The Hunt

The captain still remembered the shaman saying, "Herbivores that live in groups with a fixed leader can potentially be domesticated."

If that was true, then they couldn't simply kill these beasts and haul them back.

With that thought, he beckoned to the others to follow.

Once the other nine hunters had quietly gathered around him, he pointed toward the woods in the distance.

"We need to find a way to bring these beasts back and let the shaman see if they can be raised."

The others could see the creatures now, too. One of them seemed particularly quick-witted and immediately understood what the captain meant.

"They're so big. We'd get a lot of meat if we killed them. It'd be great if we could raise them instead."

After he finished speaking, drooling, the remaining hunters finally caught on. Remembering the steady food supply from the two kinds of livestock kept in the tribe, they all grew excited.

"Right, right! You're so clever! Catch them and take them back!"

"All right, we don't have enough people for this. Swift Tusk, Fierce Fang, hurry back to the tribe and tell the chie—no, tell that chief executive thing... and have him send more hunters."

"Got it!"

The two Trolls who had been called out responded and left, soon vanishing from the others' sight.

The return trip would be much faster than the journey out. It wouldn't take more than a few lamp-hours for them to come back with reinforcements.

"We can't just wait around. We need to drive them as far toward the tribe as we can. Quick Tusk, take four hunters and circle around behind them from the left. Spread out, but don't attack. Make some noise and drive them along. The rest of you, follow me. We'll herd them from the other side."

"Remember, don't push too hard. A little noise is enough. We can't let them panic. They're big and there are a lot of them; if they stampede, we won't be able to stop them."

After assigning the tasks, the eight hunters split into two groups and began circling behind the beasts from opposite directions.

Before long, sounds began coming from the woods in the distance.

The great beasts, peacefully chewing on leaves and branches, heard the noise and began nervously pawing at the dirt with their hooves.

Even so, they didn't flee in every direction. Instead, they turned their heads toward a few of their companions who had claimed the tastiest food, as if waiting for instructions.

These trusted creatures were probably the leaders. They had enormous horns and stood as much as 4.3 meters tall at the shoulder—true giants.

Clearly, the leaders weren't especially alarmed. They raised their heads warily, scanning their surroundings with the fist-sized eyes on either side of their heads, and listened intently for any sounds.

A moment later, the leaders stopped eating and trotted toward the edge of the herd, subtly forming a protective ring around the larger group.

The beasts in the middle seemed reassured. They resumed eating, moving along under the leaders' guidance as they chewed.

Perhaps because the "danger" wasn't very obvious, the leaders didn't hurry them. As a result, the herd moved quite slowly overall.

Rather than fleeing, they were making a "polite" retreat from a "low-level, unknown threat."

The wolves watched the scene in confusion, unsure what to do, and could only look to the Alpha Wolf for guidance.

The Alpha Wolf observed quietly for a moment, studying the big, foolish Trolls' movements.

A moment later, it seemed to understand something.

It gave a low bark, and the wolves scattered at once.

The wolves had been following close to the captain, so he immediately noticed the movement and looked worried.

He feared the Wind Wolves might act on their own and ruin the plan to herd the beasts.

The wolves scattered in roughly the same direction as the Trolls, but ran farther out.

Soon, howls rang out from the outer perimeter.

The howls came one after another, but they didn't give the impression of a rapid encirclement. They simply created the sense that a pack of wolves was hunting nearby.

At last, the beasts—which had been ambling along and only shifting their feet now and then—stopped eating and picked up the pace.

Seeing this, the captain suddenly understood. The wolves had figured out what he was planning and were helping the hunting party.

"A clever bunch. All that feeding wasn't wasted."

The Wind Wolves were clearly better suited to this job, and soon became the main force driving the herd.

The hunting party withdrew from the "front line," shifting its attention to watching for threats from elsewhere.

For example, other wolf packs that might be drawn by the noise and feel challenged. Or other Troll tribes.

The former weren't a concern. Few wolf packs dared to hunt openly so close to the tribe.

The latter were less predictable. Although the area was only about a day's walk from the tribe, it wasn't part of their traditional hunting grounds. Some small tribe might notice and occasionally come looking to snatch an easy meal.

Fortunately, the worst didn't happen. Several lamp-hours passed without incident. As dusk deepened, the larger group of hunters from the tribe finally arrived.

Since they didn't know the situation, the "main force" stopped some distance away. Only Swift Tusk, who had gone back earlier, and a few other Trolls followed the howls over.

"What's going on? What are the wolves doing?"

The newcomers were leaders of other hunting parties. They stared in surprise at the strange formation of "prey, wolves, and Trolls."

"That fellow's herding the prey. We're just watching to see what it can do. Maybe we'll work together in the future." The captain nodded toward the Alpha Wolf, which had heard the commotion and was warily looking their way.

"All right, then. We'll take our teams farther out." After watching for a while, the other hunting-party leaders nodded in agreement.

The leaders discussed which directions each of them would cover, then hurried off.

The captain walked over to the Alpha Wolf, which was no longer on alert. He didn't know if it could understand him, but spoke quietly anyway.

"Put in a little more effort! Do a good job, and you'll get your fill at every meal from now on!"

The Alpha Wolf snorted in disdain, but moved with remarkable speed, darting away in a flash.

"Can it really understand me?"

Watching it disappear into the distance, the captain wondered if that could be true.

~~~~~~~~~

By the time Blade Tusk finished meditating for the day, dusk was near.

He stepped out of the conspicuous treehouse and noticed that the "streets" seemed unusually empty.

"Today isn't the day for a communal hunt, is it? Where's everyone gone?"

At last, he ran into a Troll chopping frozen meat and asked what he'd been wondering.

"Oh, I heard there's some big livestock. Most of the hunting parties went to help, but they should be back soon."

"Oh? New livestock? Which way did they go?"

After the Troll pointed out the direction, Blade Tusk checked the sky and realized there was still some time before his next appointment.

He nodded and headed toward the tribe's entrance in that direction.

As it happened, just before he reached the entrance, he heard a commotion: wolves howling, warriors shouting, and an unfamiliar, low-pitched bellow mixed in.

He quickened his pace. After rounding several houses that blocked his view, he saw the scene outside the tribe's newly built gate.

There, three or four dozen creatures that looked like moose from his previous life, but were several times larger than he remembered, were surrounded by nearly a hundred hunters and guards.

Among these "moose," several of the largest, with enormous antlers, seemed to be the leaders. They were at the outer edge of the encirclement, bellowing anxiously.

They tried to calm their panicked companions while keeping the Trolls from getting any closer.

Around the outside, the Trolls formed groups from their hunting teams and applied constant pressure from every direction. They planned to go a step further and separate the leaders from the larger group in the middle.

The two sides kept maneuvering against each other. The Trolls didn't want to kill the beasts, while the "moose leaders" refused to flee on their own. For a while, neither side could make headway.

Just then, the head of one "moose"—even more powerfully built than the other "leaders"—began to glow with a hazy red light, and it charged without warning.

In its path stood half a squad, roughly six adult Trolls.

It went from a slow trot to full speed in what seemed like an instant. In the blink of an eye, it disappeared from view, then reappeared nearly thirty meters away, where that half-squad had been standing.

Several successive booms rang out. The palisade surrounding the tribe seemed to tremble under the impact of the heavy body.

Judging by the force, it would have punched a hole straight through the palisade if it hadn't been made of Steelwood.

Only then did the Trolls turn toward the noise. They saw several hunters sliding down the palisade.

Blade Tusk had no time to marvel at the "moose leader's" tremendous strength, or check on the Trolls it had knocked flying. Red light was already glowing above the "moose leader's" head once again.