Part 1
Luvi and Lumina sat boredly at the side of the road, looking out for flying pigs to pass by overhead. The’d been there for hours. Every time a pig flew by, Luvi would shoot at it and every time she would miss. On occasion she would graze them but she never caused injuries that would make them die. It was annoying, especially given the weather they had to deal with. All she wanted to do was to get inside, but she was determined to at least kill one of these damned pigs.
Thankfully the shade from a large tree helped protect them from the summer heat. They even bought some water from people who passed by. They were about to continue their journey when a group of hunters hurriedly rode by. Just as they did so, a group of pigs broke through the clouds, moving in the same direction.
“Hurry or we’ll lose them!” shouted one of the passersby.
“To the field!” shouted another. “Try to ride between the trees! We don’t want to spook them!’
“Lumina, let’s go!” Luvi shouted as she mounted her horse and started riding behind the group of hunters.
“Huh?” the woman said, having clearly dozed off. “Shit, okay, I’m coming!”
Luvi urged her horse forwards, though it only wanted to go at a trot at first. She had to really shout and dig her heels in to make it speed up. Yet, despite her efforts her horse couldn’t catch up to the others. It wasn’t entirely necessary to catch up as she could trail them from a distance.
The hunters rode in unison with the pigs flying above. More and more started to show up as the clouds blew away. There were dozens of them in total and they all seemed to be headed to a field in the distance. It made sense to head to where they were landing as shooting them out of the sky was a royal pain.
“This is our chance,” Luvi thought, but the hunters complicated things. “Damned horse doesn’t want to cooperate today. I’m going to have to do this myself.” She began drawing runes of speed on her body, enhancing her own speed to outpace even a horse’s. She signaled for the horse to slow, and once it did so she leapt from it, landing gracefully on the ground and taking off in a blur down the road. Bow and arrows in hand, she passed the other hunters, making them stare at her questioningly.
Luvi sprinted into the field where the pigs were headed. Her mind took time to catch up and realize that she was already at her destination. She slowed to a stop and tried to focus. “The pigs,” she said, as if reminding herself of why she was there. She looked up at the descending pigs and took her chance. Luvi lifted her bow, drew an arrow and fired. She accurately accounted for their current movements this time and didn’t even think as she let her reflexes do the work. She fired arrow after arrow, using up every bit of ammo that she’d brought with her.
These were much easier to hit than the ones she’d tried to fire at before due to the decreased distance. She hit four of them squarely and grazed another four. The pigs that weren’t too injured stopped descending and took off in random directions.
“I… did it,” Luvi said to herself, watching as some of the pigs began to fall to the ground.
“Those were our kills!” called an angry hunter as the group approached.
“I got to them first, it looks like,” Luvi said haughtily. “And you would have been late. There’s no chance they would have landed if your group came at them like that.
“You didn’t get hardly any of them! You’re a bleeding idiot, you are! We could have laid traps to catch nearly every single one if you’d have just let us!”
Luvi paused, having not expected the conversation to go the way it had. “How could you have laid traps if they were flying right over you???”
“Cooler heads, boys,” said a tired looking older hunter. He looked at the bodies that fell from the sky and landed on the ground. He waved a calming hand to his companions then had his horse trot up to get closer to Luvi. “You’re a mage and I’m guessing you’re capable of defending those kills. I don’t see how you’re going to transport all of them so let’s cut a deal. I can admit that we would have probably gotten here a little late, but we could have probably shot a few down.”
“I guess you could have,” Luvi said, feeling a little embarrassed. She had enough common sense to realize that these pigs weren't worth getting into a fight over. Not when these hunters didn't seem to be the bad sort. “I don’t even need most of the bodies. I’m only after one part… and I don’t think every pig has the thing I want inside of them.”
“What part did you want to harvest, exactly?” asked the who had no idea that the pigs could have wells in them.
“I don’t know,” Luvi said after an awkward pause. “I guess I need to cut them open and see. I’m looking for wells. I heard that some of these pigs have wells inside of them.”
“Wells… we haven’t heard anything like that coming out of one of these pigs. We’re after them for their meat and because they’re a damned nuisance. Tell you what. We’ll butcher these to be transported and if we find anything like that then it’s yours.”
“That works for me.”
Luvi stepped aside and absorbed the ether from her runes back into herself. The majority of the hunters were still upset with her for ruining their plan but they were somewhat satisfied with their deal. Lumina rode up a while later and Luvi’s horse even passed by, though it was trotting around fairly aimlessly without a rider to direct its movements. Luvi would have to go chase it down later. She really hadn’t thought things through.
“Did you find any?” Lumina asked.
Luvi was about to say no, but one of the hunters shouted, “I think I found that thing you’re looking for!”
Luvi jogged over and looked at a stomach that had been cut out and placed on the floor. Sure enough, there was a well sticking right to it. “Yes, that is precisely what I’m looking for. Is this the only pig that had one?”
“I think so,” said the hunter, looking around at the others. “You lot find anything?” he asked but everyone shook their heads.
“I’m glad we were able to come to an agreement, Luvi said as she wrapped up the well and tucked it into her bag. “You don’t mind if I tag along for a while? I’m heading in the same direction as the rest of you and would love to hunt down some more of the pigs.”
“I don’t see anything wrong with that, but you’re going to have to be part of the group. No running off ahead on your own.”
“Fine, fine,” Luvi said with a small smile. “Hey, Lumina. Take this would you? Take it back to the city. I’ll see you when I can make it back there… it shouldn’t be too long. I’m planning a longer trip, as you know.”
“Got it,” Lumina said as she took Luvi’s bag. “It’ll give me some time to do some research.” She left with a wave while Luvi and the rest went on their way.
The group of hunters travelled along for about an hour. They weren’t more skilled than Luvi, but they had been hunting these pigs for a lot longer than she’d been. They had a general idea of where they liked to eat, and staking out their food was their go-to strategy. Luvi thought it was a good idea and that other animals might be able to be caught in a similar manner.
They came across several more pigs and they took positions behind trees. The strategy was to slowly creep up on the pigs until they could get good shots off. Or, if they arrived before the pigs they could try laying traps around their food. Luvi learned how to make a bait trap that would ensnare a pig’s leg so that it would be prevented from flying away.
They were successful in hunting and by the end of the day they ended up killing a good ten pigs in total, including the ones Luvi had killed on her own. Still, they only found the one well. Luvi counted herself lucky that she had even found one at all and thought that it wasn’t worth going out of her way to hunt them down. It would have taken her days and days just to catch ten, hardly a good use of her time when she was in a rush to get somewhere. She resolved to try again when she eventually travelled back to Rharne, if the pigs hadn’t been eliminated by then.
Luvi camped with the hunters, then the next morning she continued alone. She wouldn’t find another pig for the remainder of this part of her journey. It would make sense, as the pigs would surely become more sparse the further she got from where they were currently gathering.
Luvi and Lumina sat boredly at the side of the road, looking out for flying pigs to pass by overhead. The’d been there for hours. Every time a pig flew by, Luvi would shoot at it and every time she would miss. On occasion she would graze them but she never caused injuries that would make them die. It was annoying, especially given the weather they had to deal with. All she wanted to do was to get inside, but she was determined to at least kill one of these damned pigs.
Thankfully the shade from a large tree helped protect them from the summer heat. They even bought some water from people who passed by. They were about to continue their journey when a group of hunters hurriedly rode by. Just as they did so, a group of pigs broke through the clouds, moving in the same direction.
“Hurry or we’ll lose them!” shouted one of the passersby.
“To the field!” shouted another. “Try to ride between the trees! We don’t want to spook them!’
“Lumina, let’s go!” Luvi shouted as she mounted her horse and started riding behind the group of hunters.
“Huh?” the woman said, having clearly dozed off. “Shit, okay, I’m coming!”
Luvi urged her horse forwards, though it only wanted to go at a trot at first. She had to really shout and dig her heels in to make it speed up. Yet, despite her efforts her horse couldn’t catch up to the others. It wasn’t entirely necessary to catch up as she could trail them from a distance.
The hunters rode in unison with the pigs flying above. More and more started to show up as the clouds blew away. There were dozens of them in total and they all seemed to be headed to a field in the distance. It made sense to head to where they were landing as shooting them out of the sky was a royal pain.
“This is our chance,” Luvi thought, but the hunters complicated things. “Damned horse doesn’t want to cooperate today. I’m going to have to do this myself.” She began drawing runes of speed on her body, enhancing her own speed to outpace even a horse’s. She signaled for the horse to slow, and once it did so she leapt from it, landing gracefully on the ground and taking off in a blur down the road. Bow and arrows in hand, she passed the other hunters, making them stare at her questioningly.
Luvi sprinted into the field where the pigs were headed. Her mind took time to catch up and realize that she was already at her destination. She slowed to a stop and tried to focus. “The pigs,” she said, as if reminding herself of why she was there. She looked up at the descending pigs and took her chance. Luvi lifted her bow, drew an arrow and fired. She accurately accounted for their current movements this time and didn’t even think as she let her reflexes do the work. She fired arrow after arrow, using up every bit of ammo that she’d brought with her.
These were much easier to hit than the ones she’d tried to fire at before due to the decreased distance. She hit four of them squarely and grazed another four. The pigs that weren’t too injured stopped descending and took off in random directions.
“I… did it,” Luvi said to herself, watching as some of the pigs began to fall to the ground.
“Those were our kills!” called an angry hunter as the group approached.
“I got to them first, it looks like,” Luvi said haughtily. “And you would have been late. There’s no chance they would have landed if your group came at them like that.
“You didn’t get hardly any of them! You’re a bleeding idiot, you are! We could have laid traps to catch nearly every single one if you’d have just let us!”
Luvi paused, having not expected the conversation to go the way it had. “How could you have laid traps if they were flying right over you???”
“Cooler heads, boys,” said a tired looking older hunter. He looked at the bodies that fell from the sky and landed on the ground. He waved a calming hand to his companions then had his horse trot up to get closer to Luvi. “You’re a mage and I’m guessing you’re capable of defending those kills. I don’t see how you’re going to transport all of them so let’s cut a deal. I can admit that we would have probably gotten here a little late, but we could have probably shot a few down.”
“I guess you could have,” Luvi said, feeling a little embarrassed. She had enough common sense to realize that these pigs weren't worth getting into a fight over. Not when these hunters didn't seem to be the bad sort. “I don’t even need most of the bodies. I’m only after one part… and I don’t think every pig has the thing I want inside of them.”
“What part did you want to harvest, exactly?” asked the who had no idea that the pigs could have wells in them.
“I don’t know,” Luvi said after an awkward pause. “I guess I need to cut them open and see. I’m looking for wells. I heard that some of these pigs have wells inside of them.”
“Wells… we haven’t heard anything like that coming out of one of these pigs. We’re after them for their meat and because they’re a damned nuisance. Tell you what. We’ll butcher these to be transported and if we find anything like that then it’s yours.”
“That works for me.”
Luvi stepped aside and absorbed the ether from her runes back into herself. The majority of the hunters were still upset with her for ruining their plan but they were somewhat satisfied with their deal. Lumina rode up a while later and Luvi’s horse even passed by, though it was trotting around fairly aimlessly without a rider to direct its movements. Luvi would have to go chase it down later. She really hadn’t thought things through.
“Did you find any?” Lumina asked.
Luvi was about to say no, but one of the hunters shouted, “I think I found that thing you’re looking for!”
Luvi jogged over and looked at a stomach that had been cut out and placed on the floor. Sure enough, there was a well sticking right to it. “Yes, that is precisely what I’m looking for. Is this the only pig that had one?”
“I think so,” said the hunter, looking around at the others. “You lot find anything?” he asked but everyone shook their heads.
“I’m glad we were able to come to an agreement, Luvi said as she wrapped up the well and tucked it into her bag. “You don’t mind if I tag along for a while? I’m heading in the same direction as the rest of you and would love to hunt down some more of the pigs.”
“I don’t see anything wrong with that, but you’re going to have to be part of the group. No running off ahead on your own.”
“Fine, fine,” Luvi said with a small smile. “Hey, Lumina. Take this would you? Take it back to the city. I’ll see you when I can make it back there… it shouldn’t be too long. I’m planning a longer trip, as you know.”
“Got it,” Lumina said as she took Luvi’s bag. “It’ll give me some time to do some research.” She left with a wave while Luvi and the rest went on their way.
The group of hunters travelled along for about an hour. They weren’t more skilled than Luvi, but they had been hunting these pigs for a lot longer than she’d been. They had a general idea of where they liked to eat, and staking out their food was their go-to strategy. Luvi thought it was a good idea and that other animals might be able to be caught in a similar manner.
They came across several more pigs and they took positions behind trees. The strategy was to slowly creep up on the pigs until they could get good shots off. Or, if they arrived before the pigs they could try laying traps around their food. Luvi learned how to make a bait trap that would ensnare a pig’s leg so that it would be prevented from flying away.
They were successful in hunting and by the end of the day they ended up killing a good ten pigs in total, including the ones Luvi had killed on her own. Still, they only found the one well. Luvi counted herself lucky that she had even found one at all and thought that it wasn’t worth going out of her way to hunt them down. It would have taken her days and days just to catch ten, hardly a good use of her time when she was in a rush to get somewhere. She resolved to try again when she eventually travelled back to Rharne, if the pigs hadn’t been eliminated by then.
Luvi camped with the hunters, then the next morning she continued alone. She wouldn’t find another pig for the remainder of this part of her journey. It would make sense, as the pigs would surely become more sparse the further she got from where they were currently gathering.
