“I never missed my staff until I had to do without them,” Gwion joked. “Not even a wagon out here among the primitives.”
Rhian, meanwhile, was doing her best to keep a quelling eye on the impatiently waiting pack and to dry out in front of the fire at the same time, without being too obvious about it.
“You alright?” George asked her.
“Just a bit… damp, huntsman,” she said.
“I didn’t realize you knew those words, back there,” he teased, and she blushed.
George turned his attention to the deer and began work. He carved out the scent glands first, to keep them from spoiling the meat, then slit the carcass carefully down the front so that he could remove the gut sack and the primary organs, slitting it at the throat to detach one end. He cut the large intestine and its exit out and used a
