The Breastplate

By Jerrold Herron

The story is about a father and son that live on the continent of Mithreel on the planet of Haviloc. After twenty years of peace, war was brewing. Kelson the father, and Throm the son are into the conflict. A complicated mixture of supernatural powers separated by nationality make an imbalance of power in favor of the axis nations, except when the breastplate is used. Kelson and Throm are specified which allows them to use the power of the breastplate. This shifts the advantage to the Allied nations. During the ensuing hostilities Kelson and Throm begin to experience the power and presence of the God of the breastplate. They also have superior skills with physical weapons when needed. They have individual battles with a supernaturally enhanced warrior, and the most powerful sorcerer.

• Language: English
• Publisher: LifeRich Publishing
• Release date: Jun 20, 2024
• ISBN: 9781489750358

Jerrold Herron

Born in Chicago in 1941, raised in rural Ohio, after high school worked in manufacturing plants for 18 years, Went to technical school in electronics. Started career in instrument and control technician, culminated by 18 years in a nuclear power plant as a technician, supervisor, and instructor. He is now retired and living with family in Ohio.

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Copyright © 2024 Jerrold Herron.

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ISBN: 978-1-4897-5036-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4897-5035-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2024905299

LifeRich Publishing rev. date: 06/18/2024

CONTENTS

Chapter 1When Power Ascends

Chapter 2Champion’s Choice

Chapter 3Strength to Survive

Chapter 4Outside Influences

Chapter 5Reunion

Chapter 6The Ordeal

Chapter 7The Rescue

Chapter 8Perilous Return

Chapter 9The Breastplate

Chapter 10Invaded

Chapter 11Learning Extreme Power

Chapter 12The Marriage

Chapter 13The Search for truth

Chapter 14An Unexpected Friend

Chapter 15An Old Friend

Chapter 16Women in trouble

Chapter 17Racing Death

Chapter 18Is God Real

Chapter 19The Judge

Chapter 20Leaving Home

Chapter 21Going to War

Chapter 22Assault of the Demons

Chapter 23Testing Strategies

Chapter 24Learning Theology

Chapter 25Making Difficult Decisions

Chapter 26Observing War

Chapter 27From Where Will They Come

Chapter 28A Miracle Happens

Chapter 29Breastplate Two

Chapter 30Gilmonds Initiation

Chapter 31The Final Battle

Chapter 32The Battle of champions

Chapter 33Contune’s Lair

Chapter 34Going Home

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CHAPTER 1

WHEN POWER ASCENDS

T HROM STOOD ON the edge of a one-hundred-foot precipice. It was on the north side of the small rock plateau that He and his family lived on. They lived in an unusual cave that provided two bedrooms, a family room, a kitchen and a bathroom. Throm always wondered how the cave had developed in the face of Mayshon mountain that rose above the back of their plateau. The plateau was about two acres of fairly flat rock area on the side of Mayshon Mountain. The drop off looked over the town of Fradling about a quarter of a mile from the base of the precipice. Throm was watching two people arguing animatedly at the common store. The reason Throm could see them was that he had an anomaly that gave his eyesight the ability to focus and magnify much an eagles eyes do. It was weird to use, and it was something that had only manifested itself in the last year of his life.

It was passed on to him from his mother that has the same ability, but she could control it better that Throm. Her years of experience gave her much smoother manipulation of the magnification part of this power. Throm had also struggled with direction at first which was really wild. He had sometimes almost fallen during the training she gave him after he discovered that something odd was happening to his eyesight. His mother had never mentioned that she could see this way until he burst into their cave living quarters stating that he thought he was going blind. His mother and father smiled at each other, and his mother explained that this was a genetic trait that sometimes showed up in descendants of her ancestors. Throm’s Mother was from halfway around their continent of Mithreel. Since it didn’t happen to all of her relatives his parents had decided that they would wait to see if Throm would be affected. Throm had many times wondered why his father would call his mother to look at distant things when it seemed that his eyesight was excellent.

Throm watched as his fiancé Eleshara Burcan and one time best friend Anton Prender ended their argument and Anton walked stiffly away. It still hurt that the great relationship that he and Anton had before El reached about fifteen was no longer existent. At this time El seemed to almost blossom overnight into a devastatingly beautiful young female. Anton had tried to make her his girlfriend. At first El had been blushingly entertained by the attention of a handsome young man three years her elder. Unfortunately, it soon became apparent that Anton had become twisted in his feelings toward El and became obsessed with controlling her every action. If she talked to Throm, Anton would have a fit and warn Throm that he had better stay away from El.

El’s father who was the proprietor of the common store ended this by telling them that they had to end any romantic relationship they had, much to El’s relief. That was almost two years ago, and things simmered down for a while even though Anton and Throm had never returned to anything resembling a friendly relationship. It was spring of this year that really threw the proverbial turons wrench into the simmering mess. During spring festival there was always a competition between the young men that included archery, hatchet throwing, wrestling, and a foot race. Throm had competed for two years but had never put total effort in to winning against Anton. Letting him be the victor which was highly important to Anton. Throm thought that this might make it possible to become friends again.

The winner, if he wished to, had the option to place a champion’s claim on one of the young single women in the area. They would line up by the town council hall. The winner was given a case with four compartments, the lower two had polished granite teardrops in them. The top two were empty. If the champion wished any girl to be his bride, he would place the case in front of her and take one teardrop and place it in the upper compartment. If the girl wanted to seal the proposal, she took the other teardrop and placed it in the other top compartment. Anton had never put his champion’s case in front of any of the girls, to their consternation. For he was very handsome, and his father was wealthy.

His father owned the only bank for two hundred and fifty miles around Fradling. The reason he didn’t put the case in front of any girl was because El was still too young to be in the line. If she would have been there he definitely would have placed the case in front of her and moved the teardrop. Fradling was on the road up and out of the coastal bay area from the Gareth Sea. The bay was surrounded by Mayshon Mountain. This left the Fradling road as the only access from the south other than by boat which hadn’t happened in many years.

From Fradling down to the sea were a series of plateaus of various sizes from six thousand acres to 70 thousand acres. There were ten plateaus along the Fradling road. Each family owned a farm plot that was around five hundred acres which could comfortably sustain a family of fifteen consisting mostly of parents, children, and grandchildren. The land in these plateaus received adequate rain, and sun, and were nutrient rich with the runoff from Mayshon Mountain. This area was populated by about twelve thousand people on average. There are around eight hundred farms on the plateaus. The fall harvest that was not needed by themselves was shipped by huge wagons pulled by molham horses, a special breed that stood over eight feet tall and weighed over four thousand pounds. The power of these horses is immense.

There is only one exit from Fradling to the outer world, this through the West Pass, some two hundred miles along the forested edge of Mayshon Mountain. The effort to come to Fradling was seldom worth the possible gain, so there were very few visitors. Those that came were observed with distrust as to their intentions. With so few outside people to interact with, the spring festival was the one break in an otherwise somewhat dull existence. I had decided to try and win the championship this year as the relationship between Anton and I had gone totally sour.

The competition started with archery, three arrows at the distance of fifty yards. A yard being about the length of a six-foot man’s step. Anton was first and his first arrow hit the four-inch bullseye dead center. He usually wasn’t that accurate so he beamed and strutted, looking disdainfully at me. I wasn’t sure that I could match that shot. He loosed his second arrow and it hit the nine ring about two inches left of the bullseye, a good shot from this distance. On his third shot he overcorrected and ended up three inches to the right of the bullseye. I had never seen Anton shoot this well and he was covorting around like a child with his first bowl of ice cream. I was going to have at least an hour to think about beating him since my number was last.

Including Anton there were fourteen ahead of me. Anyone else before me didn’t come close and used up the two through eight rings on the bullseye. Finally, my turn came and I stood at the line. The wind had sprung up since Anton had shot, and was the worst kind that came from behind and from my left side. I was hoping that I would not have to almost waste my first shot to find how the wind was going to affect the flight of my arrow. I selected an arrow that was thinner and stiffer to negate the effect of the wind. There was no way that any arrow would fly straight in these conditions. My father, Kelson who was teaching me all aspects of self-defense, and hand weapons had told me that when there were things outside normal, to turn off my brain and search for an inner zone of peace and follow its guiding influence. If I made it work at all it worked perfectly, the trouble was I never knew whether the zone of peace was connected to me or not.

I pulled the arrow back to my ear pointing well above the target. Vertically I felt four inches high was correct. I let the bow slowly lower until suddenly without conscious thought the arrow was gone. I wanted to close my eyes for fear that I had done it wrong and the arrow would not be anywhere near the target. One problem was that the wind speed fluctuated just as I released the arrow. Using my special eyesight I could see that the arrow hit three inches right of the bullseye. I was already behind but happy to be this close. The good thing was that my father’s zone of peace was working. If the wind had not varied, I would have been in the bullseye. I selected another arrow of the same type and pulled it to my ear. This time the arrow hit dead center of the bull. Anton became quiet as he saw where the arrow was situated. I pulled the third arrow to my ear, and just before it was loosed, I heard an extremely loud cough behind me. I spun around and found Anton grinning maliciously at me. Many in the crowd murmured angrily at this breach of sportsmanship. I turned back around to see where my arrow had gone and was overwhelmed when I saw that it was in the bullseye touching the second arrow. I turned back around towards Anton and saw shock all over his face. He turned away with a curse on me and all my family. The judges confirmed that I had won by a total of two inches for the three shots. That gave me one hundred points, and Anton received ninety for second place.

The hatchet throw was next, and I felt fairly confident with this if they made the throw long enough to tax Anton’s strength. Unfortunately, the judges set the distance at fifteen paces which was less than the usual twenty paces. The order was reversed for each competition, so I was first. I love the hatchet throw since my father who had soldiered over most of Mithreel in his youth and had taught me the correct mechanics and mindset required to be good with at all hand weapons. The wind was still blowing but the distance and the weight of the hatchet made correcting for it unnecessary. As I had been taught, I faced the target and then turned ninety degrees with my upper body. Then I took a slide step straight at the target and threw the base end of the handle straight at the bullseye thinking only of the distance. These hatchets were really war axes with a rounded blade that was supposed to stick in the target by the top third of the blade. The top tip of the blade marked your scoring point. We all were given two practice throws at an alternate target to get the feel of our axes. I did not use the zone of peace since I was really good at throwing this battle axe. One throw was all you got so make it good. Mine was, as the tip of the blade was one inch below the center of the bullseye. I waited anxiously until Anton’s turn came. He took his time aligning himself glancing nervously at me. When he threw his axe, it was marked at one inch in from the right edge of the bullseye. So I had won again since none of the others even hit inside the eight ring.

Wrestling was next and I wasn’t sure that I could beat Anton at this since he was two years older than me. We had wrestled before the turn of events two years ago and he had always won. He had learned self-defense from a bank guard at his father’s establishment. As with anything else, I had learned from my dad and he always won easily but had shown me how to use my size and strength to my advantage. Even so my confidence was low. In my life I had only won wrestling matches against inferior opponents. Each match lasted until one competitor was thrown on the ground and the other one was standing. The faster you finished off your competitor the less energy you used. Since there were fifteen of us a simple round robin left someone with a first round by. The judges picked Anton because he had won the event twice before. My first match was against a farmer’s son that was short and very muscular. He tried to tackle me with a mighty rush, but I was expecting it since I had seen him do this a year ago. He had won all his bouts but his match with Anton in the semi-finals. I let him think I wasn’t watching him and at the last moment I ducked and twisted so that I could grab him from behind. He stopped and before he could turn around, I hit him with the palm of my hand behind his right knee. That knee collapsed and I simply helped him fall to the ground. He immediately jumped up and then realized he had lost. He turned red faced with anger at being defeated that easily, and took a step toward me but recomposed himself, and with a smirk said, I guess I’m just dumb. With a handshake we parted friendly competitors.

That was the most difficult of my matches until as expected I was to face Anton in the final. Before we faced each other Anton was bragging about how he would defeat me as easily as the others he had faced because I had never beat him — ever. This was true but in the last two years since we had wrestled, I had gone from twenty pounds lighter than Anton to twenty pounds heavier. I had also grown to where I was three inches taller. I also had been training with my father most days that we had time. This along with training on all the weapons he had stored, which was amazing in number. There were swords, hamals, maces, and spiked shields, to name a few. Training days which were every day possible you went to bed exhausted, and with many bruises. Father never told me where he had accumulated that many weapons, but he seemed to know how to use every one of them. I asked my father why we trained so hard, and he told me it was one of those things you didn’t need until suddenly you did. At that point training was too late. Wrestling training was mostly filled up with how to escape holds, and to recognize trick moves especially those that Anton might use. Anton’s coach was from Zomar that used different tactics, but my father knew all of them. Those moves were most certainly taught to Anton by his instructor. We faced each other with Anton showing a mischievous grin, and an almost insolent swagger. He started things with a leg whip which was illegal because many permanent injuries resulted from this move. There was a gasp from the crowd since no one had used this since it became illegal. I was surprised but not caught off guard. I was on the balls of my feet with my knees bent so I could jump over any move toward my legs. I jumped just high enough to make him miss and as I came down I pushed him as he was off balance. I expected him to fall, but he did a cartwheel away from me, and stood proud and mocking. He saluted his instructor with a grin all over his face. I nodded my head, and gave him a small salute, it was an impressive recovery.

Some of the crowd applauded this maneuver, but many remembered the leg whip yelling that he should be disqualified. Again, we faced each other and grappled, each of us trying to get some advantage over the other. Anton groaned as he tried to twist me to get behind me where he could use some of the throws he had been taught. He showed his surprise that I was now quite a bit stronger than he was. He broke away and looked at his instructor who gave him some signal of what to do. We grappled again but instead of trying to overpower me he pulled me forward putting his arm under mine then twisted to throw me with a hip roll. My father had shown me how to stop this so I bent my legs which put all of my weight down on his arm, and he couldn’t lift me on top of his body. He now was at a disadvantage because I was now behind him with my arms locked around him. I lifted him easily, then I spun around and threw him turning him upside down. As he came down to the ground he bounced on his hands and again landed on his feet. Again, there was some applause from the crowd. I nodded but didn’t salute him, this was getting old. He once again looked over at his instructor and received a signal. He then came at me crouched over like he was going to attack my legs. I couldn’t remember anything that I had learned about such an approach. His right hand was trailing along the ground, and he suddenly scooped up dirt and threw it in my face. It hurt and made it very difficult to see, but I saw him rushing at me to knock me down. I forgot all my training, I was mad, very mad. I ran at him and hit him with my shoulder in his face. He didn’t go down, which was alright with me. He back peddled a couple of yards, and I followed. I grabbed his neck in one hand and his belt with the other. I kneeled down as he approached and pulled him onto my shoulders. Straightening both my legs and arms I lifted him over my head, then guided him down to the ground on his back. He expelled an explosive OOF, rolled over and made seal like sounds as he tried to get his breath back. After a while when he was able to breath and got to his feet. His instructor tried to assist him, but he shook him off, turned and cursed me and my father, then trudged away.

I now had three hundred points, an almost insurmountable lead as the next closest was Anton with Two hundred and seventy points. Plus, I knew that Anton would not be a factor in the foot race even if he did compete. If he didn’t, I wouldn’t have to compete in the two mile run, but I needed time to think about all that had happened here today. We lined up for the run and Anton wasn’t there, at least not on time. The horn blasted the start of the race, and I sped out in front. I quickly was two hundred yards ahead and pulling away from the rest. The course circled the plateau that surrounded Fradling and went through some woods at about three quarters of the way around. As I ran, I tried to evaluate my actions on this day. Was there somewhere I had gone wrong and caused more alienation between Anton and myself? I went over all the events that happened and felt that I had not initiated any of the obvious problems.

As I neared the woods an intuition hit me that someone or something dangerous was ahead. This is something that I inherited from my father. He said that it was strong in most of the people in the area where he was born. Mithreel had a diverse population. All were human, but some presumably barely made it. My father had told me about some of the different people that lived around our world, and some of the different supernatural powers that they had. It seems that these different people stayed in their own City’s, and had their own governments, customs, laws, and physically looked alike if you were not from that region.

I entered the woods on high alert, running smoothly so I could use my vision to see between trees and bushes for whatever was waiting for me. Somehow, I wasn’t surprised when Anton and his instructor Goldon stepped out from behind a tree and stood in the middle of the pathway. They both held hamals in their hands and looked very tense about this situation. They both were looking back behind me, but also craning their necks looking toward the town that was only a few hundred yards ahead. Goldon shouted GET HIM and they ran toward me hamals raised. Suddenly there was a twirling sound and my hamal stuck in the ground in front of me. Both of them stopped and looked back where the hamal came from and my father stood about twenty yards behind them. He had his own hamal in his hands and slowly walked toward Anton and Goldon.

I heard him say I know you Goldon, and you know me. He stopped and the hamal spun in his hands so fast a whistling sound came from it. My father then said, I will do whatever it takes to be sure that Throm is not hurt. Anton looked askance from his instructor who shook his head and pulled Anton at a trot into the woods. I then heard sounds coming from the race pathway. My father took my hamal then waved me on and stepped behind a tree saying, We’ll talk later. I turned and ran to the finish line and was applauded by the crowd.

**

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CHAPTER 2

CHAMPION’S CHOICE

T HE CEREMONY THAT followed was the usual speech from the mayor, and the presentation of the champion’s case to the victor, which happily was m e. I looked at the case as though it were a puzzle. I had no idea of what to do now, and it showed on my face. Howls of laughter beat against my eardrums. Foggily I remembered what the case was for. I could ask any girl in the eligible line to become my fiancé. At first the thought scared me. I hardly knew most of these young women, until another thought entered my mind. I looked down the line and saw that El was there. I could use this to measure what if any feelings that El had for me. I thought El had to be the best there was on this world of Haviloc. She was beautiful, and a very nice person. I walked down the line looking at all the smiling faces, surprised that when I passed they looked disappointed. When I got to El she was looking down at the ground, probably hoping I wouldn’t embarrass her. I gritted my teeth and turned toward her. I saw a blush come on her face that I hoped wasn’t anger. I held the case between us and moved the one teardrop up to the top. She stared at the case for what seemed like forever and then lifted her eyes to mine. A weakness gripped me and I found that I wasn’t breathing. I put a small smile on my face and whispered, I don’t expect you to move it, so I won’t be surprised. She looked down at the case, and with what looked like a mischievous smile she took the other teardrop and moved it up. A gasp came from the crowd, it had been almost twenty years since this had happened. My eyes got wide, and my breathing had stopped again. She said I hope that look on your face isn’t disparagement. I said, You have maybe made the mistake of your life, and I will release you from it at any time.

El laughed and said, I’ve got you hooked now, and I have the landing net ready. I had a thought I shouldn’t have had and blushed deeply. With an eyebrow lifted she reached up and grabbed my ears and pulled me down and kissed me strongly. I could not figure out if I was breathing or not. I handed the champions case to one of the judges and we started walking toward her house. I seemed to be walking on air until I saw Elger, El’s father’s horrified face. He shouted What have you done? Are you trying to ruin your life? Her father was livid. El almost hid behind me and I protectively put my arm around her.

Suddenly my father was there and looked Elger in the face and said Elger I won’t listen to much more of that. Neither will I. said Shalom, El’s mother. She embraced both El and I. Our daughter will choose as she wishes. Elger swallowed hard but said no more. The look on his face was as though he had been sick for a long time. Elger was a good man who was generous to anyone in real need. Giving seed and repair parts on the occasional bad year for crops. I presumed he had other plans for El that did not include me. It was the proverbial, kick in the gut. Suddenly my instincts kicked in and I pushed El and Shalom away from me. I stepped back and an arrow came down on a trajectory that could have hit any one of us. Cries Of alarm came from many of the crowd that were still following us, and everyone turned to look where the arrow had come from. Anton and Goldon were mounted on two of Anton’s father’s racehorses. Anton gave a derogatory hand signal and the two of them rode off toward the West pass on Fradling road.

I searched hurriedly for my bow, but by the time I found it they were almost out of sight. I turned to my father, askance on my face. He shook his head and said We can’t catch them. It would take one of Anton’s father’s horses to catch them, and I couldn’t ask him for two of those to chase his own son. But I think it will be a long time before we see either of them again. With the audacity that Anton now showed, and the insanity that had become horribly apparent, I wasn’t so sure. I was going to keep my defenses up, but little did I know.

Christon Prender was walking after Anton with his hands lifted as in supplication. The words No Anton came out as if ripped from deep within him. Christon Prender was also a good man that extended interest free loans on the occasional bad farming years. There were predators in the mountains. Many varieties of large cats and huge monster bears. The people of the plateaus were farmers. They didn’t have cattle as such because to leave them unattended made them easy prey, and it took a lot of people to guard them if they were let out in open pastures. The option was to keep them in extremely strong barns and bring feed to them. Either of which was not cost, or labor effective if their herds were very large.

That’s where my father and I come in. We are hunters. The people of Fradling and the plateaus pay us to bring them fresh meat. This might seem rather easy except for the predators being a constant danger. They stay away from Fradling and the farmhouses on the plateaus because of the special crossbows that my father made and installed on most of their houses. This was another source of income for us. These crossbows shot a projectile that was one inch in diameter, and four feet long, tipped with a flint arrowhead three inches wide. They used a peep sight arrangement that had a rod with distance marking, from 25 – 250 yards. The crossbow swiveled on a stand that was very stable and was very accurate and easy to use. The problem with them was the time it took to wind the bow back to the cocked position. Each house had a trap door for egress onto, and off the roof, but was there mostly used as an escape route. You didn’t want to meet a dimager face to face with nothing substantial between the two of you. Once the crossbows were at most houses, and people became proficient with them, the predator population decreased notably. That lasted for about two years until either their limited logic or instincts caused them to almost avoid houses altogether. The problem was that when all houses had crossbows, demand went to zero. I always wondered why my father didn’t ask more for the crossbows. He had them priced almost the same as a standard long bow.

He stated. You do some things just because it’s good for everybody. I hoped that I would have the same mindset about such matters when I became a man. I had seen with Anton that you don’t always stay as you are or wish to be. My father and mother and I walked toward the precipice to enter the trough that led up to our property. This day both good and bad, seemed like an ever-changing dream. Some of which I wish could be edited out. El came with us, her face in a grimace. I could see where tears had run down her face, they left little tracks that marred the beauty of her skin. El had been an occasional visitor at our house. She and her mother shared the silver and black streaked hair that my mother had. This marked them as having been born to parents from Gamlick, a country way across the continent. I knew that these people had special powers but wasn’t well versed in what they were. My mother had never talked about these things, and when I asked her after my, I though blindness appeared she said that we would wait for any more to materialize and we would take any needed action at that time.

El’s hand was on my arm and a strange prickling sensation was there. I looked at El in wonder and my mother realized what was happening. She explained the woman from their decent gave this sensation in emotional times to their finance, or spouse. I thought about that and considered that this was proof the El had emotional feelings for me. Then I had a thought that I knew I shouldn’t have, and I blushed turning away from the others, but not soon enough. There was a soft OH from El, and as I glanced back, I could see my parents holding back laughter. My father’s shoulders were shaking, and he was making choking sounds. I glanced back again and saw El with her hands over her face. Her shoulders were shaking also. I said a little prayer that this would be my last comedy act for today. El and my mother moved to the kitchen to prepare the evening meal. My father and I went out into the workshop where we produced weapons of many kinds.

We had a small forge so we could form blades from bar stock, but mostly we fashioned Hamals, spear handles, spiked shields, and bows from wood. The forest had many different types of trees that we used for specific purposes. A hamal was a shaft with a ball the size of your head that you shaped from a two to three-inch branch chopped out of an ironwood tree. You had to leave enough wood for the head. We produced many of each weapon during the year. We sent them to an armorer in Lorigal, the city fifty miles on the other side of the West Pass which was almost the only way in or out of Fradling. We sent them every fall with the harvest wagons. The armorer sent payment back to us. My father had me make a crossbow to send this fall so that the armorer could see it and determine if he thought he could sell them there.

Tomorrow my father and I would go on a hunt. We had orders for different weights of each type of meat. So, we had to calculate how many of each type of animal we needed. A hybiz weighed around six hundred pounds. These animals had four horns that curved over their heads and protruded three feet in front of their faces. The tips of the horns made an eighteen-inch square with the hybiz’s eyes in the middle. They were formidable and ferocious. When predators came the hybiz ran in a circle inside them, and on some non-audible signal they turned straight out to attack. The unwary predator was in trouble. Some predators weighted up to twelve hundred pounds, over six feet in height, and had claws four to six inches long and sharp as daggers. Those were the mitiger. These were the top predators in the mountains. The only one close was the Ladomas, which weighted five hundred pounds less, but were still pure death if you were not properly equipped and prepared. You needed eyes in the back of your head in thickly wooded areas. The dimager’s where about 300 pounds but had tremendous leaping power which was why it could be dangerous even if you were on a rooftop, or under a tree that they sometimes perched in. The largest predator was the mountain bear that weighed 3500 pounds, but they were seldom seen in our area since the establishment of the crossbows.

We had orders for two hundred and fifty pounds of hybiz. That was close to what one would dress out at, so we only needed one. Kranken was a medium sized horned antelope weighing about 100 pounds that could jump over a tall man like my father. They lived in herds on plateaus higher on the mountain that were unfit for human settlement. Our orders for one hundred and twenty-five pounds meant we needed three of them. Since it was late spring, and the winter thaw had taken place people wouldn’t try to keep meat for very long. This should be an easy day for us. The hybiz and kranken would have gained back most