Chapter 4- The Idiot's guide to trapping
By the time they bundled up and left the slums the sun was already throwing out its last rays. Their shadows stretched behind them as if trying to escape from the direction they walked. Within the forest, the shroud of darkness had begun to descend. The path was vacant as everyone had long since returned to the village.
The two entered the forest, with Chu leading the way to the chosen site he had seen during the day.
It was during this walk that they fell into danger. Not surprisingly, the danger came from one of those lone wolves who had acquired a taste for human delicacies. The wolf had a reputation of being a skilled hunter. Before winter, these outcasts preyed the forest alone and divided their hunting zones. A cunning hunter, it stalked the areas around the lumber camp. When darkness fell, they would venture brazenly into the lumber camp area, sniffing and reclaiming their area.
As a modern-day individual, this would be a standard narrative in wildlife documentaries. Unfortunately, these memories were not at the forefront in Chu's mind.
AWOOO!
"Hey! What the heck was that?" Chu grabbed Ming shoulder and asked. The latter turned his head slowly and stiffly, in a manner like gears badly in need of oil. His face also sported an eerie forced smile. "What do you mean, WHAT was that? Isn't that the sound a wolf makes?" Chu felt Ming's reply was demeaning as if trying to belittle him. Similarly, Ming, on the other hand, felt he could hold this idiot, and bitch slap him back into sanity.
AWOOO!
"Holy shit! It's getting nearer, did you hear that?" As virgin hunters being in a dusk-lit forest, accompanied by those howls proved an exquisite experience. The only thing missing was a bladder release from them.
"Hey, think about it. We are probably the only two crazy idiots in these woods. To top it off, we are carrying a pot of blood and those fat made pills, you concocted. Maybe we should just put out a sign saying eat me." Ming looked down and gave him such a philosophical speech. If it wasn't for the blissful face as some pressure had been lifted, or the yellow liquid puddle forming at his feet, Chu might have taken the boy seriously.
"Quick let's run, we are nearly there." They burst into a run and quickly reached the area Chu selected.
On reaching the location, another minor problem surfaced. "Hey, what gives. Why are we stopping?"
"Hurry, we need to climb. You go up first, and I will hand you the spears and bag."
"..."
"Hey Chu… I can't climb." Ming answered with a straight face.
AWOOO!
A couple of seconds later, they were both sitting on a tree branch. Chu had placed three pellets on the ground and scattered the blood liquid around it, before shimmering up the tree. Their crude spears lay nearby, supported on the tree branches. Silently, they peered into the shadows. A short time later, a wolf trod out from the darkness. The creature sniffed around while rambling towards the tree.
Smelling the blood-stained ground, it wasted no time in licking and gobbling the fatty pellets. The blood from hares and other creatures proved a good choice. If he had chosen, the ingredients from an animal classified as poisonous, it might have been different. Chu, however, had no time to conduct experiments on such a theory. The beast continued sniffing around until its gaze pierced the branches, falling on the irregular occupants. A growl escaped the throat as it lunged onto the tree barring its fangs.
"NO! It found us. Damn, I knew I shouldn't have listened to you. If you wanted to die, why drag me along." Ming was half screaming holding onto the tree trunk for dear life.
"Hey, hey, it's all part of the plan. We just need to keep it here until the poison takes effect." Those fat pellets should probably be melting in its warm stomach by now, releasing its mushroom poison. It made sense to try to keep the wolf occupied until the concoction took effect.
Chu grabbed a spear and handed one over to Ming. After a couple of minutes facing the creature, his clumsy actions smoothened out. He planned to take full advantage of the tree. Chu stepped on a lower branch that gave him the opening of striking the wolf with a spear while remaining out of reach of its hungry lunges. Every so often he hit the trunk to keep the animal in a state of rage.
Ming switched with him when he became tired. This routine went on for what felt like the entire night. The moonlight cast poor lighting on their surroundings, causing each movement to become treacherous.
"Hey Chu. Did you really feed that wolf poison?" For the hundredth time, Ming asked him that question. The wolf moved like if it had eaten steroids, instead of poison. Chu remained focused on the wolf, that showed signs of tiring. Foam dripped from its mouth as he constantly baited it. Once he even gave a yelp and pretended to fall off the branch, when it had decided to turn away. This feint caused it to remain, growling in anticipation.
Another hour passed, and the wolf movements finally turned sluggish. Like a drunken man it tottered and swayed while walking. In a crazy manner, it jumped and pawed at the tree. In the moonlight, the glazed eyes seem devoid of menace.
Observing this sign, Chu finally decided to act. If he waited any longer the wolf might lumber off into the darkness. Together they started raining the wolf with the makeshift spears. Under the howls, two spears accurately pierced into the back of the beast. In the dim lighting, this could maybe count as some success. But it had the power of malnourished and weak arms behind the throw. Consequently, the damage done petered down to a bare minimum.
With the last two remaining spears, they jumped down the tree as the wolf tried to stumble away.
"Hurry and kill it!" Ming was busy beating his spear on the wolf that had tottered and fallen on the ground. "Stab it you fool! Stab it. It's a spear."
"But it's a branch, who says I can't use it as a club?" Ming replied staunchly.
"Why the heck do you think we spent half a day sharpening the point? Don't make me mad, stab IT!" Chu nearly screamed out at the boy. Only because of their surroundings, did he grit his teeth and stifle the shouts. The wolf seemed to be far poisoned to launch a retaliation. In the beginning, it snarled and lunged, but these turned clumsy and unfocused. The two of them slowly took advantage of the weakened creature.
If not for the mushrooms causing it to hallucinate, the wolf would have already killed these two idiots. Not only did they act totally uncoordinated while leaving themselves open for attacks, but they apparently also had zero skills in weaponry. Which sane warrior would switch from beating to stabbing and then beating again?
Worse yet they sometimes prodded it with the blunt ends of the spears, only switching after their reasoning overcame the adrenaline rush. Under a howl of remorse and denial, that the Heavens allowed it to meet such vile characters the wolf died. If it could have cursed these two idiots who continued with the beating, its anger may have quelled.
"Ming I may not be a doctor, but I think it's dead." Ming continued to walk around the wolf prodding it with his spear. "What's a doctor? Wait, I know a way to tell if it's pretending. Get ready Chu" Ming moved to the rear end of the wolf and speared the beast in the ass. Feeling satisfied, he smiled and gave Chu a thumbs up , as if completing a normal action.
Likewise, Chu stepped back in a reflex action with one hand moving to cover his ass. "Oh... Okay, good job there Ming."
With the mission being accomplished, they gathered their spears and returned up the tree to wait until dawn. It was too risky for them to be hauling a dead animal, through the forest at night. His adrenaline rush spent, Chu spent some time in climbing the tree. "Hey Ming, if it's so easy by climbing a tree, why don't hunters use bows, and simply kill these wolves like we did?" Ming looked at him with a wry grin. "Do you really think that only wolves live in the Great Western Forest?"
White bears come down from the north, during the middle of winter. Human meat is a delicacy for them. Wildcats are frequent raiders, changing their coats to blend into the winter surroundings. The forest remained full of opportunity but rife with danger. It also acted as the source of legends and the unknown. Just last winter there was a rumor of a supposed demon beast that stalked the slums, agile like a wolf, and with the strength of a bear. Ming recalling those tales woke Chu up. No wonder hunters feared to spend nights in the forest. In a stroke of bad luck, they could easily lose their lives.
Tonight, was lucky but what about the future?
By the time his poison acted, a bear or wildcat might already be cleaning its teeth with their bones. Crazy thoughts played tricks with his mind, as he remembered the stories in the village used to frighten young children. Tales of ferocious beasts, and cunning green creatures made him restless. He expected every snap or howl as an omen of some deadly creature. The fear of the dangers, coupled with the excitement from bagging his first beast, curbed his sleep. Only the tiredness and toll on his weak body made his eyebrows heavy, causing him to doze occasionally.
The chill of the night did little to ease his discomfort along with a growling belly.
Under the light of the morning sun, they viewed their surroundings as they tumbled down from the tree. Chu waited until it was near mid-morning before they hauled the carcass to the Trading Post. Even though they used a makeshift stretcher, the damn beast felt like it weighed a ton. At this time most of the villagers would be in the forest and the path would be empty. A dead wolf was worth much more than a rabbit. It would not do for them to be robbed, after all, who would believe two slum children killed a wolf?
Just like that, they sneaked their way to the Trading Post. Leaving the wolf behind a thicket under the watchful eyes of Ming, Chu strode wearily to the Trading Post.