"Efosa, there you are! I have been looking for you," Ohiomuwa called out as soon as Efosa reached the tent area.
"Why are you looking for me?" Efosa asked, trying to hide the irritation in his voice.
"Nothing much. Since there's no training this evening, some of the boys want to go into the forest for hunting. I remember you're the best at hunting. Do you want to come?" Ohiomuwa asked.
"Okay, let me get my bow and arrows," Efosa agreed. After the humiliation he had just faced from his sister, he felt that only by going into the bush and getting a good prey would he be able to calm down.
"I'll come too," Osifo said, picking up his bow and walking towards the two.
"Osifo, nobody invited you," Ohiomuwa said. He and Efosa did not get along with Osifo, so he did not want him to join.
"So? I'm just going to hunt. Or does the hunting ground now belong to your family?" Osifo retorted. He had been lying around with nothing to do. Even if he didn't catch anything, he figured he'd still get a share.
"Can I join too?" Uze, the boy from earlier, asked.
"Why do you need to ask him? We can go together. The forest doesn't belong to anyone," Osifo said, walking over to Uze and trying to put his hand around his shoulder. But Uze stepped away. He really just wanted to be friends with Efosa. Seeing that Osifo was always fond of picking on him, he wanted to keep his distance.
"You can come," Efosa said to Uze, noticing that he also didn't get along with Osifo. Besides, he wanted to see Uze's hunting skills since Uze was the only one who could rival Iyare in their group.
"Let's go meet the others; they promised to wait at the entrance," Ohiomuwa said. Uze walked over, and the three of them began to make their way to the hunting ground.
"How many people are waiting?" Efosa asked as they moved.
"Just two of our friends," Ohiomuwa answered. Hearing this, Efosa nodded in agreement. After all, having too many people hunting at once didn't seem like a good idea.
"Why are you following us?" Efosa asked when he noticed that Osifo was walking right beside them.
"Who's following you? Does this road belong to you?" Osifo replied.
"Just ignore him," Ohiomuwa said when he noticed his friend wanted to start a quarrel with Osifo.
Efosa stopped, deciding it was best to ignore him. The group soon met up with the two boys waiting at the entrance.
"We asked the instructor, and they said it's fine to go hunting as long as we don't go too deep," one of the boys informed them.
"Let's split into two groups, three in each," the second boy suggested.
"Three each? There are only five of us," Efosa said.
"Is he not also hunting?" the first boy asked, pointing at Osifo.
"He's just passing by."
"I am," Osifo and Efosa said at the same time.
The two boys looked at each other. They knew that Osifo and Efosa didn't get along.
"Let's just look for someone else to join us," the first boy said. He didn't like Osifo much because Osifo was always looking to cause trouble.
"Isibor, that'll take a lot of time. Most of our friends have gone fishing. Let him just join us," the second boy said, disagreeing. He didn't care much about Osifo's mischievous behavior.
"Idah, will you form a group with him?" Efosa asked. He didn't want to get involved with Osifo but felt that Idah had a point. Looking for another person would take too much time.
"Yes. Me, Isibor, and Osifo will go together," Idah replied.
Isibor wasn't very willing, but he didn't want to waste time either, so he agreed.
The groups finally split up and headed into different parts of the forest. Efosa, Uze, and Ohiomuwa moved quietly, scanning the area for signs of prey. The forest was alive with the sounds of chirping birds and rustling leaves, and the trio treaded carefully to avoid scaring off any animals.
After walking for some time, Efosa noticed movement in the bushes ahead. He motioned for the others to stop and crouched low, signaling for silence. Drawing his bow, he focused on the creature—a large antelope grazing calmly, unaware of their presence.
Efosa steadied his breath, pulled back the bowstring, and released the arrow. It flew swiftly and hit the antelope cleanly in its side. The animal let out a cry and stumbled before collapsing. Uze and Ohiomuwa quickly ran over to help Efosa secure the kill.
"That's a good shot, Efosa," Ohiomuwa said, impressed.
"Thanks," Efosa said smuggly. He cast a provocative glace at Uze. Uze was surprised by his actions after all Efosa always treated him like air.
"There is still time, let hide the antelope first and keep moving," Ohiomuwa said when he noticed the wired atmosphere between the two. Efosa and Use agreed and quickly found a spot to hide their first catch.
Not long after, Ohiomuwa spotted two rabbits darting across a clearing. He quickly notched an arrow and fired, hitting one. The second rabbit hesitated at the sudden noise, giving him just enough time to shoot again and bring it down.
"Two in one go. Not bad, right?" Ohiomuwa boasted.
"Not bad at all," Uze admitted, chuckling.
"I taught you well," Efosa jokes. They all laughed.
"Yes, I will listen to your teaching," Ohiomuwa replied with a smile.
"Let's gather everything and head back before it gets dark," Efosa suggested looking at the sky.
Just as they got ready to leave , Uze's sharp eyes caught sight of a grass cutter scurrying between the trees. He signaled to the others and crept forward, gripping his bow tightly. With careful aim, he released an arrow that struck the grass cutter in its neck. It collapsed instantly.
"Wow, looks like you really have some skills," Ohiomuwa was impressed by Uze's shot.
Efosa did not feel to happy seeing this but thinking that his opponent today was not Uze but Osifo's group he forced a smile. Anyway he had killed an antelope, he comforted himself.
They returned to the spot where they had left the antelope and worked together to carry their haul back to the entrance. By the time they arrived, they were tired but satisfied with their success.
Meanwhile, Osifo's group hadn't been as fortunate. They had managed to catch only a few rabbits, despite their efforts. When both groups met up at the entrance, it was clear whose hunt had been more successful.
"Wow! You caught an antelope?" Isibor exclaimed, looking at Efosa's group's haul.
"And a grass cutter, plus two rabbits," Ohiomuwa added smugly.
"What about you?" Uze asked, glancing at Osifo's group.
Osifo hesitated before replying. "We caught some rabbits. That's all."
"That's it?" Ohiomuwa teased. "Looks like you're losing your touch."
Osifo glared at him but said nothing.
Isibor and Idah, looked angryly at Osifo after all they had also encountered an antelope but Osifo made noise exposing their presence causing them to miss a good catch.
"I told, you we should have looked for someone else," Isibor commented.
"Why are you blaming me? It's was you who clearly did not shoot your arrow fast enough," Osifo refused to take the blame.
"How can you say that, if you had not suddenly made noise causing the animal to be alarmed we would at least have an Antelope in our group," Isibor argued.
"That's true, we could only get three rabbits even when we saw five, it was because you missed you two shots," Idaho also regrets his decision of going with Osifo.
"Let's not waste time arguing," Efosa said, breaking the tension. "We all got something. Let's head back and prepare the meat." he said but still looked at Osifo with disdain.
Osifo wanted to say something but seeing that everyone was angry with him, he decided to shut up, afraid that if he got them too angry they might refuse to share their prey with him.