Soon enough they finished the framework necessary for the deadfall. With nothing else to be done and in dire need of meat, they prepared for a journey outside. They ate some of the last of the dried meat they had saved so they would have the energy to run if needed. If they got the chance. After leaving his little brother with Nyssa, a girl from another family in the tribe, they walked along the walls out of their small section of the cave to the guard standing near the exit of the cave. There they gave him the last of their meat. Since the guard, Jok, couldn’t go out to hunt for food, the families worked together to help keep him strong. He needed to be stronger than the rest of them anyway. They worked together to roll the large boulder from the mouth of the cave. Jok did the lion's share of the work. “Be cautious. Be safe. Be successful.” Jok told them before they walked out into the light. Every trip made by any of the families put the whole tribe at risk, as the entrance to the cave was left open for them to return.
As the light shone into the entrance Varik glanced at Jok. His face was the only one besides his mother's and father's that he remembered. Jok was thin, as they all were, but his arms were thick with muscle from moving the boulder. He had a short beard, cut unevenly in the darkness. The knives themselves didn't lend themselves much to precision either, as they were just rocks broken into an angular shape and tied with plant fibers to antler or bone. Varik thought Jok had a wide face, although he didn't have much comparison. Like all of them, he wore a shapeless sack of animal skins crudely stitched together with holes for his arms and legs.
Finally, he faced forward and left the cave. As he did, the warmth of the sun hit his skin at the same time that he was blinded from the extreme change of light. While his mom took the more sensible approach and stood in the entrance letting her eyes adjust, Varik let himself be blinded in exchange for feeling the sun warm him inside and out, all at once. He breathed in deep, trying to suck the scent of flowers and growing things so deep into his throat that he would still smell it in the cave. Every time he got to linger outside he yearned for it more while inside the cave. The natural world beckoned to him. This time, he decided that even if he died for it he would enjoy his time outside. As he came to the decision, his eyes finally adjusted. He turned back to see Salyn looking at him with a warm smile.
“What?”
“Oh, nothing. Let’s get moving before something comes and bites that smile off your face. Lets go west to set the new trap then move east to check the old ones.” The smile vanished off her face. “Remember, no talking from here on out.” Instead of replying, Varik simply nodded and they started walking west. The cave entrance came up out of a ravine, outside of which was a lush forest that seemed to explode with color. Since they spent their lives in caves Varik had no names for the beautiful (and sometimes strange) vegetation he saw, but he recognized the vast diversity in what he saw. They began walking to the first of the traps. The tribe had stripped most of the area around the cave bare of anything edible, so they had to range farther and farther out every trip. They headed east, Salyn navigating by the sun and counting her steps. As they walked Varik scanned the scenery around them. There were towering black trees, delicate purple flowers, vines that seemed to writhe. Actually those were writhing. He silently pointed them out to Salyn as they moved along, then threw a rock into the vines. Instantly they constricted around the rock, then went still when it didn’t struggle. They didn’t resume writhing either, so they must have been lucky to see it when they did. Varik thought they could use the vines as an impromptu trap, either to steal its prey, or to catch something that chased them. They regularly saw magical vegetation while during their brief trips outside. Unlike regular plants, every one of the strange ones was unique. Whatever magic mutated the beasts seemed to affect some plants as well.
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They continued through the forest and Varik had to split his attention between reveling in the air, light and beauty and moving silently between the trees. A loud hunter is a dead hunter. Varik’s father had trained him constantly on silent movement when he was younger. Until he could walk through the puddle in their cave without a splash, he wasn't allowed to take part in hunts.
As they walked, Varik spotted another plant aberration. This one however, entranced him. It was a small sapling about waist high with cherry red bark. Instead of leaves countless tiny crimson flames danced along it's small branches, but gave off no smoke. Usually a sapling like this would be choked out by the thick bushes and grasses, but there was a wide ring of cinders around the small sapling. In spite of this clear sign of danger, Varik longed to reach out and feel if the smokeless flames burned hot. They danced more than mundane fire and seemed fully alive instead of a mimicry like regular fire. He stared at it, then managed to rip himself away to look at his mother, who watched him with another one of her small smiles. She beckoned him to keep following and they continued on.
Soon enough they reached the first of their traps. Empty. So was the next, and the one after that. All their hopes rested on the last trap. Varik prayed to the Makers it would have something. As they came to the last one, desperation made them ignore the small sounds they usually were so wary of. They found a four legged creature, who's body resembled one of the wolves they had caught before, but three times the size with hooves and a massively elongated neck. The neck was stretched down eating the corpse of their last hope, whatever had fallen into their last trap. It whipped around as they came upon the trap, although neither Varik nor Salyn saw because they were already running.
They heard it crashing behind them though as they ran back towards the cave. Varik, remembering the vine, called out “Vine first, then home!” his mother understood, and they changed their course towards the plant they had seen when they first entered the forest. They crashed through the forest, moving much faster than their previous careful pace. The monster behind them eerily didn't let out any roars as it chased them, although they could still hear it's crashing footsteps as they ran. It was obviously faster with four legs and much taller, but had trouble navigating it's neck through the trees. Every second those hooves sounded a little closer however. When they reached the vine, it felt like it was practically breathing down their necks. They skirting the left edge of its reach and pulled to the right after passing it. The monster, heedless of more vegetation to simply crash through, took the shortest path to them and ran headlong into the vine. The vines immediately wrapped around it's neck and legs, thorns suddenly appearing and digging into its flesh. Varik and Salyn slowed, but the creature finally let out a high pitched shriek and began ripping it's way free of the vines. They resumed their frantic pace to the ravine. Jok, recognizing their urgency, began pushing the boulder back in place. He had watched as too many didn't make it back at all. They dove beside him and moved it back in place just as they heard another shriek from the bank of the ravine. Varik and Salyn fell down from relief and despair, as Jok patted their backs.
"You both still have your lives. More food will come." he consoled them. It was a deep taboo to beg food from another family, as all were constantly on the edge of starvation themselves. While their family would survive another few nights at least, it wouldn't be good for Dack, and there was no guarantee that the next time they left the cave they would obtain food.