Angus had saved the antlers, but not for himself. When they got back to camp, Lee was clearly pleased. "Oh, well done," he smiled. "Very nice indeed. He was a huge buck, by the looks of it."
"It was Jim's score," Angus said.
"Well, then. Jim, you have earned your teammates each a towel and a cake of soap and directions to the hotsprings. Along with a fresh change of clothes. Yes, I do have fresh clothes for each of you. I am a wizard after all, and I do hae connections to your closets. Or rather your boss does. I'll give them to you after dinner. Well done.
"I just want to soak in the hotsprings. For a couple of days," Kate said. Lee laughed.
"Personally, I want dinner," Lee said.
"I'll handle that," Angus said. He looked over the ingredients and used a lean tender cut of venison that he cut up into cubes, the potatoes, some of the drinking water and the container of salt and spices. He used the large cooking pot and soon had a divine smelling venison stew cooking in the pot. "It won't be long," he assured them. "The meat is fresh and tender." He looked over at Lee who had taken the cuts of meat, shrunken it with his wand and sealed it in plastic. He didn't want the smell of it getting to the animals in the woods. He tucked the plastic containers into the snow and marked it to be able to find it in the morning.
Kate decided to take a short walk away from camp. Lee watched her get up.
"Don't go far, Kate," he said. "Its going to be dark very soon. And without your wand, we won't find you."
"I know," she said. "I am still a witch, powers or not." Angus smiled, admiring her guts. he did keep an eye on which direction she went. It wasnt' more than about ten minutes before Lee heard very clearly the sound of a bear. An angry bear. In Kate's direction. "Weapons!" he ordered. He apparated out, wand drawn.
When he got there, Kate was bashing the daylights out of an enormous grizzly with a rock. Repeatedly. The bear wasnt' moving. He went over to her. "Kate," he said. "Kate. I think you got him." He checked. The animal was clearly very, very dead. "Really?" he frowned. "With a rock? You had to get close enough to smell his breath to do that."
"No, he made the mistake of getting close enough to smell mine," she said, breathless and defiant.
"You definitely are Robert's wife," he laughed. "I've never heard of anyone getting that close to a bear and actually take him out with a rock."
"Well, there is a first time for everything."
"Did you manage to do what you came out here for?"
"Barely," she scowled.
"Come on," he said. "I don't want you out here alone." He led her back to camp. "We're clear," he told them. "Lower your weapons. But I need two of you to go process that bear Kate just fended off for us. Bear meat is very edible if cooked correctly. And leave no trace for more wildlife to come and get us."
by 
