Icebound - Chapter 4
#6 of Icebound
Chapter 4 of Icebound
Cormanthor Forest, 1372 DR. 26th day of Highsun.
Three weeks after the bandit raid, Aiden was out in the Cormanthor wood once again, hunting. He wanted to be alone this time and bid Scruff stay home. He went out much further this time than normal, camping out the previous night, trying to to get away from his memories. He couldn't even look toward the center of town without wanting to cry.
His ribs had recovered far faster than expected, but his chest still ached where he'd been struck. The concussion was gone though. He had a feeling that one of the town's priests had healed him shortly after he'd gone down. He pulled the hood of his cloak a little lower as he peered down at several impressions in the damp loam near his feet.
One of the them was that of a fairly large deer, judging by the depth of the imprint. It would be enough to feed all of them for four or five days. No, more than that now, he thought ruefully, thinking of his brother. Supplies were still scarce, even three weeks after the attack. He pulled the bow from his shoulder and walked on, moving silently through the underbrush.
Aiden followed the tracks further into the forest, glancing back and forth between the tracks and the path ahead of him. A candlemark or so later, he found their maker. It was a stag, somewhat past its prime, a set of majestic antlers held high as it sniffed the air. Several other deer stood further away. It was pure luck that the one he'd been tracking was directly in front of him.
Aiden slowly pulled a wide-tipped arrow from the quiver at his waist and nocked it. He drew back and carefully took aim as the animal lowered its head again, trying to ignore the dull ache in his chest. As he let go, the arrow whistled through the air, landing straight in the buck's chest. It jumped, startled, and took off, bounding through the forest as the other deer scattered ahead of it. Aiden took off at a light jog after the deer, trying not to aggravate his ribs. The deer would collapse eventually. He found the blood trail and followed it; thankful for the brilliant afternoon sun filtering down through the leaves above.
It took much longer to find the deer, as he had to double back twice to search the area when the buck had changed directions. But eventually he found it, and knelt over the dead animal. Aiden softly gave thanks to Meilikki, the Forest Queen, for the bounty of the hunt. He pulled out a hefty length of rope and began to tie the buck's legs together.
Several candlemarks later, the sun was setting and the forest was rapidly becoming too dark to see in. The moon was only half full tonight, so Aiden knew he'd have to find a place to set up camp. He was lamenting the fact that he'd gone so far out in the Cormanthor woods.
It was still over a day of travel from Shadowdale, and the buck he'd shot was weighing him down. His ribs were starting to ache. He stopped for a second to take a breath and started to bend down to set the buck down when a dry leaf crackled in the underbrush. Ivory teeth glinted in the faint light of dusk. That was all the warning he had. It leaped.
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Aiden flung up his arm as the beast barreled into him, landing mostly on the deer. Its jaws came down on his forearm with a crunch. He screamed and flailed, somehow tearing his arm out of the creature's mouth. The dead buck fell off Aiden as he rolled to one side. His arm gave out from under him, clearly broken, flopping like a fresh caught fish. The pain somehow hadn't registered yet.
He scrambled to his feet with his other arm and took off running. Any moment now he expected the monster to sink it's teeth into his neck, tearing into him with wickedly sharp fangs and claws. He was several strides away when he glanced over his shoulder. The monster was sitting atop the deer carcass. He slowed for a moment, trying to see what it was. It looked up at him and growled, a low rumbling noise deep in it's chest.
Taking the hint, he turned around and bolted into the forest and kept running, clutching his mangled arm to his stomach. His lungs began to burn. He didn't know how far he'd run, only that his arm was hurting so badly that he had to stop. He looked back. Nothing.
Gasping for breath, he took a chance and ducked behind a tree. He looked back around the tree. Still nothing.
Aiden looked down, barely able to see now that the sun had set, and he realized his arm was horribly mangled and broken. The skin on his arm was lacerated and twisted, probably beyond even magical healing. Blood had soaked into his lower shirt and trousers.
Most predators latched onto their prey and held on. He'd been lucky. It seemed the beast wasn't interested in him. It was probably after the stag he had been carrying. Or maybe not so lucky. He would probably die of blood loss if he didn't bind his arm soon. He leaned back against the tree and slid down it, hearing the rasp of bark against the bow strapped to his back. As he held his ruined arm it began throbbing in agony. It was all he could do not to scream.
Aiden set his arm up against his leg. His hand facing the wrong direction. He'd need to figure out how badly his arm was broken and realign the bones. He gently held his bad arm by the wrist and lifted it until it was straight, and tried turning it around. It was by far the most painful thing he'd ever experienced. He stopped immediately. The sensation had made him want to vomit.
No wonder his mother always gave the village kids a potion to make them sleep when she had to set broken bones. Still, he needed to turn it back around. He clenched his teeth and twisted. This time he did puke.
It didn't look nearly as badly mangled afterward. The bleeding was mostly from where bone had pierced skin from the inside. He reached into his belt pouch for some bandages; his father always told him to be prepared.
He reached into his belt pouch and pulled everything out, scattering flint and tinder, waybread, bandages, and twine over the ground. He began wrapping the bandage around his arm. It hurt too much to bind it tightly, so he simply held the bandage to the bleeding hole and held it against his stomach with his other arm. Tears streamed down his face at the pain, and he fell over sideways, feeling strangely lightheaded.