Ch:4 Hunting party: Part 2 The Encounter

We pressed on for half a day by my best guess, and as the ridge that I had seen in the vision appeared finally in our path I admit that I was genuinely surprised at first, but that was quickly replaced with excitement and a need to explain my on the spot sort of slapped together plan. I was met with a sort of huh and ok Ill follow your lead , but I don’t know, prompting me to explain that I knew it would work some how. I started to try to picture how we might accomplish taking down such a large creature as a team in my own thoughts. Suddenly I noticed some movement just beyond the ridge which we were now very close to. I signaled to my cohorts that we should all look sharp from now on as we were approaching a creature of unknown size and demeanor. All chatter ceased, as we approached, from some where in my brain softly spoken words began to emerge and inform each member of his task. It wasn’t fancy I figured that the only way to gain an advantage over such a large creature was to wear it out. We would simply surround the creature get as close as possible without being detected and then confront it. If it tried to run away we would lash onto it and let it drag us along for the ride it until it got tired in which case we would finish it. If on the other hand it tried to attach then we would use our numbers and our hottest torches to subdue it or tire it out. I took point of course, since I didn’t want any of my hunter students to get injured or turned into food. The creature truly was huge, I tried to remain focused as we approached and resist my urge to try and study it up close. I waited until I was sure we were all in position and cleared my throat. Just as I was about to yell out at the top of my lungs the creature turned and stared right at me with its many eyes. The events that followed were a blur, it was utter chaos. In those first few seconds I know I screamed at the hunters to run away but none did. They all held fast to their positions and did their best to distract the creature while I hacked away at it with my blade. Even the cluxtch was barely doing minimal damage to the hard surface of the creature. I moved as quickly as I could and the creature stayed right on top of me the whole time. My movements were getting sloppier and more desperate. I knew that If I didn’t finish this soon I would not finish it at all and perhaps I would be the one who got finished. As this thought breached my consciousness the creature reared up I assume to come down and crush me, but as it lifted I noticed its mouth or at least one of its mouths on its softer and normally unexposed under belly. I moved as fast as I could and struck at what seemed to be a week point. The creature let out a terrible bellow and started to come down on top of me. I had anticipated this and was already trying to move, but my blade was lodged. I really don’t know what happened next, but from the looks and descriptions of my hunting party I sort of pooped out from under the creature as it landed on my blade, let out a muffled gurgle and died. I was in shock we all cheered and hugged and high fived like we had just met Tony the tiger or something. Later I would learn that the creature we had slain was only a baby and had it been an adult or had its mother been present we would not have been so lucky.
We began to roll the creature over and it was then that I saw my luck had run out. My blade was in pieces. I picked them up with a heavy heart I thought of all the times this blade had fed me had saved me had guided me. My grief was cut short by fear. We had all heard it another creature approached a bigger one, an angry one. I turned and yelled RUN to my hunting party, and as I started to run myself I noticed that a tooth from the creature we had slain had been dislodged by my blade when it broke. Instincts told me to grab it and run.