Chapter Text
The howling started late one night, after everyone had gone to bed. It started as something rough, gravely and low before pitching upwards to something much brighter and clearer, that truly broke through the night. Fierce roars followed it before another howl took over. Kuruk awoke to them with the rest of his village, and forced himself past his sleep induced grogginess, pulling on his parka and pushing his feet into his boots as quickly as possible.
He grabbed his spear as he ran out into the icy night. He wasn’t the only one to have woken, a few other men, dressed similarly to him standing around the village, spears, boomerangs, and machete’s poised. Inside the walls of the village it was impossible to tell where the noise was coming from, and every man standing outside stood at the ready, eyes scanning carefully, ears pricked and heads moving, trying to track the sound.
The people who hadn’t come outside peaked their heads out briefly, as if to assure themselves that the beast wasn’t in the village, and that someone was ready to defend. The howls bounced around the ice in the village, distorting and amplifying the sound. It felt like the beast must be right on top of them, Kuruk spun slowly on his feet, but no matter which way he faced the howls were just as strong.
After a moment of the men silently listening and assessing Holos began moving. He went from man to man, pointing at the different gates to the city for the men to position themselves at. Kuruk patiently waited for Holos to come to him, knowing that the older man knew the defenses of the village better, and probably already had a plan in his head of where to place everyone.
A couple of men slipped back into their tents or igloos for a moment before coming out more appropriately dressed for sitting in the cold for hours on end. Kuruk straightened his back as Holos approached, ready for his own assignment. But Holos was chuckling softly to himself as he rounded on Kuruk.
“I know you’re anxious to prove yourself, but go back to bed Kuruk. You’re not yet a man and don’t need to be awake for this next part.” Holos said, clapping Kuruk on the back.
“I’m one of the best hunters here, and I’ve already gone ice dodging. I’ve proved myself a man and you’ll need me tonight.” Kuruk argued.
Holos frowned, studying Kuruk closer. “I know you feel ready to take on the weight of the world, but don’t rush into it. You can help in the morning, the polar bear dog probably won’t come anywhere near here tonight and in the morning it will need to be tracked. Help then, but get a good nights sleep before you do.”
“None of them will get a good nights sleep, why should I?” Kuruk shot back.
“Because you are young, and don’t need to witness what could happen tonight. You are close to manhood, but don’t rush towards it. You can help in the morning, we’ll need men who are well rested to hunt it in the morning.”
“But they’ll join the hunt too!”
Holos sighed, “I don’t have time to argue this Kuruk. Go to bed, we’ll need you in the morning.”
Holos turned away from Kuruk and hurried off to the main gate into the village. Kuruk huffed but went back to his tent. Right before he entered something black moved at the edge of his vision, he turned to head to look but nothing was there… yet he could still feel it, something angry, staring at him, watching him. Kuruk shook his head, it was probably nothing, something his mind conjured up after being awoken from such a deep sleep.
He prepped his pack for the morning, setting it by the entrance with his spear, double checking his qulittaq for any holes or stiff spots, not wanting to wake his mother so late at night when he could know ahead of time and tell her in the morning. Next Kuruk went over his kamiit, double checking for the same things. He laid out his newest inner layers for the next morning. Last he checked over his bolas, checking over the sinews to make sure they were in good condition.
Kuruk tried to sleep, but found himself tossing and turning for the remainder of the night, heart racing from both the howls that still occasionally echoed through the village, and the presence he had felt before entering his tent. He tried to clear his mind, but the howls kept reverberating in his skull. The men staying up for the night, keeping a lookout for the polar bear dog that was prowling the nearby tundra, were at the forefront of his mind. He should be there, he should be spending the night in the cold with the men. What did his successful ice-dodging trial mean if he still had to sit on the side lines while the rest of the men in the village did all the hard work? The night passed slowly, Kuruk listening for the next howl in between the whistle of the wind, tensing as it came, unable to relax until it stopped.
Kuruk got up as early as he could, dressing himself with care and grabbing his weapons, and tucking the bolas in his belt and keeping his spear in his hand as he exited the tent. Knowing Holos would probably insist he was well fed before he would be allowed to join the other men, Kuruk went to the central fire pit where Omura had already prepared breakfast. She passed him a bowl as he sat down, and he thanked her before he ate. He no longer felt an angry presence watching him, and pushed it out of his mind, deciding it was the delusions of a not fully awake mind.
Kuruk rinsed his bowl with a strong splash of warm water before setting it down where the dirty dishes were left. He stood and started making his way over to Holos, who was standing at the front gate of the village, staring out into the tundra. Kuruk stopped a few steps behind his leader, he know Holos would be aware he was there, and would give instructions when he was ready to. Other men started joining them at gate, each standing by Kuruk and patiently waiting with him. Kuruk itched to speak or move closer to Holos, but he knew the older man was waiting like this purposely. A hunter’s greatest strength should always be his patience, knowing when to strike, and when to wait for a better opportunity.
Around when the last man stepped up to the group of them is when Holos turned around to face them. He surveyed all of them for a moment, face set in a grimace.
“After thinking it over through the night, and discussing with a few of you, it has been decided to send a party out to track the beast. Polar bear dogs are dangerous, and shouldn’t be engaged unless absolutely necessary. We’re going to send out a few groups to try and track it, do not engage, we just need to know where it is and if it looks like it will attack the tribe. The rest will stay here and keep watch in case it tries to come back.” Holos explaining, eyes moving from man to man in the group.
Everyone nodded before Holos organized the men into groups to go out and track the beast. Other men were put on day and night watch in case the polar bear dog came too close to the village. Kuruk was paired with two older men, Zurnaq and Mornok. They were both huge men, towering over Kuruk with wide shoulders. Each had their own packs already with them, though the darkness under their eyes suggested they had been up for at least part of the night and may have already received orders from Holos.
“Remember, do not engage with it, we simply need to know if it’s passing by or circling the village. Check if there is more than one as well.” Holos yelled out over the noise of men moving around, and then they were off. Kuruk following behind Zurnaq and Mornok. They seemed to already have an idea of what direction the group should head in, Kuruk wasn’t sure if they had an idea of where the howl came from or if Holos had given them some directions the night before about where to go.
They moved across the tundra quietly but swiftly, now almost a week after the first night of howling. It returned every night, like a warning. The entire village was on edge, but the extreme cold made trying to find the beast next to impossible, with the snow frozen solid enough it rarely left tracks. Kuruk bent the snow with every step to muffle his step, and he could sense the other men doing the same. His eyes scanned the horizon trying to spot the beast before it spotted them, but trying to spot a white polar bear dog somewhere in the bright, white emptiness that was the North Pole, was like trying to find a specific snowflake in a snow drift.
Zurnaq paused suddenly, biting his glove to pull it off. Mornok and Kuruk stopped with him, eyes scanning in opposite directions as they stood at the ready. The snow here was hard packed and the temperatures were low, hardening the ice even further, and very few tracks broke it, even a 500 lb. animal left very few tracks. Despite this they had noticed some fresh scrapes in the ice a while back, going in this direction. There hadn’t been enough in the ice to know anything besides the direction the beast had been going so they continued on. Zurnaq put his hand on the hardened snow and took a deep breath exhaling it with a frosty blast.
Kuruk’s eyes left the horizon to watch the man as he stayed still, squatted down on the tundra, hand on snow. Clearly the man was doing something, but Kuruk wasn’t sure what was happening. Zurnaq’s eyes flew open and Kuruk quickly returned to looking out over the tundra, and for a moment it felt like something was watching him… stalking him, but there was nothing around him for miles besides for the two other men. Kuruk tried to ignore how much it felt like the sensation he had had a week ago when the howling started.
“The polar bear dog isn’t further in front of us.” Zurnaq stated.
“Can you tell where it is?” Mornok asked, eyes flicking away from the horizon for a second to Zurnaq before returning.
“I can’t see it in the snow, but I can feel the scratches we saw a while back, and there are more going south.”
“It still might now be heading to village. We could turn back now and be relieved.” Mornok argued.
“If it’s not heading towards our village, it may be heading to the coastal one, and they may not receive the same warnings we have.” Zurnaq countered.
Mornok stayed silent for a moment, eyes flicking to Kuruk for a minute before sighing. “I’d ask the youngster for his opinion, but he’s probably raring to keep going. Holos should’ve had the youngsters watching last night, they’ve got more energy.”
Kuruk stayed silent for a moment. “We should follow it for a bit longer, if there are similar scratch marks to the south we may be able to tell more by seeing them. Then we can make a decision about where to go next. I know we only have a few hours left before the sun sets, but if it’s headed for either village, we need to know.”
The two men stared at him for a moment before breaking out in smiles. “Guess he is learning something from all the Pai Sho he plays instead of building those muscles.” Mornok joked, jostling Zurnaq with his shoulders.
“Cut the kid some slack, you were skinnier than he is at fifteen Mornok. I’m sure Kuruk will fill out to be huge, he’s already the tallest of the youngsters.” Zurnaq laughed as he spoke, bending over slightly. He straightened back up, more serious. “He’s right though, both sets of tracks are just out of my range. I can’t see enough from the southern ones to know what they might mean, we at least need to get closer, even at the risk of having to camp out here tonight.”
They didn’t speak again after this, and instead Zurnaq lead them in the direction of the next scrapes in the ice he had apparently sensed, which Kuruk was definitely going to be asking about when they were safely back home. Despite already being considered a waterbending master at only 15, he had never seen someone do this, including Zurnaq who he had hunted with before, granted none of those were as important as this one.
The horizon stayed empty as they moved, and each man tried to stay alert as they moved along it, but despite their best efforts each man could feel himself relaxing into the quiet rhythm that each hunt held. Unfortunately, most hunts weren’t as dangerous as this one. Kuruk began to feel more and more like he was the one being stalked rather than doing the stalking as they moved along, yet he couldn’t see or hear anything near him besides the two men who were with him. Both men would occasionally shake themself, coming back to alertness for a few moments before they relaxed again, but Kuruk became more and more keyed up, to the point that he was distracted by the angry presence that was stalking him and noticed nothing else.
The polar bear dog sprang up out of the ice from almost thin air, Kuruk barely had a second to pull his spear in front of him before he was being knocked to the ground, wrestling with it, his spear wedged to the back of it’s mouth where the beast couldn’t quite bite down hard enough to break the shaft of the weapon. He didn’t know what happened to pull the beasts attention from him and to draw it physically away from him, but suddenly the beast wasn’t trying to bite down on his head and Kuruk could scramble back to his feet. The beast was between Zurnaq and Mornok, twisting between the two as if trying to decide which one of them was a lesser threat as they jabbed their spears at it.
Kuruk charged towards the beast with a roar, using his bending to throw him the last couple of feet, propelling him through the air, hurtling into the beast, the spear’s point burying deep in the animal as Kuruk landed partially on top of the polar bear dog. It reared off the ice, howling in pain and pulling Kuruk up with it. He clung to his spear and tried to prepare for when he would inevitably be slammed back into the ice. When the moment came, his knees bent, absorbing some of the shock and he drew water up onto his feet to freeze them to the icy ground.
Feet secured to the ground, Kuruk pulled his spear back out of the creature which caused it to swing around to him, this time he was prepared for it and pushed himself away from the beast with his bending as soon as it turned on him. It charged towards him and he flipped himself into the air while throwing a volley of ice spikes into its soft underbelly, chest, and throat. He landed with ice forming around his boots once again to ensure he wouldn’t slip. For a second he thought of his bola, but it would take too long to get as the beast charged him again, snarling. He braced himself, reinforcing the ice around his boots and steadied his spear at the beast.
As it charged at him he aimed his spear for the polar bear dog’s neck, hoping to catch its windpipe and slice it open. When the beast was almost on top of him, he moved to the left, angling the spear so that the point still went into its neck while Kuruk (hopefully) wouldn’t get caught under the beast again. He felt the spear puncture the beasts neck, somewhere in the loose skin and muscle that was there and Kuruk pulled the spear to the right, wrenching it out of the bear’s neck with what would be a massive hole. He used the ice to push himself further away from from the beast as it staggered.
He spun to keep his front to the polar bear dog as it slowly turned towards him. It looked like it was struggling to stay standing as it turned, Kuruk allowed himself a small smile at that. The beast took a step towards him, then another, then another. Then it fell to the ground. It tried to get up. Once. Twice. A bolo wrapped around the beasts mouth and Kuruk took the opportunity to move closer, pulling his knife from his belt as he approached the beast. The beast couldn’t even lift its head, so Kuruk pulled the head up to reveal more of the throat and slashed it open. The beast shuddered for a second then went still and limp.
Kuruk looked up to his two companions, who stared at him in awe. He looked away, unsure of what to do next and so instead focused on the beast underneath him, poking it once, then twice just to make sure it was dead before he went to work unwrapping the bolo from around the beasts neck. He checked over the sinew before wrapping it to a shorter length. Zurnaq and Mornok were suddenly next to him and he held out the bolo out, Zurnaq grabbed it from him.
“That was stupid as fuck, but damn was it impressive.” Zurnaq said as he took his bolo and put it back in his belt.
“Where the hell did you learn to move like that?” Mornok asked.
Kuruk shrugged. “Just did what I was trained to do, figured it made sense to combine weapons training with water bending, makes both of them more efficient. When fighting, the principles are the same.” he muttered, still looking at the ground.
Zurnaq clapped him on the shoulder. “Well you did a damn good job. But don’t do it again. Those kinds of bold moves in a battle like the one you just fought will get you killed.”
Mornok nodded along before getting shoulder checked by Zurnaq. “Like you were any better at his age.”
Zurnaq laughed as Mornok spoke, before muttering under his breath; “Always getting stuck with the damn flashy teens.” but he was still chuckling as he said it, so Kuruk assumed he didn’t mind as much as he could.
Zurnaq then straightened back up with a clap. “We should get it cleaned up so that we can bring it back for meat.”
If he thought receiving praise (with some criticism) from Zurnaq and Mornok was difficult, it felt even harder to receive when they got back to the village, especially with Zurnaq and Mornok conveniently not mentioning his ‘recklessness’ to the rest of the village. It was insisted that the next night needed to be a feast for him, for keeping his hunting partners safe and for slaying such an impressive beast, basically by himself, and protecting the village from it (from what other hunting parties said when he talked with them later, it did sound like the beast was stalking the village.)
The face and head fur of the polar bear dog were also given special care as it was skinned to make a headdress for him. So that he could show others his strength and courage. So that his bravery and strength could inspire others to. Kuruk thought they were all a little crazy for that kind of talk, it’s not like he’d ever leave the North Pole, probably wouldn’t even leave this village, and they all knew the story (and would probably be telling it for decades to come.) He didn’t need the moment immortalized like that. The angry presence from the first night and the hunt was gone, but Kuruk still couldn’t shake what it had felt like.