive and it had destroyed itself protecting the people. It remains unseaworthy, so it just sits a good distance away from the village on the shore of a river.
Axl and Vikter would actually be able to see it soon enough as they carried the buck back to the village. The way back would require them to walk a narrow path along a cliffside, just wide enough for two people walking shoulder to shoulder to walk on.
Once they got there, they would be able to see the large ship and their village.
"Why is this thing so heavy?!" Axl was complaining now, Vikter knew it would not be much longer until he started. He was actually surprised by how long his friend lasted.
"It's not heavy, you're just weak. Get out more and you would think so too."
His friend didn't say anything. Instead, he just dropped the backside of the log and let it take Vikter down with him.
Vikter yelped and rolled away before the log fell on top of him.
"Not very nice of you." Vikter glared at his friend, who just had a wide smile on his face.
"Break time?"
"Break time." Vikter conceded.
Their conversation mainly consisted of Axl complaining and threatening to not carry the buck the rest of the way back, and Vikter trying to convince him otherwise.
It didn't take long for Vikter to realize his friend was making him upset on purpose. Doing the only logical thing Vikter splashed his friend with water from his waterskin.
"I'm soaked!" Axl yelled. Taking his own waterskin, he tried to splash him back.
"You missed!" Vikter teased. "Is this the best you got slow poke?"
The two of them took turns throwing water at one another, and when they ran out they finally sat down.
"You got any jerky?" Axl was laying down, rubbing his stomach.
"Not for you." Viker replied with a yawn. After a few moments Vikter tossed the bag of jerky to Axl. His friend smiled up at him as he tore into the jerky.
"I'll go and get some more water, there is a stream nearby. When I get back, we WILL be carrying the carcass back."
"Fine, fine, whatever you say." Axl said while waving the jerky around.
"You better save some for me."
"No promises!" His friend hollered back.
Walking out of sight Vikter smiled too himself.
I should scare him when I come back.
His friend did not leave the village often, so scaring him would be rather easy. Not to mention he was currently gorging himself with their shared food supply, he deserved it.
Walking a little way away from where they were resting, Vikter heard the sound of the creak. Looking around, he scouted for any potential dangers. The insects were buzzing and the birds where chirping, a good indication that there were no active predators nearby.
Walking stealthily to the creak, he bent down and began to fill one of the waterskins.
The creak was small and quiet, in a low traffic zone by animals, and the sun could only partially break through the branches of the overhead trees. The entire area was rather tranquil.
A great place to take a nap.
Looking up Vikter thought about the time of day and how long it would take to return. The sun was still high in the sky, so they should be back before sunset, if they took frequent and long breaks.
Shifting to the other waterskin, Vikter looked around again. Trying to think of the best way to scare his friend, but then his eyes landed on someone on the other side of the creak.
The man was in terrible shape. There was blood all up and down his arms and legs, his chest rising and falling in shallow breaths. A broken sword laying on the ground next to him, with a trail of blood leading out from the forest from where he came.
Standing up, Vikter drew his hunting knife and slowly walked over. He could tell that the man was supposed to have armor, but it was safe to assume that the armor was destroyed or mangled.
The only reason Vikter knew what armor was because there was some in the village, from what soldiers had worn. Many of whom remained because they said life here would be better.
The poor guy must have ran into a black bear.
Black bears were nasty creatures. One would think that a creature as tall and big as they were would be slow, but that was a misconception only outsiders would believe.
The truth was they were incredibly fast, fast enough to scare any hunter who believed they were a safe distance away. Not to mention their claws, one swipe from them would be able to shatter any tree. They had a bite force capable of shattering stone, and of course they were stealthy because of their padded feet.
It did not appear as though one was nearby, probably scared off or it just grew tired of his prey. The bears never actively hunted down the humans unless they were extremely hungry, or the humans had done something to its territory.
"What kind of fool goes hunting in armor?"