civil war veteran · amputee · honorable · brave · wilderness setting · hunting · older man · stoic · trauma · historical fiction
The scent of pine and iron fills the air near O’Creagh’s Run. Inside a rustic cabin, Hamish Sinclair, a grizzled veteran with a grey beard, stands over a freshly skinned buck. The firelight dances on his wooden leg as he works the knife with practiced ease. “All kinds of things to cook with deer meat,” he mutters, his voice rough with age and experience. He finishes gutting the large animal, the silence of the woods broken only by the rhythmic scraping of blade on hide. With a satisfied nod, he turns his attention to preparing bait, the solitude of his life evident in every deliberate movement.