Phoenix Chosen (The Phoenix Guardians Book 1) by Ashe Moon

Author:Ashe Moon [Moon, Ashe]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-01-08T00:00:00+00:00

The morning is spent hunting rabbits, and Tyler shows me a trap he’s made with a bit of cord and sticks.

“This is perfect for when you have time to wait,” I tell him. “But if you’re like us, on the move, then a more immediate method is required. Have you ever used a sling?”

He stares at me blankly.

“No, of course you haven’t,” I say. “That’s fine. I’ll show you.”

Tyler watches with silent concentration as I tuck a small stone into my sling’s leather cradle, loop the end of the cord around my pointer finger, and pinch the other end tightly with my thumb. My target is a pile of rocks I’ve set up on top of a fallen tree. I wind my wrist back and forth, whipping the cradled stone in a figure-eight shape from shoulder to shoulder until it’s whistling. Then I swing my arm forward like I’m throwing the stone directly from my hand and release the end of the cord. The rock pile collapses with a sharp crack.

I stack the target again and hand the sling off to Tyler. He chooses a stone and tests its weight, bouncing it lightly off the palm of his hand. A moment later, the stone hums through the air and easily finds its mark.

“You’ve never used a sling?” I say in surprise. “I’m impressed.”

Tyler picks up another stone and flings it at the log. His aim and power are both beyond what I could’ve expected from a beginner.

“Never in my life,” he says. “But I used to play baseball when I was a kid. I guess it translates.”

He repeats it a third time, splitting a shard of bark off the tree where the rocks had been stacked. He flashes a proud grin at me and casually whirls the empty sling in a circle.

“How about that?” he says and holds the sling out to me.

“You keep it,” I tell him, pushing his hand back. “It’s clear it belongs with you.”

Tyler looks at the simple leather sling like it’s made of gold. “Thank you.”

I nod. “But striking rocks is simple. A moving target, less so. There’s a lot more that goes into hunting than just good aim.”

We walk through a forest of oak trees, and Tyler listens to me talk about how to track rabbits and the methods of stealth to use when suddenly he whips the sling in an arc. A hare tumbles out from beneath a bush, dead.

“Alright, maybe I don’t need to teach you very much,” I say, hurrying over to collect the animal.

“Score one for the city boy,” he says.

I show him several wild plants that can be eaten, and we gather some as we continue forward. Soon we have a second hare in our possession, this one felled by my blade.

Tyler walks along beside me. He pauses to snag an edible mushroom off a crumbling log. “I’ve got one question. Why can’t you just, you know, freeze time? It’d make hunting really easy, I bet.”

“It would,” I say. “And that’s why I don’t do it.

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