The women showed Edge some simple techniques before bringing today’s lecture to a close.

  “We’ll help you train Rue as much as we can,” Trapper promised, “and demonstrate new methods when he gets older. For now, work on the basics. Show him the polite places to relieve himself in town, and teach him the verbal commands and hand signals hunters use in the field.”

  The lithe woman grinned while looking down at the pup. “Now it’s time for your first assignment—mouse hunting in the commercial district. Don’t feed Rue dinner if he can’t catch it himself. Take all the provisions out of your vault and lock them in my workshop if that’s what it takes. Going to bed with an empty belly won’t hurt him and hunger is a powerful motivator.”

  The fox stared at Trapper with a horrified expression, mortified by this betrayal. He let out a pious whine—eyes widening as he reached out with a plaintive paw, begging her to reconsider.

  “Nice try.” She laughed. “You’re adorable, but this is for your own good. There are plenty of mice to be found anywhere people sell food, although the buildings are warded against them. You might even find a rat or two if you are up for a challenge.”

  Edge had some errands he wanted to run, but he decided to take Rue hunting first. That way, if the pup couldn’t catch anything on his first attempt, they could try again later in the day. “Let’s head to the commercial quarter and see what you can do. If you run into trouble, I’ll help out however I can.”

  The golden fox grumbled as he climbed into Edge’s pack, watching the wagons roll by as they made their way toward the other side of town. While he walked, Edge pondered the best way to teach Rue how to stalk small game while reviewing what he’d observed during their brief time together.

  The beast had just transitioned to solid food when Edge found the little guy hidden beneath his mother’s body. It was clear that he didn’t have any hunting experience. While his predatory instincts were there, his technique was sorely lacking. Rue was clumsy but quick—smart enough to trick his prey and drive it into a corner.

  Edge would help the fox work on his stealth over the coming days, but this assignment was something he should be able to handle with the skills he already had.

  There were plenty of stage-zero mice in town, even though most residences and storage facilities were magicked against them. Given the prevalence of powerful beasts living within the walls, the rodents were intimately familiar with the mechanics of evading predators passing by.

  When they reached the commercial quarter, Edge walked to where the restaurants purchased groceries from the market before turning down a narrow side street winding between the blocks. With Enhance Hearing, he caught the clatter of tiny claws darting for safety well before he rounded the corner. Trapper was right. This is a perfect place for Rue to begin his training.

  He set his bag down, and the pup climbed out. “Watch where you’re going and don’t run into the street. The wagon wheels and the beasts pulling them will squish you flat, and it’s your job to stay out of their way, not the other way around.”

  He knew Rue only understood a fraction of what he was saying. But if the fox was as smart as Trapper thought, these talks should help him learn faster, and Edge was certain the beast could infer meaning from his posture and tone. There might be some information flowing through our bond too.

  By this point, the pup’s ears were sticking straight up, and his nose was sniffing at the air. “All right then. Go get ’em!”

  With that, Rue took off in a flash of golden fur, darting down the barrel-lined alley while squeezing through openings that were too narrow for most beasts to traverse.

  The little bugger’s senses were razor sharp—even compared to a stage-two hunter. He could find the mice no matter where they were hiding, but in a town filled with hungry beasts, the scavengers knew how to lay low and traveled along paths that bigger creatures couldn’t follow.

  The pup quickly learned the pipes and ledges the rodents used as highways were too hard to reach before his prey got away. However, there were spaces between the buildings where the mice had to step into the open to scavenge for food—a perfect place for Rue’s first ambush.

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  He was shrewd enough to stay out of sight until his quarry drew near, and he picked out a decent location all on his own. Actually catching the rodents, however, proved to be easier said than done. Even when Rue got the drop on his prey, the mice darted for cover well before he arrived.

  Edge picked up his Companion and put the pup in his backpack. “Before you give it another try, let me teach you the fundamentals of ambush hunting. The rules are different when your target can fight back. But when pursuing a creature that isn’t dangerous, the most important thing is to anticipate their reaction and come up with a plan that uses their instincts against them before you reveal yourself.

  “Small animals that can’t fly will tend to stay close to some kind of cover, and they will be primed to enter it at a moment’s notice. You need to catch them by surprise and block their path, forcing them to run in a different direction—ideally into an area where there isn’t an easy way out.”

  While he spoke, Edge moved into a dead-end alley formed from a U-shaped block of buildings. He spent the next ten minutes blocking all the obvious bolt holes and climbing surfaces with random bits of debris. When he was done, he sprinkled some crumbs across the ground, closed his pack’s flap so only Rue’s eyes could be seen, and activated Conceal. “Now, watch closely.”

  A few minutes later, a mouse appeared around the corner. It sniffed at the air, inspecting the area before stepping into the open. Since it didn’t see anything nearby, the rodent crept over to the morsels and began to eat.

  When Edge deactivated Conceal, the mouse took off, heading straight for one of the holes he’d plugged. It saw the barrier at the last second and tried to find another path, but he was already there. He used his body to block the way out while walking forward to corner the creature. Left with no other recourse, the rodent bolted between his boots, but it couldn’t hope to match his Speed.

  Edge bent down and picked up the mouse to simulate going in for the kill. It tried to bite him but couldn’t pierce his skin. Then he unblocked the hole and let it get away.

  “See? That’s just one way to do it, but it should work well while hunting inside the settlement. Regardless of the approach you choose, the key is getting your prey to panic or finding another way to use their ingrained tendencies against them.”

  He could see the cogs in Rue’s head turning when he put the little guy down. The pup copied Edge’s method, blocking the hole all on his own. When Edge dropped a few crumbs and the fox ambushed the next mouse that came by, he came close to catching it before the rodent climbed a drainpipe and scurried to safety.

  He was proud of himself and proud of his Companion. It looks like he’s going to pick it up on his first day, and I won’t have to send him to bed with an empty stomach. However, his verdict was premature, and Rue’s next attempt went completely off the rails.

  The fox tried to corner his prey, but the mouse charged straight for him instead of running away, leaving the golden beast scrambling back in surprise. The rodent darted past, heading for the other side of the street. Rue followed hot on its heels, disappearing around the corner as Edge yelled, “make sure to watch where you’re going!”

  He caught up in time to watch the mouse dive into a patch of grass growing in an empty lot. Good, he should be able to catch it if he’s careful… what the hell is he doing?

  Rue ran right past where the mouse was hiding, then leapt into the bed of a wagon rolling by. Before Edge had time to do anything about it, the fox jumped back down with a string of sausages trailing behind him. The beast darted into the same thicket the mouse had used as a hiding spot, from which the sounds of furious gobbling emerged.

  Rue refused to come out until they were gone—belly noticeably bigger than before. Edge sighed in frustration. On one hand, this was deeply amusing on some level; on the other, he had epically failed to teach the pup how to hunt.

  Learning to steal is fine, but he needs to know how to stalk and kill too, and if he keeps pilfering treats, he’s going to get fat or piss off a beast that’s bigger than he is. That was when Edge remembered the advice he’d been given. It’s time for some gentle, corrective disapproval.

  “Rue, that wasn’t the assignment,” he admonished. “If someone catches you doing that, I’m not getting you out of trouble.”

  The fox gave him a look that said, “Then I won’t get caught,” while licking his lips in satisfaction.

  Edge sighed. This is going to be harder than I thought.

  The pup was worn out after all the running, followed by gorging himself on sausages. He let out a sleepy yip and then wavered out of existence, returning to his dimensional den to rest.

  By the time Edge made it back to the lodge, Trapper was gone. Today, she was leading a group of newly cored hunters into the plains to help them evolve to stage one. Violet was in the yard, playing fetch with Blue using a stick as thick as his arm.

  “So, how did it go?” she asked.

  Edge sighed again, shook his head, and began his story. By the time he reached the part where Rue had stolen the sausages instead of chasing the mouse, Violet was laughing so hard that tears were running down her face.

  It took her several minutes to regain her composure, and even now, giggles threatened to escape her lips. As embarrassing as it was, he had to admit it was hilarious, and by the end, he was laughing too.

  “That was the funniest thing I’ve heard in weeks. I can’t wait to tell Trapper. Don’t worry, I know you’ll figure it out before long, but it’s going to be fun watching you scramble until you do. Just remember that Rue looks up to you, and your approval is a huge motivator in his life… although maybe not quite as much as an easy meal.”