NOVEL NEXT Chapter 43
The journey to their first stop at the Red Paw tribe’s grounds was rather uneventful, the hunter group took down three solitary predators along the way before reaching the Red Paw tribe’s grounds. Grud wanted the hearts of those three predators but it was not his kill, it would not do to covet another’s rightful kill.
Once they arrived they made camp some distance away from the empty shelter that the Red Paw tribe was half a day away from occupying again. After they set up camp, Chieftain Dhun ordered the hunters to spread out and clear out any dangerous animals within a one hour radius and bring back any game if they come upon any.
When Grud moved to follow, he was asked by his fellow tribe hunters to stay and rest due to his medical scare this morning. But despite their worried urging, Grud persisted and insisted he was feeling fine, ‘True, I am feeling a bit weak, but it does not feel right that they had to carry me this morning without me doing anything.’
Seeing that Grud was adamant about joining them in clearing the surrounding area, they could only sigh and ask him to take care.
By the time they cleared out the area, between Grud and the other Rock Skull tribe hunters, they managed to chase off a couple of wolves that knew better than to attack his group when there were many other hunter groups blatantly bashing thru the woods, which made a lot of noise.
While clearing out the area, Grud and his group also managed to get a good sized Tusk Pig and a few rabbits to bring back to camp.
After all the hunters came back and had lunch, Chieftain Dhun gathered all the hunters for a briefing, “We will be camping here to wait for the main bulk of the tribes to arrive, if they are fast, they will make it here by sundown, but they are more likely to arrive by late morning tomorrow. You all will have some time with your families for the rest of tomorrow, then we will start our journey to the next tribe grounds early in the following morning before the sun rises, same as the first day of the expedition.”
After making a few other small announcements, Dhun announced, “Now that you will have free time tomorrow, we will resume training for the rest of the day.” This announcement was met with groans but they followed Dhun to a clearing to start training anyway.
Grud was glad that he would soon be reuniting with his lovely wives, even tho it was just a few days, he still missed them. He wished Mita could join the rest of the wives, but it was decided by Nita and himself that it would be better if they waited until they were back in their own tribe.
But now was not the time for those thoughts, now was the time for training and getting stronger.
—
After Dhun was done drawing out his ring on the ground, he instructed the hunters to pair off and spar with each other while the older hunters monitored and gave pointers while they sparred. As the hunters were pairing off, Dhun called Grud to spar with him first, ‘Grud is going to take most of my stamina, so I better fight him first, the rest of the hunters I can defeat with just skill but Grud can power thru while shrugging off most of my blows.’
The moment they both got in the ring and took their stances, Grud was the one who made the first move with a quick forward lunge of the staff, ‘Good, he has learned to strike first in order to set the pace.’
After Dhun parried and dodged a few strikes, he noticed Grud attacking in a rough pattern, ‘Quite predictable, let's see how he reacts to being counterattacked and reacting to me changing the pace of the fight.’
Dhun let Grud throw in a few more strikes before counterattacking Grud at an opening in his attack pattern with a staff jab aimed at Grud’s head.
But to Dhun’s surprise, Grud just tilted his head to the side while swinging his staff towards his midsection, this made Dhun quickly withdraw the staff to his side just in time to block the incoming staff swing with a loud *THWAK* when the two staffs collide.
The result of that move made Dhun take a few steps to the side to minimize the blow, while Grud stumbled a few steps in order to regain his balance from dodging and attacking at the same time.
‘Did Grud just bait me into an attack in order to counterattack my counterattack? If so that would be quite impressive, could use work on his recovery or follow up tho.’
Before Grud could recover his stance, Dhun charged Grud and started beating him out of the ring, “Good, like today, attack first when possible to set the pace. Also, work on your recovery and follow up after your attacks.” After saying that, he sent Grud off to rest awhile then called another hunter to take Grud’s place.
—
The training went all the way until dinner time, but Grud was not so tired. ‘Besides Dhun and the older hunters that sparred with me, the rest of the hunters were not much of a challenge, I am too strong and fast for them to react to me.’
After reflecting on his fight, a small smile settled on his face, ‘Almost got Dhun with that swing to his body… but like he said, I need to work on my recovery and follow up because Dhun’s attacks usually aim to keep me off balance before delivering a true strike to me.’
After killing some time chatting with other hunters while doing equipment maintenance along with them, Grud turned in for the night to empty his balls into Mita.
The next morning after the camp woke up and had the leftovers of yesterday’s dinner for breakfast, Dhun gathered the younger hunters for training which continued for a couple of hours until a piercing whistle was heard throughout the camp and soon one of the hunters that was posted on the parameter came running into the camp towards Chieftan Dhun.
“They are coming, the tribes will be here within the hour.” the hunter announced. “Good, back to your post.” Dhun said with a nod then stopped the training to give the hunters some time to clean themselves up.
When the tribes finally arrived, the Red Paw tribe made their way to the center of the area where their abandoned shelters stood and started cleaning, repairing the wear and tear the elements had done to the shelters, and moving in their belongings.
The other tribes set up temporary camps around the Red Paw tribe as Grud along with the rest of the hunters went to find their families. Unlike the other hunters that had to look around for their families, Grud could easily pick up the scent of his wives and led his fellow tribe hunters to the main bulk of the Rock Skill tribe.
When he arrived, he saw his wives putting together the skeleton of a tent and went over to greet them as his fellow tribe hunters broke off to find their own families. As he got closer, Ida was the first one to notice Grud and called out to him, “Grud! You are back!”
The rest of his wives stopped what they were doing and swarmed him, soon they were in a group hug. While the group hug was going on, Grud felt Mita leave his body where Nita was hugging him and Grud saw the acknowledgment in Nita’s eyes when Mita entered her body.
After a minute of hugging, Grud asked, “So, how was the journey for you girls?” Nita answered while rubbing her cheek against his body, “Tiring, but it was fine so far, the hunters guarding the tribes just had to chase away some straggler beasts that were wandering around us, but nothing attacked us. How has your expedition been”
Grud broke off the group hug and walked towards the unfinished tent, “Come, let us finish the tent, I will tell you all while we work.” as they completed the tent, Grud regaled them with an account of what he did during the last few days.
After their tent was done and they were resting in it while chatting in the comfort of each other’s presence, the lunch call came. While they were eating together with the rest of the tribe Reta looked around then leaned closer to Grud and whispered, “Why are most of the hunters that went out on expedition so bruised all over their body?”
Grud stilled as his other wives noticed the question, looked around, and back at Grud, ‘Shit, how am I going to explain this without worrying them?... But, I think I should be ok to tell them, all my bruises and welts heal a lot faster than others.’ Grud thought.
“Errr… all of us are taking fighting training from Cheiftan Dhun.” Grud answered concisely.
“Are you ok? The rest of the hunters that went with you all seem to have a bruise somewhere on their body.” Silne pitched in with the question.
Grud smiled and flexed his body to his wives, “See, no bruises on me, your husband is unscathed.”
Nita looked at Grud with worry, then after a few seconds, her expression was that of someone paying attention to someone talking, then she narrowed her eyes at Grud with annoyance but did not say anything.
‘Oh no, I think Mita told Nita of my injuries I got whenever I sparred with Chieftan Dhun’ Throughout the rest of lunch, Grud tried his best to avoid the subject until he and his wives got back to their tent.
As the rest of the wives entered the tent first, Nita tugged on Grud’s arm before he entered the tent, “Grud dear, I understand that you do not want us to worry about you, but please tell us anyway.” Nita then wrapped Grud in a hug, “We may not be as strong as you but we still want to share your burden. We are your wives and family, that is what we are here for.”
Grud looked down at his cute and short wife who was looking up at him while pouting, “How can my wife be so cute and sexy at the same time, it is not fair… Fine, I will tell you next time, Not like Mita would not tell you first.” Grud said with a mischievous smile as he stroked Nita’s head.
Nita smiled up at him and then released him from the hug and held his arm to lead him into the tent, “Now us wives must do our duty and relife our dear husband of his seed.” Nita said as he laid eyes on the scene he missed for the past few days.