She led the way through the quiet streets of the city at a moderately paced run. The students fell in behind her, most of them eager to get out onto the plains and hunt again. Sah Lee, with Tir Mal at her side, stayed together with the rest of their roommates as a group. She noticed that Ran Bor, who was always quite serious, looked even less happy than usual. She moved close to her side and said quietly: “Ran Bor, you don’t seem as pleased as the rest of us to be going out of the city.”
“I’m not. I was never a good hunter. I’ll go hungry while we’re out here and everyone will think I am weak.”
Sah Lee put her hand on Ran Bor’s shoulder as they ran. “We’re family now, none of us would let you go hungry. Don’t worry about not making a kill. You come with me when we hunt, I guarantee we’ll get enough to eat and have plenty to give away. Rin Tor makes no secret of the fact that she can’t hunt, she won’t go hungry and no one thinks she is weak. You are very clever Ran Bor, you make the rest of us look foolish. No one is good at everything.” she said with a smile.
Ran Bor looked at her. “You are a good friend Sah Lee.”
Chapter Seven
The Journey Out
Rin Tor stopped the class as they left the farms on the outskirts of the city behind them. “Everyone take a drink while you listen to me. Whether you return to the plains, stay in the city or choose to travel to other lands when you leave university, you must be able to cooperate with others, to lead and to be led. So, choose a leader or split into groups, each with a leader. I’ll sit here, you tell me when you are all ready.”
Tir Mal took a step away from her group and called out in a loud voice: “Sah Lee is our leader. Who will join us?” She stepped back to stand behind Sah Lee with the rest of her roommates.
Some of the class moved over to join them while others in small groups spoke quietly amongst themselves. One by one, the groups moved to stand behind Sah Lee until the entire class had joined her.
“Good.” Rin Tor said quietly under her breath. Out loud she said “Sah Lee. Your objective is to take us due north and find a water hole by midday. You lead, I’ll stay at the back.”
Sah Lee quickly selected two teams of six to go either side of the main group to keep level with them about one hundred paces away. That way if they ran into a thorn patch or broken ground or a swamp, they would quickly be able to find a way around. She set off, leading the pack at a steady hunting pace with Ran Bor on her right, helping to navigate and keep them on the right track, with Tir Mal on her left.
They found the waterhole just before midday. It hadn’t tested any of their hunting skills to follow the trail that was obviously used regularly but infrequently by other classes.
Sah Lee decided to let the most tired and least inclined to hunt to recover and divided those more eager to hunt into three parties, one of which she led herself. The hunting parties didn’t stay out long, and each returned with a modest haul of small prey, enough for them all to eat.
After they had all eaten and drunk their fill, Sah Lee told them to refill their water bottles, then led a clean-up party to take the uneaten remains of their meal to bury it well away from the water hole. When they returned Rin Tor called them together: “Do you wish to continue with Sah Lee as leader, choose another, or form a group of your own? Step forward all of those who want to change or form another group.” No one moved. “Very well Sah Lee, it looks like you’re stuck with the job.” she smiled. “Your next objective is to take us a far north as you can without wearing out or losing any of your hunting pack - the class and me, stopping only to fill up water bottles. You will need to make camp in time to hunt and gather wood for a fire before the light goes. You will also need to make sure that your pack is ready to break camp and continue at first light.
Sah Lee nodded, sent her flank teams out again and took off, instructing everyone to seek the scent of water.
She set a good hunting pace, running a little faster than they had during the morning, but not fast enough to wear anyone out, she hoped. She knew she was good at reading the landscape to find the best route through it but Ran Bor was better. Between them they made good progress and Sah Lee was comfortable with them stopping twice to refill water bottles before it was time to make camp.
She told those that were most tired to prepare a fire pit, then sit and rest. She picked out five of the less able hunters and set them the task of finding wood for a fire. She wanted enough to keep a fire burning all night so that the less hardy of them would be able to get some warmth if they needed it in the chill of the hours after midnight. The rest she divided into three hunting parties, again with the task of hunting and gathering as much to eat as possible, meat, root vegetables, even edible leaves. If they ended up with enough meat, they would discard the vegetables and leaves, but she wanted to make sure they all had plenty to eat.
The hunting parties returned with a good supply of small prey animals, but not enough for them to all eat their fill. Sah Lee consulted with Lat Raan, whose village regularly cooked vegetables, and picked out the root vegetables that tasted best when baked. Sah Lee supervised another small team to clean and prepare a large rock to act as a table where they could butcher the animals they had brought back ready to eat, then led another group to take the skins, entrails, heads and feet out into the plains and bury them.
When they were relaxing after eating, Rin Tor came and sat next to Sah Lee and Tir Mal. “You are a born leader Sah Lee. It seems to come naturally to you.”
“It seems obvious what needs to be done.” she answered. “I just ask people to do what needs doing.”
Rin Tor smiled. “It is not obvious to everyone, and you seem to be doing more telling than asking, but everyone seemed happy with that. Probably because they realized the sense in what you were doing and saw that you didn’t shirk from your share of the work. I hope that you will continue to lead us to the logging camp. This is the best led trip that I have been on. You impressed me by leading the team that took the entrails out and buried them. That’s a horrible job, it’s not unusual on these field trips for a row to break out about who does it and they are often left in a pile in the middle of the camp.”
“I did it because I didn’t want those I asked to do it to feel like they were being picked on, or have the others look down on them for doing such a horrible job.”
“That is a mark of a true leader, to be able to do the worst job with dignity and without belittling those that do it.”
“I must remember that.”
“I don’t think you need to Sah Lee, you seem to know it instinctively. I’m going to sleep now, I’m tired after today’s running. I may have to move closer to the fire for warmth later tonight. Who are you going to get to wake us?”
“I always wake early, I’ll make sure everyone is ready to move at first light.”
“Call me first.” Rin Tor said before settling down to sleep.
Chapter Eight
Signs in The Sky
Sah Lee sat by the dying embers of the fire, enjoying the last of its warmth. But it was now time to wake everyone. It was hard waking people at this time when they were sleeping under the sky. The temperature always dropped a little before it got light, just when the waking were starting to move and lose body heat. She woke Rin Tor first, who sat up startled, then relaxed and smiled when she saw it was Sah Lee. “I was having a bad dream.” she said.
“It’s over now, just a dream.” Sah Lee said. “It’s going to be a great day today, I can feel it!” she said enthusiastically.
“You’re right. We’ve got a pack leader I trust and it's safe out here. I’m looking forward to it.” Rin Tor said with a smile as she got to her feet.
Sah Lee woke Tir Mal then went around the rest of the class, gently waking them all. While they woke up and got ready, Sah Lee kicked dirt over the fire to put it out, but left the fire pit intact so they could use it on their way back from the logging camp.
When everyone was awake and ready, Rin Tor called th
em together. The first trace of the new day was just beginning to show itself as the eastern horizon started to lighten. “It should take us a full eight days more to reach the logging camp. Sah Lee has had her turn as leader now. You may select another leader for the day or choose to stay with Sah Lee. Now is the time to volunteer for the task or to propose someone else. Step forward and speak.”
There was some quiet whispering in the group, but no one stepped forward. Rin Tor was about to speak again when Ran Bor stepped forward. She was the last person Sah Lee expected to volunteer, but she would support her as leader. She was smart and Sah Lee trusted her.
“I have a proposal.” Ran Bor said. The whispering stopped, and everyone gave her their full attention. “I propose that Sah Lee leads us all the way to the logging camp. If anyone else wants to be leader, they can have their opportunity when we return.”
After a moments silence, the whispering started again, but quickly turned into chatter.
“Silence!” Rin Tor called out. “As this is the only proposal we have we will decide on this. All that support the proposal move to your right. Those that oppose it move to your left.”
Sah Lee stood her ground, the rest of the class all moved to the right.
“Sah Lee, you are the pack leader. You will consult with me during the journey, but until we reach the logging camp, you are in control.”
Sah Lee turned to her classmates, her temporary pack and smiled. “Thank you all for your confidence in me. Ran Bor, Tir Mal, you lead with me. Flanking parties, take your same positions as yesterday. Let’s go.”
Mindful that Rin Tor and a few of the less fit students had been fatigued by the pace she had set yesterday, Sah Lee kept the speed down. She would have a shorter lunch break and keep going longer in the afternoon. They would be two days out from the city by then, in an area that was rarely hunted, so prey animals should be more plentiful, and they would be able to catch what they needed quickly. Everyone knew their role now, so they could make camp and prepare the fire and the food in less time so would be ready to sleep by the same time as the previous night.
◆◆◆
Sah Lee roused them before dawn again, and they set off at a gentle run. Rin Tor was happier with the slower pace, and even had time, and the breath, to chat as they ran. The pack were all enjoying the fresh air and scents of the plains, and the warmth of the fresh morning sun which was now well above the horizon, when a booming noise, like rolling thunder came from behind them. They stopped and turned to see a distant cloud rising from the ground. Rin Tor ran to Sah Lee. “That’s coming from the city.”
“We are more than a day’s travel away. If that’s coming from the city, it must be huge.” As they stood and watched, the cloud continued to grow, and the booming continued to roll.
“We need to go back. I’m calling an end to the field trip.” Rin Tor said. “Sah Lee, lead us back, as quickly as you can.”
Sah Lee called out to the flank parties to come back and join the main pack.
“Rin Tor has canceled the field trip.” she told the group. “We’re heading back to the city. We won’t stop to eat, just to refill water bottles. This is going to be hard for some of you, we will have a brief rest when we get water, otherwise we’ll just keep going.”
Sah Lee identified the less fit and shared out the contents of their backpacks amongst the stronger students, leaving them with just their water bottles to carry. The empty backpacks were left in a pile beside a rock.
As soon as everyone was ready, Sah Lee led them off as a single group. She set a fast hunting pace, knowing she may have to stop for the less fit to recover, but was determined to keep the group together.
By mid afternoon it was clear that they would not reach the city before nightfall and several of the students were struggling to keep up the pace. Rin Tor was keeping up but looked like she was in pain.
Sah Lee could smell water and turned off to lead the way to the water hole. When they reached it, she gathered the group together. “We will stop here to fill our water battles a rest awhile. We’re not going to be able to reach the city in daylight and we don’t know what we’ll find there. We know something bad has happened. It would be reckless to go into the streets in the dark, tired and unprepared. When we have rested, we’ll carry on at a slower pace so that none of you are tired out and go as far as we can before dark. You all know what to do when we make camp. I want to hunt and gather enough for us to eat before we continue in the morning. We need to be alert and prepared when we get to the city, so we are ready for whatever we find there.”
She spoke briefly to a few of the fitter, less tired students, they collected and filled the water bottles for those who were suffering most. Some students lay down and fell asleep while Sah Lee, Tir Mal and Kel Mai kept watch.
When the sun had moved another tenth of the way across the sky, the three of them gathered up those resting and woke the sleepers. She led them off at a slow hunting pace towards the city. The great dust cloud had moved away from the city now but was still visible downwind of it. The rate of progress was frustratingly slow, but all the students, and Rin Tor were able to keep up. Sah Lee decided to keep going until the sun had gone down and the light was going out of the sky.
◆◆◆
There was just enough light in the last glimmer of dusk for the wood collectors to get enough fuel to keep a small fire going all night. The Necklet and the stars gave enough light for the hunting groups to find and kill enough meat, but the monochrome of the faint light made it difficult to find edible plants unless they were almost on top of them.
The students ate well that night. A feast like this would normally be a happy occasion, with chatter and laughter, but the mood tonight was somber, with the meal eaten mostly in silence. They quickly buried the scraps, skins and entrails a few paces from the camp and wrapped the remaining meat in leaves to keep them cool and clean.
As soon as they had finished eating, the students settled down around the fire to sleep. Sah Lee arranged a rota from the more experienced and stronger hunters to stand guard.
Sah Lee woke before first light and quickly checked that the packages of meat were still intact, then woke the rest of the students. As soon as everyone was awake, they divided the meat up and quickly ate. They refilled their water bottles and Sah Lee set off towards the city at the slow hunting run she knew they could all keep to without getting tired.
As they approached the city, they saw a great crater off to their right, where the earth had been torn open by an unimaginable force. Great rocks had been flung out and lay embedded in the ground. As they got closer there were more of these gashes in the plains and they could see that the city had been devastated. They slowed to a walk as they entered the wreckage. No buildings were left standing. The streets had disappeared, torn up by the same forces that had destroyed the buildings. They walked deeper into the ruins, having to scramble through the craters and smashed stones that were all that was left of the buildings. They reached what they knew must be the center of the city, although there was nothing to show what had been there before, when Sah Lee saw movement ahead of her. She ran over to a group of students huddled together amongst the rubble. She pulled up sharply when she recognized Sor Tan standing in the midst of them with a furious look on her face.
Chapter Nine
The Remains Of The Day
“Sah Lee!” Sor Tan shouted and strode towards her.
“May the Makers help me.” Thought Sah Lee. “As if we haven’t got enough problems.”
“Sor Tan…” Sah Lee began, but Sor Tan cut her off.
“In the name of the Makers, what happened?” Sor Tan demanded.
“I don’t know. I have heard of nothing like this in the histories. Our tutor Rin Tor doesn’t know either. Do you have any ideas?”
“No, but someone is going to pay for this!”
“Look Sor Tan, this isn’t the time for us to fight. The Makers only know what has happened, but there is no city, no U
niversity, nothing left here. Everyone is gone. You are the first people we have seen here. I think everyone else is, dead.” Tears stung Sah Lee’s eyes as she thought of her sister, Sah Elt. She hoped she was safe. She had been on a field trip to the southern mines but was due back the day the city was destroyed. Then she thought of Traf Dek and others who she had befriended in the city.
“I don’t want to fight, at least, not with you.” Sor Tan retorted angrily. “Now is the time to work together. We are the natural leaders, we need to gather everyone we can find and decide what to do next. How many do you have with you?”
“Our entire class and Rin Tor. We were on our way to the Great Northern Forest when we heard a noise like thunder, only it didn’t stop, then we saw the dust cloud and started running back here. We only arrived a short time ago. Who have you got with you?”
“We were on our way back from a field trip to the port when we saw the same as you. We carried on back here and met another class on their way out. They were frightened by what they had seen and decided to carry on to the port, where they thought it would be safer, and if it wasn’t, then they could get on a ship and sail to somewhere safe. Our tutor and some of our class went with them.” A sly look flitted briefly across Sor Tan’s face. “They told us that a pack of vulpen had been seen in the area. Whatever caused this may have drawn them here.”
“Vulpen! That’s all we need. We need to get organized.”
“We need a plan. Rin Tor is city born, she won’t be much help.” Sor Tan said. “Do you have any ideas?”
Hunter, Warrior, Commander Page 4