Nerata'ari effortlessly slid through the snow without making more than a whisper of a sound. They were back in a pine forest, the now familiar scents of the snow-blanketed forest filled her nostrils like an old friend. A few songs from the occasional night bird broke the otherwise silent air like a roaring crowd. Shafts of ghostly moonlight shot through the trees like spears haphazardly, giving the forest floor a mosaic pattern of light and darkness. Nerata'ari knew that would be gone soon, the sun would make its entrance, followed by its quick exit a few hours later. She doubted they would find the beast during daylight.
She gave the signal to meet up in a gentle whip-poor-will call. Sekhmet replied with a whip-poor-will call of her own indicating that she acknowledged her and was heading towards the young Oracle. The Goddess had spent the last couple hours about a hundred yards to her left so they could cover more ground but stay close enough to converse via bird calls. They had formulated a plan that only covered night time, but didn't think to plan for daylight hours.
They met up for a minute to discuss a strategy. During the night they had to stalk the beast, but they would change tactics and see if they could catch it sleeping in its lair during the day. If that didn't work they would stake out it's liar to catch it if it returned.
As much as they both wanted to walk hand in hand, or in this case mitten in mitten, they separated, returning to their same distance apart.
Nerata'ari held one spear at the ready, the rest of her weapons slung in their usual places, as she covered another mile looking for any signs of the creature. The moon sank below the horizon with the opposite horizon lightening with the approaching sun. She hadn't caught sight of anything indicating the beast had ever come through here.
They reached the clearing under the wolf's den just before the sunrise. It was a jagged hole three quarters of the way up the hill across from them. In between them and the cave was a bowl shaped valley a few hundred yards in diameter intermittently lined with either hills or forests.
The women circled around the valley, not wanting to stand out in the clearing, reaching the entrance at midday. Nerata'ari examined the tracks in front of the cave while Sekhmet explored some of the cavern. Both women worked in silence, not even communicating with bird calls lest they potentially give away their element of surprise.
Nerata'ari scanned the entire entrance and hill around it. There was one path in the snow leading straight down the hill, then turned right and went into the forest. She could easily see that it had been made at some point before the storm ended yesterday; fresh snow had piled up in it. The beast must be massive to displace this much snow as it walked she thought. Even though the path was easy to spot, it looked as though someone drove a large plow through the valley, she couldn't tell which direction the wolf had gone. Nerata'ari had no choice but to join Sekhmet and admit she was at a loss.
The inside of the cave was slightly warmer, mostly due to lack of wind. Light had such a difficulty penetrating the inky blackness that Nerata'ari would have gotten lost without the mouth of the cave to orient herself. More than once she either kicked a rock or stalagmite. The occasional drop of water hitting the ground was the only sound that accompanied her footfalls.
How the hell are we supposed to hunt in here? she asked herself.
As if to answer, Sekhmet lit a torch to illuminate the cave. It flashed like the sun outside before dying down to the regular glow of a small flame. Nerata'ari winced at the sudden onslaught of light, despite it being thirty yards in front of her. She walked toward her Goddess, who turned toward her in turn.
"He's not here" Sekhmet said matter of factly.
"Plan B then?" Nerata'ari asked.
"Yea. I'll post up in the valley across from where the tracks went. You sit on the back of this hill. We'll be pretty far apart, but we should be able to communicate with our bird calls over that distance. I suspect it'll be back at some point soon."
* * *
Nerata'ari sat in the snow waiting for what felt like days. The sun had set again, but the moon hadn't risen yet. Everything was pitch black. Nerata'ari tried staying alert, but what little shadows she could see played so many tricks on her mind she gave up altogether trying to see anything. The only thing that kept her eyes wide open was the fear of falling asleep.
She relied on her other senses. The wind was blowing at her back, the rustling of branches and her fur coat were the only sounds she could hear. Her nose was so used to sensing only the snow and pine trees that a new smell jolted her like a blow to the face.
Animals she thought to herself. The unmistakable scent of an animal, wet fur, and filth were faint, but they were there. She tried to judge how far away, but there was no way of telling. She listened for all she was worth but couldn't hear a thing.
The wind must be carrying their scent real far if I couldn't hear them approaching she thought to herself.
Or is it the wolf? she asked.
The thought made her spin around, bringing her spear to the ready. She strained every sense she had trying to find the source of the scent. The trees had no branches for the bottom twenty feet or so, but the unobstructed view was pointless if she couldn't see more than thirty feet at most in this darkness.
She switched relying on her eyes as she focused on her hearing. The only new sound was her mittened hands tightening on the shaft of her spear. She calmed herself, began breathing through her mouth, and concentrated on what she could hear. The usual sounds of branches overhead swaying in the wind was the only thing she could hear.
She was about to relax when she heard it. A gentle rush like something walking through the snow, soft at first, but getting louder by the second. Then there were more. Even at a distance, her heightened senses could tell this wasn't one ordinary creature. But she also couldn't tell what it was exactly.
The cascade of sound became a roar. She wondered if she should call Sekhmet. What if this wasn't the beast? She'd feel stupid for for calling her lover. This was her first hunt, her first chance to prove herself to both of them.
No, she'd wait until she knew for sure.
The sound grew stronger. She turned slightly to her left to face the sound head on. She dropped her weight and lowered the back end of her spear, ready for whatever was charging at her.
She could feel the ground trembling under her. She just about changed her mind to call her Goddess. She couldn't handle this on her own.
She inhaled deeply to make the call when the beast crashed through a sapling directly in front of her.
"Shit!" she yelled, startling the reindeer running right at her.
It tried to turn, but skidded and lost its footing, tumbling over once before scrambling to its feet and bolting off into the night to Nerata'ari's left. Two score more were able to learn from the first and turned without difficulty.
"Fucking hell" she said aloud. She was instantly relieved she hadn't called for Sekhmet. She was desperate to make her proud and couldn't possibly see that happening if she was afraid of some reindeer.
She nearly sat down when an idea her her, making her feel completely ashamed for being so stupid: what made them so frightened?
She jumped back up and faced the direction they came from.
Nothing.
There has to be something, they wouldn't run from nothing.
She thought of calling again, uncertainty making her feel inadequate. Negative thoughts began to creep into her head.
I can't handle this.
I never should have agreed to do shit like this.
