THE SHADOW HUNTER

Chapter one

AN: Na'vi language in italic.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
She woke to a quiet morning in a small cave. Her sweet Tiu gently nudged her with her snout. She must have been hungry. Yesterday, she hadn’t managed to catch anything, so they had gone to sleep hungry together.

The previous day, while hunting, Zul'aya had tracked a yerik¹ she had stumbled upon by chance at a watering hole. A young male, forced to search for a new herd—otherwise it wouldn’t have been alone like this. An ideal catch for both her and Tiu. She followed him for some time until the yerik finally stopped and began to graze again. Every now and then it lifted its head to make sure no danger threatened him, but each time he calmly returned to feeding. He suspected nothing. After all, she had once been among the best hunters in the village.
Slowly, she took an arrow and set it to her bow. The wind was almost perfect, the yerik was standing well. She took a deep breath and drew the string. She aimed, and at the moment she was absolutely certain of her shot, she prepared to release. She always preferred to wait a little longer rather than shoot badly—just as her mother had taught her. She wanted the cleanest strike possible so the yerik wouldn’t suffer and his journey to Eywa would be swift.

But just before she released the arrow, a devil’s thunder echoed through the forest. Zul'aya’s head snapped up instantly, turning toward the source of the sound. She quickly looked back at the yerik, but it was already long gone.
Under normal circumstances, she would have left those monsters alone and kept her distance, but these ones were dangerously close to her cave. She didn’t want to risk anything, so she followed the thunder to assess the situation.

There were many demons and their iron birds. Most of them were inside those puppets that protected their fragile little bodies. They shouted something in their disgusting language, and it looked as though they were preparing a camp. She didn’t like that at all.

The foul stench of those iron things mixed with the smell of blood made her nose wrinkle. What she saw next completely crushed her. Many dead bodies of nantangs² lay scattered around. She spotted several young ones lying motionless near their pack, mutilated just like the others.
Those iron birds with demons must have landed near their den, and so the nantangs had defended their young. But against thunder, they had no chance.
She had to remain perfectly still, yet the way she gripped her bow, her ears flattened, and the rapid movement of her tail revealed how deeply it affected her. Her stomach churned at the sight.
She noticed one nantang trying to crawl away. It stood only on its two front legs, dragging the remaining four limply behind, whimpering painfully with every movement. One of the demons noticed it. He walked over and kicked it with all his strength. The nantang groaned, which seemed to amuse the sky monster. Finally, he pulled out that strange object, and thunder rang out once more.
Zul'aya still didn’t understand how that thing worked. But she knew all too well that when thunder sounded, death came with it. “Oh, Great Mother, have mercy,” she thought, before taking one last look at the horror and disappearing into the forest.

Tiu nudged her one last time, then flapped her wings slightly in annoyance and let out a quiet chirp.
“I’m awake already, you pest.”

She began packing everything important. She hated leaving this place. She had lived here longer than anywhere else so far and had grown very fond of it—it reminded her of home. But, like almost everywhere, demons had appeared here too, and she had to move on. She didn’t want to risk a conflict. If she encountered a single demon alone, it might not be a problem, but they were always in packs. And they always brought their iron puppets and thunder weapons. She wouldn’t stand a chance against them.
She secured Tiu’s saddle; Tiu grumbled unhappily and shook herself. She didn’t want to leave the cave either.
“Tam, tam³, Tiu. I’d stay too,” she whispered, stroking her snout. “But the demons and their thunder are too close. I don’t want to face them. I can’t take that risk.”

“We’ll find something to eat and then go look for a new shelter.”
Tiu grumbled once more before offering her kuru⁴. Zul'aya smiled as a pleasant warmth spread through her body the moment they formed tsaheylu⁵. She leapt into the saddle and looked back one last time. The cave was almost empty. Once before, she had made the mistake of settling in too much, and when the sky monsters appeared, she had been forced to leave many things behind. That was why she had learned to live modestly.
She took a deep breath, and with a cry, the two of them dove off the cliff together.

●●●●

.
.
.
.
.
.
.

1.Yerik [hexapede]
2.Nantang [viperwolf]
3.Tam tam [be calm, there there]
4. Kuru [neural queue]
5.Tsaheylu [bond]