by J. T. Edson
Despite having been aroused from a deep slumber, the Mun-Gatah responded swiftly and his behavior showed that he was in full possession of his faculties. Turning his head to see what—or who—had disturbed him, he flung aside the cloak and started to thrust himself up from the ground. He moved fast, at the same time opening his mouth for a yell that would awaken his companions. His actions were those of a man who, although surprised, knew exactly what he was doing.
Once again, Dawn displayed great coolness and presence of mind in the face of an emergency. There was, she realized instantly, no point in her turning and running away. The Mun-Gatah was reacting too speedily for that. While she could probably outdistance him, he could arouse the other men and be so close on her heels that there would be no hope of losing him even if she fled into the bushes which fringed the nearby stream. Nor could she hope to silence him. His breastplate would be protection against a kick to the body and, good as she was at savate xxi she did not intend to risk aiming her foot as high as his head.
While Dawn did not relish the idea, she knew that she must do.
Slipping her right thumb under the tang, the girl flipped apart the two portions of the retaining strap’s press-stud and snatched the knife from its sheath. Dropping the belt, she took a pace to the rear. Before the man could cry out, or finish standing up, her right arm swung in a horizontal arc. The eight inch long, razor sharp, clip point blade of her weapon caught his left cheek. Biting in, it slit a gash from just below the ear to the corner of his mouth. Taken unaware and off balance, the pain caused him to topple backwards. As he fell, hands flying to the bloody ruin of his face, he let out a cry of agony which brought his companions from their sleep.
Spinning on her heel as soon as she had struck the blow, the girl put aside all notions of trying to gather up her bow and arrows. She had removed the closest and most immediate threat, but the rest of the warriors were proving almost as adept at coming from sleep to alert wakefulness. Divesting themselves of their coverings and snatching up weapons, they were beginning to rise. Much as she would like to regain possession of her archery equipment, prudence and common sense dictated that she took flight straight away despite being armed only with a knife.
Throwing a quick glance over her shoulder as she darted away, Dawn saw that the uninjured quartet were about to take up the chase. However, she had gained sufficient of a lead to believe her chances were better than if she had been followed by the man whom she had struck down. Once she reached the bushes, she would have the advantage over her pursuers. If she was driven to it, she would have a greater opportunity of dealing with them than was possible if she had been caught out in the open.
Darting through the bushes, Dawn felt something pass between her legs and it tripped her. Even as she was plunging headlong and helpless to the ground, the knife flying from her hand, she heard rustlings of the foliage and startled shouts to her rear. Then she landed. A moment later, she was struck on the back of the head. Bright lights seemed to be bursting inside her skull. After which, everything blurred and darkness descended upon her.
Chapter Five – He Did Kill Them With His Bow!
Having scattered the scavengers by charging down the slope and giving an impersonation of a lion’s roar, Bunduki brought the quagga gelding to a halt by the cart. However, while the vultures had flapped into the air, some of the hyenas were hovering not too far away. So, instead of ‘ground hitching’ his mount by allowing the reins to hang down, he fastened them to the vehicle’s rear wheel in such a way that a sharp lateral tug would set it free. Taking an arrow from his back quiver, he nocked it to the bow’s string and started his investigation.
Looking into the cart, the blond giant found there were no bloodstains on its bed or bars and the latter appeared to have been cut free from inside. Taken with the male body laying behind it was some slight consolation. At least, it suggested Dawn had not been killed whilst a helpless prisoner in the cage. However, the scavengers had been at work for too long to let him discover how the man had died.
Taking a quick glance to make sure that none of the hyenas had recovered sufficiently from their right to threaten the quagga, Bunduki looked for tracks. Much to his delight, there was evidence to suggest that Dawn had escaped from the cage before the attack and walked towards the fire. Following the signs she had left, he deduced accurately what had happened. He was helped in this because the body by the dead embers had suffered less from the attentions of the scavengers. The skull had been split open by some heavy form of cutting weapon. In addition, there was a gash across the left cheek which had been inflicted by a very sharp blade. It could not have been made by whatever had chopped through the top of the head and into the brain.
Before continuing his reading of Dawn’s tracks, Bunduki looked at the remaining corpses. All, he could see, were members of the escort. That was again some slight comfort. However, there was still the matter of her absence to be solved.
Bunduki was denied the opportunity to continue his investigation!
In his anxiety and perturbation, the blond giant had almost forgotten that he was in enemy territory. Suddenly the remembrance came, causing him to pay greater attention to his surroundings than he had when first sighting the camp in the valley. Gazing across the stream, he stiffened and a low growl of angry frustration burst from him.
Several riders were crossing a rim about three quarters of a mile away. Even at that distance, the sight of their lances, helmets, breastplates and the zebra-like gatahs they were sitting identified them for Bunduki. What was more, they located him a couple of seconds after he became aware of their presence. One of them pointed and let out a yell. Then they all sent their mounts forward at an increased pace.
Cold rage filled the blond giant as he realized what the men’s arrival meant. Unless he could find some means of driving them off, which was unlikely as there were at least twenty of them, he would have to flee. Even if he evaded their pursuit, there would be a long delay before he could return and resume his search for Dawn.
A movement from much closer than the riders attracted Bunduki’s attention
Lowering his gaze from the rim, the blond giant received an unpleasant shock!
There were enemies a lot nearer than the mounted party!
So close, in fact, that they were posing a grave threat to Bunduki’s life!
Having left their gatahs concealed beyond the rim, Mador, a senior adherent of the High Priest and two younger warriors had been advancing with great care towards the camp when Bunduki came into view. They had known that it was an old Gru-ziak trick to take cover close to the scene of an attack in the hope of claiming further victims should anybody approach to investigate. Nor had the presence of the scavengers been proof that there was no ambush, the Gru-ziak were experts when it came to hiding. So the three Mun-Gatahs had been taking advantage of every piece of cover as they were moving in.
Deciding to let the big foreigner spring any trap that the Gru-ziak might have set, Mador and his companions had continued to advance cautiously. They had soon realized that no ambush had been laid, but there were other inducements which called for them to avoid letting the white-haired stranger become aware of their presence. Not the least of them was the fact that he was riding what they recognized to be the People-Taker’s quagga gelding.
Although Mador had never seen Bunduki, Charole’s alliance with Dryaka had allowed their adherents to exchange information. So the banar-gatah rider guessed that he was dealing with a member of the ‘Apes’ nation, perhaps the one who had escaped from the Protectress’s custody at the hunting camp. Even if he was not, the High Priest would be delighted to receive another man from the mysterious race.
There was one major difficulty to taking the ‘Ape’ prisoner. While there was sufficient cover for Mador and his companions to approach without being seen, he was on the other side of the stream. About twenty feet in width, there was no way they could remain concealed as they started to cross.
Halting b
ehind a large and thick bush, with the younger warriors on either side of him, Mador studied the situation. Remembering how Dawn ‘of the Apes’ had killed one of the hunting party, he felt disinclined to expose himself to the blond giant’s archery if it could be avoided. They had left their lances with the gatahs and were armed for combat at close quarters, which put them at a disadvantage. Each of his companions was carrying a throwing axe, but their intended victim’s bow and arrows were more potent over the thirty or so yards that lay between them.
For Mador’s part, although he had his sword, he was empty handed. However, he had in his possession weapons which he believed might prove potent in the event of a Gru-ziak ambush, and could be of help in dealing with the white-haired foreigner.
On learning that Dawn ‘of the Apes’ had been taken prisoner, Dryaka had been determined to prevent her from escaping a second time. So he had ordered Mador to take twenty-four men and accompany the messenger. There were to meet and escort the small party who were delivering the girl. As an added aid, the High Priest had shown his adherent how to ignite and throw the ‘Terrifiers’. Zongaffa had had twelve available and was making more. So Mador had been ordered to carry six of them with him. An experienced warrior, he had seen how the devices could be of great help and, although uneasy at having such lethal things on his person, had not argued or objected.
Unfortunately for Mador, he had not told his companions about the ‘Terrifiers’. Nor did he explain what he was meaning to do. Instead, he opened the leather bag that was suspended by a strap over his left shoulder so it hung on his right hip. A second strap supported the metal ‘fire-box’ which hung behind his sword’s sheath. Lifting out one of the coconut bombs, he studied it for a moment and took the smoldering ‘fire cord’ from its box.
Before Mador could ignite the ‘Terrifier’s’ fuse, the younger of his companions ruined any chance of taking their proposed victim by surprise. Watching and waiting impatiently the grar-gatah gelding rider saw what he believed to be the danger of the big foreigner being frightened off before they could reach him. Up to that moment, the stranger had been so engrossed in examining the camp that they were within thirty yards of him and he was still unaware of their presence. He had not even located them as he walked in their direction. However, something—probably the appearance of the other members of the escort—had alerted him to the danger.
Like most of his race, the younger warrior had been trained to seek acclaim and an improvement in his social status.
Teamwork and co-operative efforts came a long way behind self advancement in his education. So he too made no attempt to notify his companions, of his intentions, although each was superior in standing. Instead, he leapt from his hiding place and started to run forward with his axe lifted ready to be thrown.
‘What—?’Mador began, halting the movement of the ‘fire cord’ before it touched the ‘Terrifier’s’ fuse and swiveling his head around. ‘Don’t—!’
The uncompleted command was too late to prevent the damage from being done.
Equally eager to earn whatever acclaim might be gathered from capturing or killing the big foreigner, the second member of the party saw that he had been anticipated by his social inferior. Spitting out a furious curse, he bounded around the other side of the bush.
Seeing the two Mun-Gatah warriors appearing, Bunduki responded with deadly speed. When he had been Charole’s prisoner, waiting until night had fallen so that he could be taken to her pavilion without the rest of the hunting party learning of it, he had seen how deadly a Mun-Gatah throwing axe could be in skilled hands. As yet, the warriors were out of range, but they were running closer and meant to launch an attack.
Seeming to act of its own volition, the bow rose to the sighting position. Its puissant recurved limbs began their rearwards arcs at the pull of his terrifically powerful back and shoulder muscles rather than those of his right arm. Attaining his ‘anchor point’, with the second finger of his ‘draw hand’ touching his cheek just over the last tooth of his lower jaw, he took swift, but careful, aim at the leading attacker. xxii
Although the younger warrior saw that the blond giant’s arrow was being directed at him, he felt no concern. All his life, he had been taught that there was little to fear from an archer as long as he was wearing his protective clothing. Nor did knowing that Dawn ‘of the Apes’ had been able to kill one of his people with a bow cause him any anxiety. Her victim had been much closer than he intended to approach the big foreigner before launching his own attack.
Even as the warrior was reaching his comforting conclusions and making ready to hurl the axe, Bunduki relaxed the grip his fingers had been maintaining on the bow’s string. As it snapped into a vibrating straight line, it thrust the arrow forward aided by the propulsive force of the immensely powerful fiberglass limbs.
Flying across the intervening distance so swiftly that the eye could barely follow it, the arrow converged on the center of the warrior’s chest. When it arrived, it passed through the breastplate—which would have been sturdy enough to withstand the missiles available to the Mun-Gatahs’ usual enemies—as if he had been wearing no more than his thin cloth tunic. A shriek burst from him. Releasing the axe’s handle so that it fell behind him, he twirled helplessly and collapsed.
Having shared his companion’s trust in the potency of the breastplate, the second man was startled by the proof that they were wrong. However, he did not allow it to deter him. Instead, he bounded onwards and prepared to throw his axe. He was sure that he would be within range before the big foreigner could take out, set up and draw another arrow.
Unfortunately for the warrior, all he knew of archery had come from hearsay and was about the kind with which his nation normally came into contact. So he failed to take into account that Bunduki had arrows more readily available than those in the back-quiver.
Flashing up, the blond giant’s right hand plucked an arrow from its clamps on the bow-quiver. Long hours of training allowed him to fit the nock to the string and lay the shaft on the handle’s arrow-rest without the need to look at what he was doing. So he was able to keep his enemies under constant observation. Even as his hands were making their instinctive movements, he noticed that a third man was coming from behind the bush.
There was no time for Bunduki to devote any attention to Mador. The second warrior was showing a complete disregard for the fate of his companion. Running by the stricken man he was close enough to throw the axe with every chance of making a hit. Judging from his actions, he was preparing to do so.
Again the bow twanged and an arrow winged its deadly path through the air. It was in flight as the warrior’s right arm started to swing forward and reached its destination an instant before the axe could leave his hand. Afforded no protection by his breastplate, he was impaled by the fiberglass shaft. Crumpling, he went down. Although he released his weapon, it did ‘ not more than bury its head in the ground a few feet in front of him.
With his second assailant felled and his right hand reaching for another arrow from the bow-quiver, Bunduki became aware of the way in which the third Mun-Gatah was behaving. Older than his companions, he was clearly a more experienced warrior. However, he had not drawn a weapon. Instead, he had what appeared to be a coconut in his right hand and was doing something to it with the left. Having completed whatever the action might have been, he hurled the coconut in an over-arm motion. Almost as soon as it left his hand, he seemed to trip and fall forward.
Watching the man, Bunduki was puzzled. On the face of it, the method of attack did not seem dangerous. Even if the coconut should hit him, coming from such a distance it was unlikely to inflict any injury.
Or could it?
What if the man had not tripped, but was deliberately dropping to the ground?
In fact, he was behaving like a soldier on Earth who had thrown a hand grenade and was taking evasive action to avoid the blast when it went off!
Yet there were no such things as hand grenades on Zil
likian—
Unless—!
While Bunduki had been Charole’s prisoner, he had learned that at least one person had found out how to produce gunpowder. However, according to the Protectress, the secret of how to make the most effective use of it had eluded them.
What if, during the time that had elapsed since his escape, the Mun-Gatahs had solved the problem?
The blond giant did not waste valuable seconds in speculation. Knowing the danger if he should have guessed correctly, he acted with his customary speed. Leaving the arrow on the bow-quiver, he turned and ran. Before he had taken his fifth stride, he heard the thud as the coconut landed several feet behind him. Instantly, he flung himself forward.
Even as Bunduki landed on the ground, there was a roar of detonating gunpowder behind him to prove that he had guessed and acted correctly. He felt the hot blast and heard the quagga scream in alarm, but was not harmed. Leaping to his feet, he saw that the warrior was also rising. However, there was something of greater importance demanding his attention.
The startled quagga was rearing and pulling backwards, fighting to free itself. Darting forward, the blond giant caught hold of and jerked free the reins to prevent the animal from dragging off its headstall and bit. At the same time, he began to speak soothingly. Since it had come into his possession, he had established an empathy and confidence which paid off at that moment. Although terrified by the explosion, the gelding calmed down. To achieve this took a few seconds and, turning his gaze to the stream, the blond giant saw that the danger was far from ended. The warrior was almost at the opposite bank and held another of the coconut bombs.
Catching hold of the saddle horn with his left hand, Bunduki vaulted astride. Even as his feet were finding the stirrup irons, he kicked his heels against the quagga’s ribs and set it into motion. The glance he had taken while doing so had warned him that it would be unhealthy to linger in the vicinity. Not only was there danger from the man on the other side of the stream, but the riders from the rim were approaching as fast as their gatahs could carry them. Allowing his own mount to build up speed, he guided it at an angle to the direction from which he had come.