“Well…” he considered the question. “Animals are not stupid. We must place it so that it looks essentially natural,” Batbayar explained, “however it must also be strongly rooted in the ground, or the snare will not be effective.”
As illustration, Batbayar took out his hunting knife, quickly whittling off the end of the stick into a spike before driving it hard into the ground. The y-shaped end faced the ground now, waiting for a smaller stick to be placed along with the twine in Batbayar’s pocket.
“You need a spring pole too, and one that will act as the trigger. One also for toggling which will make the trap work.” He assembled a variety of sticks as he spoke, putting them all out in a line for Hanae to see.
After a pause he gathered them back together and started to put together the trap. “You must wrap the snare line like so….” he demonstrated the wrapping motion, securing the trap in place and moving away just slightly to allow Hanae access to the finished product. “And you’re finished. Just don’t let the line get stuck under the fork, or the trap won’t work.”
Batbayar stood with a grunt, stretching out his back a moment. “Of course, the best way to know where to set the trap is by observation. I saw that there was a trail through here, so I chose this location because chances are there are many species of small game that come through here.”
Hanae observed each step carefully, distracted only briefly by his arms. Luckily there would no hand to hand duel between him and Aika… at least she did not imagine so. She was quick though, so as long as she kept out of his grasp Hanae believed Aika would manage in a hypothetical situation such as that. Or at least she guessed, Hanae knew little of combat personally.
“How quickly would we need to get to a trapped animal before it sprang out, do you think?” It was a rather unspecific question now that she thought of it. Surely a clawed or fanged animal would have an easier time escaping than one that was not.
Her stance shifted somewhat while a small rodent scurried through the brush past her foot.
“We can leave them overnight if necessary,” he assured her. “Snares are designed to be left; they’re like…little hunters that you spread out through the woods while you hunt bigger game that takes longer to catch.” Indeed, most of their meat came from snares where hunting was concerned.
Batbayar picked up a good sized stick, waving Hanae away slightly from the trap so that he could demonstrate just what it might do. He let the stick catch in the rope and the trigger snapped. The noose bit into the stick partially, pieces of it spraying up with the violence of the motion.
“Once caught they are not likely to go anywhere unless a predator comes along before we do.” Always a very real danger as well, of course.
Batbayar removed the stick, casting it aside before carefully going about resetting the snare. He stood away from the trap, dusting off his trousers before turning his attention fully to the handmaiden once more.
“You said that your father was of our people, and your mother a dignitary,” he ventured. “What is your mother’s husband like?”
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