Lean Meat [Solo Flashback]

[Lyner]

Lyner ran hard, ran fast and battered his body as he forced himself to ignore the pain of having all manners of plants and branches slapping his body while he ventured forward. The occasional glimpses Lyner took behind him showed him that Roland was still hot on the chase, but the man's age was catching up with him and Lyner found the opportunity to vanish from the man's field of vision by ducking into a depression he spotted two yards in the distance. The Syliran crouched low, so low that his ears were touching the soil and his chest was pressed against grass. Startled by the boy's sudden disappearance Roland frantically moved forward... and Lyner surprised the man, throwing a fist full of soil into the wizard's eyes. Roland raged, throwing fire blindly around him and Lyner used the chance to get away... far enough so the flames couldn't touch hum but still within range to shoot the man's heart with an arrow. Roland stopped panicking and had the presence of mind to wash away the dirt from his eyes with his drinking water but the boy was no longer visible. He looked around cautiously, trying to find traces of the boy's passing in the dirt. But Lyner had hopped from place to place making his footprints hard to trace. The light piercing through the treetops helped little to make Lyner visible, Roland's reason for bringing them here early was backfiring on him now. Soon Lyner saw the man move past him... now was the time for him to gamble. He confirmed his stance without looking, the closed stance he'd learned to mimic from a couple hours a day spent watching knights practice from behind them. One foot forward, the other back, feet spaced a shoulder's width apart. 'You're at the archery range.' he told himself in an effort to slow his heart, his pulse and his breathing. 'The sun is shining down, the wind is cool upon your skin and you have all the time in the world... all the time in the world to make this shot.' He felt sweat trickle down his neck and he noticed the tension of his hands. 'Hold the bow, Lyner, not too tightly. It isn't a hammer. Just enough pressure man, firm but loose. Finger tension will just cause your aim to be deflected from the target.' his relaxed grip would contribute to his accuracy. As for holding bow itself, he continued to hold it with his knuckles at a 45 degree angle grip. 'Always keep the bow pointed at your prize man, if you lose sight of that no matter how perfect every other step is you botch this shot.' he adjusted it's position, sliding wooden arc with minute adjustments so he could feel the pressure against the ball of his thumb rather than permitting it to rest in the curve of his palm. With the majority of the pressure on the top of the ball of the thumb he knew his fingers were out of the way. When he was sure that his arm wouldn't fold and was firm he pushed it forward, just like he would push a door open. He would use everything from his fingers all the way up his shoulders like a single joined object. "Aim, draw and keep on aiming on the bastard. Never lose sight of him." the whisper was so weak, it was unlikely that even a person standing beside him would be able to make out any words. He drew the string and notched the arrow, three fingers drawing it with the arrow pinched between the index and middle finger. All the while, Lyner aimed, his thoughts weren't in this forest, he was in the archery range and the furious man yards before him was just another target. And then he fired, still holding the bow and without even waiting for the arrow to reach it's mark he reached out for his last arrow and nocked it into the bowstring. The habit would let him survive the crazy wizard. His first arrow missed the target by a good foot or two... but it provided him with knowledge, now he knew what to do to fix his aim. 'Keep aiming... Keep aiming!' With the slightest adjustment of his arm he fired again and by the time Roland saw Lyner and his arrow, he was too late to avoid it. The wizard twisted his body, trying to get away but the second and final arrow pierced his thigh and plowed itself into thick sinew maybe touching even bone. The mage fell, his anguished scream echoing even with all these trees around them to muffle the cry. Lyner realized that the attack wasn't fatal, Roland would live if he nursed his wound and stayed where he was to attend to it. He didn't wait and see if the man could recover, he didn't have an arrow to shoot him down and he wasn't going to risk approaching the man for a killing blow only to get barbecued. The Syliran ran back to the clearing hoping that the injury would slow Roland down.

[Lyner]

If there was a god of luck, Lyner was convinced that he must've done something to offend him. At his heel were two wolves, probably the same ones he'd scared off earlier when he was up on the tree. He couldn't believe that he'd have to come across them on his way back... only now they were too close for him to risk climbing up a tree slowly and he was without arrows. It didn't help that he was actually starting to feel the muscles of his legs and thighs burn even with the occasional breaks he took to catch his breath and massage them after shooting the mad mage. Lyner looked at the clearing ahead, at that burned patch of grass in the distance and he hoped that he would still find one of the javelins Todd threw there still intact. He had to find something, anything he could use to protect himself with. He knew that his legs could only carry him so far and his mind vision was actually starting to cloud over. Lyner continued to keep his eyes on the ground despite his failing vision and he concentrated on his breathing, he needed to keep it fast and steady, he needed to keep taking in fresh gulps of air to fight off the dizziness that would spell his doom. Miraculously, jutting out of the grass yards away the arrow he'd used to mark the spot where he spotted something earlier was there. As he changed his bearing towards that he took out his small utility knife, cutting the rope securing his bag to his waist and took it into his hand to use as a makeshift flail. When he was close enough to pluck the arrow he turned, swinging his waistbag and slamming it into the head of a wolf leaping towards him. The mass of the bag and the bottles inside were enough to displace the wolf from it's course in the air. The other however couldn't be stopped. It fell on Lyner, its jaws going for his throat. The boy struggled, holding off the dog by clutching it's neck with one hand and closing its jaws with the other. Man and beast wrestled against each other, rolling on the ground fiercely but the second wolf that was recovering from it's concussion was going to join the battle and that was going to be the end of it. Lyner was ready to give up but a sharp sound and the muffled noise of something stopped the motion of the other wolf. He chanced a look at whatever had saved his skin and a bloodied Ron holding a now empty crossbow grinned at him. He didn't waste time with pleasantries though, he only asked Lyner to put the dog above him and he started hacking away swinging the crossbow like a pick axe against the hound's belly. That moment when the dog tensed in pain was godsent. Lyner managed to crush the thing's windpipe and end it's struggling. He didn't even bother to push the wolf's still warm corpse off him, he was satisfied just being able to breath and look at the grey sky. "Looks like its going to rain." Ron told Lyner as he knelt above the Syliran who still wasn't ready to push himself off the grass.

[Lyner]

Lyner and Ron were making good progress through the forest though they couldn't let their guard down just yet. There were still a pair of wolves loose and plenty pissed nearby. Fortunately Lyner had collected four of Fred's arrows that had survived the flames in the clearing. They weren't scot-free though, Ron's aim with his heavy crossbow was unreliable if he wasn't shooting at point blank range though and Lyner really didn't want to waste his arrows when he knew that there was a crazy fire wielding wizard out there trying to kill them. "It was Frederick's fault I tell you," Ron grunted while adjusting he bandage stemming the bleeding from his arm. "He tried shooting one of them, thought he'd get himself wolf pelts... the fool." Lyner swept his bangs away from his face and glared daggers at Ron. "I don't really care about who's fault it is man, I just want to get out of here alive." for once, Ron didn't have complaints about Lyner's suggestion, the boy just nodded wordlessly. "I'm not sure if Todd's already taken a horse back to Syliras. We agreed to fetch help before coming back." Ron laughed. "You came back though." Lyner couldn't help but join his friend's laughter. He sorely needed this moment of joy, it helped him relax and organize his thoughts better. "I needed your help, I don't know how to ride horses remember?" The pair knew that that was a tall lie. They were glad for each other's company. Having someone to guard your back in a pinch made even the most stressful of situations tolerable. "Man... I really don't know how we're going to break this to Fred's mom." their friend's death was clearly weighing down on Ron harder than it was on Lyner. Ron and Frederick had been close, they were almost like brothers even before Lyner had met the two. "We'll give him a proper burial... but first we have to survive this mess." Ron nodded firmly. The picked up their pace and headed in the direction where they believed they left the wagon they took here to load their kills on. Hopefully Todd had the sense of mind to tie down one of the horses for Lyner, he didn't want to stay on foot when Roland was doing the same.

[Lyner]

The last thing either of them expected to see when they got to the wagon was Roland looking right as rain with the exception of his bandaged leg. The hunter was saddled up on a horse and seemed to be whittling away at time with a thick homemade tobacco pinched between his lips. Lyner was already aiming with his bow. The serrated arrow of Frederick's was potentially more dangerous than an ordinary arrow but it was fletched with a feather meant for a left-hander. It was unfortunate but Lyner had little experience with the counter-clockwise spin these arrows took. He was going to have to wing it and learn on the go. "I told you, we shouldn't have taken that turn!" Ron whined while keeping his voice subdued. "We must've taken the long route back." Used to his friend's annoying habits Lyner learned to overlook Ron's constant complaining. He couldn't worry about that right now, there were more important things to ponder. "Do you see the other horse?" Ron craned his neck nervously before ducking it back down in the bushes. "There's only one horse... Think Todd got away?" "Hope so..." the Syliran flexed his elbow outward, drew the bowstring with three fingers including his thumb and corrected his grip, letting the bow occupy it's position against the ball of his naturally. "I don't want to walk all the way back to Syliras. Can you still aim?" Ron was skeptical of Lyner's aggressive stance in dealing with the senior hunter turned mad wizard, but they weren't going to be able to sneak past the man on the open plains beyond the forest,nor would they be able to outrun the man if he wasn't on foot. "Both of us will shoot at the same time, then we run in opposite directions?" 'Worked with Todd, should work now... I hope." "Best of luck to you Lynn." Ron wrenched his other hand underneath his crossbow despite the pain to support it and they counted from three to shoot. Maybe it was the loud noise of Ron's crossbow mechanism or maybe it was the horse's instinct but the two boys missed on account of the horse becoming suddenly startled. Ron immediately dropped the weapon since he couldn't bear it's weight and ran one way. Lyner on the other didn't abandon his weapon, he was running while holding his arrow in one hand and his bow in the other. Perhaps if he was sane Roland would've chased down Ron who was impaired by his pain but his desire to get back at the kid who'd injured him overpowered reason. He was quick to get his mount into a trot and was fast on Lyner's rear. The man had a debt to pay and he was going to deliver on it, even if it meant riding dangerously hard into the woods.

[Lyner]

Lyner's feet thundered against the ground like a blur and dirt and grass flew in his wake. Like a fox he flew through the forest, ducking, leaping and clinging on to branch and tree to maintain a speed otherwise impossible to achieve without the rush of adrenaline and the threat of imminent demise. Behind him, he could hear the four point staggered run of a horse. This time the Syliran lad didn't look back and risk being distracted, his eyes were only on the path in front of him, on the obstacles he needed to avoid and the hard soil he wanted to traverse. A single misstep could spell being trampled underfoot of the bucking gelding or being incinerated by the sheets of fire leaping from Roland's hand. Lyner believed himself a dead man living on stolen time... but Lyner was ignorant of the difficulties in forcing a horse through such unpredictable terrain. He was also equally clueless about the effects of the flames Roland was unleashing while mounted atop his horse. The wizard may have been a great horseman, but his magic was scaring the horse and his injured thighs were preventing him from controlling the horse efficiently. Those two factors miraculously kept the boy from getting caught but he could only keep himself abreast of danger and not for long. Stamina was one thing the horse possessed that Lyner was in short supply off. All this running was taking it's toll on the lad. Even after drinking all that water at the stream before they took off seemed suddenly insufficient. He wanted nothing more than to take a sip from the bottle water pack at his hip but if he tried it was likely that he would choke. Air was more important than hydration right now. Before Lyner, a rising slope that wasn't going to be easy to climb over stood imposingly like a wall, barring his chances to survival. His legs were screaming, the dull heaviness had been replaced by mind numbing pain. Still his consciousness fought them off, he charged, screaming... and then he slipped. The horse terrified at the rapidly approaching bulk of flesh backed up, it's hooves hammering in the air in it's panic as it threatened to throw off it's rider. Roland was a seasoned rider however and wasn't easy to unseat, he took his chance when he saw it putting personal safety in second priority to getting revenge. He set Lyner ablaze with his magic... but the boy was rolling down the incline picking up dust and dirt that ate what little embers he could set on the Syliran. The price for his aggression was steep however, the flames pushed an already frightened horse into an uncontrollable fit. The gelding ran, away from Lyner, up the hill and some ways off before it's panicked gallop started slowing down. Fighting off the pain and the nausea that was sapping him of his consciousness Lyner ducked behind a tree breathing hard and fast. He pressed his body close to it, he didn't want to be seen, he wanted to recover some of his breath before he even tried to do anything more. He squeezed his hands. He lost his bow during that fall but he still had an arrow in his hand. He poked his head from behind the tree he was using for cover and saw his bow, it wasn't so far but he didn't have the energy to go to it just yet. The Syliran took a swig of his watch satchel, then another while he deliberately hyperventilated himself. From afar, the neigh of the horse alerted Lyner to the coming threat. He still hadn't recovered completely, he'd been shaken up in that fall and his mind was still spinning a little. He couldn't run... but he needed to do something, anything to keep that man from harassing him with his accursed flames.

[Lyner]

The answer came to Lyner in the form of a bottle. Literally. Inside his hastily restored waist bag was an empty bottle containing at least half a liter of resin. It took awhile to be set ablaze, but his experience with this particular tree sap told him it tended to burn persistently once it was subjected to flame hot enough to ignite it. He smiled. There was one such source nearby. Lyner began chipping away at the surface of the glass with two rocks he'd picked up nearby. He didn't mean to break it, but he wanted to be sure that it would snap in impact. Applying just the right amount of force was trick but he'd finally cracked the thing just as Roland appeared above the slope. The man looked around, his eyes reading the terrain for any unusual prints and he found one leading directly behind a big tree. Roland eased his horse into a walk and was expecting the boy to run out from the tree to head to another. To his great astonishment, a bottle was flung his way so quickly that he shielded himself with his arms, throwing his magical flame to burn it to a cinder. It didn't burn, Lyner's strategy failed. The bottle did break on his shoulder but it did little damage beyond spreading warm goo all over the ranger's torso. Roland touched the residue and rubbed it near his nose and ultimately flicked it off him in disgust. He didn't know what the boy was planning, but whatever it was the Syliran lad had annoyed him one too many times. He struck the tree the boy was using for shelter, igniting the bark around it and forcing Lyner into motion. With no other alternative left to him, Lyner ran to another adjacent tree to hide. But it did him little good, the wizard's fire was becoming less linear, Roland had taken to making his attacks conical, the wider range wasn't lethal but Lyner's leather armor was poor protection against that kind of attack. He was starting to feel like a cornered animal but he noticed a sound from his right. Something was buzzing not too far and he instantly recoiled. A nest... a nest of bees. The Syliran had no time to question himself, his plan may not have been the best of plans but it was a plan and that was better than nothing. He stabbed the nest with his arrow and flung it, arrow and hive at Roland.

[Lyner]

A black cloud of insects exploded in front of Roland but he easily fried most of them with his magic. Yet that moment's lapse in his offense against Lyner afforded the boy the opportunity to move again, this time he was moving low against the shrubs instead of running briskly, towards his bow. He touched his back, three arrows he noted. He wasn't even good with these ones. His accuracy with arrows meant for left-handers was poor past ten yards. Lyner would be tried, tested... but would his skill be found wanting? He hoped they wouldn't. He moved quickly and as quietly as he could and he found his bow where he'd dropped it. He lifted the bow, straightening the arm that would hold it and knocked an arrow into it. He turned, facing the direction from whence he came, expecting that horse and it's damned rider to come out bursting into plain site. Predictably Roland did come exactly in the direction they left. He no longer looked angry, the man actually looked winded while he struggled to maintain control. His bandage too was stained with blood. "You test my-" the arrow the boy released silenced him but it didn't even nick him... he was never even the target in the first place. His horse was. The gelding cried, shaking off it's rider as the pain of having an arrow plunge deep into it's barrel introduced it to pain and terror that it had never known. Lyner almost felt sorry for the mount but he didn't have time to hesitate. He pinched another arrow into his bowstring and fired. This next shot was poised to hit the wizard and it turned out to be horribly misaligned. Having wasted another chance the boy ran again, deeper into the wilderness. Above him, the gray skies had turned dark and the promise of rain seemed to hang in the air.

[Lyner]

Rain was a wonderful thing. It nourished life, washed away impurities and dramatically reduced the lifespan of fire in it's misty embrace. However Lyner wasn't so pleased with it even if it did cool his skin and reduce the effectiveness of his opponent's weapon. Even if it afforded him with so many advantages, rain prevented him from using his single weapon at range. Arrows were ill to soar against thrashing wind and violent downpours, Roland's fire still looked as deadly as ever if one got within 12 feet of him. Running was also harder now, mud provided bad traction and roots and leaves became hazardous things when soaked completely. Yet he didn't think he had any choice but to press forward. He clung unto anything he could to anchor himself and prevent his foot from slipping, he kept moving forward, pulling himself with his arms when he couldn't push with his feet. He was even forced to abandon a boot when it got tangled against a root. But he was making impressive ground against Roland. The injured man struggled to emulate Lyner's feats and he seemed to be ill able to traverse rising slopes without committing all his attention to the terrain. Lyner couldn't hear the breath and the sharp intake of air he'd associated with those magical flames too. If Roland he was exhausted, the Syliran didn't know. All he knew was that he was going to take advantage of the man's worsening condition. The chance to get the drop on the senior hunter came when Lyner bumped into a thick but flexible branch blocking the easiest slope to tackle up this particular part of the forest. He cleared it by ducking under the branch and then pulled the branch back and around the trunk with his hands. He waited for Roland, hiding behind the side of the trunk, digging his feet into the earth as he relied on his entire body weight instead of his arm muscles to restrain the branch in it's place. "Come back here Lair!" He heard the old man's footsteps and then he saw the man's hand parallel to his position from around the tree. Lyner released the branch without so much as a cry. While he did fall on his buttocks and staining his clothes in mud the wizard had to catch the kinetic energy launched from branch slam with his body. It seemed that there was force enough to push him off his feet and send him flying so that he would hit the ground with his back. Lyner picked up his bow and arrow with haste, slid down the hill and was upon the ranger who's wind had been knocked out of him. The lad knocked his arrow into his string, leveled the bow at the man's throat and pulled the bowstring back... as far back as he could. There was so much energy just begging to be released then and there. For the first time Lyner had a man's life at his mercy. He'd already considered this kind of situation before. Winning a life or death struggle. He played with then noble notion of allowing his opponent a chance to yield, to retreat in shame but with his life. Somehow being the victor here didn't give him a sense of accomplishment, he didn't even feel slightly romantic or poetic. This was the law of nature, survival of the fittest. It was kill or be killed. "Before you die, I think you should know that the name's Lyner." Lyner released the string and the whipping sound it made as it slapped against his bracer and the sound of the wooden shaft impaling and piercing Roland's trachea was the only thing that filled his ears. In his mind, he'd muted away the noise of the raindrops already.

[Lyner]

No matter how well equipped the authority, even if trouble pops up in their own territory the policing force of a region came in always a few hours too late. Lyner and Ron were resting in the horseless wagon, taking turns on watch before a small group of Syliran Knights came to their rescue with Todd trailing not far behind them. Lyner would have laughed, said something bright and cheery but somehow his first kill was leaving an unwelcome aftertaste in his mouth. He wanted to say he was okay, but he felt something change in him. That he had the capacity to kill a man with that much detachment bothered him. Lyner believed he was a kind, understanding and patient person... now he wasn't so sure of that anymore. Ron thankfully gave the summary of the story to the Knights and spared Lyner the interrogation that he wasn't ready to deal with. The Syliran looked at the bow in his lap and stroked it from end to end. The bow was battered and mud crusted but he had no doubt that it could kill again. Lyner wondered who made it, if the bowyer who was responsible for this thing realized just how many lives it would save or end. Lyner felt a gauntleted hand on his shoulder, a grizzly looking knight who's face bore testaments to many skirmishes looked at him with pity. "Are you alright kid?" "No, not really..." Lyner looked up at the sky and it continued to weep back at him. "I am hungry though." The knight laughed, slapped his back heartily and handed the boy a flask of something that smelled strong and fruity. "It'll warm you right up." Lyner accepted the flask and drank deep of it. The liquor was zesty and had a bit of a citric kick to it. Yet it made him feel warm even if it did seem to burn his throat a little. "A little too strong for me... but its good." "Well kid, lets go fetch your friend. We'll have to take him back if we're going to give him the funeral he deserves."

[Lyner]

Lyner kicked and rolled the decapitated body of Roland into a shallow grave and the knight who'd helped him dig the hole dumped the first shovelful of soil over the corpse's head. "They call it overgiving." the knight said as he continued piling on the dirt, concealing the man's torso from the air. Lyner looked confused though that didn't stop him from undertaking. "I'm not sure about the specifics... but what I do know is wizards cant use their magic too much or they end up paying a price." the knight dumped another layer of soil over the dead body and when he'd finished his end of the corpse he rubbed his hands free of the dirt. "They say the price is their sanity." "We're done here I think." the knight escorted Lyner back to the rest of the group who'd tried their best to make the corpse of the dead boy presentable. Now that the body wasn't covered with soot and mud it really hit Lyner, that this wasn't just a body. It was good old Fred. There was something heartbreaking about gazing at the dead body of someone he'd known for quite sometime. Lyner wasn't close to Frederick but he'd been with the boy for years that it wasn't hard to form a bond of brotherhood with him. The boy was a braggart, short tempered and was extremely arrogant... but Fred had his good qualities too. He may have been a bad person to make an enemy out of but he was an incredibly loyal friend when push came to shove. That he'd die so young reminded everyone here of their mortality, of how fragile the existence of humans were in this dangerous world of gods and magic. The group of Syliran knights were offering a small prayer for the fallen, their heads bowed in silent respect as they offered his soul up to the boy's patron god, Yahal. "May he rest in peace." Lyner and Todd offered to help in carrying their friend's corpse, Ron could only watch while he nursed is wounded arm. The procession back to the wagon was painfully slow. Their destination wasn't far but there was something about retracing their steps through these woods where they had to fight for their lives in that stirred something in Lyner. He came to understand his own powerlessness... and just how strong he had to become if he was going to protect his life and that of those important to him. "Lets go home."