The man slowly, gently, moved over to the deer's belly and began to gut the buck as he watched from behind a tree trying to piece together all he'd observed into useful information. Movement caught his attention from the corner of his eye. A large mass of shaggy golden brown fur charged at the man while his back was turned carving up the deer.
"Watch out!" he shouted suddenly charging forward but his words were drowned out by a deafening roar. The man flung around his useless hunting knife stretched out in front of him. He switched the knife into his other hand and fumbled for his sword knowing full well he couldn't outrun a grizzly.
Maybe it was because the bear charged like the enemy or the imposter wore the colors of his men, but his body reacted on instinct as he charged the bear from the side even though it seemed like he'd never make it. The bear made the fatal mistake of slowing to rear up on its hind legs. Its massive paws swinging batted the sword out of the man's hand causing him to stumble back and slip in the blood and entrails at his feet.
The Bear made a final deafening roar and then came down on the man fumbling for his sword, just as he got within range, and swung his own sword up into the bear's neck with all the force he could muster. He felt the blade slice threw the thick hide, then slam into something solid that stopped his blade in its tracks before the momentum and weight of the bear yanked his sword arm down.
There was no way he was getting that out in time, logged in the bone as it was. So he pushed forward stabbing the earth beside the man's head to try and keep the bear from crushing him as he drew a dagger and buried it to the hilt into the bear's eye socket.
The Bear saged and he buckled under its weight even with the sword wedged into the dirt. He heaved and tried to push the beast up. The movement from the sword caused the steady drip of blood to pour freely and the Man below the bear suddenly jerked into motion coughing and sputtering as he ripped at his blood-drenched face mask. The imposter squirmed backward frantically, stumbling over the dead deer's back, then shoved himself back up, still backing away sputtering curse words and spitting blood as he ripped off his cloak and face mask in a hysterical frenzy to escape the blood. A long black braid caught his attention and he stared in shock at the soft curves of a young woman's face beneath the smeared blood.
He dropped his sword in shock as he stared and she jerked at the sound of the sword and bear hitting the ground then froze in shock as she looked at him. They stood there for an awkwardly long time staring at one another before she fell to a knee and bowed her head. Still, she stayed silent and he had no idea what to say. Should he ask if she's alright? Demand to know what she was doing in the middle of the woods during a hunting competition, and using his Identity? Had a girl who looked no more than 15 really pretended to be him, in front of all the most prominent people in their kingdom? He wasn't sure if he should be laughing at the absurdity or yelling at her for her stupidity.
"It- It appears I owe you a life debt... and an apology Your Grace." she finally said peeking up from beneath long black bangs.
He continued to stare for a moment before managing a grunt, then clearing his throat he added "Are you hurt?"
"No, I'm fine… thank you, Your Grace" she added as a panicked afterthought.
"Good," he said glancing around awkwardly looking for something to do or say. Seeing her covered in blood was making him uncomfortable even knowing it wasn't hers, as images of others in that uniform in varying amounts of gore tried to superimpose themselves over reality.
He looked away "Then clean up that uniform at the stream, I'll finish gutting the animals," he said orders coming out more naturally than simple conversation. He began to try and shove the bear over onto its side. After a moment of heaving it finally began to lift, looking over his shoulder he saw the girl adding her weight to the bear's hip as he pushed the shoulder. Finally, the weight eased as the bear was settled on its side and the girl wordlessly scampered back to the stream as if she were afraid she'd get into trouble for helping him rather than following his order.
He watched as she removed the rock she used to weigh down the bloodiest garments to soak and started scrubbing before he looked back to his own task. The first thing he noticed was the second sword sticking out of the bear's chest, buried to the hilt although it hadn't protruded out the beast's back, but that was because the blade was angled up into the heart from below the rib cage and the bear was just that thick. A blow to the heart wouldn't have killed it instantly so she would have likely still been mauled, then trapped under its weight... but she'd have died taking her foe out with her. He'd known full-grown men who had frozen and died without a fight in the face of death. But she hadn't. Just who was she? And why was she pretending to be him?
He pulled out the blade and examined it. It was nothing fancy, but well balanced and well cared for, the leather grip was worn and appeared to have been replaced at least once, the initials KC were inscribed on the pommel. Blood dripped off the blade landing near his boot, "Clean your sword too," he called out tossing it, handle out, toward the girl before wondering if he should have simply walked the few feet and handed it to her. But there was no need. She caught it like she'd been doing so for years.
Returning to his task it took him a moment to free his sword from the bear's spine, a grizzly's head was a lot harder to sever than a human head he observed, oddly glad he hadn't been fighting grizzlies in the war. He was going to have one hell of a nick to take out of his sword, though he supposed he didn't have to do it himself anymore, he could just give it to the blacksmith when he returned home. But he knew he wouldn't. He wouldn't be able to sleep tonight until his sword was prepped for the next battle, it didn't matter how unlikely it was that he'd need it.
He cleaned off the sword the best he could on the bear's long fur before sheathing it, then he took off his gloves and rolled up his sleeves to finish gutting the buck and then the bear and then the other deer.
When he was done he diligently scrubbed all the blood off his hands while trying to remind himself it was just animal blood; and no people, friend or foe, lay dead behind him. "The war is over", he muttered to himself repeatedly as images of the past tried to overlay the peacefully quiet forest around him.
When not a spec of blood could be found around his fingernails, he left the stream without a single glance at the girl still scrubbing away at clothes just a few cart lengths downstream, the sight too familiar. The blood of animals and man looked the same. Keeping busy he started chopping off some good-sized branches to make the largest litter he'd ever made. He had to remind himself it was for a bear and not for dragging comrades off the battlefield.
Once the branches were laid out and notched how he wanted them he whistled for his horse who came trotting up to him. He could feel a gaze prickle his neck but ignored it as he tied up the branches with some rope from his saddle bags. Rope originally intended to tie up the imposter, but could he tie up a young woman? Even a strange one who'd betrayed his trust before ever meeting him? But she'd bowed respectfully as a knight would and had not resisted in any way. She'd even promised a life debt… Who was she? And Why? So many whys he didn't know where to start.