Primitive Instinct: The Journey Home

“This makes more sense,” Roar said after we set the third new trap in a different location. “I know it works, but now I understand how it works.”

“It doesn’t work for the larger things, but it does enough to keep us fed if we have a hard time later,” I nodded. “Imagine if it was the sun cycle.”

He was quiet as the three of us walked farther into the woods to set traps and I could feel him looking at me. I set the next trap, and he took my hand in his as we moved along.

“If Ivy is having a kit, you could as well. You won’t be able to hunt much, then,” he said. “The traps, maybe, but...”

“Anything else would be too much,” I nodded. “I’ll be very, very bored until the kit is born, but it’ll be worth it.”

“You could treat the hides. Make leather and skins, even the furs other hunters bring,” he said. “You’re good at it and your lack of fur means you do it faster than any Mapok can and don’t feel overheated like we would.”

“You think so?” I asked him and he nodded.

“During the sun cycles, anyhow. Most treat their own hides during the snow cycle while it’s cold enough to do so without getting too hot,” he said, then gave me a devilish look. “Which doesn’t bother me in the slightest. There are many other things to do during this time.”

I laughed and shook my head.

We finished setting the traps and wandered the woods, not really hunting so much as taking the opportunity as it came up. Roar shot a few baan’tu and some skall and I dragged the sled while Diesel sniffed around. It was a great day, and I couldn’t be happier.

I watched Roar gut another skall as I pulled the sled over to him. Diesel barked in warning and Roar bolted up, his knife in his paw as he looked to me, eyes wide.

There was a twang of a bowstring being released just as Roar started to run and a sharp burning pain in my side and a force that spun me around as I fell into the snow with a grunt.

“Fern!” Roar yelled as Diesel snarled and there was a human-like yelp as my floof took off after the person that had just shot me. “Fern!”

“I’m... I’m okay,” I groaned, rolling over and holding my side.

“You’re bleeding!” he pushed me back to the snow and ripped at the ties holding my shirt together.

I groaned as the freezing cold air hit my body and Roar looked at my side frantically before tucking my shirt back around me.

“It missed,” he said, not even bothering to tie the shirt back together before he scooped me up and held me on his lap, rocking me slightly. “It only cut you.”

“I’m okay, Roar,” I told him, feeling him shaking slightly. “I’m okay.”

“I can’t lose you,” he whispered, his eyes shut tightly.

“I’m right here,” I pulled my glove off and touched his face. He turned into my hand and shuddered before he looked at me. “You’re not going to lose me, Roar. I’m here.”

He took a deep breath and let it out as he hugged me tightly before Diesel’s barking got his attention. With a murderous glare over my shoulder, he quickly tied my shirt back together and pulled my orou skin around me tightly.

“I will have his fur as a trophy for this,” he growled, standing up with me still in his arms.

“Roar,” I said putting my hand on his arm when he put me on my feet.

“Do not try to stop me, Fern,” he looked at me.

“I won’t, but... Don’t let the anger rule you. Please?” I asked him and his jaw ticked before he sighed, letting the tension in his body relax a little bit.

He kissed my forehead before putting his arm around my back, keeping me close as he went to see who Diesel had caught.

“Is that-?”

“Ni’kar’wik,” Roar spat at the male who made weapons for the clan. The same one that had refused to make one for me when I had first come here and nearly got into a fight with Roar. “You should have known better. Diesel’vor’maan should have killed you. It is, after all, his duty as a defender.”

“At least the outsider would be dead!” he growled, and Diesel snarled loudly and snapped his teeth in front of the weapon-makers face.

Roar moved like he was going to kill the other male, but I held on to him and looked up.

“Don’t give,” I told him in English. “He wants.”

I gestured to the ears on my hat and Roar nodded, understanding. The male knew his life was forfeit now that he’d tried to kill me and failed. He was trying to get Roar cast out with a cut ear. Marked as a murderer.

“I won’t,” he told me, and the pinned male growled.

“She’s already spreading her strangeness!” he shouted and tried to get up, but Diesel grabbed his throat and put pressure on his airway until his face turned purple.

“Air,” I told Diesel calmly, when Ni’kar’wik’s eyes started to roll backwards.

The male gasped and coughed when Diesel released him, and air rushed into his lungs again.

“For someone who makes weapons, you don’t know how to use them,” I commented.

“He never could aim,” Roar scoffed. “It’s why he makes the weapons, but he doesn’t use them. Do you have any cording with you?”

“I never leave home without it,” I said, and he walked with me to get my pack from the sled.

“We have to leave sooner than planned,” Roar said softly in my ear so Ni’kar’wik wouldn’t hear. “He never does anything without the chief’s approval.”

“You think he was told to come out here?” I asked and he nodded, taking the cord from me. “Roar, that’s... That’s awful.”

“We’ll start preparing tonight,” he said and then opened my fur to look at my side again. “I won’t be able to start my gifting like I had planned.”

“We need to be safe, first. I understand,” I nodded.

“I want you to see a healer, but... I think we should go back to Ivy for that. I don’t think the healer would be part of this, but... I won’t trust anyone here with your care, except for Hool’gra’nat,” he said and pulled my fur closed again. “Let’s get this over with.”

Roar was not gentle about tying the weapon-maker up and Diesel snarled and growled at him the entire time, standing close to my side as we marched back towards the camp. We left the sled at the tent and Roar looked livid as we went through the tents to the center.

“Murderer!” Roar shouted and roughly shoved the other male into the snow. Roar’s lack of subtly certainly got everyone’s attention, but just in case that went unnoticed, Diesel threw his head back and howled a dark and menacing sound that had my skin prickling.

The chief came out and Roar told what happened and even showed the hole in my orou fur and the bleeding wound on my side. Not many people looked too pleased about this, but I wasn’t sure if they were upset about the actual attempt on my life or that the arrow missed its mark, but there wasn’t much the chief could do besides accept Roar’s demand to have the male’s ear cut. In the end, a notch was made in his ear, since he didn’t actually kill anyone, merely tried to, and he was given one hour to collect his belongings and leave the clan.

The whole hour was spent inside the tent with Roar pacing near the flap, his knife in one hand and his spear in the other. I had managed to talk him out of us going all the way back to Ivy, since I had all of the things here to tend to myself.

It took a lot of talking, but I convinced Roar to come to bed eventually. He made sure to rearrange things, though, because he truly no longer trusted anyone here besides Hool’gra’nat.

I woke to find the coals low in the pit and heard voices inside speaking softly as movement accompanied it.

“You will get into trouble,” Roar said quietly.

“I killed a pulak earlier. The blood in the snow will convince anyone. It’s a very old lanka. It can’t pull a full sled, but it will be strong enough to get you where you need to be,” Hool’gra’nat told him. “It isn’t safe here for her, kit, and your actions are proof enough that you care about her enough to have a clan brother cast out. This arrow missed her, but the next one might come for you.”

“They’ll know when they see the tent empty,” Roar told him as more movement met my ears.

“I’ll burn it,” Hool’gra’nat said. “I have boughs lashed to the back of sled to cover your tracks, but you must leave soon.”

“I’ll wake her,” Roar said, and I heard the flap of the tent move. “I know you’re awake.”

“I figured I would not scare him,” I rolled over and looked at the half-packed tent.

“We can’t stay here,” he said, coming to sit beside me when I sat up.

“I know,” I leaned against him and held his paw.

“I’m a warrior, just as I am a hunter, but I can’t fight an entire clan. So, we have to run away,” he said.

“I know you don’t like it. But it’s better to survive and live than to die for nothing,” I said, and he sighed.

“It’s the only way to keep you safe,” he looked at me before holding my face in his free paw. “I thought you were taken from me. My pride will recover from this, but losing you... I don’t think I’d recover from that.”

“I’ll never let myself be taken from you, Roar,” I told him. “We’re going to have a long life together, but right now, Hool’gra’nat is right. There’s no time to waste. The sooner we pack, the sooner we leave and the less likely it’ll be that someone will look for us.”

“Wait,” he put both paws on my face when I tried to get up. “I love you, Fern.”

“I love you, too, Roar,” I smiled and kissed him quickly. “We’ll come back to this once we’re away from here. Start packing.”