Here's the link to the First chapter of the original author: s/8872659/1/The-Fabled-World

(Sam's P.O.V.)

Careful now… don't want to…

SNAP!

The buck I had been trailing, bolted from the clearing it was grazing in, and I was left to glare down at the offending stick beneath my boots. I sighed as I lowered my hunting rifle, which was a large .38 caliber rifle. Slinging it over my back, I started for the long walk back towards my camp. It was just around sunset, so I was relying on that deer for dinner, since I was getting tired of living off of squirrel meat.

I pulled the tomahawk out from my belt, and as I passed a bush, I hacked away at it, leaving a nice size notch in it. Now I know not to come this way again…

My tomahawk was now back in its utility loop, and I slid my rifle off my back, and quickly dropped to my knee. I took a deep breath in as I forced my heart-rate to drop, and when I exhaled, I waited until I felt a heartbeat, and pressed the trigger.

Bang!

A squirrel fell down from the perch it had been using on the underside of the tree. I kept on walking, and when I came upon the squirrel, I picked it up so I could have it later for my 'dinner'.

…

I was sitting down as I let the squirrel finish cooking over the flames, letting the flames just lick the meat, but not letting them engulf it. My stomach grumbled slightly, and my eyes watered from the smoke, but it was a life I enjoyed. I'm single, nineteen, and all my known family is either dead, or dead to me. That should be enough… don't want to burn what food I do have.

Bringing the stick out from over the flame, I brought it closer as the smell of cooked squirrel permeated my nose. When I brought it near my mouth, I heard a soft whimpering noise which startled me. I looked over, and I saw a pair of greenish eyes staring at me from beyond the fire light. Fear began to take hold of my gut as I reached down and grabbed my tomahawk. When a wolf walked into the firelight, I saw it appeared starved, and it kept its head low to the ground.

After it was near my knees, it licked its chops as it whined again. ARG… he's pulling the begging treatment… I couldn't help but feel bad for the wolf, considering how it still looked pretty young, and it was starved down to the bone. I guess I can go one night without eating a squirrel…

Slowly, I started to bring the squirrel over to the wolf, and when I slid the stick on the ground, it laid its ears back as it slowly backed away. "Shh… no, it's alright…" I murmured gently, which got the wolf to tilt its ears forward again, and it stopped crawling away. When the meat was below its nose, it looked away from me briefly, and inspected the meat. It took a small bite, and after I saw it swallow, it quickly ate the rest. "You were a hungry beast… weren't you?"

I smiled as it finished the squirrel, and when it started to walk away and back into the forest, I sighed as I walked over and crawled into my tent. I settled down inside of it as I unfolded my sleeping bag, and snuggled inside of it. As I closed my eyes, I heard thunder overhead, along with a crackle of lightning. Before I could shrug it off and go to sleep, my tent started to shake like something possessed, and I was left trying to hold my tent down as the wind started to buffet the meager cover I had. I growled as the wind continued to thrash my tent about, and I grabbed my rifle with my free hand and set it down on one of the corners.

Tonight… is going to be a long night…

-Somewhere along Human/Keidran border-

A lone figure was sitting in the shadows of a tree as a human convoy passed by. This figure was a medium-sized lean wolf, who had been running from the slavers of this convoy ever since her village was destroyed. While she hadn't escaped unscathed, she had managed to steal the dagger from one of the slavers her father had killed. While many of the villagers had died, a few of them had managed to escape, like herself.

The trees were far in-between, so every time the convoy stopped, she was forced to climb the trees, or else face a life imprisonment as a slave. It was at this time, that a guard just happened to stumble near where the Keidran wolf was hiding, and as she mistook the slaver as finding her, she jumped up and stabbed him in the chest, mortally wounding the human, before she turned tail, and ran as fast as her legs could carry her.

Several yells emitted from behind her as she ran and as she jumped over a small creek she heard the slavers chasing after her. A few arrows embedded into the trees around her as she ran but none of them were close. She heard some more yells but seconds later it grew silent as she ran and almost stopped, but she thought wiser. She continued on running when she suddenly saw a river through the foliage, her muzzle light up with relief.

She jumped over a rotting log that was in her path when suddenly a spear lodged itself in the ground in front of her, making her to trip and fall into the ground. While she was trying to get back up, two slavers jumped over the log behind her, and pressed their spears into her back making her freeze. One of the slavers reached down and grabbed her arms, heaving her up and started to carry her back towards the caravan. "Let go of me!"

"HAHA… this one is going to sell great with how much energy it has! Too bad it managed to kill Phil though… not that it matters, he couldn't catch anything, let alone a bottle of booze."

"I'm betting seven silver coins that this one sells to a city man!"

"Oh, you're on!"

"I said… let go!" The young Keidran screamed at her captors.

"Oh, shut up you!" one of the slavers said before he backhanded her.

The Keidran fell limp as the blow somehow sapped her of the strength that had remained with her, but now she felt the resolve for freedom start to slip from her grasp, along with her hold on reality…