Day 2 Contd...(7)

Mriga sat down on her knees instead of being on her haunches and moved her hand gingerly on the ground to touch the place which Abhirath was talking about.

After a few seconds, she asked him quietly, "How good are your tree climbing skills?"

Abhirath straightened up and replied, "I am not a monkey like you but I think I can manage to take my body from one tree to another in reasonable enough time."

He was referring to the activity where she and Chiranjeev had left everyone far behind and totally impressed with their skills in the training forest at Eastern Zilla.

"Huh! Who are you calling a monkey? You are a monkey, your wife is a monkey, your kids…" she ranted.

"I am not sure about the kids yet but considering the girl that I am crazy about, there is a high chance that they will turn out to be…" he started cheekily and let the naughty words trail.

Taken aback at the unexpected flirting, Mriga was completely nonplussed and pivoted on her feet, walking towards the nearest tree. With a grin, he followed her closely.

Mriga climbed the tree nimbly and waited as her partner climbed at a sedate pace.

"From whatever little that I can make out, these trees are not the same as the Eastern zilla ones. They don't have the shoots hanging from them which we you use to cross over. I think I can manage to use the sturdy branches to go from one to another but it wouldn't be possible for you. But, guess what, I just found out the whereabouts of a competing pair. Damn, we should have picked up a bag of lighting stones as well," saying so, she pointed out to the faint light which was visible from the tree top.

Abhirath who had been about to give her a mean remark for looking down upon his competency, gave her a thumbs-up for spotting the other pair but she completely it missed due to the darkness. Anyways, she was busy thinking of an alternative strategy.

"I think we should split up. In this manner, we will be able to cover more ground and eliminate the dead ends faster," she started.

Before he replied, she continued whispering, "Do you remember the bird calls which Chiranjeev taught us at the end of the training that night in the woods?"

Abhirath said, "I do remember them but not very well. I never had a chance to practice them post that night."

"You don't need to remember them all. Just listen to the three which I am going to tell you now. Let's use them as a code to track each other. I will move from tree to tree, and try to follow the light. You go hunting on the ground in another direction. We will use our core competencies to try and find the centre where the tree with resources is. Ok?" she asked.

"It seems that all the training in the past hasn't been a complete waste on you. I think the idea can work. But even if you go the aerial way, you will still have to come down at some point. Also, considering that this plan has been designed by Prithvi guruji, you can't be complacent even while using the trees. So, be careful when you cross over. Be mindful of other competitors as well," he reminded her.

Actually, he was worried about them separating at this juncture but her idea had merit and that's why he didn't dispute it. For the next two minutes, they practiced the three bird calls to be used for – 'dangerous here', 'wrong direction' and 'help me'.

The responding call to each of them was just a chirp to make the partner know that the message had been received and also to reveal the general direction which they were in.

"You have to take into account the possibility that someone else also may be using this technique in here already or may become aware of ours and try to sabotage it. In order to prevent that, we need to have a specific signature following the calls to authenticate that it is you and me who is communicating," he told her.

"But if we utter anything else other than the bird calls, people will definitely figure it out as well," she frowned and replied.

"Umm, what about using the chatter voice of a monkey a few seconds before the message and the reply could be followed by a cry of pain to throw them off?" For bringing up the monkey again, Mriga landed a mean upper cut on his jaw but then grunted her agreement.

Abhirath climbed down the tree stealthily after deciding the directions which they will begin with, initially. Their plan was to move in perpendicular tracks to each other instead of going exactly opposite which may make them go too far to be able to hear or reach the other on time, if needed.

After ten minutes of moving straight, Mriga landed next to a small lake. There were no more trees in that direction and she couldn't see much beyond the calm water body, so she had come down. Suddenly, there was a sharp rustling sound next to her and a group of four people materialised there.

"Little girl, are you thirsty? Where did you come from? Did your partner run away? Did you fall from the sky?" the whispered jeers from them made Mriga become a little wary.

What was this? Why were these people lying in wait here instead of looking for a way to the centre of the forest? Mriga could make out two girls and two guys by their voices.

Suddenly she raised her voice and shouted, "Are the four of you trying to ambush people by ganging up together next to the lake? I am going to lodge a complain…ahhhh. Help me someone!"

The four stunned people looked around and then at the noisy girl. They tried to identify the chit who stood in front of them. They hadn't even come close to touching a hair on her body and she was already screaming her lungs out.