Adventure of Young Dave. 4

Salt wind rolls off the tide as Young Dave. reaches a narrow beach where black stones meet the surf. Ahead, Stella Nabokov, Rosemary, Yama, and Kazeki crouch among wet sand and seaweed, all of them hunting breakfast with the focused hunger of people who have gone too long without it.

Stella kneels with her long hair pooled like rope around her, poking at a cluster of shells. Rosemary gathers bright greens into a damp bundle. Yama scans the waterline for movement, patient and guarded. Kazeki is already halfway to a tide pool, hand out for balance.

Young Dave. comes up to the edge of their search, his big sword at his side. The forest behind them rustles once, then goes still.

A screech tears out of the tree line, harsh and close. Every head snaps toward the dark brush at once.

Kazeki rises slowly, eyes narrowed, while Stella clutches her basket and stares at the woods with alarmed curiosity. The surf keeps hissing at the sand, as if nothing has changed.

From the shadows beyond the first line of roots, something moves again, and the sound comes a second time, nearer this time. The group waits for Young Dave.'s next move.

Young Dave. breaks from the sand and charges the tree line, big sword low and ready. The hidden thing bursts into view, a boar with bristled shoulders and snout full of shell scraps, and he meets it before it reaches the others.

Steel flashes. The boar skids sideways in the wet roots, driven back with a slash that sends it wheeling toward the brush. At the same moment, Stella’s thrown shell cracks across its flank and Kazeki’s shaft whistles past its ear.

The boar bolts deeper into the woods, yelping through the undergrowth. It does not return.

The scare leaves the beach silent except for surf and breathing. In the boar’s rush, a spread of torn roots and overturned sand reveals a rich nest of shellfish and fat tide crabs where it had been feeding.

Stella lets out a shaky laugh and points with her basket. 'Breakfast. There, before it comes back.'