A New Woman

All was not well at the Foothold camp. It was a small outpost that housed a modest force of guards and a whole host of carpenters, stone masons, and other laborers. It was also the temporary home of Rosha, an old hunter who was brought on to work as a guard. Due to her knowledge of the wilderness surrounding Foothold, Rosha was invaluable to the village planners that originally staked out the future village. Everything had been routine and simple for the inhabitants of Foothold, but as the trees began shedding leaves for winter life grew more difficult. 

Beasts had been growing bolder, especially as more guards arrived to protect the growing workforce at Foothold. At first it was just a few curious wolves and deer seeing what the strange animals were doing. Something changed though, and curiosity quickly  turned to aggression. Guards and workers were being attacked every few days; sometimes no more than a bite, other times they had to clean up after a brutal mauling. 

Rosha had been pulled off of hunting duty to fortify the underwhelming defense. Whereas the captain used to let animals come and go, they were now slaughtering anything that came within fifty feet of the camp perimeter. Rosha felt that this needless violence would only cause further issues. She argued to her captain that the more they killed, the angrier the beasts would get, but the captain was a simple man with a simple task.

“You know I have orders. Our priority,” the Captain said as he gestured behind him, “is the safety of all these workers. There will be families here soon and they need peace of mind.”

Rosha observed the treeline out in the distance. “Peace of mind for us shouldn’t mean death to all of them. You’re kicking a hornet’s nest here and I don’t want to be around when everything goes to shit.”

The Captain stared at Rosha in disbelief. “Surely you aren’t considering abandoning your post? You know what happens to–”

“Of course I know!” Rosha snapped. “I would never leave a job without a damn good reason. It’s just…” Rosha trailed off, not knowing how to say it out loud. 

The Captain crossed his arms. “Well what are you saying, hunter?”

Rosha gathered her thoughts for a moment, closed her eyes, then calmly spoke, “I think I have a spiritual objection to our actions here.” The words felt strange to her, but it was the truth. She felt deep within her soul that she was doing wrong by the forest and its denizens, and she had a faint feeling that she owed someone or something an apology.

This confession hung in the air as the Captain stared in disbelief. Neither he nor the hunter seemed willing to break the silence. It didn’t help that Rosha had been practicing this conversation in her head for days. It sounded so rehearsed, she couldn’t blame him for what he said next.

“Th-that makes no sense. You are the least pious person in this camp, and that includes the drunks and lechers I  round up on a weekly basis,” he half-laughed as he ran his hand through his hair. 

“Sir, I can’t shake the feeling that what we’re doing is wrong. Or maybe it’s just me that’s wrong, but I feel-.” 

“And I have a feeling that you’re full of it” the Captain snapped as he regained his composure. “Objection denied, Rosha. You’re staying here until your contract is up.” The Captain turned and walked back towards the center of camp. Rosha stayed still and continued staring in silence at the treeline long after he left. 

Her gaze lingered on spots she remembered well. That’s where she put down a wounded black bear that maimed  some carpenters out for a walk. Didn’t even use the poor thing, Captain just had us toss it on the fire like all the others. 

She let her gaze wander to the remains of a bonfire in the distance. Beyond that was the site of a messy skirmish with a trio of aggressive wolves that had been chasing prey too close to camp. She had to rush out with her knife drawn to help rescue a drunken guard who thought too highly of his own ability. Rosha shook her head sadly and started back towards her post. 

Around sunset, Rosha was standing guard and teaching the newer recruits how to tell whether animals were being curious or aggressive. It was a doomed attempt at curbing their aggression, which seemed to be drilled into them by the Captain when they arrived. When she wasn’t sharing her insights, Rosha was ruthlessly insulting the recruits from Homestead to the delight of veterans who had been at camp just as long as she. 

“Look at this little twig! I didn’t know they were sending kids now!” Rosha was practically shouting by this point, aided in no small part by the wine they often snuck to the perimeter.

After her third or fourth jab at a red-faced soldier who couldn’t be more than 17, Rosha suddenly stood up straight and stared into the forest. The veterans snapped to attention and drew their weapons; Rosha’s instincts were almost as good as the animals she hunted. 

A gnarled claw emerged from the shadowy woods, followed by the hulking mass of a strange looking animal. Rosha was puzzled; she had been traveling and hunting her entire life but never once seen a creature like this. It had antlers and hooves like an elk, but the shaggy face, beady black eyes and thick fur made it seem more like a grizzly bear. It ambled forward slowly on four legs, sniffing with a pointed snout and snapping its jaws when it saw the guards in the distance. It was a few feet taller than the average grizzly and had a long tail, almost canine in appearance. 

“What the hell is that?” stammered one of the veterans. 

“I don’t..” Rosha trailed off. She had a strange feeling that this was more than just an animal wandering out of the woods. “I don’t know. Never seen anything like it”

The creature sat on its back legs and got comfortable. Nobody made a sound, which meant Rosha could clearly hear the hammering and shouting of workers toiling by torchlight. The creature looked around once more, almost like it was studying the landscape, and then looked up and let out a long, low howl. 

The treeline erupted. Wolves and cougars rushed towards the camp first. Behind them were a handful of grizzly bears, elk, and strange looking things that were moving too fast to be seen. Eagles led hawks, falcons, owls, and even vultures overhead. It seemed like the whole forest had been roused into action solely on the Grizzly-elk’s command. 

“The Captain! Someone fetch the Captain!” shouted one guard as he drew his bow and picked off one of the front runners. 

Other guards began drawing their weapons and preparing for the tidal wave of animals, but Rosha was frozen in place, locking eyes with the grizzly-elk hybrid. I shouldn’t be here, she thought. I was never supposed to be here. 

“Rosha, what are you doing? Start shooting or we’re dead!”

In a daze, Rosha dropped her arms to her side and began walking away from the line of guards, her bow firmly fixed to her back. She was slowly making her way towards the charging mass of wildlife. Guards screamed at her to get back and help. The Captain arrived and started shouting something about deserting, but Rosha couldn’t hear. Her focus narrowed on the distant grizzly-elk. I need to reach her, Rosha thought as the animals flew past. 

Behind her, the camp was being overrun. The larger predators were tearing into the guards while the smaller creatures were ripping open bags and chewing through ropes. At one point the Captain screamed and nocked an arrow to take a shot at Rosha’s back, but an eagle swooped in and raked his face with its talons. He cried out and staggered back, ordering the panicked guards to retreat. 

They were losing their resolve; some threw down their arms and fled, and many workers followed suit. As the occupants of the Foothold camp fled south, Rosha continued north until she reached the Grizzly-elk and sank to her knees in front of the beast.

“I’m sorry” she said as she lowered her head. “We must have really pissed you off to deserve all this”

The beast snorted and stood up. It sniffed the back of Rosha’s head and made a sound that felt to the hunter like a warning. When she raised her head to look up at it, Rosha again locked eyes with the beast. What do I do now?, she thought. 

In the blink of an eye Rosha felt the beast lash out and claw her chest. The force of the blow knocked her to the ground and took her breath away. As she lay there gasping for air and waiting for death, the beast leaned over and looked down at her. Rosha winced when it lowered its head to hers, but all she felt was a wet nose and a big tongue. It nuzzled her chin, licked her cheek, and then disappeared into the forest.

Rosha passed out from the pain. The clamor had died down, and most of the forest dwelling creatures had left after the remaining guards either died or fled. Hours later into the night, she regained consciousness.

Why? Why didn’t it kill me? 

She sat up and checked her chest. The claws left deep red lines from her collarbone down across to her armpit. The bleeding had stopped but Rosha could tell it would hurt for a long time to come. She got up and went to look for some herbs to dull the pain. 

As she gathered medicinal plants and took water from a nearby stream, Rosha looked out from the trees to the ruined camp. Everything was in disarray; smashed crates littered the ground, weapons were strewn everywhere, and half-finished buildings marred the landscape. She almost felt like salvaging, but something held her back. Just like she felt compelled to apologize to the Grizzly-elk, now she felt that same urge telling her to head deeper into the forest and north towards the mountains. 

Rosha had been wandering north for weeks. As the grass underfoot turned to marsh and mud, she suffered flashes of memories that pushed her farther and farther from the settlements she once called home. Violence, aimlessness, and an overwhelming regret. 

Her foot sank ankle deep in the mire and she tripped face-first into the mud.  Covered in filth, she laughed and rolled over to look at the sky. 

“This your way of telling me to look where I’m going?” Rosha asked. 

No answer, but she was okay with that. Rosha was still new to the whole spiritual thing anyway, it was far too soon to demand answers from a higher power. 

It was bitterly cold and the moon was dim, but the old hunter had never felt better. Freedom, regardless of its cause, was always a good thing in her book. She felt better laying in mud in the middle of nowhere than she ever had in the service of the builders and guard captains of her former home. An owl hooted in the distance as a biting wind set the trees whispering.

Guess I’ll keep moving till I’m supposed to stop, Rosha thought as she again gave thanks to nothing in particular.

She heaved a contented sigh and jumped up to brush herself off. The hunter had a duty to find out what these forests wanted to teach her. Plus, there was no telling how many guards would come looking to make an example out of a deserter or how soon they would catch up. 

Inevitably, marsh and mud turned to patchy snow and ice. Rosha knew that approaching Mt. Pessimist this close to winter meant difficult terrain and the constant risk of hypothermia, but to turn back was unthinkable. For the first time in her life she was moving forward with no clue of where she would be next, which may have been the first time she ever had faith in something other than her own strength. As snow crunched under her boots and the sun began peeking over the horizon, Rosha looked up once more and said, “Thanks. I needed this.”