18 The Hunt Begins

The celebration lasted for several hours. Very few were aware of he marriage alliance. Only those who were present during the discussion were present at the celebration. Atlas wanted to make the announcement after Mist and his team of hunters won the final contest to make things more dramatic.

The next morning, everyone seemed extermely enthusiastic. Even though the River Village Clan won the previous days' events, the confidence of the hunters from the other mountain clans wasn't weakened at all. Instead, they were fired up about today's contest.

Chronos Lynwood started things off in a grand style.

"My friends! Today is the final contest of the Hunters Contest! For the last four days in the individual contest one boy has dominated every competition, River Mist!

The past is the past! Today is a team event. Just one excellent hunter cannot win this contest. It will take the whole team. This means the winner of this competition is still undecided. Everyone still has a chance to win!"

The crowds roared and the hunters were ready to go into the Forbidden Forest to begin their hunt.

"To win the final contest is quite simple. The team with the strongest prey wins!"

Once more the crowds roared.

"Without wasting any more time, team captains, please lead your teams into the Forbidden Forest," As Chronos spoke the hunters raced into the forest.

Usually the strongest hunter in the team acts as the team captain. Mist was just seven and didn't have the experience needed to command the team. Instead, River Flow, who was chosen to be the Chief Hunter after River Snake left with his family.

Both River Boat and River Snake had great confidence in his ability to lead. Over the last two weeks of training he showed not only the most potential as a hunter, but many of the other hunters respected him and listened to him.

Mist came along with the other nine hunters, but they didn't expect him to stay with the team. They knew he liked to run off by himself. At first, River Snake would get upset with Mist every time he ran off. Eventually, he realized it was just the boy's nature and stopped pressuring him.

Within five minutes, Mist had already split off from the rest of the group. He decided he would catch a spirit animal and then compare it to the one his team captures. The bigger one would be used for the contest or maybe they could use both.

Mist quickly zipped through the forest looking for signs of a big spirit beast. He moved using the Ghost Hunter Steps Elder Tok taught him. He already reached the second level of the steps. So far, he was the most advanced in cultivating these steps. Even his father didn't develop as quick as he did. Of course, he also had extra focus from Elder Tok and Tik even gave him some pointers when they were out. Mostly he thought Mist was too slow so he helped him speed up a lot.

The Ghost Hunter Steps made him invisible to the low level spirit beasts. The higher beasts, even if they detected him, couldn't attack him because he was moving too fast. After about an hour of aimless wondering, Mist found himself in a strange area of the Forbidden Forest. He kept finding dead spirit beasts and human tracks. He couldn't believe this was the work of hunters. They would never be so wasteful as to kill spirit beasts and leave their bodies behind. They certainly wouldn't move through the Forbidden Forest in such a sloppy manner. Whoever it was they were either lucky for not drawing a powerful beast to them, or they were really strong.

Mist followed the tracks and quickly came upon several men armed with swords, bows and arrows, and other military arms. Mist found a place to hide near the men who were currently resting. Listening to the men he soon discovered they were planning to attack the Hunter Contest. They were going to not only hold the spectators hostage but even planned to hurt Atlas and Xena!

Mist knew he needed to tell his father. He ran back at a much faster speed. Exiting the forest he found his father and the Village Chief.

"Mist, why are you here?" River Snake said.

The Village Chief, River Snake, and his parents were there. Mist quickly told his father what he heard. River Boat took a horn he always carried with him and blew into it. He sounded the signal for the River Village Hunters to return. It was a war sound.

Very soon, Elder Tok, Tik, Atlas, Xena and the other Village Chiefs congregated together. River Snake told them what Mist told him. They quickly planned to secure the spectators and called back the other hunters. River Snake looked up and noticed Mist was gone.

"Where's Mist?" he asked.

Everyone looked around but realized he was gone.

"That kid looked mad when he left," Tik said.

"What do you mean?" Elder Tok asked.

"I mean when we were gathering I saw him and he was rushing into the forest. I didn't know what was going on so I didn't think much of it," Tik said.

"That boy has gone after the bandits!" River Snake said in shock.

"Why would he do this?" asked Atlas.

"It's because they threatened you and your daughter. My son may not understand what marriage is but he understands you're part of his family now. We raised our son to honor the relationships of family. He's probably gone to make trouble for the person behind this," Mountain Sprite said. She knew her son the best.

Xena was moved by what she heard and knew she chose correctly.

"Father, we must save him," Xena said.

"I would like to, but you've seen this kid over the last few days. Do you think I could even find him much less any of my men?" he said.

"Tik, go find Mist. Let him do what he wants but you must not let him get hurt. Bring him back when he's done. This is a good opportunity for him," Elder Tok said.

Tik nodded his head and disappeared from his spot. It was like he was never there.

"I can't participate in this battle. I am only here in a limited capacity. Tik has a little more freedom to act than I do because he's only at the apprentice level.

"However, I can tell you they should be here in less than thirty minutes and they are surrounding this area. You need to act quickly. If they get here and you aren't ready, it will be troublesome," he said.

"Don't worry, we'll be ready for them, but they won't be ready for us!" River Snake said.