Rise Of The Hunters - Chapter 41

“Was that a werewolf?” the young man’s voice shook in fright.

“No,” Xun answered, looking back at the rock slide, as the boat quickly headed back to the compound. “Those were normal wolves, attracted to the smell of blood.”

“Oh.” He didn’t sound very reassured as he turned back to his duties on the boat.

“We forgot the monster with feathers,” said Willow.

Xun thought quickly, and nodded at her. “You’re right.”

He hurried over to the captain. It took several minutes to convince him to turn the boat around, but they soon were loading the carcass of the bird/monster as well. The workers on the boat gave him dirty looks, but he ignored them.

“What are you going to do with it?” asked Hayden.

“I’m wanting a good set of winter clothes from the tanner, and I want to see what the meat tastes like.”

“You’ll be eating that alone.” Willow gave it a disgusted look, before turning her back to it.

“I can introduce you to the tanner,” Hayden looked at him, shyly, obviously worried Xun would say no.

“That would be great! I want to see if he can do anything with my other hide too, ȧssuming it’s still in the barracks.”

Hayden perked up in surprise. “Yea, everyone was too afraid or disgusted to touch it.”

Xun gave him a puzzled look. Why would they be disgusted? It shouldn’t have spoiled or gotten maggoty. He wondered if he had done something wrong when he spread the old brains on it. Could it have gone bad? He hoped not. The hide had been beautiful.

It was very busy as they had wagons pulled by large horses ready to take the elk back. Xun stood back, out of the way, as they worked. He had never seen horses pull a wagon. He watched as they stood patiently, then began to calmly pull the wagon when the driver said a gentle word. There was no panic, no screaming and crying, no pawing at the ground, no cracking of whips. The only similarity was the smell of death.

Shaking his head, he followed Hayden and Willow back towards the compound. It had been a long day. He looked forward to meeting the tanner. Willow left them, as they turned towards the tannery, giving them another disgusted look.

Xun had seen people tan hides and work them before, which is how he knew what he did, but when he stepped into the tannery, he was amazed. Hides in various stages were everywhere. He could see mostly deer, but there were also fox, wolf, elk, skunk, and many more. The largest, other than the deer and elk, were two hides that he didn’t know well. It was the pig and cow. There were so many of them he had to stop trying to count them.

An older man came up to them about then, his face open and friendly.

“Hi, Hayden! I see you’ve brought a friend! You two have really outdone yourself this time! It’s going to take all winter to get through everything you’ve brought us today!” His voice was cheerful and full of excitement.

“I was hoping you could make me some warm winter clothes? I have a hide back in the barracks that I want to bring to see if it’s okay to use, and I had them grab a monster that’s got feathers like a bird, as well as hide like a bear.” Xun pointed over to the wagon, where some of the workers were unloading the monster uncertainly.

“Oh, wow! That’s amazing!” The guy hurried over to it, and began to ponder over how it came to be. “I can definitely make you a winter outfit from this alone. Run and fetch that other hide so I can see if I can do something with it or not.

Nodding, Xun ran back towards the barracks. He quickly found the hide he had left under a bed, and examined it just long enough to see that it did not have any obvious damage. Then he jogged back with it. Hayden gave him a wave and headed towards the kitchens.

The man, whose name was Owen, couldn’t believe how beautiful the fur was on the cat hide.

“This is almost too beautiful to cut, but don’t worry! I’ll make you something wonderful.”

“Thank you,” Xun said, watching as the workers began skinning the animals.

They moved with practiced motions, smooth and quick. They cut his monster’s hide off first, then pushed it to the side, as if to throw it away. Xun rushed forward.

“Wait! I want the meat off that, and some of the other parts, like the beak and claws.”

The workers looked at him like he had sprouted a second head, but Owen came over to see what was wrong.

“Well, no one will cook it, because it’s from a monster, and might be contaminated. But if you want it, I can let you take it?” He looked at him apologetically.

With an internal sigh at the stupidity of some people, he merely nodded. “I would appreciate it not going to waste. If no one will cook it here, I’ll take it somewhere else to cook it.”

“You know how to cook too?” Owen looked at him with surprise.

“I know how to do a lot of things.” Xun tried really hard to make the comment seem not as insulted as he felt. How did these people survive?

Owen, amazed, had him stand still as he measured his arms, legs and body in order to make sure the clothes would fit. Xun watched as the workers reluctantly wrapped the various pieces of meat with large pieces of paper, and packed it into a small wagon. Once they were done, he didn’t hesitate to pull the wagon. He waved at Owen as he left, promising to bring the wagon back the next day.