The Bear (3)
Everything was prepared with haste.
The well-kneaded, cooked chunks of meat gave off a mouth-watering aroma, fueled by the fire and the wind. The desolate winter air was frigid, but it would surely carry this scent to a predator before they even realized it.
"The problem is the location."
Asdin, who had finished the smoking process and was tidying up the fire pit, looked back at Srem. Srem was currently hanging the meat on a vine of dried Water-Oil Grass, which he had knotted onto the branch of a suitably high tree. Srem asked, "Where do you think would be best?"
"Anywhere but here is fine."
"I mean, a place where we can hunt safely, even if it's just a one-in-a-million chance."
"Well. I'm not sure..."
Asdin, who had been about to admit that he had never actually seen a Taung before, quickly shut his mouth.
He had experience hunting wolves under the cover of darkness, but Urnil had said that a Taung was a beast larger and more dangerous than a tiger. He couldn't afford to take the same risks he had back then. Besides, they weren't in a desperate situation with no other options like they were before.
"But isn't it over once we feed it the meat? Why do we need a safe place?"
"Predators have an incredible sense of smell for meat. Now that I think about it, it's strange—this is a riverside, yet there are surprisingly no predators here. Did you pick this spot knowing that?"
Even though several days had passed, Srem spoke as if he had just realized it.
At Urnil’s boastful voice, Asdin shrugged his shoulders and said, "I just got lucky. It’s close to the river, and the cave was the right size, so I picked it. I never doubted it once."
The last part was barely a whisper.
After cleaning up the work site, the two of them tore off the leaves of a broad-leaf tree that remained lush even in winter and wrapped the meat chunks tightly, leaving no gaps.
"Why are you doing that?"
"This prevents the scent from leaking out. Just carrying it into the territory where a Taung might be is the same as telling it to follow us, isn't it?"
Asdin, understanding the intent, nodded.
"So we're going to leave it there secretly."
"Exactly. Now, put it in here."
Srem pulled out a strange object—he must have made it earlier. It was a long strand of Water-Oil Grass vine. The difference from other vines was that it was only as long as the span of his arms, and both ends had knots that could be tightened like a net.
"It's a bag to carry the meat. It’s much sturdier than it looks."
Srem loosened the knot at the end. As Asdin placed the meat on the knot with a look of wonder, Srem tightened the opening. Just by holding it, the knot tightened naturally, shrinking to fit the meat perfectly.
"You're quite handy, mister."
"Thanks for the compliment."
Leaving Srem, who was wearing the aforementioned 'bag' around his neck, Asdin spoke calmly and shifted his gaze to the sky.
"It’s already getting dark."
The winter sun is a sleepyhead. That meant the predators had more time to make their eyes shine. They were no different in needing food for survival. Srem followed Asdin’s gaze and clicked his tongue.
"It won't work today. It's too late."
"Then what about those? We already cooked them."
As Asdin pointed to the meat hanging around Srem's neck, Srem spoke as if to tell him not to worry.
"With this weather, it won't spoil if we leave it for a day."
"What about storage?"
"I'll handle it."
With that, Srem skillfully climbed a tree with branches extending outward from a high point and hung the meat on a high branch. It certainly seemed that unless it was a Hypyo (Leopard) or a bird, nothing could touch that meat.
However, Asdin was immediately concerned about that very thing.
"What if a bird pecks at it?"
"It will die."
"..."
Asdin couldn't even gasp at the simple answer. He had momentarily forgotten that the meat was poisoned from the start, as he was too focused on the thought of protecting the trap until tomorrow.
"Unless it's a Taung that woke up in this winter, no fool would risk their life for food that looks dangerous. We just need to rest easy and place that 'trap' in the Taung's territory tomorrow."
Srem pointed his thumb at the meat chunks swaying on the branch.
That was the hunter's judgment.
"Let's get some good rest today. We can't have any issues with our physical condition tomorrow, can we?"
He was right. That night, Asdin and Srem ate dinner a little earlier than usual and kept the fire burning warmly.
The night was deepening.
At the hour when the moon had risen and even the stars began to twinkle, the two fell into a deep sleep.
Late at night. Asdin, awake alone, rose silently and stepped out of the cave. His night vision, which had become unusually sharp, easily caught the trap on the tree, standing like a dark shadow. Looking at it, Asdin felt a sense of unease.
Because he couldn't identify the source of that anxiety, Asdin was cutting away his troubled heart in the cold wind.
The god in the bracelet asked, gauging the moment when Asdin's agitation had subsided a little.
Asdin exhaled a puff of warm air and said, "Lord Urnil. I don't know."
The boy's voice trembled with underlying anxiety. Urnil didn't ask on purpose, waiting silently for Asdin to speak.
Asdin continued, "It's been half a year since Hisoral died. And then another adult found me. An Exile. But that man... Mister Srem is not a villain like Kizzel. I’ve been on guard for the past two days, hiding a knife in my poncho, but even so..."
Asdin clenched his fists.
"He wasn't a bad person. Yes, since he wasn't a bad person, that must be why you didn't say anything to me, Lord Urnil. But tomorrow, if the worst-case scenario happens, I was planning to use that man as a shield. Then all the danger would disappear at once. But... he's a good person. A person like that shouldn't die like that again."
Asdin's voice grew wet.
From the hunter who had come bearing the name of threat on this cold winter day, the boy had felt the warmth he thought he had lost forever.
"I can't do it. I can't do that. I'm afraid, Lord Urnil. What if something goes wrong while catching the Taung? What if he dies, just like Hisoral did?"
Urnil felt deeply sorry for him. After the Kizzel incident, Asdin had built a mental wall halfway between himself and others. Especially if they were Exiles. But through this outcome, Urnil knew for certain: Asdin, conversely, wanted to be by someone's side more than anyone else.
Regardless, he was a god, and unlike the expression of the word, he was not greatly bound by the concept of time.
Urnil calmly soothed Asdin. He didn't mind if it took a long time.
The night was fading.
As soon as the day cleared, the two began preparations for the hunt in earnest.
"Did you pack everything?"
Srem, who had two meat bags hanging around his neck—four at each end—said. Asdin checked his gear, confirmed the knot of the bag containing the last piece of meat, and slung it over his shoulder.
"Yes."
"Then let's go."
"Wait a moment, mister."
Srem turned his body from the direction he was about to walk and looked at Asdin. As Srem watched with a puzzled expression, Asdin went inside the cave and brought something out.
"Asdin, you...?"
"Take this with you."
What Asdin brought out were weapons. A bow and arrows. A dagger and a short sword. To Srem, who was looking on in surprise, Asdin said with a firmly set expression, "I hope you don't get into any serious trouble."
It was Asdin's sincerity. Srem nodded and expressed his gratitude. "Thank you. Let's definitely catch the Taung."
The two set out on their way. The destination was clear. The other side of the river. After entering deep into the forest, they were to go upstream toward the valley when they encountered a stream. But this time, they decided to act in reverse.
"We're going upstream along the river first? Why? That means we're going on an unfamiliar path."
"Conversely, it means we'll learn a different path that arrives at the same place."
Asdin had a puzzled look. In the end, wasn't reaching the destination the same?
"What difference does that make?"
"It's about creating familiar scenery."
Srem spoke as he walked along the river. "Some hunters die because they get lost in the forest. Among them, there were cases where bodies were found in the forest right near the village."
"Because they didn't know the way? Do people really die like that?"
"That's why you try various paths. Not just the path you usually take. You make the scenery into a map in your head through various routes."
Asdin was quite surprised. For him, the thought of dying from getting lost was something he had never even considered. Because all the dangers Asdin had experienced were matters of life and death. Srem advised with a sincere expression.
"Don't underestimate the forest, Asdin. The forest can be infinitely generous to those who know it, but it is never kind to the ignorant."
It was the hunter's advice. Asdin nodded with a stern face.
"I'll remember that."
Srem, who had been walking upstream along the river, turned his steps toward the inside of the forest at the point where the terrain became rough.
"Let's go inside from here. Keep a close eye on the path."
"Okay."
The path that led into the forest with a gentle slope was whitened in places under the dense trees. It was snow that had hardened in the low temperature.
As they walked, stepping on the crunching snow, they encountered a stream flowing obliquely from the right toward them.
However, they hadn't heard the sound of water a moment ago. When Asdin wondered about it, Srem added that it was probably because the water that had been turning and flowing down from above was flowing along the gentle terrain.
The scene of walking along the river had now changed to walking along the stream. Then Srem said, "From now on, pay attention to the trees and the smells."
"Traces?"
"If there's a place where a Taung might settle down around here, it would have definitely marked its territory. We'll place the trap there."
"Understood."
Srem and the helper he didn't know of said in unison. While walking carefully along the stream, the two could not find any parts that could be called traces of a Taung.
Thanks to that, what caught their eyes first was something else.
"Mister. It's here."
Srem approached at Asdin's gesture. The carcass of the deer that Asdin had buried in the hollow terrain was there. It wasn't difficult to recognize. The traces of the antlers being cut off and the arrow stuck in the back of the neck. That was evidence the two could never mistake.
However, the traces of the meat that Asdin had cut off with a knife before were now tattered, as if they had been torn off. Srem, who recognized that, asked, "Was it in this state originally?"
"No, before, only the internal organs were damaged."
"That means the Taung didn't leave this alone. Let's examine the surroundings."
"Okay."
"Always have your weapon drawn now. We don't know how the situation will turn out."
Srem said that as he drew his bow and arrows. Asdin nodded and drew the weapon he had been carrying diagonally on his back.
Against a powerful predator like a Taung, restraint is meaningless. To live, one must kill. That dawn, Urnil had firmly instilled that fact into Asdin.
Therefore, what Asdin chose was the weapon of the one who had protected him with their life.
Asdin, holding the sword, moved in a different direction from Srem.
Thus, the two began to explore the surroundings widely, centering on the deer carcass.