“Very humorous, I wonder sometimes if I’m actually a brother of you two.” He said, “Now come on before the day is over.”
“So do we, so do we.” Tog whispered to himself. The three brothers walked their horses away from the smiths. Cara looked back and saw Mo standing with Edbutt on a lead of some description, she was waving. His heart pounded in his chest as thoughts of their kiss returned.
“Ah true love.” Ad said as he saw the glance. “I hope that you don’t go all soft on us now that you’re going to take her as a wife.”
“I suggest you be quiet brother or I’ll give you something else to talk about.” Tog said, defending the younger of the boys. “Now let’s concentrate on what we’re supposed to be doing. Are we going fishing as we planned to do, or are we going hunting?”
“I don’t care.” Cara replied. “Let’s just see where the path takes us.”
After a while, the boys found themselves entering a wooded area not far from Mo’s village. There were paths leading off in different directions where the locals had travelled through the area over the years. Tog who was leading the three as usual, pulled his horse up and motioned for the others to stop by raising his hand. They sat listening for a few moments and heard branches breaking some distance away.
“It must be a deer.” Tog said straining his eyes and ears as the sound went away from them. “Come on.” He pushed forward as his horse moved on along the path which wound along in the same direction and adjusted his bow on his back. The boys followed the sound through the trees where shards of sunlight were slicing through the branches above them, foliage at the side of the path brushing against their exposed lower legs. Suddenly the sound of the running animal ahead of them stopped, Tog pulled up listening again. The peace was followed by the sound of something to the left, far off, something else moving through the undergrowth.
“Wolf?” Ad asked. Silence followed.
“Come on.” Tog urged moving forward again as the hunted creature ahead bolted from its hiding place. The boys picked up speed recognising that their prey was making a concerted effort to flee from whatever was tracking it.
“What if it’s a wolf after it?” Ad shouted above the sound of hooves and whipping branches as they raced along. “We could get into trouble.”
“If it’s a wolf, it will turn and run when it sees us.” Tog shouted back spitting a leaf from his mouth. “Ugh,” he scraped his tongue with his fingers, “they don’t attack people anyway. It’s an old woman’s tale.”
“What if it’s a pack?” Ad shouted.
“Shut up and ride.” Tog replied steering his mount along the winding track in the direction of the panicking animal. Ad frowned and lowered himself towards his horse’s neck to avoid branches and cursed to himself as Cara smiled behind him. The chase went on for some time as the three boys travelled further into the woodland, until once again Tog pulled up to get his bearings and to listen. It was virtually impossible to follow anything whilst you yourself were crashing along a path even as well-worn as this one had proven to be. The sound of the horse’s heavy breathing, their hooves and the occasional branch to the face, always ensured losing whatever you were chasing unless you stopped to listen.
Tog calmed his own breathing and leaned forward cocking his head, his muscular arms shone with a film of sweat. He was the biggest of the three brothers in breadth by some way. Again they heard the sound of whatever was tracking the animal ahead moving slowly now, stalking not rushing. It wasn’t another animal.
“It’s probably exhausted.” Cara whispered and whatever’s hunting it is closing in for the kill.”
“Come on.” Tog said as he slid from his horse and tied his reins to a branch. “We’ll go on foot from here.” The other two dismounted and secured their own horses. One by one they pulled their bows to the front and reached for an arrow. The woods were quiet now as they moved forward crouching low, trying to mingle with the bushes and undergrowth, where possible Tog led them along the path using the track to avoid noise. He turned pressing a finger to his lips urging the other two to be quiet.
“Just ahead,” he pointed, “the woodland dips down into a small valley, the deer is down there, it’s gone to ground again but whatever is following it, is over there.” He pointed to the left where branches concealed their view. “Come on and be quiet.”
Cara and Ad followed crouching as low as possible. Tog held his bow in his left hand as he brushed leaves and branches away with his right whilst moving forward. The place was quiet now except for birdsong nearby and the occasional rustle of leaves in the trees above. As they traversed into the valley below, the canopy above made it cooler and slightly darker which made the hairs stand out on Cara’s arms. Tog raised his bow arm indicating that he had seen something. Cara peered through the greenery and could just make out a white furry tail almost hidden, a few feet in front of them. Then he saw an arrow sticking out of the rump of the wounded deer, and deep red blood, where it had trickled down the wounded animal’s side.
“It’s not a wolf that’s after it but a hunting party.” He whispered looking at Tog who was staring at the wound. The deer tried to stand but slumped down, tired and exhausted after the chase that had brought it to this place. “Tog, what are we going to do?” Cara asked.
“These are our lands.” Ad said, “There won’t be a problem, we can do as we like.” Without waiting for a reply, he strode forward unsheathing his dagger and sank it into the stricken deer’s throat. Dark red blood shot out squirting over his hand and arm. The stricken deer let out a high pitched yelp but quickly slumped and died.
“What are you doing brother?” Tog asked. “You have taken someone else’s kill.” As he said it they all heard branches breaking and the sound of running feet coming towards them.
“It’s too late now.” Cara said standing up from a crouch just as the hunting party emerged from the bushes. His hand automatically grabbed for the handle of his bone carved dagger, Tog armed himself with his bow, an arrow ready to fire and Ad did the same.
“What is this?” It was a girl, about the same age as themselves. “That,” she said trying to stop panting and pointed, “is our kill. We have been stalking that deer for most of the day.” She was tall, as tall as Tog, athletic looking, and had long dark black hair. She wore some sort of animal skin leggings and a short sleeved woollen top that showed her sleek muscular tanned brown skin. Her dark eyes stared at the three boys taking each of them in, one at a time. In seconds she was joined by four males, all of comparative age. The largest of which stepped forward and saw the dead deer. He was dressed in a similar fashion to the female and Cara thought he saw a resemblance, were they brother and sister he wondered? They were joined by three others.
“Move away or there will be trouble between us.” The large male at the front said.
“Now we don’t need to argue,” Ad replied, “there’s more than enough for all of us, he stepped forward loosening the string on his bow and let the arrow un-cock.
“Take one more step and you’re arguing days will be over boy.” The male said and stepped forward knife in hand, raising it slightly.
“You’re outnumbered and you’re trying to steal our kill,” the girl added, “I really do hope that you see sense and withdraw or my brother here,” she touched his shoulder, “will see to it that you end up like our prey,” she looked directly at Cara, “and you wouldn’t want that to happen would you?” She half smiled and he suddenly noticed how beautiful she was.
“That’s enough Brenna,” the largest of the boys said turning to his sister, “maybe the scrawny one is right.”
“Tevelgus,” the girl said stepping around her brother, “we’ve chased that animal from our own land, it’s ours by right.” Her face was full of determination and anger despite the long exhausting chase.
“So you are intruding onto our lands in order to take our food?” Ad said as he looked at his brothers for support, “A grave mistake on your part I would say.” He looked back at Brenna. “You are to go back now and leave this beast, you are the ones intruding and trying to steal from us it would seem.” Cara saw the half grin on his face, an expression that had always annoyed him when they got into arguments. It was an awful sneer that never failed to make him feel uncomfortable.