Dark timber part 4

The blackness of a thick stand of spruce trees during a moonless night is possibly the closest to pure darkness one is likely to encounter. Such is the darkness that surrounds Hawk and Scar as they lay, thirty feet above their fire and camp, on top of a huge rock outcrop hidden deep in the forest. The moon will rise at any moment, illuminating the night and lending light to the deepest recesses of the night forest. It took all day to find this spot and nearly an hour to climb up onto this huge rock, pulling scar up with ropes along with food and water enough for several days. The grey pinto, he turned loose in a huge meadow at the edge of this patch of forest. So far, the killer bear has yet to kill a horse and Hawk is hoping that will remain the case. Slowly the moonlight begins to brighten the night sky, illuminating the camp below the two hunters as they lay in wait for the deadly bear. Hawk feels his heart skip a beat as the moonlight brightens the dark night, below him his once tidy camp is now bathed in bright moonlight and he can plainly see that his bedroll is not beside the dying fire anymore but is instead missing from the scene. If he had camped down there this would have been his last night on earth at the claws of the silent, vicious killer. Throughout the long night Hawk remains vigilant, searching the shadows for any sign of the bear, his eyes probe the moonlit forest and deep shadows hoping to catch a glimpse of the giant as he moves through the night, but to no avail. With the coming of dawn, Hawk comes to the realization that he must change his tactics to sleeping by day and hunting by night if he is to have a chance at killing this bear.
Hunger has driven the bear out into the early morning light, the battle with another of his kind as well as the unsuccessful hunt at the humans camp has left him famished. The bear he battled with was an old adversary. For the last ten years, the other bear has given him a wide berth, but yesterday when they met along a high ridge, the younger bear had not retreated. He had instead risen onto his hind legs and growled a challenge. The battle was fierce but only lasted a short while. The younger bear was clearly outmatched and suffered the same fate as all others who have dared to challenge him in these forests. The stalk on the human’s camp in the deep darkness went smoothly until he struck the killing blow. As he dragged the helpless victim silently into the night, he was surprised to find no human inside the blankets. In all the years he has been hunting humans this is the first time he was surprised with the outcome. Moreover, he made certain to remember the scent of this human who owned those blankets, incase they should meet again. The bear began the steep climb back to the spot where he killed the other of his kind, bear meat would fill his stomach and should last for several days, and after all it could taste a lot like human…..