After a month or so he was able to do basic tasks without getting sore or stumbling. His body was fully healing. He began to push himself by climbing the cliff walls to strengthen his arms, fingers, and legs. Fil taught him how to shoot a bow and hunt, while Jonas taught Fil how to set the best rabbit snares and find wild vegetables and edible plants and herbs, although there was not much of the latter during the winter months. When the snows fell heavily, Fil showed Jonas how to make snow shoes from branches and rope and Jonas used the shoes to continue his long walks through the deep snow.
Jonas hated being cooped up in the cave. Since he was cured he never wanted to be idle again, the idea of not using his new muscles was unthinkable to him. He continued exercising daily as he took in the magnificent scenery the mountains had to offer. As his strength and endurance improved, his skinny frame began to fill out with muscle. Fil accompanied him often, but he did not fully share his desire to walk, run, or climb for no reason.
***
Jonas took his first deer on a cold snowy morning. Hunting was the mainstay of his village and a man’s worth was often based on what he could provide. It was believed that the deer and wild game of the Tundrens were provided by Shyann herself, and she rewarded the patient hunter with the most magnificent animals. But because these animals gave them life, and they were gifts from Shyann, all hunters were taught at an early age to respect the animals that provided for them. Young boys accompanied their fathers on the hunts to learn the skills, and to respect nature and what it provided. Jonas had never learned to hunt because he could not physically take part, nor did he have a father to pass on those skills had he been able. But now he was being taught, and he absorbed the knowledge with the enthusiasm and excitement of one who would never take for granted the new opportunity presented to him. Fil was no expert hunter, but he passed on what his father had taught him and it was enough to form a foundation from which Jonas could build.
He had tracked the animal slowly for several hours. Fil had told him that he was a natural and that he had the patience to be a great hunter. He could move quietly and slowly, and his accuracy with the bow was amazing for someone who was just a novice. Jonas didn’t tell Fil that he had spent countless hours practicing, shooting the bow when he went out on his many hikes. He could drop a bird out of a tree at thirty paces.
The deer he was following was a huge buck. He caught a glimpse of it through some brambles before it bolted away. The rack was immense, and the large stag held it high with ease.
Jonas was slowly moving from tree to tree, his snowshoes making a quiet crunch as he walked, an arrow nocked to his bow string. His breath came out in billows of steam as he scanned the forest for his target. He had been following the animal for a long time in deep snow, up and down gulches and over logs, and he was getting tired. Luckily for him the deer was actually taking him back towards their cave, which meant that if he actually killed it, he would have a shorter distance to carry the meat. Just to his right he caught a glimpse of the animal as it moved towards some choice buds that had begun to emerge from the undergrowth as spring neared. The buck lifted its big head to feed, exposing its side perfectly. It was a long shot, maybe fifty paces, but Jonas was hopeful that he could pierce the animal’s heart. The last thing he wanted to do was wound the magnificent beast and cause it undue pain.
He pulled back on the powerful bow that Fil’s father had made, sighted in the animal, releasing his breath slowly as Fil had taught him, and fired. His heart pounded with anticipation as he narrowed his eyes on the path of the arrow. It whistled through the air as the big buck turned. It all happened so fast that it was hard for Jonas to see where the deer was hit, the animal bolted, dashing