Page 68 of Circle of Days
“Why?” Lali wondered. She had recovered from her grief.
“There are usually bugs under the bark of a dead tree. Bears like to eat them.”
They walked on. Gida said: “The bear has probably been living someplace that ran out of water, and it moved to this wood in desperation. It obviously drinks from our pond.”
Lali said: “I’m never going to that pond again.”
Bez said: “Let’s take a look.”
When they got there, they studied the mud at the edge of the water, looking for prints. Gida showed Lali the marks of deer and fox. Then she said: “Aha! Here it is.”
The print of the bear paw in the mud was not unlike that of a rather broad human foot, with five toes. But in front of the toe marks were small, distinctive claw marks.
Bez frowned. “The wide foot suggests a full-grown animal, but the print is not deep. He’s not very heavy, probably because he isn’t getting enough to eat.”
Gida said: “He’s lost a claw, look.”
Lali bent down. “Oh, yes! The little toe on the left foot.”
“Probably in a fight, or maybe just an accident.”
Lali was surprised. “What creature fights a bear?”
“Another bear, sometimes—in a quarrel over a female, perhaps. Or it could have been a boar. Those creatures will fight anything.”
Bez said: “We have to tell the others.”
“Yes,” said Gida. “Let’s ask everyone to come together at suppertime to discuss this.”
Lali said: “What are we going to discuss?”
“How to catch this bear and kill it,” said Bez.
The hunt took place on the following day.
The entire population got up at dawn. Bez could not count them—woodlanders were not good at numbers—but they were surely enough to kill a bear.
Bez was eager. A big bear could feed the village for a week—if they could catch it.
It could also kill someone with one sweep of its massive paw.
The village was near the Break. The pond was west of the village. The dead puppy had been farther west again. That made sense. The bear would choose to stay away from humans, and would want to get to water without passing the village.
They had agreed on their plan the previous evening. It wasbased on the way they organized a deer hunt. They spread out across the width of the wood: men, women, children, and dogs, all both excited and scared. Bez and Fell were close to the center of the line, Gida and Lali with them. Two experienced hunters, Omun and Arav, were on the wings, the ends of the line.
Woodlander society had no leaders. There were no elders, no Big Man; no one had the right to give orders to anyone else. But there were always strong personalities. Bez and Gida told people what to do only when asked—but that happened quite a lot.
Fell’s dog was with them. All dogs looked like small wolves, but Fell’s was larger than most, with a heavy coat of fur. The herders named their dogs, but woodlanders did not: they thought it was silly.
The hunting party moved forward at a steady pace, unhesitating despite the danger. Everyone could see at least one other hunter, so they were able to stay roughly in line. This was also reassuring. No one wanted to be alone when they saw the bear.
They moved as quietly as they could, and the dogs were trained not to bark until they scented prey. The quarry would hear them coming, of course—animals had good ears—but the later the better.
Bez and Fell and many other hunters had bows and arrows. Others had clubs and axes. The children would throw stones.
They passed the pond, and Lali proudly pointed out the paw prints to Fell. A little farther they saw the droppings and the dead tree with its bark stripped. The bear was a presence now, somewhere in their wood, lurking, threatening.
As they pressed on, Bez kept his eyes open for other signs.He stopped at an aspen tree and pointed out that many leaves had been torn away. “The bear came this way,” he said. “It ate the leaves.” They must be getting closer, he thought.
