The First Hunt (Part 2)

It didn't take long for June to find the tracks of a herd of buffalo-yak. She knew that most wild herbivores would head towards the foot of the mountains at this time of the year, spring. She was already dreaming of how it would feel when the adults saw her bringing their meal and how they would praise her. At one point, as she continued to look for clues to follow, she saw a small thatch of strong black hair, caught on a tree branch. After studying it for a while she became alert. She looked around the tree for any more clues and found claw marks.

Interesting. Looks like I have some competition.

She decided to be cautious as she went on.

--------------------------

Minutes later, Feng was standing in the exact same spot. He was about to proceed when Zoraya spotted some footprints a little far off.

"Why would June walk there?" Feng's eyes followed the direction in which she was pointing.

"Yes. Why?" He decided to inspect it out of curiosity. "Damn it!" His heart begun to race when he noticed the black hair and claw marks.

"What is it?"

"A Pygmy Puma."

"Well, it's a good thing we are hunting a herd and not a solo animal."

"Yeah, I guess." He looked ahead and prayed. Please be safe my little one.

----------------------------

June could see a clearing a few metres away from where she stood. She didn't want to scare the herd of buffalo-yak which she could roughly make out but strongly hear as they grunted in the sun. She climbed a nearby tree in order to get a better view of the herd and the clearing they were in. Climbing the tree was difficult because of the bow and quiver which kept getting stuck on smaller branches. This forced her to give up gaining any more altitude. She found a strong branch that stretched far enough from the trunk and crawled along it. Once she was close to the end, she begun to survey the land and plan her next move. She was just about to come to a conclusion when she heard the growling of a Puma. She turned in its direction and was surprised to see it right behind her.

And here I thought I was following you.

The puma's growl grew louder as it inched forward. She wondered if she had enough time to load an arrow but seeing as she had no choice she slowly begun to raise her right arm over her shoulder to draw an arrow. Just as she touched it the Puma leapt forward.

June threw herself over the side and the puma jumped after her. As she fell, June turned around and was able to draw, load, aim and shoot. The bow string sung. The arrow flew. The puma cried in pain, but only because the arrow scratched its left side. June had aimed to kill with one shot, but had missed.