CHAPTER 3
THE BEAR
The Ranger had taken the same time to sharpen some spears for his daily fishing routine. It was a beautifully magical sunny day. He entered the water, stepping onto the small rocks. The shallow part of the river was almost perfectly clear.
It stemmed from a short waterfall to his left. The waves and fish continued downstream past him and skipped into the air and down another waterfall to his right. Over the white misty edge of that waterfall. Several small fishes could be seen jumping through the watery edge and into a huge fanged mouth. Its jaws snapped down onto one fish, only catching air. The rest of the fish were just a little too fast and agile for the bear's claws.
After several failed attempts at spearing many silver and multi-covered fish, The Ranger looked down the river to spot the huge brown grizzly bear fishing as well. Although The Ranger was a good distance away from it he stood ready.
At least he had a weapon to defend himself he thought. The Ranger continued to strike at the fish standing ankle deep in shallow water. He peered down at the bear again, The huge beast didn't seem to notice him...
As soon as The Ranger looked back down he saw a plump fish oblivious of the predator above it, slowly making its way down the stream. The Ranger swung his spear quickly down into the top of the fish. He brought it up, thankful for his first wet wiggling meal of the day. The corner of his mouth curled up. The mighty brown bear roared at him. It was angry the Ranger had
intruded into its food bank. He decided to use this precious energy source and invest it to make a friend. He threw the wagging fish at the bear's jaws. It consumed the fish in just a few snaps. The Ranger smiled, stood his ground and continued to jab his pointed spear into the glistening water.
Back at his home camp he put a few more logs and sticks on the fire after cutting them up with his axe. After cooking the bright silver fish on a skewer, he finished his last bite. Reinvigorated he knew he couldn't rest long...
* * *
The Ranger knew he had to keep moving, improving his shelter. He knew the key to this would be in layers. Hacking away at several branches that provided huge fan-like leaves as a canopy he gathered a dozen wide green leafs that would act as a patches to his roof.
After some struggle wrapping the leaf patches into place, he cut down some thicker branches to build a better bed. By placing the long wood branches next to each other he was able to, at the very least, get him off the ground. He used the remaining vines used to fix his roof and wrapped them around the top, middle and bottom of the row of logs, tightly securing them together. He also replaced the original mossy bedding with new moss.
He also had to get moving on a new set of snares and traps. The more traps, the greater his means of survival. He searched for huge rocks that could serve as even bigger death traps for the unfortunate critter that decided to take the bait and activate the switch. After finding two he cut up some more branches to keep the heavy stone balanced.
* * *
The Ranger started to dig a pit that would be perfect for a dead fall. The amount of work digging would take at least half of the day to complete so he decided just to start on it and dig a bit more each day so he could conserve his energy for another weapon to create.
He went back to his camp and looked at his spears that he painfully crafted. He had a handful of vine in his right hand. He picked up one of his small spears and wrapped the green string looping it around the top and tying it in a special tight knot he learned while sailing with his crew. He did the same to the bottom pulling the strong vine up while keeping tension and pressure on the branch while is sat on the huge stone in front of him.
It took just the right amount of pressure to make his new bow without snapping it. Leto had trained him well in the art of bow making.
* * *
He finally had a decent bow but needed arrows. He had to hurry, there was only so much daylight left. He got to work immediately, quickly hacking off a few more limbs from the surrounding trees. The Ranger used his axe to sharpen the branches into sharp points.
The Ranger tapped the top of his finger on the arrow, it drew a small drop of crimson blood. The corner of his mouth angled up again.
He loaded the arrow onto the sliced groove at the back of its base. He spotted a green leaf hanging down from a little tree. Instantly he let go of the back of the arrow.
It pinned a leaf to the front of the tree bark.
It was good to know that his aim was still true.
* * *
Later that night, after throwing a few more sticks and logs on the fire. The Ranger slept in his newly repaired shelter.
He growled and yelled a few times as his head moved right to left. The images in his head flashed on and off through blackness. He was on his ship. He held up his hands, they
were covered in blood. The blood was all over his crew mates as they lay dead on the deck floor. He yelled in sorrow and anger, looking up at the five floating red-robed wizards. These men, however cruel they may had been to him were the closest thing he had to family. The wizards looked down as to pity him. He was almost nude and he didn't have any weapons so he used only one, his savage rage. He went into an enraged frenzy growling and yelling in defiance. The leader of The Red Wizards was in the middle of the floating group. He shot out a dark pointed object from his hands. It headed straight at The Savage's face.
The Ranger held his hands to his eye patch, while still asleep, covering it as if he
was in intense pain.
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