Chapter 359: Her Share

Chapter 359: Her Share

The leader went straight for Glitch’s front legs.

His hide darkened with Harden before its teeth reached him. They scraped across a forefoot, and the jackal sprang back, avoiding his horns by inches. It came in again from the side, quick enough that Jin lost sight of its head behind Glitch’s shoulder.

Glitch turned with it, keeping the open route from the culvert clear. Through the bond, Jin felt his impatience to charge. He held him back. The follower in the upstream brush had stopped moving, another was creeping closer downstream, and the third had gone quiet somewhere beyond the headwall.

Jin watched the nearest brush. He knew one was over there; knowing hadn’t made it any easier to find.

Come on. Move something.

Flicker screamed from the split pine.

Jin looked up. She stood upright in the fork, staring across the road toward the brush south of him. A second harsh call drew his attention to a quiver among the stems. It traveled in a low curve toward the headwall, against the faint breeze.

He raised a finger toward the gap beside the concrete and sent the target through the bond. Then he moved toward the slope he’d checked earlier.

Flicker’s Ember Shot streaked across the crossing and struck the bare gravel where the brush ended. Fire splashed in front of a gray-green muzzle. The jackal recoiled with a yelp, throwing itself sideways into the stems.

[Brushfang Jackal]

[Combat Rank: 1 — 7-Star]

Jin was already descending into the creek. His feet found the steps he’d tested, and his balance held when a loose stone rolled beneath his heel. He wanted to look back at Flicker, but the follower downstream broke cover before he could.

It ran straight across his path, cutting him off from Glitch.

[Brushfang Jackal]

[Combat Rank: 1 — 6-Star]

Jin watched its forefeet, just as he’d watched the training hound’s. The next stride would land on the pale stones a few meters ahead.

There.

He set Gravity Press on that small patch, keeping the supply steady instead of forcing more into it. The jackal’s front legs buckled. Its chest struck the stones, and its momentum carried it into a scrambling skid.

Jin ran past while it struggled. Once he was clear, he released the pressure completely, leaving the patch safe for Glitch to cross. He could feel what the cast had taken, but there was plenty left in his Core.

He reached the drake’s shoulder and tucked in behind him, breathing hard.

"Here," Jin said, sending the reassurance through the bond. "I’ve got room."

Glitch’s attention settled on the leader.

The jackal darted at his forefoot again. This time, Glitch let its teeth catch the edge of the armor before bringing his weight forward. Its lower jaw struck the creek stones. It twisted to pull free, but his other forefoot came down across its shoulders, pinning it.

Glitch lowered his head and bit behind its skull. The jackal kicked against the stones, then sagged beneath him.

Jin barely had time to feel relief before the other footfalls changed. The 6-Star had regained its feet and was turning downstream. The movement in the upstream brush quickened too.

Glitch reached the nearest follower in four heavy strides. His horns struck its flank before it gained the brush, rolling it onto the open stones. He caught it beneath his forefoot and finished it with a bite to the neck.

Two down. Jin moved along the middle of the creek, keeping Glitch between himself and the thickest cover while watching the culvert. The 7-Star was still somewhere on that side.

Then the remaining northern follower broke cover and fled upstream.

[Brushfang Jackal]

[Combat Rank: 1 — 8-Star]

"Flicker!" Jin pointed along the creek and sent the direction. "That one!"

She launched from the pine. Gale Dash carried her past the running jackal; she ended the burst early and climbed to lose speed, leaving room to wheel above the open stones.

Jin watched her turn with his jaw clenched. For a moment, he remembered her tumbling into the flight-yard net.

She leveled out and fired.

The Ember Shot struck bare stone a meter in front of the jackal’s nose. It flinched and swerved, losing speed as it tried to reverse direction. Glitch was already closing from behind. A small patch of his Gravity Press caught its next stride and forced it low.

He reached it before it recovered, clamped his jaws around its neck, and drove it onto its side. Jin saw the legs stop kicking before he looked for Flicker again.

She landed on a boulder beside the creek with her wings half-spread. She was breathing hard, but she answered his glance with a bright chirp.

Three. Where’s the last one?

A scrape of claws made him turn.

The 7-Star emerged near the culvert, running low across the stones toward him. Glitch was a short distance upstream, still beside the fallen follower. Jin sent an urgent warning and backed toward the drake, keeping his eyes on the approaching jackal.

Glitch turned at once.

Jin waited until the jackal committed to its final rush, then stepped sharply sideways across a flat slab. Its jaws snapped where his calf had been. It skidded as it tried to turn after him, and Glitch’s shoulder struck its flank.

The impact knocked it away from Jin. Glitch followed it down, pinned it against the creek bed, and closed his jaws over its throat. Jin stood clear until the struggling stopped.

His legs wanted to keep moving. He made himself stand still long enough to count.

"Leader. Six. Eight. Seven."

Four bodies lay on the stones. He checked the brush once more, then lowered his hand. His finger was still pointing at nothing.

The smell of smoke reached him before he’d caught his breath.

A spark from the first Ember Shot had landed in a tuft of grass by the culvert. Jin fetched the fire blanket and smothered it, then checked the warm gravel and surrounding stems before folding the blanket away. Flicker watched from her boulder while Glitch stood beside him, looking considerably less bothered by the whole morning than Jin felt.

The drake’s right forefoot bore shallow tooth scrapes. Jin crouched to inspect them and found no break through the armor. He ran a hand along the leg anyway, grateful when Glitch shifted his weight onto it comfortably.

Then he held out his arm to Flicker.

She flew to him at an ordinary speed. Her claws closed firmly around his sleeve, and Jin checked her wings before smoothing the feathers along her back. Her breathing was already easing.

"I knew it was over there," he told her. "Couldn’t see the damned thing."

She tilted her head at him.

"You did," Jin said, rubbing beneath her beak. "Good girl."

Flicker leaned into his thumb, and he stood there a little longer than he needed to. Then Glitch nudged his other elbow, nearly tipping the water flask out of his hand.

"Yes, you too. Give me a second."

He got both beasts settled with water before returning to the carcasses. Photographing and tagging four jackals took longer than the fight. Twice he stopped to check a sound in the brush; both times, Flicker watched without alarm while Glitch continued resting beside the kit.

[Kill report submitted: Brushfang Jackal ×4]

[Contract status: Complete — pending verification]

The carcasses went back to the waystation in the hauler under the standard processing arrangement. The dispatcher studied the four of them on the concrete, checked Jin’s report, and made a final note on her clipboard.

"The fuel driver’s going to want to buy you a drink," she said.

Jin glanced down at his academy identification. "I’m still a student."

"He’ll buy you a soda," she replied.

The payment arrived on Wednesday morning, before class.

[Tamer Association — Bounty Settlement]

[Hollowmere Interior Bounty: Brushfang Jackal ×4 — verified]

[Paid to holder: 9,200 Credits]

[Materials sale — net to holder: 1,450 Credits]

Jin grinned at his phone. He entered the haulage and supply costs beneath the payment in his notes, checked what remained, and allowed himself a small extra expense.

That evening, he bought a tub of honey-roasted beetles from the market stall by the academy gate. They were the expensive kind, sold by weight from a glass case Glitch had once refused to walk past.

For Flicker, he chose dried sunberry sprays from the bird stall: orange clusters on stiff stalks. The stallholder recommended them for wind and fire birds and showed him how much to offer at once. Jin paid, tucked the change away, and carried both purchases back to the stables.

Glitch recognized the beetles before the lid was fully off. He lifted his head, sniffed, and watched Jin with such concentration that Jin laughed.

"All right. Here."

The drake lowered his armored face into the tub and began crunching. Jin hung one sunberry spray beside Flicker’s thicker perch and stored the rest with her feed.

She inspected it from both sides before pulling off a berry. A second followed immediately. Soon she was standing on the stalk and stripping it with delighted concentration, dropping small pieces onto Glitch’s head. He continued eating without looking up.

Jin sat on the feed crate. Yesterday, he’d finally taken them both out, and they’d both come home hungry and pleased with themselves. He wanted to tell his family about the hunt. This time, he would have a whole part of the story that belonged to Flicker.

She finished the spray and flew down to Glitch’s crest, settling against his horn. He rumbled beneath her and closed his eyes.

Jin stayed until they were both asleep.