Night quickly reached out and pressed Edward's mouth, indicating that he should not make any more noise.
Edward and Roc were standing still, and their faces were pale, like dead people.
"Grrrr....!"
"Grrr .....!"
The sound was getting closer...
'Is it any use being still if the saber tooth tiger saw us?'
Edward just wanted to persuade everyone to run away in different directions. At least not all but some of them would survive the tiger.
While not telling others, Edward intended to distract the tiger towards him and give others a chance. He wasn't a brave and reckless fool who cared little for his life but at least he knew when to take responsibility and this was his fault. He was too careless.
Just as Edward was deciding the good time to distract the tiger, they heard a shout, and the saber-toothed tiger seemed to turn towards the direction from where the sound came.
'Could it be that some kind of prey has diverted its attention?'
They didn't know but they could only pray that the saber tooth tiger would head towards the direction of the sound and leave them alone.
After what felt like an eternity, the slow growl of the saber-tooth tiger started to get distant and eventually it vanished. It seemed that the tiger had headed towards the direction from where the sound came.
As the sound went away, the three took a long sigh of relief.
"Sorry, I have never seen a saber-toothed tiger, just now....." Edward couldn't hang on his own gaffe, and he smiled apologetically at everyone.
"Light, we have only seen it from far away, this time it was so close. It was a first time for everyone here ...."
Night understood him and so held his hand to appease him, but at the same time, it raised a question in Edward's mind.
If he was this much frightened just by looking at the saber tooth tiger, then how was he supposed to hunt this animal in the future?
'Because of the appearance of a saber-toothed tiger, will the deer herd even show up?'
Edward had no answers to his questions and each question brought forth a new sense of worry inside of him.
After sitting in the grass for about an hour or so, he decided to start carrying out his task according to the original plan.
"Hey, it's no use just sitting on our bums like that. We'll go through with the plan. Everyone go to your locations and wait for the ambush. Roc and Night, stay here and wait for the herd. When the deer come, don't stop and keep shooting. LET'S GO! LET'S GO"
Edward shouted the last part to get everyone pumped up and forget their near-death encounter with the saber tooth tiger.
"Light ..... you be careful," Night spoke with concern.
Being cared for by this beautiful primitive girl, a warm feeling rushed into Edward's heart. Edward thought to himself:
'Wait for me Night, soon I'll have enough bows and arrows. Then we will never face such shameful situations like the one that happened today. We will hunt everything from saber tooth tigers to behemoth!'
Enduring the bites of the mosquitoes and heat, after waiting for two hours in a slightly higher place towards the east, the faint rumbling of the ground alerted Edward. He narrowed his eyes and saw about a group of 200 deer were making their way. A few meters away, a few deer groups broke away and walked into the encirclement he had arranged.
Edward held his breath. He felt nervous at the moment. His palms were full of sweat.
They were finally here!
He estimated that the small group of deer that broke away from the large 200 deer herd were around 30 in number. He felt like he could handle 30 deer in his encirclement.
Edward laid in wait and when all 30 of the deer were in place, he emerged from his hiding spot and immediately started pelting the deer group with stones he had prepared beforehand. This ensured panic within the deer ranks and they all rush forward, away from Edward.
"It's all going according to the plan."
***************
Such a large group of deer, of course, was not small but because the ambush was prepared ahead of time, the deer did not found anything abnormal and kept pushing forward.
Soon the deer were near Debro's hiding spot. As if on cue, Debro emerged from his hiding spot and pelted the deer group with stones. The deer as if to escape their current situation, did a turn away from the hill, towards the only route out of this small hilly area which was, of course, the place where Roc and Night were waiting in ambush.
The clever Roc understood the embarrassment Light brother had to face today. He was keen on repaying Light brother for all his help. He remembered that Light brother had told him that the closer the prey was, the more effective the bow and arrow would be otherwise there was a chance for the deer to be only be injured and still escape.