Hunting-Part 4

The two men ran down the path they came and stopped at the junction. They looked back to see that nothing was chasing them so they caught their breath.

"Do you think it was actually just an accident?" The man with the sword asked.

"No way, it was far too incidental. There is definitely someone out there trying to trap us."

They didn't discuss it further and walked down the path towards the cave. Kye stalked along the ridge, following them closely as to not lose them in the thick shrubbery that surrounded the path. As they continued, the ridge lowered in gradient, bringing Kye closer to the ground but he knew that the ridge didn't stop before the cave and they would either need to brave the cave or climb up the ridge. Either worked for Kye, but he had to prepare properly for either event. The two of them continued until they found the entrance of the cave upon where they stopped.

"Fuck!" The man with the sword exclaimed and kicked the dirt in rage.

"They lured us here! We can't get around unless we go through the fucking cave!"

"Yeah, I can see that." The man with the daggers looked up at the ridge.

"The ridge is shorter here, we could probably climb up it and then cut across."

"Yeah but who knows what else they've put up there, we could be walking into a bigger trap than if we took the cave."

"Tsk, you're right. Whoever our enemy is, they've got us beat on terrain familiarity. We should have done more scouting." The man with the sword sighed at his friend's remark.

"Haaa... We can't lament it now, we have to make a choice."

"Well, for what I think, the cave is a death trap, so many places we could be lead into a trap. The ridge gives us more of a chance of dodging whatever it is they have planned."

"Alright, I'll give you a hand up."

The two walked over to the ridge and the swordsman helped the dagger man up. Kye moved over to the part of the ridge they were climbing up and readied his spear. As the sounds of exertion from the man climbing ridge became louder, Kye braced himself to stab forward with as much force as he could muster. Soon, two hands appeared in Kye's vision and soon the torso of the man appeared. Kye wasted no time and thrust his spear forward, the tip completely burrowing into the man's chest, piercing his heart. He had no time to react before he went limp and started to fall back. Kye couldn't catch the body in time so it fell over the ridge onto the ground below.

"ZEM!"

The swordsman rushed over to his friend and saw the large wound Kye's spear had made. He gnashed his teeth and gazed murderously at the ridge.

"COME DOWN HERE YOU COWARD!!"

Kye didn't respond and moved back from the ridge, preparing to take a run-up. He tucked his spear under his arm and ran for the ledge. He jumped and soared through the air, reaching the top of a tree close to the ridge. The man with the sword noticed this and drew his weapon from his back.

"GET DOWN HERE AND FACE ME LIKE A MAN!!"

As much as Kye was wily, he could not win a straight fight with a man like that. Though he could put up a decent effort, they would overpower Kye eventually and he would die. Instead of rising to the provocations, he hopped from tree to tree in a display of athleticism that would not have been possible if not for his daily training. Eventually, Kye had crisscrossed from tree to tree enough that the man had lost track of him and was now standing in the middle of the path, frantically scanning the trees for signs of Kye.

Kye was now out of the trees and in the shrubbery around the path, slowly approaching the alert swordsman for a rush attack. Kye tucked his spear under one arm and slowly drew his knife from its sheath as he inched ever closer to where the man was standing. Eventually, he got close enough and held his knife ready to throw it at the man's back. He pulled his arm back and loosed the knife but just as it was about to make contact, the man swung around and blocked the knife with his crossguard.

"FOUND YOU, LITTLE SHIT!"

The swordsman rushed Kye and he clicked his tongue. The range advantage of the spear was nullified as the man's sword was long and his reach was longer so Kye braced himself to dodge the incoming strike and offer a counter before falling back and trying to lose him in the forest. The swordsman brought his large weapon over his shoulder preparing for a large cross strike across his body. Kye anticipated the swing as it came down and launched his body to the side, dodging under the arc of the swing. Kye quickly found his feet and jabbed out with his spear. The swordsman twisted his wrist and blocked the majority of the force but couldn't deflect the whole blow and his side was caught.

"Ahhgh."

The man grunted as he felt the pain in his side, Though it wasn't enough to bring him down, it made him back off. Kye took the advantage and jabbed out at the man's out of position leg. The swordsman brought his sword across and deflected the strike, throwing Kye off balance. The swordsman thrust his sword out awkwardly, just glancing across Kye's side and causing a shallow wound. Kye held in his exclamation of pain and swung the glaive head of the spear around, cutting deeply into the man's left arm.

"AHHHHHH."

The man screamed in pain and dropped his sword as his arm clutched the wound. Kye brought his spear back and thrust it through the chest of the wounded swordsman. Just like his friend before, Kye pierced his heart fully and the man fell to the ground dead. Kye dropped his spear after the man fell to the ground and pulled out one of the bandages he used with grateberry juice. He couldn't bandage himself properly without help so he just used the bandage to soak up as much blood as he could before picking up his spear and using it as a walking crutch to walk over to his knife and sheathed it.

Kye was out of adrenalin and fell backwards onto his behind, panting heavily as the pain began to make him wince. He now had to make it back to the cabin without bleeding out too badly. He took some deep breaths and picked himself up, using his spear as a lever to get off the ground and began to limp back to the cabin as quickly as he could.

"Four down, eight to go."