Closed Catching Some Lunch (Garland)

[Sayana]

“Garland! It feels like forever since I’ve spent time with you.” Sayana called out as she caught her friend patrolling on the streets. “We should do something together. Maybe go out riding. Or even hunting. We might catch a rabbit, or even a deer!” The Eypharian smiled brightly at the idea even though it was likely beyond her abilities. “What do you say? You free tomorrow? I’ve been feeling cooped up in this city. I’ll bring along some food and we can enjoy a picnic out in the fields.”

---

Summer 40, 515 AV

It was a beautiful morning. Syna was shining brightly and the leafy forest shaded the harshest of her rays. Sayana had decided to take the eastern road from Syliras and they made good progress at a light trot. It was still rather bumpy but she tried to rock gently in her saddle to match the gait of the stallion she had rented from the stables.

In her backpack were a few essentials. Food for the picnic, including bread, cheese, some dried fruit, nuts, seeds, and even some boiled eggs she had done up that morning. What she really hoped for was that they’d manage to catch something and she brought along a few skewers to roast the meat on. She also remembered to bring her flint and steel and some basic cutlery for the two of them.

Sayana gave a firm kick with her heels trying to egg her stallion on into a canter. He successfully sped up, but only wanted to canter for half a chime before slowing down again into the easy trot. Maybe another day she’d get better at riding faster. Still, she was quite far ahead of Garland. A path into the woods caught her eye and she leaned back in the saddle, pulling gently at both the reins. “Woah. Garland! I think I see a game trail up ahead. Want to go exploring? We might see more animals off the main road.” She called out to her friend as she pointed to the path.

Now in a slow walk, she pulled at one rein to direct the horse towards the trail. It was a little narrow but it would probably do just fine. She grimaced at the sight of animal droppings along the edges, but then realized that where there were animal droppings there were likely animals. Though even when she squinted, she had no idea what type of animal. If they were lucky, maybe deer.

Receipt10 gm for the horse rental for the day. Basic food items assumed to be included with the seasonal expenses.

[Garland]

Garland couldn't say no to Sayana, after the whole ordeal with the labyrinth, he was very worried about Sayana, but he had a certain respect for Aren for keeping their group together and taking good care of Sayana.

He didn't bother with his heavy and clunky armor and simply wore his old leather jacket and old pants. He had bought some new clothes with Revy, but he wasn't keen on using it for hunting. He packed his borrowed hand-crossbow and brought his stubborn horse, Tryn.

He had met up with Sayana a few chimes ago and let her lead into the woods, he had no problems with that, he had no skills in hunting and barely any training with ranged weaponry. He gave a firm kick to Tryn's side, making him move forward towards Sayana.

“Woah. Garland! I think I see a game trail up ahead. Want to go exploring? We might see more animals off the main road.”

Garland gave a small nod. "Sounds like a good idea. We should set up the picnic later. There's a clearing fairly close by if i recall correctly." He said and slowed Tryn's trot to a slow walk behind Sayana.

"There should be quiet now I think, we might spook something." He hopped down from Tryn and loaded his crossbow with a bolt and waited for Sayana to lead the way. "You brought something to hunt with or something?"

A little further away there was a large buck, drinking from a watering hole. Oblivious to the two hunters looking for a bit of meat.

[Sayana]

When Garland said that it was probably a good idea to keep quiet, Sayana nodded. They wouldn’t want to scare something needlessly. She continued along the winding game trail and simply used her knees to keep her horse moving steadily forwards. She patted the horse’s neck gently with a free high hand and hoped it wouldn’t make too much noise as they moved through the trees.

Sayana glanced back as Garland hopped down from his mount. He had produced a crossbow, and in turn she drew of her small daggers. “Throwing daggers,” she whispered back. “I’m getting pretty good with them.” Though in hindsight, she wondered if she should start learning some sort of bow and arrow. Something like that would probably have a longer range and travel almost silently through the air. Still, she had what she had, and she had brought a total of four throwing daggers plus her cobra-hilted heirloom and the Lakan Aren had given her.

She continued on a little further on horseback, gently tugging at the reins to guide the stallion at the turns. Some of the trees had broken off branches or seemed to be scratched up around waist height. Or at least waist height while she was riding. Perhaps it was something marking out territory. Did people also do that? As Sayana pondered the idea, the trees began to thin and she spotted the clearing that Garland had spoken of. She slipped her feet from the stirrups and swung her leg over to slide off. Once dismounted, she walked on foot leading her horse toward the clearing. That’s when she saw it. At first it had been so still it had practically blended in with the woods. Sayana stopped in her tracks and silently pointed at the huge buck. At least it seemed huge. She wasn’t quite sure if it was bigger than the horse she rode but she was still not quite used to the wildlife of the north.

“Gar, how about we sneak around to the other side of the clearing to get a good shot?” She whispered, only daring to raise her voice loud enough so he might hear and not startle the buck. It was a reasonably sized clearing and in the middle she saw the small pond, fed by springs most likely that had certainly drawn the deer to this place. Quietly she began to move around the edge of the clearing so that they might get in a better shot. Each step was carefully placed and she tried to avoid the rustle of leaves and the snap of sticks. Unfortunately, she couldn’t say quite the same for her horse. Even though she guided it slowly, there were still sounds of snapping as it walked and at one point the buck raised its head. Sayana froze, but then the deer went back to drinking.

“Garland,” she whispered. “I don’t think I can throw my dagger that far. If you can hit it with your crossbow, then I can ride after it into the woods and hopefully get close enough to sink a dagger into it. What do you think?”

Even as she suggested the plan she quietly remounted the stallion. There was still a bit of water between her and the buck, but she’d be able to leap into a gallop and cross the clearing quickly. Hopefully her horse would be able to splash through the small springs without much trouble and chase the deer off into the woods. And if Garland managed to injure it enough with his arrow, they might make quick work of it.

OOCI kind of doubt they have the skills to catch the buck, so if it gets away maybe they can find some ducks and go after them instead. I'm also not sure if I want to haul back a whole deer, lol.

[Garland]

Garland got down low and watched the buck carefully, it seemed preoccupied with the water. Garland nodded to Sayana and followed her around the clearing.

“I don’t think I can throw my dagger that far. If you can hit it with your crossbow, then I can ride after it into the woods and hopefully get close enough to sink a dagger into it. What do you think?”

Garland gave a silent nod and picked up his crossbow from his hip. His hand-crossbow wasn't meant for long range, but at this range, Garland could possibly hit it in the leg or the chest, but now that he thought about it, his weapon of choice wasn't exactly the good choice for a hunt, the bolts were too short to deal a killing blow from range. It was lucky Sayana was here with a horse to give chase.

Garland aimed at the buck, aiming close to the leg. He pulled the trigger and let the bolt fly. The bolt flew straight into the buck's leg and embedded itself inside the buck's leg, blood dripped down from the wound and buck didn't even looked at where the bolt came from, it just bolted out into the woods, but with the injured leg, Sayana could chase the buck down and finish the job, though he would still follow Sayana in case she needed help.

Garland hopped up on the black horse and reloaded his crossbow. "Hiyaa!" He yelled at Tryn to follow Sayana. The large horse reared back and sprinted forward to follow Sayana.

There was stealth now, the loud thumping of hooves resonated through the forest, making the birds fly up and away from the trees. The wound Garland had inflicted gave them a clear trail of blood which they can follow.

[Sayana]

Sayana waited in anticipation as Garland got his crossbow ready and aimed it at the buck. With a mechanical twang, the bolt was released and soar across the clearing. The Eypharian held her breath for the half-tick it was in the air and then she saw it hit its mark. She kicked her stallion hard with her heels and moved to a trot and into a canter in a matter of ticks. They splashed through the water even as the Eypharian saw the deer dart away into the forest. She tugged the reins hard in the direction of the deer and kicked another couple times to get some more speed.

There it was. Jumping over low bushes and getting deeper into the undergrowth. Sayana narrowly ducked a branch in her pursuit and now had two throwing daggers in her high hands. Her lows gripped the horn of the saddle and her mids the reins, which left her ready to make a clean shot with her highs. As she closed the distance between them by pushing her horse faster almost to a gallop, she could see some of the blood coming out from the wound but it was also the trampled grasses and bushes that made it easy to follow.

Branches lashed against her as Sayana prepared her daggers. The buck turned sharply right and Sayana cursed as her own horse nearly lost its footing with the sharp turn she led it in to follow after the deer. There was a clearer patch in the woods and Sayana took the opportunity since she might not get another. She took a tick to gauge the distance and then threw a dagger hard with her right, shortly followed up by a throw with her left high. The first clattered against one of the low lying branches in mid spin, but fortunately the second blade embedded itself deep into the deer’s rump.

However, much to her dismay the buck hardly slowed in its flight. Sayana tried to keep up the chase, but her horse was clumsy in the dense underbrush and mostly trampled the undergrowth rather than jumping lightly over it. She carried on after it for another couple chimes and then shouted back to Garland.

“I dealt it a good one, but it’s still going. Keep pursuing? Or find something easier?”

With the second injury there was more blood on leaves and it was certainly weakened. Even though the deer was almost out of sight, Sayana could see the trampled grasses and scuffs in the dirt. They could follow it all afternoon but how long would it last?

[Garland]

Garland looked over to Sayana with a small frown. "We need to kill it quickly. I should have brought my shortbow instead. It would have killed it without making it suffer. You can set up the picnic area if you want, I can follow the blood. Can I borrow one of your knives?"

He gave Tryn a kick forward and the black horse galloped forward, following the fresh blood through the forest, Sayana could have followed him, but it would be more of a hassle with two people on one injured buck.

He followed through the broken brambles and bushes covered with a layer blood, it had lost plenty of fluids now. He had gone deeper into the forest and he could easily follow the blood back to the clearing.

Garland saw that the buck had slowed down and stopped, Garland stepped down from Tryn and quickly plunged the knife into the buck's heart. Garland didn't even look into the buck's pleading eyes. It was pitiful, but they did try to give it a quick death.

He was use to killing, but this felt strange killing an innocent animal for food, but it was natural. Garland took the buck and lifted it up to Tryn. "Ready?" He asked his horse and lifted up the buck over Tryn and grabbed Tryn's reins.

The two of them walked back and looked around. "Sayana, umm... I don't know how to skin a buck... Also what are we going to do? Do you want to me gather some firewood?"

[Sayana]

At Garland’s request for a dagger, Sayana hesitated before handing over her cobra-hilted one. She liked keeping her lakan close and she had thrown the other two smaller ones. She watched as he went after the deer and decided to follow along but at a distance away. The forest was dense and it was hard getting through some of the thick branches especially on horseback. A couple of times she was forcing branches out of the way as she ducked to get through. Her mount wasn’t too happy to be so far off the trail either. At least for the first dash, it was in or near the clearing where the trees weren’t so dense.

Sayana pulled the reins of her horse to stop as Garland plunged the dagger into the deer. “Weakling. I thought it would have gotten further rather than just give up like that.” The Eypharian spoke with a bit of disdain. She was sure it was going to be quite the hunt to follow and track it down once more. Sayana dismounted and took her blade back quickly, wiping the blood off using her pants. She then found the other smaller dagger she had thrown into it and removed it too.

She was impressed at how easily the squire lifted the deer up onto his warhorse. At first she thought it must weight a lot but maybe it was weak and sickly and that’s why it didn’t put up much of a fight, or ‘flee’ rather.

“Oh, skinning a deer? It’s probably like filleting a fish except…” Sayana started to reply but then she looked at the sheer difference in size and imagined how tough the skin would be to break. With a sharp dagger it was probably more than doable but what about all that meat?

“Garland, we’re not going to be able to eat all that meat just the two of us. Maybe we can just cut off a leg, roast that, and bring the rest back to the butcher in Syliras?” Sayana eventually suggested as she eyed the deer. Even the leg might be too much, but she had no idea how to roast the entire animal and what to do with its guts. And it wouldn’t help to carry back a skinned and bloody carcass on the back of Garland’s warhorse.

The Eypharian looked around for a place that they might set up a fire, but then remembered Aren’s words gnawing at the back of her mind. He had lectured her about the dangers of the woods and that there could be yukmen lurking around any corner. “Hey Garland. You think we can set up on the border of the woods? It shouldn’t be too far to get to the fields and I can collect firewood along the way.” She spoke brightly as she started looking around for suitable pieces of wood. Dry and easily snappable. “Besides, you should tell me how you’ve been. Gone on any daring adventures? How has April been?”

[Garland]

"Well, it wasn't a very big buck. I'd say around maybe it's teens, or maybe it just didn't grow up well." Garland said and handed the knife back to Sayana. "You're aunt had a good eye on her, this knife is quite beautiful. You've taken good care of it."

He looked over the area, it seemed like the area was a good place to set up camp. Though he would have rather had a bigger space, meaning less places for things to hide, though Yukmen don't tend to stay quiet when they hunt, they usually overpower something, maybe sometimes surround their prey if they have sufficient number.

"A border would be good. How long are we staying out here? I doubt we have enough supplies for a whole night here. I haven't seen April in a while, and I haven't had a good adventure in a while." Garland stopped in the clearing and dropped the dead buck on the ground. "Right, you should get some firewood, I'll cut off one of the legs of the buck, and set up the blanket."

He pulled out his sword, and stabbed the sword into the leg, pulling and pushing the sword, cutting the skin and muscle in a circular motion around the leg. He should have kept the knife, as useful as a sword is, it's rather unwieldy using it like this.

Garland could see the red meat and tissue break apart, the kill was fresh there was still some blood gushing out, the blood covered Garland's sword, the first time it had ever tasted animal blood. Unless you count the few times he's had to fight off wolves.

Garland felt a strange sensation as he cut the meat off. Not like when he was fighting, but something... strange. The sensation was like something was gnawing at him to stop, Garland finished up cutting the meat and looked at his sword, there was nothing strange about it, it was still the same blade he had grown up with. "Hmmm..."

He placed the blanket down the the ground and the squire started peeling back the skin of the buck with his sword. He pulled off the skin and threw it down on top of the buck. "I could have cut it better..." He muttered, the skin was tattered and miscut. The best this kind of cut hide would be use for is a table rag.

Garland placed the leg on the skin he had removed. Sayana was out to get firewood right? Well, they needed a fire pit as well. Garland gathered up some stones and made a small circle on the ground. The squire pulled out the grass in the circle and crushed them together for kindling.

"Hey Sayana, how much firewood did you get?" He said and took out a small cloth to clean his bloody sword.

[Sayana]

As they headed toward the border of the woods and the open fields, Sayana weaved in and out picking up sticks and pieces of wood for a fire. With a low hand she held onto her horse’s reins and broke apart larger sticks as necessary. For any good fire to work, she’d need both kindling and larger branches. Even better, she managed to find a thick but short enough log that she could squeeze into the saddle bag and would do very well as a base to the fire. Small sticks that would be awkward to carry in her hands, she put in the other saddle bag. The rest of the sticks she carried in her low and mid hands as she collected using her highs. Dry wood was the best, and if it could snap loudly it was usually a sign it would burn well.

By the time they reached the fields, the Eypharian was completely laden with wood. Who knew that simple sticks could weigh so much? It didn’t help either that she still had a backpack full of additional food for the picnic. Her arms and shoulders ached and when she saw Garland’s ring of stones she dropped all the sticks down in a heap. Then she realized that if they were going to cook the leg of deer, they’d need something to hold it above the flame so it wouldn’t burn.

Sayana took out four of the sturdiest and longest pieces of wood from the pile and grabbed some rope from her bag. Carefully, she angled two of them against each other and started wrapping the rope about the joint to tie them together. She repeated it with the other two pieces of wood and was rather proud of the end result.

“Think it’ll work for cooking?” She asked as she propped up the two triangular frames on either side of the fire pit. She might need some extra rocks to hold them in place so they won’t slide but it seemed like a decent solution.

Next she worked at building the wood for the fire. She placed the large log on the bottom but off to one side. Then she worked at placing small sticks near Garland’s kindling of grass and slowly building it higher with thicker sticks. Once she was pretty sure they had a solid base for a fire, she took out her flint and steel and handed it to the squire.

“Would you like to do the honors?” She asked. “Once the fire is burning well and is steady we can get the leg roasting. In the meantime, I brought some appetizers.” On the blanket that was laid out, she began emptying her pack of bread, cheese, dried fruit and a few other things she had brought.

[Garland]

"Well, it wasn't a very big buck. I'd say around maybe it's teens, or maybe it just didn't grow up well." Garland said and handed the knife back to Sayana. "You're aunt had a good eye on her, this knife is quite beautiful. You've taken good care of it."

He looked over the area, it seemed like the area was a good place to set up camp. Though he would have rather had a bigger space, meaning less places for things to hide, though Yukmen don't tend to stay quiet when they hunt, they usually overpower something, maybe sometimes surround their prey if they have sufficient number.

He shook the thought out of his head and gave a small laugh. There was no way a large group of Yukmen could sneak up on them, heck, there's no way a single Yukmen could sneak up on them, they are not built to be light footed.

Though there is a chance that a Yukmen did attack, he wasn't too worried, he should be able to take care of it easily enough. He was confident in his skills.

“Think it’ll work for cooking?”

He placed his sword down on the ground and sat down. He looked over to the pieces of wood and the frames Sayana brought back. "They seem perfect. Let me help you." He went over to Sayana and helped her placed the wood and rocks into the campfire.

“Would you like to do the honors? Once the fire is burning well and is steady we can get the leg roasting. In the meantime, I brought some appetizers.”

"I'd rather not handle fire, with my luck I might set the entire clearing on fire." He gave a hearty laugh and looked at the appetizers. He pushed the thought of food out of his mind earlier, but now that he'd seen something edible, he couldn't help but let his stomach grumble.

"Sorry! I am a bit hungry though." He went over and took out a loaf of bread and some cheese. "May I?" He asked with a small puppy dog eyes.