AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The boar snorted before showing itself in the corner of my eye. I spun left, still on my knees.
It barreled out of the foliage like a devil-drunk madman. I could see the crazed yellow of its eyes as it bore down on me, lowering its tusks.
“Brother, help me!” I screeched.
Why aren’t you doing anything, Robert?!
I crawled on my hands and knees like a spider. Vicious memories played in my head, of my father scolding me for my stupidity, slapping me upside the head.
The boar rushed past again, its tusks missing the meat of my legs by a hair’s breadth.
A whimper rolled out of my mouth.
Then calm settled over me as I found my spent arrow on the ground and lifted it to my bow, rising onto my knees once more.
Breathe. Like Robert taught. This must be a lesson of his.
It was a hell of a lesson to be taught at the hooves and tusks of a beast that weighed as much as a barley-loaded wagon.
I wasn’t about to let awful memories of my father beating me be the last thing I recalled before I died.
The boar appeared again, right in front of me this time, sending leaves billowing into the air.
It charged.
And I pulled back the bowstring with trembling fingers. I aimed for the leathery spot above its eyes, my aim shaky and untrue.
My fingers snapped and the bowstring twanged.
The arrow whistled through the air and struck the hog in the forehead, tearing a gratified yelp from my lungs—
Which curved into a horrified gawk as the monster charged at me unheeded, as if the fletching of the arrow sticking out of its head was little more than a pinprick.
I was going to get trampled and die.
I fell back on my hands, losing my bow, losing all hope, crawling back like a crab.
Ten feet away.
Quickly five.
Its yellowed, frenzied eyes grew bigger even as mine did, but I found I couldn’t scream while watching my impending death barreling down on me.
Then a hiss of interrupted air split the sky.
A thunk as a massive arrowhead plunged into the hog’s neck, impaling it through the other side.
Blood sprayed, the beast squealed, and was flung sideways off its trajectory.
I screamed as the hog somersaulted face-first into the ground, drawing deep grooves into the earth as it skidded, skidded—
And halted two feet to my right.
Dead.
A thin breath wheezed past my lips.
More rustling came from the left, softer this time, and my eyes veered in that direction—
