A night to remember

Dan was tired. Oh so tired. He had been out in the wilds on a scouting mission for the tribe the last few days. Even though he loved to be in the woods, especially now when spring was finally arriving up in the North as well, it was always pleasant to have a good night's sleep in his own bed in the ger. Except that he woke up a few hours before sunrise. He couldn’t fall asleep again and he had no idea why.

He laid still, with closed eyes. Listened to his own breathing and Tungulrias. The black female had placed herself near the oven, her little friends cuddled in her cozy fur. The white stoat and the little red raccoon. Both she had found as babies somewhere outside and brought them into the ger, caring for the little creatures as they were puppies. She defended them vigorously whenever one of her packmates got too near to them.

And then the young man heard it. A noise which didn’t quite fit in. A scraping noise, tiny feet scratching over wood. A rustling, like feathers. Feathers?

Dan sat up, scanning the inside of his ger with his eyes. Did a wild bird snuck inside? Maybe they had found his grain storage while he was absent. But he had asked Tana to check now and then and the shaman girl would have noticed and told him for sure.

His movement had woken the red raccoon, which started to move as well and woke Tungulria. The black female opened her tea red eyes, piercing in the vast blackness of the ger in the night. Her muzzle moved slightly when she sniffed the air. There was an unfamiliar scent in the air. And strange noises, ones she had never heard inside the ger before. She lifted her head, causing the little white stoat to roll down her neck and land on her back. It protested, then blinked and focused on something near the entrance. Dan turned his head, just to catch a quick glance on a small shadow moving around before it vanished in the darkness of the ger’s corners. He sighed. Did that really had to happen now? It was the middle of the night. Did he not deserve some nice sleep in a cozy and warm bed?

Apparently he did not. Tossing the furs away he used as blankets the young Canadian got up on his feet. Walking over the cold ground he tried to not walk into anything while getting to the oven and light up a little lamp. In the meanwhile, Tungulria got up on her paws as well and was carefully stalking the little creature, whatever it was. Dan hold up the lamp high in the air, it’s shine revealing some more of the secret intruder. There were indeed feathers lying around. Dan picked one up. It was a small one, reddish in colour. No particular pattern or anything else that could have told him with what kind of bird he was dealing with. The way Tungulria approached it must be still on the ground. That was kinda confusing. Maybe it’s wing was broken or it was hurt in another way? Dan checked the ground more carefully, but couldn’t find any traces of blood.

A bark, a loud cackle and then a bang as Tungulria collided with his large wooden drawer. A chicken ran away, cackling loudly and spread its wings. HOW ON EARTH did a chicken get inside his ger? He was pretty sure someone in the tribe had some chickens, but they were usually very well guarded. Around so many Tokotas they had to be. Even though most were good trained, there were always one or two that liked to cause havoc. Dan knew, he owned some of them himself.

Another sigh escaped his shoulders while Tungulria stepped close to him. He leaned against her shoulder, taking comfort in her big warm body. “Hey big girl. Now what do we do with that bugger? We can’t just let it stay loose in here. Either you or your little friends would hunt it down I’m sure. And destroy the ger during the process. And I can’t really have it laying eggs all around the place as well. Or getting into my supplies…” Of course Tungulria didn’t understand a single word of what he was talking about, but it helped to sort his thoughts and get his mind clear. His supplies! That could work.

He commanded Tungulria to lie down again, guarding the part of his ger where he stored food. In a multitude of jars, pots and containers were grain, rice, pickled vegetables, dried fruits, nuts, salt and other durable things stowed away. Dan quickly grabbed a shirt and some pants to put on. Then he went to the fireplace, searching for some of the small, thin kindle he used as fire starters. Together with a bit of a thin rope he managed to tinker a very makeshift looking cage, also functioning as a trap. At least he hoped that it would.

Dan wrapped the cage into one of his scarfs, leaving only the entrance open. Back in his childhoods some neighbours had chickens as well, and they needed some sort of nest to lay eggs into. The Neighbours had build boxes, in which the chickens would lay. Dan hoped that particular chicken in his ger would think of it as a nest too.

Placing the makeshift cage near the entrance, Dan tried to guess where  the chicken was at the moment. Judging by the glances of the stoat and raccoon it must be somewhere around his bed. The young man grabbed a handful of grains out of a pot and scattered it in a loose path from the bed to the cage. Then he sat down next to Tungulria and waited.

With his back leaned against the black females rump, her breathing heaving his own body up and down, Dan’s eyes quickly closed. With a soft chirp, almost unhearable and more of a rumbling through her chest, Tungulria woke her handler up. In his lap laid the raccoon and the stoat, closely cuddled together. And the chicken… the chicken had pecked up almost all the grain and was nestled in the cage! Dan tore at the rope, which connected to the stick that hold up one side of the cage. The stick fell, and with it the cage’s door. The chicken was trapped! Quick now! He stood up, not looking at the protesting critters that fell from his lap, approached the cage in which the chicken was cackling loudly and closed the cage’s door tieing it to the other parts.