For the hunters, Anna listed anyone who passed a knife throwing or crossbow test, could jump rail, and run the limbs at good speed without losing balance, and who was willing to risk a fall down to waiting takosund. Anyone who willingly filled those qualifications would be allowed to hunt. The hunters would split six percent evenly between all who hit a braincase, node, or eye. It didn’t matter if they hit one or a dozen, the split would be even. The five percent hunter’s share which got divided proportionally by who took out the nodes awarded the good hunters. Anna wanted to reward all willing to try, who succeeded even a little.
Last of all, Anna listed for thirty-two carters, who would wait in the processing room, only coming onto second level to retrieve the carts after the takosund got loaded in the carts and everyone had safely come back over the rail. The carters each got an eighth of a percent. Others could help push or pull, if they wished. But the carters would push all the way.
It added up to the twenty percent at the hunt chief’s disposal. There would be twenty-one people, plus the hunters in the trees or on second level during the hunt.
Anna typed up and highlighted the safety precautions. The watchers wouldn’t move from their assigned spots until called in. The winch operator, winch assistants, hunt assistants, and healers would stay on second level. They could cross the rail in only two circumstances. The winch operator and all assistants would cross the rail to help prepare takosund to be pulled in. Once the noose was in place, and the cable hooked on, the winch operator and hunt assistants would go back to second level. The winch assistants would untie pulleys as needed, and cross back to second level as quickly as possible. The only other time, they were allowed to jump rail, was to evacuate an injured person to the second level. It would be the assistant hunters and second level healers’ responsibility to get the injured person to the processing room healers.
When a takosund entered the hunt area under the barricaded trees, everyone except the hunters and watchers needed to either jump rail or hug a tree trunk, whichever was closest, allowing the hunters to run the limbs and to throw without worrying about people being in the way.
Once the takosund were in carts on the second level and the blood bowl got pulled up the watchers and hunters would jump rail. When everyone safely resided on second level, the carters would be sent for and everyone would leave second level with the takosund to go to the bridge.
That was it. Anna sighed deeply and looked at the digital, twenty of eight. She had time to run over and take a nice shower, before going to the bridge. She made it to the bridge with time to spare. The Phsatorae made the announcement precisely at eight. “The Elders and I have granted permission for a takosund hunt to take place in Northwest 3 tomorrow cool. Here is hunt chief, Phwolfe.”
Anna swallowed hard, took a deep breath, and started talking. “A hunt list and Wolfe offer are posted on the trade page. I would strongly suggest everyone read them both through, before deciding whether or not to sign-on for the hunt. The hunt will begin precisely at seven sixty tomorrow cool and is expected to last till at least eleven. All invalids who sign on must have medical approval to work those hours, and more if necessary. I will be at Northwest 3 immediately after this announcement until ten, deciding on whom to accept as sign-ins for the hunt positions. If the list isn’t filled this cool, I will post where to find me tomorrow warm. Thank you, may your blood stay strong.” Anna bowed to the Phsatorae and the Elders, left the bridge, and trotted out and over to Northwest 3.
The first thing she did at Northwest 3 was to set the blood bowl on the center station and to measure a roasting pan. Thanks goodness, the roasting pans and drying pans were the same size. She logged onto the design page and drew up plans for a Baker’s rack. She could slide eighteen of the pans into the rack, each on their own separate lip shelf, so they could all be rolled around at the same time. A cart only held six pans at once. The Baker’s racks would make delivering from Heroes’ Hall to Tamsi and Pealo in East 4 much easier. She ordered up the first rack, just as Sato, Fienu, and Desvren walked in.
“I really liked the willing to risk a fall down to waiting takosund qualification for the hunters. It is such a bold dare. You shall be overrun with potential hunters.” Sato threw back his head and laughed.
“Hunt chief, I have come to sign on as second level medic. Am I acceptable?” Desvren asked.
Anna smiled. “You are very acceptable medic/healer Desvren. Please sign in.” She motioned to the information console.
“I also wish to be a second level medic. May I sign in?” Fienu asked. Anna bowed and motioned him to sign on after Desvren.
“Do I pass, the hunter qualifications, Hunt Chief?” Sato asked with a huge grin.
Anna laughed. “Yes, I’d say you pass Sato. Please sign in. I need a good steel slinger.”
The sign-ins came fast and furious. Liso and Tava signed on as the processing room medics. The assistant hunter spots went to Telluri and Kambu, the two youngest people on the ship. The Phsatorae needed to approve of Telluri because at the youthful Golsidan age of thirty-one he hadn’t had his adult initiation yet. The watchers ended up being Brema, Dasie, Mapao, Kesti, Doru, Tafka, Toruska, Caso, Marfi, Tista, Tanake, and Miasla. Anna assigned them their watch spots. She spread out the experienced watchers and put the inexperienced between them.
Anna was signing on people when Desvren mind touched her. How can I help?
Can you glue together a couple of Baker’s racks? The design is up on the supply processor. I already ordered up the first one. Des answered with a mental hug.
The carters ended up being all of the cool shift carters that were used to working over the rail, plus a few of Tanake’s warm shift workers. The assistant winch operators were Gresa, Dramou the elder mechanic, Jeado, and Pemali, two mechanics who had helped install the winch system.
The whole list was filled at thirteen after nine. Des had glued together three of the Baker’s racks. He helped Anna push them to Heroes’ Hall. Seven cartloads of harvest waited in a line beside the center station. Des volunteered to stand guard at the door, making sure no one went into the room while Anna started cooking. By the time Toruska arrived, she had four carts full of boiled savti to go to Tamsi and Pealo. She put the fried savti and roasted savti on serving trays, until she filled the orders. Then the pans went directly onto the racks for Tamsi and Pealo to package as honor gifts.
Tamsi and Pealo’s help made a world of difference. Just not having to mash the savti saved Anna a good two hours. Plus, they saved her the packaging time. By the end of the shift, the roasted and fried savti were half done, going by what they had used at the last feast. Anna added thirty percent to the totals, because this hunt had fifty-seven people on the top three levels. Most of them from the cool shift again.
Anna swung by East 4 to thank Tamsi and Pealo. She discovered that Tawai, Krea, and Marfi were also working away. No wonder, they had gotten so much done. She thanked them. “Are you guys going to rest up tomorrow warm? I’ve got a lot of bottling to catch up on. The big pots, the steeping pots, and the presses are all full. I’ve got plenty to keep me busy.”
Tamsi spoke up. “I am the only one not on the hunt tomorrow. If you leave the full pans here, I will package them tomorrow cool. It doesn’t matter what, flour, roasted savti, or fried savti. I would rather work in the processing room than be a carter.”
“Well, I have flour re-drying, a batch of roasted savti, and a batch of fried savti cooking tonight. I could fill the racks and leave them here for you.”
“Thank you, I would like that. May your blood stay strong.” Tamsi smiled widely.
Anna bowed to them and walked out. Des had supper waiting when she got home. “Thank you, for the help today Des, those Baker racks worked great.” She walked up beside him and hugged him.
“It seems if I want to see more of you, I need to work with you.”
“We always have the feasts and days off, love. I hope to make them a regular occurrence.”
; “How often do you plan to hunt?” Des asked.
“If this way of hunting works every twenty or twenty-five days, takosunds are plentiful and large. They need to be hunted hard to thin their ranks.”
“But you have to work too hard preparing for the feasts.”
“Tamsi and Pealo make it much easier. Once we get enough non-perishables in stock, so that all I have to do is the perishables. It will become even easier. If the tienara nuts, tienara flour, gesar syrup, gesar flour, gesar glue, and catronu oil all got stocked ahead, it would be a snap. Especially now that you’ve figured out how to get me help. It’s just going to take a little while longer to build up a stockpile. Plus, you are only complaining because you are worried about the hunt.”
“You are not minding me, so how did you know?”
“Honey, you grumble when you get worried. I don’t have to mind you, to hear you grumble.” Anna teased him and kissed his neck, “Nineteen more days.” She whispered in his ear.
Des laughed. “Now who is grumbling?” Des pulled Anna’s chair over close to his at the table and his tail wrapped around her calf as they ate. And she got another awesome backrub, when they climbed into bed.
Anna woke up at the alarm, feeling relaxed. Des was already gone, so she rushed through breakfast and ran to Heroes’ Hall. Anything that needed to be packaged got put on the racks. She put half of the syrup on to re-boil and bottled the rest. She bottled the catronu oil, strained the dyes, and put them to re-boil. Every time a batch of savti got done, she slid it on the racks.
Anna pushed the full racks down to East 4 and stacked pans on the counters. More harvest started to roll in around one thirty. Before she knew it, Anna had run out of pans. Unbelievable! Well, she certainly had enough stacked at East 4 to keep Tamsi busy this cool. Anna bottled up another batch of gesar syrup and catronu oil, before she went home to practice.
Practice went well. Anna had the motions down now. Fire two bolts, hang the crossbow, pull the knives. She stopped early and went out to fix dinner. Des came in. They ate and crawled into bed. Anna set the alarm for seven twenty. She still needed to get the blood ordered up and into the bowl. Plus, one other thing remained for her to do.
Des got up with Anna. They walked down the hall to East 6. “Why do you want some unripe greal?” Des asked.
Anna shrugged. “Just an idea I had, love. If we use it and it works, you will hear all about it. You know you like it, when I surprise you, so don’t peek.”
Des sighed. “All right, but if you don’t use it tonight, you have got to tell me the idea.”
Anna nodded. “Deal, sweetheart.” When they entered Northwest 3 at seven forty, they were carrying sixteen nets of unripe greal. Des showed her how to get the processor to make takosund blood. People started arriving, right after they filled the bowl about halfway up.
Telluri and Kambu arrived last at seven fifty-five. Telluri had knives strapped all over himself. He could barely move, because the straps bound him up. Worse yet, he had decked himself solely with harvest knifes.
Anna shook her head. No way around it, the boy needed to be taught a lesson. “Assistant hunter Telluri, remove all those knives and leave them on the central station.” She ordered.
“But… but how can I hunt with no knives?” Telluri stuttered.
“You signed on as an assistant hunter, you stated that you had read your responsibilities and agreed to perform them. Now Telluri, tell me what are your responsibilities as an assistant hunter?”
“I... I help hunt.” Telluri said.
“Wrong answer! Kambu, what are your responsibilities?” Anna barked.
“I am to stay on second level unless I’m helping to put a noose on a takosund or evacuating injured personnel. If I’m over the rail when takosund come, I must either jump rail to second level or hug a tree trunk to stay out of the hunters’ way.”
“You signed on for that job Telluri. If you refuse to do it, you will be defaulting on the contract you signed, incurring a heavy fine for yourself. Now, remove those knives or go back to your cabin. I won’t delay this hunt for someone who signed a contract without reading it. Let’s go people.”
Sato and Anna carried the blood bowl between them. With Kambu using the third gaff, together they lowered it to the jungle floor. Anna lifted the cover up and raised it with her gaff pole. “Kambu, can you carry these three gaffes and the cover without falling?” Anna signed.
“Telluri is at the rail. Can he help?” Kambu signed back.
“Assistant Telluri, come help carry these gaffes to second level.” Anna signed at the rail. Telluri obeyed at a run. He had removed the knives. They waited twenty-four minutes, before watcher Caso spotted movement headed their way. From the other side Tafka reported movement; they seemed to all show up at once. Suddenly, three takosunds converged on the bowl. When the first one got close enough Anna fired two bolts and threw three knives.
The shots were much easier from tree level than from the ground. Anna jumped over two limbs and fired two bolts and threw one knife into the second takosund. She left it for Sato to finish. She swung around behind a tree trunk and jumped down onto a barrier top. She fired two bolts into the third takosund and finished it with knife throws.
All three takosunds had had their heads down, making the braincase and top nodes easy shots for the bolts. Sato and Anna circled each takosund on the limbs. They agreed that all of the nodes were hit.
Anna signed for the winch assistants to bring over the cable and prepare to haul in number 1. She signed for Telluri to bring over a gaff pole and noose pole. Sato signed for Kambu to bring him one of each, too. Anna took takosund number 1. Sato took number 2. They just got the cable hooked on to the noose and the slack pulled up on number 1, when Brema signed movement.
The fourth takosund came in fast. It flashed through the bushes. The enormous creature circled around. Anna was waiting when it came under her limb, moving very fast towards her. Not good angles for the top node shots. Anna took them, bad angle and all. The takosund wrapped the tree, trying to climb. Anna ran out on the limb and sat down straddling it. She leaned over as far as she could and started throwing knives. She got a lot of spine shots. The takosund slid down off the tree. It tried to wriggle away and finally gave her open nerve nodes.
Anna stood up and signed the winch assistants “Start pulling it in!” They got the first one all the way in, lifted up and were hooking it over the rail when Tista signed movement.
This takosund went for the second takosund which Sato had a noose on instead of the blood bowl. It wrapped the dead takosund. Anna had to take a mid-leap shot to get the braincase shot. She landed, took two running strides down the landing limb and leaped back to the first limb. She got the top node on that leap. She landed, hung the crossbow and started slinging steel.
Sato had the noose pole braced between his right arm and the limb he sat on. He was slinging steel with his left hand. The winch assistants jumped rail the moment the fifth one was finished. Gresa started setting up pulleys to number two. Jeado walked right behind him threading the cable through the pulleys. Dramou and Pemali started laying pulleys out to number three and four. Anna sent out an image. “Tie the knots on the side of the limbs, so no one trips over them.” They must have caught the image, because that’s what they did. They moved real fast. They pulled in number two, then three; they had number four lifted up when it began to twitch.
Anna mind shouted to Kali. “Stop! Wait!” She ran in and jumped to the rail shelf. All the nerve nodes were hit. The takosund twitched again. She looked down in time to see a retreating takosund head. It hid under them on the ground level biting on number four.
Anna signed to Kali. “Can you extend the arm out? I need it to come out further to get a shot.” Kali swung the hanging takosund out. The hidden takosund darted out to strike. Anna’s bolts hit right on target. The shot takosund tried to wrap the hanging one. Sato and Anna hit its nerve nodes before it could succeed.
Six was more than e
nough. “Okay Kali, pull it up!” Anna hollered at the top of her lungs. “Everybody start shouting, singing, and yelling. We’ve got enough for one hunt.” They all set to with a will. What a racket? Anna joined in and laughed, when she realized she was singing. “From the halls of Montezuma, to the shores of Tripoli, we will fight our country’s battles in air, on land and sea,” at the top of her lungs.
Sato and Anna put the lid on the blood bowl and lifted it up. They carried it over to the second level, and then went back out to keep on top of things. Miasla hollered. “I have got a takosund over here. He keeps coming in, going out, then turning around, and coming back again.”
“Telluri, bring me four of those nets of unripe greal.” Anna turned and smiled at Sato. “Time to play nasty!” Sato and Anna ran over to Miasla’s watching spot. Telluri arrived with the nets. Anna opened one of the nets. “Everyone, grab a bunch of unripe greal, when that takosund shows itself, we throw the greal at it. Hit it whenever you can, when it starts snapping at the greal, trying to catch them, stop throwing. I want to send it, a whole net full to latch onto.”
“They only eat overripe greal that falls to the ground. Those actually taste sweet.” Sato cocked his head and smiled. “I like the way you think, Phwolfe.”
“There it is!” Telluri hollered and started throwing greal. With all of them shooting greal at it, it didn’t take long for it to start snapping. Anna grabbed a full net and lofted it down at the takosund.
The takosund snapped it up as quick as lightning. It froze in place. It shuddered from nostrils to tail tip. It shook its head. Its gripping arm reached up and got fouled in the net. It wrapped on thin air, shivering and shaking. Everyone who saw it started laughing to beat the band. Finally, the takosund wrapped a tree and stayed there, quivering along its whole length. It glared up at them with watering eyes.
Phwolfe Song (Golsidan Revival Series Book 1) Page 35