Kian wrote:
I've never gone hunting, but with the number of gun-knowoldgable people in this forum, I'd be surprised if noone can answer this question. How far can a shot be heard in a forest? I'd imagine all the leafy terrain would make for good sound insulation. During hunting season, do you hear all the people firing from miles away, or are shots easily lost in the background noise?
Rifle shots and the sound thereoff travel for miles on a quiet day. Jon's pistol is only marginally quieter. In addition to the weapon discharge, bullets whipping and cracking through branches and tree-tops will make your hair stand on end no matter how groggy you are.
By way of alternate explanation, note that the pistol going off didn't wake Jon, but the leaf falling on his nose woke him? Sight gag, or evidence of a sound-dampening (or sound-perieving) magik in use? And if a sound-dampening aura is in effect, why not one that blocks sound between the camp and the site of the duel?
Really, it would be such a fundamental precaution for Sarine to take . . .
Also, why would Ellis kill Jon with his pistol when he could slash his throat in his sleep with less fuss and risk? And why would Ellis suddenly want to kill Jon anyway? He's been hanging around him for weeks just because he has nothing better to do and Jon might be the only human he knows who gives enough of a damn about Meji to eventually go find her. If Meji doesn't come back to find Jon and ask him what happened to her familiar. Ellis was just having a temper tantrum after fumbling his attempt to wake Jon up. The evidence of the leaf suggests that touching him would have worked, but poking a sleeping assassin isn't a safe way to wake him up, by any reckoning.