When he arrived at his usual hiding spot the next day, the father and oldest son were having an argument in front of the open door to the shed. A bolt of dread shot through Hyroc when he realized he had forgotten to close the door and replace the board last night. He hoped the father merely thought his son had not closed the door and not that someone had snuck into it. As he nervously watched the two of them argue he saw the daughter walk over to them with a concerned look on her face. When she attempted to speak to her father, he was so entrenched into the argument he paid no attention to her.
After a few more attempts, she waved her arm at them in frustration and stormed off toward the open gate of their pen. When she arrived, she began studying something on the ground. She followed an imaginary line with her finger, eventually pointing toward the forest behind the cabin. Then she started toward the spot where she had pointed. Curious as to what she was doing, he silently followed.
When she reached the forest’s edge, she began calling out “Grettle,” like she was calling someone’s name. She said the name twice more before heading into the trees, repeating the name as she walked. Shortly after entering the forest, he heard the bleating of a goat and the girl headed toward it. Hyroc nodded to himself in comprehension. Their goat must have wandered off.
The girl found the goat in a treeless spot munching on dandelions. Hyroc was about to head back toward the shed when the forest suddenly went silent. Feeling a surge of apprehension, he scanned his surroundings uneasily and saw the outline of a single wolf at the edge of the open spot. It looked gaunt as if it might have been starving. The girl was in serious danger. He could probably kill the wolf with an arrow, but that would surely give away his presence. Simply leaving was another option; it was doubtful the malnourished wolf could kill her. She just might get a few minor bites.
He felt a stab of guilt at the thought of what he was considering. This was a wolf; wolves kill people. How could he live with himself if she died and he could have stopped that? But she would see him! The last time somebody had seen him he had almost died. He felt a surge of fear as the memory surfaced. She would tell somebody about him, he would lose everything he had gained and would be risking his life. The lonely wilderness would become his home. He was suddenly struck by an inspiring thought. He didn’t necessarily have to kill the wolf to keep her out of harm’s way, he just needed to alert the girl to the presence of the wolf. So long as she didn’t panic and run, she should be able to grab the goat and safely walk away.
Hyroc picked up a rock and chucked it behind the goat. It landed with a satisfying thud. When the girl looked in the direction of the rock, her eyes focused on the wolf. Slowly she got to her feet and began calmly but hastily leading the goat away by the collar, keeping an eye on the wolf. Relief swept over Hyroc. He shook his head in humored disbelief at the simplicity of his solution. All he had to do was throw a rock. That was it. He was still dangerously close to a wolf though, but once the girl was out of sight he could safely kill it.
Suddenly the goat scented the wolf and bolted, causing the wolf to break into a run. The girl lost her footing as the unexpected yank on her hand knocked her off balance. As soon as she tripped, the wolf fixated on her. Hyroc swore, nocked an arrow and loosed it at the wolf. The wolf yelped as the arrow burrowed into its side, before collapsing into a heap.
The girl drew a knife from a sheath on her belt, then froze looking confused. Turning her head, she looked directly at him. She stared at him with frightened bewilderment then got to her feet and took off running toward the cabin. Hyroc felt a cold sinking feeling as he watched her go. What had he just done? She had seen him! He rushed to the wolf and with a straining effort hoisted it over his shoulders. If he got rid of the wolf’s body there would be no evidence of his intervention. Maybe without it, nobody would believe her story and he would still have a place to live. If not then – he pushed the thought aside; he would deal with that if the time came. Taking off into the forest, he ran for as long as he could carry the wolf, before hiding its body beneath a pine tree with thickly clumped branches scraping the ground. After recovering his arrow from the carcass, he rushed off in the direction of his cabin.
CHAPTER 25
Unexpected Outcome
Flinging open the door to his cabin Hyroc rushed inside. He frantically stuffed the remainder of the meat left over from a grouse he had killed the night before into his pack, along with all of his belongings. Donning his pack, he hurried back outside, closing the door behind him. He untied a startled Kit from the tree and picked him up. The cub yowled in protest as Hyroc carried him toward the back of the valley. Moving on to the mountain slopes a short distance past his first trap – which was empty – he found a spot beneath a spruce where he could observe the valley, and see if anyone came to his cabin. He expected that would be the first place anyone looking for him might stumble across. Maybe without all of his things inside someone searching the structure would still think it was abandoned. If they didn’t notice the board on the door was missing or that the inside looked like it had been cleaned. He knew better than to hope for such a slim chance to turn into an actuality.
Fearing a fire would give away his presence, he spent a cold night underneath the spruce with Kit as his only source of warmth. By noon the next day, no one had come. If he needed to run, he knew he would need every ounce of meat he could find, which meant his traps still needed checking. He detested the idea of taking his eyes off his cabin for fear he would miss someone’s approach, but if he didn’t his situation could become that much worse. When he removed the piece of twine he had been using to tie Kit to the tree from his pocket; he began to wonder if leaving the cub alone so close to a trap was such a good idea. Anything caught in it could attract a predator and there was a good chance it would scent Kit. If his companion got killed, he would be alone again. He might lose his mind if that happened. Checking traps was hardly a difficult task and since any game would be snared, it didn’t matter if Kit spooked anything. Hunting could be a problem though, but he could deal with that later.
“Come on Kit,” Hyroc said, replacing the twine in his pocket. “I need to check my traps.”
Kit stared back at him curiously. Hyroc walked away and Kit eagerly followed after him. The trap in the ravine was empty and from there, he made his way to the incline. This trap was also empty. As he moved away from it, he noticed Kit staring at the top of the incline and his nose was twitching like he smelled something. Hyroc sniffed; he smelled nothing out of the ordinary. Kit became suddenly excited and ran up the incline. Hyroc rushed after him, yelling his name. The cub disappeared over the top of the incline. The memory of the spider attack flashed through Hyroc’s mind, forcing him to stop. His shoulder began to throb and a frigid dread engulfed him. He knew the spiders were dead, but at the same time, he felt as if his eight legged assailants were just over the rise, waiting to sink their fangs into his neck. “Kit,” Hyroc called out in a fear-laden voice. He shook his head trying to clear his mind. The spiders are dead, why do I feel like this? Ursa told me there won’t be any more. Remembering the she bear’s words about how brave he was; he took a deep breath. His body seemed to warm and a portion of his fear melted away. Fighting through the remnants of his trepidation, he forced himself to walk over the top of the incline. If her words could have that effect on him, it seemed even more doubtful she was actually a witch.
Everything he saw looked much as he remembered it the first time he had seen it, but the surrounding area seemed brighter and more inviting. The idea of another savage attack in this place seemed absurd. To the left of the cave lay a pile of rocks arranged in what appeared to be a grave. He felt a pang of sadness when he saw it, knowing Huntress and her other cub lay within. Even though she was a dangerous predator capable of killing him, he still felt an attachment to her. It seemed all he ever did was visit the graves of anyone or anything he got attached to. He saw Kit disappear into the cave and followed after him. Inside he found the cub standing in
the middle of the cave near some moldering deer bones. Kit yowled, his tiny voice echoing through the space as he called out for his mother and sibling. Sadness welled up within Hyroc and he felt moisture forming in his eyes as he thought of his own mother. She too had been protecting him and she had died in the process. But just like Kit, he could make no sense of it all. Kit yowled again; unable to understand why the cave was empty.
“They’re gone,” Hyroc said, sadness clear in his voice. Kit looked back at him with large confused eyes. Kit yowled once more and wandered over to him. Reaching down Hyroc scratched him behind the ears. “It’s just the two of us now. But don’t worry I’ll make it work, I always have.” He walked away from the cave and after a moment’s hesitation, Kit followed. Stopping at Huntress’s grave Hyroc said, “I’ll take care of him,” before heading off to the next trap.
He only found a rabbit caught in the snare beneath the fallen tree at the end of his route. Kit’s eyes fixed on the trapped creature, his body tensing. He crouched, then began stalking his quarry causing Hyroc to smile. Hyroc watched Kit for a few moments longer before grasping the rabbit by the back of its neck and removing the snare from its leg. Away from the trap, he slit the rabbit’s throat and when the last drops of crimson fell from its neck, he got to work gutting the carcass – not bothering with the pelt. He gave the heart and liver to Kit, who after some investigation snapped it up. After cooking and eating the rabbit, the two of them returned to the observation point.
For the rest of that day, no one came by his cabin. The next morning, thinking he might have missed someone coming by while he had been out checking traps, he reluctantly tied Kit to a tree and headed to his cabin to look for footprints. When he arrived, other than some prints from a foraging rabbit and some bird tracks, it appeared no one had come by at all. He waited until the next morning before he was convinced the girl’s family had not believed her and that he could safely move back into his cabin.
Two days after returning to his cabin no one had come and he was happy to find a rabbit caught in his snare at the ravine and the clearing with the dirty pool. Though he knew it was pointless to do so, he skinned them anyway. It didn’t hurt to practice in case he ever figured out how to preserve them. After he and Kit had eaten their fill of the meat, they made their way toward the creek. Moving around a patch of thickly clumped pine trees on their way there, Hyroc started when he came face-to-face with the girl from the family of hunters. The two of them yelled out in mirrored surprise. Heart pounding, he darted behind a tree, scooping up Kit as he ran. They had found him! They were slower at it than he had anticipated, but they had found him. There was nothing for it now, he had to run! It would be hard out in the wilderness, but at least with Kit it wouldn’t be so lonely. He just needed to figure out how to….
“Wait, don’t go,” the girl called out to him in a gentle voice. The tone of her voice caught him off guard; she sounded – she sounded kind and it reminded him of June. “I just want to talk.”
Talk, she wanted to talk, to him. Most people didn’t want him anywhere near them, let alone talk to him. Her behavior made him wondered if she had actually had enough time to take notice of his features. If so, then showing his face now would definitely be a bad idea. He just needed to figure out how to get away from her without letting her see his face. A far more frightening explanation rammed its way into his mind. What if this was a trap and her father and brother were waiting to shoot him in the head with an arrow the moment he stepped out from behind the tree? Cold dread engulfed him as the gravity of the situation took hold. Smacking the back of his head against the trunk of the tree, he berated himself for not paying more attention to his surroundings. I should have seen her coming long before she ever saw me. He shook his head. I can feel stupid about this later. The father and son – or someone from The Ministry; I still haven’t ruled that out yet – are probably circling around at this very moment to get a clear shot at me. I need to get Kit and I out of here! Several yards in front of him, he saw another stand of trees growing beside a hollow. If he took off toward it at a dead run, he should get there before the father or son had a chance to take a shot at him.
“You don’t need to be afraid, I’m alone and you have my word I’m not planning to hurt you,” the girl said, as Hyroc prepared to run. “Please come out.”
He paused mid-step. She sounded sincere, like she meant every word of what she was saying. He suddenly felt a strange desire to stay despite a screaming urge to flee. Listening carefully to his surroundings, he heard no sounds of movement. Looking from side to side, he saw no rustling of the foliage that would give away the presence of somebody moving through it. Above he saw Shimmer circling his position. If Ursa’s claims held true then she probably knew about the danger he was heading for long before he ever encountered it. It seemed she wouldn’t be that far away from him and she should have come to his rescue by now. Maybe the girl was telling the truth. Maybe she was alone.
“If I come out, you’ll just run away,” Hyroc said.
There was a pause. “I’ve already seen your face,” the girl said calmly.
“Then why aren’t you afraid?” Hyroc said, trying to keep the surprise from his voice. People were always afraid of him. Why wouldn’t she be?
“Well, I was a little when I first saw you; right after you killed that wolf. But on my way back to tell my family what happened, I began to wonder if you really meant me any harm. Why else would you have killed that wolf? So, after thinking it over, I decided to go back and try thanking you. You did after all keep me from getting hurt. But when I got there, both you and the wolf were gone.”
Her story sounded believable but was any of it actually true? For all he knew she was trying to get him to come out from behind the tree so someone could more easily shoot him. Deceit was a tactic he wouldn’t put passed a group of witch hunters. All that mattered to them was getting their target. Just because Ursa wasn’t there didn’t mean he wasn’t in danger. She might have been further away than he had thought. “How do I know this isn’t some kind of trick?” Hyroc called back to the girl
There was a longer pause. “I’ve never been known as a trickster. I promise you I came alone and I’m not going to hurt you.”
Hyroc wanted to believe her but it seemed too good to be true she was telling the truth. No one wanted to be around him, why would she? Her words had to be a trap. She never mentioned what she did after she couldn’t find him. Maybe he could catch her in a lie, then he would know for certain she was untrustworthy. “You didn’t say what you did after you couldn’t find me.”
There was another pause. “Well, it didn’t seem like a good idea to tell anyone about what I had seen and without the wolf’s body I doubt I would have been believed.”
He couldn’t detect any hints of deception in her words, but what she said didn’t make any sense. Why wouldn’t she tell anyone what she had seen? Nearly being attacked by a wolf and seeing a strange creature in the forest both seemed things to tell another person about whether or not anyone would believe them. She had to have told someone about him. Maybe the adults wouldn’t have believed her but her oldest brother probably did. The boy was a hunter and that’s how the girl had found him.
“If you didn’t tell anyone about me, then who helped you find me?”
There was a long pause. He smiled ruefully, he had caught her now. “Nobody helped me, I tracked you by myself.” Hyroc shook his head, that was exactly what somebody who was lying would say to keep their lie from being found out. He had her. “That creek nearby,” the girl continued. “Seemed a good place to start because animals usually gather near sources of water and after seeing the way you killed that wolf, I figured you might hunt here.”
He stared down at the ground thoughtfully. He actually hadn’t considered that when he set his trap at the creek, he was just using the water there because it helped make a chokepoint. She spoke confidently as if she actually knew from experience what she was talking about. That was
also puzzling. June never hunted ducks with him and he had never heard a story where girls hunted. He couldn’t really think of a reason why they shouldn’t, it just seemed they never did. Had everything she said been the truth?
“You hunt?” Hyroc said.
“Well, my father was expecting a boy first but when he got me, he had to change his plans. He taught me everything about it. I don’t do it as much now but every once in a while, I join in on a hunt.” She paused then spoke in a humored tone. “I still shoot better than my oldest brother, Donovan. It kind of annoys him.” She paused again. “I’d really like you to come out from behind the tree so we can talk face-to-face.”
Everything she said sounded sincere and he couldn’t find anything suspicious with what she said. It seemed impossible that he had found another understanding person. Could he actually have a conversation with someone? It seemed like another life since he had had such a luxury. Keeping his head flush against the tree’s trunk, he cautiously poked his head around it to have a look. The girl only seemed slightly unsettled by his outward appearance, but it wasn’t enough to bother him. She held a basket containing what looked to be bread and some pieces of cheese. If she was planning to hurt him, it seemed odd to do so while holding a basket brimming with gifts. He carefully scanned the surrounding forest and could find no signs of anyone waiting to shoot him. It seemed the girl was indeed telling the truth. Pulling his head back behind the tree, he set Kit at its base. “Stay here,” he whispered to Kit, before stepping out from behind the tree.
“I brought you something,” the girl said, holding the basket out to him.
Hyroc stared at the pro-offered basket a long moment, before sweeping his eyes through his surroundings and warily walking toward her. Tentatively he reached over to accept it. Taking a step back, he set the basket down and slowly started putting its contents in his knapsack, intermittently glancing at her as he did so.
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