In the quiet night, Nile heard a sound followed by multiple sounds.
It was the sound of wolves howling at night.
"Awoooo"
"Awoooo—"
The distant howl echoed in the night.
Nile smiled and said, sitting on a branch of a tree and leaning against the tree
"Finally, the time has come."
In the quiet night stained by the silver light, sounds of movement in the bushes were heard.
Since it was night, the sound travelled far.
"They are coming."
"I thought they would be pretty far away, but it was closer than I expected."
Nile had heard the sound of the wolves howling in the night of transmigration.
This is the only variable he could use against the bandit.
If you ask Nile why he was doing all this, if he wanted to escape, he could try escaping after killing the two bandits. But that plan had some flaws.
Nile closed his eyes, contemplating his choices.
'Should I have chosen to escape? No, there are many reasons against it.'
'First, I have little food on me.'
'Second, I don't know where I am. I don't know where the nearest human settlement is.'
'Third, if I could, I want to get help from the young master on directions or get a sense of the map, where we are. This can be discarded if I have to put his life on the line just to save a stranger.'
They had only been together for one day. Not much attachment was formed in Nile's mind.
'Fourth, even if I ran, I doubt that I could survive long while being alone.'
'Fifth, I also wanted to make the bandits pay. And I also want their horse to travel.'
The rustling sound of bushes was coming near. The rustling sound snapped him out of his calculations, bringing his focus back instantly.
From the bushes, two wolves came out.
One was bigger than the other.
They were sniffing and tracing the smell of blood.
The bigger wolf was sniffing the blood scattered on the leaves, tracing the corpses.
The other was sniffing around a particular tree.
It stopped what it was doing and looked at a particular spot on the tree branches.
It was more like observing and staring for a moment.
A howl came from a direction in the forest.
"Awoooo"
"Awoooo"
It howled back as if responding to the call.
From the spot at a particular tree, a figure just moved. It was Nile.
"Ufff! I almost got spotted. Thank God, I didn't"
"My heart is beating so fast."
"It would be a matter of time for them to find the camp."
*********
Camp:
The fire from the campfire was flickering due to the cold breeze. But it still gave warmth.
A cooking pot was placed above the campfire.
Two notched or Y-shaped sticks are driven into the ground on opposite sides of the fire. A thick branch was rested horizontally across them, supporting the pot's handle directly over the flames.
The pot was boiling.
Near the campfire, the young master was sitting with his hand tied behind his back and a rope tied at his waist, the other end of the rope was held by the bandit boss.
The young master looked worried. He was thinking of someone.
'Is he ok?'
'Why hasn't he come back. It's been so long.'
'Did something unexpected happen? Did he perhaps—'
'No, no, no.. I shouldn't think that kind of stuff. I pray nothing happens.'
The bandit boss called out, "Guiteng, untie that fat pig's wrist rope. You know the rest, right?"
Guiteng was the name of the other bandit. He is the brother of the boss's wife. He answered, "Yes, boss"
Guiteng untied the young master's wrist rope and gave him a bowl of soup.
The young master took the bowl and hungrily devoured it. He also hasn't had any food since morning.
Guiteng took two bowls and gave one to his boss.
"Boss, what do you think might have happened to them?"
Guiteng's face was showing a mixture of emotions. Fear, worry, and anger were all shown.
Compared to Guiteng's, the boss's face remained entirely expressionless. There was a cold, practiced stillness to him that didn't belong in a campfire circle of bandits.
He took out a pocket watch from his left pocket and held it in his left hand, watching the clock tick and put it back.
The next word that came out from the boss baffled Guiteng.
"Guiteng, pack all the things so that we are ready to leave at any time. Leave any useless and heavy stuff which will hinder our speed."
"???"
"Boss, do we have to? What about them?"
Guiteng was naive, even if he was a bandit. His sister had spoiled him so much. He thought of the bandits as his family since he grew up among them. He didn't know the harsh truth about them. They came together because their goals aligned, because they can get money and power, but when their goals misaligned, some may leave, while some may backstab each other just to get all of the gold and power for themselves.
The boss looked back at his brother-in-law with his sharp eyes. It sends chills down Guiteng's spine. The blood lust emanating scared him so much.
"Got it, I'll do it."
"Guiteng, eat for now. We will leave in about 20 mins. Dead or alive, we leave them behind."
Just as he said that, howls were heard.
"Awoooo"
Guiteng and the young master started panicking, fear crept into their hearts.
The bandit boss put down the bowl and took out his sabre.
"GUITENG!"
He shouted Guiteng to snap out of it.
Guiteng snapped back, he took out his blade, and armed himself. The fear was not completely removed.
The silver moonlight couldn't dispel the darkness in the forest. The wolves hide in the darkness.
Their eyes glowed in the darkness.
The wolves didn't go out of the darkness. They stayed as if studying them and observing them.
A sound was coming from the forest darkness.
Heh-heh-heh-Kak-kak-kak
It sounded as if it was laughing.
This stunned everyone in the camp, including Nile on the tree.
Cold sweats drop from the boss's face.
Guiteng feeling scared and afraid, took a stone nearby and threw it in the direction of the voice.
"ge..ge..GET OUT OF HERE. YOU MONSTER!"
"GUITENG DON'TTTT"
The boss shouted, trying to stop Guiteng. But he couldn't stop it.