Chapter Nineteen: Deer in the Bushes

 

Anglorae groaned. “Berries? Again?”

Kyosti didn’t have to see Sanji to know she looked murderous. “You can starve, if you’d rather,” she pointed out.

Anglorae released a put-upon sign, but was soon munching loudly on the berries. Kyosti knew the feeling. “What I wouldn’t do for a penguin now,” she muttered. 

Kyosti’s mouth dropped open, all friendliness forgotten. “You eat penguins? But---”

She rolled her eyes. “Yes, the sacred fisheries, blah, blah. Well, this may come as a surprise to you, but penguins are birds.”

“Why, you—Birds?? They swim!!!”

“They have wings, they’re birds!” she shot back.

“I have never---They’re flippers!! They don’t even fly!”

Sanji gave a cry as Anglorae suddenly stood up, supposedly strewing her berries around. “And what? Are ostriches not birds? Emus?”

Kyosti remained seated. A part of him was amused that he was having an argument with a sixteen-year-old. “I don’t know what those things are, but penguins are not birds.”

Twigs cracked nearby, and Kyosti tensed, turning to look over the bush-covered meadow at their side.

“It’s just a deer,”Anglorae snapped.

Kyosti sat up straight. “A deer?” 

Finally some good news. With winter only just falling for real around them, the deer was probably still fat from summer, and judging by the sounds of its hooves and the displacement of the branches around it, it was a good-sized one too.

“That would make a good meal,” Sanji muttered.

A sliding sound to his left told him John had unsheathed a knife, but Anglorae said, “It’s too far away,” and he resheathed it.

The deer crept around them. Possibly it had never seen humans before and was curious. As the rustling reached them, Kyosti slowly stood.

He smirked and reached behind him. “My friends, if you want the deer, all you have to do is ask.”

Sanji gasped as he pulled his longbow out.

“That deer is not too far away for one of these,” Kyosti pointed out smugly, and started to string the bow.

“What are you doing?” Sanji hissed as he tested the string and the wood in an unconscious, automatic way. “You’re not seriously going to--”

“I’m seriously going to,” he interrupted, groping for an arrow. The bow was for war, really. It was too long to draw and hold, so he would have to locate the deer and shoot quickly.

“That’s . . . not a hunting bow!”

He shrugged. “And I’m not a hunter. Usually,” he added as he strode forward, carefully avoiding the fire and stumbling over a mound. “But if these arrows can kill a man, I can only assume they’ll kill a deer, too.”

The other three stood up curiously behind him. Anglorae chuckled softly, obviously imagining his coming embarrassment.

Kyosti stamped his foot on the ground. “Hey!” he yelled; the deer startled but did not run. He stamped again. “Come on, come on,” he roared. “Run! I know you want to!”

He strode forward, trying to pinpoint where the deer was. Maybe it really wasn’t afraid of humans.

Finally, the deer flinched away from Kyosti’s approach, then bolted, racing for the safety of the rocks. Kyosti brought the bow up to full draw, following the deer’s progress unerringly.

A beat. Kyosti released.

A thump, and a crash as the deer fell. Anglorae gave out a whoop and John laughed.

Kyosti grinned, turning to them. “Did I hit it?” He flinched as a wild keening noise came from the bushes.

John yanked his knife from his belt and dashed into the brush; within moments, the deer’s sounds faded away.

“You---you’re----you---” Sanji gasped at him. Insane. Perhaps that was the word she was looking for.

He shrugged. “It’s no big deal. I used to do that stuff all the time in the army.” He wiped an imaginary bead of sweat off his brow. “It’s pretty easy to do, actually.”

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