Prologue: First Hunt

(part one)

How did this happen? Everything had been fine when he started this hunt. The weather had been kind, and he was well trained. The tracks had been easy to follow. He hadn't even run afoul of the giaprey that always accompanied their alpha. What went wrong?

Tsu had just come of age in Frostmoor, the frontier town he called home. That meant it was time for him to take his first hunter's contract on his own. He had been hunting with his father several times, of course, so he knew what to do.

According to tradition he had had to wait for an appropriate challenge to cement his status among the other hunters in the region. A giadrome or bulldrome was always a great way to show you were serious about your first hunt, so when the contract for the giadrome had come up at the message board, he took it without looking back. Now, he looked back longingly, wishing for his safe home and his warm bed. Would he ever see them again?

Would he ever see his family again? Life hadn't exactly been easy on the frontier for a new family with a newborn child, but it had been familiar and comfortable. Tsu's father had taken care of him and had raised him to be a hunter just like himself. Now, at 15, Tsu wondered if it was all over.

A sudden roar over the mountaintops started him out of his reverie. The thing was getting closer, and Tsu began running once more. He was sure he couldn't get away, but he needed to run anyway. He needed to try.