Closed [Flashback] When Three Hunters Collide (Napua)

[Hess]

30 Fall, 511 From his stance behind the thick trunk of an elm, Hess watched the yearling buck as it grazed on the scrubby grass. Silently, he drew in a deep breath, then held it as he made a minute adjustment to the angle of his bow. As silently, he drew, and waited a fraction of a second before he would release the arrow to fly across the clearing and into the deer’s side, and, hopefully, straight into its heart. In that fraction of a second, he heard a crack, and the deer reared its head, and leapt in that same moment. Hess’ eyes widened in both surprise and irritation, but his look turned to one of disbelief as he saw an arrow pierce the buck anyway, though the trajectory was more from the front, and the shaft protruded from the jumping animal’s breast. In mid-leap, it dropped in its track, the shot a near perfect one, though not from a preferred angle. At the exact same moment, another deer bounded into the clearing, and Hess, with the instincts of years of training, immediately drew a bead on the path of this second, moving animal and loosed his arrow. It flew true, but his aim was off by a fraction and the arrow lodged in the deer’s mid-drift, right behind the ribs. With a short curse, Hess jumped into the clearing, his intent being to follow the now fatally wounded, but still ambulatory, animal, as it bounded away into the trees. As he was half way across the small open space, two others appeared at the fringes of the clearing as well. One, the hunter who had shot the buck, and the other, a smallish black bear, most probably the source of both the snapping branch and the second deer’s flight. Like Hess, the bear, perhaps two years old or so, was running, right towards him. What the other vague figure was up to, Hess couldn’t tell, as it had passed out of his peripheral vision for the moment and now every fiber of his body and brain were focused on the bear that was charging at him.

[Napua]

Day 30 of the Season of Fall, 511 AV

Slowly and carefully stepping along the short grass, Napua's eyes search ahead and around her in the brightest of the day, though most of it is shielded by the expanse of taller trees surrounding the area. The air is still here deep in the forest, with just the sounds of birds calling to each other to keep her company as her bare feet carried her onward, her eyes focused on a fresh track which causes her to crouch down before she lifts her chin to look around. "Close.." She whispers to herself and stands to her full height.

In the distance, the young Dek girl sees it. "A beauty too.." She muses as she narrows her eyes and slowly unslings the longbow from around one shoulder. The buck was dead ahead of her, its rack of antlers standing tall and proud and it stared ahead as if it had seen her. She stepped forward slowly til she was within 30 paces of the animal, raising her bow arm up and notching the arrow as she lined her shot up and took a deep breath. Poised and ready, Napua draw the arrow and bowstring back but suddenly came the sound of a branch snapping nearby the the buck, which became startled and leap.

"Damnit!" Napua whispered loudly, watching the buck rear back but she releases the arrow, hearing the twang from the bowstring and watching the slender arrow sail through the air as the buck exposed its breast and sure enough paid for that unknowing error as the arrow sank in deep. She exhaled a breath and began to move forward but saw a smaller deer leap into the clearing now and Napua tilted her head. "Huh.. that's strange.." She thought and when she saw the deer struck with an arrow, her grey eyes peer around, seeking this apparent hunter as the wounded deer ran off.

She saw no one else at first, until a male stepped into the clearing and she grunted inwardly. He had better not try to steal what was hers, was the only thought Napua had as she began to make for the clearing as well to claim her prize but before she even managed to step out from behind the trees, she saw something black and furry in a run towards the male who had now made it to the middle of the clearing and she stared, unsure of what to do.

The black bear was moving as fast as it could and straight for the man and Napua knew she would not get out in the clearing in time to attempt to help, but she ran out anyways, seeing the bear already ontop of the unfortunate stranger.

[Hess]

It was happening so quickly, but to Hess it seemed as if time slowed and he could see every blade of grass in the clearing, every leaf on each tree and every hair on the charging bear’s body, as the distance between them shortened with each passing millisecond. He had very good reflexes, built into his brain and body from long years of being physically active in a risk filled wilderness. He could have simply come to a halt, and let the bear keep coming, and pray that it might turn away and leave him alone. There was a deer carcass to attract its interest. But he guessed the reason it was moving so fast was that it had been in pursuit of the deer he had shot, and it was now in hunt mode, which meant the chances of it simply stopping and turning its attention elsewhere were remote. A spear would have been a good thing to have to hand in this crisis, but he didn’t own one. They weren’t particularly useful for hunting, not the way he hunted anyway. All he had was his bow, his arrows and a hunting knife. And not enough time to get off another shot. He had about half a second to think and act. With his right hand he reached to his quiver, on his back, and yanked out an arrow. His left hand dropped to the sheath tied to his belt and thigh and he withdrew his knife. In the next moment, the bear was in his face, and he jabbed with both weapons. The knife he had aimed for where he predicted the bear’s throat would be, and it found its mark. He thrust in the blade as far as it would go, hoping sheer luck would have it finding one of the major blood vessels. The next maneuver was much, much harder and riskier. As his knife sunk into the bear’s neck, Hess shoved with his forearm, trying to push the head up and back. Already he felt the ripping burn of claws entering his skin and flesh, as the bear wrapped its paws about him and raked his back and sides. The snarling, clamping maw was right in his face, ready to chomp down on him, and the bear’s weight had him losing his balance, toppling backwards. But he managed to keep his hold on the knife, pushing inwards with all his strength and trying to wriggle it about. At the same time, as he stared at long, sharp teeth mere inches from his face, he shoved his right hand, holding the end of the arrow, into that deadly trap, shoving upwards even as the skin of his hand was shredded by those teeth. He might lose a hand, but he might save his life. Hess was lucky. The tip of the arrow plunged upwards, through the thin upper palette, and on into the vulnerable cavity that held the brain. Jamming his hand and the shaft into that fearsome mouth as far as he could, Hess drove the tip into that vital organ, lethally wounding the creature. It had but seconds to live. At the same time, the knife was doing its work as well, and the life’s blood of the bear was spilling forth, covering the two of them with gore. The mauling hug began to loosen, the ripping claws to fall away from his flesh. The mouth closed on his hand but the force was just not there, and the teeth shredded skin with far less damage, as the bear relaxed into death. By this time, Hess realized that he was on his back, the bear sprawled on top of him. The adrenalin was pumping and he had yet to feel the full effects of his wounds. He lay there for a moment, gasping for breath from the exertion of a life or death struggle, his eyes wide, looking up at the lightening sky of early morning, letting his grip on his two weapons loosen.

[Napua]

The dek girl watched on most helplessly as she saw the black bear had already reaches its target. Barefooted, she ran into the clearing proper, the grass and dead leaves kicking into the air in her wake as she sprinted, her arrows clacking together loudly in their quiver before she skidded to a stop and drew one long arrow out, immediately bringing her bow up and notching. She knew this man did not have much time and right now she did not care for caste either. It was a person and he had the red hair of an Inarta and likely was one of the Avora out here hunting. Perhaps she could not save him or be the help he needed in such a small window to survive; she did not know at this point. Napua only knew if it was her and the position reversed, she would hope someone would try.

So try she did. She released the arrow as her breath expelled softly, watching it whiz quickly through the air as the black bear now was upon its victim. Teeth gnawing, claws raking was all she could make out from her vantage point. She did not know what it must be like to be looking down the slimy maw of a bear intent to feed and she in that instant prayed to the gods, "Please save him.. please let that arrow fly true.." She saw the arrow strike the bear at its side and closer she kept going, picking up into a jog now as she drew another arrow from its quiver. She was aware her precious arrow count was dropping now which caused her inner conflict, she had a hard time finding decent ones as is but she shook it off and stopped, now 20 paces away from the bear and released another flight arrow as her eyes closed.

She heard the whimper of the bear and opened her eyes, still seeing it moving but unsure if the sound was because of her arrows or from the male now beneath the bear defending himself. She still could not make out what he was doing. She could only see his arm was caught in the bear's trap of a maw and she slowly came closer, intend to beat the thing about its head at this point even if to attempt to scare it. There was so much blood, that she could see clearly and she noticed the male stopped moving as did the bear and she cautiously came forward, feet now closing the distance between the bloody pair and herself and she called out, "Are.. are you alive?"

Not waiting for an answer, the dek girl slinked closer to look. She noted the bear was twitching in death and the male under it had his eyes wide and staring but he was breathing! She felt relief wash over her as she crouched down beside the red-headed male, nothing his hands then. One with the skin shredded and tendons showing had a broken arrow shaft nearby whilst the other hand had a knife near it. He fought the bloody thing, she thought to herself as she grunted and pushed the bear off him. She could smell the blood from it and its stink from death as she shoved her shoulder hard against it to roll it off completely.

Napua's statuesque shadow hovered over the male now as she stood to cut off his view of the skies and she struck his thigh with her bare foot, "You. We have to go, talk to me. The bear's dead and I have to carry you.. it will hurt." She lowered down to kneel without another word, there was no time to waste now and she carefully drew the male up by the upper arms, careful to not touch his severely injured hand. His head lolled back a bit and she muttered under her breath at how heavy he was but she slung his arms over one of her shoulders as her own shoulder pressed into his chest and she pulled the man up with a loud grunt.

The dek girl grabbed his knife as she knew she would not be able to shoot anything now to defend herself and she bent her knee for balance as the man's weight came over her designated shoulder. She released a long slow breath as she slowly straightened her bent knee in her ascent to her full height, jostling the man slightly over her shoulder as his arms dangled behind her body and she turned slowly, her arm spread over the red-headed Inarta's waist and her free hand holding his knife for defense. "Now.. " She murmured as she panted softly, "Let's see you back..and you owe me a deer." And with that she slowly set off across the clearing towards the trees.

[Hess]

He heard the voice, but there was also a distinct buzzing in his ears, that grew louder with each passing second. Petch! He didn’t need to be passing out right now. But the sky above him was tilting crazily and a million tiny black dots were converging before his eyes. Hess tried to speak, but it was like his throat was frozen. Already, shock was setting in and his entire body felt both leaden and numb. For a moment, his vision cleared and he felt a great weight lifting from his chest. It took him a moment to realize that it was the bear. It was moving! He almost panicked, though he probably could not have moved to save his life at this point. The adrenalin that had kept him fighting was ebbing away, and he felt flaccid, deflated, powerless. Then a shadow fell across his ghost white face and he heard that voice again. Squinting past the dots that circled and flew and collided, he could just make out a figure, but he had no petching idea who it was. He was so close to slipping into unconsciousness that he did not even know that it was a girl. The words were garbled and far away, like they came from the far belly of a cave. His own bloodless lips moved faintly but still no sound came out. His eyelids drooped and he was gone, off into the black blank of shock induced unconsciousness. As the girl struggled to lift him, it was probably the most merciful thing Kihala could have granted him, though Dira waited patiently for the outcome of this timeless struggle. The Dek’s words were lost to him, in his dreamless state, though it was improbable that he would remain this way. That would have been far too kind. OOCinjuries: right hand is mauled but not as bad as might be; deep tears and rips on back; both bleeding profusely.

[Napua]

The forest was quieter now after the attack and after she took the male away from the clearing and the death there. Overhead she heard the call of the birds, heard the rustle of the leaves as the wind blew and heard the sound her bare feet made on the fallen leaves below them. She was panting now as she moved hastily, trying to gain some ground on her way back to the gates and back to safety. She had never had a situation like this happen before and she was not one who knew much if not anything about tending to the injured and she only prayed with Kihala's watching over her, this man would live.

Sturdy as she is, Napua knew she couldn't carry this fully grown Inartan male all the way back to the city gates without help and not with how much he's bleeding. She was morbidly afraid of another bear or creature finding them just because of the scent of blood this male was exuding and her grey eyes watchfully paid attention, the knife clutched tightly in hand and ready.The muscles in her legs are taunt with each heavy step she made, feeling the ache so much it feels like the muscle fibres are burning. Her shoulder where the male was heavily rested upon also ached until it felt like it was on fire but all Napua could think about was getting them both somewhere relatively safe before another visitor of the dangerous kind, decided to give them a not so friendly greeting.

The young dek girl continued to walk, her steps getting slower and more heavy as time passes and when she stumbles, she knows she must rest or they both wouldn't make it out. She'd either come upon something else and be too tired to defend herself and him or she'd have to leave him. Her brow furrowed at that thought and when she comes to another clearing amongst the trees; this one smaller and with shade, she lowers as slowly as she can, her teeth gritting together as pain shoots up her thigh and right hip which supports her weight and the weight of the man.

"Oh Kihala, give me strength..help this poor soul.. " She utters as she leans forward, lowering the man to the grassy surface of the forest and she exhales soft pants as her grey eyes immediately go to the male's bleeding hand. Napua then looks back the man's pale features, pressing a hand to his cheek, feeling his clammy skin and tapping lightly, her eyes almost pleading in her hopes to wake him. "C'mon, Dira's not ready for you yet, Inartan.. fight won't you!"

[Hess]

The jostling of being set down rekindled some spark of the here and now in Hess’ brain. As the Dek girl gently patted his cheek, his eyelids fluttered and finally opened. Once again he was looking upwards, though his view was obscured by the leafy canopy of trees above. Unlike before, pain was now ripping through his body in great hot surges, and he groaned loudly. Forcing himself to swim all the way to the surface of consciousness, Hess flicked his eyes about until they focused on the face above his. Tentatively, he was trying to flex different muscles and his right hand was a screaming agony of fire. His back too, where he lay on it, felt like every inch of skin had been flayed from it and deep, deep grooves were now cut into his tortured muscles. He swallowed, trying to speak past the excruciating sensations.

“You . . . “ His voice sounded like a hoarse croak. He tasted blood in his mouth but he didn’t know if it was his, or the bear’s. Was the bear dead? Defeated? His golden eyes tried to soak in the face of the girl, but his vision would not stay still. She zoomed in and out.

With the greatest effort, he raised his head an inch and turned it to survey his mangled hand.

“It’s bleeding. You . . . you have to stop the blood.” His voice was weak and his chest heaved up and down rapidly in shallow breaths. Swallowing a gob of blood, he barely whispered, “Bryda – rip them up . . . for bandages. My hand . . . “

His eyes closed as he lowered his head, though he was far from unconscious. Pain racked every fiber of his body it seemed, the least movement setting off searing trails of agonizing hurt.

“My back – my back too . . . “ His voice was petering off, the effort to speak almost too much. “Don’t . . . “ A sigh escaped his whitish lips.

“Don’t let me bleed to death,” he hissed softly.

[Napua]

Napua's eyes widen and a hint of a smile comes to her lips briefly when the male opens his eyes and looked upon her face for a moment and she moved her hand away, rocking back on her haunches then and watching as he with great effort raised his hand which she immediately holds gently, her fingers on his palm and she tilts her head to listen to him. He spoke hoarsely and softly. He must not have much strength and she knew time was crucial now and not to be wasted if she meant to save him. 'Don't let me bleed to death' were his last words before he slipped into great weakness and fatigue and she expelled a breath, touching his clamming cheek again to make sure life was still in him. She would try her hardest not to let him die.

The Inartan had mentioned his Bryda and she looked at the knife and the Bryda, before using it to cut into one of the legs of the garment. It was only fabric so it was easy to cut away and she cut away most of the left leg of the Bryda before proceeding to cut that in half into a long rectangular shape, fold it and then wrapping it around the injured Inartan's hand. It was a long strip and she turned it until it securely tightened about the man's hand, slipping the end of it into a neat fold of the wrapped makeshift bandage. The young girl then looked again upon the male; now to get to his back. She gazed at the one left of the Bryda left and cut it until the Bryda now resembled an extremely short version of itself that she left to cover the Inartan decently.

"Hey.. hey.. you.. I have to lift you.. or turn you.. something, please.. I have to get to your back.." She says clearly, her hand again going to the male's cheek. She realized now how fast her heart was racing and how fear came into her heart. She could not have the man died, even if she did not know him at all. She followed Kihala and Dira both but Kihala was the one she was fervently praying to to try to save this young Inartan man. Unsure of if the injured male would respond to her, Napua moved behind him where he laid and she hooked her arms under his armpits, heaving him upwards. She concluded that even if she had to roll him onto his chest, she would at this point and that is exactly what she did, while making sure not to let the injured hand be further injured.

Once she got him laying down on his chest, she turned his face gently so he laid on the side of it on the grass. She couldn't have his suffocating now after all this. She looked at the blood seeping from the male's naked back and grimaced, she hadn't seen it til this moment or knew how bad it was. Thank Kihala he woke up enough to let her know or he might've bled out indeed otherwise. Napua cuts the remaining leg of the Bryda and she quickly folds it in half then another half til it was a long thick strip and with a deep exhale, she presses it onto the bleeding slash wounds, using her body weight to apply more pressure to attempt to stem the bleeding.

[Hess]

His eyes closed but his mind did not shut down again. Hess felt the girl’s hand taking his and then letting it go to rest again on the ground. He heard her busying herself, heard the rip of the material as she cut into his bryda, felt the slight tug on his leg as she removed the fabric. He tried to steel himself for what was to come, but the pain in his hand when she began to wrap the makeshift bandage about it was so intense that he could not keep from letting out a small cry. His eyelids fluttered open again and the pain seemed to clear his head a bit, for his saviour’s image came more sharply into focus. She was a Dek, and so young looking. Hess had enough use of his senses to think, Gods, how will she ever manage to get me back to the city? But he said nothing for in truth, what would it help? Besides, he had no strength to speak anyway, though he gasped sharply several times as a particularly excruciating stab of pain would shoot through his hand, into his wrist, sometimes up to his elbow and even his shoulder. He could only hope that the bandaging would help to slow the blood loss. Hopefully. It seemed to be done, and he felt her lower his hand carefully to rest on his chest. Then she was speaking again, about his back, and he wanted to help her, to be cooperative in this desperate effort to save his own life. But he was so weak. All he could do was to open his eyes again and shake his head an infinitesimal degree. No, he couldn’t roll over. He couldn’t sit up. He couldn’t do a petching thing to be of assistance to her. Luckily, she must have realized this right away, for she didn’t waste time over rousing him, and instead moved around to his head and slid her hands under his shoulders. The pain of the ripped and torn skin and muscles of his back as she hoisted him upright was more intense than anything he had consciously felt so far. He let out another cry, though it sounded more like a deep groan as he had little strength for more. As carefully as she could, she rolled him over, securing his injured hand so it would not flop around like a dead fish. As he felt grass and dirt pressing upwards into his chest, her fingers came to turn his head, and he gasped in air as she began to work on another bandage. Once again, he heard and felt her taking the other leg of his bryda. But when she applied the folded cloth to his wounds, it was just too much. Just as she was pressing down on them, to try to stop the bleeding, the gods took mercy on him and he passed out

[Napua]

As Napua presses the makeshift bandage down on the male's deep, bleeding wounds and she pants softly, her mind racing. How was she going to get him back? They weren't so far away now from the gates but she had to somehow secure the fabric she cut up to keep pressing against the wounds at least to keep the pressure tight so he wouldn't bleed out. She looked the man over, seeing if there was something else she could use and suddenly she groaned in dismay, her eyes falling to her own longbow and its bowstring. She gritted her teeth and cursed aloud, she did not want to have to dismantle the weaving and the loops that made up the bowstring and gave it its strength. Supposed she never even found another as strong as this one! Deks always got the crap and she worked hard, traded even harder to get this quality of longbow which she treated as one of the most precious things she had. She would've used the male's bow, but somehow it had become lost in all the confusion and she had only taken the knife along when she fled with the injured Inartan earlier.

Napua hung her head and sighed heavily. Suddenly she realized how exhausted she felt. After hunting, after attacking the bear, pushing its heavy carcass from covering the man's body and after carrying him a ways, the adrenaline that fuelled her actions was wearing off and she could feel how sore her muscles had become and the stiffness setting in as the temperature started to fall; evening approaching. 'Kihala, please.." she pleaded as she gazed upwards, feeling the man's body grow limp under her pressing attempt to stop the bleeding.

The young dek knew what she must do and she unslung her longbow and with a sad groan she dismantled the bowstring, undoing the loops and stretching it out, her brow furrowed deeply but knowing it was strong enough to secure the bandage. With a grunt, she lifts the unconscious man slightly at the shoulders, just enough to get the bowstring down to his chest and then she lowers him back down with as much gentleness as she could muster before securing the string across the long strip of bandage. She moves back and sits down, the back of her hand wiping her forehead and she closes her eyes, lifting her chin upwards and trying to gather the strength she would need now to again life the man.

Napua prays softly, "Kihala, please.. he still lives. Give me the strength to take him to where it is safe.. give him the strength to hold on.." She then kneels, moving to the head of the unconscious man and leaning forward to grip him under his armpits and secure her hands about her wrists as she pulled him to her. She failed the first two attempts to draw him up and she stops, panting hard and holding her chest a moment as she stares at the man. 'You can do this Napua. Get the petching man up and out of here now!' She swallows hard, thirst felt now due to her exertion and again she brings her arms under the man's, the muscles in her arms bulging and tightening in her effort to draw him upwards and when she manages with a great deal of effort to get his bare chest to her shoulder, she pauses, trying to catch her breath before she grips his waist, tugging what remains of the Bryda up as his body comes higher up over her shoulder. Yes! She screams in her head and pants hard, sweat pouring down the sides of her head.

The young girl exhales hard and presses a hand to the ground, almost toppling to one side due to the unconscious Inarta's dead weight but she quickly brings her knee up, pressing her bare foot into the ground and slowly rises up. She felt so exhausted but she took a step forward and another, the muscles in her legs tight and stinging as she makes her way towards the gates with purpose.