“Vines can be extremely strong, if they’re green. Snares are one of the oldest tools hunters used, dating back many centuries on Earth. They’re easy to construct and besides, they won’t hurt the tigers. I have no wish to permanently harm either of my relatives—I assume you feel the same way about Kylon.”
“Of course.”
“Then we won’t dig a trap and put in pointed stakes. That’s another trap they taught us in survival training in the army. You should have had it too, by the way, when you trained.”
“Probably. That is, I may have had it, but not a lot stuck.”
“Well, we need to get you up to speed quickly. The more spring snares we can construct and put out the better. You look for the vines, and I’ll find some saplings for a spring snare. You can be on the lookout too. We need to find one that’s strong enough to hold them for a minute or two yet bendy. Keep in mind, it has to be able to hold them high off the ground for a bit until they can get away.”
“Get away? But don’t we want to trap them?”
“No, Rasc, think about it. If we trap them for too long a period of time, then when the general and his men come along…”
“Oh, shit.”
“If no saplings are around, look for a large tree limb or even a decent-sized boulder in the ground. I’ve seen a few of them. There’s an alternate method we could use with the same idea that doesn't require a bendable, convenient sapling, and there seem to be a few of those in this thick jungle. Look around for some sticks too. We need to notch a few of those for the hooks.”
Rasc started off and located some jungle vines trailing up the trees nearby right away. He cut them down, encouraged by how tough it was to cut through the fibrous vines. The tigers would be able to get away, no doubt by chewing through them or just ripping them off the trees, but it would take them a few moments and slow them down. And if the tigers did happen to pass them by, and the snares happened to trap the so-called Hunters that would follow later on, then so much the better.
The three of them spent almost an hour of their precious time setting up two snares, both spring snares attached to saplings. Though the boy seemed disinclined to talk, he understood them just fine as long as they spoke to him in Tygerian, which Ryan could do if he kept it simple. The child didn’t say a word but leaned against Ryan as he showed him how to make the snares. Before they moved on, Ryan glanced over at Rasc. “We all need to take off our shirts before we go and roll around in the foliage.”
“What?”
“Your tiger will be able to smell you a mile away. Let’s not help him any. Take off your shirt because it’s sweaty, and leave it near one of the snares. I’ll put mine by the other one. Then use the foliage to get some of the scent off you. At least enough to mix them up a little. If you smell more like the trees and foliage around us, it could confuse their noses a bit. We can use that flowering bush over there—maybe the scent is strong enough to help mask ours.”
A few minutes later, they were on the run again, managing to dodge most of the trees and rocks, moving as fast as they could to get away. They followed the same pattern of running a while and then stopping to leave behind an article of clothing deep in some thick underbrush, like Ryan’s socks at one place and at another place, Rasc left his. It might cause the tigers to pause and inspect the bushes, buying them a little more time. The boy was able to keep up with them with little difficulty. In fact, Rasc was certain he was faster and in better shape than he was. They stopped from time to time to set a few more snares and kept going. After traveling for what seemed like hours, they stopped again to rest and Rasc leaned against a tree.
“I wish I could remember his name. Or he could tell us,” Ryan said, looking down at the young boy. He sighed. “I guess it doesn’t really matter.” He had tried to ask