Chapter 37-Vera (Patreon)

The wind slid down the ridge, cool with pine and stone, but bitter with the memory of blood recently spilled. All along the clearing’s edge, Vera crouched with her hand on her knee, every muscle coiled tight as she watched the open ground. Grass moved in slow waves as the wind rolled by, shifting the carcass in the center each time the breeze caught its hide. Only a fool walked in the open where the Stonebreaker hawk hunted, and every sense in Vera hummed with the knowledge that danger was coming, drawn by the scent of death.

Behind Vera, someone shifted their weight, just within the cover of brush lining the clearing.

“Remind me, Vera—because my memory’s got holes in it today—why in all the world are we tossing a perfectly good goat to some feathered nightmare?” Tresh muttered from the brush, drawing out the last word with the aggrieved patience of someone who had recited the question four times too many.

Vera didn’t turn.

“Because the bird might give us a perk that lets us punch through armor.” Tresh grunted, not quite convinced, so Vera added, “We struggle against things with heavy hide or armour. Without it, we may as well throw stones.”

A pause.

“Well, when you put it that way,” he said, “I don't feel as bad about the goat.”

Dorrin snorted somewhere to her left.

Lyn lay flat on a low rock a few paces behind Vera, her chin resting in one hand, eyes scanning the sky through a gap in the trees.

“If you two keep talking,” Lyn said, “the hawk’s going to hear you complaining and decide you’re easier prey.”

“That bird would break its beak on me,” Tresh said.

Nearby, Lynn shifted slightly beside Vera, now perched low with her bow in hand, an arrow resting lightly against the string.

“Your skull would break first,” she said, not looking back.

Tresh made a thoughtful sound. “That seems unlikely.”

Dorrin snorted as Vera glanced over her shoulder.

“Quiet.”

They fell silent again.

The clearing stretched about thirty paces across, a vibrant patch of grass bordered by broken, lichen-blotted stone and scattered gnarled trees. The goat carcass sprawled in the center where they had dragged it, its musk and the cloying reek of blood already strong enough to prickle in the back of Vera’s throat and drift through the air, tugged by restless currents.

Maggs had found the signs that morning. A carcass of a deer was pinned halfway into the dirt with two holes driven clean through its ribs.

It was a Stonebreaker hawk. They had been tracking the thing for half a day, and now they waited for it to take the bait.

Maggs, settled on a rock further to Vera’s right, shifted slightly. “Wind’s good,” she said calmly. “Still circling somewhere.”

“How do you know that?” Dorrin asked.

“Because it saw us drag the goat here. Now it’s deciding whether to strike you or the carcass.”

“That’s rude,” Tresh said. “That goat is clearly more tasty than me.”

Vera rubbed a hand across her face.

Weeks on the road had sanded the edges off all of them. The first days after leaving the Landing had been tense; they had been through a lot together, but this trip had brought them closer in a way that would be difficult to replicate.

Long miles and shared danger ground people together until the rough spots smoothed out. Now they moved like a team that understood each other.

Lynn’s fingers rested loose on the bowstring. For a long moment, no one spoke. A small, sharp creak sounded as she eased back her grip, wood flexing with restrained tension. The grass outside whispered, caught by another restless gust. Someone, maybe Dorrin, exhaled—too loud—and the sound vanished into silence again. Lynn’s breath hitched, barely audible, and for a heartbeat it seemed as if nothing would break the hush. “Something moved,” Lynn said.

Vera tilted her head slightly. “Where?”

“There, against the clouds.” They followed her gaze.

The sky above the ridge was only pale blue, with drifting clouds.  For a moment, there was nothing. Then Maggs smiled faintly.

“There.”

High above them, a dark shape cut across the sky.

Wide wings with a long, narrow body. They watched as the large hawk circled once. Then again, with slow beats of its wings.

Dorrin exhaled.

“That’s bigger than I thought.”

“Not gonna lie…I think that thing could take you,” Tresh whispered.

The hawk climbed higher and higher until it looked no larger than a drifting speck. Vera felt the tension settle into her shoulders.

It was deciding who to strike; Stonebreaker hawks didn’t swoop casually. Lynn shifted her stance slightly, drawing the bow halfway.

Maggs slid quietly off the rock and crouched beside the brush, putting herself closer to the rest of the group at the clearing’s edge.

"Wait," Vera murmured.

A long, quiet stretch passed.

The wind shifted again across the clearing.

Then the speck vanished.

“Where’d it—” Tresh started.

Maggs’ hand snapped up.

“There.”

The hawk fell out of the sky like a thrown spear.

Its wings folded tight. Air shrieked as it tore downward toward the goat, sunlight flashing on its talons.

“Now,” Vera said.

Lynn’s bowstring snapped.

The arrow streaked upward toward the hawk just as it spread its wings to strike.

The bird twisted midair. It was fast. Too fast for most hunters. Lynn's fingers trembled as she nocked the second arrow, vision blurring at the edges as the cost of pushing her mana and perk caught up with her. But she forced the shot, drawing from the last dregs of her mana while Vera sent a javelin screaming towards it.

The first shot struck the hawk in the shoulder and deflected along the bone.

The second arrow hit its chest as it struck the ground beside the goat. Dust and grass flew. The hawk screamed and tried to take off.

Tresh and Dorrin burst from the brush.

The bird lashed out, claws carving dirt where Tresh ran.

“Big bird!” Tresh shouted.

Dorrin lunged, his sword point glancing off the hawk’s bone.

Maggs moved like a shadow behind it.

Her blade slid beneath its wing and drove upward.

The hawk convulsed.

Lynn’s third arrow buried itself at the base of the skull. The bird shuddered once more and went still. The clearing fell quiet except for everyone breathing. For a heartbeat, Vera let herself feel it: relief sinking like cold water through her shoulders.

Tresh stared down at it.

“Alright,” he said slowly. “That was impressive.”

Dorrin pulled his spear free.

“That wasn’t so bad.”

Tresh groaned, “Come on, you know the rules.”

Vera stepped closer and studied the hawk.

Up close, the thing looked even larger. Its talons curved like chisels, dense bone built for punching through flesh and armor alike.

“Good kill,” she said.

Lynn shrugged. “Clean enough. Took most of my mana to speed my reactions for the first two shots.”

Now they waited, and everyone fell quiet, hoping for the distinctive system ding. After each battle, it was never clear who would hear it. The air held that strange pause that always came after a kill, until a muted chime echoed at the edges of Maggs' hearing—quiet, unmistakable, the sign that the System had made its choice.

Then it passed, and Maggs blinked. “Keen Vision.” She said.

Tresh stared at her.

“You got the perk?”

Maggs grinned, and her stone facade fell away.

“Looks that way.”

Dorrin sighed heavily.

“That’s not the one we came for.”

“No,” Vera said.

Maggs flexed her fingers and squinted across the clearing.

“Still useful.”

“You always had good eyes,” Lynn said.

Maggs looked toward the far ridge and smiled slightly.

“I can count the feathers on that crow over there.”

Tresh groaned.

“Great. Now she’s going to be even more smug.”

Vera laughed and clapped her hands once.

“Alright. Field dress it; these feathers will make good fletching.”

They worked quickly. Feathers came off first. Talons after that. The meat was carefully packed away, and when they finished, the clearing looked almost untouched again.

Vera slung her pack over her shoulder. “Well,” she said. “Next one.”

Tresh adjusted his gear. “You’re serious?”

“We need that penetration perk,” she said.

Maggs pointed toward the distant hills where the land began to slope down toward Silverfin Lake.

“There’s another range that way.”

Silverfin Lake waited somewhere beyond those hills.

“Let’s go find another bird,” Vera said.