More Fractured Tales stories!
He sniffed the air cautiously… the scent was very faint, which meant they were still a long way off… but they were coming. They always came… sometimes there were many cycles between… but they still came… those fragile beings, the Others… like young saplings… with little strength and endurance for this environment… not nearly as big and strong as the Great Ones, like him.
He crept stealthily back up the mountain… walking easily between the huge trees… a young deer slung over one shoulder. The snow didn’t get very deep here because the trees formed a nearly impenetrable canopy overhead at this level… where he must hunt for food. Living near an old-growth forest had its advantages… one of them being a high percentage of evergreen trees that retained their needles all year round and provided cover when hunting.
When he reached the ledge he was aiming for… high above the forest… he pushed aside the heavy curtain of moss and stepped inside… letting the deer slide to the floor of the cave. His mate looked up as he entered… and tipped her head to one side as she looked up at him… a motion that asked why he was back so soon.
He shrugged his massive shoulders… and then walked over to her… placed a finger lightly on her mouth and shook his head. She knew that meant silence and nodded her agreement. Then he pointed to two smaller ones… sitting on the floor playing some kind of game with small stones. She nodded her agreement.
While he skinned the deer with a flint knife… she added more wood to the fire and prepared the roasting stick… greasing it with bear fat that she had enhanced with wild herbs. She favoured the mint that grew close to the cave. She gathered it in the Green Season, along with other herbs… then dried them and stored them for use in the White Season. The Others never came during the White Season… the white was too deep for them to get through and they didn’t have fur on their skin to keep them warm.
But this was the Green Season. If they were coming… this would be the time. She thought back to her youth… when the Others had come with every Green Season. And they had been forced to spend much of their time hiding and keeping watch. She knew that no Great One had ever been killed or captured but they had changed location many times.
It would have been easy to put a stop to it if they had killed the Others when they first came… but that was not their way. There was space for all living things and one should only kill when necessary… for food. For some reason that she had never understood… the Great Ones had never killed any living thing that walked upright on two feet.
“Grudum! When are you going to stop watching and learn to live in this time? You know there are no Others out there looking for us anymore. They gave up the search long ago.” Her hands worked feverishly, making the speech signs with lightning speed.
“I know,” he signed with a sigh. “But it was so exciting… to lead them astray… to always be one step ahead of them. Sometimes… I miss that.”
She brushed a hand gently down the back of his furry head and nodded towards the young ones. “Are we not enough excitement for you?”
He closed his eyes for a minute, nodding his head. “I do not know why,” he signed slowly, “but they are out there… still far off… but it was their scent I caught on the wind. I do not want to live like long ago. I will watch and… if they come close… we will move.” She-one sighed and nodded her agreement… but she hoped that time would never come again.
