The forest seemed to hold its breath.
For a few seconds no one moved. The three grimrats kept sniffing the ground without noticing our presence, their long tails dragging slowly through the damp leaves.
Daren was the first to move.
He took a silent step to the left, lowering his body a bit while adjusting the spear. Claire slid forward through the center, her hand near the knife on her belt. Rowan gave a small nod for me to follow him, I took a deep breath and moved forward with him.
They were still distracted, one of them was digging the ground near some exposed roots, another was sniffing something in the melted snow.
We were close enough now. Daren attacked first, with a quick motion he thrust the spear forward. The weapon cut through the air with a short whistle and buried itself in the side of the grimrat on the left, the creature let out a sharp screech.
At the same time Claire came out from between the bushes. She lunged at the second grimrat before it could react, her knife flashing for an instant as she drove it into the creature's neck.
All of that happened in a second, the third and last grimrat raised its head abruptly, its small eyes found us, more specifically me.
"Now!", Rowan shouted.
I felt my heart begin to pound, but I ignored it and quickened my step. The creature let out a rough growl and lunged forward instead of fleeing, its paws hitting the damp ground as it opened its mouth showing its yellowish fangs.
Rowan moved first. He stepped aside just as the grimrat leaped at him. The creature passed brushing past him and landed clumsily in the mud.
I saw the opportunity, I raised the weapon and struck with all my strength, the impact wasn't clean. The creature screeched and twisted violently, its claws scraping the ground as it tried to bite, Rowan kicked its side to unbalance it.
I drove the weapon downward and the screech stopped abruptly. For a moment the only thing we could hear was our breathing.
Daren leaned the spear on the ground, sat down and sighed, "well, haha, that was easier than I expected."
"Don't get cocky, they're just rats…", Claire said while staring at the grimrat she had just killed.
Rowan walked over to me and touched my shoulder, "well done Luke, this time you did… well."
I lowered my gaze and spoke, "Like Claire said, they were just rats, and even so I got nervous, if only they had been brea…"
This time he punched my shoulder, "But they weren't, that's why we're here, to train."
I rubbed my shoulder and looked at him, then nodded. He was right, one of the reasons I agreed to this was to prove something to myself, to prove that I can fight and not freeze up like an idiot.
I lifted my gaze again toward the dead grimrats. The dark blood was starting to mix with the damp mud on the ground, forming small puddles between the roots. The forest remained silent, as if nothing had happened.
Daren slowly stood up and picked up the spear again. He shook it once to remove some of the blood before resting it on his shoulder, "well… if they're all like this, today is going to be a good day."
Rowan started walking around the bodies, observing the ground carefully, I saw him kneel several times, looking at the marks in the mud and the melted snow. After a few seconds he pointed north, between the trees. "The tracks continue that way."
Daren walked over to look. "More grimrats?"
"Probably. Or the path to the nest."
Claire stood up and put the knife away after pulling out all the fangs. "Then we should keep moving before it gets dark."
I looked down at my weapon for a moment. The tip still had traces of blood. I felt that small knot in my stomach again, but this time it wasn't exactly fear… it was something stranger. A mix of nerves and an uncomfortable sense of accomplishment, I shook my head a little and caught up with them.
"Oof", I let out a deep sigh and leaned against the trunk behind my back. Meditating and spreading the pulsar throughout my body was still very difficult for me, but little by little I was improving.
"18, 19 and 20", Daren counted with a bright smile, "we have 20 fangs, that's a good haul, according to the hunters who told me about this place, the pair of fangs sells for one coroa."
"Brother, the smile on your face is creepy", Claire said while tossing a piece of firewood into the fire.
I stretched and spoke, "it's a good haul for the first hunt of the best group in Briarwood and its surroundings." Night had already fallen and we were camping in a hollow between some rocks.
Throughout the day we managed to hunt ten grimrats including the first three. In total I delivered the killing blow to two of them, I felt a small sense of happiness for having managed it, but even so I knew how much I still had to improve.
None of us had the need to use pulsar either, which was also one of the rules Edric gave; 'Don't use pulsar unless it's necessary, there are things you don't want to draw attention from.'
"The best group in Briarwood and its surroundings?, really?", Claire looked at me with a perplexed expression.
"I like it", said Daren while holding one of the fangs.
Claire looked at her brother with a disgusted expression and then searched Rowan with her eyes.
Row shook his head, "Don't look at me, I have nothing to do with their ideas."
"Anyway, today went better than we expected, tomorrow we could try our luck in the morning and return to the village at sunset", I said.
Claire stirred the embers with a stick and new sparks rose into the air before disappearing into the darkness. The forest around our small camp was quiet, too quiet for a place where we had spent the day killing creatures.
Daren put the fangs inside a small leather pouch and tied it to his belt. "Well, then tomorrow we get up early, we'll surely find a few more."
"First let's rest", Rowan replied calmly from his rock. He had been looking toward the forest almost the entire time, as if he were listening to something we couldn't hear.
Claire settled against one of the large stones behind the fire. "Let's take turns keeping watch."
"I'll take the first one", Rowan said without hesitation.
Daren stretched out on the ground next to his backpack. "Wake me up later. I don't want Luke falling asleep in the middle of his watch."
"I can stay awake", I replied defensively.
Claire let out a small laugh, "yeah, sure."
The exhaustion started to fall on me all at once now that everything was calm. The fire crackled softly in front of us while the rest of the forest remained dark and silent.
I closed my eyes for a moment, listening to the sound of the wind through the distant branches and the occasional crack of the firewood in the campfire.
Before I realized it, sleep took me.