Silent night. The song would have fit so well here, where the midnight blue sky overlooked a world of white, the moon was absent, the area was dark, but the eyes of those awake had already adjusted. The perfect sheet of ice covered snow was disturbed only by the delicate footsteps of a small herd of deer, pushing through the frost to find the hibernating grass below.
At the same time, the song would not have a place here. The music with its lullaby feel would have only given the scene an eerie feeling, for a hunter stalked these trees. Slow silent breath was filtered through a thick scarf. Frozen crystals floated out onto the light breeze against the cold face before fading away. Brown eyes circled by ice light as they watched the dark shapes moving among the trees. Every part covered in brown and white.
Thick fleece gloves moved quietly, the sound of fabric rubbing against itself almost deafening in the dead silence. A deer's ears perked and it lifted its head, bloodied by the sharp ice it kept pushing through. The hunter froze and waited, watching the animal look around, licking its nose, then returning to the snow.
A single glove fell away, dangling from the wrist by a cord. The other soon joined it, and the two bare hands moved slowly, removing from a crook in a branch a large bow, bent with two wheels on either end with copious amounts of string between them. A single arrow was taken from the side of the bow which held five others. It was set on the string, the small click enough to give the hunter pause to see what the deer would do.
It lifted its head again, ears flicking back and forth and froze. It let out a hiss and the others of its herd looked up and around. The hunter's eyes narrowed, taking the risk and pulling the arrow back until the fletching rested against the scarf. The deer were nervous, beginning to move away, but the antlerless buck would wait for all the females to move before him. The hunter waited, the deer needed to turn for a clean shot. Even breath came in light clouds, freezing in the eyebrows below a hood. The buck moved. The hunter held their breath. Long legs lifted high and stepped back down to the snow. It stopped, looked around.
It took off running before the arrow even left the bow, and it sailed over its back and into the snow. The rest of the herd took off running in front of it, heading up the mountain. Another arrow was readied, but another shot never presented itself.
"Shit!"
The hunter smacked the wood and reached up, pulling down the scarf, revealing dry lips and a little bit of brown hair. The arrow on the string was removed and put back in its spot with the others on the side of the weapon. The hunter leaned back against the main part of the tree, the back of their head smacking against the wood cursing under puffs of breath. The bow was lowered to the ground via a rope, crunching lightly as it settled. Tossing the rope, the hunter turned to climb down, cold hands gripping thin branches, looking for the best way down.
There was a sound. Faint. The hunter looked around but was alone. Then the snow started to turn an orange color. Looking up, the hunter saw a mass of burning red, trailing smoke, flying dangerously close to the tops of the trees. Head turned, watching it fly overhead towards the mountain, and the snow turned white again. Quickly climbing up to the top of the tree, slipping only once, the hunter saw the meteor get smaller and smaller until it hit the side of the mountain mid-way to the peak. But it made no sound.
"What the hell?" The hunter pulled back the hood, revealing more brown hair, and a feminine face with sharp angles. She watched the spot of black smoke slowly fade away until it was gone. The woods around her were dead silent once more, her clouds of breath floating towards the mountain.
"Well," she puffed and sniffed, pulling her scarf back up over her nose, "don't see that every day."
The hunter moved back down the tree, dropping down next to her bow. She put her gloves back on and lifted the bow from the snow, holding it over her shoulder and crunching towards the mountain. She followed the deer tracks to get an idea of where they would be in the morning until they veered off her path and headed south, she continued east through the trees for a distance before stopping with a sigh.
Before her was a log cabin, two stories high, all the windows dark save for a red glow coming from one on the lower levels. It was dark wood, a single door in the front, four steps leading up to the long porch that spanned the entire front. She moved forward, kicking her free of snow on her way up. She unlocked and opened the door and stepped inside. She shut the door behind her and was left with the red glow originating somewhere to her left. She took off the hood, her gloves and scarf and hung them onto the wall beside the door. The bow was also hung here next to a few different styles of guns.
By the dim light she moved to a fireplace and the pile of wood beside it. She set up the logs and found the match box on the mantelpiece. It took three matches and two expletives to get a fire finally going. Her eyes were well adjusted by the time the fire was fully glowing, illuminating clearly a small circle in front of it, and dimly the things behind it. The front room was sparse, a single large chair sat in front of the fire, a rug made of a compilation of furs before it. Behind the chair, against the western wall was a large bookcase, filled with books; informational how-to's and 'the way this works,' with very few works of fiction. A table sat below the window which was curtained. The shapes of picture frames could be seen, and the fire was reflected in the glass.
The source of the red light was several lamps pointed at a wall separating this room from the next which was completely dark inside. The wall was set up with shelves, on which several glass cages were set. Inside each one a creature rested, the most clearly visible was one in the bottom, and largest, cage. The hunter moved to it and opened the front of the cage, reaching in and removing a light tan-colored lizard nearly the length of her arm.
"No luck today Smaug," she said to the lizard, holding him up. It simply tilted its head. She smiled at the lizard and kissed its head, setting it on her shoulder and moving into the dark room. She located and lit a lantern, blowing out the match and turning the brightness up. The entire kitchen was illuminated from just the small source. She moved over to a stove and turned one of the knobs, a light hissing perforated the air with a peculiar scent. She used a match to light the burner, then moved a pot onto it, already filled with water.
She opened a cupboard and pulled out a box of Swiss Miss as the water came to a boil. She removed two packets and moved a mug closer to her on the counter by the stove.
It was a roomy kitchen, the kind any woman would die for. Cupbpards all along the walls, a mobile island in the middle of it, stainless steel sink with a faucet that didn't force you to crush your hands against the back of the basin in order to use the water, and a wood counter. There was a gorgeous light fixture above the island, deep silver dome lamps with round bulbs, the switch for them was by the door.
The hunter turned off the heat once the water began to boil and poured it into the mug, steam rising all the way to the ceiling. She put the pot and left over water onto a cool burner and poured the chocolate mixes into the hot water. She stirred it together with a silver spoon and blew on the surface as she moved back into the living room.
She sat down in the chair, shifted and moved it a little closer to the fire. She settled back into the cushions and looked into the fire. Smaug fidgeted and moved to be closer to her, spiky scales tickling her neck. She moved her head and rubbed her cheek against the lizard. She thought about the meteor as she watched the flames, "it's probably worth something to somebody," she mused to the dragon and sipped her hot chocolate. She blew on the foamy surface again and looked over at a large grandfather clock, looking at the time as the giant pendulum caught the light for a split second every second.
It was only a half hour after six, "what should I have for dinner Smaug?" she asked looking at the lizard's back, "hmm?" the reptile cocked its head to look at her, "steak sound good to you?" she smiled and kissed the lizard again, moving and setting him back down in his cage, shutting the door. She walked through the kitchen and to a door across the way, opening it to reveal a set of stairs. She took the lantern with her down the steep stairs and into the earth. She could see her breath here, in the light of the lantern. It was a large square room, as wide as the floor of the house and eight feet high. Wooden shelves lined every wall, filled with cans and boxes. A large white rectangle was her destination, and she flipped the lid open to reveal many slabs of meat.
She looked through them and selected a piece, using a small icepick to pry it from the others, and then left back to the upstairs, letting the lid drop closed. She started up the stove again, turning the fire low and putting the slab of meat into a skillet produced from one of the cupboards. She added a little oil, and then covered it. She moved out to the living room to the bookshelf. She looked through the various titles there and selected one called Planets, Stars and Galaxies: a Guide to the Universe. She looked at the front cover then the back, glancing up at a noise and saw Smaug chewing on a large superworm that had foolishly dug out of the safety of the sand.
"Good boy," she praised before opening the book and flipping through it. She leaned against the counter by the stove and read through the book as the meat thawed, pausing only to flip the steak back and forth. She had seen meteors before, showers and falling stars; this wasn't even the first time one actually landed on her property, surviving the entry into the atmosphere. But what got her confused was that, it had been so quiet. Something that large should have sounded like a hurricane passing that close overhead, and especially when crashing into the mountain, and yet it was nearly completely silent except for the sounds of burning.
There were no answers in the book by the time the steak was ready. She took the warmed meat out and made sure it was thawed all the way through, then turned the heat up for the oil. She washed her hands and got out a variety of spices. She rubbed these into the meat, stabbing it repeatedly with a fork and threw it back into the oil. It sizzled and popped loudly and she used the lid as a shield while it threw a fit. She let it sear on one side, then flipped it, protected herself from another fit, and then turned the fire down again.
The steak cooked for only a few minutes on each side before she removed it from the skillet and onto a plate. She poured the oil and juices over it and set the skillet back down on the cooling stove. She picked the book back up as she at the island, still looking for answers. There was nothing there, but this was only one book, she may find some in others. It didn't take long for dinner to be over, the dishes were washed except for the pan still slightly filled with water, and the grandfather clock struck eight.
She moved over to the fire and put it out with the water in the pan, returning it to the kitchen. She could still hear the fire crackle under the black logs and ashes but couldn't see any embers in the dark. With the lantern in her hand she blew a kiss to the bearded dragon, "goodnight Smaug," and ascended up the stairs. There were only two rooms here, one on the left and right. Both had once been bedrooms, but she entered into the one on her right. The bed there was a king, more than enough for just her alone, but it was extremely comfortable and stood three feet from the floor, with one foot of clearance between the floor and the base.
She set the lantern on the nightstand, lighting up most of the room, a dark rug on the ground to cover the large empty space, a fireplace across from the bed, a table on the other side of the bed that had a gun laying on it in front of a small digital clock, and a small dresser. Otherwise the only decorations were on the walls, pictures that hung in uneven lines, and a few skulls of animals here and there.
She moved over and lit a fire on the dry logs within the hearth and put a screen guard up in front of it. She undressed on her way back to the bed and slipped into warm fleece clothes before hopping into the bed under three different comforters.
"'Early to bed' right mom?" she looked over at a dark and obscure picture hanging above the fireplace. She turned the lantern all the way down until the fire was the only source of light. She pulled the blanket around her shoulders, cocooning herself and sighing into one of the four feather pillows. The crackling of the fire and the light smell of burning pine lulled her to sleep.