Chapter 84: 84: The Haunting Begins
In about two hours, they arrived at their destination. The forest where the preparations for the haunting feast was being made.
As the young man arrived there, They saw officials already there. These officials were waiting for the contestants to arrive so as to begin the haunting.
They welcomed these Royal men while handing them their tag number. From one to twenty.
Eden got nothing.
Having given them their tags, An official had informed them of the rules and necessary instructions to follow.
Basic instructions of each of them capturing the prey in the woods. And these prey had tags on them. Each tag determines the amount of points one would get for killing them.
Like one who caught a tiger of 10 full points was higher than someone who caught a deer of 5 points. And it was like that. At the end of the haunt, a trumpet would be blown and everyone in the woods is advised to come out with all they’ve got.
The highest points would be the winner. It was that simple.
They were also instructed that if anyone encounters any danger that isn’t aligned with the game could alert them by shooting a firework stick which all of them were given.
These officials would be camping outside the forest for the days. Waiting for them to be done.
And that if they see any SOS signs Launched into the air, they would follow suit and save the person.
The officials also explained that they should also be careful not to cheat or whatsoever. As some spies were placed at different parts of the woods to monitor how things went.
So they would catch anyone who played tricks or so.
He explained that if they killed any animal, they should grab the number tag from it and leave their number mark on the animal.
After the competition, they would present the tags they took from the animals they killed while the spies would confirm it all from the marks given to the animals.
They gave them these and other instructions. And after giving them the instructions and guides, they said.
"May the best competitor win" An official announced as he officially opened the game.
The young men began going into the woods with their horses and their maids.
"Are you sure you can go in?" Lysander asked, he seemed worried about Eden.
"Don’t worry, I’m not a weakling. Let’s go" Eden said "And follow your brother too. So we can stay close"
"Mmhmm" Lysander nodded as he pulled the reins. They took off into the woods. They didn’t have any maids with them.
The young men had dispersed in the woods, going their different ways. Everyone was on their own, except Lysander’s horse which followed Elvis.
Elvis didn’t complain. He casually moved on his horse, his eyes searching the woods for preys.
Eden and Lysander watched as Elvis moved and killed three deers in an hour. He had taken their tags away and inscribed his number onto them.
"That’s 15 points" Eden mumbled as he watched. Within the next three hours, he had killed more three. Making it a total of 30 points. He did the same for all of them.
Now Eden asked Lysander, curiously. "Don’t you want to catch anything?"
"No" Lysander said "I’m okay"
"Huh? Why?"
"I’m not interested in stuff like these" Lysander sighed "I’m Only here because mum forced me to. She always does every year. And I end up not catching anything"
Eden blinked. He almost found himself laughing at his words.
"Why are you smiling?" Lysander asked.
"Nothing. I just find you cute" Eden said. His casual way of planting his seeds of seduction.
And as he expected, Lysander’s heart fluttered. His cheeks are almost colouring.
Eden and Lysander followed Elvis’s horse around without catching a single thing.
They followed him around like maids while Elvis was busy catching preys without even looking in their direction.
Soon, night arrived.
********
Elvis had found a tree to sleep beside. He sat down by the huge tree, leaning against the trunk of the tree. His arms folded as he closed his eyes to catch some rest.
Lysander and Eden followed suit. They both sat down besides Elvis, with Eden sitting in the middle of the two.
They were quiet for awhile as Eden stared at Elvis who had his eyes shut "Doesn’t it feel... It’s a bit too dark here..?" He stared at Lysander.
Eden wasn’t comfortable sleeping in the woods. This was his first time. He had never done such before.
Even though he lived in a little pathetic apartment all alone, it was still better than sleeping here in the woods.
At moments like this, Eden couldn’t help but appreciate his little apartment which he had always cursed beneath his breath.
And the transition of having slept in the palace suddenly to sleep in the woods didn’t sit right with him!
He was now regretting his choice of coming here. He sorta wished he stayed back and enjoyed the pleasures the palace had to offer.
And not come here and suffer in the woods.
"It is..." Lysander said as he got.
Eden was impressed that Lysander had some survival skills. He had actually gathered some woods in a short time and made a fire before them. And then he sat back beside Eden "Is this okay?"
Eden smiled at him "Thanks. It’s perfect" Eden would honestly still have preferred an actual bulb with a warmer and a comfort king sized bed to sleep on.
But he had to appreciate Lysander’s cute afforts.
"Don’t you know that would attract animals or danger to us?" Elvis casually said, his arms still folded and his eyes shut.
Lysander and Eden looked in his way and then looked at each other.
"Should I turn it off...then?" Lysander asked.
"No" Eden insisted "He’s just being unreasonable. I’ve seen this in movies, people sleep with the campfire all night and nothing happens to them" Eden said proudly.
He was pretty sure they didn’t know what the word movie was.