I Built This City Chapter 39: Chapter 39

Read chapter 39 of I Built This City by ThePudding on NovelPedia.

Hunter Ellen Even though she’d been warned, Ellen hadn’t quite been prepared for how cold this winter would be. She wasn’t shivering, at least. The layers of fur and cloth kept her mostly warm, but her fingers kept begging for the shelter of her cloak. She obliged as much as she could, handing off her bow repeatedly to keep one inside warming while the other held her weapon. The scarf she wore might be crude, but it served its purpose of keeping her face warm, leaving just her eyes peeking out from under the cloak’s hood. The bundling up was warm, but when on the hunt she needed her fingers free. Even with them unencumbered, the combination of freezing weather and the unwieldy wardrobe had made her shots more difficult. Getting an arrow off smoothly and quickly was certainly possible in these clothes… just not without more practice she didn’t have. Which was the entire reason that she was stalking through the forest on foot anyway. Her Tracking Perk was subtle, but she’d learned to detect when it was in use, when it was helping her. Her eyes just… noticed things more easily, leaping over unbidden toward the tracks, or spoor, or in this case… tracks and blood. Hunting the stag she’d found by waiting patiently in ideal conditions, but failed to kill with one arrow. So tracking was the next option. Ellen flinched as she heard the faint roll of thunder above. That would be just her luck… stuck in a snowstorm, far from home, while trying to track her prey. It wouldn’t be so bad if she could catch the injured stag before the storm broke. Once the snow really started to fall, hunting it down would be much harder. She stopped and brought up the Settlement Interface. Some of the others weren’t sure if it was useful, but she’d been meaning to show them the very simple trick she’d learned. She wasn’t sure if it was tied to her being a Landkeeper or not, but looking at the display could show a rough map of the area… including where the viewer was, and sometimes where other Ellens were. Ellen wasn’t sure why it only showed the others sometimes, but once she figured that out it would be even more useful. “Oh… no wonder I’m so tired,” she muttered to herself. Her legs were starting to ache, and seeing where she was that made sense. “I thought this looked familiar.” According to the display, she was much closer to the village than to Anroll. She’d been chasing this wounded stag for hours, she knew that much. She hadn’t realized it had run out of the designated area for her hunting, and into where the villagers would be. She’d have to find it in a hurry, or some other hunter might be lucky enough to score and take home her prize. The entire day would be wasted. Ellen let out a soft sigh, muffled by the scarf. She hesitated to continue, now. She’d lose the buck, but would not risk revealing herself to any hunters. If they saw an unknown Ellen wondering around, a perceptive hunter would start to ask questions, and as far as she knew only Lauren, Tobias, and just recently Pauley were in on the secret. Of course there was always the chance that it was someone who hadn’t met Village Ellen’s so-called ‘sister’ and wouldn’t think anything of it. That was unlikely, though. After another moment of debate, Ellen tightened her scarf and kept moving after her prey. With her hood and scarf, only her rough build could be determined. She’d just be a mysterious hunter. Gossip-worthy, yes, but nothing that a little smooth-talking from Merchant and Village couldn’t handle. Bundled up as she was, her hair was hidden, and that was the only part of her that was distinctive. Redheads were rare in this region, and she was the only one she’d seen among the villagers. But if all they saw was a bundled-up hunter… that was curious but nothing special. Anyone who glimpsed her may not even think to talk about it, if she did nothing unusual. Her footsteps crunched softly on the layer of snow, lending an audible sense of progress to her pursuit. The deer couldn’t have gotte