Rise Of The Hunters - Chapter 24

Xun stretched his back and neck. He had been looking at the map for so long, he was getting stiff. He was sure all the action from yesterday was the main reason he was so sore. Sighing, he decided to sit and look at the papers scattered on the table.

The notes were actually pretty detailed. The more he read, conferring with the map, he saw that whoever had made the notes actually knew what they were doing. The person knew where the local wolf pack boundaries were, the locations the bears liked to sleep, what big cats occasionally hunted nearby, the routes the deer herds used, and even notes on the best time to fish.

He sat back, chewing on his lip. The leaders were pretty sure the last person to have his job had been slacking off and was kicked out. Could they have been misled? This all looked like good stuff, and it didn’t really look like anyone had been in this room for a while. As he thought, he went to scratch his ear, and stopped suddenly, the itch forgotten.

Xun knew without a shadow of a doubt what had happened. The previous person to have his job had been an outsider. Even though he was doing a good job, someone had complained and he got kicked out. This realization made him ponder his situation. He had known it sounded too good to be true.

Everything he had seen since entering the compound, had pointed to the fact, that once an outsider, you would always be an outsider. He had accepted that fact, and had even planned on not staying because of it. He stood up and paced back and forth.

He needed to learn everything he could while it was available to him. As long as he did his job, no one would bother him. But his job was so vague, how was he going to make sure no one had a problem with it so he could continue learning?

They ȧssumed he would return every night to sleep, what if he returned only to read instead? He had to report his findings once a week, the rest of the time he was to patrol the surroundings and relay intel to those who needed it. If he was caught reading, they might try to kick him out like the last person was. Xun had to make sure he didn’t have any enemies, and the only way to do that, would be to be seen as little as possible.

The rules here, were overly complicated, and leaned heavily in the favor of those who were born here. He couldn’t change them, and if he tried to use them to justify what he did, they could always change them.

He glanced at his bag. He had permission to be at the library today. No one had said he couldn’t take books, so he quickly made up his mind. He picked up his bag, and went searching for books that involved the things he wanted to learn about. He figured he could get five or six books in his bag without it being obvious that was what he was doing.

Xun found a section on camping, and started looking through them. There was so much information, he was lost in reading. His stomach growling, finally made him realize how late it was. He glanced around, and realized he had never been as inattentive as he had been today. Looking at the book in his hand, he realized with horror, that the very thing he enjoyed so much, could get him killed.

Gritting his teeth in annoyance, he returned the book to the shelf and moved on to another section. As he turned a corner, he almost tripped over the person laying on the floor. Jumping back, he quickly looked around to see if anyone else was around. Then he looked over the body carefully. There didn’t seem to be any blood spilt.

The boy was either heavy set or very muscled. Xun moved around him, carefully looking for any signs of what may have killed him, trying to figure out how he was going to explain to everyone that he wasn’t the one who killed him, when he suddenly snorted and rolled over.

The snort wasn’t very loud, but it scared Xun so bad, he jumped straight up into the air. He could feel the hair on the back of his neck standing up.

The boy snorted again, and sat up, rubbing his eyes. He had been sleeping. When he saw Xun, he screamed and passed out, falling back down where he had just been laying.

Licking his lips, Xun calmed down at the ridiculousness of the situation, and went to see if there was anything wrong with the kid. Could he have been poisoned?

As the boy started coming to, he saw the look on Xun’s face, and started to chuckle.

“I’m sorry if I startled you, I’m not used to seeing anyone when I wake up,” he said as he sat up again.

Xun was so puzzled, he looked around. Was the kid seriously sleeping here? Was this a joke?

“My name’s Rick. It’s nice to meet you. I haven’t seen you around before, so you must be new.”

Xun looked up as he stood. He was tall. How could he have ever thought this guy was a kid? He shook his hand, his eyes going wide at how his disappeared in it.

“So, uh, what’s your name?” He smiled and rubbed the tangled mess of hair at the back of his head.

“Xun,” he said in a whisper. He was trying to figure out if he had time to run if he decided to grab him. He was way more intimidating then any of the guards had been.

“Are you normally this quiet? I’m sorry if I scare you, most people can’t handle me being around.” Rick hung his head and turned to leave. Xun thought he could almost see tears forming. Then he saw his ear.

“Wait! I’m sorry for being rude. I’m not used to being around people at all. I only got here a couple of days ago.”

Rick turned back and Xun smiled. There was no mark on Rick’s ear.