*DON'T READ INSTRUCTIONS UNTIL SLIDE 10* Story honestly sucks but this is the first fun thing I've written since last year cause I'm stuck doing stupid essays. I will welcome any tips! “Sorry, I was making sure I could still hunt with it.” “Oh! Like squirrels?” Gleefully, she takes me by the hand and helps me up. “There’s a bunch of squirrel nests in this area, I was trying to see if I could kill some with rocks,” she explains. Of course Aveline cannot be living in a castle and making servants do all the work for her. She is only 15 and yet has to fight daily just to survive in this world. “So,” I question, “did you find anything?” “Oh yes!” The tree that she leads me to has to be one of the tallest I have ever seen. The trunk is larger than if 3 average oak trees were put together. Aveline drops my hand and opens her mouth to speak. “I saw quite a few squirrels on the branches earlier,” she says, “I was thinking, if you could climb a tree across from this one, you could take down some squirrels.” I squint my eyes as I examine the tree looming before me. It is certainly plausible that there could be a hoard of squirrels living in it. “How entirely sure are you that there are some in there?” “I promise you on my life that there are squirrels in there, Caelen, my life!” Aveline exclaims as she turns to face me. Shrugging my shoulders, I knock an arrow, making sure to point it at the ground and away from Aveline. I do not need a human death on my hands. *SWITCH TO NOTES AND CREDITS*
“How are we going to lure them out?” I draw out the words slowly, as I myself am not sure if there is even a way to draw the squirrels out. “Do not worry about it.” My face twists into confusion at Aveline’s words, but she ushers me off. Sighing, I make my way to the nearest tree that is climbable, hooking my bow over my shoulders. I climb the branches with ease. Climbing things is so easy that it is almost second nature to me. Fighting also comes naturally to me, as I am a tall fellow, but I do not particularly enjoy it. Besides, I do not have time to train anymore. I am seated on a branch high above the ground when I hear a high pitched voice call across from the other side of the larger tree. “Are you ready?” Aveline calls out. “Yep!” I situate myself on the branch and point the bow in the general direction of the tree, as I have no idea where exactly the squirrels are. If there even are squirrels. Aveline appears on the branches of another tree, presumably after a struggle to climb it. She whistles and looks downward. I do not even have time to look down to see what she is signaling at. Something slams into the tree and makes such a horrid noise that I have to clap my hands over my ears. I scream out for Aveline, my voice tearing out of my throat. The forest erupts–squirrels burst from inside the tree in a frenzy, the branches shaking violently and ice comes raining down. Then I see it. Something huge starts hauling itself up the trunk, the wood splintering underneath its large body. I cannot tell what the creature is, as the large grey creature is too concealed by the many branches surrounding it. My mind is racing, and I am nearly hyperventilating as I steady myself on my branch. My grip tightens on the bow, but my hands feel slow–too slow. The creature leaps. It is only in the air for a split second, but I know what I see. A troll.
