Hunting And Not Hunted I

"I just guessed, I don't really know. But I'm sure you're in a lot of pain all over your body." Luke replied.

"That's for sure. My body aches like hell." Kyne agreed.

Luke climbed the tree suddenly, and when he returned, he was with something in his hand. It was meat.

"Hey, Kyne, you should cut the meat as usual. Tomorrow morning before your training, we'll go to the pond to wash it before we add it to the ones we already have." Luke spoke to Kyne who immediately stood up with his dagger in his hand.

"Pardon, but is that meat?" Aurora asked.

"Yup, it definitely is meat. A good one at that." Luke nodded.

"What type of…" Before she could ask completely, a thought flashed in her mind. "Don't tell me…"

"You're exactly right. It's the meat of those crazy beasts." Luke confirmed her doubt.

"Ugh. That's gross, isn't it?" She asked.

"No, it's not. But I doubt it'll suit your taste. This was the exact reason I told you I wouldn't be providing food for you both. But if you're able to eat this, then we'll have enough to eat." Luke explained to Aurora.

"I… I understand." She replied, lost for words.

He turned back at Kyne. "Are you done with the cutting?"

"Almost." He shouted from his position.

"Be fast about it. I'm gonna make the fire now." Luke was already walking to a place not too far from the huge tree. It was filled with dry twigs and Luke took some of it before he returned to the tree.

He set the twigs on fire and stabbed one of the big twigs into the meat. He placed it close to the fire so it could get roasted.

"Will that be enough for all four of us?" Aurora asked surprisingly.

"My… my lady!" Sihlon tried to oppose it.

"If I'm eating this then you're obviously eating it too. Moreover, you'll be having a taste of it before me. Who knows how it really tastes?" Aurora interrupted before he could even complain.

"Yes, my lady." Sihlon replied.

"I'm done." Kyne dropped slabs of meat close to Luke.

"You could've just taken it up the trees, you know?" Luke complained.

"I'll just do that after I eat." Kyne shrugged.

"That's fine by me." Luke replied lazily. "The meat's ready." Luke spoke to everyone.

Cutting the meat into smaller pieces, Luke shared the pieces.

"Mhmm… it's better than I thought." Sihlon confessed when the meat went down his throat.

"Are you sure about that?" Aurora asked him.

"Yup, it's good. You should try it too, my lady." Sihlon replied.

"It's good." She had already started eating before he finished speaking.

Luke interrupted their conversation. "Yup, yup. Now eat up. Tomorrow's going to be a long journey." He turned, facing Kyne. "Especially for you."

"Yeah, I know that." Kyne answered.

*****

"Hey, wake up, it's about time we go to the pond. You know, getting training dummies for you is quite hard. You'll be coming with me today." Luke woke up Kyne.

The sun had just risen and Kyne was now awake.

"You could've left me for another hour or two but NO! You wouldn't. Let's go anyway." Kyne grumbled but stood up anyway.

He took the meat he had cut the previous night along with them.

Luke shook Sihlon awake. "Hey, when she wakes up and asks about us, just tell her we went for training. You'll be safe as long as you stay up in the tree and don't do anything stupid."

They departed for the pond after informing Sihlon about their departure.

When they arrived at the pond, they washed the meat clean from blood and dirt and kept it hidden near the pond.

"Should we wash up first or let's do that after we finish training?" Kyne asked.

"I don't know about you, but I'll wash up after the training is finished." Luke replied and walked away from the pond. Kyne followed after him.

Soon, Luke's walking turned to jogging, and Kyne, who didn't want to lose sight of Luke ran after him.

The jogging soon became sprinting and Kyne chased after Luke as fast as he could.

"Hey! Slow down a bit. I won't be able to keep up for long if you keep running like that." Kyne yelled from behind.

"Just take this as our daily two hours of running. Don't worry, we'll stop pretty soon." Luke had just finished talking before Kyne saw the end of the thick forest filled with trees.

The land in front of them was a huge expanse of green grass that spread as far as their eyes could see.

"We'll be spotted easily from here." Kyne tried to state the obvious.

"That's exactly what I want. In fact, we'll be leaving our trails around here. There will hardly be humans as bold as us in this place. So we're safe because we'll only have to deal with beasts." Luke spoke like a veteran hunter.

"I understand." Kyne nodded.

They had not even gone far when Luke spotted something approaching them with insane speed.

When it got close enough for Luke to see what it was, he yelled at Kyne. "Back to trees!"

They bolted back to the trees and climbed as fast as possible.

It ran past the trees they had climbed and into the forest. Obviously, it wasn't after them.

Kyne, who saw it past them, asked Luke. "What the hell was that?"

"It looked like a cat, but it was way bigger. It had white skin and I could see black spots on its skin. But what scared me the most were its head that looked like a rat but only bigger and its two black fangs that protruded from its mouth." Luke gave a description of what he had seen.

"You saw all that in a few seconds? And what the hell do you mean by black fangs? You sure your eyes weren't playing on you?" Kyne didn't seem convinced at all.

"I also don't know. In any case, I just told you what I saw." Luke climbed down from the tree.

"It's gone, now let's head back into the field. We can't just wait for the beasts to find us. We'll have to find them too." Luke stretched his limbs while speaking. Kyne was already down his tree.

"When I was on the tree, I could spot six rabid jackals not too far from here. Let's head there first since they're all two-ringed and it'll be easier dealing with them." Luke spoke to Kyne.

"Sure, let's head there then." Kyne replied.

After walking for a few minutes, they reached a place of towering grasses the height of Kyne's shoulder. Kyne could hear the footsteps of the beasts getting close.

"They've noticed our approach and are also approaching." Kyne whispered.

"That seems to be the case, but that doesn't mean we'll run away. We're going nowhere till those six dogs stay lifeless in this place." Luke's resolve was firm as a rock.

"Sure. I didn't say otherwise." Kyne also had to get bold.

Growl.

The first beast was now a few meters beside Luke.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

"Be careful, it'll appear any moment from now." Luke warned and a moment later, Kyne was the first to spot the hound jumping on Luke.

"You're the one who should be careful! It's right beside you!" He yelled.