The Orc and the Elatu

BookKnight

Well-Known Member
Dubok rubbed his shoulder where the other orc's hammer had smashed into it. "Stop! Not needed!" he grunted, getting his axe up between himself and his opponent. "You'll wake villagers!"

The other orc grinned, baring his fangs at Dubok. "Good. Then I feast! On them and you!" His war hammer seemed to shatter the air as it swung straight at Dubok. Unlike human war hammers which were designed to be heavy but small to focus the impact area and cause greater damage, this orc's hammer was a good two feet wide at the head and jagged, meant to stab into armor and flesh alike.

Dubok got his axe up in time so the hammer's head met the head of his axe, but the force of the nearly nine-foot-tall Orc's blow set his bones rattling and his vision blurring. At over a foot shorter than his opponent, he didn't have the reach or the power behind his blows, and he couldn't keep defending forever. If he didn't think of something fast, his days of sitting peacefully watching butterflies were over! Unfortunately, orcs were not known for fast thinking. He staggered back, his foot crushing what was left of what had been a wooden chair he'd lashed together himself. It hadn't been particularly strong to begin with, but now it was nothing more than fire kindling. He liked that chair!

"Weakling can't even protect hovel!" gwaffed the bigger orc. "No wonder your clan kick you out. You useless food waste!"

Dubok snorted and charged forward, swinging his axe wildly. His attack worked, and the big orc retreated to avoid the sharp blades. Dubok turned and ran, jumping over the bits that used to be the roof of his little hovel. He heard the other orc roar behind him in anger and scorn. Yes, he was a coward for running, but better a live coward than a dead idiot. Everything he had except his anvil had already been destroyed. What was the point in sticking around to defend a piece of land that was just the same as any other piece? Dubok had only been here a short time, one of many attempts to settle down somewhere that was not completely the middle of nowhere. There was no point in defending the grass. He'd just find a new patch.

Thunderous footsteps shook the ground as the massive orc chased him. Apparently, running him off wasn't good enough. Dubok had to die. Something clipped his leg, and Dubok stumbled, falling shiny head over dirty, bare heels. He landed with a grunt in what felt like a ditch and stared up at the sky swirling above. The pounding footsteps drew closer. He pulled himself up and groaned. He was in a ditch! The ditch on the side of the road leading right into town! The early morning light highlighted the distant houses that would soon be fully of wakeful occupants, if they weren't awake already. Oh no. This was far too close. He was going to get into so much trouble! A massive hand grabbing the back of his leather collar and lifting him up reminded him that he was already in a lot of trouble. How could it get worse than this?
 
Artemis had been living in the town for some weeks. They had asked her to take care of the Orc that had been prowling at the edge of the forest. After her initial refusal, they scrounged some coin together, and that was just the motivation she needed to take on the request. This was why she waited at the edge of town. Imagine the surprise when she saw two Orcs fighting each other, no less. She thought of letting one kill the other to save her time and tripling the price already paid. But the pathetic attempt to defend from the smaller of the Orcs made her grow tired of watching. As the larger Orc grabbed the collar of the smaller one, she made her approach quickly. Using the downed Orc as a step when she vaulted into the air and drove her knee into the big Orc's face, landing between the two she didn't worry about the one she had just saved. He was inexperienced enough she could kill quickly should the need arise.

Yagnar stumbled back from the force of the hit that had landed on his chin. It hadn't been the Orc he was about to kill. This was the strike of a true warrior. Shaking his head, he focused on Artemis. She had her hood up concealing her face, but the brown cloak did little to hide that she was a woman. Gripping his hammer tightly the Orc's anger rose with his hammer. But she was too quick and while he expected a follow up attack, He lifted his arms to defend and when her foot connected savagely with his groin; he fell to a knee. Artemis grabbed Yagnar by his ears and again drove her knee into his face so hard he went into a tumble away from her, his ears still gripped by her hands. She threw the severed ears to the ground and rushed Yagnar again before he regained his composure. She drove her fist into his eye and sunk it so deep the punch had shaken the tree behind him. Artemis ripped her hand from Yagnar's hollowed socket and left him slumped against the tree. She looked at the other Orc. She didn't have to kill him. Her hood had fallen from her head and her emerald orbs fell upon the Orc. A crimson shine within them. She took a deep breath and quenched the blood thirst building within her.

Artemis approaches the Orc a sword she didn't need to use brandished on her hip looked rather odd as the blade was wide short and had a handle that was double the length it needed to be for a sword of its size. Artemis had made it clear she didn't need the blade to dispose of Orcs and that she wasn't an ordinary human. "Choose your words carefully, as they may be the last ones you speak." She said, wasting no time with this one either. "Why are you prowling outside of the town? Which clan are you from?" She asked.
 
Oh. What could be worse was some small creature diving between him and Yagnar and killing him with a couple of kicks and a punch. Dubok's lip curled at the stench of fresh orc blood and shuffled awkwardly away. He'd fallen and half-rolled far enough to be able to get himself to his feet and stay out of immediate range. He found his axe and picked it up. One could not simply abandon a perfectly good axe. They were so useful!

The human - was it a human? he wasn't sure other than it wasn't an orc or a goblin or similar - stood glaring at him with her strange eyes. Her words cut through the air and froze him in midstep. He wrinkled his nose again both in worry and protest at the smell. Her threat didn't worry him overly much. He was used to being threatened for any reason at all.

"I am not prowling," he said, enunciating each word with care. "I am living. I live there." He pointed with one thick, mossy-green finger. Then he sighed and dropped his hand. "I lived there until my little home got destroyed," he corrected mournfully. He hadn't answered her question about his clan, but he was a little distracted and figured the "why" question was more important.
 
Looking at him, she could sense that the Orc was relatively harmless. He didn't have any malice in him, which would have set off the demon in her sword. Instead, she agreed he was telling the truth. Artemis looked back to where he was pointing at the destroyed hut where the Orc was living. "I see." She said, turning back to him. She didn't have the drive to kill something that would not put up a fight. Artemis walked towards the town and brought herself closer to him, "You are too close to the town, the next one the town hires to kill you will not be as merciful. I suggest you make your living deeper in the forest." She said. Taking another few steps, Artemis paused. "What skills do you have?" She asked. Perhaps the Orc would be useful in other ways. While she had amazing strength and durability, the intimidation factor wasn't there, which often lead to her having to fight for trivial reasons such as a test of her might and mettle. It annoyed her how many people tried to test her. The sun had crept into the sky over the forest, waking the critters within.

"She's in cahoots with the Orc." A villager shouted. A mob behind them approached Artemis and the Orc. Brandishing farm tools as weapons. The people of this town only accepted her because she looked human and she drove away any others that posed a threat to their small town. But clearly she had overstayed her welcome, and it was time to leave. Artemis took the hand covered in the blue-green blood from Yagnar. Drawing her sword she wiped the blood on the blade.

"axakr gryczcz ayraw yr gaow czyqa axa aowax raraoax vkr gaa. ogroqar xib zczokraw." (They will quiver in fear like the earth beneath my feet. Awaken God Slayer.) She spoke in a language that has long since died out older than the ancestors of the Orc's tribe. Before the separations wars. The runes engraved into the blade glowed in a bright crimson colour as the blood she smeared across it absorbed into the metal. With both hands on the handle, she swung. A horizontal attack that cleared some of the forestry falling trees around her and the Orc. The blade did not reach the people, but it was close enough to cut a hole in the mob's leader's tunic, making them stop in their tracks. "Understand that I will kill all of you!" Artemis shouted. The people stood frozen in fear. Some started turning back to their homes. When they had mostly dispersed, Artemis closed her eyes and took a deep breath, cooling the fire that built inside her. She looks at the Orc. "I am headed to the capital. You are welcome to come along. They are more accepting of your kind there. Just don't be annoying and do not get in my way." Artemis told the Orc, she turned and walked away from the town towards the castle towers standing in the distance between the mountains.
 
Dubok drew himself up proudly. "I am blacksmith!" he proclaimed, giving his chest a light thump with one fist. "I bend metal and flame and make good things! Useful things. Things that protect and farm and cook and-" His speech was interrupted by the growling of the mob. He turned to eye them speculatively. This person was in ca-what? Cahoots? What was a cahoot? And why were they treating it like it was a bad thing? He heaved a deep sigh. He'd just wanted to have a bit of peace and quiet in the forest and maybe do a bit of smithing. What was so evil about smithing?

The woman growled out some strange phrase that made the tiny hairs on his arms stand on end and swung her sword like a child might. How was that going to be effective? It was far too short! Then the trees came crashing down around them, one of them falling uncomfortably behind Dublok. He took a step forward to avoid the branches now bouncing only inches at his back while the woman yelled her threats and dispersed the crowd. Then she turned to him and ordered him to accompany her. Maybe it was a request or a suggestion, but it didn't feel much like one coming from her. He stared after her in utter confusion. The confusion part was not a new sensation for Dublok, but the reason for it was.

"Wait." Dublok hurried to catch up to her, feeling slow by her tiny form. She was so quick and nimble while he felt like an upright log given legs! He was nearly two feet taller than her, but her very presence felt like a force in of itself. "Why do you want me to travel with you? Why the capital?" He stepped forward and, in spite of her warning, moved around to block her way, keeping what he hoped was a safe distance between them. "Why you threaten your kind and leave? You have nothing for supply."
 
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A blacksmith? Perhaps this Orc had some skills. Artemis thought as the Orc explained what he did, the Mob dispersing shortly after they had interrupted him speaking on his craft. Artemis looked uninterested in him continuing what he was saying. He stood in front of her and asked why she wanted him to travel with her. She didn't, but she couldn't leave him to the mercy of the people that would put his head on a pike outside the village as a warning to other Orcs... This one didn't have malice in his heart. "You are welcome to stay, but I do not think the humans will welcome you. The capital has money." Artemis kept her answers blatant and simple. "They are not my kind." Though she might have looked human, everything she had just shown the Orc suggested she was something more than a regular human. "What need do I have of supplies? I have my sword and dagger, all I need to make my way through the wilderness." She wondered if he noticed the power of the sword after she had smeared the blood on the blade? She rolled her eyes and looked at the sky. The sun had moved to her back, beginning its descent into the horizon.

She moved passed the Orc, having answered all his questions, no one to doddle or stick around to see if someone else showed up to kill her or the Orc she was regretting inviting to come with her. This would become a long trip if there were going to be many stops such as this. "We should make haste and get through the forest before nightfall." Artemis said knowing it would take some hours to navigate the dense forest. Ventou Forest became exceedingly dangerous in the night when nocturnal creatures rose from their slumber in search of flesh. She'd like to get through the forest before she would have to draw her sword.
 
"It is not easy to hunt with sword and dagger," Dublok remarked as he walked a step behind her, easily keeping up with his long strides. In fact, he had to deliberately shorten them to keep from overtaking the shorter woman. He tapped his chin thoughtfully with one thick finger. "Unless you are not a meat eater? Those are... veggie-rare-ians, yes?" He nodded sagely. "I cannot miss my meat, but I have respect to those who desire to follow strict paths. Yes, much respect. It takes much valor to follow strict paths."

He tipped his head slightly. "Unless you hunt with dagger throwing? You make traps as you go? This must slow your travels, but if you have no hurries. Yes, it is good to walk and enjoy this world, yes?" He smiled happily to himself and hung his ax on his belt. It was nice to have someone to talk to for once!
 
She mocked his statement in her mind. Artemis walked towards the river that would be the major water source for the kingdom to the east and the township they were leaving behind. "It's rather easy to fashion a spear with a dagger, no?" she states, continuing her path as the sound of rushing water came to her ears faintly. The forest was dense in the old hunting path. Even with the overgrowth, the shortest route is still through the forest. The canopy darkened the forest the deeper they went into the forest. Critters scurried through the brush. Deer fled when they scented the blood that was now drying on her arm becoming a black crust in the day.

The river got louder the further east they went into the forest; they come upon a creek branch leading to the forest. Artemis stops and crouches at the bank, sticking the bloodied arm into the flowing water, letting it take away the blood from her arm, washing it clean. When her skin returned to its pale fair complexion, she cupped the water in her hand, sipped it, then stood. Artemis looked down the creek, the river was close enough they could hear it. "What's your name?" Artemis asked. She offered her invitation to him. She might as well learn what to call the name of her new acquaintance. "I am Artemis." She walked by him and followed the creek north. The river wasn't far now. The day crept into dusk. "We can make camp at the river." Artemis continued her route. This would cut their travel time significantly by getting them to the capital by the same time tomorrow.

She paused in her step for a moment surveying the surrounding forest for something. She could sense something watching them, wondering if the Orc felt the same as she proceeds. Though her gait changed from a relaxed walk to a more rigid march, but her hands remained down and her demeanor was calm. Soon enough, if they were being hunted, the two of them would run into the eyes that kept hidden in the dense forest, too dark for her to pinpoint their location.

Night came over them when they arrived at the riverbank that ran east to west. The capital was due west of the river that ran through the center of the city under the kingdom. She stopped once the creek had left their senses. Gathering firewood Artemis used her dagger to make kindling, then reached into her sack on her belt retrieving a large piece of flint. Artemis showered the kindle with sparks until she had an ember smoldering. Placing the ember into the woodpile, she blew on the ember until it combusted into flames letting them build cracking the wood. Artemis took her sword from her hip and sat next to a tree with the trunk against her back, leaning the sword on her shoulder.
 
The woman walked and walked and walked. Dubok followed her, not because he trusted her or expected anything, but more because he wasn't sure what else to do. The villagers would now try to hunt him down thanks in part to the other orc and this woman. There would be no quiet existence at the edge of their knowledge now. He might as well follow this woman as make his own path. Either way seemed to have equal chances, and at least she tolerated him. Most humans didn't. Not that she seemed very human, but she looked human-ish, and without any other titles for her, he might as well call her a human until he knew better, he supposed.

The cool river soothed both Dubok's ears and then his throat when he stuck his whole face into the river and gulped down about a gallon of cold water. It hit his stomach like lead, reminding him he hadn't had a bite to eat yet all day. He'd been in the middle of fixing breakfast when the other, bigger orc had stepped in and destroyed his place. Maybe he'd find some kind of berries or something along the way, because it seemed like the woman had no interest in slowing down for a proper meal.

When she told him her name, he brightened with a smile. Maybe they were on their way to being friends! "I am Dubok!" he announced. "I have no clan any longer, no people, but I have me, still. That is a good thing. I seek to find new people. A new place to be!" He huffed a little as she set a steady, fast, soldier-ish pace, acting as if someone was chasing her until she finally stopped to make camp.

He paused and watched her curiously as she built up an - in his smithy opinion - inefficient fire. "Why build fire when someone seeks you?" he asked bluntly.
 
Clanless Dubok, an Orc with no malice or intent to kill, at least not for being a warrior. This was rather intriguing, to meet someone from that race without a thirst for blood. He must have been a hit with the others. That explains the orc she had left dead slumped against a tree. Dubok, well spoken for orcs compared to those she met in the past. A rarity among them was knowledge and industry. Dubok had both. She fed the fire basking in the warmth. The wood cracked and popped in the heat. He asked yet another question, one she debated answering. Just kill him and be done with it. This one will only slow you down. The voice of Ruin came through her thoughts as she still considered if she should ignore or answer Dubok.

"What makes you think anyone is seeking me? We are in a forest filled with dangerous beasts. Eyes watch us both." Artemis glowered. She rested her head against the tree. "Why did you get kicked out of your clan?" Artemis asked him. She closed her eyes and listened. The sound of the bugs chirping in the background. Creatures and critters traipsing around the forest floor. The crackling of the small campfire all played music to her ears as she ventured on the horizon of sleep. Her eyes closed, but she still listened. Listening for anything that might come to make a meal from them. She listened for the Orc should he try to sneak up on her and slit her throat. When she couldn't fully commit to sleeping, she stood, reached for a long branch from the tree she leaned against. Crrraaack! Snap! The branch broke to her might. With her free hand, she pulls out a dagger and cleans the thick branch roughly as long as she is tall. She takes the bark off the branch, nodding at her work, knowing it would make a good hunting spear. She laid it at her side, replacing the dagger back into the sheath, settling into the trunk of the tree. Artemis looked at Dubok. "Do not touch or approach me while I sleep." it was not for her protection but his own. Because as sleep drifts over her being, she goes to battle. Ghosts from her past came to fight her once again with their corpses brandishing their weapons. The coals of hell beneath her feet.

***
The sun creeps over the forest and waking Artemis when its warmth touched her face. Another night survived. Another day to behold, she rose to her feet, picked up the spear she made last night. She finishes the spear by sharpening a piece of stone splitting the top of the shaft she crafted and splitting the top. Wedging the sharpened stone into the top of the shaft she uses some leather from her pack to tie the shaft. The leather strained under the tightness as she tugs, testing the knot. With bee's wax and boar tallow, she seals the leather. The spear was ready for hunting, and so was she. Artemis walked into the bushes surveying the area, looking for signs of animals. Approaching a berry bush, she investigates the branches. Something had eaten berries from it. Artemis put some berries in a pouch and moved deeper into the forest. As she walks spear in one hand, the other held out, taking surrounding shrubbery into it so she could inspect. Looking at the ground, stag droppings, fairly fresh, she's close. Her walk slows, and she gets low, crouching as she approaches the stag. Large male with a trophy worthy set of antlers atop his head. It would yield a harvest that could feed her and Dubok for a day or more depending on how much the Orc ate. How much she would let him eat. Artemis threw the spear with pinpoint accuracy as the stag tried to escape but her aim was true and made a clean kill. When she came upon the kill, she thanked the animal for its sacrifice, then she drew her dagger and removed the organs.

Artemis walked into camp with the stag over her shoulders carrying it by the antlers. She could have cleaned it but the orc would have to earn his keep. "Can you clean an animal?" She asked dropping the stag at Dubok's feet.
 
Dubok would have answered the woman, but in no time at all, she was asleep. Or, at least, she seemed to be asleep. Maybe it was not that she was quick to fall asleep, maybe it was he took too long to gather his thoughts. In any case, she was soon asleep, and he did not think she would like it too much if he woke her up and told her the answer to her question, even if she had asked it. It must not have been important to her, not that he blamed her. She had a lot on her mind with all of the dark, spooky woods and lots of enemies. Perhaps he was being assumptive thinking she had lots of enemies, but she seemed like the type that would. Besides, having a lot of power attracted people who would want to challenge her just to see who was the stronger person.

The next morning, Dubok woke to find the kind-of-human gone, but most of her things still there. It looked like she was going to return, which was a nice thing, and she trusted him not to snoop, which was another nice thing. Maybe they'd get along after all! Maybe. He could hope. He used the time she was gone to build up the fire from the embers it had lapsed into and brought it up to a nice, warm blaze perfect for cooking or warming up food. He had a little bread and cheese in his pack. Not a lot, but some. He took out what he had and carefully split it into two portions. He was ravenously hungry and hoped Artemis would hurry up and come back.

And then she did, carrying a deer. How had she killed a deer? And why? That was a lot of meat for one woman!

"Yes, I can clean," he said, choosing not to take offense at her question. Of course, he could! Any respectable orc old enough to walk could. He picked up the deer in one hand and looked it over. "Where are organs?" he asked before stretching it out on the cleanest looking grass patch. It took him a moment to locate his thin-bladed knife, but once he did, it took a matter of moments to separate the deer from the skin. He used the skin to keep the meat and tossed the bones into a pile off to the side. He figured it was pointless to keep the bones for stock. He loved a good bone stock, but bones were an unnecessary weight, and he had no way to store them properly.
 
Artemis went to the river bank and washed her hands. The breeze swept through the leaves, birds called to each other and fish jumped in the river. He was able and willing to clean the deer. She sat at the tree with her back against the trunk, the same one that she had slept against. Her sword and pack are still there. She had burned through her winnings from the last kingdom in the stadium, where she had become champion in a short time. Before it was time to move on, she had earned plenty coin and lived like a queen for a time. But then she returned to the warrior's path once again. A sword for hire who slept in the forest or on the road. The grass was soft against her skin and the breeze was refreshingly cool. A moment of breathing while she let the orc butcher the deer. She started setting up the yield of the deer over the fire at various heights with rope.

She would let them all smoke so they would keep well along the travel, thinking that she might not have the coin to buy food for quite a while when they arrived at the capital. Luckily, she had competed once before at the stadium in the City of Clyde that surrounded the kingdom. She could use that to get her entrance into the fights quicker than having to sign up as a new fighter. She wondered if she would encounter someone who would make her draw her sword for once. Dubok could probably find work quickly in the city if he was a smithy. They could always use skilled craftsmen. She couldn't gauge his skill, but he knew how to build a fire which might have held some credence to his claim. If he truly was a smith, perhaps he could forge a new dagger for her with the antler for the handle. "I left the organs for the birds." She said.

"So, why did your clan exile you?" She asked, having recalled last night that she had closed her eyes before he answered her question. It had been something she hadn't meant to do, though it was something she did often. It was the main reason she travelled alone. The silence of solitude was tolerable. Travelling with a companion for significant amounts of time could mean that she needed to talk to them. Talking wasn't in her strong suit. Slightly better vocabulary than the average ogre or goblin. She didn't have the temperament to engage in deep conversation. But perhaps she should attempt.
 
"For birds?" Dubok demanded in shock. He shook his head, scowling so hard his small - for an Orc - tusks jutted out over his upper lip. He was pouting in the most childish of ways. "Organs best bit. Good heart, kidney, oysters... all gone to birdies. Gone away." He heaved a sigh, still pouting a bit, and then brightened. "Still have tongue and cheeks!"

He finished cleaning off every bit of meat and tallow he could from the deer and took the tongue directly to the stream to give it a good cleaning. He didn't know why Artemis was smoking the deer. Wouldn't it be faster to cook it? But it was not his deer, so he wouldn't say anything. The tongue, however, the tongue was his! He figured it was a fair trade for cleaning off her kill and he doubted she'd want it since she'd abandoned all the best bits in the woods for the birds to eat. He filled his metal cup with water from the stream, returned to the fire, plunked the tongue into the cup, and balanced it on three small stones above the coals where the heat would set the water boiling quickly.

His ears twitched when she repeated her question from the night before. Oh. Apparently, she did want to know! He straightened, feeling flattered. Before he answered, he tested the pieces of bread and cheese he'd gotten out earlier. Nicely toasted with melty cheese on top! Perfect. He handed her the smaller half, guessing that to be fair since he was a lot bigger than her, and it was his bread.

"Dubok not have choice," he told her. "All Orcs must soldier, all of them, so says chief of my clan. Must fight and fight and fight. I am... not good soldier." He gave a shrug and a lopsided smile that was supposed to be sheepish, but the tips of his fangs ruined the look a little. "I can fight and not die, but smallness is not good. And I ask too many questions. No one like that. I good smith, but Chief says I must be good soldier too. They said Dubok is bad Orc, and bad Orcs do not get winter shelter. Some not minded me, some almost friends, but no one speak for me when Chief says I leave and live or stay and die. So, I leave. Not long ago now. I thought maybe humans need smith. Or dwarves. Or someone else. I work for winter food." He gave a nod, the tips of his ears flapping slightly as he did so. "Not lazy. But not killer."
 
"Yes, for the birds." Artemis spat back when he demanded, and he continued to pout about not having the organs. "It's bad luck when you take from mother nature and do not give back." She said, an old wives' tale she was told as a child. She knew better now, but that didn't matter. There was a certain level of luck and respect hunters had for nature. The meat continued to simmer. By mid afternoon it finished and they would move towards the capital, towards the prospect of a bed in a tavern and drink. Listening to his story it seemed he didn't appreciate the importance of being a warrior, especially with the world in such turmoil, between warring kingdoms and the villages that were left torn by the bandits. Even the Orcs weren't safe from such strife.

She took the toasted bread with the cheese and placed a smaller, more cooked piece of the meat on top of the cheese to round it off while he explained not having a choice in leaving. That's the general idea of being exiled. They didn't have a choice. When he spoke about being able to fight and not die, it reminded her about yesterday and how much of a fight he was putting up to the larger Orc until she arrived. "Right… fight and not die…" She chuckled, but let him continue. It was a stark contrast between Dubok and herself. The way he was a gentle green giant seemed to be so odd in the sense of other Orcs she has encountered, Orcs like Yagnar. She had a certain level of respect for Dubok in that he didn't want to outright murder anything he came across, such as others she has encountered. Orcs, humans, and demons. They all have had evil intentions. Even herself for a time would have killed him on sight just for her own amusement.

Things have changed as time went on and her thirst for violence simmered some. But at the very least, she has kept her battle prowess. "I understand not wanting to be a killer in Dubok, but there comes a time where everyone will be tested. And you must be ready to kill or prepare to die." She watched the meat cook as the sizzle of the flesh dripped into the coals. "The world is like a jungle. Either you are the predator or the prey." She said. "So perhaps your clan had their reasons, as a tribe is only as strong as their weakest member." The truth she spoke comes from experience. They did not show her own race mercy in their annihilation. Therefore, she chose the life of a champion. She felt most alive when she bled. Artemis sighed and closed her eyes. Perhaps she was the weak one, unable to see nature's beauty in the simplest forms, from a flower blooming to a caterpillar's transition into a butterfly. She grabbed the hide let the time pass as she cleaned it.

When she finished the skin, next they had smoked fully the meat and were ready to be removed from the heat. It was midday, the sun at the highest point, she stood to cut the larger pieces of the meat from the over the fire. "We should move if we want to make it to the capital before nightfall." Her keen sense of time and distance showed she's well travelled. "If we follow the river, we will hit the main road. But keep an eye out for bandits. The spider clan calls this forest home." She warned Dubok, even though she doubted they would attack. If there was a large enough force, they could easily overwhelm the two of them. The skin of the deer had dried in the sun. Though not fully cured, it would be good to bring if she could get it turned into a bag or perhaps an armored skirt.
 
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