Rise Of The Hunters - Chapter 17

“Hayden, I know I didn’t believe you when you mentioned Alex’s abuse before, and I would like to apologize.” Taking a metal coin out of his pocket, Max handed it to the boy with the deer. “Use this to get yourself some of the good dessert tonight.”

His eyes light up and he smiled at Max, before nodding and hauling the deer off to get processed. Xun was impressed with the size of the deer. How could there be such good hunting with this many people around?

Trudy managed to catch up about then, “We should let Xun rest before the last test. I don’t want him to be too tired.”

“Oh? I think he’ll be okay. What do you think?” Max turned to Xun.

“Will the next test be a type of combat?” asked Xun thinking hard. He wanted to be done, and while it had been very busy, he wasn’t that tired.

“Yes. The next trial is a combat trial where you will be judged on how well you deal with different situations. If you decide you want to go through with it tonight, I will have to find some guys willing to participate.

“Normally, this series of trials would be the coming of age ceremony the young ones would have to go through before they could become hunters or get a job that requires them to leave the compound. Those who wish to join the compound are required to go through the trials so we can evaluate where they would best be placed.” Xun nodded at Trudy’s explanation.

“I think I would like to go ahead and get it done today,” he answered pulling his bag straps tighter unconsciously.

Keeping up with Max as they headed to yet another building, he glanced at the sky. The sun would be setting in a couple of hours. He hoped there would be time before full dark for him to visit the library.

“Did you have any jobs in mind that you wanted to try for?” asked Max, glancing at him.

“I’m not sure what jobs you have available,” Xun answered honestly.

“You could probably be a hunter really easily. Or a scout. I’m not sure about a guard position, you don’t have much muscle. Let’s see, there’s fisherman, gardener, animal tender, wood cutter, trapper, and so many others. There’s a full list in the library if you really want to see them all. I warn you, though, that some will not be available due to their difficulty.”

Xun indulgently nodded along. He had known there would be jobs he wouldn’t be allowed to do. After all, he was an outsider…

“I was thinking a hunter, but I’m not sure now. There’s so many options…”

“That’s okay, you’ll have a chance to look over the list after supper, and then when you come before the leaders again tomorrow, we’ll get it all figured out.”

“So, should I expect to go to see the leaders tomorrow after breakfast?”

“That would probably be best. You’ll need a job to be allowed to stay in the compound, and they’re the ones who ȧssign them.”

“There will be three fights. The goal will be to be the last person in the ring. If you win the first two fights, there won’t be a need for a third. Then, there will be a race between you and your three opponents to see who can bring the flag to the bottom first. You won’t be judged on whether you win or not, but how you accomplish the goals.”

Xun again, nodded, but he knew he would be judged on whether he won or not. He was already at a disadvantage being an outsider. He had to make sure everything he did was as perfect as he could make it, so he began to study the structure to figure out what routes he could take to get to the top and back down the quickest.

Trudy showed up as he was finishing, with three guys in tow. Xun recognized Joe, the guard from the other day, but the other two were new to him.

“These will be your opponents, I’ll go over the rules really quick. You have to get your opponent out of the ring…”

“I already told him,” interrupted Max with a sly grin.

Trudy hung her head and counted to ten under her breath. The three guys behind her tried to hide their snickers. Apparently, him teasing her was a common thing.

Xun was not very happy though, all three of the guys he had to fight were big muscle, bound guys. He was thinking furiously how he was going to get them out of the ring, because overpowering them was out of the question. Nodding to himself, he turned to see Trudy tightly smiling.

“Since you already know the rules, let’s get started.”

“Wait, Trudy, let’s make this interesting,” Max said.

“If Xun wins the first two fights, and the flag retrieval, you have to buy all of us drinks at Joes’ Bar.” His taunting smile caused a tic to form on her left eyebrow.

“Fine, but if he doesn’t accomplish both of those, you have to buy us all drinks for a whole week.”

“Deal!” he laughed out loud. The guys cheered and Xun suddenly wondered whose side Max was on.