Morning came once more and as a morning ritual, Urist did a morning stretch then woke the rest of the dwarfs. Today he would tend to the fire allowing Uria to stretch her legs and go out to explore.

Urork and Urat headed out together along with Uria since she was interested in how the traps were set up. Urist sat back in camp with the dwarfs making more bowls, since you couldn’t have enough bowls and when he grew tired of making them he was going in the cave and making beds along the walls.

“I wonder if they will find a deer today?”, Urist mused as he burned wood to shape.

…

The trio set out together with ease along the forest path after spending so much time in these neck of the woods they were getting proficient in traveling them. The first thing to do was check the hare trap which had no luck today, on the other hand, they caught five squirrels.

Resetting the traps Uria was the one to carry them along, they would make one more stop to check the deer traps to see if a deer was caught. The three traveled along the path talking about Woozoo tea they had yesterday and wondered how the smoked meat would taste.

Rat caught up in thoughts almost fell on his ass after pushing a branch out of the way when he saw it. A vampire deer who lay they gently heard the movement perked up its ears and started barking at the dwarfs freaking them out.

Startled the ‘hunter’ dwarfs ran away back to camp intent on reporting to Urist. Heavily breathing they came face to face with Urist who was currently butting a frame of a bed together with Urmom. Looking at the fear in their eyes Urist knew something had happened stood up from his seat.

“Did something go wrong?!”

Urist by now was pulling out his stone dagger by his side ready to face off against anything coming through the woods.

“Everyone get ready we might have company.”

Everyone stopped what they were doing in bewilderment and Urist cursed under his breath seeing no one pull out their weapons. He had to remember that the dwarfs around him were like newborn puppies that knew bare-bones knowledge.

They had this weird common sense. Some things they knew about, while other things left them afraid and frightened.

Urist shook his head and spoke in a calm tone, “What is wrong? Catch your breath then speak.”

Weezing like fat men sprinting after a donut truck in a one hundred meter dash Rork finally managed to get out words, “Deer *gasp* Caught *gasp* What *gasp* Do?”

Seeing them so out of breath Urist decided from that moment on that there would be mandatory jogging every morning from now on. Even if they were short they should be able to obtain enough stamina to not be out of breath after a mild run.

When he heard about them catching a dear Urist was filled with glee as his mouth started to water thinking about deer meat. He hadn’t had it in months if he counted the time before turning into a dwarf.

Oh, the tenderloins were to die for, spices or not it would be good eating. Smiling wildly Urist gave out commands, “A feast awaits. Ormila, Urmom I want you to fashion a strong noose and meet us over at the fishing area.”

“Got it, boss.”

“Uroa, Uria, and Briana I want you to start the fire burning in the pit and gather about 30-40 large leaves for us to use.”

“Aye aye!”

“Lun and Ariel I want you to expand the smoke rack for us to cook on and manage the smoke while you are doing that!”

“Understood.”

“Rork and Rat you are with me in bringing the deer over to the river to gut.”

“Alright boss.”

With a happy nod, Urist’s party headed out as the rest of the dwarfs got to work in preparation for cooking the deer.

By now Rork and Rat had caught their breath and led the way. But first Urist went over to the beach acquiring a head-sized rock getting Rork and Rat help him carry it over to the deer. Step by step and many switches later carried the rock to the deer.

The deer had noticed them from afar and tried to get away with no avail as the rope held its leg in an iron grip. Urist wasn’t fazed one bit as the deer barked at them with eyes full of fear.

Turning to his fellow dwarfs Urist held the rock in his hands. “Rat, hold it’s head down while Urat holds the body. I’ll try to finish this in one shot.”

Even if they are scared of touching the deer they did as commanded and moved forward. As they gripped the deer It started thrashing and turning as its heart thundered in it’s chest a million miles an hour.

It took a few minutes to get the deer under control but the dwarfs manage to hold it down.

The time was now ripe.

Urist had never killed a deer in such a way in his memories. He always used a gun from a distance to shoot it from afar. Now so close to a living deer watching its eyes looking left and right full of fear Urist didn’t back away.

They needed to eat to survive and this deer would grant them great nourishment. Not letting another moment pass Urist raised the headstone high in the sky. Giving a small prayer before ruthlessly crushing the stone the back of its head with all his strength. As Urist crushing its skull a loud cracking sound resounded through the forest.

The deer's eyes turned bloodshot as its body stiffened; then blood started to leak out of its mouth and the body slacked in the dwarfs' grip. Still, every once in awhile the deer's body kept twitching even in death this scared the two dwarfs holding it down thinking the beast was still alive, but Urist assured them that it was indeed dead.

With the deed done Urist let out a breath of air, “Come on guys let’s carry this to the River to start cleaning it.”

“Uhhh, ok boss…”

“... Understood.”