Rise Of The Hunters - Chapter 49

“What I was wondering about, I’m not sure how to ask for.” Xun decided to just tell the truth. If these two, who had seemed the friendliest towards him didn’t like it, he would just have to live with it.

“This compound has so much to offer I’ve really been amazed. I’ve lived in a lot of different compounds and none of them were so well set up. I would really like to learn how to do some of the things that people do here. I know bits and pieces of a whole bunch of different things, but none of it is complete because the Slavers would always show up and I would have to run.”

Max seemed thoughtful. Jerome looked surprised.

“You aren’t even thirteen yet. I hadn’t thought about the fact you haven’t had an opportunity to go through any schooling. Normally when people come to the compound, they’re already ȧduŀts and know what they want to do when they get here. There’s a couple of kids around your age who joined when they were very young, so they were able to attend school with the other kids. I don’t see a problem with you learning stuff.” Jerome looked at Max when he was done talking, since Max hadn’t said anything yet.

“While what you say is true, the job we gave to Xun is very important. I’m confident there isn’t anyone else in the compound capable of doing what he does. I would say he should be able to learn from the workers in the level one jobs, as long as he can still keep up with his current duties.”

Jerome thought over Max’s words carefully. Then he looked at Xun.

“One of the things we asked you to do, was to notify the hunters where the game was for them to hunt, yet I’m not sure you have been doing that.”

“The biggest problem with that, is that when I do find game, it doesn’t just stay in one place waiting for the hunters to find it. They move. By the time I found a hunter to inform them of a location, the game could be a mile away by then. I would either need a faster way to travel, or a way to teach the hunters how to hunt better. I’ve watched some of them, and they’re not all that great.” He grimaced as he stopped talking, hoping they didn’t get mad at him for being so blunt.

“We could give him a horse to ride, that would speed him up greatly. He could patrol the valley and get back to the compound faster to study other things. And I agree that the hunters are not very well trained. We just kind of rely on them knowing how to hunt when we sent them out.”

Max nodded, “If we just needed to teach them to fight, that would be okay, but I agree that they need to be taught how to hunt better.”

Jerome turned to Xun. “Can the valley handle the hunters being able to bring in game every week?”

Xun thought about that seriously. There wasn’t as much deer in the area as he would have thought there should be. They had probably hunted or chased most of them away. A lot of the migrating herds from the north hadn’t been able to travel down into the valley because of the rock slide. He reluctantly shook his head.

“I think if you want to realistically require them to bring back game every week, you’re going to have to allow them to leave the valley. Maybe have them hunt together and bring back a lot of game all at once instead of each person hunting by themselves.”

“Perhaps if we allow him to have a horse, he could scout out large herds to send the hunters towards. We just got that large elk herd, we could afford to give the hunters time to train under him. The only thing I’m worried about is some of the boys won’t want to listen to him very well.”

“You’re talking about my boy and his friends. I’ll have to be there to oversee the training to keep them in line. If they cause too much trouble, I’ll reassign them to trash duty,” growled Max.

“No, please. You may be able to keep them in line while you’re there, but I need them to be able to work with the group when we leave the compound.”

Max looked unconvinced.

“Do we have enough horses for them to all get one? If all the hunters were on horses, they could travel faster, farther, and bring back more game in one haul. We have that group of yearlings that haven’t really been broken in yet. Ever since Phillip broke his leg, things have been kind of slow.”

Max shook his head. “I wouldn’t know. I hate animals. Though, I suppose since the tanners and the butchers are busy with all that elk meat, we could let the hunters take a break and learn from Xun. If you think Phillip could use the extra help, we could send them that way too. I just hate having them do things that aren’t ȧssociated with their jobs.”

Jerome laughed. “You don’t like them doing anything inside the compound if you can help it.”

Suddenly there was a lot of commotion outside. Two guards came barreling into the room, shouting about werewolves. Xun had just enough time to jump to the side when there was a huge crash. He could hear the scratches and clicking of claws on the floors.

Max and Jerome both jumped up and dashed for the back of the stage. Screams were filling the air, and Xun grabbed his sword and axe. He was conflicted. Every instinct inside him screamed to run and escape. Except, there was a small voice saying, no. This could be home. You have friends here. There is so much to learn. So much to fight for.

As he dodged behind a huge fold of fabric, he heard growls near the back of the stage. Exactly where Max and Jerome had just run.