Argo was lying just in front of a fire inside Bjorn's old home as the Giant Cave Bear was guarding the entrance, while everyone rested all over the place. He watched the sky, seeing stars passing by, when howls echoed in the distance. While there, another notification appeared, catching his attention.
[Beast Points: 151>181]
'Interesting but I'll save them up for now,' he mused.
Argo pulled out some dried meat Torv had given him and began eating. While busy with that, he realized he was running low on food and needed to gather more, meaning the journey home would have to wait. He knew Dawnfire wasn't far from the sea, prompting him to decide to go fishing.
With the plans decided, he fell asleep as the world outside the cave came alive. Aslan and Artemis stayed inside as Athena perched on a branch high above the gorge, allowing her to see everything. By the time he woke up the next morning, the sky was grey and the weather looked horrible.
'Damn place, looks like winter is coming,' he mused, rubbing his eyes.
Argo wanted to check on the outside world; he activated Beast Vision, linking with the Grey Owl's sight as it swept the ravine. Nothing, just wind-scoured stone and silence. The way was clear for him to go hunt so he can restock his food. He shouldered his pack, checked his blades, and stepped onto the grasslands.
Half a day's trek brought him to the Great Sea; the journey wasn't exciting thanks to rain, causing the mud to cling to his skin and tattered clothing, reminding him that he needed new ones, thanks to being dirty and covered. He ignored that as he came to a stop among a cluster of weathered rocks.
After some searching, Argo found a cavity in the side of a cliff that would block the wind and hide him from beasts. He decided to craft a fishing rod to catch some food. He knelt by the rocks, prying a straight, whip-thin branch from a shrub. Afterward, he stripped the leaves, then notched the tip and bound a length of braided gut line Torv had given him.
''This will do and should catch me something. The Kravati knew what he was doing,'' he muttered.
Following completing the main part, he put a bone hook, carved from a bird's wing went on last, baited with the remaining dried meat he had. He cast the line into the water, and the hook vanished into the waves. Argo settled against a boulder, legs stretched toward the water, eyes on where sky and sea bled together.
Each wave rolled in, creating a peaceful sound. Gulls wheeled overhead, screaming, which he ignored. He kept one hand near his spear, the other on the makeshift rod, waiting for the tug that would mean supper. A half-mile down the beach, he spotted a group of Varna appear, six or seven of them, hauling a boat toward the sea.
Their oars were driftwood lashed with kelp; their nets looked more hole than mesh. Argo snorted under his breath. ''Fools, don't they know how dangerous it is?''
The tide was turning hungry, and the Great Sea never gave without taking twice. He flicked his gaze to the empty sky. The beasts had slipped back to the Realm to rest; only Athena remained, curled against his thigh like a warm coal. A sharp tug bent the rod, catching his attention.
Argo set the hook with a quick jerk; the line sang. A silver flash broke the surface, thrashing, then another. Five fat cod in as many breaths. He hauled them in, scales glinting like metal. This catch impressed him, but he decided to cook it now and gutted two on the spot, his stomach already growling
'I'll hunt for food on the way home,' he mused.
After that, he turned to the Varna boat, which was already a speck against the horizon, prompting him to think. 'Must be new fishermen or sneaking out, no one would risk it with just one boat.'
He wiped his blade on his thigh, threaded the second fish onto a stick, and laid it over the small fire he'd coaxed from driftwood. Smoke curled up. Athena's head swiveled toward the sea; her eyes tracked the same line. Whatever they stirred up out there, it would come back to bite them.
Argo didn't care as he had meat enough for the night, and the beasts had his back. He waited in front of the fire while catching even more. While doing that, he noticed the Varna burst back into view, slewing sideways. Black fins knifed the water, three, four, six, each half the size of a man and edged like scythes.
'Ginshu Sharks or Blades of the Deep, as the tribe likes to call them,' he thought with wide eyes. 'Mother told me about those things, always preying on fishermen.'
Following that, the sharks struck in a single ripple of muscle and steel-hard hide. The skin boat folded like wet paper. Oars spun away. A scream carried clear across the water, thin as a gull's cry, cut short. One Varna tried to swim, arms thrashing. A fin rose behind him, tilted, vanished.
''Looks like they'll learn from their mistakes,'' he muttered, shivering at his own experience with a sea monster, as he was happy the smell of his dinner went in the opposite direction.
The man's legs kicked once more, then were gone in a bloom of red. Argo listened as the others scrambled for the shallows, dragging a half-swamped comrade. The Ginshu circled, patient. Another lunged. Jaws wider than a barrel snapped shut; the man's torso simply ceased to exist.
Blood sheeted the waves, thick as oil. Argo didn't move. The fire crackled at his boots; the cod hissed on the spit. Athena beat her wings once, silent, eyes never leaving the carnage. A final Varna reached knee-deep water, sobbing, clawing at the sand. A shark beached itself in pursuit, belly scraping stone, jaws gaping.
He observed the man turn, raising a broken oar like a spear. It took him at the waist, shook once, and slid back into the surf with its prize. Silence fell, broken only by the slap of waves and the wet drag of the tide pulling scarlet ribbons seaward. No one else surfaced. Argo turned the spit.
Fat dripped, flared. He tore a strip of cod, chewed slowly, tasting salt and smoke. Athena dropped to the sand, talons clicking, and began to pick at the second fish. 'Can I have this one, Arg?'
''Well, you're already eating,'' he chuckled. ''The others have the Prowlers' bodies to eat, leaving me with nothing.''
'You don't want their meat, it's disgusting,' the Grey Owl revealed as she tore into the fish, pulling a strip of flesh.
Following that, silence fell over them, broken only by the slap of waves. The boat was kindling now, bobbing in pieces. A low thrum rippled through the sand under Argo's boots, like distant thunder rolling in the bones of the earth. Athena's head snapped up, wings half-spread.
'We will be safe in this alcove, Arg,' she revealed. 'Stay for the night and stock up on fish.'
Argo was going to reply, but the Beast Realm opened nearby. Bjorn spilled through it like an avalanche given fur and claws. He was impressed by the sheer size of his newest bond as the creature's voice echoed in his mind. 'Can I go fishing, master? I can see many Veydrak. They are tasty and good for the winter.'
''Go for it, just be careful,'' he replied, glancing at the waves below. ''Sharks attacked some Varna, so they may be around.''
Bjorn let out a laugh. 'They won't bother me, I've done this for years,' he explained.
Seconds later, the giant bear leaped off the edge, crashing into the water below, which exploded. The Death in the Dark didn't roar. He simply moved, one paw the size of a wagon wheel pinning a wave flat. The second paw scooped. A fish shot from the depths, looking panicked.
Argo watched the bear's jaws close, and the bone cracked like brittle wood due to the force. The fish thrashed once, twice, then hung limp, blood streaming from gills the color of dawn as he thought. 'Looks like I'm set for food for the foreseeable future.'
He turned, water sheeting off his shoulders, and waded straight for the fire. Each step left a crater that filled with pink froth. When he reached the rocks, he dropped the monster at his feet with a wet thud that rattled the spit. 'For you, master,' Bjorn rumbled, voice like grinding millstones.
Then he was gone again, another tear in the water, another fish the size of a pony hauled out for Aslan. A third for Artemis. A fourth for Athena, who hooted once in greedy delight and abandoned her cod without a backward glance. By the time he was done, the beach held a butcher's bounty: four leviathans steaming in the cold, their eyes already clouding.