"Not necessarily."
Hero and Sunny turned to him, all ears. The young soldier raised an eyebrow.
"Explain?"
'Here it comes.'
Scholar sighed.
"The beast had traced us this far in just a day. That means that there are two most probable possibilities. Either it is smart enough to realize where we are going, or it is following the scent of blood."
After a bit of thinking, Hero nodded, agreeing with this logic. The older slave smiled slightly and continued.
"Whether it is one or another, we can throw him off our trail and buy some time."
"How do we do that?"
Despite the urgency in Hero's voice, Scholar hesitated and remained silent.
"Why are you not answering? Speak!"
The older slave sighed again and slowly, as though against his will, answered. Sunny was waiting for this moment for a while now.
"We'll just have to… make the boy bleed. Drag him down the path, then leave him there as bait and go up instead. His sacrifice will save our lives."
'Right on time.'
If Sunny wasn't mad — and scared witless, of course — he would have smiled. His judgment, it seems, was eerily on point. Affirmation was always nice… but not in the situation where being right also meant potentially being used as monster bait.
He remembered the words Scholar had spoken back when Shifty was campaigning to have Sunny killed — "Don't be too hasty, my friend. The boy might prove useful later on." These words, which had sounded benevolent then, now turned out to hide a much more sinister meaning.
'What a bastard!'
Now it all depended on whether or not Hero would decide to follow through with Scholar's plan.
The young soldier blinked, astonished.
"What do you mean, make him bleed?"
Scholar shook his head.
"It's simple, really. If the monster knows where we are going, we have no choice but to abandon our plans to reach the mountain pass and go over the peak of the mountain instead. If the monster is following the scent of blood, we have to use one of us as bait to mislead it."
He paused.
"Only by leaving a bleeding man further down the path can we reliably avoid the pursuit no matter how it is tracking us."
Hero stood motionless, his eyes jumping between Scholar and Sunny. After a few seconds, he asked:
"How can you bring yourself to propose something so vile?"
The older slave masterfully pretended to look aggrieved and somber.
"Of course, it pains me! But if we do nothing, all three of us will die. This way, at least, the boy's death will save two lives. The gods will reward him for his sacrifice!"
'Gee, what a silver tongue. I'm almost convinced myself.'
The young soldier opened his mouth, then closed it again, hesitating.
Sunny was silently watching the other two survivors, measuring his chances of coming on top in a fight. Scholar was already halfway to being a corpse, so overpowering him would not be a problem. Hero, however… Hero presented an obstacle.