'But, who is the leader of the other group? Is there still a leader with just the two of them?' Since Tang'ga became distracted by his internal questions, he decided to ask them to be sure.
He opened his mouth to speak but, before he could voice out his question, a look from Yabang stopped him. Feeling slightly dejected, he stepped back to let the others speak but still kept shifting his gaze between the groups so as not to miss any of the conversation. He knew he was sometimes unable to follow anything said to him because he didn't understand it at first.
To Tang'ga's exasperation, nobody spoke after he stepped back. He really wanted to know something. Like why does that boy look so pretty. Fortunately, Yabang talked first before Tang'ga could formulate the question.
"We will be practicing near the pool by the bear's cave. If you remain in this morning's exercise's path, then we won't be bothering each other. If you're fine with that, we'll go first."
After a nod from Ling, Yabang turned around to walk out of the clearing. Lino followed him but later noticed that Tang'ga was still standing in his previous spot.
"Hey, Tang'ga, were you listening? What did Yabang tell us?"
The other boy stared at Lino when he heard his friends call but then looked back at the two in front of him. "Oh yeah, next time, we'll show you who's better."
Tang'ga beamed that he remembered what Yabang told them. However, his smile turned into a frown when Lino ran back to smack him on the back of his head.
"Why did you hit me?! My mother said I will become dumb if you constantly hit my head!"
"Ok, I'm sorry for hitting your head. Next time, I'll kick your shin. That's should be far enough from your head to affect it further."
Now, Tang'ga became distracted. 'Where is my shin?'
Before Tang'ga could reply again, Yabang called the two, "Lino, Tang'ga, let's go practice!"
Tang'ga was holding the back of his head while jogging beside Lino. "My head still hurts."
"Yeah, sorry about that. But I have to make you understand that you don't have to tell them that we're better. What Yabang meant when he said that was that we will show them during the test."
"Ooh!"
"Stop talking, you two. Let's increase our pace!"
"Okay!"
Left alone in the clearing, Ling and Rin were feeling a little confused with the conversation of the three older children. Nevermind the irrational argument. However, they were never interested in beating anybody, just to be stronger to take care of themselves during the hunts. Shrugging his shoulders, Ling nodded to Rin so they could also start their training.
On the day of the test, the thirty something boys together with their parents and teachers gathered at the area near the border. Several voices giving advice or assurance were heard around while they were waiting for the test to start when the sun had risen.
The group of Yabang were the first to move forward when the signal was given. He knew that his father was staring at him, confident without giving him any advice.
The group was still lead by their instructors but would soon leave them once they reached the desired distance where the test starts.
After a few minutes of running, the leading trio noticed that there were two children managing to follow their pace. The others were lagging behind but the instructors never slowed down as it was already part of the test.
The five instructors stopped when they reached a safe grove. They didn't need to say anything when the leading groups separated to start their day's hunt. Most of the older children had a team they had made with who they were used to. Others included the younger children from their families. The other younger children, meanwhile, also made a team by themselves based on their practices in the previous days.
Nobody would go on a hunt on their own because the forest was dangerous especially if you're not familiar with it yet. Even the duo of Ling and Rin was a rarity.
The test only required the children to be able to survive on their own for a week. But of course, there was a price for those that managed to take home hunted beasts aside from surviving.
Ling and Rin were quiet while running through the forest. It was their first time to hunt alone in these parts though they were already familiar with it. As adviced, they chose to hunt in the same grounds as the hunting group of Ling's father, Bobo.
The first day was the same for all groups. Most tried catching the small animals first to ensure that they could eat something for lunch. Meanwhile, the older children ran faster without stopping, intent on travelling farther to get larger game. Their first night was their only rest with the same pace of travel come morning.
On the morning of the second day, in a dense part of the forest, a crouching figure was gnawing on the carcass of a big wolf. A scattering of meat and blood from.other wolves could also seen around it, making the place heavy with death 'mist'.
A rustling sound made the animal growl in that direction. When it saw a white rabbit stop in its tracks, the animal ignored it and instead bit on his still unfinished food to drag it back to his nearby cave.
After a few more crunching sounds from inside the cave which made the smaller animals scurry away, the beast went out again, seemingly unsatisfied with its meal. It raised its black nose until it smelled a group.of antelope in a nearby river.
It shook its fur then ran at a blurring speed. After it left, the 'haze' around the place converged around a small figure. Satisfied, the figure later followed after the animal.
In the nearby river, the antelopes were busy drinking water but still wary of their surroundings. The stomping sound getting close to them alerted the adult antelopes.
They gathered they young to immediately escape, however, a large beast came out of the trees. It was a lion with blots of red in its golden mane. It's black body hid the other blood tracks but the 'haze' surrounding it showed that it had already killed many.
The lion waved its three spiked tails to get ready to leap. But before it could move, an arrow flashed between the predator and preys' paths. A growl came from the lion and it looked at where the arrow came from.
It saw the small child readying another arrow which made the lion angrier. It decided to take care of this brat first before running after the escaped food.
___
The night in the forest was hushed. The only sounds were coming from the rustling of the leaves and splashing of the river. Most of the animals were resting at their homes while a few were still making rounds in their territories. A howl from a wolf later became part of the serene night.
Ling and Rin decided to spend the night in the lion's cave. They already ate their dinner after another hunt near this cave. Of course they cleaned up the blood and guts the lion left and Ling already took care of the 'haze' earlier.
Since they were not experienced in night hunting, they decided to forgo another hunt when the sun went down. That was the same for other animals but the nocturnal ones were just coming out. Being overconfident to hunt during this time would just make them lose to the ferocious beasts that consider this time as their home ground.
As the two were getting ready to sleep, they heard loud growls outside the cave.