Between The Crystals

Ch 41 Expected Visitor

I stretched in the morning sunshine, feeling completely rested and ready to go. Only a quarter of the people were present when Grant arrived and began going through his notes.

To my surprise, Roxanne quietly requested to not have Nolani in her group anymore. Such a request was rare, but Grant merely nodded. The hunter hadn't shown up yet, so she probably wouldn't learn until tonight why Grant had placed her with someone else.

I kind of hoped she didn't end up in my group, not when I was seeing so many Saursunes lately. Nolani never used to get so heated when people didn't agree with her, but she always had been protective of porters and the Saursunes were a sore spot for her.

My eighteen hunters gathered around me as we waited for Grant to tell us where we were going. My gaze drifted to the food reserves, which were perilously low. There wasn't even enough for everyone to have a mouthful. The village was a mere meal away from starvation.

Grant reached me and looked at his list of daily assignments. "I'd like you to check out Three Stone Forest." He fixed my group with a stern glare. "Do not go east. There are fields a mere fifteen-minute walk in that direction. The crops will just be sprouting, but there's no point in taking chances. Any other direction will be forest."

"Uh, is it wise to take so many that close, especially when they plan on wandering?" I asked. That close to a field, a Saursune would likely appear, and despite yesterday's lecture, both of us knew there was no way for me to bounce everyone on short notice.

"We're finding less and less in remote areas," he said, shoulders slumping. "It's a risk, and with luck, the Saursunes aren't patrolling that far from the fields. Your group doesn't have to go far if they don't want to, but I'm hoping other villages aren't brave enough to attempt places like that just yet. We're running out of options. Places like Mesquite Plains just don't have enough food to feed the village, and even Jungle Landing didn't have as much as I hoped for. If we keep going to such locations, we'll be on stricter rationing by tomorrow."

"We've gone there many times before," a hunter commented, far calmer than I would have expected. I pressed my lips together, but he was right. Until the cull started, we frequently went close to the fields as long as they weren't being harvested—we just never set foot in them.

I took a deep breath and nodded. We were just taking a step back to the time before the threat of a cull and all the ambushes. It made it feel a bit more tolerable. I ported the first nine-group out and bounced back for the second. Grant was preoccupied with other porters who were just showing up, so I took the other nine-group of hunters without lingering.

"Please take care," I told them as they let go of my shoulders and got their bearings.

"We survived a tiger, we'll manage," Brielle said with a jaunty smile, her voice cracking and marring her attempt at bravado.

I tried to return her smile, although I wasn't sure how well I succeeded. A Saursune had been the one who chased off the tiger.

The hunters fanned out to the north, west, and south. None went east. I paced around the crystal before I planted my feet. Why was I so uneasy? Especially after my cavalier attitude towards the lurking Saursune the other day when we filled the water cart?

The only answer that came to mind was the one Liam had mentioned. I had recognized that particular Saursune. I had no idea how the ones around here might react, especially if the farmers were annoyed about the humans trying to raid their fields.

My stomach growled, forcing me to focus on the here and now. I looked around. Grant had been right; this place looked like it hadn't been touched in weeks. Anyone foolish enough to raid would have picked a crystal closer to a ripe field, and if they were exercising any type of caution, they wouldn't be this close to any field.