CHAPTER 4
The pointed spears were sharpened and ready. He made sure that any loose spears were firmly planted in the ground.
The Ranger pulled himself out of the hole. He walked out next to the covered death pit. The cover was made of long tree branches crossed together in a kind of grid, tied together with vines. He threw a few more green leaves on the camouflaged floor to blend it in with the brown and green ground.
Next, he went to check his deadfall. He had mixed results with his snares so he decided to make one for a bigger game. He managed to harness every bit of his considerable strength to move a massive four foot tall boulder from the fringes of the dense jungle forest. He rolled it in place and found a big enough branch to barely hold it up. On the branch he
placed bait, in this instance he choose mice and squirrels, the larger game would usually pounce or move the bait enough to bring down the branch and the huge stone upon it's head.
His food, while still evasive at times became much easier to trap as the days went by. His skills with his spear, axe and bow also improved ten-fold.
CHAPTER 5
THE TREE TOWN
As the days progressed, The Ranger became more and more aware of his surroundings and which routes would lead him back to his home camp in the tree forest. For a while he put visual aids on the path back to his isolated home. These consisted
of yellow flower pedals that he stuck on the trees, along the route using sticky tree sap. Later he memorized the route and eventually the shortcuts to each path.
Leto had taught him long ago; at first, go the way you know, then make a quick shortcut.
Although he had no sense of danger at the time he felt the need for shortcuts anyway, if not for efficiency, then for the peace of mind. He was a Ranger and it was in his code to be prepared no matter the situation. He marked a time tree near his home. Home, he thought, what was that anyway? Was anyplace truly home for him after all these years? Yes, home to him was where ever he chose to call his home at the time. He thought about giving up marking the tree. Why bother? He didn't expect to get rescued and wasn't even trying to. His Ranger skills allowed him to live off the land, especially after training with Leto all those years ago. With his training he could even live somewhat comfortably, totally confident of his skills with hunting and fishing. The mission, however, had popped back into his mind. He gave the king his word that he would find the stolen treasure and rescue his daughter from the thieves that stole her as well. It wasn't in the ranger code to live up to his word but he felt it should be because sometimes your word ensured your survival. For now he had to concentrate his efforts and thoughts on claiming this region of land from the animals and elements. This would give him the clarity of thought he desperately needed right now. He needed to his mind to be clear and reflect on the events of the betrayal that had unfolded and why. He had to construct his one man tree town.
* * *
Over the course of these long days he had constructed and carved out a hidden doorway in several large trees. The trunk of them were about as wide as two to three men side by side. Inside the opening he carved out a stairway spiraling up to an opening at the top of the large tree. He was proud of this transportation project, it took him many sums and moons to complete. At the top of the opening he carved out he had constructed a planked rope bridge using thick carved wood from the forest. They were tied together with jungle vine which the environment had enough of. It wasn't the sturdiest bridge and he fell through once or twice but this would force him to re-examine his knots and make the bridge even stronger. His lite diet made his weight less of an issue as well. Truly this was a bridge made just for him, no one else would dare walk on it. He had built a bridge system. At least two of them reached back to interconnect with the trees. At each treetop he would leave at least one weapon, a spear at one, bow and arrow at another. At the ground floor he had constructed a system of several traps for catching and slaying food.
He had dug out a deep pit at the bottom and placed many wooden spikes at the floor. These waited to skewer the next big game animal foolish enough to fall through the leafed camouflaged pit, providing he didn't himself. The Ranger had also created new pulley system out of the pit. It would pull him out by yanking down on the vine rope attached to a thick tough branch above. He had to test it several times because of his weight and the possible weight of the big game he would
hold in his arms.
He also spent much of him time building several snares and big game traps outside the perimeter of his home base camp. One of these snares was simple but used for bigger game then rabbits.
A lasso of vine rope sat blended into the ground. The rope ran up a small tree, sticking out of that was a hooked wooden anchor that hooked into the tree branch of this small tree. If the lasso was pulled, the anchor would easily come off and release the tension of the large tree branch above and pulling its target into the air leaving it dangling and vulnerable.
Another one of his favorite death traps, the death seat, involved a massive huge rock supported by two thick sticks camouflaged near the back of it. These two branches supported its immense weight. Under the shadow of this rock a large or small animal would rest underneath it as protection from the sun. Holding up the stone bottom was a small stick with a long vine rope looped around it. The pressure from the weight above would shove the stick forward pulling the rest of the rope above it and in turn pulling out the two branch supports where the two rocks met.
The Ranger's hope was that the top rock would fall after the two sticks were pulled out from it, instantly killing or at least pinning the large game underneath.
He understood this snare had a high percentage of failure
but the reward of a deer or elk as a food source afterwards would be worth it.
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