Chap 2 Knowing where to go

First thing that occured to me was my stomach. It was growling. I held it with my left hand and picked up the spear. For some reason I felt like naming the weapon in hand. It did save me a few times. Right, I shall name it. After giving not much thought, I named it 'Thorn'.

Like a thorn that repels predators from eating a prey. Even though it was a weapon for inflicting fatal wounds, it doesn't really matter.

I looked around and found my way through the forest by the sound of running water. Any living thing need water to survive, so if I want to find food, hunting within the vicinity of of a water source is the best choice.

I slowly crept towards the stream. The gushing water really incites me to rush towards it but the encounter with that beast got the best of me. I wont be so lucky like last time. Proceeding with caution is not a bad thing.

Once near the stream, I looked around, surveying the surrounding area. I waited for a few moments, then decided to drink in the stream.

Its alright be too cautious. Im not familiar with this area after all. Every once in a while, I will look around a few times then continue. Once I had my fill, I draw a beeline towards the nearest bush while crouching.

Once there, all I have to do now is wait. Wait for any unfortunate soul thirsty enough to drink in this stream and become my food for the night.

It was getting quite dark, yet no animal have yet to approach the stream. I frowned.

"Is Lady Luck not on my side?"

After a while, I decided to change my position. I moved downstream, away from the beast and into any civilization I may encounter.

I have been walking until it got dark, too dark. I cant even see my fingers.

"Im still hungry, what now?" I said.

Then a thought occured to me, If I want to find people in this area, I should look for any lights around. With the help of the stars, I found a very tall tree. I put the 'Thorn' on my back, and slowly climbed the tree.

The tree was quite enormous. Luckily, its branches starts not too high for me to reach.

As I climbed up, I gradually noticed some smoke not too far from my position. Depending on the lights, I could somewhat tell that it was a small village. But the smoke was quite large and occupied at least a quarter of the village.

'Maybe they were having a feast?' I thought.

My mood instantly soared up and adrenaline starts to fill my system.

'Food', the thing that I lack is the same thing that they could be an abundance out there.

I quickly found my way down the enormous tree, seems like my mind have found its motivation. I could somewhat visualize the branches I used to climb up and was slightly faster than when I started. Then when I was at the last branch going down, I propped myself to jump down. I grabbed my spear, jumped feet first then executed a roll. 'Nice' I thought. Then by memory, I paced towards the direction of the light or whatever.

Even though my body was quite excited to go, my mind still thought about the potential danger that this forest brings. Slowly but surely, I used my spear as a cane to determine where the bulging stones are.

Looking up, theres still a faint light brought by the moon, although most of it is covered by the clouds. The night sky was now gradually becoming more visible, I quicken my pace but still careful in making unneccesary sounds.

For who knew how long, I finally heard some sounds near the village. My eyes widened as I heard screams and clashing of metals. I crouched down, peeking through a thick bush.

I saw men on horses running towards men, women, elderly and children brandishing what seems to be long swords, some with bow and arrow. I watched as 2 of those men were in a fight with a big man holding a mace. Although he was big, he cant hit those nimble fighters who jumped, rolled and blocked all his attempt to kill them. Some were even watching as though they were waging who would win between them.

The big man was now very exhausted by all this. His breath were short and accompanied with wheezing. Sensing his demise, he straightened his back, took a deep breath, looked at one of his attackers and said in a deep voice, "Is that all you got?".

The bearded middle aged man was taken aback. His eyes widened and shouted, "ARE YOU MOCKING ME?? I COULD HAVE KILLED YOU 15 MINUTES AGO, YOU MUSCLE BRAIN!!" Then out of arrogance, he pounced alone at the big man. The big man thought he fell for it, but little did he know that the other one knew all along. He swung his mace the moment the enemy was in his range but the enemy dodged it like it was nothing and stabbed the big man in the stomach.

The big man smiled. He let go of his mace, turned grabbed the enemy by the hand and neck.

The bearded man then thought 'He caught me.' 'This was his plan all along.'

He struggled with all his might but the big man was clearly stronger. Then the last thing he saw was a bloody smiling face before his vision turned dark and his body lifeless.

Out of rage, some mounted men drew their bows shot he big man. Arrows soon landed on the big man. a little over 10 arrows pierced his body and limbs. Some even got on the bearded man who he have yet to let go. He coughed blood. Still standing, he looked at the sky as he thought of his wife and child. 'I wish you are safe, I have bought you time'. Then he collapsed on his back.

'Holy Sh*t' I thought.

'They must not know I am here. Or else Ill die like that.'

Afraid of making sounds, I sat motionless beneath the bush and closed my eyes. Not long after, the screams died down and the men who attacked this village seemed to have fled to who knows where.

Exhaustion finally got me and I fell asleep