The next chapter is posted! Enjoy :)
They finally made it out of the meadow and into another wooded areas.
The foliage here looked a little different. Instead of a rainforest it looked like a forest of coniferous trees. Only these were much larger than the ones on Earth.
"When can we stop to treat of injuries?" She asked, a little out of breath.
When I can find a tree suitable enough for us to use. In which case there are plenty here to choose from." Than-guan told her.
Kayla let out a huff, she was already too tired to walk much further, and her injured leg was killing her. She almost laughed a little when she must've asked the hunter at least three times if those reptile-like creatures were poisonous or had deadly bacteria in their bite.
He assured her there was nothing dangerous in their bite. Unless they took a chunk out of you or hit a major artery.
Than-guan did stop and inspect her leg. The wounds were a but deep. But nothing life threatening. Most were easily treatable he told her. They were both pretty lucky that neither of them was seriously injured during that ambush.
Though it was mainly her who was the lucky one. Than-guan didn't need any luck. He fought many carnivorous animals on this world many times. He knew their anatomy enough to know their weaknesses and knew their daily habits.
As they continued through the woods, Kayla noted some of these trees looked like they were almost as huge as sequoia trees. She can't say they had trunks that were big enough to fit a car through them like some of the ginormous trees back home. But these were pretty close.
She's still a little unsure how he's going to scale one of these monstrous trees with her on his back.
When they left the gorge a while back, they were able to walk out. Because he led them to an area that had a steep incline that led up and out of it a couple miles down from where the cavern, they stayed in was.
He laughed when she nearly face planted a few times trekking up the slippery sandy slope. Even funnier because she was hunched over almost doing a spiderman crawl up it, because if she stood straight up, she'd tumble backwards down the steep slope.
"How much further?" She somewhat whined.
"Why? We getting tired?" He teased.
"As a matter of fact, yes! I'm tired, dirty, and sore. And would very much like to sit down and rest a little." She got a little snappy.
"Poor baby." Than-guan continued teasing her.
"In a moment, this 'poor' baby is going to put her foot up your ass." Kayla retorted.
He snorted, "Then you will injure your foot. Wearing protective metal piece, remember?"
"Seriously, Midnight. My leg really is hurting, and I am tired." She replied.
The hunter looked around and spotted a large tree off to his left.
"I see a good one over there to the left. You see it? It has an odd shape compared to the others." He pointed out.
She followed his gaze and outstretched hand. At first, she couldn't see it through the dense canopy. But as they moved closer, she did. This one wasn't really cone shaped like the other pine trees.
It was split and branched out in odd directions. She recalls seeing something like that before, back home. Her grandparents once had a tree on their acre of land.
It got struck by lightning and it ended up nearly splitting the tree in half. But the tree survived and started growing outwards in weird directions doe to its split trunk.
'Perhaps, this tree got hit by lightning during one of those crazy storms.' She thought.
It took another few minutes to get there. Then they stopped at the base of the tree. It was quite tall and wide. She wants to bet that if this tree was in the gorge, the top of it probably would've made it to the top of it.
Because if the gorge they were in was roughly forty to forty-five feet down, then this tree easily has to be around fifty feet give or take.
Than-guan's gaze went from the tree to Kayla.
"Are you ready?" He asks.
She looks at him for a moment before nodding.
"Yeah, I believe so." She replied.
The hunter than knelt down and motioned for her to come over.
Kayla did and wrapped her arms around his neck. She let out a pained hiss as her leg screamed in protest as she hiked it up and wrapped her legs around him.
This is going to suck. But she will have to cling to him tightly while he scaled it.
When she was secure, he approached the base of the tree and began to climb. Once he started moving, she was surprised at how quickly and fluidly he was climbing it.
"Shit, you're moving fast. You could make Spider Man jealous." Kayla said.
"Who?" Than-guan asked, clearly confused.
"Never mind. If you want, I'll explain it to you once we get up there." She told him.
Which shouldn't be much longer with how fast he was moving. His claws acted like natural toe picks as they dug into the rough bark and not once did, he seem to lose traction and slip.
He also didn't show signs of tiring or slowing down.
Within minutes he reached the top of the trunk where it split and branched out in different directions. He climbed into the space. Kayla looked around before she let go and slid off of him.
You could build a nice size tree house up here. The area looked to be ten feet around. Plenty of space for them. And they were nice and high up, away from any large predators.
Kayla found a hump of a branch jutting from the trunk, and she went and sat on it. She was relieved to finally have pressure off of her injured leg.
Which looked a bit like a mangled mess right now.
Than-guan approached her and knelt down in front of her. He then pulled out his med kit. He pulled a couple things out and started treating her leg.
"Think the bites will need stitches?" She asked.
He shook his head, "We don't really use sutures like you do. But some of the deeper teeth marks need to be closed up. I have the right things in here for it."
She watched as he pulled out this thin, metallic tube. He faced the end of it towards her wounds. Kayla flinched when some air followed by some strange fluid come out of it.
He coated her wounds with the strange stuff. It felt cool at first then started to tingle.
"What is that stuff?" She asks.
"Type of disinfectant to prevent infection." He said.
Than-guan made sure he gotten each wound he could see made by the kuty'y'ae's teeth, as well as the gash that was made by its claws.
He put the tube back afterwards and pulled something else out of the kit. Then pulled out another instrument. Kayla got a little nervous when she noticed the tip started to glow red.
"Uhh, Midnight? What's that for?" She asks, a little nervous.
"Some of the deeper puncture wounds by the teeth need to be cauterized to close them up. Luckily, I only see two to three punctures that are deep. The rest aren't too bad. The shallower ones plush the scratch marks just need healing gel. But that will come after the cauterization." The hunter explained.
Before Kayla could protest, he pressed the hot tip to the nearest deep puncture mark.
She let out a small yelp as she grits her teeth and tensed up. Her nails dug into the bark as he burned her skin. Than-guan held it there for a few moments, before moving onto the next one.
Thankfully, it took him less than a minute to seal up all three deep punctures.
Kayla let out a deep breath as he pulled the instrument away from her leg and put it away. Then he grabbed the tube of healing gel and started applying it to the other more shallow punctures and scratch marks.
When he finished, she thanked him. And he sat down not far from her and started to treat his own injuries.
"Do you need any help with yours?" She asks.
"No thank you." He replied.
Than-guan went to work on himself. His wounds weren't all that deep either and didn't require much attention.
The hunter finished after a few minutes. Then he pulled the two kut'y'ae heads from his belt and placed them on the bark covered ground. Then pulled out another strange tube and activated it.
Kayla watched in amazement as a hissing sound followed by some strange gas exit the tube. And watched as it quickly ate away at the skin and tissue around the heads.
The process was quick and soon they were now nothing, but the skulls left behind. It was easy to tell her trophy skull from his. Hers was a little smaller and had a hole in the center of it where she shoved her combi stick through the head.
He handed Kayla her skull. And she took it from him with a nod.
She held it up in front of her and turned it this way and that to look at it from every angle. A part of her couldn't help but feel proud. This skull was a reminder that she fought a deadly beast and won.
"Congratulations on your first trophy." Than-guan told her.
Her gaze shifted from the skull to him.
"Thanks, good job on yours too." She replied.
He shrugs, "Already have a lot in my collection. The trophies are back on my ship. I intend to bring them with me if I can find Lar'nix'va's ship and take it. Because a hunter never leaves his trophies behind. Can only hope those bastards didn't find my ship.
Though, I gather they probably moved their camp. Especially, after finding out I'm here. Hunters don't tend to keep their camp in one place for very long.
We move around a lot and don't like staying in one place for very long."
"They probably don't want to risk you finding their camp too, right?" She inquired.
"That too. It's also why we can't stay in one place for very long either." Than-guan stated.
Kayla had something else she wanted to say. But found herself a little hesitant to ask.
As he watched her, he could see it looks like she wanted to say something. She opened her mouth once or twice before closing it.
"Something bothering you?" He asks.
She sighs, "It's just...well we never really talked about what would happen if we bumped into another hunter while here. You did say this place is a pretty popular place to hunt after all. But what would happen if we encountered one?"
"It's hard to say. They wouldn't kill us though. It's against our codes to attack and kill other hunters. Only bad bloods do that. Even if hunters are from rival clans, they still know this, and honor the codes.
The thing is, I don't know how many other clans have my information. The Elders have deemed me a bad blood before I left. And the rest of our clan and some neighboring clans are notified about bad bloods.
Who they are what their status is, what crime or crimes have they committed. All that info is sent out to alert others. And if anyone spots them, they need to contact the Arbitrators.
Or if they come across one on another world like this, then it is fair game to kill them. But honorable warriors are forbidden to kill other honorable warriors. Unless they themselves want to be labeled bad bloods and hunter down.
Does this make sense to you?" He inquires, wanting to know if she understood what he just told her.
Kayla nodded, "Yes, but you just said it yourself, you were deemed a bad blood. So, wouldn't that mean you're fair game to the other hunters here as well?"
"It depends. Like I said, not every single clan on home world is notified. Because not all clans affiliate and collaborate with one another.
If we happen to bump into a hunter from my clan or two neighboring clans we affiliate with, then yes, they will try to kill me. But if it's a hunter from a clan that we don't speak with, they wouldn't know about me.
They would just assume I'm another hunter here hunting. At most they would ignore me and move on. Sometimes they may inquire where you're from and what you're hunting. Just out of curiosity. But this doesn't happen much." He further explained.
Kayla bit her lip and started ringing her hands.
"And...what about me? What would they do if they saw me?" She nervously asked.
"I think they would be shocked to see a human all the way out here. Because no humans have ever came to this world. And since you are the only one here, they may wonder why that is.
Probably ask me a ton of questions in the process. But they won't hurt you. Can't hurt females after all, remember?" Than-guan said.
"Unarmed ones. You gave me a combi stick to carry, remember?" Kayla reminded him.
"That is why if you find yourself alone and a hunter spots you and approaches you, remove the combi stick and place it down. Make yourself unarmed. But I think they will be too busy wondering why you're here. More than anything." He informed her.
"I feel like I can't see this ending well either way. If they see me with you, they may automatically think you took me from Earth. So, I can't help but feel like you could be in danger either way." She says.
"Perhaps, but we can't keep worry about what ifs. Especially, since they haven't happened. And remember, this world is big, twice the size of Earth. Hunters could be spread out all over or be on the opposite side of the planet and never come in contact with another hunter." Than-guan said.
He has run into hunters here before on hunts. But it didn't happen very often. There was a lot of ground to cover here.
There could be a large handful of hunters here or a decent size hunting party. Doesn't mean they will encounter other hunters during their time here though.
"Well, just in case we do run into anyone. I'll just make it clear that you didn't take me from my home. And that you didn't do anything wrong. Because I don't want to see you get hurt. At least not because of me." Kayla admitted.
Than-guan chuckled, "I'm touched. Didn't know you care about me that much, Kayla."
She rolled her eyes.
"You caught me. I've been harboring a huge crush on you for quite some time now." Kayla replied, sarcastically.
He smirked, "Yes, I tend to have that effect on females. Can't help that I'm very handsome."
The young woman started laughing at his smug and confident reply.
"Yeah, ok, Cassanova. Try not to get to ahead of yourself there. I was only kidding." She said, between laughs.
"Hey, there is no shame if you find me attractive. Your secret's safe with me." The hunter teased.
"Who says I do find you attractive? Maybe on a scale of one to ten, I'd say you'd be a...negative five." She joked.
His smirk only grew bigger, "You're not a very good liar. I saw you looking at me plenty of times when you thought I wasn't looking, when I had most of my armor off."
Kayla was a bit taken aback and her cheeks tinged pink. Here she thought she was being discreet with her sideways glances. Yet, he claims he noticed her checking him out.
"I do not!" She blurted out.
Than-guan started laughing at her response and the look on her face. Like a kid caught with their hand in a cookie jar. That kind of look.
"What? I don't mind. Feel free to watch me all you like." He teased.
"You're impossible! I don't stare at you!" Kayla countered.
She heard the familiar hissing sounds as he pulled the small tubes free from his mask. Then watched as he pulled it off of his face. He sported a big grin.
"Admit it. You think me handsome. That's why you stare." The hunter continued teasing her. Finding it to be very amusing.
"Next you're going to say I want to propose to you and have many of your babies. But I'm telling you, I don't stare at you or look at you that way, Midnight." Kayla retorted.
His grin grew bigger.
"That's quite a proposal you got going there. I may want to take you up with that offer. I surely wouldn't mind." Than-guan joked.
"Shut up!" She blurted, face all red.
Than-guan doubled over clutching his stomach as he laughed his ass off.
"Paya, you're so easy, Kayla. I was only kidding" He said between laughs.
Than-guan stops laughing, but still has a smirk on his face.
"Or am I?" He added.
"Better be. And that's all I'm going to say." She pointed out.
"You know you'd miss me if I died. Admit it." The hunter kept up his teasing.
"Of course, I don't want you to die. I don't like to see anyone die. And I like to think were friends. So, yeah, it would bother me." Kayla stated.
"Just friends?" He inquired.
Than-guan was being awfully playful right now. And Kayla would be lying if she didn't find it cute and funny.
"I doubt you'd want me as more than that. I'd drive you crazy." She joked back.
"Sounds like a challenge. And I do like those." He replied.
"Yeah, I can tell. Especially the ones that can potentially kill you." She quipped.
"That's what makes them more fun though." The hunter stated.
Kayla snorted, "So, you could tell me you would enjoy being completely surrounded by those things that attacked us back there?"
He shrugs, "Already has happened. And yes, it was a very good time. Especially when one huge one nearly took my head off."
Her eyes widened and she gave him an incredulous look.
Than-guan chuckled at this.
"I am a hunter, Kayla. It's what we live for. We don't face challenges with fear. We face them with bravery and confidence. To most, it is an honor to die in battle or during a hunt while facing a worthy opponent." He told her.
"No offense, but that's a strange goal to strive for. But then humans don't like doing things that are risky that could potentially maim or kill them. Our societies truly differ there." She replied.
"Perhaps, but it doesn't mean we don't value life. We do. But you're right, our societies are different in that aspect. Funny thing is, we weren't always so different from humans.
There was a time that humans followed that same path. They felt privileged and honored to fight the good fight. You're kinds' history is filled with epic battles.
With many going off to face their destiny as a warrior. And they would either be victorious or join the black warrior in death." Than-guan stated.
She gave him a confused look.
"Who's the black warrior? Is that like the devil to you guys?" Kayla inquired.
The hunter shook his head.
"No, it's where all brave warriors who died go to. They go to the Black Warrior, known as Cetanu. Also known as the God of Death. It is also said he guides the Honored Yautja to the Afterlife." He explained to her.
"Very interesting. I t's neat to hear that even in the far reaches of space, there are still beings that worship deities and gods. It truly is a Universal thing and not something compartmentalized to one area or world." She stated.
Though in honesty, she never really was religious. Kayla had always been a skeptic and followed the motto, "Won't Believe It Til' I See It'. But it's quite clear, Than-guan and most his kind are believers.
"It's everywhere. Seen it on many other worlds with higher beings. They all tend to follow something. And we all respect that." He said.
She was silent for a moment as she sat there studying him.
"Still seems strange that you're not afraid. Not even a little. There is no shame in it. I'm still very much afraid of what the next day will bring. And I don't like the fact of living each day you know could be your last. I guess this is where you and I differ the most." Kayla admitted.
He tilts his head as he eyes her.
"Shouldn't write yourself off though. You are braver and stronger than you think you are. The kuty'y'ae, those animals we faced earlier' many Youngbloods have fallen to them. And they all had more weapons than you.
You fought with all you had. Which really wasn't much. You have proven smart, determined, resourceful, and brave during the fight. And this is why you're still alive and were victorious." Than-guan assured her.
"Is it that? Or did I just happen to get lucky?" She inquired.
"No, not lucky. You showed you are a capable fighter. Glimpses of it were demonstrated when you fought off the young bad blood who was trying to hurt you. You need to stop doubting yourself. I have faith in you. You should too." The hunter implied.
The young woman almost thought he was joking or teasing her again, as usual. But when she looks at him, she could tell by the look in his eyes that he was being serious.
Kayla is unsure of what it is that he can see that she can't. But then, he did have nearly two centuries of wisdom on his shoulders. So, it has to mean something.
"I would take this time to rest. We will be here for a while. And I know you kept whining the whole walk here that you're tired." He teased.
She rolled her eyes.
"I don't whine. But yeah, I'm still tired. At least when I sleep, I won't have to listen to your horrible jokes." She retorted.
Then she went to lay down on some dead pine needles. Which really weren't all that comfy. But after being here for as long as she has, she started getting used to laying on somewhat rough and hard surfaces.
"Try not to dream of me now." Than-guan teased one last time.
Kayla snorted, "That would be more like a drug induced nightmare."
Than-guan chuckled. He also watched in amusement as she tried to make herself comfortable on a layer of prickly dead pine needles.
After a few minutes of her fidgeting. He sighed and got up from his seated position. After he removed some of his armor. Then he walked over and scooped her up. She protested a little at first. Then relaxed against his hold.
He sat back down and leaned against the bark, with her small body leaning against his front.
Kayla laid against him with the side of her face pressed against his peck. He always seems to do this when she can't get comfortable. She's unsure why he cared enough to do so.
But she was glad all the same. Because there are times when she never felt safer then when she was in his arms.
Until Next Time ;)