Hey guys! It's slightly surreal that people are still reading this story which, honestly, I considered not even posting... but anyway, here it is! Chapter 3! Enjoy!
Panther cursed, and sucked on her bleeding thumb. The knife she'd been using to sharpen her arrows had slipped in her numb hands and cut her. Still holding her thumb in her mouth, she threw the knife and the arrow down on the rock she'd been sitting on and stalked off to find Robin. The woman, barely taller than a young girl though she was Pather's age, was named after her dark red and brown eyes that were like the colours on a robin. For all that she looked harmless, she had such skill with herbs that she could whip up a draft deadly enough to kill ten men with her hands tied behind her back. Panther found her lying on her stomach on the frozen ground, inspecting and labelling her plants without so much as glancing at the reference book that lay open before her.
Panther had to call Robin's name twice before the girl stirred from her inspection, and a third before she sat up to take notice.
"Panther. How can I help?" she said finally, when her eyes which had been inspecting tiny plants for so long adjusted to something so much bigger and further away than a hands breadth. Panther held out her still-bleeding thumb in reply, and Robin sighed, putting aside her herbs and taking Panther's hand.
"What in the Great Hills were you doing?" she asked, looking at Panther's thumb. "A centimetre either way and you'd have severed a nerve!"
"I was making arrows" Panther admitted.
"What's wrong with the flit-tipped ones Viper gives you?"
"They're no good for anything smaller than a terrier, which rather limits the amount of rabbits or birds I can bring back" she explained. Robin nodded. It made sense.
"That should do it" she said, tying off the end of the bandage she'd wrapped around the thumb. Panther inspected her work and asked exasperatedly
"How am i supposed to hunt with a thumb like that?"
"That's your lookout" said Robin simply, turning back to her herbs. Panther muttered a not-so-polite comment under her breath and stuck the offending digit into her pocket. She turned around to head back to her arrows... and got knocked to the ground by a flying body.
"RAVEN!" she yelled, pinned to the ground. "Get OFF me!"
"Sorry Panther" laughed Raven, untangling herself from Panther and leaping back. "Boar threw me..."
"Yes" replied Panther dryly. "I got that." She looked back to where Boar stood in a circle of ground swept clear of all leaves and debris, which they had clearly been using to fight in, waving sheepishly.
"I'll give him a run for his money..." she muttered, and stalked over to him, ripping the fingerless glove off her uninjured hand as she did so. She reached the circle and tossed it at his feet.
"Boar, Graceling of strength and part of the Graced Rebels, I challenge you to a fight till the almost-death! Until one of us surrenders!" she grinned.
"And I, Boar, do accept your challenge, Lady Panther, Graceling of shadows and also part of the Graced Rebels!" he returned, bending to pick up her glove. "But you might want to keep your mitten, you'll freeze your fingers off..." He handed the glove back to her.
And so there, in the ice locked mountains, two people fought with such ferocity and skill that the entire camp gathered round to watch and cheered on one participant or the other. And when it was over, when Panther had won, she bent down and offered a hand to Boar and pulled him up, and they went and sat by the fire and laughed. And reality was postponed for one day longer.
Hmmm, that was slightly longer than usual... which is a good thing! Even though it took longer as well... Hope you enjoyed it!
Stars x