Chapter 12: The Rules of the Wild
(This is something I learned from YouTube, and back home, I have never tried it in real life, so don’t try it at home.)
Merlin always told him, "Always study your environment. It will bring you advantages on the battlefield."
His first priority was to learn about his surroundings. So when the sun came up, he took off. He left Elizabeth in the cave by herself. She looked terrified, and he hated the idea of leaving her alone in that cave.
Leaving her behind didn’t sit right with him... but he didn’t know this place well enough to keep her safe. Not yet.
So he gave her a task to keep her mind busy. He told her to cook the leftover rabbits, since she knew how to make fire—and that seemed to make her feel slightly better.
On Day 1, he walked east, toward the direction he came from—toward the mountain. He started counting seconds. Once he got out of the forest into the open field where he hunted the rabbits, it took him about an hour to get there. Then he estimated the distance from the cave to the field to be around three miles, if he walked one mile every twenty minutes.
Like he did previously, he killed a few rabbits before heading back.
Now he wanted to figure out how much time had passed. He looked up at the sky, extended his arm, and lined up his fingers. He continued stacking them between the sun and the ground. Each finger measured about fifteen minutes, and a full hand meant an hour. Judging by the space, it had been about four hours since the sun rose. Therefore, it was around nine or ten in the morning.
When the sun was directly above his head, it was most likely noon. As it started going down toward the west, it meant the afternoon was ending and the sun was about to set.
He made his way back toward the cave. Once he got there, he handed her the rabbits he killed.
Then he headed north to see what else was there. While walking, he found one of the checkpoints about a mile away from the cave. He made sure to leave a marking on the tree, so it’s easier to get to.