Matabar Chapter 6 - Little Hunter

The wind stirred up whirlwinds of snow, twisting it into spirals, or sotis spreading it out wide like sheets, covering the mountain paths and hiding the sharp stones that seed eager to trip an unwary traveler.

Ergar did not stumble.

His powerful paws moved over the loose surface of the snow with the sa ease with which a water strider skims the surface of an undisturbed lake. His tails, lowered to the ground, swept away the barely perceptible tracks he left in his wake. He moved smoothly, yet firmly and confidently, always choosing a path where the wind would blow directly into his face.

Their path was anything but straightforward. It ford an intricate pattern of twists, turns, jumps, descents, and climbs. And every ti Ardi thought he had finally spotted a landmark ahead, hoping they would soon reach it, Ergar would change direction, turning what had at first seed like a five-minute walk into a twenty-minute trek.

Unlike the snow leopard, the boy had neither the bulging muscles that allowed the beast to leap several ters in a single bound, nor the long tails that helped him balance even on the thinnest ledges that hung over bottomless chasms, nor a warm fur coat.

Ardi was a tough child. In the past, as soon as the first cold snap arrived, his grandfather, with Hector’s reluctant consent, would take him to bathe in the icy stream every morning, noon, and night, and leave him to dry in the wind afterwards.

But no icy stream, even in the harshest of winters when the house was unable to protect them from the biting cold, could compare to the winds of the Alcade during winter.

Ardi rembered so of his grandfather’s stories about disobedient children of the Matabar tribe who, after going for a walk along the mountain paths, had never returned ho and remained frozen forever, acting as ice sculpture guardians of the secret paths.

Just as he thought of this, another gust of wind swirled the snow around him, enveloping the boy in a cold, white blanket. Ardi shivered, his breaths coming in short, ragged gasps as he tried to warm himself while wearing tattered rags unsuitable even for a milder season. Suddenly, he realized he couldn’t move.

His fingers wouldn’t obey him, and as for his legs... He’d forgotten the last ti he’d felt them, or anything below his waist, for that matter.

With great difficulty, Ardi stretched his hands out in front of him. Before, he hadn’t noticed any of this — he had simply not seen it. But now, through the veil of snow or whatever it was, he saw his hands trembling and sothing black clinging to his skin. He tried to brush it off, which made him scream in pain and almost fall into the snow. Barely able to stay on his feet, Ardi looked down at his legs — the blackness had already crept up to his knees.

"Ae... r..." Every sound that ca from the boy’s cracked, bloodied lips sounded like a broken rattle being shaken by a careless toddler.

The snow leopard in front of him stopped. He turned his head and, with a twitch of his whiskers, walked calmly back to Ardi. Stepping lightly over the snowy ridges, he reached the child, who was now waist-deep in snow.

Silently, with only a slight squint in his eyes, he wrapped his tail around the boy and pulled him out of the icy trap, laying him down on the snow beside him.

"C... c..." Ardi’s teeth chattered so violently that he feared they would shatter against each other. Just before... just before Ergar had taken him, Ardi had lost a few teeth, much to the joy of his mother and grandfather, but the stern disapproval of his father. And now he feared that sothing was about to happen that shouldn’t.

"It’s not you who’s cold, cub," the snow leopard said, sitting mockingly in front of the freezing boy, "it’s the human in you."

The sound of his voice reached Ardi as if it were coming from very far away. It was lost in the howling wind, the crunching snow and ice, and the echoes that danced along the rare few ridges of black stone that jutted from the frozen landscape. They beckoned to Ardi, encouraging him, luring him forward, but he only sank deeper and deeper into a cold that he... almost didn’t feel anymore.

The boy’s body relaxed. His eyelids grew heavy, and he drifted into what felt like the warm embrace of wind and snow.

"I am human," the child might have thought, or maybe he even said it.

Ergar’s silhouette seed blurry and indistinct to him, as if seen through a rain-slicked window.

"Only half of you is, cub," ca the distant voice. "Do you know why the Matabar gave us their children only after six winters have passed? It’s because of your fangs, Ardan."

The words were lost sowhere in the warm mist of oblivion, but the boy’s na wrapped around him and pulled him back into the light. Again, the wind bit at his cheeks and ears, and the cold burned his blackened flesh.

"You cannot survive without fangs on snowy trails, in deep forests, or near lakes and rivers," Ergar’s voice stung the boy’s mind like a hundred biting mosquitoes, forcing him to stay on the surface and not let himself sink into warm oblivion. "In the few moons you’ve spent here, boy, you’ve grown them out. They may be weak right now, unreliable, but they are still fangs of Matabar blood from the Egobar line. Hunters of the snowy paths."

Ardi tried desperately to escape, to wriggle out of the grip of his na and the snow leopard’s voice, but he couldn’t. Instead of warmth and sleep, he was floating in a sea of cold and pain.

"Look, little hunter, and watch carefully," a small shard of ice appeared in front of the boy’s face. He could barely recognize himself in its reflection. His face, stung by icy bees, was swollen and red; his lips were chapped and blue; the hair on his head, his eyelashes and his eyebrows looked more like icicles. "Look..."

One of Ergar’s tails lifted the boy’s upper lip. It burst like an overripe tomato, making the boy howl and nearly choke on his own blood, which was so hot it seed to lt his flesh.

And there, in the reflection of the ice shard, Ardi saw new teeth among his own. No, he’d had fangs before. His father had called them baby teeth, and his grandfather had called them human teeth. Well, they weren’t like Hector’s or Grandpa’s even now, but they still reminded him of theirs. They weren’t as long, not as sharp, but they were definitely much heavier and more pronounced than before. Strong enough to pierce a hide, tear through flesh, and sever an artery.

"You have sothing of the hunters in you," Ergar said with a weary sigh. "Or perhaps the spirits of the past are too stupid to see otherwise..."

Ergar’s tail moved from the boy’s face to his chest, wrapped around it tightly, and lifted him up.

"Co, little hunter, it’s ti you t your other half."

For a mont, Ardi felt like he was flying. Mountain peaks passed by, flitting like birds among the frozen clouds. What had been loose snow, filled with countless traps, beca solid ground, and icy needles turned into waving grass. It wasn’t until the pain eased and the warmth of the snow leopard slowly brought him back to his senses that he realized they weren’t flying at all.

Ergar was running.

Running so lightly and swiftly that even the eagles soaring overhead seed like lazy flies in comparison. The snow leopard bounced off the smallest stone ledges, descended along paths so narrow they wouldn’t hold the blade of a knife, and his paws never sank more than a few inches into the snow. The softest and steepest slopes were no more challenging for him than a flat, straight path.

They climbed higher and higher until they suddenly stopped.

"Look, Ardan," a deep growl sounded.

And Ardi looked.

Stone waves swirled between lands of cumulus and storm clouds. Enveloped in snow and caressed by harsh winds, like lifeless sculptures frozen in the eternal embrace of the sky, only the setting sun, not yet hidden by the dusk of the approaching night, generously gave its love and warmth to this land.

A pink-gold light spread out among the high azure, pouring down in a fiery rain of burning rays upon what had seed dead just monts before, and was now blossoming, hungry for every breath of life.

Ardi saw strange and beautiful creatures, he saw plants that could only exist in his dreams and fantasies. Even the stones and rocks, the snow and ice, suddenly seed alive to him...

It was as if the things he had always found simple and ordinary before, though beautiful, had been suddenly imbued with sothing from Grandpa’s old stories. Sothing with a mysterious, sowhat frightening, but oh so interesting na — magic.

"Lenos, Guardian of the Southern Gates," the snow leopard said calmly. "What brings you here in the dead of winter?"

Lenos remained silent. Instead of answering, he just thumped the ground with his hoof and, looking over Ergar’s shoulder at the boy pressed into the snow, he said, "He tried to kill my daughter, Ergar. Step aside and let my hooves crush his bones and my horns tear his flesh apart."

Lenos was about to move when a growl, deeper and longer than any Ardi had ever heard before, literally shook the rocks. They rumbled and shed part of their icy caps. Snow swirled in the sky, forming dozens of long, thin icicles that rained down on Lenos without touching his fur, forming a shimring palisade.

"You think this will stop , older brother?"

"It won’t," the snow leopard laid down on the ground, demonstratively relaxing. Blood still dripped from his whiskers and fur. "But it will remind you, Lenos, that we have the right to satisfy our hunger."

"And we have the right to defend our lives!" The ibex bellowed, stomping the ground again, causing the grass and flowers beneath his hooves to rise and shatter the icicles.

"But I don’t seem to recall, wise Guardian, the Queens ever allowing us to interfere with the paths of the lesser ones," Ergar yawned lazily, even mockingly, baring his crimson fangs. "Or should I ask one of the courtiers to diate?"

Lenos thumped his hoof again, then snorted so hard that the cloud of steam from his wide nostrils lted the surrounding snow, exposing the black stones beneath.

"If they hear us," the ibex replied with an equal amount of derision, then straightened and gave the boy a quick, scornful glance. "He stinks of man and iron, Ergar. I did not think that one whose na I hear among the mountain storms would ever fall so low."

With that, Lenos turned and... dove into the grass. Ardi would’ve rubbed his eyes if he could move his hands. He couldn’t tell whether this was an illusion or not, but it seed as if Lenos had just jumped headfirst into the flowers like a trout and disappeared into the small adow.

"Can you stand, cub?" Ergar asked, towering over the boy.

The boy tried to stand, but only groaned in pain as the liquid fire spread throughout his body.

The snow leopard growled in displeasure.

"What a disgrace to the hunters’ paths," he muttered, but then gently and carefully wrapped the boy in his tails — eliciting another groan — and laid him on his back. In a few leaps, he returned to the plateau, grabbed the still warm ibex carcass by its scruff, and raced back to the cave. The boy, who was now lying on the snow leopard’s broad, fluffy, warm back, glanced behind them at where the adow was already iced over. For the first ti in a long ti, he realized how long it had been since he had last seen the forest.

***

Ardi was awakened by hunger. It was a strange feeling, like there was a hole in his stomach that was gradually sucking in his entire body and then his thoughts. When the sll of blood and at reached his nose before he could see anything, he grabbed a bone and tore into what was left on it without any conscious thought.

At that mont, neither the dull ache in his ribs, nor his bloodied knees and elbows, nor the torn skin on his shoulders bothered him. Gnawing at the warm flesh, choking on the oozing blood, tearing at the fibers with his teeth, and ripping into the sinews, Ardi didn’t stop until he had sucked the marrow from the bone he had smashed against a rock.

But even then, the hunger inside him only eased a little. He still wanted to eat.

Scanning the cave with his eyes, he saw Ergar gnawing at the last bone. The boy, not knowing why, pressed himself against the wall and began to circle around the snow leopard and his prey. When he found himself behind Ergar, he was just about to leap onto the creature’s back when he received a sharp blow to his stomach from the beast’s tail.

Falling to his knees and panting, Ardi slowly regained his senses.

Had he really been about to attack the snow leopard?

"And that’s your third lesson for today, little hunter," the snow leopard said mockingly, spitting out the bone. "Now be so kind as to tell what you’ve learned today, cub."

Catching his breath, Ardi managed to sit up, and leaning on Ergar’s paw, which radiated warmth and was much softer than the rocks, he began.

"Don’t chase after prey."

Ergar nodded and added, "If you know you can’t catch it. If you can’t kill with the first strike, retreat. Don’t waste your strength. Good, cub. What else?"

Ardi thought back on the day. It seed longer than his whole life thus far. So much had happened. So many strange, wonderful and... incredibly interesting things had happened!

"Always hunt at the water," he continued, though not very confidently, with a hint of a question in his tone.

"If you always hunt at the water, they’ll stop coming there. No, cub, think harder."

The boy mulled it over. What had happened today that had made his hunt fail? He had been fast — much faster than the Ardi he had known for the past six years. His sense of sll had allowed him to distinguish even the finest details of the rich scents in the air. And his eyes... it seed as if he had been half asleep before, and now, after washing his face with cold water, he was fully awake, seeing everything clearly.

And yet, Ardi had...

"Prey... does not want to be caught."

"And..." Ergar prompted.

"I’m... not the... best hunter."

"Not yet the best," Ergar stressed. "The more you hunt, cub, the better your skills will beco, and your fangs will grow sharper and your claws faster. Never let a full stomach and an abundance of ga and water make you feel on top. Always be vigilant, especially of yourself. You’re not just hunting ga, boy, you’re hunting hunger, and believe , it’s trickier and more cunning than any squirrel."

A squirrel... Skusty... A few thoughts popped into Ardi’s head, but they were quickly drowned out by Ergar’s voice.

"And the third lesson, Ardan, the most important you’ve learned today."

The boy looked at the purple bruise on his side, at the small red stripe on his chest, and then at the long fangs of Ergar. The sticky fingers crawled over the boy’s body again.

"Choose prey that matches your strength," Ardi whispered.

"Correct, cub," Ergar growled, then turned to face the entrance of the cave. He gazed at the horizon, which was blossoming with scarlet and pink. "And that’s the only rule you’ll have to break when the ti cos."

The boy wanted to ask sothing then, but instead of the question on the tip of his tongue, he asked another:

"Do the Sidhe really exist?"

Ergar twitched his tail and turned to face the boy. His blue eyes narrowed slightly, making the mighty predator look like a playful house cat.

"Why do you think they shouldn’t exist, little hunter?"

Ardi replied with all the surety and reason of a six-year-old, "Because Grandpa told stories about them."

For a mont, the walls of the cave shook with the rhythmic growl that ca in waves. Ardi had never heard a snow leopard laugh before, and at first, he was a little frightened.

But Ergar kept laughing until he nearly fell off his customary perch. He regained his composure and resud his favorite lazy reclining position.

"Yes, Ardi, they do exist. But don’t ask how to call upon them, or more importantly, how to find them."

"Why?"

"Because Lenos is right — you still sll of humans and iron. And to the Sidhe, as to any Fae, there’s no worse sll than the sll of iron."

The boy nodded. Grandfather had told him sothing similar.

"Now go, cub, play while I nap," Ergar closed his eyes. "When the Spirit of the Day goes to rest, we’ll hit the hunting trails again, but this ti, if you miss, I won’t share my catch with you."

Ardi spent the entire evening running and jumping around the cave and even beyond it, delighted at how responsive his body was and how quick and easy his movents were. He darted through the Foyer, soared to the top of the Attic, and when he got tired, he lay down on the sun-ward rocks and chewed on so snow. The icy water ran down his throat and lips, tickling and prickling his body.

In the evening, Ergar took him on another hunt. But once again, the boy failed to catch his prey, which had been a mountain goat this ti. And so he had to go to bed with an empty stomach. On the second day, they encountered a young snow leopard who challenged Ardi, but Ergar said the cub was too small and would accept the challenge when he grew his fangs and claws out properly. The other snow leopard didn’t dare argue, but refused to share a path with him.

This was Ardi’s fourth lesson — sotis, you have to fight for your prey.

Three more days passed in the sa manner. On the fourth day, the boy began to feel the hunger consuming him, but he knew he shouldn’t tell Ergar — the snow leopard had already said he wouldn’t share his prey with him.

Using the snow leopard’s lessons, the boy managed to catch a plump, unsuspecting bird resting on a ledge. This beca his first kill, which he hastened to boast about to Ergar. The snow leopard even nodded in approval, but imdiately added sternly that such kills were the lot of old and weak hunters. That didn’t stop the boy from devouring his dinner, though.

It was not until the end of his second week of hunting that the boy finally managed to catch a small goat. And as his body pinned the creature to the rocks as his hands wrapped around its neck, the young hunter no longer had any doubts.

He was hungry.

He had found food.

He had caught it in a fair contest of speed and agility.

Now it was his dinner.

Small hands twisted the tiny neck of the goat, and the hunter sank his fangs into its hard skin. As he bathed in warm blood and tore at its flesh, he was too engrossed to notice Ergar sitting higher up the slope, smiling broadly.

And that was how Ardi spent his first winter in the Alcade Mountains: hunting, playing gas and talking with the snow leopard.