We stopped to tie a string to a tree on the path and I fix it to her back pack. It unravels slowly as we walk away from the track. Tassie walks quickly and I have to struggle to keep up with her. There’s a new look in her eyes. I can’t tell whether it’s fear or determination, or a mix of the two. I try some small talk but she breaks it off pretty quickly. So I follow with my head down and trying not to get hit in the face with a branch. Being hunter’s we travel quietly and our footsteps are barely heard, even in the quiet of the forest. After ten minutes or so of walking, Tassie seems satisfied that no one has followed us here. She stops so suddenly I nearly trip over her. “Crap! Tass! What the heck?” “Sorry” she mumbles absentmindedly as she open up her pack. I crouch next to her to see what she’s doing. We’ve all waited years to see this and now the waiting has paid off. She unlift’s the flap of her bag and pulls out a bag of dried peas, shortly followed by a bag of dandelions. “What’s this?” I say with raised eyebrows. She smiles at me with one of those ‘wouldn’t you like to know’ looks and turns back to her bags. “These, are my traps.”She said happily.I laugh. Then I see she’s not and I turn back to serious. “What do you mean? Don’t you have some sort of stick trap or something.She shakes her head. “Do you remember what my favourite bird is? Other than chicken.” she says slyly.
“Yeah, it’s a pigeon isn’t it? Cause they’re fat and juicy?” She nods. “Do you know what a pigeons favourite food is?”
I pull a face. “No. Why would I know what a pigeons favourite food is?”
Her smile grew wider.
“Because pigeons will do anything for their favourite food.” She held up the bag of dried peas and waves it in my face. “Ohhhh, I get it. You use peas as bait! But how do you catch them? “
“You want to know my secret?” she says mysteriously.
“Yes, get on with it.” I say impatiently. She reaches into the bag and pulls out one of the peas. Then holds it up so I can see. “Poison” she says simply. And suddenly it all clicks. Of course! It’s genius! Pigeons are already stupid birds, and they don’t have a huge nasal cavity, meaning they wouldn’t smell the poison. All she would have to do is inject a little poison into those peas and pigeons go munch, munch,dead.It’s so simple, yet genius.
“You, my dear friend, are a genius. Now show me how it works.”
She smiles and passes me a handful of peas. We scatter them around a patch of ground, then walk back five metres and climb a tree. Once were comfortable, I ask her.
“So what are the dandelions for?”
“Rabbit bait. All I have to do is soak them in the poison and it goes straight up the roots. One bite of this and it’s bye bye to you.”
I nod my head, impressed.“That’s cool, in a sick kind of way.”
She laughed. “Yeah, but it goes straight to their heart. They just fall asleep and don’t wake up. It’s actually quite humane, compared to a knife.”
I nod again. She really is quite clever. We quiet down for a few minutes and watch the ground where we threw the bait. It doesn’t take long. Like I said, pigeons are stupid birds. We watch as a single bird flies down from the trees and lands on the ground. It doesn’t even bother to sniff the pea, it snaps it up in its beak and swallows it whole. Then it goes to eat another, and another. Then a second pigeon flies down, not to be left out and pecks at the peas. This is amazing. I silently pat Tassie on the back and she smiles. A few more pigeons fly down until there’s five altogether. The peas disappear quickly and the silly birds peck around, looking for more food. We watch carefully and after a few minutes, we start to notice a change. The first pigeon, an especially fat one with green patches on it’s head, looks a little wobbly. It sways to one side, then the other, then rights itself. It sits down on the ground and drops it’s head. I’m not close enough but I swear it’s eyes flicker closed. A similar thing happens to the next one, but instead of swaying, it drops right away. The other three start to notice something going on and one tries to fly away. But it can’t even make it off the ground! It flaps its wings twice and falls over. The last two scurry around until they knock into eachother and fall over as well. We wait a moment longer, until all the pigeons are still, and climb out of the tree. I walk up to one and put my fingers under its neck. No pulse. “Wow, that was so easy.” She smiles. “Exactly. Why need all these knives and bows and things when they can die painlessly?” I nod in agreement. “Amen to that.”
“Do you want to see the rabbits now?”
“You know I do.”
YOU ARE READING
The Hunted
Teen FictionPharaoh has always found her life to be a huge mystery. She knows that she is a part of the pack, Artemis's pack, but she doesn't know how she got there. All the other girls have a story to tell, but Pharaoh has to unravel the secrets herself. Throu...
