Hunting And Not Hunted III

"What the hell do you mean? Why should I go back alone?" Kyne opposed Luke's words.

Luke had told him to go back to their base, the tree with the captured hounds, but Kyne wasn't going to do that.

"Listen. I won't be long. I'll probably meet you on the way before you get back." Luke tried to convince him again.

"I don't even know the way back!" Kyne yelled. He truly didn't know the way. He just went ahead with Luke. He wasn't as tall as Luke so the crown of his head was just slightly higher than the surrounding grasses.

He would just get lost as long as he couldn't see out of the grasses.

"Ah, now that you mention it, I guess you'll truly get lost." Luke chuckled.

Kyne quickly interrupted. "Stop joking around and let's just go back. Why do you want to even go further? You met two rabid jackals with three rings simultaneously. Who knows what lurks even deeper? A four-ringed one? Or even a five-ringed one."

"Yes, yes. Let's just go back. I'd really like to see a four-ringed one though. Too bad." Luke sighed before walking towards the captured beasts.

He held onto the limb of one of them and began to pull the beasts towards the direction they had come from.

"Hey, slow down. I'm quite injured." Kyne chased after him.

"Can't you see I'm injured too? Don't whine and just follow quickly." Luke replied, pointing at the bleeding injuries over his body.

Their speed had clearly dropped compared to when they were entering this danger zone but slowly, they left the place.

When they left the place, Luke kept it in his memory. Tomorrow, he would definitely storm this place.

They stopped by the tree they had been in when they were hiding from the other beast that only Luke had seen.

They rested for an hour, treating their injuries.

"I know a lot of medical herbs that aid recovery and help to heal injuries." That was what Kyne had said when they stopped here.

He truly knew a lot of them because both of them had recovered a lot. Although they were not in top condition, they were better than they had been immediately after their fights.

The sun was already setting and they both rushed back to the tree. They first visited the pond, cleaned themselves and Luke took out the meat he had hidden near the pond and they returned to the tree together. Luke pulled the beasts and Kyne held the huge slab of meat.

"We have to hurry, I don't feel good about the others we left at the base." Luke urged the injured Kyne to move faster. They were both injured but Luke was in better condition than his partner.

"I'm going as fast as I can. I'm barely healed even with all the herb concoction I took. Just hurry ahead without me if you're feeling that bad." Kyne replied lazily but he tried to increase his pace nonetheless.

Luke looked ahead, looked at Kyne, and looked ahead once again. "I'm going ahead then." He spoke and started running back to their tree base.

Kyne was left behind but steadily, he progressed forward. He had not even gone far when he heard a high-pitched scream. "That's Aurora… I better hurry." He tried to increase his pace but his body would go faster. "I better focus on getting there alive."

*****

Luke, who had gone ahead, arrived at the scene and saw five rabid jackals attacking them. "And I told them not to try anything stupid."

'These beasts must have followed this smell down to this place.' Even Luke, who had just arrived, could smell burnt meat in the air.

He dropped the heavy load he had been carrying. The tied and unconscious jackals. He tied the last part of the rope to a sturdy tree and rushed at the beasts attacking Aurora and her guard.

With his dagger in his right hand, he stabbed at the first beast he came in contact with.

*****

"Haaaa-" Before the voice could finish shouting, another voice interrupted it.

"Just shut the hell up and bring the meat over here." Luke was the one who had interrupted Kyne.

"Where are the attackers?" Kyne still asked despite seeing no new face among them.

"They're dead. I killed them. All of them." Luke replied flatly, giving short spaces between each sentence.

"I see." Kyne looked around but only saw dead jackals. 'These bastards were the ones to attack. Unlucky beasts.'

He felt pity for this particular species of animal. They would soon probably start running away from Luke whenever they met him.

"Hurry over here with the meat. The fire is all set. I don't know about you guys, but I'm very very hungry." Luke said, gesturing with his hands.

"Here's the meat." Kyne threw the meat at Luke and walked toward the injured people.

"Ugh… You couldn't even check their injuries to see if you could help in any way." Kyne complained.

"Why should I? Isn't that something you're better at anyway?" Luke replied lazily. The meat was already stabbed with a stick and left to roast near the fire.

"Yeah, that's true but didn't you promise them protection?" Kyne wanted to yell but kept his anger in check.

"Yup, I promised protection and not treatment. Besides, if they had gone along with my warnings, and had not done something stupid, this wouldn't have happened." Luke was too hungry to be angry. He just spoke while monitoring the meat close to the fire. He would turn it to a different angle when one side was done.

"Stupid? What stupid thing did they do?" Kyne seemed interested in getting more information, but he also treated them as he talked.

"They burnt meat. I don't know why or how it got burnt, but they did it." Luke sliced a small part of the meat and put it in his mouth.

"Ah. I remember what happened when we did something similar." Kyne laughed.

"Well, if we had arrived earlier, maybe this wouldn't have happened at all." He stood up and walked over to the injured members. He dipped his head slightly and apologized. "I'm sorry about that. Kyne will be staying behind from tomorrow. His training will take place here since we've got his training dummies. While I'm out, I'll bring more."

"It's fine. Thank you for helping us. You have done more than enough." The injured Aurora responded to his apology. Her light blue gown was torn to pieces from her thigh downward. A gash stretched from her thigh almost to her ankle.

"I hope you both get better quickly and I hope the wound won't leave a scar." Luke said before he turned to go back to the fire.

"It won't. If I return to the family, I can get it treated without leaving any scar." Aurora replied.

"Oh, that's great then. Accept my apologies once again." Luke replied before finally arriving at the fire and cutting a share from the meat so he could eat.

"You care to eat now?" Luke turned and asked the others.

"Yes. I'll eat now." They all replied in unison.