Frostbitten Wayfarer

Zoe and Emma went to check the bags they had set up on some of the branches around them. There was very little water in any of the bags but they still topped up their water-skins and moved the bags to different plants to continue harvesting moisture throughout the day.

The instructors had driven home the point of not harming the plants by harvesting too much of any resource from any individual plant. Zoe wondered what harm would be caused by having the plastic bags on the leaves though. Sunlight still passed through just fine and it’s not like they were forcing water out of the leaves.

Plants just transpired through the day, and Zoe wanted to drink their sweat. Which was gross and creepy when she thought about it like that. Maybe the plastic bag magnified the sun or captured too much of the heat which would damage the plant?

Whatever it was, the instructors seemed to think it was important enough to move the bags around between plants with a decent frequency and she wasn’t about to not listen to them on her final exam.

“You good for heading inwards a bit? We could head south-east for maybe an hour then start checking around for tracks and see what we find?” Zoe asked.

“Sounds fine by me. You didn’t happen to see one of the instructors on your watch did you?” Emma asked.

Zoe smiled at her and started making her way through the forest to the south east.

“Wait, did you? You did didn’t you! Why didn’t you wake me up?!” Emma whispered.

Zoe laughed. “I didn’t see anybody, I’d wake you up if I did don’t worry.”

Emma squinted at her, “Okay, I’ll trust you then. I’m gonna be real mad if I find out you were going off on nightly dates with the instructors after this though.”

“Hah! Excellent camp setup and location, proper water acquisition and offered to pay for the meal. Ten outta ten, graduate with honours.” Zoe chided.

“They’re all so much richer than you, make sure you get them to pay.” Emma shook her head.

An hour later, Zoe and Emma found themselves in a part of the forest that they’d never been in before. They had seen maps of the area, and had a good idea of where they were at least, but it was still new to them.

“Okay, find some tracks, get ourselves some food and then build our damn treehouse.” Emma said.

“Hammock,” Zoe corrected.

They walked through the forest for a few minutes before Zoe stopped and pointed at some prints in the dirt. “Boars.”

“What? There’s not supposed to be boars in this area of the forest.” Emma whispered.

“You think the instructors brought some in just to surprise us?” Zoe asked.

“Maybe. What do you think we should do? I’m not sure I could climb a tree as quick as you.” Emma asked.

“Hmm. We’re not the dumbest students this school has ever had, and they’ve never had somebody die. I think if anything catastrophic happened an instructor would definitely step in to save us.” Zoe said.

“You think we should try and hunt the boar?” Emma asked.

“We’re not going to get a safer chance than now to see what it’s like at least.” Zoe said.

Emma pursed her lips. “Mmm. Okay. But if we see signs that it’s a group of them we leave.”

Zoe pointed to some scratches in a nearby tree and to the roughed up dirt next to it. “Looks like just one to me for now at least.”

Emma knelt to the ground and inspected some of the tracks then pointed off to the east. “Looks like it went that way, maybe an hour ago?”

“I’d agree with that. Follow it and see what we see?" Zoe asked.

Emma nodded, and the two set off down the boar’s tracks. Zoe could see the trail clear as day, both of her skills working in tandem to provide her with all the information she needed. But Emma still wanted to get some real world experience with hunting and Zoe agreed not to just blaze down the trail like it was track and field.

They would stop every so often so Emma could investigate the tracks and continue following it on her own. Zoe wasn’t bothered by it and spent most of her time keeping her head on a swivel, watching everything around her. The last thing she wanted was for the boar they were tracking to jump out at Emma while she was on the ground.

“I think it’s close,” Emma said as quiet as she could manage. “We’ve been outpacing it quite a bit from what I can see. These tracks look like they were pretty recent."

Zoe agreed.

Emma licked her finger and held it up. “Crosswind. Should we move downwind then make a call?”

“Probably, yeah. Lets veer north a little. I’ll see if I can get eyes on it too.” Zoe said.

Emma nodded her head, and they continued off the trail the boar had beaten to go a little northwards. Zoe kept her eyes out and a few minutes later she saw the boar through the trees to the south east.

“I see it. Maybe a kilometer that way,” Zoe pointed.

“Approach?” Emma asked.

“It looks distracted with something, if we keep quiet and stay as downwind as we can we’re probably fine.” Zoe said.

The two continued through the forest, Zoe’s Stealth skill guiding her feet into positions that wouldn’t crunch on leaves or branches that have fallen on the ground. Emma squinted in the direction where Zoe had pointed for a bit then shook her head.

Ten minutes later, Zoe could smell the boar. A slight musky smell with a hint of urine combined with the fresh smell from the tree that it was scratching its tusks on.

“How close do you need to be for a confident shot?” Zoe pointed at the boar.

Emma looked again and nodded, “Eighty meters at most? That’s maybe three hundred? Four? We’d need to get a lot closer.”

Zoe nodded, “It’s digging for food right now. I bet if we take it slow we could get pretty close before it notices us. Forest floor looks mostly clear, just a few twigs to watch out for.”

“We could alert it, see if it approaches? If we get too close first it might get spooked and run away.” Emma suggested.

“Hmm. Okay, we can try that. If it runs away we’re gonna be in for a chase you know though?” Zoe said.

“No it should be fine, boars around Flester tend to be extremely aggressive. I’ll get up in a tree and you turn your back to it then make some noise?” Emma asked.

“Okay. Let me try first though, I want to see if I can get it with my dagger.” Zoe said.

Emma nodded and climbed up a nearby tree then got her bow and quiver ready, while Zoe readied herself for what she was about to try.

She turned her back to the boar and started stepping on some of the twigs around her, trying to make the boar think she hadn’t seen her. The sound of the boar digging stopped and was replaced quickly by deep, guttural grunting and swift footsteps that approached Zoe, barely audible to her improved hearing.

She waited a moment, letting the boar approach a little more. Letting it build up its confidence, make it feel like it was getting the jump on her instead of the other way around. And then she turned and drew her dagger.

The boar was another hundred meters away, thrashing through the tall grass and odd bush as it rampaged through the forest to Zoe. Grunting and growling all the way. Zoe took a deep breath. The boar was level thirteen — not that bad, she thought. She could handle it.

Step out of the way of the first few charges, let it tire itself out, she thought. Boars are sprinters, not endurance runners. It already had to run a few hundred meters in its senseless rage just to get to her, if she kept it going, the boar would tire and she’d get her chance.

One good stab below the armpit. That’s all it would take.

The boar was mere meters away and Zoe’s focus was set. Emma was watching, she could let Zoe know if there was anything else to be worried about. Any of its friends around. All Zoe needed to do was focus on dodging the boar’s dash.

Just before it reached her, she leapt into the air and the boar ran right below her. It tried to stop but its momentum carried it forward and it slid through the soft dirt for a moment as Zoe landed and got her bearings again.

Zoe took a few slow steps towards the boar and it growled in response, charging at her again. She stepped to the side, positioning her dagger vertically between the boar and her leg to keep its razor sharp tusks from scratching her again.

The boar’s tusk smashed into her dagger, shoving her out of the way. The blunt side of her dagger pressed into her leg and shoved her out of the way. It stung a bit, but it was better than another massive gash.

She watched the boar continue to run as it turned and made to charge at her again. It was beginning to slow, Zoe could tell. She’d be able to make her move soon.

Zoe dodged to the other side this time, letting the boar’s tusk smash into her dagger again and push her out of harm’s way. Her hand stung from the impact, and she was sure that her leg would be bruised after but kept her focus on the boar.

The boar stopped almost five meters away from Zoe and stared her down, huffing and growling at her. It was tired, she knew. It already spent hours wandering around and then sprinted for a few minutes straight. Zoe took a few steps towards it. This was her best chance if she wanted to get the boar with her dagger.

She could see Emma still up in the tree, her arrow nocked and ready to be drawn at a moments notice. If the boar seemed like it was going to run away, Zoe had no doubt Emma would make a lethal shot. But that wasn’t good enough for Zoe. She needed to redeem herself, to prove to herself that she can do it. That she grew and learned and overcame her adversity, with her own hands.

Even in a worst case, with the boar right on top of her, she needed to know that she could best it. She’d goad it into charging again, jump onto the boar and get a good stab in under its armpit. She took another short step towards it, and the boar dug its hooves into the soft dirt.

Good, Zoe thought. Get angry, get defensive. Don’t take your time to recover your energy. She took another step at it. Two meters away now. She was almost close enough to jump it if she thought she could avoid the sharp tusks while it was stationary and ready.

She didn’t.

Another short step towards it. The boar snorted and rushed at her. Zoe watched its movements, her senses on overdrive, watching for every tiny movement the boar was making. She put her dagger between her just as she had the previous charges.

But instead of letting it push her aside, she pressed into it, knocking the boar off balance the slightest bit. She took the opportunity to jump onto the boar’s back and rammed her dagger into the boar just below the armpit.

It fell to the ground a moment later below her, dead.

“YES!” Zoe screamed and pumped her arms above her.

Emma dropped down from the tree she was in and looked at Zoe. “I wasn’t expecting that to work. That was impressive.”

“Thanks. Get it in your ring and we’ll clean it back closer to camp?” Zoe asked.

“Sure. Then we make our tree house?” Emma asked.

Zoe rolled her eyes. “Do you wanna see if we can get another for you to get? You didn’t really get to do anything.”

Emma thought about it for a moment, tapping her finger on her chin. “Not today anyway. Two whole boars probably won’t fit in the one bag ring and I don’t really wanna hunt for sport.”

“Okay, back to camp to clean this and then we can forage for some veggies and make a nice dinner?” Zoe asked.

“Sounds good to me. Then tree house?” Emma asked.

“We’re not making a damn tree house, oh my god.” Zoe sighed.

Emma laughed.

They made it back to camp just after noon, gathered their water and replaced the bags. Then went for a short walk to a clearing a little ways away to clean the boar.

It was something they were both used to at this point and went by quickly. By the time they were done, Emma’s ring was filled with individual portions of meat to last them the rest of the camping trip and then the rest was left in larger cuts along with the hide and bones.

“We could totally eat some of this now and then go forage after, you know?” Emma asked.

“Yeah. We could.” Zoe’s stomach rumbled.

“Heck yeah! Lets go make lunch.” Emma exclaimed.

They started the fire with the flint and Zoe’s dagger and set a metal grate on top of flames. It wasn’t the ideal cooking situation, but they cut the meat as thin as they could so it would still cook through under high heat.

The meat sizzled as it touched the grate, fat dripped onto the fire making it sputter and sizzle. The meat was cooked in minutes, and they pulled the grate off the fire to let it cool on a nice rock they found.

Emma grabbed a piece and chewed on it. “I think I’m gonna add salt to my survival pack.”

Zoe followed her lead and chewed on her own piece. It was tough and bland. The flavour of the wood burning was present but not intense. If they had cooked it a bit slower and had access to salt, it would have been decent enough, Zoe thought.

But they didn’t, and Zoe mentally added salt to her list of survival supplies as well.