Allison added, “We’re not going to be able to eat a whole deer in one meal, are we? How are we going to carry the extra meat?”
“Well, some of it we can smoke overnight while we’re sleeping, and that will replenish what we’ve eaten from our packs already. The rest”—he shrugged again—“we can just leave behind.”
“Isn’t that kind of wasteful? I thought I read that the Native Americans found a use for every bit of the animals they killed.”
At that, the archer smiled. “The part that’s growing in me respects your concern. As for the Native Americans, they had the benefits of camping in one place for a week or more at a time, as well as being a much larger group. If they killed a deer it might feed the tribe for a day or two tops. We don’t have the luxury of either their numbers or their leisure. I can guarantee that it won’t go to waste, however. I’ve seen wolf tracks crossing the path from time to time. This will just be one less deer they have to run down and kill themselves. It won’t upset the environment at all.”
“OK, I’ll take your word for it. This isn’t exactly my area of expertise.”
Stu abruptly stood up and said, “Looks like we’ve got a bit of light yet. Let me go see what I can find out there.” The others watched him leave the circle, but once he was past the first line of trees, he blended in with the foliage and they lost sight of him completely.
Chuck said, “Now that is talent.” Coming from a born pickpocket, that was high praise indeed.
When he was sure Stu was out of earshot, TJ said, “He hasn’t been talking much. I hope he’s not going to snap or anything. He may be our best hope of staying alive until we find civilization.”
Jimmy nodded thoughtfully, and Allison said, “Nah, he’s always been like that. His home life is, well, chaotic would be a good word. His two sisters chatter almost nonstop at the dance studio, even when Madame yells at them. And his brothers split time between basketball and Xbox. He’s kinda the odd guy out. It doesn’t surprise me that he likes the quiet of the forest. It’s probably the only quiet he gets.”
Crickets began to chirp as the sun disappeared. The friends continued to add pieces of wood to the fire as it dimmed, but they were all careful to avoid looking directly into it. The bright firelight would ruin their night vision, which would put them at a severe disadvantage if they were attacked.
“So here we are, out in the middle of nowhere,” Jimmy said, and then fell silent.
“And?” asked Allison.
“And nothing really, I guess. I was just thinking aloud. Here we are out in the middle of nowhere. Now what? I mean, I know what we talked about last night, but I don’t know. I just feel dissatisfied with the whole thing. Are we just going to keep walking down the path until something happens? Is that really the extent of our plan?”
“Yeah, pretty much,” replied TJ.
Allison snorted and the others quickly followed suit.
When Stu returned, silent as a cat, he found the group howling with laughter. “What did I miss? Good joke?”
“No, actually it wasn’t,” admitted TJ. “But it came out at exactly the right time.” The giggling subsided. “We were just talking about what to do next. And I think that our best bet is to continue on. Either something will happen or it won’t, and eventually we’ll come across a town. If nothing has materialized between now and then, we can reassess, but we certainly can’t just sit out here in the woods indefinitely. We have to go somewhere.”
“Guess so,” said Jimmy, but he still sounded unconvinced. “How’d things go out in the woods, Stu? I don’t see any deer draped across your shoulder, so I guess it was a bust?”
Stu squatted next to the fire and poked it with a stick. He seemed unconcerned about the fire’s effects on his pupils. “It wasn’t a bust, exactly. I didn’t come back with anything, though, if that’s what you’re asking. I set some snares in some likely places, and when the bunnies come out tonight, perhaps a few won’t find their way back home. With luck we’ll have some nice rabbit tomorrow. Seeing as we don’t really have a destination, we don’t have a timetable either. There won’t be any harm done if we have a nice leisurely breakfast.”
TJ nodded. “That’s fair, though we probably shouldn’t make a habit out of it. If we’ve got to go stop some evil wizard from wreaking havoc on the people of the West, we ought to try to be snappy about it. But for tomorrow, I’m all about a nice brace of rabbits.”
Before they bedded down for the night, both Stu and TJ took some precautions to help keep the campsite safe. TJ realized that his character had, on a whim long ago, learned a few spells that were not directly related to combat but that he thought he might need some day. One was a sentry spell that would alert the caster if any creatures larger than a fox came within a fifty-foot radius. The gaming system was developed by a national organization and presumed people would be sleeping out in the woods, so a spell like that would save the caster and his friends from having to set sentries all night long. Their own group, however, always returned to the lodge and bedded down there for the night under its safe and secure roof, so he had never actually used it. He was grateful for it now.
Stu took a more mundane approach to campsite security. He strung a thin twine—invisible unless you were looking for it—between the trunks of trees that surrounded their campsite. Hanging from the twine were small bells that would ring if the twine was touched. His body had long since been trained to awaken to the sound of those bells, so he felt comfortable setting them and then going to sleep. The fire would keep away any animals, and any other undesirables would trigger at least one of the two alarm systems.
As the others settled in to sleep, Chuck performed his own bunking-down ritual. Slinging his satchel over his shoulders, he spent a few moments scanning the branches above the camp. Spotting a likely candidate, he approached the tree’s trunk and tentatively placed his fingers on the bark. Nodding to himself, he shinnied up the tree in seconds, then straddled the branch he had picked out. A crow gave a squawk of protest at having to share the limb, and he waved his hands to shoo it away. The bird bobbed its head and flitted to a nearby tree. Chuck quickly wrapped a rope around his waist and tied it to both the branch and the trunk. The little man then leaned back against the trunk and closed his eyes. In moments, he was asleep.
“Whatever floats your boat, I guess,” Jimmy said, and rolled over. The others followed suit, and soon the only sound was the crackling of the fire and the soft snores of the four on the ground. Chuck’s sleep was noiseless.
CHAPTER 11
TJ sat bolt upright in alarm. An air-raid siren was going off somewhere, and he jerked his head around, looking for the source. No matter which direction he turned, he couldn’t pinpoint the noise. It was only after several long seconds that he realized the noise was coming from between his two ears. He dismissed the alarm spell with a thought, irritated that it was nondirectional. He could have sworn that it was supposed to indicate which portion of the perimeter had been breached. That was what his instructors had said would happen.
Unless . . .
A light tinkling noise rang out from his left. And his right. Then behind him.
“Wake up!” he shouted, rousing Allison and Jimmy from their bedrolls. Stu, having sprung up at the first jingle, already had an arrow nocked and was scanning for targets. A shape charged in from the left, and the arrow streaked toward it. The figure emitted a muffled grunt and dropped. No sooner had Stu released his string than he’d pulled another from its quiver. Again he drew and fired, this time in the opposite direction. A second whatever-it-was dropped.