Into the Deep Wood

First one, then two. Marat held up his fingers to signal the other man hidden by the roots at the tree's base. On three, they’d pull and snap the hook that held down the rope. It would ensnare the creature they so long awaited.

They stayed far apart, masking their scent in tree rot. Not a whisper between them in hours, it was never certain if their prey would even come along. There was no way to bait it, no way to track its trail.

Days ago, they’d climbed up in the crowns of the trees up top. It’d taken them the whole day, but they’d chopped and slashed at the foliage until they’d cleared an area no larger in size than a man would fit through. The light of the moon would shine through this opening for only ten minutes in a night. They set ten traps of this kind in a widespread area, just enough to move from one to the other, following the moon while it stayed up in the sky. At this one, only Marat could see the spotlight, the other man at an angle of a thick oak tree.

Marat held two fingers up indefinitely, it was he who kept count, only one hand on the rope. His end would hold slack when the rope would snap and tighten so that it pulled the ensnared beast directly to Erlan - where the man would slash its throat before his end of the rope gave slack.

They had but hours now until sunrise, when they would sleep in shifts one hour at a time. A tent, maybe a knee height from the ground and covered in foliage, stood waiting nearby.

With a snap, their muscles tensed as something had misstepped nearby, invisible to them from their hiding spots. Ready to throw another finger up, the eldest brother’s breathing slowed and stopped. A fox ran past the trees and through the moonlit grassy pass. They both breathed out. Not yet.

But only a step behind the fox came out of thin air a shape, only half visible to the eye - only the hide of which could be seen in direct light - a silver stag had wandered into view - that same moment Marat signaled, the rope snapping up and over where in shadows the creature disappeared from sight - just for Erlan to slash and blood to pour as if from nowhere. Although they could not see their catch without the light, Erlan had reached down and felt its soft pelage.

It took two men to lift the translucent carcass, still hot to the touch, and carry it to where the sleds had been buried under branches and leaves.

One down.