13th Summer, 513 at the 14th Bell
Wade froze against the tree, afraid to even bat an eye. His heart fluttered. His nose burned with an itch that threatened to cause him to betray his perfect position in the shadows, downwind. The wind let out a hearty gust and ruffled the tree above him. An eye was cast his direction. Wade held his breath for a long moment before it flicked away.
The deer turned and majestically strode away. Wade waited a long time after it had crossed between to threes and disappeared before moving himself, knowing that his prey would be ready to spring away at the first sign of a predator.
He let out a huge breath and picked his shortbow off the ground. He paused a moment as he considered his course and tried to decide the best way to chase after this deer and close the distance without alerting it of his presence. He drew an arrow from his quiver and clenched it in his teeth. He crouched down and followed in the general direction of the deer. He moved as quietly as possible and made progress with agonizing slowness.
The deer's passing would have been obvious to a more experienced hunter. They would have stumbled upon this trail and been able to immediately identify their prey and chased after. For Wade, though, he had to keep his eyes down and his brain focused. Luckily, it was apparently a well used trail as the grass had been pounded to dirt in some places. Every time he came somewhere that the grass looked completely undisturbed, he turned back and had to find the trail again.
Wade stopped once again as he thought he heard something ahead. He licked his lips and feared that his lack of grace would send his prey trotting away. Sweat rolled down his face as he considered a day wasted.
Still, he got off of the trail and sought the protection of some heavy under undergrowth to the left of it. It sloped up a hill, so he fell on his stomach and crawled through it. He moved with exceptional slowness but still felt like a drunkard blundering about in a tavern. Luckily, the breeze was heavy and the forest decided to help Wade by making as much noise as possible. The leaves of the trees were screaming and the bushes were yelling as loudly as possible to cover for the poor lad.
Wade stuck his head out of the undergrowth and looked down the hill. At the bottom, close enough that even a novice archer such as himself had a good shot, were two deer. They were drinking casually, blissfully unaware that only one of them was going to leave with their life.