Seven Stones: Part Twenty-Four
Previously on Seven Stones: A huge boar, twisted by mutation, smashes through the tree line. Kobb kills it before it hurts them, leading Haelen to celebrate their swift victory. However, Anessa believes the damage to the settlement is too extreme to be caused by a single boar. Not wanting to head into danger without knowing more about the boars, the three of them head south through the tangle of shattered trees. Taking advantage of the path cleared by the boars, all is going well — until they meet a boar coming the other way.
Anessa readied her crossbow. The boar had the same bone spines and ragged coat as the one in the clearing, but it seemed tentative. Her guess about the resin muddling their senses must be right. She settled her weapon and took aim. No sense in killing it before it was a threat; longer she watched it the more she’d learn.
Shuffling sideways, the boar slammed the side of its face into a branch and then swayed back toward the centre. A beam of sunlight struck the boar’s head as it staggered on, revealing its left eye socket gaped empty in an expanse of bone. Seemed like more than not smelling. Spasms running through its limbs, it charged.
Anessa’s finger tightened on instinct. The quarrel smacked into the boar’s neck, sinking deep enough to be lost in the gloom. She began to reload.
