Lycus agreed with Hjalbir's warning. Anything could happen. They could come across ogre territory or face an ambush of minatours or worse. He was ready for just about everything.
The Imperial hunted pulled the fish from the spear's tip and turned to Hjalbir. "Aye, there is no way to carry the game without a carriage." He turned to the other hunters. "If any man who is tired already I say go back to the Goblet before we go any further. There are carriages for rent for a cheap price."
"But," one of the hunters said, "we'll miss the hunt."
Lycus shrugged. "If you hurry, you might make it back in time with the horses doing all the walking for you."
Turning to Khan, Lycus scratched his black beard. "We'll set the hounds on them. Flush them out of the field."
He gestured toward the group of hunters by his side. "The deer will run into a single direction. Me and Hjalbir will remain in the forest just in their path of escape."
"You can chase them toward us," Lycus told Khan. "The archers in the tree can pick off the rest."
It wasn't his wisest of hunting decisions, he had better. But the number of deer were more than enough. He just hoped these men would be light-footed in their approach.
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And yet I am, and live—like vapours tossed. I long for scenes where man hath never trod A place where woman never smiled or wept There to abide with my Creator, God, And sleep as I in childhood sweetly slept, Untroubling and untroubled where I lie The grass below—above the vaulted sky.”
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