“I definitely agree,” said Glenda. “We’ve got some time to change tactics right now. Instead of continuing on the ground, let’s go vertical.”
“OK Jane. Swing up and show Tarzan where we rest.”
Chapter 45
Up Another Tree
Glenda studied the surrounding trees, then pointed, “I like this huge old tree by the river. I see a nice thick limb with our names on it, follow me.”
Glenda positioned herself under the massive limb then did her Michael Jordan leap. She was on the limb looking down and grinning at Traveler. “Time to rise above the barking crowd, Tarzan.”
Traveler picked his launch site and pushed off. He was passing Glenda when she reached out and grabbed his coat, “Slow down, you’re not trying for a moon shot.”
Traveler grinned back. “Thanks. OK now that we’re here, what next?”
“First, we go higher, I want to see everything around and below us but be hidden enough where we aren’t easily spotted. We should also move closer to the trunk to take advantage of the thick limbs to rest on. We can lean back and maybe even get a snooze in. When the hounds arrive we’ll go into stealth mode and they’ll never see us.”
After ascending they saw the perfect crow’s nest. Traveler leaned back against several large limbs saying, “Scoot over by me, there’s a nice spot here perfect for balancing and resting.”
Glenda slid across the large base limb and settled beside Traveler. “This would be a perfect place to bird-watch and river watch. I bet there are lots of animals that will show up to drink; we’ve got our own private zoo right here. Wake me up when there’s some action going on.” She shut her eyes and fell into a restful catnap doze.
Traveler found that he was too wired to sleep. He sat upright listening for the sounds of approaching hounds. His eyes focused on both sides of the river bank. The air remained undisturbed and the river remained a quiet, slow-moving haven for frogs and fish.
The serenity of the forest gradually relaxed him. The sun was bright and warmed the canopy above. The coldness of the night was gone. Mother Nature’s fall blanket produced a perfect temperature for dozing and Traveler soon joined Glenda in a deepening slumber. Their bodies gradually slanted to the common side until they were comfortably leaning against each other.
Time passed as slowly as the river flowed. Faint calls came on a breeze. They ignored the calls until the sounds got louder and more excited. The hounds were approaching and sensed they had found their prey.
Traveler and Glenda jerked awake and straightened up at the same time. Traveler looked down at the approaching pack, “Guess we’re going to the dogs,” he said with a grin. Glenda gave him a “You’ve got to be kidding” look.
They jointly inspected the lead dog, it was a beast. Not nearly as large as Trajan but a definite cousin. The beast looked up at the sitting prey, tried a few leaps combined with snapping jaws, then settled for peeing on the tree. “Well he’s marked us for sure,” said Traveler.
The rest of the pack had now caught up. Several of the lighter dogs tried their luck at jumping up, but of course none came close. Several of the leaping dogs crashed into their mates when they fell back producing a lot of snarling and snapping.
The pack leader immediately stopped the nastiness from escalating. A couple of deep growls and the young members of the pack sat down and refocused upward.
“I think it’s time to mess with them,” said Glenda, “let’s go stealth.”
“In a minute, let’s first annoy these guys like they’ve annoyed us.”
Traveler called down, “Here doggie, doggie, big but stupid doggies,” while throwing insults he waved his hands. All eyes were on him. Drool was marking the anger of the pack. The dogs understood they were being taunted. Their jaws quivered and their bodies shook.
Glenda had to laugh, “OK, Tarzan, let’s stealth them on a fast two count, one, two, stealth.”
The pack froze. They saw the two people simply disappear. There was instant confusion as they studied the empty space above them. Next the pack circled the tree looking up at nearby trees. The pack leader stayed in place looking up.
After fifteen minutes the pack sat with the leader looking up. “That’s too weird,” whispered Traveler, “don’t they see we’re gone?”
“Rats. Of course they smell us, big boy. They are master hunters and use all of their senses.”
“Now what?” asked Traveler.
“Give me a minute, I’m thinking. I don’t think we can fool them by jumping to other trees. When we move our stealth is broken, plus they follow our scent. Even if we could cross the river they will swim after us and we’ll be stuck in another tree just on the other side.”
“Bummer of a situation. I feel like a prison-break convict with the hounds after me.”
Glenda sat quietly and Traveler quit talking. He recognized her concentration face.
“Ah, ha. I have something we can try,” she said. “Remember M said we could tap into the jinn’s mind, but not to because it could twist our own brains?” Traveler nodded.
“I think we can try and enter the minds below. Their brains are stupid simple compared with the jinn. I don’t think we will mess ourselves up and maybe we can mess them up. Want to try?”
“Why not, how do we proceed?”
“I’m not sure exactly. Let’s relax and concentrate on the big guy below. Let your mind try and read his brain. If we can read his mind then I think we can write on it, alter it so to speak.”
They looked down at the big head staring up at them. The hound sensed they were there even though it could not see them. The pack leader had a lot of hunting experience when prey “went to ground” and seemed to disappear. The leader had learned to trust his instincts and wait out the prey.
Glenda relaxed and let her mind go into its study mode. Her mind joined with the book and became part of their symbiotic relationship. Then she was suddenly at the base of the tree and looking up. She was in the hound’s mind and aware of its upwards focus following their scent.
She explored the mind now as she would an interactive video game. She found she could retrieve memories of similar hunts and she understood how the hound followed its instincts.
Animal instincts involve far more than applying logic trails from past experiences. Their hunting decisions combine all five senses to go along with past experiences. They can use their senses to augment past memories.
She next prodded the mind to see if she could influence it. She sent a smell memory trail to a close by tree. She saw the large hound cock its head, then move toward the falsely scented tree. The leader was now studying the overhead limbs on the new tree. Smiling to herself she thought, I own you, big doggie, you are my puppy to train.
She looked over at Traveler to tell him what to do but saw Traveler had three young dogs chasing their own tails. He’s brain connected to them. Next she watched as all three begin to roll on the ground. She was now quietly laughing and whispered, “Very funny. I see you have mastered ‘Tail Chasing 101’.”
“And you have mastered ‘Dogs Looking at Empty Spaces’, reminds me of some of my high school classmates during math class. Keep it up and give him one very sore neck.”
Traveler laughed as he watched the tail-chasing dogs and the staring dog, “It’s payback time for this pack. They will be sorry they made us leave our nice cave and do a forced march.” As an afterthought he asked, “Do you think we could control Throbb?”
“Not sure,” answered Glenda. “Maybe together we could, but I don’t think we should try. Human minds are far more complex than Fido below. Worse case we accidentally end up creating weird memories of demons that he will take back to the duke and mage.”
“Agreed,” said Traveler. “If we try to plant false memories and fail, that will reinforce we’re demons. The last thing we want is for the creature to get a heads-up there are other supernatural beings around. We need to stay low profile and just try to discredit Throbb.”
Glenda continued, “A good approach right now is to throw down a false trail for the hounds and Throbb will follow them. The more time he spends chasing a ghost trail then returns empty-handed, the dumber he’ll look.”
“Agreed,” said Traveler, “and I have an idea about a false trail.”
“Enlighten me,” said Glenda.
“First, let’s remove our scent memory coming from this tree, that will calm the pack down. Let them relax a bit. When we’re ready, we’ll give them a new scent memory that says we crossed the river right here. They’ll swim across and then wander on the wrong side looking for our scent. We can even give them a memory scent on the other side that they’ll follow.”
“We’ll wait until Throbb shows up, then trigger the new scent memories. The hounds will rush off and Throbb will be right behind them. We’ll just wait here in the box seats and enjoy watching the show.”
“Brilliant! We can even implant a visual memory of us sitting in a distant tree. Let them howl and circle an empty tree while Throbb loses confidence in his tracking hounds and heads back.”
Chapter 46
Mutual Support
An hour passed. The forest was now a sauna at ground level. The heat was beginning to rise off the ground and the hounds were repeatedly going to the river to drink. Once back they lay on their sides with open mouths cooling their bodies and conserving their energy. They were in no mood to begin another random chase, it seemed pointless since the scent of the prey had disappeared. They waited patiently for their master, Karl, to arrive. The master would know what to do.
Finally the sound of approaching men and horses disturbed the quiet air. Traveler spotted Throbb coming first, he was leading his horse on foot. Both man and horse looked tired and grumpy.
Following Throbb were his men leading their horses on foot. The dense undergrowth had forced them to dismount and save their horses for better ground. All of the soldiers had long ago stripped off their heavy, padded jackets and placed them across the saddles.
Throbb spotted his resting hound pack and a look of frustration and anger passed over his face. He turned to the master of hounds and growled, “Karl, your dogs are useless. They’ve led us through an unforgiving forest, now they decide to rest. How do you answer for them, hound master?”
Karl ignored Throbb’s temper outburst. He had experienced it many times before. When Throbb was angry he stopped thinking and needed to be calmed down much like a petulant child throwing a temper tantrum.
The hound master studied his pack. He knew they were relaxed and that meant they had lost the scent trail. He also knew the pack would be very tired from racing through the undergrowth in the heat. “They know it’s time to rest and wait for us to catch up. They are a smart pack.” The implication was that the hounds were smarter than Throbb.
Karl then circled the large tree they were resting under. His eyes suddenly noticed the area his leader had peed on. He marked this tree for a reason, the master thought. He looked up into the tree not expecting to see anything. If there was anybody hiding in the thick foliage the hounds would be barking their heads off.
Karl saw Throbb was now beginning to think again, he was studying the opposite shore. “Is it possible those two crossed here and your hounds decided to wait for us before crossing?”
“A distinct possibility. Let me suggest we cross over but let’s rest the men and horses now before we go over.”
Throbb nodded, he also needed to rest his large body and wanted to think about excuses if he returned empty-handed. “If we fail to capture those two, I think you know I will blame your hounds, and by association you.”
“Of course I know that. I also know you will need to present the failure to the mage. I don’t envy you that task regardless of how you try to pass on blame. The duke would be more forgiving but the mage seems to have little sympathy regarding failure. He is a changed man and very difficult to read.”
Throbb was now thinking about the possibilities. He realized he would benefit with the hound master as an ally. Better the two of them describing their efforts as a team than doing it by himself and becoming the sole target of the mage’s anger.
“I was overly brusque, Karl. You know me too well, you understand the heat and walking through this underbrush have me on a short temper. Your hounds are the very best trackers, and were trained by the best master of hounds. I will make both of those points with the mage. We will focus on our joint effort, and failure can be blamed on the demons.”
The hound master knew he was being solicited as an ally. He also knew it was in his best interest to have Throbb supporting him. At the end of the day Throbb would still be the one held responsible. Trained hounds and a hound master were valuable assets for the duke. Throbb was a replaceable unit leader.
He gave Throbb a sympathetic nod. “Thank you, Throbb. Rest assured I will equally support your strong leadership efforts.”
The two had now agreed upon their reporting strategy and settled into a relaxed atmosphere of goodwill.
Chapter 47
The Hound Master’s Tale
While relaxing, Karl took a long sip of water and leaned toward a resting Throbb. “In the event we do not capture the two runners, and return empty-handed, let me share tales of our mage. These stories have come to me from my fellow masters of hounds and I believe them. We are a fraternity of sorts and share information and advice among ourselves.”
Throbb moved from his resting spot and sat across from the master. “Tell me the tales you’ve heard from your hound master brothers, Karl. The more we share, the better our story can be presented to the mage.” Throbb knew all soldiers enjoyed gossip but this sounded like more substance than just gossip.
“It’s an unpleasant story, Throbb. Unpleasant because of the invading Hun and their threat to all of us, but also unpleasant because of the superstition it created among our own soldiers. Like all campfire stories told by soldiers, there is much exaggeration added to make it a better tale. Experienced listeners know to cut these stories in half. As a unit leader you know this of course.”
Throbb nodded his understanding. He knew he had told his own tales with embellishments to hold his listener’s interest. Naturally his tales included exaggerations about his own exploits.
“The true unpleasantness comes from the barbarian leader. You have heard his name, Attila, and how he destroys all armies that face him. He never takes prisoners. He has never backed down nor been defeated.”
Throbb felt a shiver pass through him at the name Attila. Of course he knew of him. The barbarian was called the “Scourge of God”, and soldiers across the world dreaded facing him.
“The stories I have heard from my fellow hound masters claim to have come from our scouts who had gotten close to the Hun camp. They overheard the Hun guards talking and this is their tale.
“According to the guards’ story they claim to have seen a red demon emerge out of the mage, kill the captains and guards inside the tent and then return into the mage’s body. Attila was said to stand very still during this killing time and seemed to be dreaming.”
Karl smiled at his captive audience, “Relax Throbb, of course I don’t believe the Hun guards’ stories about a red demon. They are campfire stories told to entertain.
“What I believe likely happened was the mage used his dining hall magic tricks to impress this Hun leader and convinced him to leave us alone. Mine is a much more logical explanation than a red demon. You can relax now.”
Chapter 48
The Snipe Hunt Starts
Thinking out loud Throbb said, “Karl, I’m not sure I needed that story right now but I understand your explanation, it makes a lot more sense. If the mage can convince a warrior like Attila of his magic, then he will likely go along with our story of demons. To deny our demon story would be to undermine his own claims of mystical powers. I think we can end this chase now and declare the two as demons who have fled before us.”
Before the hound master could
respond, bedlam started among the hounds. The pack of hounds suddenly stood up together howling and ran to the river. Two young hounds were already in the shallow water at the river’s edge. They were eager to cross while the older hounds waited for permission.
Karl grinned at Throbb, “The wind has shifted direction and they have discovered a fresh scent, it’s coming across the river. “I believe our two demons are in human bodies and waiting to be caught. We may come out of this as heroes. Let’s release the pack and take up the chase.”
With the hounds yelping Throbb had regained his confidence. The two youths were out there and he would capture them. Throbb commanded, “Karl, release them!”
The master gave the approving signal and the pack threw itself into the river. They were rested now and eager to pursue the scent. Even in crossing their calling-out bays rose to the heavens as their legs thrust rapidly through the slow-moving water.
Taking his lead from the released hounds, one soldier had already mounted his horse and led it into the river then called back, “Throbb, this is a shallow passage spot, we can easily ride across.” Throbb nodded approval.
The men cheered and quickly mounted and followed. As they crossed, the cooling waters refreshed both horse and rider. The hunt was back on.
Watching the mounted soldiers riding across the river following the hounds, Traveler grinned, “That in boy scouting tradition is what we refer to as a ‘snipe hunt’.”
Glenda had a puzzled look on her face, “What’s a snipe hunt?”
“There are no actual snipes but the young scouts don’t know that. They will stand in the woods holding open bags to catch the snipe that we older boys are supposedly beating toward them. Of course we are already back in our tents laughing.”
The Blighted Fortress Page 15