[open] bear attack!

[laeroth]

The hours that Laeroth spent hunting during the day were the hours that he felt truly at peace. Treading carefully through the pine needles littering Falkreath’s forests, following prey trails, expertly staring down the length of a nocked arrow as he prepared to send the final blow, the soft twang of his bow as he sent an arrow flying – those were the things that made him feel complete. The solitude and peace that hunting gave him meant that he devoted the majority of the day to it. The rest of his time was spent selling what he killed, eating what he killed, and sleeping. He lived a simple life, to say the least.

Today’s catch hadn’t been as plentiful as ones the Altmer had had in the past – in fact, all he had successfully taken down was a small deer – but that fact didn’t particularly bother him. If anything, it gave him less to do in preparing the kill to take into Falkreath and sell. After he’d sorted out the antlers, hide and meat, all he had left to do was retrieve his arrows and clean them. Laeroth always collected his arrows after he was done, to continue using them in his journeys; it cost far less to sharpen an arrowhead than it did to buy a whole new sheath of them, after all.

Crouched by a small stream that bubbled over a pristine bed of pebbles, the high elf ran his slender fingers over the tip of the arrows, letting the cold water rinse over them and wash away the small stains they had gained from his hunting trip. The Altmer liked to keep his weapons in a somewhat pristine condition, so this was a regular routine of his. On a slightly raised rock beside him lay a small dagger, drying out from where the elf had previously cleaned it. Laeroth was carefully slotting the last arrow back into his sheath when he heard a twig snap from somewhere behind him.

Turning his head slowly, he could see from the corner of his eye that the noise had been created by an elk, who hadn’t yet noticed him. The animal was turned away, and a distance up the hill that was behind him. It was fairly plump, with large antlers and a fairly stocky build – it would be a perfect catch to round off his day. Grabbing his bow and slinging the sheath of arrows over his back, he was about to shoot when the animal moved behind a tree. Damn. He couldn’t risk spooking it away by taking a bad shot, so Laeroth manoeuvred his way up the hill as quietly as was possible.

The high elf spent a small amount of time tracking the elk through the foliage, waiting for the perfect time to get an angle for a shot that would instantly kill it. He was just about to send an arrow flying into the animal when a roar from behind him broke the silence of the woods and sent the elk darting deeper into the forests, and Laeroth’s arrow thudding into the soft ground where it had stood moments before. Cursing under his breath, he turned around to see what had caused the interruption – and came face to face with a bear.

Before he could even begin to work out how to react, the giant animal reared up on its hind legs and brought its front paws crashing down onto Laeroth’s shoulders. Staggering backwards from the impact, the elf felt a weight lift off of his back and saw that the bear had ripped the strap of his sheath of arrows. It fell to the ground, arrows spilling out of it and clattering through the forest. If he attempted to stoop down and pick them up, the animal would kill him, definitely. He had no choice but to turn and run. As he fled through the forest with the bear hot on his heels, he thought desperately of the small dagger he’d left drying on the rocks.

He could see a dead end approaching; the trees were too thickly together to sprint through. He had no choice but to turn and fight, but how could he fend off a bear with nothing but an arrowless bow? Laeroth spun around and thrust the bow into the animal’s face with all the power he could muster. While this enraged the beast further, it also dazed it slightly, giving the Altmer a chance to try and start dipping into his Magicka reserves for something to fend off the bear. But it was difficult to keep the raging bear at bay and simultaneously summon enough concentration to get a good destruction spell going. All he could do was keep a weak healing spell going, as he let out a panicked cry of “Help!” It hurt more than the wounds the bear was inflicting to shout for help, but he had no choice. Laeroth could either suck up his pride and let somebody save him, or die.

[/justify]