Believe - Chapter 14: Hunting

It was already the middle of the night when Red woke Imya up this time. She felt that she got hungry again and with sleepy eyes she looked to Red. "Do we eat something tonight?" she asked and Red grinned. "Well, that depends on ya, sure it does, yo!" he answered. "Tonight you will hunt the food. It is time that you learn how to care for yourself kiddo, sure it is, yo!" Imya was confused. How should she hunt something? She was still a pup and she had no clue how hunting worked. "Come here kiddo!" Red requested from her and still pondering how she should hunt something she followed his request and followed him to a small clearing. "Today Imma show ya how to hunt, sure I do, yo!" he introduced the topic to her. "Ya be old enough to learn, sure you are, yo!" He closed in to her and nudged her flank. "First step, ya will move silently so no one hear ya, understand?" Imya nodded. Even though her stomach growled strong and she was still a bit exhausted it was also exciting to learn how to hunt. She had never been this eager to learn something but Red managed to spark her interest. "Ya be carefuly with da paws in da snow!" he commanded. "Da snow will creak if ya not be careful, sure it will, yo!"

Red had Imya sneak around the clearing for hours. Imya slowly got frustrated because she only did a few steps before Red, who stood in the middle of the clearing and called her out if he heard her move. With the frustration, she also made more mistakes but Red seemed to be much more calm and patient than her father. He explained to her again and again how to roll her paws, only to dip into the snow with the very top of her toes before slowly putting the weight on the snow. It took her a long time until she managed to circle Red one full round without him calling her on a sound that would give away her location. He praised her, but she directly got the next task. Now she had to move silently while running fast.

"It is da same, sure it is, yo!" he said. "Just remember da movement of ya toes and paws and ya be fine." It was hard to do the rolling motion while running and Imya stumbled quite a few times or forgot to use the new learned technique and ran normally. Even though the moon already was high above them Red did not lose the patience, but Imya got impatient and tried to force it which made her mess up even more. "Take a deep breath kiddo. Ya too eager. Ya hatta relax, sure ya have, yo!" It was hard for Imya but she tried to relax and concentrate on running while doing the rolling motion with her paws and after one more hour she managed to do one round before falling into the snow exhausted. Red granted her a bit of rest while she looked up and saw the star still shining bright. She wanted to continue to follow the star but she also understood why Red wanted to teach her how to hunt. While she rested, he went for a hunt himself and brought back two rabbits. Imya heard her stomach growl but Red did not give any food to her yet. "Ya hatta earn it today, sure ya have, yo!" he said and she understood that he meant the hunt.

Red led her further into the direction of the star finally while he carried the rabbits. Imya wondered what he had planned before she was considered to have earned the dinner. The moon soon vanished behind clouds and the wind picked up. It was harder to move, even more with the aching legs of Imya. After another hour they came to a big cave and Red directly went inside. It was faced away from the wind and in front of it there were some bushes that shielded it even more.

"Is this also one of your dens?" asked Imya exhausted and let herself fall on the floor. "Na, this not be Imma den, but Imma use it sometimes, sure I do, yo!" he went around in the den to check each corner. "Like I thought. Barla not be here, sure she is not, yo!" he said with a happy voice. "Who is Barla?" asked Imya tired from the training and the run against the wind. "Barla be a bear that lives here in summer, but in winter Barla be in winter den, sure she is, yo!" Red answered and Imya winced by the word 'bear'. She began to sniff in the air and could make out a faint scent that was like the strong scent she had smelled when she woke up on top of the bear a few nights ago. "Will she not come here?" She asked and could not hide her fear. "Ya don't hatta be afraid kiddo. She be asleep the whole winter, sure she is, yo!" Red answered and let the rabbits fall on the ground.

"Lesson Two!" he remarked and Imya sighed when he asked her to stand up. Her legs were hurting and she was exhausted but she did not dare to complain or refuse because she already had the rabbits in sight and her stomach was growling strong. "When ya be this close to da prey, ya gonna jump, sure ya do, yo!" he explained and put the rabbit two meters away from her. Then he showed her how it was done. He ducked very close to the ground so that his belly nearly touched the rocky surface. His hind legs tensed up while his front legs were stretched out to the front. "Ya take aim with da front legs and then ya jump and bite da neck!" he explained and then he jumped. The jump was a beautiful sight. The red slender body of the fox was catapulted forward by the hind legs and his front legs also pushed a bit to give the direction. Then it looked like he flew with his back pressed towards the ceiling of the cave so that his body was bent and he landed with all four legs around the bunny and bit it in the neck in one go.

"Now ya kiddo!" he said. "If ya do it right, ya shall eat!" Imya tried again and again but she was not able to jump far enough. Her exhausted legs would not give her enough power and when she landed her legs would often give way under her and made her hit the ground with her face and belly. "Ya shall not be impatient!" said Red and had her crouch down while he corrected her posture. He nudged her flanks and hind legs to show her what needed to be improved. Imya felt her own hind legs tense up when he even leaned on her to push her down even more. It hurt a bit but she pressed against it like he said to not be pushed completely on the ground. "Now ya hold that!" Red said and moved away from her back. Imya tried to keep the tension up and looked in front to Red who was a few steps away behind the rabbit. "No ya jump. Do not think, jump!" and Imya just followed his command and jumped. She felt like her aching legs released all the tension in one go and she went higher than before. She had so much force that she landed right above the rabbit that she tumbled over and rolled right in front of Red's paws. To her own surprise she held the rabbit in her fangs. Subconsciously she had grabbed it and even if she had tumbled over she still managed to get the rabbit. "Ya did great, sur ya did, yo!" said Red. "Ya can eat now and then we sleep, sure we do, yo!" Imya barely had enough energy to eat the rabbit. She only ate half of it and then fell asleep exhausted and with all her limbs hurting but with a smile on her muzzle.