As I watched them enjoying their meals, a troubling new thought occurred to me. What were they going to do for food after I left them in Sundaris?
Naturally, I’d leave them with plenty of money, but they’d purposely be settling in a place far from any busy marketplaces or waystations that might draw travelers on their way to and from the royal city.
Gardens took a while to root and grow. Whatever meat I could hunt and preserve for them would only last for so long.
Their father would surely be dead before we reached our destination, and it would be just Raewyn and the two small girls.
It didn’t feel right to just… leave them.
The next day while Wyll was napping and the girls were reading the books they’d each brought along, I made an announcement to Raewyn.
“I’m going to teach you to hunt.”
“With a bow?” she asked, sounding far more excited than I’d expected her to be.
“Yes, but we’ll start with some knife skills. Do you know how to use a blade?”
“To peel potatoes and carrots,” she said with a smile.
“I guess that’s a start. At least you know which is the business end.”
Drawing both my daggers from my belt, I offered her one by the handle.
“Take this and start to get a feel for it. A knife this size is good for hunting and also for self-defense.”
“Self defense,” she repeated.
“I won’t be around to carry you forever,” I said with a wink. “Let’s practice throwing it.”
We walked a short distance away so we could see the others but our conversation wouldn’t disturb Wyll’s rest.
I showed her how to hold the knife for throwing and pointed at a wide tree trunk about ten feet away, a good beginning distance.
“Think you can hit that?”
She rolled her eyes. “It’s the size of a house.”
Raewyn tossed the dagger—and missed the tree entirely. The tip did lodge into an even larger tree trunk off to the right of the target.
“Excellent,” I said. “If you were aiming at a tightly packed herd of elk, you and the girls would be eating well. Anything smaller, however…”
She held out her arm toward me, hand palm up and fingers wiggling. “Give me the other. I can do better than that.”
I placed the knife in her hand and watched as she positioned it the way I’d shown her. This time when she threw it, it hit the tree, but with the handle instead of the blade.
Raewyn made a frustrated noise and stamped her foot.
I couldn’t help but laugh at the display of temper. “Better. Good aim—you hit your target. Next time, just try to hit it with the pointy end.”
Raewyn narrowed her eyes at me then stomped across the clearing to retrieve the daggers and go again.
Over the next hour, she practiced tirelessly and improved an impressive amount, hitting the tree nearly every time with the blade.
“That’s enough of that for today,” I said. “Let’s work on self-defense.”
“Couldn’t I throw the knife at someone like you did at the mountain lion?” she asked.
“You could… unless he’s right on you.”
