“Training isn’t practice for battle. It is battle. Any lesson that can’t adapt to unexpected anger isn’t worth learning.” quote about war attributed to numerous generals.

  Savrassa stood over the battered dummy, still ready to keep fighting. It had been three days, and she had shown signs of improving. She wasn’t as tired, she kept a firm grip on her weapon, and she knew her forms well.

  All the more impressive, given that she’d laid her eggs those three days prior. She’d needed bed rest and more meals at first, but she’d recovered well.

  “That’s enough,” Rathorn finally said after their most recent drill. “You’re fighting fine for now. Go hunt. You can apply your lessons there.”

  “On it,” Garassk said. He took up a spear and motioned for Savrassa to follow him. The two of them made their way through the forest.

  “So what are we hunting?” Savrassa asked.

  “Depends on what we can find,” Garassk answered. “But Rathorn probably won’t consider it good training if all we can bring back is rabbits.”

  “So… a boar?”

  “That’s probably a bit dangerous for someone new to hunting,” Garassk said. “Maybe there’s a fox around here somewhere.”

  “I think I taste one around here somewhere,” Savrassa said, flicking her tongue out. “But I’m not sure. I’m new to knowing what scent is on my tongue.”

  “Lead on,” Garassk said. “Even if you’re wrong, there’s still food nearby.”

  Savrassa flicked her tongue out a few more times before taking the first steps. Garassk followed her, flicking his own tongue out to see what he could find.

  The two of them stopped as the scents were beginning to get overpowering. The forest itself grew more crowded with trees as well.

  “And here we are,” Garassk said. “Now to find a good place to start.”

  “But what do we hunt?” Savrassa asked. “I can’t even tell what’s what around here.”

  “Give me a moment,” Garassk said, closing his eyes. He flicked his tongue out once more, allowing only the sense of smell to guide him. Focus, he told himself. Find the best prey. Various animal scents danced along his tongue. He did his best to try and filter through them. Rabbits and birds would not do. Finally, he found what he was looking for.

  “Got it,” he hissed. “This way.”

  “Wait! What are we doing?” Savrassa asked.

  “Fox hunting.” He crawled through the trees, taking special care to ensure he made as little noise as possible. Savrassa did her best to follow. It wasn’t as quiet, but she kept up. He stopped when they reached the clearing.

  “We’ll start here,” he said. “We can’t afford to get too close. Foxes are clever, and will be easier to catch from a distance.”

  “But I don’t see one,” Savrassa protested.

  “You seldom do, at first,” Garassk said. “That’s what makes them tricky. But they’re also a safe bet for someone new to the hunt. Can’t be going after bears or boars in our current state. We want cunning, not dangerous.”

  “Very well,” Savrassa sighed. “So how do we catch a fox?”

  “We can wait until we see one,” Garassk said. “Or or we can bait one.”

  “How would we bait one?”

  “Kill another animal first, and leave it out for the fox to try and find. But we run the risk of attracting a different predator if we do that.”

  “But we could get two animals in one hunt, yes?”

  “We could, yes.”

  “What do foxes eat?”

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  “Okay, I guess we’re going with that option,” Garassk muttered. “Rabbits are a safe bet. And birds. Anything smaller than them, really.”

  “Good. I see we have a lot to work with.”

  “Indeed we do,” Garassk said, looking at the land in front of them. “Indeed we do.”

  The taste of rabbit was everywhere, and there was no shortage of them in sight. The entire forest was teeming with life. He looked around for the best place to start.

  “Let’s see then,” he muttered, tracing a scent. “We start… there.”

  He crawled around the trees, waving his tail to signal for Savrassa to follow. The two of them crawled until the scent of rabbits was overpowering.

  “We’ll pick off a few to create the bait,” he said. “Then when the foxes come, we strike.”

  “Any tips for them?” Savrassa asked.

  “Be quick and quiet,” he whispered. “They’re clever, cautious, and fast. One mistake, and they run.”

  Savrassa nodded. Garassk turned back toward the forest and searched for a visible rabbit. Once he found one, he flicked his spear at it. The spear sank into the creatures side as it died silently. He retrieved the spear, and cleaned the blood off of it before picking up the corpse.

  “Got one,” Savrassa hissed from nearby.

  “Good, but we’d best be quieter about it,” Garassk whispered. “See how many more you can get. I’ll catch some birds.”

  A few climbs later, Garassk had sore knees, and several birds gathered up, and even one nest of eggs. He crawled toward the scent of death to find Savrassa with three more dead rabbits strewn about.

  “I got some,” she said.

  “Good. That should be enough.”

  “So we just leave these here, and wait for a fox to come?”

  “That’s the basic idea, yes.”

  “Well, best get to it then.”

  The two of them scattered the corpses across most of the landscape.

  “Now what?” Savrassa asked, once they’d finished.

  “We take a step back and wait for something to arrive,” Garassk said. “Wait for me to attack, and then you follow up.”

  He crawled away from the corpses, and motioned for Savrassa where he wanted her to go. Once she moved, he hid behind some bushes, and watched her do the same. He tasted the air, never taking his eyes off the bait. His mouth watered, but he knew that Rathorn would give them hell if they came back with prey animals and no predator.

  Life moved about the forest, exacerbating the difficulty of finding one fox that would take their bait. Deer and squirrels were everywhere, but they mostly stayed away from the smell of death. Only the ants and flies dared to approach. That wouldn’t do.

  The scent finally tickled his tongue, causing him to go still for a moment.

  Fox, he thought. At last!

  He crawled around until he saw it. Its red coat made it look like a flame slithering toward the bait, its eyes wary for signs of a trap. The unsuspecting fox sniffed at the food for a few moments. Garassk did his best to figure out where Savrassa was before striking.

  When he finally felt confident enough, he sprang into action. Garassk tossed his spear at the fox from behind, grazing one of its back legs. It yelped and started running. Before it got far, Savrassa jumped out, spearing it in the side, and killing it instantly.

  “Excellent work,” he said, running up to her. “Even Rathorn couldn’t find fault in that.”

  “Glad to hear it,” she said. “But now how do we carry…”

  Garassk held a hand up to silence her, and flicked his tongue out a few times. Something tasted wrong.

  “Dammit,” he hissed.

  “What?”

  “Drakkill’s men. They’re here,” he whispered. “We have to…”

  Footsteps cut off what he was going to say. The two varanians turned to see six knights stopping in front of them.

  “You!” one of them shouted, reaching for his sword. Before he could draw it, Garassk charged forward and tackled him to the ground, pressing his claws into the man’s neck. Savrassa fought off the rest of the men, but Garassk couldn’t turn and see what was happening. Only when he felt his fingers go all the way through did he pry himself from his opponent. Savrassa had downed two opponents, and was facing down one. The rest had fled. Garassk hissed furiously. There was no hope of tracking them down. More men would be sure to arrive now.

  “Enough!” he shouted, stepping up and slashing the man’s throat. “We need to run NOW!”

  The ground shook with every step they took. At least that’s how it felt to Garassk. They started running as soon as the fight had ended, and it felt like they had been going all day. The fear of being intercepted choked his every breath.

  Things only mildly improved as the ruins poked over the horizon. He couldn’t hear anyone following them, but that didn’t quell the fear that an attack was imminent. He blew a shrill note into his flute as he darted toward the entrance. Rathorn limped out to meet them.

  “No food…” he said. “I take it there’s trouble?”

  “Drakkill’s men,” Garassk gasped out. “They found us. They’re on their way!”

  “I suppose it was going to happen sooner or later,” Rathorn sighed, loading his crossbow. “Get your weapons ready. This is what we’ve trained for.”

  Garassk scrambled to retrieve his armor. It had been kept within easy reach for precisely this situation, but it still felt like a burden to find. Once he was dressed for battle, he went to the statue.

  “We will offer you a sacrifice when this is done,” he said. “All I ask is for your help right now.”

  He felt something coil in his stomach.

  “I swear it,” he added, not entirely sure if the feeling was coming from him or the god. With nothing else to say, he turned back and headed toward the temple entrance. Rathorn and Savrassa were waiting for him.