Chapter 69: The Witch’s First Solo Hunt
(Next Morning)
Nuan woke up before the first hint of dawn light could touch the sky. Kael was still fast asleep, though even in his slumber, he was sitting up against the sand bed, holding her securely against his chest.
Nuan moved with absolute caution, slowly prying his heavy, warm hand off her waist so she could slip away.
The moment she stood up, a wave of numbness washed through her legs, accompanied by a deep ache in her backside.
Ugh!!! That hurts... Note to self sleeping all night sitting on a hard dirt floor is terrible for the body.
To make matters worse, she felt a familiar, uncomfortable dampness. Great. I’m completely out of leaf-pads too... God, this sucks.
The sudden shifting of her weight woke Kael. He blinked groggily, his head dropping forward as he mumbled in a thick, raspy sleep-voice, "Nuan... where are you going?"
"No where, just going to take a piss," Nuan answered smoothly.
"I’ll follow you..." he grunted, already trying to push himself up on his good arm.
"Stay right there. It’s not like I’m letting you watch me anyway," Nuan hissed, glaring down at him.
Kael gave a lazy, obedient nod, his heavy eyelids instantly dropping shut as he fell right back asleep against the sand bed.
Nuan let out a quiet sigh of relief and stepped out of the dark den into the cool, early morning air.
She stood in the clearing, carefully stretching her arms and rotating her torso, doing a light warmup to get the blood flowing and banish the numbness from her limbs.
She looked down at her right palm and unraveled the woven herb leaves she had wrapped around it. She flexed her fingers.
The deep cut from her knife had sealed cleanly. It was completely healed.
A dangerous, confident smirk cut across her face. Very well!! Let me show those wolves what a real solo hunter looks like.
Looking around the camp, she confirmed that everyone was still dead to the world inside their respect dens.
Moving silently, Nuan walked over to the dry stock of wood near Kael’s cave, grabbed a thick wooden torch she had crafted, and lit it using a leftover ember from the central fire pit.
Let’s go!
With the torch casting long, dancing shadows on the trees, Nuan began the slow journey through the dark, dense woods, heading straight toward the massive lake.
Her mind raced with survival strategies. Hmm, what should my opening move be? I want to dig a pit trap, but doing that with my bare hands without a shovel would take literal days.
If my ankle was completely healed, I would just climb a sturdy tree with my bow and arrow, wait for a good deer to come down for a morning drink, and pin it from above.
Sigh... I’ll just have to see what kind of simple meat I can get for now. I haven’t eaten a single bite since yesterday afternoon, and my stomach is turning itself inside out.
After an hour of careful, limping navigation, the trees broke open, and Nuan stopped at the edge of the glassy, mist-covered water.
Hmm, hunted a massive moose here once. Now it’s time for something a little less life-threatening.
Scanning the treeline, she spotted a thick cluster of low-lying bushes near a muddy bank. She crept over and settled into the foliage, pulling her knees up and going completely still as she waited for the local wildlife to wake up.
Let’s just hope no other apex predator decides to sneak up from behind me, she thought, using a handful of dirt to safely extinguish the flame of her torch so she wouldn’t be spotted. Well, at the very least, I probably smell intensely like Kael right now since he was suffocating me all night, so most beasts will think an Alpha wolf is sitting in these bushes.
Nuan stayed there, frozen like a stone statue, for nearly thirty minutes. But by the end of it, her legendary patience had completely evaporated. Why? Because there were just too many damn mosquitoes!
God, I am trying to survive a prehistoric jungle, I am not planning to die from dengue or malaria!
Frustrated, she stood up from the bushes, violently scratching at her itching, bitten arms.
Seriously, I am so glad there aren’t any mosquitoes inside Kael’s cave! The smoke from the fire must keep them out. I need to prioritize finding some wild Mint, Lemongrass, Citronella grass—anything to mask my human scent from these bloodsuckers! Even Indian Tulsi would be a lifesaver right now!
She pulled out her ferro rod, quickly struck a spark, and relit her torch. Ughh, but where can I find it? Oh, right... mint is a moisture-loving plant. It has to be growing around this lake somewhere.
Nuan began walking along the perimeter, her eyes glued to the muddy zone where the water met the soil, since wild mint varieties thrive in damp, rich earth.
She kept searching for a few more minutes until a sharp, heavy rustling noise echoed from the deep brush across the inlet.
Something big was pushing its way down toward the water.
Nuan’s survival instincts flared. She quickly darted on her good leg, slipping behind the thick trunk of a massive ancient tree.
Pushing through the reeds was a large, stocky wild boar, its dark bristles caked in dried mud. Oh!! Nuan instantly snuffed out her torch against the bark, her heart pounding against her ribs.
She closed her eyes for a microsecond and willed her heavy, fire-hardened wooden spear straight out of her system inventory, gripping the shaft with both hands.
Okay, I only have one shot at this. I need to be incredibly fast and perfectly accurate. I do not want to get engaged in a prolonged, vicious melee fight with a wild boar when my right ankle is completely shot.
Nuan stayed perfectly silent, her breathing shallow as she observed the boar trotting into the shallows and happily rolling its heavy body into the thick, cool mud at the lake’s edge.
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