Chapter 9

Trae felt a moment of confusion upon awakening.

Kat had buried her head into his shoulder and somehow slid a leg between his. She had one arm over his waist and he had his top arm over hers. His lower arm had her pulled into his body and her soft hair was tickling his nose.

He smiled as the memories of the night before came back full force. He gently rubbed his hand over her hip and her fine arse. He loved to feel her soft skin under his hand. He was still surprised that she had instigated their joining. Not that he planned to complain. He hoped she instigated a lot more joining between them.

Kat wiggled and snuggled into him a little more. He heard her mumble something. “What was that, my lovely Kat?” he asked as he kept running his hand lightly over her skin.

Kat pulled her head back a bit and sleepily replied, “Potty.”

“Yes, we have a busy day ahead, I suppose we had better move,” he reluctantly answered.

“Don’t want to move but I need the potty,” she grumbled.

Trae chuckled, rolled her onto her back and kissed her. The feel of Kat stretched along his body and under him, gave him other ideas of what he wanted to do.

She giggled and pushed him off. “Later, if you’re lucky,” she said and rolled out of bed. She grabbed the blanket, wrapped it around herself, due to the cool mountain air and hurried barefooted to the door.

Trae reluctantly followed but didn’t bother with covering himself as he enjoyed the briskness of the mountain air. He did grab his bow and quiver before he stepped out into the early morning light. He breathed in deeply and scanned the area around the hut. Kat’s shield protected out about 20m from the buildings and he frowned when he saw the fresh prints.

He walked around inside the shield and could see at least two sets of prints encircling the shielded area. He could see where one of the cuttails had paced back and forth several times in frustration. He also picked up where the prints came out of the tree line and returned.

If they had hunted, they had returned to the trees first. Kat came up behind him and she wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed into his back. He rubbed her folded arms and planned the attack for the day. He turned slowly, so Kat released her grip and he dropped a light kiss on her lips.

She let him go after returning the kiss and headed back into the cabin. Trae went and did his business and then checked on the lankys. He topped up their water and feed bags before heading back into the cabin.

Kat had gotten the wood burning stove stoked up and had the kaffe pot back on it. Trae helped her decide what they would have for breakfast, while they waited for the water to heat. The side tank was at least tepid, so they filled a wash bowl and bathed each other before dressing.

They both wanted to return to the bed but knew there were other things they had to do before their pleasure took precedence. They ate quickly and Trae finally got his kaffe. While he drank it, he taught Kat how to string her bow and the basic parts of it.

They went outside and Trae picked a spot to teach her to shoot it. At first, he had her only 10m from the side of the hut. He guessed the herders might not be happy with her shooting at it but until she gained a little accuracy, he didn’t want her shooting down the paddock where he would have to fetch the arrows.

After six shots, Trae moved her back another 10m. She picked up how to notch and fire the arrows amazingly fast. He wasn’t sure how well she would go against a moving target but he planned to have her high in a tree and out of harm’s way.

Young cuttails could climb amazingly well but older animals not as well or as high. Older animals liked to use ledges or sneak attacks. They were fast off the paw but they didn’t fare well over long distances.

Cuttails preferred to hunt in the forested hills or in shrubby areas and not the open plains like their cousins the catalos. Trae had seen pictures of the big tawny cats but they didn’t live on the islands. He had enough problems with cuttails.

Trae made sure their packs were full and that they were appropriately armed before they set off in pursuit of their prey.

Trae tracked the cuttails.

As he had feared, they were less than a half an hour of walking from the hut. They had found a cave about 20m higher in the small mountain, which was more heavily forested than the lower slopes they had been climbing. The mountain had several levels as it slowly climbed to the sky.

The cave was on an outcrop of rocks that the trees had trouble taking root in. From what Trae could see as he worked his way up to it, it didn’t have a large opening. It appeared that a small slide had exposed an old lava tube sometime in the past. A trickle of water dribbled down the slide from the little ledge.

Trae determined that the slide had been partially washed away when they got heavier rain and the trickle wouldn’t stay small if they got more rain. He knew that cave mouths could be deceptive and that the cavern had to be larger for two full grown cuttails to be using it.

He picked two trees just to the east and downwind of the cave mouth. Quietly, he showed Kat how to attach climbing spikes and demonstrated how to use them to get up a tree a bit faster. He felt better once Kat was high in the tree. This one didn’t have any limbs for the first 5m making it a good tree for her to be in.

He then climbed his tree until he had a better look into the cave and a branch he could straddle. It wasn’t as wide as he would like and he decided to flip the holding rope he sometimes used over the branch above him before tying it to around his waist.

He checked on Kat and was pleased she too had used the rope. She had a better seat than he did but he was hoping they wouldn’t be here for too long. Once settled, he prepared his bow and made sure his quiver was positioned so he could draw fresh arrows from it.

He checked the cave. Not seeing any movement, he quietly removed his water bottle and took a long drink from it. As he was putting it back, sunshine lit up the tiny ledge. They waited for just over half an hour for the ledge to have been warmed a little.

One of the cuttails emerged from the low entrance of the cave and proceeded to stretch out onto the ledge with its front paws hanging over the edge. Trae ran an expert eye over the animal. It wasn’t overfed from what he could see. It was in fact, very thin, even for this late in winter.

The male was just past his prime and one of his long canines had been broken at some stage. Trae knew that its loss would reduce his ability to puncture the hide of his kill. Trae could see white flecks in his coat and around his muzzle. He wasn’t exactly mangy but he had seen better days.

Trae was debating taking him out when the second male emerged. He looked a bit better fed but not by much. He was also the younger of the two males. As he walked over to the first male, he limped with one of the hind legs. Trae couldn’t see an obvious wound but he did notice a thickening in the knee of the left hind leg.

Trae guessed he had injured it in the past. If he couldn’t run fast, it would limit his abilities. Trae now understood why the males had teamed up. The second male licked one of the ears of the first male. The prone male lifted his rump and his tail flicked to the side. The younger male straddled him and gently grabbed his scruff.

Trae looked over at Kat. She looked wide-eyed at the two males, put a hand over her mouth and then looked at Trae. He grinned back at Kat. Trae was in two minds of what to do. He decided there was no harm in letting them have one last fuck.

Kat and Trae patiently waited for the younger male to finish. They heard the older male grunt and finally, the younger slid off him and lay down beside him still panting. Trae readied his arrow and then stopped. He looked over at Kat in exasperation.

The older male was now having his turn. Kat was trying not to giggle. She hoped Trae could shoot both of them because she couldn’t. Again, they waited. The old boy was a bit quicker than the younger one and he was soon lying beside his mate.

Trae felt bad about what he had to do. He had suspected that one of them was injured by the prints. He knew that with them both being unable to hunt their normal prey they would keep going after humans. He had little choice in this matter. Saddened, he sucked in a breath and let his first arrow fly.

The second was winging its way to its target only a few seconds after the first. He readied the third arrow but lowered his bow moments later. His arrows had done their work quickly and he was glad that the animals didn’t suffer.

He released his rope, set his bow in its customary position over his head and climbed down the tree. Kat slithered down her tree and followed him up the narrow trail to where the cuttails where lying. Trae wasn’t surprised that they were both dead.

Kat had watched both shots. She was amazed by how calm Trae had been. His speed, his deadly accuracy and the placement of the shoots acknowledged his ability as a hunter. She had no doubt that all of the pelts she had seen in his wagon were from his actions.

She had noted the sad look on his face before he took the first shot and was pleased that he did it out of a sense of duty and not because he relished killing things. He had told her it was his job and he treated it as such.

Kat watched as Trae slit the throats of the two cuttails and then went to check the cave.

Trae had learnt that he could use his wand like a torch.

He removed it from his side, turned it around and had it light up. As he suspected the cavern was a lot larger inside. The smell indicated cuttails had been using it for a while. He ventured further into the cavern.

About 5 m into the rock-strewn cavern, he heard a small noise and, as he turned to the sound, he felt a small body barrel into his shoulder. He fell and dropped the wand, as the snarl blew hot breath into his face while sharp little claws dug into his shoulder.

He smacked against a larger rock. Reaching around with his other hand, he grabbed the scruff of the cub that was trying to gnaw on his shoulder and neck. The cub growled but it was forced to release him when he twisted its scruff. He held the cuttail cub away from his face. He was glad it only had its baby teeth.

It still had its claws extended but the cub’s instinct to curl into a ball when its mother grabbed it by the scruff had kicked in. Trae examined it. He suspected the male was about ten weeks old. It shouldn’t have even been weaned yet.