The Next Day.

I awoke to the sound of hard knocking on my door. It was loud enough to wake me from a dead sleep. I slid on my pants and grabbed the dagger off of the bedside table and headed for the door and opened it to find the ogress Sura standing on the other side. I saw her look me and then my bare chest and then back to me.

"I need your help." She said as she barreled past me. She was dressed in mostly full leather armor with some heavy metal pieces over top such as a half breast plate, pauldrons, and vambraces. She had a large sword on her back that was as tall as a gnome and a short sword on her hip. I guess being the daughter of a blacksmith has its advantages.

"What time is it?" I asked rubbing my face.

"A little past dawn. You said you are a hunter?" She replied.

"Yeah, why?" I yawned.

"I need to kill a bear." She stated bluntly.

"What?"I just gave her a look of confusion. I was pretty sure there where no bears in the city.

"A child was attacked and killed yesterday in a nearby town. I can kill it but I need you to help me find it." She replied.

"Let me get stuff." I nodded. Bears typically avoided humans but having just awoken from their winter long nap they where hungry. Typically they mostly took human food where they could get it without causing trouble but every now and then one might see a human as an easy snack. Those had to be put down least they might develop a taste for humans. I slid my chain mail, not sure if I would need it but better safe then sorry, on and then my shirt and boots and grabbed my cloak. I ran into Rose's old man and told him where I was headed, not that I really knew myself.

Sadly Sura didn't own a horse and wouldn't dare be caught riding on the back so we ended up walking toward to town of Rivers End after getting my stuff from my stash. The town sat between two rivers that meet on one end of town. It would make a great fishing spot which was probably the towns biggest export with the coming salmon season. Unfortunately humans where not the only ones interested in fishing which meant humans and bears competed for food.

We made our way to the tavern where we grabbed some breakfast or lunch I guess you could say. The barkeep pointed us to the direction they had last seen the bear. They had only chased after it to retrieve the body but the bear had gotten away.

I visited the general store and found they had some real quality arrows, not like in the city, so I stocked up buying two dozen for far cheaper then I would have paid in the city. When I came back out Sura had made a spear for herself.

"So how much are they paying you?" I asked as we hiked along the river.

"Five silver, it's everything they could scrape up. I will give you a silver if we ever find the damn beast so I can kill it." She replied. I imagined in a town this small that was quit an amount of money.

"Fine by me as long as I get to keep the fur." I shrugged. A bear skin mat would be perfect for my bed.

"That's fair, all I want is its damn head. You can do whatever with the rest of it." She said behind me. She put on a tough act but this was a long way to go for just a few silvers.

"Hold up." I held up my hand as I saw a tree. I drew an arrow and nooked it as I moved toward the tree and felt the bear claw marks as well as a patch of brown fur. "The markings are fresh, he was marking his territory. He is most likely around here somewhere." I glanced around and then looked on the ground till I found what I was looking for. "There are his tracks." The tracks headed back to the river where they got deeper as dirt turned to mud. "He went toward the river recently, maybe to hunt with the tide or to cross over."

"Guess you do know something after all. The river is shallow here. I will cross here and look for these tracks along that tree line encase he crossed over. You follow the river and see if you can find where he might have came out at. If you find anything whistle."

"If you find him first go for the neck. That is a lot of fat, muscle, and bone to cut through at the body. And be careful." I said.

"What is the fun in that?" She smiled slyly. I think she was actually having fun. We split up and she crossed the river going into the woods while I followed the river the a ways keeping an ear out for the birds and my eyes along the river to a small waterfall.

I suddenly heard a scream and went running up the bank and around a large rock but stopped when I saw it was just some girls bathing in the river. One splashing water at the others who ran through the water. Their tits bouncing as they sloshed through the water. Their where four in all. Two humans who where very good looking, an elf or I thought she was one. I couldn't really see her ears from here. And a gnome who had a nice pair of tits though not as nice as Helga's and Hannah's.

I couldn't help but admire their wet bodies as they washed themselves. I felt kind of bad spying on them from the bushes but not enough to stop watching as their hands ran over their glistening bodies. And sometimes each others. They where quit friendly with each other.

Suddenly I heard a loud growl and splashing of water as I looked up to see the bear we had been tracking heading towards the girls as they began to run as best they could through the water. It was far bigger then I had pictured in my head.