Rise Of The Hunters - Chapter 45

Over the next couple of days, Xun continued to stockpile food on the ledge. Once the meat was finished smoking, he stored it in the bottom, where the fire had been, then piled other goodies on top. The acorns he had found before, he returned to collect a large bag’s worth, taking them to the river and tying them to a young tree so that the flowing water could leech away the poisons inside them.

An old man had taught him and his father that the acorns could be eaten in many different ways if the poison inside them were allowed to leave. The best way the old man had found was to let the river waters wash them. It would take several days to a week, but Xun had the time to wait.

The berries he had found to the north were all gone, the birds and small creatures must have stripped them when the snow came.

As the days warmed up, he began collecting large bunches of thin branches to weave into baskets. He had spent a lot of time last winter helping the women weave them, so he was able to get several good-sized ones woven before the week was out.

Waking one morning, he watched a little brown bird pick through some of the scraps he had left on the edge of the ledge. He suddenly realized he was happy. Things were so calm and peaceful since the last werewolves were discovered. Stretching, he decided he probably needed to head in to the compound to report to the leaders and check on his winter clothes.

Gathering a few things into his bag, he quickly climbed down from the ledge he had made his home, and headed in. He was about half way, when he spied the three boys trying to hunt a deer that was obviously ignoring them. They were too far away to hit it, but continued to try, losing a fair number of their arrows in the underbrush. Xun just shook his head in disbelief. Had no one tried to help them, or were they bullies to everyone?

Leaving them to themselves, he quickly found himself at the gates. The guards were very nice to him, waving as he passed, instead of ignoring him. He thought about checking out the kitchen, but decided he was doing just fine on his own concerning food, and didn’t want them snooping and wondering what he had been doing for meals.

The auditorium where the leaders met, was practically empty, so he took a seat and waited, wondering if they would notice him to call him up. Most of the people had very short meetings, and he was relieved when Max called him up after only fifteen minutes.

“Xun! I was wondering what had happened to you, we haven’t seen you around the compound all week. Are things going well?” Max had been horribly bored before Xun was called up, and seemed to be dying for anything to entertain him.

“I was busy investigating the valley, as you told me to.” Xun was only a tad uncomfortable with his answer. He hadn’t really been exploring for the sake of the compound, but had in fact been exploring for the sake of himself. He had pretty much figure out where the edible foods were, that he knew of, and the patterns of the herds of wild animals.

“Wonderful! So, what do you have to report?” Max leaned forward on the table resting his chin in his hands.

“There is a small pack of wolves that lives on the southern edge of the valley, but they stay out of the way of the hunters. They seem to understand this is our territory and are staying out of it.”

“Really? I have a report of a large aggressive wolf having been spotted by some of the hunters earlier this week.” Lisa frowned at him as if she had caught him in a lie.

Xun realized one of the three must be her son, and he had probably told her about the meeting with the wolf when they were about to ambush Hayden. Frowning, he thought about his answer carefully.

“I have personally watched the wolves and have studied all of the wolf tracks I came across, and none seemed to be aggressive. Are you sure the hunters that reported it, hadn’t been trying to hunt it? If wounded I could see one being aggressive, but every encounter I have had with them, had them running from me.”

“But weren’t you and another hunter attacked by wolves not far from here?” she asked, insistently.

“Those wolves were young ones that had been kicked out of the pack. And we killed all of them. They didn’t have enough experience to know better.” Xun was so tired of these ‘leaders’ being so inept when it came to things they should know, but he tried to remain calm and explain things.

“How do we know that this reported wolf wasn’t kicked out of the pack as well?”

Before Xun could answer, Max jumped in. “Lisa, why are you hounding the boy? He already told you that the wolves stay away from our hunters. He can’t help it if your boy was stupid and tried to mess with them, probably with my dimwit of a boy by his side egging him on. Any animal is going to bite back when antagonized. Now leave the boy to finish the rest of his report.”

Lisa turned bright red, but shut her mouth and sat back in a huff.

“There was a sizable rock slide to the north, which blocked off the elk herd that must have used to come down into the valley. I would suggest trying to get some people up there at some point to clear some of the rocks away so the elk can get into the valley again. I think this year it would be a waste of time due to the werewolf attack a week ago. But sometime, possibly in the spring, it might be a good idea.”

Jerome nodded, marking down some comments. Lisa seemed to still be pouting.

“And why have you not been seen in the compound all week? What have you been eating and where have you been sleeping?” she asked icily.