by Paul G Mann
‘How did you know I would come after you?’ he asked.
‘I didn’t,’ she replied, ‘I just hoped. I had nothing except the clothes I stood in, no food or water, no weapon, nothing and I was terrified if the Hunki didn’t get me, how was I going to survive. I could eat berries and things but I knew those bloody Rippers would get me sooner or later. I prayed you would come after me, with you I know I’m going to come through this.’
‘Well just in case I don’t and something happens to me; next time Rippers chase you don’t climb a tree, they’ll only wait for you to fall asleep or fall out after starving to death.’
‘They didn’t chase me,’ she admonished with a smile. ‘I heard them prowling about so I climbed the tree trying to hide. I got one with the crossbow, but I dropped it trying to reload it.’
‘Well you’re safe now, for a while anyway. We’ll have to head north; south takes us onto grasslands and the Hunki’s hunting grounds. If we go north the forests are much denser with a lot of Earth vegetation, that means better food and more places to hide from the Hunki, all we have to worry about are Rippers and if we’re careful we can keep out of their way. First though, there’s a small village back on the lake shore called Riggers Cove. We can pick up some supplies there, enough until I can retrieve my pack, once I get that back we will be fine.’
He told her what had happened to him since he left her in East Harbour as they walked through the rough terrain. She was aghast with disbelief when he recounted his killing of five Hunki with his bow and even more incredulous when he told her of the Ripper attack on the Hunki and his killing of two more before killing the Rippers. She knew he was a first class hunter and woodsman, she knew he hunted Rippers and was probably the one person on the planet who wasn’t frightened of the vicious beasts, but she looked at him in awe when he recounted the killing of the Hunki. All the stories she had heard during her stay in East Harbour told her that fighting the Hunki was tantamount to committing suicide, yet here was Fred telling her matter of factly exactly how he did it as if it was something he did on a daily basis. She loved this man as a friend and occasional lover, now she had a deep respect for him and his abilities; he feared nothing and no one yet was gentle and loving to her and helpful to anyone who asked him for help, but God help anyone who made an enemy of him.
It was only a two day journey to Riggers Cove that took them dangerously in to the open as they followed a small river that eventually ran to the lake. The tunnels of Riggers Cove had been dug out of the hard packed clay and limestone at the mouth of the river. The way took them through a ravine made over thousands of years by the flowing waters of the river. Steep sides about a hundred feet high made mainly from loose shale and rock threatened a landslide at any minute; one place looked particularly dangerous with an unstable overhang at the top of the slope that looked in danger of falling at the slightest breeze and he wondered if coming this way didn’t pose a bigger threat than the Hunki.
It was a small place that only housed about two dozen people at any one time. Like the vast majority of human habitats on Newth, it was dirty and smelled worse than a twenty year old latrine. Unlike other villages and towns the inhabitants had taken time to camouflage the tunnel entrance and unless you knew the place was there you would have a hard time finding it. As the pair approached the settlement a woman came out to cautiously greet them and quickly wave them underground. As she did so her eyes constantly scanned the sky looking for signs of Hunki.
‘We can’t give you much,’ she said after brief introductions and he had told her what they wanted. ‘We’re overloaded with people. About two dozen found their way here running from the Hunki, none of them had anything with them and our supplies are running low.’
‘Anything would be welcome,’ he replied, ‘especially in the way of clothing for my friend here, what she has she stands in and it’s in a sorry state as you can see.’
‘Clothing isn’t a problem,’ she replied, ‘can you help us in return?’
‘If I can,’ Fred replied wondering how he or Liz could help them when they had nothing.
‘Take some of the people here with you. It will give us a fighting chance to survive before winter sets back in and the Hunki leave.’
‘I don’t know,’ he replied slowly. ‘We’re headed north and a large party will slow us down and make it difficult to hide from the Hunki and the Rippers that seem to infest these parts.’
‘Please,’ she almost begged. ‘If everyone stays here we will end up starving over the winter.’
Fred thought the matter over weighing up the possible problems taking more than Liz north could bring. ‘I will,’ he eventually said, ‘but whoever comes must know I can’t guarantee their safety, I move fast and anyone lagging behind I will leave so they don’t endanger the others. They should also understand if I tell them to do something they do it without argument. Any dissent and again I will leave them to make their own way.’
Thirteen men and two women decided to go north with him; Fred just hoped that luck was with them. They set off before sunrise the next morning; Fred wanted to get under the trees as soon as possible and that meant taking a route back through the ravine in open country, not an ideal way to start but he hoped any Hunki hunting party wouldn’t be up and about till mid morning. His hopes were dashed a mile from the ravine. He heard the low almost inaudible hum of the Hunki craft before he saw it. It came low over the hills heading directly for them.
‘Run,’ he said to Liz, ‘make for the nearest tree line and don’t stop for anything, just keep heading north to the west of East Harbour, I’ll find you.’
‘Fred…’ she began.
‘No time, he replied turning her around, ‘just run and leave the Hunki to me. ‘The rest of you,’ he shouted, ‘in to that ravine ahead, run and don’t stop for anything, not even if the Hunki kill some of you, just keep running.’
He turned to see the Hunki craft land some five hundred yards away, the door opened and ten of the waddling killers came out and began milling about checking weapons and equipment. He looked to see where Liz was and gave a sigh of relief as she disappeared over a small rise and out of direct sight of the Hunki. The rest were in full flight towards the ravine about half a mile ahead. He followed them, his strong, long athletic legs eating the ground between him and the running humans. He passed them, many were out of breath already and if the Hunki ship lifted to cut them off they would be at their mercy and slaughtered within the hour.
He cut away and began to climb the gentle, but steeply rising slope of the ravine side. Loose shale made his feet slip in places threatening to bring him down the ravine and back to the bottom. He didn’t waver, just watched the ground beneath him placing his feet with sure steps until he reached a more solid limestone. He redoubled his pace until at the top he took a cursory glance down to see what progress the Hunki and the humans had made. The humans were ahead of him, already the long range weapons of the Hunki had killed two men; blasted in the back they lay half in and half out of the river.
The Hunki ship had lifted off and followed those on foot hovering about fifty feet off the ground and a hundred yards behind the hunting party. He raced to the overhang praying as he did so his observation of the structure on his way to Riggers Cove had been right. Below him he heard another scream as a Hunki weapon found another target. He went cold inside, hunting for food he could understand and forgive, but this was slaughter, killing for killings sake on unarmed men and women and he wanted retribution.
He reached the overhang and breathed a sigh of relief as he saw the only thing keeping it at the top of the ravine was a boulder approximately eighteen inches long. If that boulder moved, the whole overhang would crash to the ravine floor. He scanned the area finding a native sapling growing some twenty feet back from the cliff edge. His steel knife made short work of the new growth and within a minute he had a stout staff about eight feet in length. Back at the overhang he dug the staff into the ground behind the boulder and
levered it half way out of the ground ready to send overhang and boulder down to the river below him.
He took shelter behind the overhang and waited, waited until the Hunki came below him. It seemed to take forever before they reached the spot directly underneath the overhang. They stopped while one of them raised its weapon and fired at the fast tiring group of humans now less than three hundred yards away from them. Each time they killed a human they would stop and dance up and down in what he could only assume was excitement. It sickened him and he dug the staff that little bit deeper in to the ground ready to topple the overhang on top of the vermin below him.
At last they were directly below; with a mighty heave, using all of his strength he levered the boulder away and jumped back, clear of the overhang as it began slowly at first to topple and then slide down the side of the ravine with an ever increasing pace. Too late, the Hunki below him looked up and began to panic and scatter as they saw the huge mass falling on them. The weight of the overhang sliding down the ravine side dislodged shale and a full sized landslide was descending to the ravine floor before the Hunki could fully react. He heard the almighty crash as the landslide hit the ravine floor; he heard the screams of the Hunki and rushed to the cliff edge to see what damage he had done to them.
Six of them had been buried beneath the shale and rock, the other four stood unsure of what to do. He picked a small boulder up and hoisting it over his head he threw it down on the four dazed Hunki. It had been an act borne out of temper, frustration and hatred but he watched as the boulder sailed down and struck one of the standing Hunki square on the head, blood and gore sprayed its companions who turned and fled back to their ship in blind panic. He didn’t wait any longer, he expected the ship and the survivors to come looking for him and despite the temptation to take out his bow and unleash a few arrows at the retreating killers, he turned and ran, his eyes scanning the area ahead for a hiding place or a place that would give him cover if the Hunki came looking for revenge.
After twenty minutes he realised the Hunki were either under the assumption the landslide had been a natural occurrence or they had stopped to locate their dead. Whatever it was it was clear they were not following him and for that he was grateful; quickly making his mind up he turned and headed in a direction that would bring him back in to contact with the people he had urged to run. Half an hour later, he was back at the ravine edge, half a mile away from the landside site. He looked down and in both directions, the Hunki ship had gone, the humans he saw slowly trudging along the river bank four hundred yards away from him. Of the Hunki dead he saw no sign or sign that the survivors had tried to rescue or dig out their shipmates from under the rock and shale.
He began to trot along the cliff top towards the human survivors counting two women and six men, seven had been killed by the Hunki, but at least they hadn’t ended up on the Hunki dinner plates like so many had before them. The ravine edge began to slope down towards level open ground slowing his trot to a more cautious walk as the footing became a bit more perilous. He reached the bottom ahead of the walking humans who he noted with a certain amount of disgust were completely unaware of his presence until he almost stood in front of them.
To be fair to them they were out on their feet, dirty from the dust the landside had caused, dishevelled and if he assumed right by their appearance dehydrated despite the fact they had a river running near them.
‘My God man,’ a woman at the back of the bunch said as they neared, ‘did you cause that?’
‘Yes,’ he replied matter of factly, ‘I saw that overhang on the way to Riggers Cove, I hoped it would buy us some time.’
‘It did that alright,’ a man in front of him said, ‘I never saw anything climb up that cliff like you, only a goat has that sure footing, in fact I think that’s what your name should be from now on,’ he smiled.
‘Friend,’ Fred said in a quiet voice full of menace. ‘If you ever call me a goat again I promise to take this knife,’ he unsheathed the steel blade and brandished it under the man’s nose, ‘and take the head off your shoulders leaving your body ready for the Hunki.’
‘Sorry Fred,’ he gulped, ‘I mean no disrespect, the only other animal that can climb like that is a wolf; would you take exception if when I retell this tale I called you wolf?’
Fred thought for moment, he had always disliked the name Alfred and suffered Fred as nothing had ever given cause to replace it. Wolf had a ring to it that he liked. ‘Wolf it is,’ he replied, ‘but careful in the telling, I don’t want too much attention, attention is dangerous.’
‘Sorry Fred, erm Wolf,’ he smiled, ‘but what happened today even without a little exaggeration will go down in folklore and tell it I will to anyone who will listen in the hovels we live in. To think the Hunki can be killed gives me hope and I think it will to others.’
‘Well friend you won’t be telling anyone anything if you don’t get away from here,’ he said changing the subject. ‘The Hunki will be back, there is more than one ship of theirs in these parts so I suggest you head for the trees. Clean yourselves up and get on your way as soon as you can.’
‘You’re not coming with us?’ a female voice asked.
‘No,’ he replied, ‘I’m off to find my companion; providing you keep to the trees and listen out for Rippers you should be safe enough. Try and find another village or town to settle in before winter comes along and I hope to see you all soon.’
He left them heading north while he went in search of Liz; she was only an hour or two ahead of him and knowing her she would leave an easy trail for him. He thought over the day’s events as he trotted to the tree line. Wolf the man had called him, Wolf a name that rolled easy of the tongue and one to hopefully strike fear in to the judges. Wolf, ‘yes’ he thought with a rueful smile, a name he knew he was going to like.
End