Flashback Respite from the city Part 2

[Karsynwa]

21st of Spring, 490 AV

Their lesson continued early the next morning in an unlikely place. Semele Park. Tavareth brought them to the lake where something lie under a large tarp. Strangely, off to the side of it was a pile of long sticks and small, textured stones. Karswyna refrained from commenting as he assembled in a line with the rest of his peers. After Tavareth pulled a butcher’s blade out of his pack, he got his first inkling about what was under that tarp. Still he was surprised when Tavareth pulled it aside to reveal a monster. One with a wicked translucent beak, and beady eyes. It was huge, eight feet in length with legs that were nearly as wide around as his torso. At the end of those powerful legs were feet that supported dagger sized claws. It had a light blue plumage decorating its middle while the rest of its body was covered in translucent scales.

“As many of you probably realize, this is a glassbeak, and to successfully hunt one of these will be your first trial. These are difficult creatures to hunt, even on their own, and they usually travel in groups of three or four. While I can’t tell you what strategy will work best for your group because your talents are different then mine, I can educate you about how these creatures travel, hunt, sleep, breed, and if you are strong enough to fell one, you’ll know how to butcher it.

First as you can imagine, these creatures are predators that use their sharp beaks and talons to slice into their prey. They are very quick, uncannily intelligent, and capable of springing an ambush on you if you are not wary. Their groups consist of an alpha male and a few females that are under its control. Fortunately, they are also fiercely territorial so you aren’t likely to run into more than one group in an area though you could come across a solo male. A group will try to surround you while a solo male will try to surprise you. Both are equally dangerous situations which is why you want to make sure you keep an eye on your surroundings while you are out there. After all, Glassbeaks are hardly the only predators out there. Zith, Grass bears, Night lions and more will make a ready meal out of you if you are not careful. There are also more dangerous areas beside, places where the land runs strange and leaks out abominations from time to time.” Tavareth said, his voice carrying a hint of warning as he knelt alongside the beast. He started in on the creature by slicing along its leg lengthwise.

“To hunt these creatures you are going to need sound tactics and good weapon discipline. Maybe even a trap or two if you are lucky enough to be able to prepare the ground before hand. I will show you how to make a few of these in a little while but first you’ll need to see how to get the resources you will need in the wild. Starting with these tendons.” Tavareth said as he sawed off a stringy handful and laid them out on the ground beside them. Karsynwa knelt close, hoping to catch a glance at just what he was doing to the creature. The tendons looked like long, stringy muscles which is what he supposed they were as he watch Tavareth remove more of them from the creatures leg until he had a decent pile of the stuff. Then he removed a pot of water from behind the creature and dunked the tendons in one by one before laying them out on the grass beside him.

“Salt water will help them dry quickly and once they are dry you’ll be able to make a sinew lashing out of them. For our purposes, I brought some dried tendons with me so you can practice prepping them. Smash them with on of those smooth stones over there until they separate into fibers and then I’ll show you the next step.” Tavareth said, and as he spoke, he gave them each a length of dried tendon. Karsynwa took his and immediately laid it on the ground so he could start hitting it with the smooth stone. It took a bit of effort, but after a handful of chimes the ends of the dried tendon started to fray, separating into smaller strands. He started working his way down, glancing occasionally at the other students to make sure he was on track. It seemed he was, so he continued to grind the stone against the length of tendon until it was a ribbon of strands. Setting the rock aside he started pulling them further apart with his fingertips till they were separated like Tavareth’s example.

WC - 799

[Karsynwa]

“Next, you’ll want to wet your hands in the pot and then twist the strands together like so. When the strands dry, they will seal together to make a strong bit of rope that has quite a few uses out in the wild. It is very strong and you’ll find that keeping a bit of spare sinew with you into the wilds will be invaluable for most situations. Now go ahead and twist them up, and we will move on to the next part.” Tavareth said, and Karsynwa copied his movement with his own sinew. It felt oddly malleable between his fingertips as he twisted the strands together, working in the moisture into the dry strands with his fingertips. As he worked his way down the strands, he twisted them into a tight cord, and laid it horizontally in front of himself once he was finished. Some of his other peers were not done yet so he watched Tavareth as he grabbed a handful of stones and set them in front of each of the students. When he laid out a pair in front of him, Karsynwa picked them up, turning them over in his palms several times until Tavareth started to speak again. One of the stones had a mottled glass like surface while the other seemed to be a more typical gray stone. Both of them had a sharply angled side to them. Next, Tavareth came around to hand them each a pair of tools, one made of metal, the other bone. The one made of metal was long with a flat horizontal end, and the bone one came to a narrow point.

“With these we are going to create the heads of the spears I’m going to have you learn how to make just on the off chance you find yourself in the wild without a suitable weapon. I understand most of you have been focusing on unarmed sparring and other close combat weapons so getting a taste of a weapon with a longer reach is necessary before you go out hunting. You simply don’t have the reflexes, strength, or body mass to take on any of the predators out on the sea of grass with your fists so it is time to diversify what you know how to use. Luckily with a spear, so long as you use sound strategy and keep a grip on your weapon, it won’t take much for you to ward off a beast so long as you work as a group.

So to start, we are going to make spear heads out of these rocks. This one is flint, the other shale.” Taraveth said, holding up a pair of his own rocks as an example. Karsynwa noted that the glassy textured one was flint while the grey one was slate. Tavareth set aside the flint for the moment and took up the tool with a blunt end.

“Now with this tool apply an even pressure to the rock and try shaping it into a spear point. Make the edge as thin as you possibly can and then wait for the rest to catch up before we move onto the next step.” Taraveth said, and demonstrated by cracking off a sizable piece of the rock along its angled side. Looking at his own rock, Karsynwa used his tool to put pressure along its length. Anxiously he anticipated the crack, and when it came he almost dropped the tool. The piece he carved off was jagged leaving an ugly divot in the side of the rock he was working on. He immediately tried salvaging the situation by working the tool to make a new edge which made the spear head considerably smaller but at least the edge was less ruffled. With that start, he started working his way up the rock, carefully defining an edge along one length before going onto the next. Unfortunately, at a slight misalignment of pressure from his tool, the tip fell of which required him to start again to make sure the edges were aligned. When he made it finally to the other side of the rock the spear head was much smaller than it should have been, and Karsynwa looked up chagrined at the mistake.

WC - 708

[Karsynwa]

His peers fared much the same while Tareveth’s rock looked like an actual spearhead. He had the other pointed tool in his hand now and when all eyes were upon him again, he started to speak.

“Now that you have used the chipping tool to refine it into the shape you want, we are going to use this flaking tool to refine the edge of it. After all, you want it to be able to actually pierce something when you are in that sort of situation instead of just bouncing off of them.” Tareveth laughed, and showed them how to use the tool by stroking the pointed in carefully along the edge of the stone. Pieces curled off of the ends as he stroked the tool along its length.

Karsynwa did his best to mimic Tareveth again, and promptly winced with the to chipped the edge, ruining his straight line. He continued up the length of the rock carefully from there, apply a slow, steady pressure that shaved off tiny flakes with each pass. It took a lot more passes this way, but he managed to avoid snagging the edge of his rock again. When he started on the other edge he fared a lot better by taking it slow. By the time he was finished his lap was littered with stone flakes and there was a soft edge to his spear head. He was almost even proud of it, even if it was a half the size it should have been.

Without looking up from his own rock, Tareveth gave them further instruction. “Now give the same treatment to your other rock. Lay them in front of you when you are finished. Nodding to himself, Karsynwa set about his task with a good degree more caution this time. He didn’t want to ruin this rock as well, so with the chipping tool he was slow with where he applied pressure and when. For this spear head, he was trying to keep it as close to the original size of the rock as possible and gradually chipped away a stiff triangle shape. His hands were aching by the time he started working on the point, an he had to take a breather for a moment to stop the trembling of his hand. While he waited, he considered about how this stone seemed to chip far easier than the other one, coming off in thinner flakes as he shaped the stone into a proper edge on both sides. When he felt ready, he resumed his attentions to the stone and eventually he had a point he was satisfied with even if it was quite a bit lopsided.

Taking the flaking tool in his hand, he gingerly stroked it along its edge, going slow as ice as he worked his way across. The edge he made was much thinner and sharper than what he was able to achieve with the other rock, something he found out when the ball of his thumb grazed the edge an got a hair line cut for the trouble. Wincing, Karsynwa sucked on the wound for a moment before he continued, careful this time of how he was palming the rock. When he had a decent edge on both sides, he set out the spearhead in front of him and waited for the others to finish.

WC - 559

[Karsynwa]

The rest completed theirs at more or less the same time as him. When everyone had laid theirs out in front of themselves, Taraveth brought over a bundle of those long sticks Karsynwa had spotted earlier. Everyone got two, and when he got his, Karsynwa set them neatly beside him as he waited for further instruction. Next Taraveth handed them each a small knife before picking one of the sticks.

“Compared to that work with the stones and the sinew, this part is simple. Just split the top part in half about half an inch and then insert your spear points. Then using that sinew we prepped, we are going to lash it like so.” Taraveth said, working slowly as he spoke. With the edge of the knife and a bit of subtle pressure, he split the top of the thick stick with a couple of powerfully placed hacks with the blade. Then he grabbed a spear head and a bit of sinew. After slotting the spearhead into the split, he wrapped the sinew around the half horizontally a few times, then over under diagonally, then horizontally again. He sucked on the end of the sinew cord for a moment before finishing up by pressing it firmly into the groove of the split.

They didn’t have to be told what to do this time, that was plain enough now as each student stood up to make a split in the top of their sticks. Karsynwa found it hard to keep centered while he struck the top of the stick so he tried sawing a groove in the top of it before trying it again. It helped, kinda. The stick split crooked so he hoped stringing it tight with sinew would fix that. He went with the flint spearhead first since it was his best one, and slotted it in carefully before winding the sinew around the haft like he watched Taraveth do. It was looser than he liked his first time so he started over and held the end in place with his thumb until he had a couple of horizontal passes around the haft. Then pulling tight, he went diagonally and then again across till he was at the end of his length of sinew. He was actually surprised at how dry it felt already because he hadn’t realized how the bells seemed to leak away while he was listening to Taraveth. Shaping those stones had been much harder than he anticipated, and honestly he wouldn’t mind a second go of it with that slate one. After moistening the end of the sinew cord with his mouth, he pressed it into the groove and then carefully set the spear on the ground.

For the next split he tried to make it smaller for the smaller spearhead he was working with. He didn’t hack at it half as hard and after each swing he checked the groove for signs of how it would split. On his fifth swing, it split straight which was a relief even if it was a little longer than he wished. He decided that it would just require a bit more horizontal wrapping to shore up the bottom which was fine so long as it held. At least he hoped that was the case, he’d never used a spear before, let alone a makeshift one. It ended up taking a good deal of that, so to preserve his length of sinew, he tried wrapping it crosswise on the bottom before doing it how Taraveth showed them. When he felt it was held together sufficiently, he pulled on the cord tightly before sealing the top like he had done the other. He laid that spear beside the other, and when the others had done the same, Taraveth passed around his own spears.

WC - 635

[Karsynwa]

Naturally, Taraveth’s work looked like proper spears with a flanged stone blade that had Karsynwa second guessing his own work. His wrap looked different up close, much more secure in the way it bound the top handle to the stone blade. Karsynwa made note of how tight his lines were with the cords wrapped flush together. After handing it off to one of his peers, Karsynwa looked at his own spears and then at Taraveth.

“Now, don’t expect to get many uses out of these spears. Like as not the tip is going to break inside of whatever creature you shove it into so make sure you know how you are going to use it before you do. If its all you have between you and a glassbeak I recommend you fan out into a circle. Brace the butt of the spear against the ground and angle the tip as best you can for the breast of the beast. If you think you are fast enough, hold it low to the ground so the glassbeak doesn’t try to take a swipe at it with its powerful claws, and then bring it up at the last moment. Thats how you’ll fell the beast.

For most creatures, these spears can be an effective deterrent. You see, these are smart creatures and we’ve been hunting them for a long time. They know what a spear can do on an instinctual level which is why keeping it out of sight to the last moment might be your best bet of getting a kill if one of them charges at you. However, that takes strength, and speed so for most of you, it will be better if you use them to keep the glassbeaks away while another makes the kill. Preferably with a bow. Remember teamwork will be the key to surviving your first trial, and you’ll want every hand you can get against these beasts. Make your strikes count and don’t waste any opportunities or you might not make it back to Riverfall.” Taraveth said, looking at them each in turn.

Karsynwa took to practicing his moves with the spear along with the others. First he tried bracing it against the ground, shoving the butt firmly into the earth while holding the tip at an angle before him. The spear felt oddly reassuring in his grip even though he wasn’t confident about the integrity of its tip. For the next maneuver he tried seeing how fast he could bring it up off the ground to that angle he held previously. He was dreadfully slow and could imagine that great beast raking him with its claws before he got it half way up. Taraveth watched them quietly practice for a moment before he walked back to the carcass. Karsynwa stopped putting the spear through the motion and walked over to get a better look at what he was doing. He walked up in time to see Taraveth dig his knife into the underside of the glassbeaks jaw and cut out a rough semicircle. Then he dragged it an a half moon shape across both cheeks before digging the tip of his blade underneath the creatures eyes. Once he’d given both sides the same treatment he put a booted foot against the creatures shoulder and pulled on the beak, separating it from the creatures face with a snap of flesh. Karsynwa looked on wide eyes, his spear loose in his grasp. Taraveth laughed.

“You’ll get used to it. Becomes as easy as putting on your shoes in the morning.” Taraveth said with a smile.

WC - 598