The next night, and the one after that, Madalarnari spent exploring every inch of her new home, which was not as easy as it sounded. Her territory was huge, all the better for long hunts and varied prey. It covered the area around her home, as well as up and down both forks of the river. She also began to take note of the animals’ patterns of activity. While she preferred the darkness, she noticed that many of the larger, more impressive prey were diurnal. Ah well, if that was the price for a good hunt, she’d gladly pay it.
Her den began to look more and more like the one she’d left behind, decorated with the prizes from her various kills. Hides, bones, and especially skulls, hung from the walls and piled up in the corners. She even made a skein or two with that elusive spider’s webbing and decorated those masterfully.
It was during one of those times she sat decorating her den that Arnari wondered if the webbing could support her weight. She had never seen the spider who’s web the stuff had originated from, but it must have been huge; the individual threads were almost like vines. So the next night, rather than hunting, she set out to test her theory. Slinging one end of the line over a tree branch and making a small loop in the other to put one of her hind feet in, she leapt from her perch on the tree, fully prepared for the line to snap and send her gliding down to earth. But when she merely hung there, swinging back and forth, she grinned.
This could definitely work.
It didn’t take her long to gather more webbing and place it strategically throughout her territory, though learning how to use it was another thing. That would take another few nights at least. But at least it was better than clinging to branches and tree trunks.
One fine night, about a week later, she discovered the most interesting thing. A creature she’d never seen the like of before came stumbling out of the trees on the far side of the river, then paused and looked around, some emotion Madal couldn’t quite place playing across her face momentarily. After a moment, the creature bent and took a sip of the river. It was a curious beast, all arms. After a quick count, Madal wondered if this was the spider that had been spinning all those webs for her. It certainly looked spider-like, for all of it’s eight legs and red spider web markings. Curiously similar to her own tattoos, the black bishen thought speculatively.
When the creature moved off, it’s four walking feet carrying it almost soundlessly through the brush at an angle away from the river, Madal followed. This creature, whatever it was, was almost too good an opportunity to pass up. She glided across the river and found one of her webholds, landing silently. Well, if it was her phantom webspinner finally, Madal might just leave it alone; she needed that webbing. She wouldn’t be the woman who cut open the golden egg laying goose and lost her fortune.
However, as further inspection ensued, she discovered, delightedly, that this creature had traveled far, and this was only a coincidental stop along its route.
What luck, she thought, returning from the far-reaching trail of where the creature had been to where it was now, making its way westward in a relatively straight line. Madal thought it was a little unusual for a creature to be moving thusly, but perhaps it was heading somewhere in particular. She knew some creatures migrated, following a path that they’d only been down once, or never, only following their own sense of direction and a strong instinct.
Whatever the reason for its travel, Madal was glad it had brought the creature into her territory. It looked so defenseless to her; she had no idea that this would be the hunt of her life.
As she always did while hunting, Madal followed it quietly for a while, making sure it was alone and learning it’s mode of transportation. Also, she decided possible attacks that it could defend itself with. This creature seemed more weary than wary, however, so she didn’t think it would be such a hard thing to bring down. What she didn’t expect was its uncanny ability to sense her presence. It stopped, turned towards her, and spoke in some strange dialect that Madal had never heard before. Even though she knew the creature couldn’t see her, she froze, throwing up the mental veil she’d learned to use to hide from others of her own kind. It seemed to work, as the creature registered confusion, then shrugged and went on its way.
This was no way to continue a hunt, Madal thought, still following the creature’s progress, careful to keep her presence shielded. If it could sense her, it must have some psychic abilities, and those were the most challenging hunts. It was part of why she’d never even considered hunting her own kind, even though she knew they’d be the most challenging hunt she’d ever experience. Well, she’d considered it, just never very seriously. Her discovery also meant that this was a sentient being, which would more than explain it’s odd travel. It was one thing to hunt a dumb beast, and quite another to try and bring down an intelligent one. Either way, though, she’d get her prize. All her most recent discoveries had done was make the catch that much more desirable.
She began to wonder what this creature was about when it suddenly began placing bits of stone and foliage in a circle around itself. Four points it paused, muttering some of that odd language under its breath before straightening and moving on to place the others of its collection.
That was strange behavior, even for a sentient, Madal thought, but paid it no more attention than she would have if the creature had simply curled up in a ball and fallen asleep on the spot. Well, actually she would have paid the latter more attention, because it meant that the creature in question had some sort of defense that allowed it to be so casual about its sleeping arrangements.
Still, she watched and waited. The circle was likely some sort of superstitious warding the creature performed.
When it sat down and closed it’s eyes, it’s back against one of the trees inside its circle, Madal blinked. Could it really be that simple? She circled around, maybe ten feet from the circle of tokens the creature had placed, before moving closer. Could she really trust in those small stones so much that she’d just fall asleep right there, even after knowing that something had been following her? It was so incredible that Madal didn’t trust it at first. There must be something to that circle that she wasn’t getting.
As she approached, with the intent to just see how close she could get to those stones, nothing happened. After a moment of hanging practically right above one of the markers, she swung over it, into the circle. She held cautiously to her thread, but still definitely made it over the marker and into the circle. Nothing happened. A second swing took her even further within the circle, and when nothing happened the second time, she let go her thread and leapt across to a tree, her body fully within the bounds for no more than a couple of seconds, before she launched herself again from the tree and back to her webbing.
Confused, Madalarnari sat there for a time. Possibly the creature had just been doing that every night on its travels and been lucky in that no beast of prey had discovered it sleeping. It was far fetched, but definitely a possibility. And if that were true, she could make her move now, while the creature was asleep.
She didn’t even need to risk anything in the attack; all she needed was a quick nick on the creature’s shoulder with a talon, and her poison would work its magic. It didn’t even need to be a quick death, she thought contentedly, since she rather enjoyed the following and tracking and hiding from the more intelligent prey. This one especially should prove to be entertaining for at least another day or so of hunting. And then a final confrontation, when it was sufficiently weakened by her poison, that she could show herself to it. She could revel in the smell and sense of its fear and pain when she finally ended the hunt. That’s what she looked forward to, but almost never achieved. This one... this one she thought might just allow her that pleasure.
That plan in mind, Madal made her way back to the circle.
