Book 4 Chapter 9

By the time Tirr and company arrived at the hunting canyon, the dust had settled and the situation had calmed. Dun’s clansmen had set to work, carving through the enormous boar's hide as they skinned and butchered it. As Tirr walked down the path towards the large body, he saw one team cut free a section of marbled meat. He watched them struggle to carry it, thinking that it probably weighed more than Doron…

He felt his mouth water as his stomach growled loudly and licked his lips with a clear desire in his eyes. Seeing the boy, Dun let out a laugh, “What have these followers of yours been starving you?” He glanced back, meaning to tease the two girls beside them, but stopped as he saw similar looks.

Maria’s eyes were wide as she slowly muttered to herself how many days a meal like that could have lasted in Road’s End. Even Sera seemed to have a certain intensity in her usually blank stare as she looked at the marbled treasure his hunters were carving. Garm didn’t put up any pretense as he immediately struggled against Sera’s hold, trying to race over and fill his stomach right there and then.

Sera couldn’t hold the squirming pup for long and he quickly broke free, racing to dig his teeth into the meat hungrily, surprising the workers. Looks of envy and anger flashed on all three’s faces. “Garm…” Tirr growled between gritted teeth.

The looks made Dun feel embarrassed for some reason… He coughed awkwardly, “Don’t worry about it… There more than enough, and we’ll be hosting a welcome feast tonight… To celebrate your arrival and the help you’ve already provided us… You’ll get to eat all you want.”

Smiles flashed and Tirr nodded eagerly. Maria took Sera as she went to go help with the preparations, already looking forward to the meal. Tirr forced himself to drag his eyes away and look for the rest of his honor guard. They stood to the side awkwardly, the thankful hunters refusing to let them do any of the dirty work. He approached, waving Dun off to attend to his men. As Tirr walked towards them, he heard Iesa laughing, voice full of confidence and disdain.

“Too bad those little icicles of yours couldn’t have been of more use, seems like they barely left a mark…” She bragged looking at part of the scorched hide left from her own attack.

“Our attacks just aren’t as flashy or wasteful as yours.” Lin replied sarcastically, “While we focused on actually hurting the creature all you managed to accomplish was burning some meat.”

“You…” Iesa started when she saw Lin’s eyes flicker away excitedly.

“Looks like none of you died… Well done for a first test…” Iesa jumped in shock turning around quickly to find their young god standing there observing them.

“My Lord…” Lin said immediately, already bowing low at the waist with a pleasant smile, completely forgetting the argument she had just been in.

“Sir!” Iesa responded as well, saluting crisply.

“Good job, good job, Tirr said, nodding at them as he walked past, straight towards where Doron sat looking at his sword sadly. “What are you doing?” The young god asked him carelessly…

“I’m in mourning all right…”

Tirr’s raised an eyebrow, looking over the rest of the basically untouched honor guard. He looked back at Doron skeptically… “Over what? Your sword?”

“Doron sighed… “Yeah, yeah… You dealt with your side all right?”

“Of course,” Tirr answered proudly, before letting his expression darken. “So, are they going to be useful?”

Doron scratched his head… “The Blessed are fine, they all have enough combat experience and Iesa and Lin are pretty impressive, though not so great in close combat. Thankfully, the knights from Lutel and Rasor are brave enough to hold their ground and put up a proper meat shield. The crossbowmen from the confederation add a good bit of damage as well… All in all, it's not bad.” Doron admitted slowly.

Tirr’s eyes narrowed, “Could they do this again?” He asked, nodding towards the carved Boar. “Could they handle multiple Beasts? At once or one after another?”

“Maybe? What are you getting at?” Doron questioned curiously.

Tirr shook his head, looking up towards the mountain peaks behind them. He still remembered the way the big cats had run away. They had escaped around the side, moving around the village, yet never took a single step back up the mountains as if it wasn’t even an option for them.

“Nothing for now… Just something that may be important later…”

“Tirr!” Maria called from over by the Boar. Dun’s hunters and clansmen had made quick work of the creature carving it up and preparing the cuts of meat to be dragged back to the clan's valley. Tirr felt his stomach grumble and grunted, “At least we’ll get to eat well tonight…”

Doron snorted, “Like you ever eat badly… Some people would kill for the food you always look down on…”

“There’s never enough meat…” Tirr complained seriously.

Doron let out a laugh patting the young god on the shoulder as they both walked back towards the Valley.