Chapter 1 (Fragment)

It was apparent that from the outset, Peace-Renown had been permitted the greatest personal freedom, that her upbringing had been masculine in nature and that within the pleasingly formed feminine body dwelt a forceful and valiant spirit.

She was Tuhar’s only child; her mother having died at her birth. Her nurse, an old peasant woman, had trained her from earliest childhood in the performance of practical, everyday tasks. And when she grew older, her father, to assuage his loneliness, took her everywhere with him. To satisfy her impulsive, zealous nature, he taught her the use of all the implements of warfare in the art of self-defense, to bear discomforts without complaint and to face danger without flinching. The greater the difficulties which presented themselves, the more audacious she grew in overcoming them, the stronger she developed physically and the more self-reliant mentally. Despite all this, Peace-Renown never for a moment was unfeminine. She was sweet of nature, good of heart and demure. All this, combined with her training, made a most harmonious and charming combination, so that whoever saw her and heard her speak, could never forget her. Her walk, her lovely voice made them recall to memory the best moments of their lives, their youth; just as the first breath of spring brings memories to an old man of his young love.

The big game hunt was in its third day. Many deer and bison had been killed by the arrows and spears of the boyars. Near the bank of a noisy mountain stream, in a glade deep within the forest, the huntsmen had pitched their tents. Smoke rose high from huge campfires where upon iron racks hung great steaming kettles and where the meat of the game was being turned by the servants as it broiled and baked, to feed Tuhar’s company of guests.

Today, the last day of the hunt was to be devoted to the most important and most dangerous of all, the hunt for bears. At the top of a steeply sloping hill strewn with broken branches and fallen timber and densely forested with sturdy beech and pine trees, separated from the rest of the terrain by deep ravines and gorges, was the ancient breeding ground of the mighty Bruin. There, Maxim Berkut, their mountain guide, assured them could be found the dens of the female bears from which they brought forth their offspring to instill terror into the entire community, on visiting its ‘peaceful pastures.

Although some daring shepherds occasionally killed one or two beasts with their bows and arrows and spears, or managed to lure them into a trap, the number of bears was too great for such infrequent killings to insure the community against their ever-present menace.

It was no wonder that when the new boyar, Tuhar Wolf, announced to the inhabitants of Tukhlia that he was staging a bear hunt and asked them to lend him a guide, they not only sent him their very best young mountaineer, Maxim, son of Zakhar, their most prominent citizen and respected leader, but also a troop of young mountaineer archers, equipped with bows and arrows and javelins to lend assistance to the boyar and his company in the hunt. Tuhar’s plan was to surround the hillside breeding ground with his company and to rid it once and for all of its savage inhabitants.

From earliest morn the encampment was alive with the excitement of preparation. The servants had been stirring about long before dawn getting ready the provisions of food and filling the guests’ wooden canteens with a thirst-quenching drink of fomented honey. The Tukholian youths also prepared themselves by sharpening their knives and wooden arrows, drawing on durable moccasins and filling the compartments of their lunch baskets with roast meat, dumplings, bread, cheese and other food enough to last them the entire day.