Jorgen Sandwad's Arc

Chapter 1 of 1

Jorgen stepped into the clearing where the twisted willow post stood, its lantern swinging in the morning wind. He had waited weeks for this. The leader watched him from beneath the light, the great shark tooth resting heavy on his chest. Two wooden spears stood crooked in the dirt nearby, leaf-tags fluttering with names Jorgen had grown up hearing. The leader touched the tooth at his throat. "One chance," he said. "Bring back what the last two could not. The black-furred thing that hunts the bog edge." He did not look at Jorgen's size. He did not need to. The silence said enough. Jorgen walked past the memorial spears without slowing. He read the names. He kept walking. He was smaller than both of them had been, and he knew it, and he went anyway. Three days later he returned at dusk, dragging the carcass behind him. He dropped it at the leader's boots beneath the swaying lantern. The leader stared a long moment, then lifted the tooth from his own neck and held it out. Jorgen did not take it yet. He only looked up, waiting to hear what the man would finally say.