Damp cold seeped into every patch of exposed skin, an insidious warning of the winter that lay right around the corner. Fortunately for Lilau, her knack for being prepared had only grown in five cycles since returning to the village. Only her head and part of her neck felt the discomforts of the weather. The rest stayed warm under the thick furs which covered her.

She stayed low to the ground as she stalked over the moist ground, slight spider-webbing around her shoe prints hinting at the start of ice. The low, gray clouds cast their gloom over the forest, making her feel as if she was moving through dusk, even though she knew it was closer to midday. She had yet to find anything to kill. Many of the animals had chased the last bits of warmth beyond the borders of the forest, while those that stayed found deep holes to hide in. Even the fish had gone to deeper waters, making their capture ever more difficult as the water’s surface froze.

These difficulties led her deep into the forest in search of prey and deeper still before she noticed a small splatter of dark blood across the twigs of a dormant bush. The color and thickness told her that while it wasn’t fresh, it was recent, and the tracks spoke of a large deer. Such a prize would feed them well.

Lilau eyed the newest splatter before her. This one was bright red and still dripping down the bark of an evergreen. She was close. She went still, scanning her surroundings. The deer was weakening, its flight slowing, yet the entire way she had noticed no other tracks other than the deer’s and her own. Where was the predator that had injured it? It was possible that a hunter had missed his mark and lost his prey as it fled, but she didn’t want to be too hasty in her conclusion. Haste was dangerous.

A moan came from a short distance on her right, low and pained. A buck, she surmised, a suffering one. Another cast of her eyes over the underbrush showed no signs of another creature. Lilau slunk towards the noise, which had originated behind a tight formation of trees sitting on the edge of a dip in the land.

Pulling her knife free of its sheath, she moved around the cluster of trees, sticking close to what little cover she found.

A small gasp escaped her as the scene below her came into view. It was a gravely injured buck, but the damage it had sustained did not match the story its blood trail told. An arrow protruded from its back leg. A crippling shot that would have prevented it from moving as far as she had tracked it. Not that its other injury allowed it to move at all.

Its underside was slit from front to back, the contents falling out onto the earth in a macabre insult to its life. The cut was clean; the innards showing no signs of chewing. A human had done this. Who would do such a thing? Such an act was a serious offense, tempting retribution from the Fokla themselves.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Lilau grit her teeth. Now that she had seen the creature in such a state, it was her responsibility to end the insult. The whole thing stunk, and it wasn’t just the pungent smell of innards and impending death. This was a trap.

Tucking herself into a niche between a scraggly bush and a tree, she sent the scene to Makotae as she scanned the area with renewed intensity.

His reply shot back, the inherent danger in her predicament coloring his thoughts so thick it made her own hackles rise. Stay hidden. I am coming.

She was glad his concern for her drowned out his need to admonish her. It had been her idea to send him away in order to cover more ground, doubling their chances at a successful hunt. It was a common tactic among the hunters, but as Makotae had argued, the other hunters did not need to protect themselves from each other. She hoped her lack of sound judgment did not cost her too dearly.

All she had to do was wait until he got close. His heightened senses would pinpoint any threats.

Lilau tightened her grip on the knife and turned to look behind her. A substantial force slammed into her exposed side. The air flew from her lungs. She fell through the sharp edges of the bare bushes and into the gully, pain exploding through her flesh as the twigs bit deep. Adrenaline surged, forcing a breath that was knocked back out as she collided with the ground.

Her chest burned as she twisted towards her attacker. The knife edge slashed empty air. Her mind cried out in confusion. Before she could make sense of the situation, her peripheral vision caught sight of a large hoof as it crashed into her skull. The world went blurry, her senses muddled as she rolled away from the new assault.

She sucked in a wheezing mouthful of air, wondering in odd detachment why her throat felt so tight. Loud noise buffeted her ears. Were those words? Fighting against the darkness closing in, she focused in on the noise, willing it into clarity.

“... because of you! It’s all because of you!”

The shadows receded, although the fog remained. A large humanoid form loomed over her, her eyes refusing to discern enough detail to identify them. They did not need to. The voice sent the animal in her into a panicked frenzy.

Zan!

She bucked underneath him, realizing with horror that once again she could draw no breath. Hands. There were hands around her neck.

A deep laugh burst from her attacker. “I told you I’d kill you. Didn’t I defect?”

She writhed and clawed, but her strength was bleeding out. The shadows crept back in.

“The Elders were wrong! You’re a curse on our village, a curse on me. Once you’re dead....”

Snarling black covered her sight, then vanished, taking with it the grip on her throat and the weight on her chest.

Lilau curled up on her side, gasping life back into her core. It was a position she stayed in until the black blur returned to her. Worry rushed from it like a wave, threatening to overwhelm her body, which already teetered on the edge of oblivion. The flood stopped, replaced by a sequence of images devoid of emotion. Slowly, repeatedly, the sequence showed her climbing onto Makotae’s back.

Makotae!

Tears sprung up, further blurring her sight. Yet he still stood out from the background, an immovable object that gave off a pale glow. Glow? Confusion rose, then skittered away as she forced her injured body onto his back and wrapped her arms around his neck.

As soon as she was settled, he was off, smoothing out his gait in order to lessen her suffering as he carried her to the one who would aid her.