We climbed higher and higher, tramping on until dusk. We made camp near a small gorge. The array of balsam firs hid the moon and emitted a soothing evergreen tang. I reclined on my bed roll and chewed on dried venison. The brothers settled in, bracketing my sides. Their earthy musk enveloped my senses, but no part of them touched me. They wouldn’t, unless I asked. I cherished that trust.
Naalnish murmured through the silence. “We hunt here before daybreak.”
I raised my head. “And what do we hunt?”
“We hunt what is offered. No more.”
I often thought his obtuseness was intentional. Then he laughed, and I was certain.
“The mountain cradles much life, Spotted Wing. It would be a great gift to see the whitetail deer, the raccoon or weasel, the cotton-tail rabbit, and maybe the cave bat. I hope for wild boar or black bear. Whatever we find, we use without waste.”
My jaw dropped. “You eat bear?”
“Sometimes you eat the bear. Sometimes the bear eats you.”
The men chuckled. I fell back on my bed roll with a sigh. That was when I felt it. A shift in the air, in my gut. Something flickered out of the corner of my eye. A neon shape crouched on two legs below a mountain ash twenty yards away.
“We have a visitor.” I gripped a knife in each fist and rolled to the balls of my feet. Four more crept in.
Badger snuffed out the fire and squatted next to me.
“Can you see them?” I whispered through the dark. The flickers moved closer.
“No. I hear them,” he said.
Only a few yards separated us from them. But they were as night blind as my companions.
“There are five,” I said. “They’re close now.”
Badger’s face hovered inches from mine, his eyes wide and calculating. I knew what he planned. Save the damsel. But he’d never seen this damsel fight, didn’t know I wouldn’t need saving.
I turned away from him, lunged at the aphid vaulting toward our huddle, and collided with it in midair. We rolled into a boulder. Its eyes stared without seeing. An easy plunge. I regained the blade. The hole that was its eye spouted black blood.
I pivoted. The others inched toward my friends. I ran toward their glow, took down the next three as easy as the first.
The last one danced around me. I grabbed it, pulled its chest to mine, and tucked my head under the flex of its mandible. The aphid’s oily body slipped free. It shook its head, chin thick with spit.
I fell back, heaved a dagger. The aphid bent with a blur. The knife crashed through the brush. I flung the next two. Missed the kill shot. What the fuck was wrong with me?
One blade left. “Um guys? Now would be a good time to run.”
I jumped on the thing’s chest. Raised the knife. Focused all my strength in that swing. The blade’s momentum ceased. A hit. I slid off the torso, landed beneath it, looked up.
My final blade protruded from its jaw, just above two others in its neck.
The aphid mounted me. I dodged the mouth and angled my body to reach one of the protruding knives.
When Badger jumped on its back, I screamed, “Goddammit. You’re supposed to be running.”
The aphid bucked, crashed Badger into a tree and pinned me to the packed dirt.
Fuck. Had my training waned that much during those restful winter months? Instead of killing it, I needed follow my own advice and fucking run. I dodged its strikes, tried to wiggle free. Just needed my leg—
A shrill ripped from its throat. It crumpled on top of me.
A couple pounding breaths later, I pushed it off. A tomahawk jutted from the back of its head, the blade buried to the hilt. The ax’s owner bent down, copper eyes inches away. The lines around Jesse’s mouth creased with tenderness. With his scowl lifted, his beautiful face radiated. “You all right?”
I blinked through the grime caking my eyes. “Yes.” Ugh, that sounded weak. I coughed, raised my chin. “Yes.” There. Much better.
He wiped the blood from my cheeks and smeared it over his own. “Wanunhecun. I misjudged you.” Then he freed his tomahawk from the aphid skull and stalked into the forest.
My whole body seemed to revolt at my refusal to run after him, but I collected my knives and dealt with it. I still didn’t trust him.
I woke the next morning to Badger chattering on about the prior night. The same noise I fell asleep to. Apparently, not disheartened by my attack on the web of life.
I moaned and gave him a glower he couldn’t misinterpret. “What about the hunt we came for?”
Naalnish eyed me. “There’s a bend in the gorge. We’ll guard while you dip. Then we’re heading back.”
I held my arms in front of me. Dried blood and dirt left only a few patches of visible skin. “No hunt.”