Unbowed Spirit (Short-Story)
Aiustha had gone out for a kinda different hunting that morning with her grandfather, Auron. He was a man of robust appearance for his age and had grayish strands of hair that fit his oval face so well, and it made Aiustha think that he looked pretty good despite the 7 decades he had already lived.
She had a short bow in her right hand and a quiver behind her with only 12 arrows. On the other hand, his grandfather was armed with a spear tipped with bronze and wore gnawed leather garments, but they were strong and provided a favorable balance between mobility and protection. The wind seemed to play with the reddish curls of Aiustha, which undulated to the sound of the warm morning breeze.
They made their way into a leafy pine forest. The particular aroma of the pines and the pleasant dew of the morning flooded Aiustha's nostrils, filling her with an indescribable ataraxia, and then she knew she was ready for the hunt. When they got close enough to one of the many grottos that spread throughout the forest, Auron's hunting intuition alerted him to a robust figure peering into the cave.
"Tense your bow, I think the beast we were looking for is already awake," Auron said with a serious tone as he raised his eyebrow as if trying to exhort his granddaughter to stay alerted or otherwise she would regret it.
Aiustha pulled out an arrow from her quiver, positioned herself beneath a lichen-laden rock, and then prepared to tighten the bow with her small hands, she pointed toward the cave while gasping in a state of vigil.
A mastodontic beast that seemed to be a bear came out of the cavern, with bluish-gray fur and eyes as red as two rubies. Auron knew that they had finally found it, but he was close enough to be in danger within the range of the bear's attack. While making a signal, he urged Aiustha to return to the hut, but the beast quickly turned towards him and knocked him down with just one blow, leaving him unconscious in a matter of seconds. Aiustha knew that she couldn’t leave her grandfather there, but she only had 12 arrows to kill the wrathful animal.
Despite her young age, Aiustha was already an experienced archer, she had been sufficiently trained to consider herself an adept in hunting and exploration, and this time she couldn’t miss the shot. Aiustha shot an arrow that landed on the bear’s right eye, the angry animal in a fit of fury removed the arrow with a single blow and lunged violently towards Aiustha. By mere premeditation, Aiustha had already prepared a blowpipe that she held with her left hand, with which she shot a coup de grâce in the bear's left eye, leaving it completely blinded.
The little girl took a long distance between long strides but not without first leaving a tiny appetizer on the floor. The blinded bear quickened its pace in the thicket, guided by its mere sense of smell, it approached the bushes in which Aiustha was crouched, attracted by an intense smell of lean meat, the beast unwarily bit the bait that the girl had placed. A beast trap improvised by Aiustha almost cut off one of its claws. Quickly, the girl pulled a rope that shed a bucket of pitch on the bear, soaking its entire body with such flammable substance.
The implacable animal released itself from the bear trap in an outburst of immense wrath that ended up severing its left paw. Not even the tar trap could slow the violent step of the beast, and Aiushtha knew that this time there’s no going back. The girl took two rocks from the ground as fast as she could, but the bear lashed out at her small body with a forceful onslaught that left her without air for a few seconds. With her mouth bleeding, her energies almost spent in their totality and her body bruised, Aiustha just didn’t give up on her efforts and in a reckless impulse of bravery, she spent her last resort.
Aiustha ran to the bear while holding the two rocks, but when approaching, the bear quickly threw a lethal blow at her stomach. Her viscera already protruded from a hideous wound in her abdomen, Aiustha knew that she had little time to execute her plan. In its eerie crimson-red, murderous eyes, Aiustha could look into them the vicious desire of such monstrous beast to finish her off, but when the bear was already preparing its giant jaws to devour her, Aiustha spent her last energies to build a tiny spark of fire with the two rocks that she still held between her small hands.
The small spark of fire was enough to immolate the animal that was completely imbued with pitch, the beast roared desperately as its bluish-gray fur burned in its whole, turning it into a charred hue as dark as were its merciless jaws that would no longer devour any other inhabitant of The Kingdom of Vennelly.
At nightfall, Auron regained consciousness and the dantesque scene that his eyes witnessed made a besetting fear run all his body. The Bear of the Scarlet Moon had certainly died, but the price that Auron had to pay for that expedition was even worse than his most gruesome nightmares.
"You should’ve run to the hut... Oh my little dear Aiustha," Auron said as he picked up his granddaughter's shattered body, the tears as cold as that lonely November night came streaming down his face during all the way back home.
