CHAPTER 3: hunting

A few years passed by in merely an instant. This however was enough time for Theo to understand the common language.

He even managed to learn how to read and write, which was verry uncommon in this part of the land.

Tough they lived a few kilometres away from the nearest village they were still part of it on paper. Theo himself had never seen the village, but according to his father it still was a rather poor one.

The only reason that he could make money out of his work was because the main salesman, Hendrik, had some connections to some important families in the major cities.

When his father told him that, Theo had asked for him to teach him more. Knowing fully well that Theo could probably never get a good job due to him barely even resembling a human, Joost decided to teach him how to hunt. So, when he was no longer here, Theo could vent for himself.

Therefore, the was handed a bow and a dozen arrows and he and his father ventured into the woods.

Theo was very excited to learn some new skills and happily followed his father. His paws barely made a noise on the soft forest floor. His blue fluffy ears constantly twitched from left to right as he tried to locate all the new sounds that echoed through the forest.

His light blue, cat like eyes curiously followed every small creature that swiftly ran or flew away as soon as they got close.

Suddenly Joost stretched out his arm to block Theo's path. He placed his finger on his lips and pointed in the direction of some oddly shaped trees.

Behind the trees stood a deer. It was peacefully munching on some fresh green leaves.

Quietly Joost whispered. "Okay, stretch out your left arm but not as far as it gets. It has to be strong yet relaxed. You got that?"

Theo did as ask and looked back at this father to check if what he did was right.

"Good, now place the arrow on the string. And now pull the string back with your index and middle finger. Don't grip it to tight or the arrow will lose track."

Theo pulled the string back as instructed.

"Now you have to pull it a little further back. Make sure that you do it with your back as to not put too much strain on your arms. Do it as if you try to press your shoulder blades together."

Theo lowered his wings and let them loosely dangle next to his body. Like this, he could solely focus on the rest of his back.

Joost was amazed to see how far Theo could pull the string back. but in the end, it made sense. Theo had wings, so the muscles in his back and chest had to be a lot stronger than that of humans to be able to fly.

But it also slightly worried Joost. Theo was obviously built for flight. Next to his well-developed muscles he was pretty slender, and his weight was extremely low. But despite this he had never flown in his life.

"Now aim for the deer. Keep in mind that the arrow will land slightly lower than were you aim. If you think you got it, you let the arrow go."

Theo aimed a little higher than before. Then the let go of the string. The arrow shot out while making a soft whistling sound.

It hit the deer in its hind leg.

The animal made a painful cry, turned around and ran away.

"It is okay, the deer won't get far like this. We can follow it and then I will get it for you."

But Theo had already placed the bow down. Or rather he dropped it while he chased after the deer on all fours like a dog with rabies.

Easily evading any and all obstacles he caught up with the deer. With one swift movement he jumped onto the back of the deer. And while the animal tried to shake him off in pure panic, he tore open its throat with his teeth.

Without any way to breathe the deer fell on its side and Theo continued his feast. Ripping off the flesh as if it was just as thin as paper, his mouth was now completely dyed red in the still warm blood of the deer.

Almost out of breath, Joost finally caught up to his son. But the vile scene in front of him made him freeze dead in his tracks. He had skinned and gutted many animals that he had hunted, but this was just too horrific.

Theo looked up at his father. But he did not entirely recognise him at the moment. As his pupils narrowed to form vertical slits, he hissed at the human that dared to come close to his meal. His ears were almost pressed against his neck while he tried to drag the body away.

Joost slowly walked backwards. While he tried to show that he was planning on harming Theo. Theo noticed this and continued to eat the deer. Joost could do nothing but stare at the blue creature that he had raised as his son while hoping that he would snap out of whatever was affecting him.

Soon Theo had satisfied his hunger. There was still much left of the deer since he only ate one of the hind legs. He never ate that much in one go after all. He blinked a few times and looked around.

In front of him, he saw a human staring back at him. At first, he did not recognise him, but soon the identity of this man came back to him.

"Dad?"

Joost ran over to him and inspected his face.

"Theo are you alright? You are not hurt anywhere, are you?"

Theo shook his head which caused some of his dark blue hair to fall in front of his eyes.

"Dad what happened?"

"I don't know, but I am so glad that you snapped back out of it."

Joost picked up what remained of the deer and together with Theo, he walked home.