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Chapter 8 - First Hunt

Now it is the duty of every member of the village to help hunt for food leading into the inter months as soon as they are old enough and able bodied enough to do so that is. This year would be the first year that Marcus will have to do so. As for James well he was currently out of town trying to sell the daggers him and Marcus had made along with the other tools he'd crafted.

Marcus currently sat looking out his window as his two friends were getting ready for what would also be their first hunts. Marcus looked over at his mother to get her permission to go join his friends of which he really wasn't sure she'd give him since he wasn't as open as her father was about allowing him to do whatever he wanted.

Yet to his surprise she walked over to him with a smile and helped him finish getting his gear on including the first dagger him and his father made of his design which like promised he was allowed to keep. It ended up being a high quality blade for a first blade made of just scraps.

With a smile Marcus' mother kissed his cheek before letting him walk out of the house and right up to his two friends, Judah and Rebekah. He quickly ran up to them to wanting to give Judah's father any time to stop him.

"Hay Beckers, Judah I got something for you guys." called Marcus as he rushed over to to them handing each of them one of the pendants and chains of which he forged two days ago. "I made them for each of you and as long as you are wearing them you'll always be safe."

"Really?" asked Judah as he examined it.

"You enchanted them didn't you?" asked Rebekah with a smile.

"My father says I did though I really don't remember. He also said I managed to forge them out of a lost type of metal. He said it was because of the heart that I put into them it makes them only work for you as well as makes them priceless." explained Marcus with a smile as he watched his two friends put their pendants on and tuck them into their shirts.

"So you ready for your first hunt?" asked Judah as he check the little bow he was planning on using for the hunt.

"I'm not really sure." replied Rebekah as he nervously fidgeted with the spear that she was given to use. Now she wasn't technically a villager but because she live in the village most of the year it was ruled that she'd have to join in on the hunt.

"I'm sure it will be okay just stick with me and we'll get through this." replied Marcus with a smile. "In fact why don't the three of us just stick together?"

"Okay." replied Rebekah with a smile.

With that the trio grabbed their gear and headed north into the woods mostly laughing and joking until it starred to get late. That was when Marcus stopped ant looked at his friends in a very seriously and said, "We should probably find something to take back to the village."

"Who knows it might even help your status with them." cheerfully added Judah with a smile.

Then before any of them could add another word Marcus' eyes glowed blue and he spun in place throwing up his right paw just in time to stop a wild wolf from bitting or slashing at Rebekah. He then drew his dagger as Judah readied his bow while Rebekah stood shaking with her spear in paws. As for the wolf it staggered a bit trying to clear its head from being stunned when it struck Marcus' shield.

Now like all wolves this one wasn't alone and while it may still be stunned the rest of its pack wasn't. No they were charging right at them. One leaped into the air only to be struck by lighting from Marcus right paw while he held his dagger in his left. Right behind it was a second and third wolf of which one was quickly shot down by Judah who also stepped to one side to let its dead body land hard near his feet.

As for the third one it was heading right for Rebekah who just curled up scared with her spear pointing out and to her luck the wolf was too wild and driven to notice as it dove right for her driving the spear into its body forcing her to drop it before falling to her knees scared. Marcus quickly turned to freeze a fourth wolf that had tried to sneak up on them before he too dropped to one knee from exhaustion due to over using his powers.

Judah managed to kill two more wolves with his arrow before the last wolf managed to knock the bow from him and bite it in half before with a mouth watering from hunger the wolf examined its prey think of which to try first. It's eyes shifting from Marcus on one knee too weak to really move, to Judah holding a wounded arm with no way to defend himself, and finally to Rebekah who was scared and curled into a ball between two fallen wolves.

Then with a lick of its lips the wolf sprang with mouth open ready to strike right at Rebekah's defenseless neck only to be knocked out of the way last minute by Marcus who'd flipped the dagger in his left paw so the blade was pointing out the bottom of it as he tackled the wolf. Marcus then in mid-air wrapped his arms around the wolf's neck while thrusting the dagger blade into it's chest.

They both hit the ground hard and rolled until Marcus was smashed between the wolf and a tree trunk to which they both laid still. As for Judah though he was worried for his friend he didn't yet know if the wolf was indeed dead thus he first went to Rebekah and comforted her while removing her spear from the dead wolf near her.

Together they slowly approached the wolf that was laying on top of Marcus and had his dagger still sticking out of its chest and right when they got close to it the wolf moved causing the two of them to quickly step back only for Marcus' paw to shoot up from behind it before it just rolled off of him. Marcus then sat up and smiled which quickly turned into the trio laughing.

"We really should head back." sighed Marcus after they'd all gotten a good laugh in to relax them from that hard and crazy fight. He then slowly got to his feet before removing his dagger from the wolf's chest and cleaning it before putting it in its sheath.

From there the trio used the broken bow's string to tie the seven wolves together in a way that they could drag the back to the village. Now they usually hunted prey animals for food but this late in the year any fresh meat will do especially since these weren't skin and bone wolves. No they would indeed supply the village with some good meat as well as fur for decoration, trade or clothes.