Chapter 248 - Underground threat
Translated by Lesyt Team
Edited by Ilesyt
When Shao Xuan left for the grasslands with the others to where the Feng tribe was, Old He went to the border of the Feng tribe to await for those coming from the other side of the grassland every day.
According to their appointment, they would set out from the border. But one, two… five days had gone by, but Old He didn’t see them.
On the tenth day, Old He asked his wife and grandson not to stay there to wait with him. He would tell them the news as soon as he saw them. Not as healthy as him, his wife was old and wasn’t a member of the Flaming Horns tribe. Ah-Nai, his ten-year-old grandson, was asked to help the others herd the sheeps so that he could get some food as reward. After all, no one knew how long they had to wait before they could leave here.
Old He understood the grassland was large and it would take them some time to get here. In the beginning, he had waited calmly. On the fifteenth day, he became worried. He worried that he was forgotten or they didn’t want to pick them up for fear that they would bring trouble to them.
Old He couldn’t help but worry.
The wanderers on the grassland were divided into several groups and not all groups followed the same route. The man that Old He got in touch with had decided to take that route, but he hadn’t been here over the past fifteen days. Did he avoid them deliberately or did he get into trouble?
If this man avoided them deliberately, Old He would leave with just his family. He knew that they may get into trouble on this journey, but he was willing to take the risk. He still believed the man just got into trouble rather than avoiding them...It was said that a war broke out on the mountains. If the wanderers were involved in it, they may get into trouble. Thinking of this, he became even more anxious. As long as the wanderers got involved in the war, they would be killed. He did hope that they didn’t face the war.
He had been calm all these years, but suddely became very impatient. Old He still went there with food every morning and waited there until sunset.
While Old He was waiting on the mountain, his ten-year-old grandson helped Gua Er herd his sheeps. Besides him, another five herded the sheeps, it used to be that three were enough before. Before, just one family could keep an eye on the livestock, but recently some sheep, cows or horses went missing. Most of the missing livestock were still young.
The warriors of the patrol team kept patroling day and night. But sometimes livestock raised by this famiy or that one went missing. This lasted for over ten days.
Someone said he saw a group of wolves near here. Maybe there were some cunning wolves that moved swiftly. A war broke out among tribes on the mountain. Therefore, the beasts living there left and some even climbed over the mountain to come here to escape the war. More warriors joined the patrol team and kept an eye on the track of the wolves.
Recently, Gua Er had been upset, for his calf was missing. He had planned that when his calf grew up, it could have a fight with those of his friends living next to him. Unexpectedly, when he had got up on the morning of the day before yesterday, he had found it was missing when he reached the cow pen. He didn’t want to stay with his friends these past two days because of the missing calf. The calf he had nurtured and fed the best grass to had just up and disappeared
“Ah-Nai, when do you think the wolf stole the calf?” Gua Er felt bored and asked.
“No idea.” He paused and said, “I don’t think it was grabbed by a wolf.”
Gua Er had promised Shao Xuan to take care of Old He and his family, so over the past two years he had been friendly to Ah-Nai. Although he didn’t let him join his friend group, he never embarrassed him. Sometimes when Ah-Nai was bullied, he even gave him a hand. Therefore, they talked more with each other.
“I think so. It may have been grabbed by a fox or an eagle. Many animals on the grassland tend to grab...” Gua Er looked bloodthirsty while speaking. He took out a bone knife and said, “If I find out which has stolen it, I will kill it.”
Saying something threatening, Gua Er found no one made a response. He turned his head and found Ah-Nai didn’t listen to him. Instead, he was looking around.
“Hey, did you hear me?” Gua Er said angrily.
Ah-Nai didn’t reply, and asked,“Did you hear any noise?”
“Any noise?” Gua Er thought he was making an excuse.
“Yes...” Ah-Nai thought about it, but he failed to describe the noise. Ignoring Gua Er’s complaint, he rose and looked at the sheeps eating the grass not far from him.
Although Ah-Nai ignored him, Gua Er kept talking.
“It is said that you are gonna leave. When? Where will you go? Will you meet Shao Xuan? If you will, please ask him to make a wood carving of the alpha wolf for me. I will exchange some sheeps or cows for it. My old wood craving was taken away by my father and he doesn’t let me touch it.” Gua Er said, he didn’t care whether he made a response.
“Gua Er!” Ah-Nai suddenly shouted.
“What’s up?”
“A sheep is missing!” Ah-Nai said with anxiety.
Hearing this, Gua Er stood up immediately and looked at the herd while standing next to the wooden stool. He counted the lambs. Their family didn’t have many sheeps, and most of the sheeps they lost were lambs.
“All are here. You made a mistake. None is missing.” Gua Er said after being reassured.
Gua Er was about to laugh at Ah-Nai, but Ah-Nai said,“Not a lamb. A big sheep! I have counted it many times. One is missing!”
“Impossibe!” Gua Er didn’t believe it and counted it again. Although he was naughty, he was clear about the number of the livestock raised by his family. He even knew how many were taken away and how many were newly born.
After counting the number, he found one was really missing.
Four other people in several other places kept an eye on the herd. Although they didn’t fix their eyes on the herd and looked around, they had to make sure none of the sheeps was stolen. Gua Er hurriedly asked the four, but none of them saw a sheep being stolen from the herd.
They were all here and none saw any wolves or foxes. Was it stolen by an eagle?
Raising his head to look at the sky, he didn’t see a bird. Even if an eagle caught the sheep, it must make some noise. But they didn’t hear any noise, including Gua Er.
“Hey, Gua Er, what are you looking for?” A girl the same age of Gua Er came over, she lived next to him.
“None of your business!” Gua Er was worried and spoke with anger.
The girl called Duo Ya knew his temper and no longer asked him. She asked Ah-Nai next to her about it.
Duo Ya had left a good impression on Ah-Nai and so he told her what had happened.
Hearing what had happened, Duo Ya was no longer interested in asking Gua Er to go horse-racing with her. One of her family’s sheep had been stolen yesterday too, it was not small nor big.
“What are you going to do?” Duo Ya asked.
“Gua Er, tell it to your father. If your mother is at home, tell her.” Ah-Nai urged him.
“No, I will go to look for it first.” Gua Er didn’t want to look for his father, who was patroling, or wake up his mother. His mother was pregnant and she needed rest. Moreover, he hoped to find a clue before telling them about it.
“I’ll go with you!” Duo Ya waved a whip and rolled up her sleeves to follow him.
Ah-Nai looked around, told the man guarding the sheep closest to him and ran after Duo Ya.
The man guarding the sheep didn’t care, for the children of the tribe often hung out. Moreover, the members of the patrol team guarded the border. They didn’t worry about their safety. [Brah, a sheep had just been stolen, how can you not worry about their safety?]
While Ah-Nai and Gua Er were looking for the missing sheep, standing on the low hill, Old He finally saw a group. The man leading the group was the one that had gotten in touch with him.
Old He hurried to them with ecstasy, but noticed the members of the team were exhausted and injured. Two in the team were seriouly injured and they may even breathe their last soon.
They had become involved in the war on the mountain. But fortunately they survived and reached here.
Thanks to the war among the tribes on the mountain, three in this group up of thirty-two people died. If the injured two also died, five in total will have lost their lives.
This group of wanderers traveled on the borders of the tribes. So long the patroling warriors were not bloodthirsty, usually nothing would happen. Old He wanted to bring the others back to his home, but it was a in period when the people of the Feng tribe prevented anyone suspicious from entering the tribe. So Old He ran back home and brought some herbal medicine to the injured warriors.
“I also brought some food. Eat it.” Old He passed them half a sheep leg. It was not enough for them, but they could roast it and each could have a bite.
While they were talking about the situation of the group, a patrol team of the Feng tribe came rushing to them on horses. Gua Er’s father led the team in the front.
“Old He, did you see Gua Er?” He asked with worry and sweat.
“No, what’s up?” Old He guessed something bad happened and his voice was trembling.
“A sheep is missing, and Gua Er didn’t tell us. He has directly gone to look for it with Ah-Nai and Duo Ya! But until now, they haven’t come back.”
Old He was too shocked to stand still. Ah-Nai was the only chid of his family, and if he...
“Go look for him...look...for...him...I...” Old He said with trembling lips.
The people of the patrol team glanced at the wanderers, nearly thirty, in front of them, and asked, “Did you come from the mountain? Did you see anything strange there, like group of wolves or other beasts.”
“There are wolves, foxes, and...” The man was saying when he suddenly thought of sonething. His face showed his fear. He added, “And some kind of big insect. It is said that they were sleeping near the mountain, but were awoken by the war. Then they came out and ate many people. A man of our team was dragged into the ground. I don’t know whether the big insects came here.”
“Insect? Stone Worm?” He asked.
“They are not stone worms. They are flat with sharp fangs and many feet. They block each hole they go through with soil. We have spent a lot of time digging... ” Speaking, the man cried. When they had seen their fellow being dragged under the ground, they had hurried to dig him out. But they only dug the soil out, the insects entered the hole so quickly.
The insect went through a hole in the ground and blocked the hole?
The people of the patrol team were stunned. They looked at each other bepuzzled.
The missing livestock of the tribe may have been stolen by the insects under the ground rather than by wolves or the animals in the sky!