Young Man and the Sea

[Jarhal Treeshadow]

70th of Fall, 510AV

A stone outcropping made a pale curve against the waves of green, and, with the blue sky above, it seemed that all the world was just the Sea of Grass. Out here, a man could be swept away by the waves of grass and never found again. That held doubly true for a foreigner, but Jarhal Treeshadow was no foreigner to Cyphrus. To say he was familiar, though, would be overstating greatly. Men who thought themselves familiar with nature often wound up being surprised. It was always a matter of knowing it a little better, each time; Just a little bit better.

Jarhal crouched in the scant shade of this stone outcropping, which, if viewed by a bird, would show that it was actually the ring of a gently sloping crater about 50 yards in diameter. Water collected down in the deepest part of the crater and various animals came to drink here. The prize today was deer, just one out of the crowd of doe was all he hoped for. However, the factors were not perfect for the work. It was midday, with the sun making everything as bright and obvious as could be. Deer were wary animals with keen enough eyesight to see a man trying to sneak through yards of open space, which is exactly what Jarhal needed to do. The craters were strange places, sometimes, and the tall grass that usually gave some bit of concealment had failed to grow very high at all here. It was one of the reasons animals came here, the safety.

Luckily, Jarhal had a companion for just this sort of work. Chural, his old hound, was at his side sitting as still and tense as a bowstring. What he would do without trusty Chural, Jarhal did not like to contemplate. Slowly, Chural looked over to him, and Jarhal gave a signal with his hands. The dog crept silently to the left, keeping well back from the ridge of the crater where he'd be visible. Jarhal, ever so slowly, withdrew an arrow from the leather quiver at his waist and knocked it to the bowstring of his composite horsebow. He gave a silent prayer to Caiyha to bless him on this ambush.

There was nothing to it but to wait, now.