"We're lucky to rouse one so fast," Lin said.
Extrone dug his boot cleats into the tree, braced himself. "I like
this. There's more excitement in waiting like this than in anything I
know."
Lin nodded.
"The waiting, itself, is a lot. The suspense. It's not only the killing
that matters."
"It's not _only_ the killing," Lin echoed.
"You understand?" Extrone said. "How it is to wait, knowing in just a
minute something is going to come out of the forest, and you're going
to kill it?"
"I know," Lin said.
"But it's not only the killing. It's the waiting, too."
The farn beast coughed again; nearer.
"It's a different one," Lin said.
"How do you know?"
"Hear the lower pitch, the more of a roar?"
"Hey!" Extrone shouted. "You, down there. There are two coming. Now
let's hear you really scream!"
Ri, below, whimpered childishly and began to retreat toward the tether
tree, his eyes wide.
"There's a lot of satisfaction in fooling them, too," Extrone said.
"Making them come to your bait, where you can get at them." He
opened his right hand. "Choose your ground, set your trap. Bait it."
He snapped his hand into a fist, held the fist up before his eyes,
imprisoning the idea. "Spring the trap when the quarry is inside.
Clever. That makes the waiting more interesting. Waiting to see if they
really will come to your bait."
Lin shifted, staring toward the forest.
"I've always liked to hunt," Extrone said. "More than anything else, I
think."
Lin spat toward the ground. "People should hunt because they have to.
For food. For safety."
"No," Extrone argued. "People should hunt for the love of hunting."
"Killing?"
"Hunting," Extrone repeated harshly.
* * * * *
The farn beast coughed. Another answered. They were very near, and
there was a noise of crackling underbrush.
"He's good bait," Extrone said. "He's fat enough and he knows how to
scream good."
Ri had stopped screaming; he was huddled against the tree, fearfully
eying the forest across from the watering hole.