"Fire Forged" (Discontinued)

A group of monster hunters was doing battle with a pack of Velociprey, fighting along a wide dirt road that passed through the forest. Among them was a caravan of three Aptonoth drawn wagons, currently stationary, the civilians of which cowered and hid among the supplies and luggage being transported. Though the trees only overhung some and the sun was shining above, it was difficult to make sense of exactly what was going because the blue raptors had ambushed from all sides, making for quite the scattered and chaotic engagement.
 
A Velociprey leaped to the side as a man’s hunting horn slammed into the ground, and then the Velociprey and another nearby both stepped backwards as the hunter spun around and swung his giant instrument across in a wide, death bringing arc. The musical weapon was taller than its wielder, styled after the singing bird wyvern Qurupeco with its beak as the bell, and bore enough power to crush bones if given the chance. It was slow and unwieldy though, and the Velociprey were fast, nimble creatures for their size.
 
The man and two raptors all got their bearings, pausing to breath, feeling each other out again. Despite being outnumbered, the hunter was not worried about his own safety, if the vibrant green Qurupeco armor he wore was any sign of his skill or how protected he was. But these Velociprey were not interested in killing or fighting him. They just wanted food, something the man was aware of.
 
With a short and low shriek, one of the raptors started to go around the hunter and straight for the caravan he protected, and the second predator did the same in the opposite direction.
 
“Fuck, KID!!!” The hunter shouted as he spun around, chasing after one of the Velociprey.
“Right!” Another hunter called back from atop one of the wagons, his deep voice almost a war cry in of itself. He ran off the side and fell to the ground, landing heavily on all limbs due to his rigid metal armor, personal heftiness and variety of weapons. The most apparent armaments of his were the large, round metal shield on one arm and the simple spear he held in the other hand.
 
After messily standing up, he rushed the other raptor and thrust his spear at it, scaring it away from the Aptonoth it intended to tear apart. A couple things were quickly apparent to both sides of the conflict; the Velociprey would never be able effectively breach the hunter’s defenses (his shield and armor), and the hunter would never be able to catch the Velociprey with their difference in speed.
 
The heavy metallic hunter put his spear into his shield hand and then reached for something on his belt. As the raptor started to turn away, it noticed the human make a sudden, quick movement and throw something at it, catching it off guard. The hatchet, as it turned out to be, hit the monster but not with the blade, ultimately doing nothing. The hunter quickly tried to follow up though, grabbing his spear again, holding it at the butt end and lunging for extra range.
 
The Velociprey weaved under the sharp point and stepped away from the subsequent second thrust, then turned around and started to make a run for it. It thought it might find a better opportunity somewhere else on the battlefield. The hunter drew his spear back in and grasped it at the middle with his hand the opposite way, poised to throw.
 
Arcing the trajectory for distance and aiming ahead, the hunter chucked the spear with a baritone shout and then chased after the raptor. Extreme pain suddenly shot up the monster’s back, causing it to wipe out and slide across the ground, and then just shy of three hundred pounds jumped on top of it. Its talons could not get at the heavily armored man and its claws could not find an opening in his protective shell.
 
The monster hunter drew out his knife in a downward grip and then started viciously stabbing away at the monster’s neck, letting loose a stream of blood as the artery was cut open. After a few seconds and new breathing holes, the hunter stood up and looked where he was needed next. Though the Velociprey was still technically alive and among the living, momentarily, for all intents and purposes it was thoroughly dead.
 
Two gunshots went off, fired from a bowgun atop one of the other wagons. Then another, perhaps to finish the raptor the previous two brought to the ground. Then a fourth, perhaps to finish what the third couldn’t. Then a fifth, maybe for good measure.
 
“Clear here!”
“Clear!”
“Looks all clear!” The gunner called, able to see the whole battle field now devoid of (effectively) living Velociprey.
“All clear! All clear!” The Qurupeco hunter announced officially. “You can come out now!”
 
The civilians started to poke their heads up; men, women and children of varying ages. Less than four families equivalent of people were among the caravan, maybe a solid five including the escorting hunters. Some were routinely traveling tradesmen, some family or associates of the prior, others moving from one town to another. For some of them, the skirmish, while frightening, was no big deal and nothing mentally scarring. For others, it could have been some level of traumatic, more likely for women and children.
 
The heavy metallic hunter wiped his knife off on the pants of his armor and put it away, then tore his spear out of the Velociprey’s back and started cleaning that off too before retrieving the thrown axe. “I get rights to this one?” He asked the Qurupeco hunter, raising his low pitch voice some to be heard.
“Yup. Good work on that one, by the way.” The lime green armored man was cleaning his own weaponry, having resorted to an axe made of the flint of the melodic wyvern.
“Thanks.” The metallic hunter put his spear in his shield hand, squatted down and then went about heaving the Velociprey over his shoulder. Its blood glimmered slightly on his worn but polished armor, not that it bothered him.
 
“Clear a spot out for all of them.” The Qurupecco hunter said as the hunter carrying the raptor came over, gesturing at the back of the nearest wagon.
“Right... Uh, kid, can ya do me a favor? Move those crates outa the way.”
“Huh? Uh, right.” A young boy was standing on the wagon, having hid there, probably not even a teenager yet but strong from labor. He quickly went about relocating the supplies that were in the way, just stacking them on top of other stuff.
 
“Thanks.” The hunter slid the Velociprey onto the wagon and pushed it on further, but then suddenly the body started shaking as if it were alive. The kid let out a yelp, jumped high and away backwards and fell over into the contents of the wagon. “Whoa, easy there! It’s alright.” The hunter comforted, laughing slightly as did the Qurupeco equipped man. “It’s dead, it’s dead, don’t worry.” The child cautiously climbed up, breathing heavily. “Sometimes dead things just move after they’re dead. There’s a, there’s a word for it…” The hunter tried to think.
 
“I call it ‘death spasms.’ Or ‘death throes.’” The Qurupecco hunter commented, lifting up his kill and then pushing it on top of the Velociprey already on the wagon. “Watch this.” He got out his knife, held in a downward grip, and then jammed it hard into the skull of the Velociprey, causing it to jump. When he started wriggling the blade around the raptor corpse began dancing about, making the boy laugh.
 
“Whoa-whoa!” Some surprise could be heard further up the chain of wagons. A woman standing on a wagon had apparently just fainted, fortunately caught by the children near her. (If she’d fallen off the wagon, things could have been much worse.)
“What happened?” The Qurupecco hunter asked walking up, despite it being pretty obvious.
“Ah she saw the ‘Prey and passed out.” The gunner explained casually, gesturing at the nearby raptor corpse shot to hell.
“… If I saw your work for the first time I’d faint too.” The heavily armored hunter joked as he came up, getting the others to laugh. The fact that the gunner had used scattershot ammunition made the Velociprey look much more torn up and bloody.
“Alright, let’s get movin’! Get the Aptonoth goin’.” The Qurupecco hunter instructed, pointing to certain hunters nearby.
 
The caravan company got the wagons in motion again, whipping the Aptonoth to spur them on. Each of the wagons was pulled along by two of the large herbivores, none of which were harmed during the Velociprey attack (which was very fortunate, otherwise several humans would have to be substituted for just one of them). All of the raptor bodies were collected and put on the wagons, bleeding out and leaving a little trail on the ground. The Aptonoth were restless from the prior conflict, made worse by seeing the attackers so close by, but carried on.
 
The heavy metallic hunter climbed up onto one of the wagons and took a seat on a nearby box, setting his large shield and spear down nearby. His armor was of a simple and commonplace design, referred to as ‘Hi Metal,’ made of large pieces of rigid metal that covered the majority of his body with few openings. The smith he purchased it from knew the name was of Old Wyverian origins, but otherwise had no idea what it meant (other than the ‘Metal’ part).
 
The current wearer was not the first, nor the second but the third. The armor was heavily worn down; dented, cut, pierced and even rusted in different places with scratches all over. The original owner fortunately was of similar stature to the young man; stocky, thick, and barrel chested. They were also within a few inches of the same height it seemed.
 
The large shield was in the same condition, its wooden interior body chipped and splintered, as was the short broadsword at his hip. The spear and knife luckily were relatively new, while the throwing hatchets he possessed… varied in appearance, age, design and place of acquisition. The man was still considered a rookie, officially by the guild and by judgment of other hunters, but had done well thus far.
 
He removed his all concealing helmet and set it down next to him, revealing his sweating face as he wiped his forehead. Like the rest of his body it was wide and stocky, having masculine features and rounded edges with a full beard that compensated for his entire scalp being shaved. Probably like most people his age, he could have passed off as anywhere between late teens and early thirties. He was in his early twenties, still a kid to some despite his appearance, occupation and deep voice.
 
“Hey I think I see chimney smoke.” The gunner announced, pointing up into the trees.
“Yup. I see the town.” Another hunter replied, past the turn the caravan was taking. Once around the bend, parts of a village could be seen less than half a mile away.
“Shit, that many Velociprey were that close?” A third chimed in.
“The place has had an overpopulation problem with the blue devils.” The Qurupecco hunter informed those listening. “That’s why Gary’s droppin’ off here.” He looked back.
 
Upon being indirectly summoned, the Hi Metal armor hunter, ‘Gareth’ (or more casually ‘Gary’), collected his things and hopped off the wagon.
“Huh? I thought you were sticking with us.” The gunner questioned.
“Nah, gettin’ off here.” Gareth replied, casually catching up physically with where the conversation was taking place.
“Aw, I’ll miss ya.”
“I’ll miss you too, somewhat.” People chuckled.
“You’ve still got time together so save the goodbyes.” The Qurupecco hunter said in good humor.
“Welcome to Fortoto…” Someone announced out of the discussion.
 
Fortoto. A comparably small town with not much about it, other than the recent explosive number of Velociprey. A good place for a low ranking hunter to hone their skills. Though the caravan was just going to be stopping by and passing through, this was where Gareth was going to be staying for a while.
 
 
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Authors Notes:
I pretty much just wanted to introduce (one of) the main character(s) with this chapter. It’s been awhile since I wrote a story with dialogue. I expect a lot more in later chapters. I’m loosely estimating this story to be written within ten chapters of similar size to this one.
 
Something I didn’t realize until after, the (nick)name ‘Gary’ means ‘spear.’
Hopefully the Monster Hunter references were understood. Some (Velociprey, Hi Metal) were not from MH3U, but some quick Google searches should suffice (I would include ‘monster hunter’ in the search).
 
Comments, constructive criticism and input are greatly appreciated. Hope you’ll leave some. :-)