The four brothers aim at the bags. They draw their bow as far to the back as possible, the bow bending to its absolute limits, and the arrow sit steadily on their thumb. The wind was quiet. And then, they let go. The arrows pierced the air, making a swift swoosh sound. Some of the feathers fell off, leaving a beautiful tail as the arrows travel in an arch. In a split second, the arrows fell headfirst to the ground, three meters away from the bag. "Pfft! Jajajaja!" Shuja laughed and pointed at the brothers. This was their sixth attempt, and the only progress they made was to get closer to the bags. The brothers were bothered by her laughter, but not because she was laughing at them but because she had a weird laugh. "Shuja stop laughing at the halflings," Lite whispered to Shuja, but she instead fell on her knees, laughing.
"Alright, stop! Salacity have enough! You bad at bow. Use spear." Salacity yelled at the brothers. He was quite amused by the brothers" lack of archery skill, but eventually, that amus.e.m.e.nt turned into annoyance. He tried to teach the proper forms, but his ability to teach was just as absent as the brothers" ability to shoot. "Go out now. Time you hunt! Clean place. Salacity see you at Gate."
Rock and Smoke went to the table while Sun and Stick gathered their arrows scattered on the ground. "So, how exactly do those stink bombs work?" Sun asked.
"When you throw the bombs, it releases this nasty smell. Hence the name stink bomb."
"I see." Sun brainstormed the possible utility of these bombs. Creating a zone of control was an obvious option. They can use the stink bomb to sway the deer running the opposite direction. They can also use it on predators if encountered, so they could escape unharmed. But the viability of those bombs is relatively unknown to Sun. He wants to test it first to determine an actual use for it by examining the strength of the smell, the duration of it, and the radius of the bomb. "I"m going to test the bomb first. We can probably do it while making our trap. Do you, by chance, know how strong the smell is?"
"Cloud told me it was strong enough to make a Timber Wolf feint."
"And what the heck is a Timber Wold?"
"Apparently, it"s a large wolf. One of the goblins that were working with Cloud said that they are big enough to carry a slave or two, and still have room for a goblin to ride on it."
"What? Are you saying we can ride on those things? That sounds amazing."
"Oh, I wish. Cloud said Timber Wolves couldn"t be tamed because they are part of Trolls."
"Trolls, and what do you mean "part" of?"
"I don"t know. He was pretty vague about it." Stick and Sun walked to the table and divided the arrows evenly among themselves. While they were organizing their stuff, Cloud came back with seven stinkbombs. "Luckily for you, I found two more in the shed." Cloud gave them all to Stink. "Now, please be careful. These bombs are dangerous, and the smell is just the worse." Cloud warned them as he pointed his fingers at them.
"Its ok, Cloud. We"ll be careful, and thank you." Stick a.s.sured him. The brothers left Cloud at the tables. They were heading to the gate. Other hunting parties were entering and exiting the gate. Dolce"s followers were cutting off large chunks of meat from the hunter"s prize. Mothers were waving at their children. Some of which were as inexperienced as the brothers. Lite, Shuja, and the rest of their party were also leaving. Lite"s mother was shouting at him, telling him to return with a lot of meat. This embarra.s.sed Lite, so he started to walk faster into the forest.
"Halflings! Over here!" Salacity yelled, waving at them. The brothers walked to him. "You hunt that way." Salacity pointed south. "No die, ok." He said while smirking.
The brothers started walking in the direction Salacity pointed at. They continued walking past countless trees, occasionally stopping to take a break. Eventually, they reached a stream. Cloud told them some tips for hunting a deer. Deers congregate where there is a large body of water. Mother deers also travel in small herds to better protect their young. Male deers are solitary and will only join a herd during the spring and summer. They also have sensitive, easily breakable antlers during winter, so they avoid fighting altogether and resort to fleeing. Their solitary nature and weak defenses make them perfect prey. Sadly, male deers migrate to higher elevations during winter to avoid predators. That doesn"t mean it"s impossible to encounter one. There is barely any food for them up in the mountains, so they would occasionally come down.
The brothers walk a little further pa.s.sed the stream. They began digging a ditch and filling the bottom with pointy sticks. Afterward, they tested the bombs. Sun and Rock walked away from the ditch to a new testing area. Sun used the flint tip of his spear to scratch an x on a tree. "Ok, Rock, you get to throw two stinkbombs. The first one you"ll throw at the tree I marked. Then we"ll walk to that direction, stopping once we smell the bomb."
"Ok." Rock and Sun walked four meters away from the tree. "Here I go!" Rock threw the bomb as hard as he could. The sh.e.l.l shattered, and a yellowish liquid splattered on the tree. The foul stench of the bomb barely reached them.
"Well, at least we know how far it can reach," Sun remarked while pinching his nose.
While Sun and Rock were testing the bombs, Stick and Smoke were checking signs for recent deer activities. "Stick, you really like Cloud don"t you?" Smoke remarked. "He knows a lot of things. Have you been thinking of joining him and his group."
Stick was puzzled. "No, not really. I like Cloud. He seems pretty cool. I want to learn more from him, but I don"t know if Sun would let me hang around with their group."
"I think Sun would be fine with it. If we learn more ways to help us fight, we might be able to free our mothers quicker. Besides, I can tell that you enjoy learning about his exploits. I don"t it hurts if you join them. If anything, I"ll convince Sun for you."
"Thanks, Smoke, I"ll think about it."
"Just remember. We are brothers, and we always care for each other." Smoke continued to scan the area for signs of recent deer activities. On the other hand, Stick was distracted by Smoke"s comments. He wants to learn more from Cloud, but he is also afraid. Afraid that he would miss crucial fighting lessons from Sun. He was weak, but he saw how his three brothers fought using Sun"s techniques. They won their fight without any help. Then there was him, barely alive from his battle.
Cloud knows things like stink bombs that can help them, but if he falls behind from his brothers, he might lose the confidence to face them. He would be just like Cloud, shaking from fear. There is a thin line between brains and brawn that Stink must balance on to stay relevant in his brothers" eyes.
"Stick I found something," Stick snapped out of his thoughts and walked to Smoke. "Fur, probably shed by a deer. Stick, get Rock and Sun. Tell them we found some deer to hunt."
Smoke ran to Rock and Sun"s testing ground. The place smells like a bucket of feces their caretakers would collect from their mothers. Stick covered his mouth and nose to block the smell to no avail. Sun"s eyesight was blurry due to his tears. It took him a while to realized Stick was there. "Oh, its Stick. What"s up?"
"Smoc font sum dir phur."
Rock and Sun stared at each other, puzzled. "What?"