Chương 32: Hunt

The treetop would quickly become his favorite spot. It provided a good sightline to create a mental map of the area. There didn't seem to be a single living animal near the gate tree for some reason so it seemed the safest place to sleep. Understanding how many days it may take to find any of his kin, Blick spent his first day building a nest of sorts. With lots of ivy threaded into a blanket he tied it from one branch to another on the sunset side of the lookout tree.

He knew a lot of words from the humans he spent months with, but a few exotic things he still didn't know. Simply put this was a bed that hung above the ground. Being well inside the branches of the tree he could still see out but doubted anything or anyone could see him. The issue he struggled with most was how to hide the smoke and fireplace that he would inevitably need to cook his meals.

Simple solution would be to cook away from his sleep area, it may still be found by people or predators but he would likely be awake if he was there. Deciding it was likely smartest to eat, sleep, and cook all in different locations he set to prepping each location. Each situation was close enough he could see them from the lookout tree so he would know if they were discovered by anything before possibly walking into a trap.

Before the end of the first day he had wondered into the forest looking for something edible. This forest was so much quieter than the one he had learned to hunt in, so there was an adjustment period as he had to look for tracks and droppings. Not far from his camp he found his first sign. Some kind of creature with four clawed paws. The tracks were not quite as large as his feet so he guessed the animal was still smaller than him. He wasn't afraid but he also wasn't a foolish child anymore.

He would track this thing slowly and carefully with his head on a swivel. He had been found out before and did not like being the one unaware. Over an hour of tracking led him to a borrow nestled in a cluster of tree roots. There were several tracks into and around the entrance but they all looked like the same size and shape. So either there was a couple of the same creature or just the one who used this burrow often. Blick looked around and took a minute to come up with his plan.

It was nearly dark when the creature returned to its burrow. Walking on four legs with a slight waddle the creature seemed to come up to Blicks stomach. In the tree above the burrow he waited and watched the slow and quiet brown ball of fur. It had a long snout with a flat nose on the end that wiggled as it sniffed the ground in front of it.

An eye on either side of its head indicated to Blick that this wasn't a predatory creature, but the long claws and sharp tusks coming from its lower jaw definitely explained how its kind survived when discovered. Those features wouldn't help it against the intelligent hunter. Hardly anything worth hunting ever looked up. Blick dropped silently from the tree above and drove his hand crafted spear deep into the base of the creatures neck.

The forest exploded with noises as the creature let out a harsh squeal before gurgling and collapsing to the ground. The noise must have startled other animals nearby as he heard another three or four similar squeals close by and even some chatter from the trees. Knowing the noise would attract something worse Blick hurriedly picked up the beast that was nearly his size and trotted off back the way he came. Most animals had similar anatomy. Bones, meat, fat deposits, heart.. etc.

you didn't need to become an expert in field dressing a particular animal if you understood the basics of what was good to eat. He stopped in a random location and cut open the beast to remove the gross smelly insides, and drain what he could of its blood. The process was simple, but the mess would definitely attract hunters so he had to work fast and move on. When he finished he threw the much lighter carcass over his shoulder and ran through the forest to his fire pit in a much faster pace.

While he roasted the strips of whatever meat this was over his fire he tried to figure out where his water would come from. He didn't live here long enough before, and he didn't have the river as a steady source like he did before. After eating his fill he wrapped the leftover meat in several layers of large leaves with some ivy to hold it together, he definitely didn't want anything to smell it and find him.

With his food secured to his upper thigh underneath his cloak, Blick spent the next few minutes digging a hole to bury the rest of the carcass several feet away from the fire pit. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. He climbed his lookout tree and made a very intentional small circle with a scan for any break in tree cover. He figured if he could see a line of broke tree cover it would indicate either a path cut through the forest or a river.

On the opposite side of the tree from his bed he located a large circular break in the trees. Not sure if this was just a clearing or a water source, Blick climbed back down and slowly made his way in that direction. Settling on the idea that not locating a water source meant he had to cross the gate again and hope for the best to access the river, was not preferable.

The trip was silent and boring, having to focus on sneaking around instead of being able to practice his cultivation and reinforcing every movement made his ever curious mind begin to wander in random directions. What would actually happen if the humans came through the gate? They were loud all the time. The scouts would likely do fine out here, but the normal soldiers just made noise all the time. They moved in large numbers and left tracks and trash everywhere they went.

Blick shook his head at the future problems he would need to help solve. Maybe he could find his kin in time to get some idea of the actual dangers out here. All he really knew of where from the stories they showed their pups in paintings. The clearing did not have water. It was a den. A very large den. There was a grass covered hill in the middle of the patch of splintered stumps and downed trees.

This area looked to Blick like something had decided to knock over every tree in a semicircle in front of its home hole. The entrance was tall enough that Blick would very likely need to reinforce a jump just to touch the roof. Whatever made this was much bigger than he was, and he wasn't very interested in staying to find out what it was. Tracks were hard to find in the busted up mess of downed trees.

Not seeing a path through the forest in any specific direction, Blick was extremely curious how something this size moved through the jungle without causing a distinct path to form. And how deep would that hole need to be in the hill to support a creature so massive? Making a mental note of the location he began marking off a large area around it as a place to avoid in his developing mental map. Moving away from the den with a little more speed and care Blick was slightly frustrated.

He knew that his kin gathered water from a well nearby, but had no way to locate the well. And if they had to dig a well that meant the area either didn't have a water source like a lake or river, or the worst case was the water source nearby was too dangerous. Thinking for a while he decided there had to be a water source for the animals. Maybe he would find it if he just followed some of the local animals long enough. With a nod to himself he made his next days plan.

Hiding in the tree above the small burrow as the sun began to rise, Blick waited patiently for the kin of whatever he ate the day before to emerge. Deciding they needed a name he debated what to call them while he waited. He had gotten use to things having a name. Not really understanding how his kin made due without a language to describe the world around them, he started naming things. Above the burrow of the sniff hog, he waited. Holding back a small grunt chuckle he heard the thing shuffling up to the surface.

When it poked its small snout out of the entrance it paused and sniffed the entire hole top to bottom, before stepping out. As it shuffled through the wood, Blick followed far behind and high in the tree as to not scare the thing from its normal rhythm. It led him on a zig zag path passing two more burrows of its kin where it stopped to sniff the area. After satisfying its own instinctual urge the sniff hog moved along in another seemingly random direction.

Eventually it came to a small gathering of its kin between two hills. In the dead center between the hills was a small creek. Blick likely would not have found this on his own. He traced the likely path for this creek upstream and headed off in that direction. Finding a small waterfall off a cliff as high as his head he smiled at the memory of the huge waterfall he found what seemed so long ago.

He scanned the area for several minutes before he climbed down and removes his cloak, berry bush back pouch, bow, and even the few arrows he still had. Setting everything near the water he walked into the small waterfall and rubbed the water through his fur. He had definitely been spoiled in the human city with their baths. The water usually would bead up and run off his fur so he used his claws to run through the hairs and scratch at the soft spots he rarely cleaned. It was an extremely pleasant way to clean off.

He was about to climb out of the creek when he heard a loud commotion downstream. Several squeals rang out at the same time and then went silent. Something had found the sniff hogs at their water spot. Probably why his kin didn't come out here.