Blade Maidens: Closed Fist, Open Hand – 17
“There was once a great hunter.
His prowess was known across the verdant lands of Telos, from the Reaches to Verdanna. No beast could outwit him. No beast could outrun him. Through spear and bow he provided meat to fill his family’s stores. Through knife and trap he carved enough trophies to fill a Lord’s hall.
Hearing tale of his skill, one of the undying Merchant-Princes of Valfald provided a challenge to the hunter. A mighty snow bear roamed his lands, killing his subjects and frightening off what little game remained in the frigid peaks and valleys.
Having grown bored in his pursuits, the great hunter donned his warmest furs and made the journey to Valfald. Weeks of searching followed, looking for traces of the elusive beast. Tracks were quickly swallowed by the snow. Prey’s blood froze within the hour. Calling upon every ounce of skill his years offered, the great hunter finally came upon the beast’s lair. A cave so well-hidden by the ice and snow that it was nigh-invisible, only a single frozen drop of blood from the bear’s maw identified it’s entrance.
Knowing the beast was far too large, larger than even the great warbeasts of old Kaldava, to face in direct combat, the great hunter waited. For days, scarcely moving amongst the icy wastes. Until the mighty bear once more left it’s lair.
Constructing the largest trap he had ever conceived, the hunter obscured it’s sharpened stakes and iron teeth under rubble and snow. The mighty bear returned, and upon hearing it’s echoing howl of pain the great hunter knew his trap had sprung.
Approaching with his spear, the hunter was surprised to find the beast waiting for him. Eyes aglow with the divine emerald light of the Beast Lord Dár, the bear spoke with the voice of a god.
“Why have you harmed my chosen cub, son of man?”, the beast lord asked.
The hunter replied, meeting the God’s gaze, “Because I was tasked to do so, Beast Lord.”
Dár was not pleased with the answer. “Why do the unliving ones seek to kill my child, hunter?”
The hunter answered, “They fear the bear’s teeth and claws, my lord. They wish it dead in turn for the deaths it takes.”
Dár, once more, was not pleased. “Is this not the realm of the bear? My children were here long before the corpse-kings claimed their burrows. They have no less claim over these lands than they.”
The hunter considered this answer, for he knew the truth of it. “You are right, my lord. May I release the trap and leave your child’s lands?”
Dár spoke no more, and simply watched the hunter.
The great hunter approached, undoing each mechanism he had spent hours constructing. So great was his focus that he did not notice the departure of Dár’s light from the beast’s eyes.
Once his work was complete, he turned to the mighty bear only for it to devour him whole.
For the hunter forgot the first lesson he ever learned.
There is nothing more dangerous than a cornered animal.”
– A traditional Telosian folktale, most commonly told in the woods of the Bousean Reaches.
