Death or Dishonor

Carter was one of the first in the dark, dense forest. He felt eyes on him but if they were human eyes or the eyes of his prey it was hard to tell. He was hard at work, deciding to find the boar first. It would be easier to kill than the imp, which he was still unsure what it was, and the bear. He looked at Kofi, "Do you know what an imp is my friend. Perhaps if I knew I would be at a better advantage?"



Nolee was the last in the forest, still trying to figure out how she was supposed to get the bear out of the woods. Perhaps there would be a cub that she could come out with instead of having to waste her energy with a full sized bear. She decided to look for the boar but when she finally found one, she was not happy. The only boar she found had been mauled by something. Something that surely wasn't a bear.

Carter heard the growl and pulled his sword. He refused to leave his friend to God only knew what matter of creature that was out there hunting them right now. "Kofi, I'm not going to let you die. Your not going to let me die. But whatever just growled...I don't think it's any matter of creature that we've ever seen before."



Nolee kept looking for the boar. She heard the sound of water and knew that there was a possibility that the boar would be there. When she finally got to the water however, it was not a boar she saw. It looked like some kind of cat, only much larger than normal. And it was chomping down on the one they called Alex effortlessly. She figured this was one of their targets. Calming herself, not knowing what this creature was, she pulled an arrow and knocked it in her bow. She sent up a silent prayer and let go of the bow string. The arrow attached itself to the creature which looked up, very angrily.

Hastily knocking another arrow, she waited for this thing to lunge at her and when it did, she let the arrow fly, hitting the creature in the chest. It dropped to the ground with a thud and Nolee fell back, looking at it. She had no name for it, no idea what it was. But it had killed one of them.

And there were three more out there.

Carter nodded at Kofi, pulling his bow. He looked at his old friend, fighting the bear. He never knew the kid had so much spirit in him, that he could fight like this. Quickly he reached for an arrow, waiting for the perfect time to fire into the bears side. It took four arrows before the beast was finally done. "Kofi..." Carter said softly, going over to his friend and helping him up, "I do believe that this competition may have been to rid the world of men like you and me..."


Nolee looked back at David. She had decided that in the case of whatever this was and the bear that she would only bring back the heads. It was not specified that she bring back the whole body and when she couldn't lift it why should she? "I'm not quite sure what this is but part of me believes it was the feral imp that we were told about. Only I do not believe it is called an imp..."

((Nolee is so cute here. xDD))

"Ahhh," Kofi groaned, dropping to his knee. His leg had been clawed and it hurt to walk. "You know my man, you may be right but you will have to continue on your own." Kofi sat, leaning back against the tree. "Send someone for me will ya, after you become a finalist." He smiled at his good friend. "Go. Cut the bear's head off and get a move on man before someone beats you to it! Take my boar as well. Now all you need is an imp that doesn't exist."

---

David nodded, too scared to agree or disagree. "Yeah well I still need to find one of my own." He groaned. "I'm never gonna get out of here at this rate. I found my boar early on and someone else killed a bear for me but must have got spooked. They left the body there so I drug it out of the forest. I'm down one imp."

((You call cutting a lions head off cute? 0.0))


Carter nodded, patting his friend on the shoulder. "I'm sorry it had to come down to this my friend. I would have loved to face you in the finals." he cut the bears head off and grabbed the boar that lay not far from them, carrying them to the edge of the forest so that John could see him and tally off the items on his own list before heading off to find his imp, a bad feeling in his gut.


Nolee nodded, "I found a boar, mauled by what I expect to be this thing. The imp...it killed Riley..." she gestured to where the mangeled body lay in a pool of blood. "I need to find a bear..."

((Well >> It's the Tana in me xD ))

The day was quickly fading into night, the colors of the sky a light purple and orange signaling sun down. Shawn was sitting on his throne, sipping on a goblet of water completely tuned out to the voices around him. Carter. All he could think about was Carter and whether or not he was being mangled by animals. He heard about someone getting chewed to pieces but no one would say who. He knew Hunter was a little curious as to why he was suddenly interested when all before hand he hardly cared for the tournament, but this was different. He had a friend in there, risking his life for his sister and this friend was also someone he committed shameful acts with; kisses he would take to his grave.

"My Queen you seem so tense," Hunter said. He squeezed Shawn's hand. "Do we need to go...do something to loosen you up?"

Shawn shook his head. "No, no my king. I'm just..."

"I know. You're actually a little more interested in this round because of the animals right?"

"Yeah. Hunter did you have to--to get man eating game for them to hunt?" he asked.

"Yes, I did," he answered. "It's for their own good."

Shawn simply nodded, feeling quite annoyed and hoping this would all be over soon.

---

David nodded. "Then we need to hurry. Searching for a black bear in pitch darkness does not work to our advantage. The sun's setting and we need to hurry." He heard a loud roar which meant there was still at least one bear left. "Let's get going."

Nolee nodded, darting off into the woods ahead of David. She would not let the man kill this beast, insistant that she get this kill and the last trophy she needed to collect. As she approached the beast, she saw another one of those creatures like the one she had killed before, a bear, and her brother. Carter was hard at work trying to kill the sandy colored creature while the bear was simply roaring it's head off. She couldn't help a small smile when she saw her brother actually kill the creature. He took it's head as she had done and looked at her, judging if "Nathanial" was going to be a threat for his prize. When Nolee didn't move, Carter headed off out of the woods.

She focused on the task at hand, landing two or three arrows to the creatures side before landing a final one right between it's eyes. When it fell, she cut it's head off and wandered out of the woods, the last of her three kills spilling blood as she walked.

"Finalist you have twenty minutes to bathe and make yourself presentable." The words rang through Nolee's ears like a chant. She...she was going to have to bathe, possibly in front of these men. She had never....no man had ever...surely she would be found out. She ran to her room, blocking the door so that David couldn't enter before running her bath.


Carter smirked, heading with back to his room. It was bittersweet to see Chris' things cleaned from the room. He grabbed his things and ran the bathwater, climbing in and sighing as he did so. He had not time to enjoy it, bathing quickly so that he could be presentable.

Nolee smiled a little at Husky as she watched him walk away as they sat at the dinner table. Finally she decided to speak up about what was on her mind, "King Helmlsy. I have a few qualms. First off all, why did you not tell us about those beasts in the woods? The one that no one seems to have a name for? Second of all...second of all why are there no female knights in your ranks?"


Carter looked at Nate, head wondering partially what he had asked. He knew the other. Women often tended to be to weak and were to refined for the sport of war. He picked at his food, letting his eyes wander over to Shawn before quickly looking away.

"I know of some women," Nolee responded, "who would go to war for the glory it gave. For the thrill of being able to prove to men that they were not merely for using for their pleasure and to birth their children. I know women who would die to become a knight but have feared all their lives to ask because they were taught that their place was underneath a man."

"Not all men think that way," Carter cut in looking at Nate. "Some of us find women to be our equals. Why, I think my sister rivals you in the ability to shoot a bow and arrow."

Nolee smiled softly to herself, "I believe you Carter." she looked back at the king, "Suppose a women were to ask? What would you do to her?"

Nolee gulped inaudibly. Surely Kurt's "jest" would not be tested. "I have you know" she said crossly to Kurt. "That I have a beautiful woman waiting for me when I get back home. She is with child and it is mine. I knew that the archery task would be a hard one and did not want to drink. I had to stay focused. But I will join you all if we go to the pub tonight."

She hoped she had covered her tracks, if not she could be in for public trouble.


Carter laughed, "Calm yourselves Kurt, Nate. Besides, even if Nate was a woman there is surely no punishment for entering this tournament under the ruse of a man, right my king?"

Carter nodded, watching at the queen walked away. He sighed, "I wish not to go. I am far to tired and my arm," he gestured to where the unknown creature had swiped at his arm with his paw, "hurts far to great. I bid you all goodnight."

Walking up to his room, Carter collapsed on the bed. The pain in his arm was immense.



Nolee gulped, standing and walking with the others who were going to the pub. She looked over at David, "Wh...what does he usually have you boys doing at the pub? I...I know not how to play cards..."

As he felt the pain in his arm intensify, Carter sat up. It was still bleeding a bit and he hadn't done a good job of patching it up. He stood shakily, walking out of the room and looking for someone who could help. He was a few inches from the library when he fell roughly to one knee, the pain in his arm, making him crash into the wall from dizziness.


Nolee laughed, "I shall just play cards. Even if I do not know how to win it must not matter if no one ever wins, correct. What about you, where do you plan on going?"

Carter laughed bitterly, "Some knight I am. I get a flesh wound from a while beast and-" he hissed in pain when the substance that Maryse had concocted hit his flesh. As she wrapped it he continued, "and I act like it's something life shattering. I just lost a little blood is...is all..." he said as his head still swam.


"I don't mind listening to war stories," smiled Nolee as they entered the pub. She sat at the round circular table with the others as Robert cut the cards and ale was brought over to them. She took a swig of her ale and for a moment wished she would have gone with David.