NOVEL FROG Chapter 723 – Dressing the Kill
“Oftentimes, simple pragmatism warred against efficiency itself. Life just happens that way.” - Saying attributed to the Silver Maiden.
“Impressive throws,” stated Uria as she took a closer look at Áine and Eilonwy’s handiwork. Eilonwy’s javelin had pierced deep into the thick thigh of the antelope’s left hind leg without damaging anything else, while Áine’s was thrown with enough force – the girl did learn some body reinforcement tricks from Aideen – to pierce through the creature’s skull and directly strike its brain from behind.
More importantly, it was likely that the javelin only managed to pierce the skull at all since the throw struck the back of the skull. The skulls of horned animals that had a habit of literally butting heads during mating seasons tended to be hardy, especially at the front, but less so at the back which was spared from all the headbutting involved.
That Áine made her throw while counting on Eilonwy’s throw to stop the creature in place was another matter altogether and simply displayed the close coordination between the siblings. The siblings had regularly trained to fight alongside one another for decades and had an almost preternatural understanding between them in such situations as a result.
“Thanks. Took a while for us to work that out between us,” said Áine in reply as she walked over and yanked out her javelin from the antelope’s skull. Meanwhile, Eilonwy had already walked over with a knife in her hand, clearly prepared to start butchering the antelope.
“You want it gutted and bled, I assume?” asked Eilonwy to make sure. She had heard that the orcs tended to make use of every bit of their prey, but wasn’t sure if they would do so even while on the move like they were presently.
“Keep the heart, lungs, and liver, please. Just leave the digestive tract here, we don’t have the leeway to properly process them on the move, sadly,” replied Uria with a nod. It took time and a good amount of water to process things like the stomach and intestines of a beast before it would be properly cleaned, which was something the orcs lacked while they were migrating. The other organs Uria mentioned on the other hand could be had without much processing or cleaning.
It was a bit of a waste, but it couldn’t be helped under the circumstances.
“Got it,” noted Eilonwy as she skillfully gutted the antelope and extracted its digestive tract into a pile on the ground, at the same time slitting its neck to allow the carcass to bleed out properly while they brought it back towards the rest of the clan. Her hands moved skillfully as butchering game animals was something she was used to doing.
“This is a big catch. Usually we’d only get two or three at most,” said Juuka with a toothy grin on his honest face. “Would have to be on guard on the way back, though, the blood trail will attract predators, and many of us will be occupied with carrying the meat.”
“Oh, we can take care of that issue as well. We’re not planning to hunt anymore on the way back, no?” asked Eilonwy from where she was finishing the gutting process.
“No, at most we’d gather whatever fruits and nuts we run across on the way back,” confirmed Juuka. “Why?”
“Just have them carry the carcasses, and the rest can keep guard for us,” said Eilonwy as she brought out her undead constructs from her storage artifact. The dense Death affinity mana caused any animal that remained in the vicinity to bolt away in fright, and four of the more humanoid constructs went over and lifted a carcass each, holding them by their hind legs with their slit necks at the bottom so they could bleed out on the way back.
With the remaining seven undead constructs keeping guard around the hunting group, no wild animals – not even the fearsome predators – approached them on their way back to meet up with the rest of the clan. The concentration of Death mana that the undead emanated triggered an instinctual fear in most beasts that drove them away, such that only the foolish and the desperate would bother the group.
On the way back, the group lucked out and gathered a couple baskets of wild berries that grow on bushes in the prairie. The orcs also gathered various wild herb and edible greens, as well as wild grains and nuts they ran across, being far more knowledgeable about the local flora than the girls who were visiting the region for the first time.
Aideen took the chance to point out the various edible plants and herbs as the orcs collected them and taught their uses to the girls. Some of the plants had medicinal effects, others were just collected to be eaten, or to be used as seasoning. Some others were to be dried and turned into the strong tea blend the orcs usually had with butter and salt.
The hunting group left behind a trail of blood from the four antelope carcasses they carried with them. Between the four antelopes and the baskets full of wild berries, plants, herbs, grains, and nuts they collected, it was an especially bountiful hunt. The latter was not unexpected, as the Bloodfangs chose the general region for their summer hunting ground due to the abundance of wild edibles that grew there to begin with.
When wild edible plants were plentiful, so was game, and that made for rich hunting. The region also possessed a robust vitality, one that would recover itself by the time the orcs returned the following year, allowing them to continue their usual pattern of migration. If anything, the hunting ground was capable of providing far in excess of the clan’s needs, which allowed them to trade their excess food supplies with other, less fortunate clans in the vicinity.
By the time the sun started to set, the hunting group saw the clan’s caravan in the distance, and caught up with them shortly after, bringing the prey they hunted to the cheers of the clan members.
