When I woke up, I found that I was still bound and on the floor. My limbs were cramped from being held still. The gnawing in my belly called out angrily for my attention. Worst of all, I was tired to the bone. My tantrum last night had burned up what little reserves of energy I had left.

  ‘Foolish. Stupid. How could you fall for a trap like that?’ I miserably thought to myself. There was still warmth nearby me, but it was only a lingering remnant. With my head still inside of the bag, I had no way to know for sure how long it had been. My best guess, based on the chill creeping in from beneath the floor, was that it was cold and dark outside.

  I couldn’t hear the creature nearby. Its scent lingered, but it wasn’t fresh in the air.

  ‘Has it gone out to hunt again?’ I wondered. ‘Is its hunger so great that I alone will not sate it?’

  Like several times before, I was faced with a choice. I could lay down and die, or do something. My limbs weren’t of any use to me right now. That left wiggling back and forth. After several attempts, I was able to roll onto my back. My new position was a bit closer to the warmth than before.

  It took an eternity to move across the floor. I could only roll, so I kept bumping into things. With my head stuck in a bag, I could only guess where I was by how close I was to the warmth. My gut whispered to me that the warmth would help me, but harm my foes in some fashion. I could only hope that was the truth.

  After a painful journey that involved smacking into nearly every object in the den, I managed to roll myself to the source of the warmth. There was a warm stone surface beneath my body. Small hot rocks pressed against my scales, inside what felt like a hole in the wall. The acrid smell from before originated here. As I lay there, the radiating heat soothed my aching body.

  I had no knowledge of rope making. If I had, I might have known that certain kinds of rope were weather proofed with tar made from pine pitch. This treatment also made them difficult to bite through. If the weather proofing was done improperly, such as by someone living alone in the woods, it made the ropes highly flammable.

  Without warning, the smouldering fire flared to life as my bindings became kindling. At the same moment, my captor returned to its den from wherever it had been outside.

  My captor came back to its den to find me half on fire and flailing around once more. It screamed and dashed over towards me. I don’t know whether it intended to finish me off, but instead it tripped over one of the objects I had displaced on my journey. It crashed down right in front of me with a yelp.

  With a triumphant screech, I managed to free one forelimb from my bindings and lashed out. The creature squealed as my claw caught it, before it shoved me away. I rolled up against the far wall. With my tiny scrap of freedom, I tore at my bindings in a bid to escape. One of my claws caught the bag on my head and ripped it off. At last, I was able to look around.

  The den was in shambles. Objects I knew nothing about were scattered everywhere. The creature was across from me, holding onto its head with both paws. I could smell the vitality in the air. Its scent was shockingly sweet and my stomach roared its demand for more.

  Getting free of my bindings was more important. They still smouldered. I could now see the licks of fire clinging to the ropes. ‘Yes. Of course. Fire is my bosom friend. A close ally.’ I would remember this.

  Despite my stomach’s demands, I knew I was still too weak to defeat this creature and consume it. Perhaps one day.

  As the last of my bindings fell off of me, I climbed onto my unsteady limbs and tottered towards the entrance to the den. It was still ajar from where the creature had entered. The cramps in my muscles and my hunger made it a difficult course, but I carried on.

  As I got close, a blast of cold wind whipped through the entrance. It banged the object that had closed off the entrance against the wall in the process. Further into the room, it cut across the scattered embers from the fire and put them out. The room was cast into darkness. Moonlight poured in from outside.

  Before I made my escape, a whimper from the creature gave me pause. At that moment, it sounded terribly forlorn. Beyond a mere cry of pain, it sounded just a bit like how I’d felt when I was abandoned.

  I couldn’t tell you why I stopped, but I did. I stared out into the dark of night, lit up by the glow of the moon. Out there was freedom. But also the cold and hunger. Behind me was another predator. The choice was obvious.

  Except it wasn’t.

  Hesitantly, I stepped back. I turned my head to look at the creature. Its hands were still held to one side of its head. My claw seemed to have struck it across its eye. Not being able to see would be a terrible blow for any hunter. A sudden inexplicable feeling of guilt assailed me.

  The hunter hadn’t hurt me. Not really. It could have killed me when I was caught in its trap. But it hadn’t. Being bound was humiliating but… was it not possible I’d do the same if I caught some smaller creature stealing my prey? I didn’t know anything about this hunter. Or much about the world at large.

  There were so many things that I didn’t know. I could feel in my gut that there was someone who was supposed to have taught me. I would never benefit from that lost wisdom now.

  I wouldn’t ever want to admit that I was also just… tired. Not just physically exhausted, but mentally. I could keep running, but I knew in my bones that eventually, something would catch up with me.

  I’d taken a chance on so many things up until now. Was one more really so scary?

  The cold wind blew past me again. Looking over I could see that the object meant to cover the den’s entrance was still hanging loose. Carefully, I moved over and caught it with my claws. It took some creative efforts with pushing and shoving, but I managed to haul it shut. A segment attached to it dropped into a slot on the wall next to it. The door held fast.

  Now, how to approach the hunter?

  The den was dark without the fire or moonlight. I could see reasonably well, all the same. Carefully, I picked my way back through the scattered objects to the side of the fireplace. The hunter was crouched there, making soft snuffles that continued to tug at my regrets. I sat down on my haunches just out of its reach. It didn’t seem to notice me at first.

  I looked over towards the fireplace. Maybe I could relight the flames? The hunter had done so earlier when we had arrived here. But my maw wasn’t prepared for that yet. I still needed to grow more. I was unsure of how the hunter did it, since the sounds that came from their own mouth were currently very… wet and sticky sounding.

  What else could I do to help it?

  I thought back to the tree that had saved me. I probably shouldn’t have nibbled on it and hurt it in the process, but I knew so little at that moment. I remembered feeling that licking your companion’s wounds was the right thing to do. But would the hunter let me? How should I get its attention?

  ‘No. No. I absolutely will not…’ Really that was far too humiliating to even contemplate. But I’d already been shamed by this whole ordeal more than I could have ever imagined. Was a little bit more such a high price to pay for making amends?

  ‘Quit being such a hatchling and get on with it,’ I huffed to myself.

  It took a couple of tries, but I succeeded in making that little trill sound I made when the hunter scritched my scales. That seemed to shake them from their misery long enough to look up at me. It peered at me in dull silence for a moment before it gave a small gasp and scooted back on the floor. I remained where I was.

  With reluctance, I made the trill sound again, a bit louder.

  The hunter was silent for a bit, but it eventually made a noise back at me. I couldn’t understand, but it sounded vaguely inquisitive. Mustering my patience, I ducked my head and trilled a third time. ‘Honestly, if it doesn’t understand at this point I might as well just give up.’

  After a painful eternity of waiting, the hunter seemed to relax a bit. It was still wary of me, but I had just clawed its eye. Slowly, it turned its head to look at the door to the den, then back at me. Its lips did a weird thing where they pressed together. The glimpses of its teeth I could catch showed that they weren’t sharp like a predator.

  My confusion over this was profound, but my attention was focused on the hunter as it scooched itself closer to me, shimmying along the floor on its hind quarters. It paused just out of reach of me again, then stuck out its paw at me. We waited like this for a while.

  ‘... What does she expect me to do here?’ I contemplated as I stared at the extended digits. ‘Wait, is it offering to do -that- again!?’ My tail flicked to betray my irritation, but I didn’t hiss. ‘Would you just… just… Fine! If it will be recompense for the injury then… fine.’

  Weakly, I stood to all fours. I’d been running on fumes since I woke up. As I moved forward, I felt one of my limbs buckle under me. I managed to catch myself, but the Hunter lurched forward. Instinct screamed at me that she was finally going to eat me, but I was too damn tired to care.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  Curiously, I instead found myself drawn up into a warm embrace. I’d never known one like it. Not even the warmth of the nest had felt like this. It was delightfully soft and comfortable. I could smell the hunter’s vitality. It was so close. The hunter’s limbs were wrapped around me, cradling me to its chest. I understood now that it did not have so much fur on its body as I’d first thought.

  It wore other creatures’ fur because it did not have its own to stay warm. That was weird, but clever. Lots of things about the two-leg were strange, but it was intelligent in a way unlike the other living beings I had met thus far.

  For some reason, the gnawing in my gut shut up for a little while. Sleep clawed at my awareness, but I would not let it. Not yet. I still needed to repay the hunter. Opening my maw just a little, my tongue brushed across the hunter’s face. It stiffened, but did not let me go.

  I could feel how deeply my claw had bitten them. Thankfully, the orb of their eye had been spared, but it was drowned in their vitality infused blood. When my tongue touched the wound, I felt a flutter of the craving I’d been cursed with.

  I mashed it down with the last drips of strength in my mind. No. I owed this one a debt. I would repay it. A spark of something inexplicable passed from me to the hunter. Then, I could deny sleep no longer.

  The next time I woke up, I was more than a little relieved that I wasn’t dead. I really needed to stop falling asleep at life threatening moments. I could feel I was a bit bigger again. If I remembered correctly, I was close to four times my size when I hatched. Growing that much took a lot of energy.

  That energy had to come from somewhere. Food was the first thing on my mind. Although I could ignore it for the moment, I also realized that my mind was growing sharper. Concepts that would have been impossible to understand when I hatched were now accessible. For example, if I found another obviously trapped piece of bait in the forest, I’d stay well away.

  I was in a nest of some kind. It was made of piled furs spread over what I thought to be bundled plant fiber encased in a woven material. It smelled strongly of the hunter. Was this its nest? How curious that it would invite me into it.

  Another new scent wafted across my nose. It was food, but of a kind entirely unlike the prey I had eaten before. The urge to follow it was too strong to resist. I hopped down to the floor on still wobbly legs.

  The hunter’s nest was in a small space separate from the main den. That made sense if there were others living here with it, but I had seen no sign of any other hunter-like creatures, nor their scent.

  I was able to nose past the door into the main den space. The fire had been relit. Morning sunshine filtered in through the shut door and a shuttered window. Unlike when I last woke, the Hunter was there, its back to me.

  It wasn’t going to get me to trill again. Not every time I wanted its attention. After a moment’s contemplation, I gave a couple of soft chuffs from the doorway. The hunter looked over its shoulder at me, seeming surprised but not startled.

  Some noises that sounded vaguely inquisitive, but with a positive tilt passed its lips. The longer I was around it, more of its intent came through. Perhaps one day I might even be able to understand its crude grunts.

  Slowly, I padded forward into the den. It was far larger than anything I’d need for a den space. For a long time at least. Being so small in something else’s den was… uncomfortable, but I would bear with it. The Hunter watched me as I came close to it and the fire. The food smell was coming from a big hollow rock thing that hung over the fire.

  This Hunter seemed to have a knack for taking normal objects and making them into strange new shapes for its own unknowable purposes. Was putting perfectly good food over a fire supposed to keep it hot longer? I supposed that hot food was better than food that had been claimed by the cold.

  I was temporarily distracted by the food and the flames before the Hunter caught my attention again with a sound. My eyes gazed up at it from where I sat on my haunches near its legs. I gave another chuff and looked meaningfully at the food.

  The Hunter seemed to find something about this highly amusing and made that strange huffing noise, the same as the first time I’d trilled. It then shook its head. I thought that meant a denial, but then it took one of its many strange implements and scooped some food out of the hollow stone.

  For reasons I couldn’t yet comprehend, it then put the perfectly good food into -another- container. This time it was a wide concave object made of part of a tree. It then set this food container on the ground in front of me, crouching to do so.

  With it down low, I could get a better look at the Hunter. As I’d suspected, it didn’t have much fur on its body. There was quite a lot of it on its head which was a ruddy brown color. It was long enough to hang just above the hunter’s hindquarters. I supposed they must have hidden it under the other creature’s furs it wore. Its physique, while highly inefficient due to its two-legged status, did seem healthy enough.

  With most of its furs off, my instincts suggested to me that this creature was an adult, but a young one. It had lost that roundedness that most infantile creatures possessed. I didn’t linger on how I probably still looked like an infant at my current stage of growth.

  While I examined the hunter, my maw quite happily operated on its own orders to consume the food. It was piping hot. The Hunter made a movement like it was concerned, but relented when the heat didn’t seem to bother me. There was meat in this food, along with… other things that I didn’t know the identity of. All the vital essence was long gone from it, but I could admit that I enjoyed the novel sensations it brought.

  Thinking of vital essence, I looked up to the Hunter’s eye. They had a small woven patch over it, held in place by twine. The wound ran from above their brow above their right eye, down to their cheek below it. They’d put a mixture of plant matter on it for some reason, but in spite of that foolishness it seemed well on its way to healing into a scar. Something told me that it ought not have healed that quickly, but perhaps the plant stuff did more than I suspected.

  Before I was ready, the food was magically gone. Where? My stomach clearly didn’t know, because it was already demanding more. I looked up at the Hunter and chuffed again. The ridge above their uninjured eye rose and it planted one of its paws on its hip. I waited a moment and then chuffed again, trying to add an inquisitive tone like the Hunter used.

  It blinked down at me, seeming puzzled. The Hunter then poured another bowl of the food. This one it placed on the top of one of the nearby wooden structures, out of reach. The hunter went to sit on another, lower object made of wood next to the first. I turned and sniffed at the hollow bowl over the fire.

  ‘Oh. That’s all the food they had ready. Well… they need to eat too,’ I thought. Thinking back on it, I couldn’t smell much food in the den. Sitting there, I thought back to the prey I’d devoured, trapped in a snare. Then that feathered one that had been bait for me.

  ‘Those… those weren’t the tree’s prey. The tree is just a… thing. It lives but it’s not awake. That was the Hunter’s prey.’ I looked around the den again. No prey was stored here. Unless it was in another location, this food might be the only food the Hunter had left.

  The Hunter had just shared half of all the food it had with me. After I had injured it, making hunting more difficult. I thought I had known shame before, but now it clenched at my core, more biting than the coldest wind.

  When I looked up at the Hunter again they seemed unaware of my turmoil. They were eating slowly, seeming to savor the strange taste of what they had made. I couldn’t bear to sit still any longer. My claws skittered across the floor as I bounded over to the door to the outside.

  The Hunter made a noise, calling after me. The latch on the door was proving to be problematic. I couldn’t quite reach it. Even standing on my hind legs like the Hunter, my claws just scrabbled against the bottom of it. The Hunter had gotten up from its seat and was coming closer.

  The frustration within me grew. It wasn’t fair. I was a proud predator. This… strange creature shouldn’t be sparing me the last of its sustenance. I needed to fix this. My wings spread painfully from my back, trying to get me a bit of extra lift. I needed to-

  The Hunter’s hand gently touched my scales, right between where my wings spread out. It was wretchedly sore there. I wasn’t supposed to use those muscles yet. The touch brought a hiss from my teeth, but I didn’t turn my head and nip at them this time. They moved their hand to the back of my head, between little horn nubs just behind the crests of my eyes.

  It felt… nice. Their touch was gentle, careful. They said something soft. I thought I understood a bit. They wanted to know where I was going. The frustration boiled within me. I wished to communicate, to speak with this creature.

  But how could I tell them that I needed to hunt? To bring this hunter the prey it deserved. I worked my jaw back and forth.

  ‘Ah.’

  I turned back towards the Hunter, who was crouched behind me. Its soft green eyes looked down at me in confusion. My jaw began to work in a way I was ill practiced at. It took some effort, but I pried open the pouch beneath my tongue. The precious item contained within was pried out, after some fumbling. My tongue held it out towards the Hunter once I’d licked the protective coating off of it.

  I hardly recognized it. I remembered it as the dull gleam of an egg fragment. In the time it had sat in the pouch, it had been polished and refined. Now it gleamed like a ruby gemstone. It was the size of the Hunter’s nail on one thumb. It took them a moment, but they slowly reached out and took it. They didn’t seem to mind it being a bit damp from my tongue.

  The hunter’s face showed confusion, looking back and forth between me and the gem. I encouragingly nudged my snout into their fingers, closing them around it. They still seemed conflicted, so I turned and scratched at the door latch again. Their eyebrows bunched together, which seemed to indicate they were upset, but they stood up and opened the door for me.

  Right away I went to scamper outside, but something held me back. I paused on the den’s covered porch, then looked back at the Hunter. There was a sad expression on their face and a wetness around the eye I could see. I didn’t understand what the problem was. Did they not want more food?

  I paced back and forth on the porch a couple of times. ‘Even if they are as proud as I am, we should have some kind of accord. They shared their food with me. I gave them my most precious item so they know I’ll come back… Wait, do they not understand I’m coming back?’

  My gaze went back to the Hunter, who still seemed troubled, but now also confused. This was going to be… hard work, communicating with such a strange creature. I looked around the porch. Off on one end of the porch was a small pile of logs. I’d seen logs like these burning in the fireplace this morning. That was what the Hunter used to make fire.

  I padded over and picked up one of the smaller logs in my jaws, dragging it with all my might back to the front door.

  I dropped the wood at the Hunter’s feet, then hopped up on my back legs. My snout bumped into the Hunter’s hand that held my precious gem. They didn’t seem to understand I meant them to give it back until I snaked my tongue between their digits to pry it out. When they did, I looked down at the log, bumped it with my claws firmly, then hopped up to give them the gem. Again.

  To really nail it home, I hopped down from the porch into the snow, grabbed a stick off the ground, then pulled it up onto the porch. I stared at the Hunter intently, before looking out to the woods, then back to them.

  At long last they seemed to understand that I was going out for a bit to get something and expected my gem back when I returned. This made them laugh, wiping away the tears that had collected in the corners of their eyes. I was beginning to quite like that sound. They then reached out a hand, offering to gently pat me on the head.

  After a moment’s hesitation, I relented and let them do it. It seemed to mean a lot to them. I still didn’t want to admit that I enjoyed it ever so slightly. With a huff I slowly pulled away and hopped back off the porch steps.

  When I’d moved a little ways away, I turned back to double check they weren’t following me. They stood by the door, waving their paw back and forth when they saw me watching. At last satisfied that our accord was sealed, I departed the Hunter’s den into the forest.