I took a deep breath of the air within the early morning's dawn. It's been months, and I still never get tired of the smell this forest gives off. The pleasant mixture of growing plants, and dying leaves upon the forest's floor. Months... Hard to believe I've been in this place for month, seeing as how I'm currently exploring a new area, one I'm sure was never here before this morning. It's smell was different, it was overpowering, unlike the areas around it. Too much death, and a hit of sulfur filled my lungs as I crept through, crude bow in hand and daggers tucked away.
In my youth I had hated my life in the city, hated the crowds of people, hated the city's glow in the night, hated how everything was so easy. Now? I'd give anything for a good meal, speak to another person, to see light from a city, or to have an easy day for once where my biggest problem was trying to get the girl of my dreams notice me. I even missed the school. My lectures were long and made my head hurt, but the school was still the best time of my life. I'd give anything to speak to one of my professors... even Trainer Neloren...
Speaking... something I'd almost forgotten how to do. It's been so long since I last needed to do it. Still, it was a luxury I could not afford, especially if my life hinged on getting that mockingbird, taking that beaver by surprise, or not being heard by an overly angry bear. However, giving my current luck of the past few days, or was it a week now? Regardless of the case, food has been hard to come by, I'd found two birds, both of which were females who were nesting, and it was late spring by now, their eggs would be hatching soon, and I still wanted something to eat further down the line.
Which is why I'm now deep in a unexplored part of this forest, hulking like a bear with my cloak covering me, a huge arrow with a deadly tip poking out of my hood, either ends of my bow slightly off center. I'd heard a stick snap a few minutes ago, when I'd come across the one I believed to be the one, it was broken in three pieces, two of which didn't strike me as off, the third one however, the one in the middle, was crushed flat. And not only that, a set of track were leading off towards my left.
The tracks were flat and rounded, but had a very familiar deeper sink. It was a horse track, just a colt or filly judging from the side of it. And it didn't seem to be in much of a hurry, nor was it followed or lead by anything. It was alone, most likely a wild horse who got lost from the herd, and wandered deep into the forest. And this colt seemed to be just around 20 and a half kilos. Light for a horse filly, maybe a young pony of sorts. Whatever the case, it would make a man a very fine meal.
I knocked my arrow, and shot off into the woods with my eyes on the prize.
Zecora trotted along the stretch of forest with a chipper tunes humming from her closed lips. She was branching out into a part of the Everfree she hadn't been in for quite some time. The flowers and herbs that she was looking for were rare, even for the Everfree. However they were plentiful in this region, mostly due to the brimstone crags strewn throughout the area.
She was looking for Buckthorn, she needed it for a special poison's counter, an antidote for a deadly concoction of solanum, digitalis, and flander flowers. She was over joyed when she found several shrubs growing higher than her, previously she had only ever seen tiny ones. She plucked them carefully, avoiding biting the bark too deep and tasting the fowl bite of bark.
Folding the flaps on her saddle bags she continued to hum her tune louder, drowning out the sound of the footfalls of her approaching hunter. She moved onward, snatching bits of leaves and different berries as she went.
I thundered down the trail, bow at my side, arrow primed and ready, stopping only when an odd little berry caught my eye. Rhamnus wood... My grandfather told me about it years back, it was used in gunpowder. I pulled my shabby knife from it's sheath and got myself a few lengths of the wood, I'd need this for later. Granted I knew next to nothing about the creation of gunpowder, and like the headmaster always said "it never hurts to try. Unless it does, then it hurts a lot".
I tied the wood and laced it to the back of my belt, fixing my cloak to cover the bundle. I readied my bow and shifted forward, moving quickly by silently, I needed the element of surprise if I wanted to eat.
I heard the hoof steps of the creature, it was just over this small ridge, eating some of the plants from the sounds of it. If I played my cards right I could jump over the cliff, catch it off guard, and land a perfect shot. I steeled myself, stepping back to get a running start, the bolted for the ledge. I launched myself into the air, bow fully drawn and arrow aimed for the side of the horse, or rather zebra. In the split second between me starting my run and me releasing my arrow, the zebra had shot up, looking me in the eye. It was ready to run, but my arrow was already in flight. Now this is in the hands of fate, do I live or does this lost lamb?
Author's Note
Okay Guys and Gals, now you pick the coarse of this tale, either comment Aye for a direct hit and killing blow, or comment Nay for a miss. Either way a choice needs to be made. Which ever side has the most win and decides the fate.