The next day, all of them; Jim, Wilson, the old man and his family, all set out. They continued on their way to Tiger city. Wilson and Jim were invited by the old man to join them in the carriage.
"Get off for now!" He whispered to his grandson as the space in the carriage could already not accommodate five people. Six would be an inconvenience, so he chose his own grandson to walk alongside the carriage and suffer from the falling snow.
"The pattern is very obvious this year. Snow falls during the day and stops just before nighttime." The old man spoke as the carriage was being pulled by the weird looking beast. He continued, "Last year, it only snowed at night and the year before, it snowed all the time, albeit not as much as this."
Wilson nodded. He was not even surprised anymore. This wide and wild piece if land was basically a mystery not only to him but even to those who have been studying it for decades.
No one could understand anything about it.
*************
Back at the place where Jim had blown up Shorty, a hunter walked across the area, cursing at the snowy wind that had abruptly started in the area and at the baboons. The baboons seemed to be everywhere this winter season. By this time, snow had covered up the explosion signs and it just looked like a depression on the land.
The hunter heard a noise and looked behind him.
'Please, don't let it be those baboons again.' He prayed. The baboons were extremely difficult to kill, mostly because they knew their limits, probably even better than humans knew theirs. They would incessantly attack those that were not enough threat to them and smartly avoid those who were strong or instinctively dangerous to them. They were basically, fearing the strong and bullying the weak.
The hunter, who was in his late 30s pushed his body against the windy snow and ran forward. The tripped on an oddly elevated area.
*bang* He fell face first.
"Ouch!" He groaned and sat up, looking at the trabelling bag that had miraculously appeared before him. In truth, the snow covering the bag had simply been shaken off by the impact.
He tilted his head, puzzled. What is a travelling bag doing here. Did someone get lost? Or perhaps, their mode of transportation was attacked by a territorial beast. Maybe they crashed.
It did not make a difference. Spatial Travelling bags were items that the poor could not and would not even dream of buying.
He picked up the travelling bag and opened it.
Ten minutes later, he was still speechless but he knew he had hit the jackpot. As soon as he submitted this tiger, he was rich for life. He immediately began to thank the baboons for being such persistent assholes.
Quickly, he picked the travelling bag, looked at his smartwatch's map and on seeing that Tiger city was nearest, he ran in the direction of Tiger City.
**************
Three hours later,
"Oh? Why are there so many people here? Is that normal?" Jim asked as he peeped out through the beady curtain.
Wilson looked ahead and saw that a sizable crowd of about thirty or so people of different ages, were gathered and they were making quite some noise.
"No, it's not." The old man looked outside and said. He walked out and stretched while saying to the others; "We might as well get out and walk the little distance remaining. It is rude to ride a carriage into the midst of a crowd of people like that."
The middle-aged man and his daughter got down first followed by Wilson and lastly Jim. As for the teenager boy, he had already run ahead to inquire about the reason for such a gathering.
Just as they were arriving and joining the crowd there, the old man's teen grandson returned. He looked at the substantial group of carriages and various beasts standing farther to the side of the crowd and ensured that their own beast and carriage was still in sight. He nodded in satisfaction on sighting them and stood between his sister and Jim. He could see them looking at each other as if they were the only ones in sight of each other. Such insolence.
"Kid, you cannot just go and come back and say nothing. What happened? What is causing this commotion?" Old man was tired of being patient. What was this boy even doing? To come and just stand there without saying anything. He went to inquire on all of their behalves, didn't he?
"Oh, umm..." The teenager stuttered. What was with his grandpa today, no, since last night? He has been coming at him a little too strongly. Was he vexed at something he did not know? If not, there was no reason to ask so aggressively. No matter how he viewed it, something seemed off.
"Hurry and spill it." The old man truly was vexed at this disturbance and his grandson's recent, unnecessary absent-mindedness.
"Yes, grandpa. They said that there was a large group of one-eyed predators up front."
"One-eyed?" Old man asked, looking a little peeved.
"And so, they are going to gather as many people as possible to face off against them."
The middle-aged man sighed and shook his head.
"This is going to be troublesome." The old man said and found a rock to sit on.
Wilson looked around him. Everyone seemed at least a little worried. Some of the strong looking men and women he saw, looked more worried. Even the little girl that seems to have hit something off with Jim was worried. What was making everyone so worried? Seems like whatever the one-eyed beasts were, they had very bad reputation.
"Seriously, what is a one-eyed beast?" Wilson asked. A good number of people around Wilson and the group he was with, gasped and immediately began to whisper among themselves, bringing down the general crowd volume by almost half. Wilson was shocked.
'Were they eavesdropping all this time? How rude.' He thought. Jim, grandpa, son and grandson only shook their heads. Such professionals at gossip. Inly pros like them can eavesdrop while talking so loudly. Seems like there were not enough fighters and too many loud mouths. There was more trouble than it seemed on the surface.
A man stood on a piece of rock in the middle of the crowd and raised his voice.
"Everyone, out of you people, is there anyone who would like to join us to face off against the one-eyed beasts?"
No response.
"I repeat, is there anyone who is brave and courageous enough to fight alongside us against the one-eyed beasts?"
Still no response. Just hush.
"I will repeat again..."
Someone who looked like the speaker pushed him off the rock and stared menacingly at them and yelled in disdain.
"So no one is willing to risk their lives alongside us, even though I can see some dozen hunters among us? Do you people think we are your slaves? Me and my twin brother and a group of six are going to be fighting those forty-seven one-eyed beasts and not one extra person is willing to join? Including you hunters?" He pointed spitefully at the hunters he could see and yelled; "You f*cking cowards! How did you all become hunters in the first place? You all are a disgrace to the Hunter's Association."
People began to murmur among themselves before an old, wrinkled woman spoke up.
"Does it make a difference? Tiger City officials would soon send other hunters to get rid of them soon anyway."
Yeah.. that's true..
All the others yelled in agreement. Some shaking their fists in the air.
"Are you daft or something?" The angry hunter yelled back. "Check your watches and see if they are working. Without them, how are we supposed to inform the others at Tiger City, wrinkled woman? With your old, shaky voice?"
"pfft.." Wilson and Jim laughed a little, instantly gaining the aggro of those eavesdroppers from before.
"Why are you laughing? Are you not hunters?" A burly man said, his voice a little higher than normal. It was obvious they wanted to gather people's attention on both of them.
"Yes, why are you laughing? Are you not part of the cowards he was talking about?" A woman who looked like his mother said in support.
Jim opened his mouth to defend himself and Wilson and so did the old man but they did not have to.
"What are you talking about? These young men are not hunters. I would know if they were." The gentle twin Hunter said. No one knew when he arrived.
"And what makes you so sure?" The woman asked.
"I know of every hunter in Tiger city and they are faces I have never seen before." He answered calmly with a slight disarming smile.
"Heh" The burly man sneered and said; "Surely, you cannot know everyone."
"Actually, I do, Stuart!"
Both the burly man and his mother looked shocked.
"What? Do you think because of your receding hairline and new scars, that we won't recognize you, Stuart?"
"What are you saying? Who is Stuart?" The woman said, though it was obvious at this point that they were just trying to bluff their way out.
"Shut the f*CK up, Margaret." The angry twin had joined them and was fuming.
She quickly pulled her head down.
"I knew you were a narcissistic d*ck, but I did not know you were some cowardly bastard." The angry twin said in disgust.
"I wonder how you were able to hunt those animals you hunted." A young man with spiky, multicolored hair spoke up. He was a part of the team. The rest of the team of hunters put in their two cents as well.
"You mean, 'claimed' he hunted."
"A coward like him probably never hunted them himself."
"Now that I think about it, he always went with a team and came back alone."
"You can't mean that..."
"...he let the others hunt while he enjoyed the benefits."
"What do you think happened to the teammates?"
"Well, not one of them ever came back, so.."
"..so it is safe to assume he either let them die from grave injuries or....."
"...or he killed them himself."
The crowd gasped and began murmuring among themselves again.
Wilson did not understand the whole conversation but he could understand the scope of it - Cowardly Hunter busted.
The angry twin hunter looked at the crowd of people who had changed positions to ensure that the hunters were in the middle of the crowd again. They were more than contented to watch such drama take place.
'Too many useless people.' He thought to himself and angrily shoved them away.
"We will be leaving in an hour." His gentle-looking twin brother said.
What is a one-eyed beast?" Wilson chose that time to ask, immediately the young man with multicolored hair looked at him in amazement.