Two horsemen were coming on the snowy forest road. Although spring had already come, the snow had not yet melted. The wind was blowing like ice. The breeze had glued the fur of one of the horsemen further into his back. The wind seemed to howl for a moment. There was an unusually heavy silence around. Despite the arrival of spring, there was not a single greenery except for the trees that did not shed their leaves during the winter. Where the trees were thicker, puddles of snow covered the ground. Igan touched his arrow, thinking he heard a little stir in the silence. This was the hardest winter, according to the elders.Even wolves in the mountains were beginning to appear on the plains by the riverbanks. Judging by the deer carcasses along the way, the wolves had already spotted the stray deer. A few people they met on the way said that wolves even attacked herds of horses from hunger and warned them to be careful. The horsemen crossed the snowy roads at full speed. They had been on the road for days. Homar made a hand gesture to Igan. They were to rest for a while on the thawed part of the river.

They both stopped their horses and tied their horses to the trunk of a tree near the river. The horses were panting from their rumps, and smoke was coming from them. After tying their horses, Igan and Homar went down to the riverside. Thinking that he heard a voice again, Igan put his arrow into the bow. He pulled it up to his cheek in one motion. Homar was ready to throw his spear, which he used like a cane, at any moment. Again, a freezing wind blew Homar's white cloak waving like a flag. Ignoring the wind, he walked uneasily in the direction Igan  was looking at. Homar walked unhurriedly along the frosty lines on his cheeks, with a lock of long hair on his head, his feet firmly on the ground, along the river's edge, which had just melted into a small path. Homar's calmness dampened Igor's excitement a little bit.

He kept his eyes on the direction the sound came from. Although Igan  was a head taller than Homar, his shoulders were not as broad as Homar. Igan had straw-blond hair and slightly slanted gray eyes, which were unusually white for the area. Homar always said that he resembled his estranged mother more than his father. Igan  had no recollection of anything other than what had been said about his mother. As he watched the direction the sound came from, he had a feeling that he was being watched. Across the river, thick clumps of trees and bushes were moving by the force of the wind. There was no other movement; but the emotion Igan  felt was growing inside him as the seconds passed. Igan reminded himself not to be delusion.On the falling side of the road, there was nothing among the trees opposite. If anything had happened on the other side, Homar would have thrown his spear already. Igan  had never met anyone around here with a better spear wielder than him. Just as he was about to turn around and tell Homar to they  leave there, he heard a voice from the bushes again. He looked over his shoulder in that direction. He saw a shadow among the trees. He blinked and looked in that direction again. Across the river, among the shadows of the trees, someone was looking at them. Igan  took another step or two closer to the river's edge, his arrow stretched out to see more clearly the person in the shadows. The person in the shadows was also approaching him. The shadow had come closer, but it was completely white, so it was nowhere to be seen.

A stone suddenly caught Igan 's foot and he stumbled. Homar was only twenty paces away from him, looking over his spear at him, “Are you okay? " said. “ There is someone,” Igan  said, panting, trying to regain his balance, pointing in the direction of the stranger in white. “Someone is watching us.” “ Where? ” Homar raised his spear and pointed it in the direction he was pointing. He looked at the wooded areas. There was no one where Igan pointed. Homar lowered his spear. “ There is no one” “It was there, I saw it." said Homer. “Even if you did, it might be hidden in the trees. Let's go." he said, heading towards the horses. Igan followed him. His horses had enough rest. They jumped on their backs and continued on their way. Igan couldn't get the silhouette he saw along the way out of his mind.

The two horsemen finally approached the area where the Kutsk people lived. The area was close to what was called the Black Forest. Large tents lined the edge of the forest. The river just beyond the tents split into many branches. From the hill they were on, Igan and Homar could see people fishing at intervals on the icy river. The passengers rode their horses one last time. Where the black forest ended, the dark mountains began. No one other than the people of Kutsk could enter this forest and approach the mountains. Everyone was afraid of monsters living in the dark forest. They said they couldn't live this close to the dark forest without their witch, Tonka. The people of Kutsk feared Tonka and always excluded her. Tonka's tent was 1,000 paces from theirs. Only the bravest would dare to approach her tent.

When Homar and Igan arrived at the camp, they were greeted by two young people with white fur, who had cut most of their hair, the traditional haircut of the Kutsk people, and only part of it remained long. One escorted them to the tent of the bey's tent, and the other took them to the stable to feed and water their horses. Igan and Homar opened the tent door and entered. There were five men cross-legged on the ground. Igan and Homar took turns greeting those in the tent with their palms in their hands and sat down in the place shown to them.They had come to ask the people of Kutsk for help regarding the wolves that had attacked the flock of the Igan and Homar people. A fire was burning loudly in the middle of the tent. As the people in the tent were talking about what to do to avoid the problem they encountered in the next winter, the noise of the children was suddenly heard from outside the tent.

The voices of the children were mixed with the voices of the women. The people in the tent did not become indifferent to these sounds any longer and went out one by one. The children had surrounded something in front of the tent. The ruler of the Kutsk people shouted to the children, “Scatter!” When the children heard this sound, they dispersed. “Vora,” said Bey. There was a moribund lynx on the ground in the snow. No one could get within ten feet of the lynx. Igan heard a footstep. The people of Kutsk slowly stepped aside to give way. Igan looked up at what had come.All the people of Kutsk gathered in the field, saying nothing, waiting for what their lord would say. There was a moribund lynx on the ground in the snow. No one could get within ten feet of the lynx. Igan heard a footstep. The people of Kutsk slowly stepped aside to give way. Igan looked up at what had come. It was the white silhouette he saw across the river. Red blood was smeared on the hem of his white fur. The people took a step or two away from lynx. Tonka came to the ear, which writhed in pain on the ground, sweeping the floor with her fur cloak. He picked it up from the ground and turned to Igan, lifting him into the air with one hand. In his hand was a “Vora” from the black forest. After Tonga ran his other hand over the lynx, the Lynx slowly lifted his head. The lynx became even more alive after Tonka whispered something in an unknown language. When Tonka dropped him to the ground, he ran and brushed himself against Igan's leg. Although Igan was afraid of the lynx and pushed it with his foot, the lynx would not leave him. Tonka made a whistling sound. When the lynx heard this sound, it tucked its tail and sank into Igan's boots. Tonka bowed her head lightly and said, "A gift for the traveller," and walked away, rubbing the hem of her fur.