The Hunter

Awakening, Nehmen quickly realizes she’s now alone in the forest, with no sign of the girl anywhere. For the first time, she tries to process the events of the past hour. Her weapon had literally no impact on the brummen at all. Her wooden arrow shattered in a way she never thought possible, as though the brummen chewed it up rapidly with its sharp teeth, and spit it back out at her. And then, it went after the girl … The girl! How could she face the Elder?

In that moment, she decides not to return to the Tribe without taking down a brummen. I have to show them the brummen is just another animal. She sneaks into the village while everyone was still asleep, leaving the jarbridi carcass, before sneaking back out to fulfill her new mission. After gathering stones from a dried-up creekbed, and fashioning a vine-rope into a slingshot, she begins to track the brummen. She listened carefully from in the trees and hears a low, quiet hum coming from the direction of the glow.

For two solid days and nights, she quietly follows the hum through the dense forest, growing louder all the time. The glow, closer now than ever, makes it seem as if it were daylight. Even more importantly, a brummen rests in the trees just ahead. It hasn’t spotted her yet, but she must leave the safety of the canopy to get a clean shot.

Slowly, and deliberately, she creeps around a massive 400 foot tree for her best chance. With a clean line of sight, she begins to hurl the slingshot over her head and lets the rock fly …

The glow, closer now than ever, makes it seem as if it were daylight.

The rock sails ninety degrees in the wrong direction. A natural with the sling shot, she is not. Grabbing another rock from her pack, she winds up to try again. Her second shot flies toward the brummen, missing by at least 10 feet. Even worse, it strikes the side of the massive sequoia, alerting the brummen to her presence. As if flipping a switch, a loud, violent drone emanates from the brummen as it quickly ascends and turns its attention to Nehmen.

She runs, with the brummen following close behind, ducking back into the canopy for protection. The brummen doubles back, and sentries the perimeter. Realizing the sling shot was not the best idea, Nehmen quickly re-fashions it to hold a large rock in place, as a sort of primitive mace. She knows this means getting close, but she can’t turn back now.