The Hunter's Daughter [Paused]

Chapter One

Her lungs expanded with her weapon, inhaling with the pull of the bowstring. The fletching tickled Dezzery's cheek as she focused on her target. Her fingertips felt cold in the early morning. Around her, the world was at a pause as she held her breath.
Three...two...one...
She released, exhaling as the arrow flew free. The iron tip cut through the air towards her mark. It missed by mere inches. The doe she had been tracking since dawn snapped to attention as the arrow landed with a thud on the ground beside it. The deer huffed at the direction the arrow flew from. With a flick of its ear, it turned and bounded away from the young huntress. Dezzery rose from her crouched position in the underbrush. She loaded another arrow, taking quick aim. She let the arrow fly, arching through the air towards the doe. She knew it was already going to miss its mark once again, before it even landed. Dezzery had been too hasty with her second shot.

Quickly, she collected her quiver and took off as quietly as she could in the underbrush. She remained crouched as she carefully stepped over any sticks weak enough to snap under her weight. Dezzery was glad the deer was large enough to make a clear visible path of retreat. She kept her eyes peeled for the doe's golden-brown hide as she crept along. She swiftly retrieved her two arrows as she passed where they landed.

Not too far ahead, she could hear the large doe picking her way through the underbrush. A whisper of the small branches and still green leaves brushing against the doe's hide as she carefully walked past them. The same leaves tickled Dezzery's face and arms as she crept past before breaking off from the deer's path. The young huntress planned to circle around the doe by the time she caught up to her prey. She could see the flick of white from the underside of the doe's tail once it stopped. Dezzery halted until she could make out the doe's head turning from side to side for any danger. The doe then lowered her head, giving Dezzery the signal she needed to circle around before giving a fatal shot to the neck.

She got into position, rising slowly from the ground. Standing against a tree to stay hidden, she loaded her arrow. She pulled back with an inhale and counted.

One...

This time she would make it, she would hit her mark.

Two...

Her left arm began to quiver as she took aim; a result her of the injury she earned falling into a small ravine she did not see until she was already rolling in it. She relaxed the string, giving her arm a break. Her arm was mostly healed, but not enough it seemed. She inhaled and took aim again.

One...two...

Her arm still wavered a little, but she was able to hold it steady the best she could for the one second she needed it.

Three.

She let go. The arrow whistled quietly through the air towards its mark. The doe went down with a gurgled cry, falling with a thump and the snap of sticks. Dezzery slid her hunting knife out of the sheath strapped to her boot as she crept cautiously towards the downed animal. She had to make sure it was dead or else put it out of its misery quickly before it got up and potentially harmed her in its escape. She paused, crouched next to the animal as she listened for pained groans from it. She always hated the part where she had to hold the animal in her hands to kill it, even if it was to end its pain. She never liked seeing the light fade from their eyes due to a fault of her own.
Unfortunately, the doe heaved with broken breaths, her large dark eyes pleading for something. She was much larger up close and the flecks of white and gray of age could be better seen in her coat up close. This doe had lived a long life, but not long enough to die of old age just quite yet.