Torches held aloft, the small company of hunters made their way through the wounded Adishi. None spoke. There were no words of which to speak, none of light-hearted raillery, none of inquires into life, none of comfort. They marched in silence, a solemn march of mourning. Petya looked amongst the faces of those he had grown to know, there were gaps in their formation; lost eyes and ears – the old man would not be the only causality amongst their ranks this evening.
There had been very little time to mourn to old man's passing, the village – for what was left of it, as it rested in silent slumber of what previously been a merry eve of festivities – was their concern. If they had ignored the old man's last instructions and attempted to bury him or give him form of final honours, the old man may of sprang from where he lay, handing out a stern lecture on disobeying the orders of an elder. “Children,” the old man chided whenever his words had not been heeded. Memory flooded Petya's mind; blinded by his arrogant adolescence around his sixteenth name day, along with Dmitri, they had extended their reach beyond the boundaries which the old man had set and came across a grazing herd of roe deer, only in youthful exuberance could Petya had truly believe he would bring home the entire herd. He had spooked the herd and sent it fleeing into the forests, in turn, spooking the rest of the animals. “Children,” the old man stressed, passing his pipe from one end of his mouth to the other, he had been particularly hard on Dmitri, being the elder of the two. He had never been the old man's anger that Petya feared, but his disappointment. “Children.” His voice hoarse and dry, the voice of the forest, “Can you hear that, child?” Old Pavel asked Petya. The boy shook his head. “Listen, the groan of the mighty pine, the chuckle of the branches in the wind. The trees are whispering, I can hear them.”
“What do they speak of?” Petya asked in return, once his courage to speak to the old man had returned and he felt he was of suitable position to do so. “They say; 'Maybe this boy should listen to the wisdom of his elders if he wishes to eat well this winter.'”
A strict teacher, but a beloved one. Petya smiled, briefly forgetting the events that had surrounded him. Then, a sadness filled him, he thought of his mother and his father, he had very little memories of such calibre of his parents.
“Halt!” Dmitri threw a hand up, they all came to a stop. Leadership had fallen upon Dmitri, Petya did not know if the others had simply decided to let Dmitri call the shots or if he had simply taken charge of the situation. Dmitri and his parents were the closest living relatives to old Pavel, at least, supposedly they were, “He's my great-grandfather or great-uncle, or something great.” Dmitri told Petya once when asked. Dmitri was a decent hunter, one of the best in fact; however, he had always been lectured over his lack of maturity and lack of motivation, preferring to drink and gamble with dice. Yet, Dmitri displayed shadows of old Pavel as he led them through the wounded village.
“A voice.” Petya stepped forward. A woman's voice carried on the wind towards them, Petya cast his gaze out towards the mountains and the hills where a figure shifted under the blanket of night. “The creatures?” Dmitri asked, “I don't think so.” They all had were ready to loose arrows if needed, Petya felt much more the soldier than he did the hunter.
“Is that Leonidovich?” A whistle went out that stole their attention, another figure with a flickering light above them signalled to their attentions and headed off towards the figure. “Oksana?” Petya would had laughed, had the occasion been different. 'Oksana the Hunter,' they called her, it was a mocking title that Dmitri had dubbed her with behind her back after he and Juho stumbled across Oksana in the duration of her own private hunt, a half-ruined rabbit that she had attempted to skin at her feet. It had not been her last attempt at proving herself a hunter; time after time she would sneak out on her own or follow their expeditions out, and time after time, the old man would reject her. After a while, Petya began to feel some pity for her.
“Stupid girl,” Dmitri spat, “I bet she followed us.”
“I'll go fetch her and bring her back to the tavern.” Petya volunteered with no resistance from the others. "Dmitri, make sure my brother and niece are amongst the living."
The storm that followed the hunting party back home had came to a halt, with it leaving a waist high level of thick snow that even Petya struggled with. “Pavel, Oskana.” Petya lowered himself beside Oskana, he traced the numerous cuts across her body, losing himself in thought as it was a miracle she had survived both the storm and the darkness. “The old man told us to gather the survivors and head for the tavern,” that word again, survivors, it still felt unreal to say it aloud. “We must not idle here, the darkness may yet return.” Petya slung his bow over his shoulder, offering an outstretched arm to Oskana for support, “I can carry you if need be.”