The Hunting
CHAPTER ONE
It's tough to support a family of four. Especially since the Palace gives you no money, makes you pay high taxes and expects us to live. Our area is very poor and all the shops are very pricy. They have to make a living too. Our family owns a small hide shop. Our family consists of me, my sister Ivi, my other sister Erika and my mother. Our father left us alone because he couldn't afford us. After he left my mother broke down and in a sad state. She is always throwing fits and kicking and screaming like a child. So I am the adult now.
I have light hair and I am fare skinned that is tan from the long hours out in the sun. Most people look like this but my sisters are light skinned because I make them stay inside and help mother with cleaning, milking the one cow we own and feeding our two chickens and small pig. I bought them from an old farmer about to retire. He said if I could get him a whole deer I could have them all.
I feed us pay our taxes and make sure we keep a clean neat look. If I didn't they might not see my mother fit and we would have to live in a foster arena. That's where they overlook us and a few stay but mostly you must go to the Palace and work the rest of your life there. Ivi and Erika wouldn't last a minute so I go and hunt in the area around the city we live in.
I am short and skinny but before my father left he taught me a few things about hunting and fighting. Now I am more muscular and can take out most men. I can use a bow and arrow but I prefer a dagger to hunt and I prefer a sword for fighting. My kills bring nice money and keep us by barely because every year the taxes are raised. My hunting is illegal but our government over look me because I am the only huntress that can first find a bear then weaken it with arrow then finish it off with a dagger in the eye. I always shoot animals through the eye so it doesn't mark the pelt. The coats are beautiful and warm. I have caught nine in my life. We have one for a blanket. Our house is very small. We have one bed that's big enough for three so never sleep at night; instead I usually hunt and sleep until they sleep again after school. We have one room all together and a small television that we only use for the yearly Olympics that we were made watch as a boy and a girl from every town was forced to compete in whatever games the capital planned. They say it's to keep the peace and populations down. They are sometimes survival; one time it was archery where your partner was the target. The girls always got the worst part though. They were always the targets always the one to get the worst part.
These games were mean but I never worried. I had confidence I could win these games if I was picked and which I am never. My sisters always stayed away from the drawing. The thought of one of them with an apple on one of their little heads and a male archer about to shoot, not aiming for the apple scares me.
Tonight I was about to go out and hunt when a soft hand clasped mine. "May I go?" it was Erika. "No, you need sleep." I say. "Mother has me in bed by you every night by five and I become restless, please!" I weigh my options. "No" I say again. Erika has always been the smart one. "What if you are picked and never return" this was low. She must have really wanted to go. I covered my hurt with sympathy. "Okay but you have to watch and only do what I tell you" I say with motherliness. Erika was twelve and built like me. Her face brightened and she asked me all kinds of questions but I stopped her and went to talk to mother. Her face turned red when I told her the plan and she went into a fit and screamed the word "no" again and again. My sisters immediately go to work boiling tea leaves and then putting it in one of our small tea cups and put it to her lips. That always calmed her. We bathed her then put her in fresh bed clothes then laid her in bed. We shifted our rough canvas sheets on her and then Ivi pouted she couldn't go but we waited until she had bathed and drank the rest of the tea to tuck her into bed before we went to my little fort where I kept my belongings. I showed her my smallest pair of boots. I had grown out of a lot of them but I kept them all. I already had mine on and my hood so I also gave her my old leather jacket that was a bit big but she loved it. I zipped it up then wrapped a leather strip around her so it would be a bit snugger. She was fascinated and kept re-lacing her boots with the thread bare strips of cotton and tightened the leather strip again before she saw fit. I smiled and put a cap on her head so her hair wouldn't get in her face. She had a smile that seemed to light the world up. I gather my things and place them neatly in my pack and give Erika a small knife holder with a clasp to close the top. She looks at me gratefully and she stuffs the little carving knife I gave her that needed to be sharpened badly. I looked at the sharpening stone that had one sharpening left. I looked at my knife then grabbed the small stone and use the last bits on my knife then tucked it in my knife holder which was fairly new then signaled it was time to go.
I had her walk around the tree in our yard and spent a little time teaching her to be lighter on her toes. She mastered it quickly then smiled brightly. I put my bow and arrows over my shoulder then notice Erika's shirt tail hanging out so I gently tuck it in.
Were not like the other families. We all love each other enough not to fight over possessions and share everything.
I carefully duck under the guard's watch. It wasn't the usual so I was careful and whisper to Erika to do the same. Once were out I follow my usual path down to the creek and remove my garments now naked and float in the water. Erika just stared at me then her gaze settled behind me then she pointed with a shaky hand behind her. In the water carefully sipping was a big goose. I laughed and quickly went over to it and the goose quaked then splashed in with me. "Oh he's no harm!" I say while rubbing his chin. "Kind of a pet actually" I say lowering my voice because I must still be careful. She thoughtfully looked at the goose and decided he was safe. "So what do I do" she asks. "You can strip and bathe now or just wait." I say. Then add "it helps me cool off before the hunt" Not wanting to miss out she too unclothes and slips in. "It's perfect!" she drifts next to me and the goose. "Have you named him?" she asks. "No, but you can." She smiles and thinks on the matter. She looks the goose over than says. "Rill, because it rhymes with bill, like the one on his head" I agreed. Rill seemed to like his name and often quacked at it happily.