Chapter 16 - Scared, but motivated

After Ulf had explained the whole situation, the hunters were in an uproar.

"How dare they!!"

"They deserved that kind of death."

"They have the guts to stab our kin!"

Ulf's five teammates were fuming. Even Broderick, who was the most experienced warrior in the team, had a very angry look on his face. In the end, he sighed and looked at Ulf.

"It's good that you survived. However, it will be a good lesson for you. Remember, don't trust anyone blindly except your fellow hunters. First of all, you should have called for us. Maybe you are still too young and want to accomplish some heroic deeds, but your naivety almost got you killed. Perhaps, You felt like your body was very excited, it's characteristic for us. It's a symbol of our tribe's predatory spirit. However, you must control it and don't get controlled. You may need a decade to achieve that but must do it. You, guys, must also learn from Ulf's mistake. He was lucky to escape, but may you won't be able to do the same if you do such foolish action." Broderick had a very serious expression.

"Sorry uncle. I will never do that again." Ulf had a self-blamed look.

Others were also thoughtful as if they learnt something new, from Broderick's speech.

"Let's wait for some time and go back to see together with their corpses if those damn animals will leave something behind. Usually, hyenas are quite cowardly when they see us in the group, but if you are injured or alone, they won't let that chance go. What they hate so much is to give up on the food if opposers don't have overwhelming strength"

The team wasn't in the mood to continue their work anymore. They had been waiting for a half-hour and then moved where the corpses should have been. However, there wasn't much left from them. The evil-eyed hyenas even took a few bones to play with them.

'I was worrying that they would leave something, what could have exposed me, for example, the parts of the bodies where the wounds were located. However, they are eaten to the point that even the faces are unrecognizable. Good job buddies.' Ulf was glad, everything went according to his place.

"Nothing is worthy to give us hints about their origin. Only the bone knife, bow and arrows. Why would the two hunters take only those weapons for the hunting? They don't even have a spear, which is the easiest tool to make." Broderick had some doubts and several other teammates nodded too.

'Ah...Not good. I haven't considered this one detail, which was immediately noticed by Broderick and others...' Ulf started to think about the new solution.' May I underestimate them too much, They have been hunters for more than a decade. I have to think of something to avoid any sneaking suspicion.'

"Hmm... Maybe..."

"Ulf? You want to say something?" Broderick looked at him.

"I think... Maybe they haven't come to hunt at all."

"Then for what?" Broderick was absorbed in Ulf's idea.

"When one of them attacked me, he had a very ferocious appearance. It was like I was his enemy. So, as I think about it right now, maybe they have come here to ambush us or only me? We had already had such an incident in the past, so..." Ulf suddenly got sad. Others were also watching him with pity.

"Couch..." Broderick tried to break the silence.

"Perhaps. However, they are only two of them and ambushing all of us shouldn't have been their purpose. We don't know why one of them was injured too..."

Okay then, it seems we will have to go back to the main team a bit earlier. There can be more of them, without us knowing. we have to gather all of us fast and tell Ursa too." He decided and gave the team order.

'Hah, a bit of a dirty move from me, but it was worth it.' Thought Ulf.

Everyone grabbed their bags and departed for the spot, where the group should gather tomorrow. On the way back they were more careful. The guys with filled bugs were in the centre and others around would defend them from any possible danger. Even though the team reached the destination point in a few hours without any peril, they didn't let their guard down.

When They arrived at the place where they had departed yesterday, Ragna asked Broderick.

"Now what? others won't come back until the next morning. We should wait here for them?"

"No other choice. It's better than staying somewhere so far away from the other parts of the group. Finding them is impossible and If we also try to go back to the tribe, we don't know where the enemy will ambush us. It's more possible to run or hide here in this dense forest from the stronger enemy, rather than outside of it. There are many possibilities, so I think it would be better to wait for others here." Broderick was also a bit doubtful about his choice but seemed like he or others didn't have other ideas.

They found a place to stay overnight, as it was already sunset. Every member, who had to guard at night, was more alerted, not to miss anything weird outside. Some of them couldn't even sleep well when it wasn't their time to guard anymore. Only Ulf was a bit careless under their watchful eyes and has been sleeping very well.

In the morning other teams came too. Ursa wasn't much surprised when he saw that Broderick had already come back, but still asked him the cause of the team's early comeback. Broderick told everyone, pointed to Ulf's injury and showed the vagrants' weapons too. The hunters from Wayde's team were startled and angry. As for Ursa's part of the group, they were a bit shocked, as if they realized something.

"I know it must have been scary. It's also good that you, Ulf, survived their ambush." Ursa turned to where Ulf was standing and said with a sincere look.

"Thank you, leader."

"However, it's nothing to worry about. We had to use the same method as you: left one of us to secure the bags and the others went to work. It was Audun's turn when those guys tried to bait him in the trap. However, thanks to Hadda, Audun didn't go there, but rather came back to alert all of us, because he has the knowledge about such dangers. There were two foreign hunters, who had come to steal the food."

We not only caught and punished them for their actions but also gained information. We forced them to tell us where they came from. They were just vagrants and nothing more. No danger can come from them. We will report everything to the chief and vice-chief when we go back. Perhaps they will send some groups to where the vagrants live for this moment."

After hearing Ursa's speech, the hunters from the other two teams became even angrier.

"Vagrants? How dare these weak fools mess with us."

"It seems we must show our muscles a little bit."

"I want to take part in the operation against them too."

"We must massacre all of them."

They were thirsty for blood. As Ulf was watching around, he understood more about the influence of their tribe's 'special' bloodline or whatever it was. He will need to find out more about this subject in the future.

"Okay everyone, calm down. We have a more important matter ahead of us right now." Ursa said loudly to calm others down.

"Yesterday we found not only the vagrants but also something else that amazed us more. We went a bit deep into the forest and what we discovered was a rarely occurring phenomenon. It's the mountain rhino(1)!!! We found it here."

The hunters, who were so angry just a few seconds ago, became silent. They were in a daze, but soon some of them even loudly swallowed saliva. None of them wanted to say anything.

Ulf was extremely interested. Firstly, hearing about the mountain rhino. It must be rhinoceros. Though, maybe not exactly the same species of existing rhinoceros on earth, as they called it mountain rhino. Secondly, the reaction of tribesmen and women. It was like Ursa had mentioned the name of the devil and even his crazy tribe's members became a little hesitant.

"However, it isn't a fully matured mountain rhino and hasn't achieved peak beast stage or it would be a calamity for us. But It seems like that rhino has just reached beast class. I don't know what had caused it to move from the north, but it's our chance. Every part of the mountain rhino is of the best quality. Its flesh can make our body stronger, its bones are very good materials for weapons. We can also bring the worthy sacrifice in the temple and gain more fame in the tribe."

Everyone was in a dilemma, but after listening to their leader, they became more willing to take risks. Yes, They were a bit scared, but motivated too.

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1) By referring to the "mountain rhino", I meant the extinct stone age animal "wooly rhinoceros".