The cat crouched, never taking its gaze from Moonrazer’ʹs face. The Warrior prepared for the kill, mimicking the animal’ʹs stance, balancing on the balls of her feet, her knife hand relaxed but ready, the hilt of the hunting blade warm in her fingers.
The number of deer she’ʹd seen that day had been smaller than in previous seasons, so the cat population was growing. Killing this one, barely full grown, would ensure it would not breed and kill the animals so many Sarl depended on for food. The cat was less than six paces from her, and Moonrazer had killed bigger animals at further distances with a single knife throw. She grinned, just slightly. It was a good day indeed.
The long yellow and white fur along this cat’ʹs back rose up just a hair’ʹs breadth, but Moonrazer saw it. She tightened her grip on the knife and held her breath. The cat sprang into the air. Moonrazer waited until just the right instant and hurled the knife toward the cat’ʹs throat.
A full heartbeat went by before she realized that her weapon had missed its mark. She dropped to a crouch and rolled, feeling the claws glance off her leather armor. Quickly, she pulled another knife from her boot and thrust just as the cat sprang at her again, this time hitting the animal in the heart. It was dead before it dropped to the ground.
The Exalted Warrior stared at the animal. She had never missed such a shot in her life. She’ʹd killed her first glacier cat at the age of sixteen blizzards, when she had run away from her aunt’ʹs camp on World Cialo to visit the ancient Sarl home world. The cat’ʹs blood flowed out of the wound and Moonrazer watched it, reassuring herself that the animal was indeed dead.
She’ʹd missed. That thought kept rolling around in her head. In all her years as Exalted Warrior, and for some time before that, she had never missed an animal on a hunt. Why this one? She knew that the anniversary of her birth was approaching. In less than a moon cycle, thirty- nine blizzards of her life would be past. Few Sarl warriors lived to see so many. Was she losing her battle skills? This happened to Sarl warriors after a certain age.
She stood up and pulled the knife out of the cat she’ʹd just slain. A makeshift sled made of the branches cut from nearby trees and the skin of one of the animals she’ʹd killed earlier sat nearby, waiting for her to dress her latest trophy and pile it on with the others. She’ʹd take it back to the village and see that the furs and meat were distributed to families in need.
Just as she finished skinning the cat and rolling the fur into a bundle, she heard the screech above her head. A dr’ʹcala bird, a vicious scavenger, had been drawn by the smell of blood. This bird usually stayed out of sight of predators. Most carrion birds would not attack, but this one was unusually large.
Also, from the motley look of his feathers, he probably had mrefami, a disease that came from eating sick animals. This illness drove the infected animal to a kind of madness. Her hunting had stirred up his desire for carrion, and he would fight her for the carcass at her feet. She watched as the bird soared in a circle above her head, loudly demanding his right to her kill.
However, Moonrazer could see his eyes as he flew closer and closer to her, trying to drive her away from the fresh meat. He would not leave of his own accord, and with his talons and beak designed to tear an animal apart, he could injure her as easily as he could rip the dead cat’ʹs carcass. The bird grew braver, flying close enough to the Exalted Warrior’ʹs head that she could feel the air rush by. She kept her eyes on him as he swooped away and above the trees.
This was sure to be preparation for an attack pass, and she fingered the hilt of her knife and let the adrenaline rush sweep over her. The bird rose to a great height, spun in the air, and dove toward her. She took a deep breath and waited until she could see his eyes clearly. She swung her forearm from the elbow and released the knife at the critical moment. It sank deep into the bird’ʹs neck, and he dropped at her feet.
A chuckle escaped her lips, breaking the silence of the early morning. Her skills were just as sharp as ever. Kneeling down, she finished dressing the carcass to take back to her Tower.