IN NATURA: a science fiction novel (ARZAT SERIES Book 2)

by David Samuel Frazier

  For a moment, he considered following the larger group. Perhaps they will lead me to him, he thought, and hence to Alex. Mot marked the spot in his mind. I will try for one torch of time, no more, and then return and follow this group.

  He continued to cut through the forest, pausing at each sign of an animal passing, sniffing carefully, but he could not regain the scent of Alex or her abductor. The sky was beginning to show more and more light. Qu’aa was about to rise and show his face through the scattered rain clouds.

  Mot stopped briefly, placed one knee on the ground, and made a silent request to the Great Creator to show him the way to Alex, listening intently all the while to the ground vibrations. His fingers failed to detect any significant movement.

  As he stood back up, he looked back at the valley he had just come through and tried to imagine where exactly Tom and Ara must be. They will be coming soon, he suddenly remembered. I must leave Ara enough signs so she can follow.

  Mot turned and swiftly headed back to the ravine where he had sniffed out the hunters. When he reached the spot, he made sure to leave a strong scent by rubbing his hands on some tree limbs and urinating for good measure. Up until the encounter with the dogs, he had been carefully marking the trails he had taken so Ara could easily follow, but he knew his efforts spent trying to regain Alex’s scent would only confuse her.

  This is close enough to the camp, he thought, as he finished pissing. Ara cannot miss this. He worried for a moment about Tom and Ara crossing paths with the dogs. The Pilot will know what to do, he reassured himself.

  Mot straightened his loincloth and started up the trail he knew the Arzat Hunters had taken, increasing his pace to a full trot. The scent of so many Arzats was easy to track and they had left enough other signs that Mot had no trouble following.

  They must be young, he surmised, from the unnecessarily obvious trail they had left. It was as if they had no fear of other predators or had not been properly taught how to hunt. Perhaps they are as poorly schooled in combat, he thought hopefully.

  Eventually, he spotted a small creek and gratefully stopped for a drink. As he bent down to the water’s edge, Mot looked up and noticed other tracks in the sand on the opposite side. He sniffed the water and sipped, carefully observing the tracks from a distance. They did not look like Arzat tracks. They were far too deep and sunken into the sand.

  He rose and jumped to the far side to fully examine them. His senses were immediately overwhelmed with strange new scents.

  The indentations were deep and circular and the smell was familiar to Mot from the brief time he had spent on Alex’s ranch. The animals she and Tom called horses had recently watered here and much more recently than the hunters Mot was tracking. But there was something else. Mot looked closely at the horse tracks. There were many of them, all centered near the water. Then he spied another kind of track intermingled with that of the horses and the scales bristled on the back of his neck. He bent down and took a good sniff, then stood and cautiously looked around.

  There was no mistaking it—the scent was that of humans—and these humans were still very much alive!

  CHAPTER 29

  AMBUSH

  Baa’s feet hurt, and he had grown weary from fast pace that he himself had set, never mind the fact that Za’at had ordered him to maintain it on pain of death. Secretly, Baa hoped to beat Za’at back to the caves, and he had been pushing hard to do so. Now, with the light of Qu’aa about to show his face over the horizon, it was beginning to look as if that might actually be a possibility. There was still no sign of Za’at, and they were getting close to home.

  Baa was still smarting over the beating he had taken from Za’at, but as they neared the caves, he was becoming more concerned with the potential repercussions of his own actions with every step he took. The more that his head had cooled off, the more Baa began to realize how stupid he had been to have ever challenged him. He knew, regardless of what the Elders might have to say about Za’at’s leadership, he had committed an atrocity of his own by openly challenging him; it was very unlikely he would escape some kind of punishment from the Council for his own behavior. His only hope would be to present his case to the Elders before Za’at showed up.

  Baa shuddered at his prospects and gave the group the command to break. Suddenly, he found himself in no hurry to reach home. He looked at the sky and could see more morning light coming from over the mountains. The hunters had reached the steep terrain that would take them into the mountains and eventually to the caves. Just half a het, he thought, and we will be home. Another wave of dread swept over him.

  Baa vaguely wondered again where Za’at might be and why he had not caught up with them yet. A very small part of him started to wish he had. Being the appointed leader was not as easy as he had thought, and Baa had already grown weary from the weight of it. The wellbeing of all of the hunters now rested completely on his shoulders, and this was a treacherous and dangerous land. If anything happened to his group, Baa would now assume full responsibility. He found himself actually looking forward to relinquishing command when they finally made the caves.

  He looked anxiously at the surroundings and sniffed and flicked the air. The Arzats had been traveling all night and on several occasions Baa had been overcome with the uneasy feeling his group was being followed. Each time he had stopped, he fully tested the air and the ground for enemies and had the hunters do the same. Each time, neither he nor any of the others had detected any unusual movement or scents.

  Mek, at one point, had sensed the movement of a group of four-footed beasts. Not heavy enough to be ungos and not light enough to be var or ree, Mek was unable to make out just what they were. “Perhaps a wild herd of arsas,” he had reported, but the animals were too far away to be sure. Thankfully, none of those beasts presented any real threat to the hunters, and Baa had dismissed Mek’s comments when he failed to detect them himself.

  The Arzats found a group of large, clean boulders and gratefully dumped their heavy loads of uman carcasses on top of them. They were in a wide ravine that had a small creek flowing down its center. Walls of dark rock, perhaps five or six sticks high, surrounded them on both sides.

  As Baa stretched his back and looked around, he suddenly realized that their low position was not the best from a strategic standpoint. It would be hard to defend themselves from any would be attackers. Za’at would never have allowed us to stop here, he thought.

  For a moment, he considered immediately moving on to a better resting place, but he was exhausted and the other hunters had already settled into a semi-circle and were either squatting or sitting, resting their tired feet.

  Just a short break, he resolved, and squatted with the rest of the group. Baa pulled his water skin out for a drink and nervously scanned the dark rocks above. Something moved.

  Baa rose quickly, sniffing and flicking his tongue. There was nothing alarming in the air, but he knew they were too low in the valley to fully detect what might be going on above them. He crouched, placed palms to the ground, and continued to watch the ridgeline carefully. Something up there had moved. He was almost sure. Had it?

  “What’s wrong, Baa?” one of the other hunters asked, still nervous from the earthquake they had experienced earlier and convinced it had been a bad omen.

  It was still too dark to make out the full detail of the ridge, but there was no further visible movement, and Baa could sense no ground vibrations. He looked closely at the top edge of the cliffs, scanning both sides of the canyon with his sharp eyes. Nothing.

  My head must be playing tricks, he thought, yet he couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling that he and his hunting party were being watched.

  “I thought . . . I thought I saw some movement up on the ridgeline.”

  At once, each of the hunters placed their hands to the ground, flicked at the early morning air, and carefully scanned the ridge.

  Finally, Mek waived his hand dismissively. “There’s nothing there, Baa. It’s just the l
ight.”

  Baa continued to observe with all of his senses, but he could detect no movement and no scent of any threat. Still, his gut told him that something was not right.

  “Mek,” he finally said to his friend who was squatting close by. “We need to move out of here.” He stood up and was just about to issue the full order to the entire group of hunters when a shaft entered his mouth and partially exited the back of his skull.

  Baa stumbled, gagging on the projectile, his mouth full of blood. He looked over at Mek as his consciousness quickly faded. The last thing he was aware of was the distinct smell of uman wafting down his nostrils from the wooden shaft protruding from his face.

  The rest of the hunters immediately rose and split, aware of the attack from the sudden movement of umans on the ridge and the rain of their weapons into the valley. They began to run separately for the safety and cover of the canyon walls, but they were too late. A volley of the uman arrows and spears was coming down on them from every direction and the hunters were falling. Only Mek, who had been the first to see his friend skewered, had managed a fast enough start to put any distance between himself and the carnage.

  He ran swiftly back down the canyon, away from the attackers, and was just about to reach the cover of a large rock formation when one of the small uman shafts caught him from behind. He lost a step and almost tumbled before regaining his footing, the head of the weapon visibly protruding from the front of his right shoulder. The pain was excruciating, but Mek continued to run until he knew he was well away from the ambush.

  When he was sure he was safe, he paused and placed his good hand to the ground. Now, he could feel the movement of many of the two-footed umans interspersed with a lot of four-footed activity that Mek was now sure must be their arsas. He tried to judge numbers, but there was too much activity to measure.

  That is how they managed to surprise us, he thought, the pain surging through his right shoulder along with the sickening revelation that he had actually detected them much earlier. The umans have used arsas!

  He used his mind to search for any sign of life from the other hunters, but there was only stillness. Five more Arzats dead and I myself wounded, he thought, perhaps on my way to death. Nothing about this trip was good. Ar’ta had been right—the earthquake was an omen.

  Mek tried again to reach the other hunters one last time, but nothing came to him other than signs that the smooth-skin warriors were stalking him. When he tested the ground, he could feel them approaching.

  CHAPTER 30

  LONE WOLF

  After the young woman had eaten her fill of buffalo, Tom and Ara had decided to let her sleep before they began questioning her. It was clear to both of them that she was spent.

  “She is too exhausted to be of any use to us tonight, Tom Pilot,” Ara had said to him, despite her own desire to fully question the female. She knew that Tom was equally exhausted and equally in need of rest, but she blocked the thought, not wishing to offend him. “Qu’aa will rise in just three or four torches. Better to get some rest, Pilot. We will leave at first light, and I will attempt to speak to the little female and question her along the way.”

  While he had been anxious to find out what the young girl might know about Alex, Tom was far too tired to argue with Ara’s point. He realized that all of them needed sleep or they would be worthless in the morning. The two of them piled up what was left of the clothing Ara and Mot had shed earlier in the day and made the best bed they could for their surprise guest.

  “You need rest, little Ma-ri-a,” Ara told her telepathically. “In the morning, we must go and find our friend, and you will come with us. You need not worry. I will protect you with my life. Sleep now, and I will awaken you when Qu’aa rises.”

  Maria had looked into the golden eyes of the giant lizard, still not believing she could “hear” the creature speaking in her mind. With her stomach full and somewhat less fearful for her life, Maria’s body suddenly felt as if it weighed a thousand stones. She allowed the creature to lead her to the area that had obviously been prepared for her. Gratefully settling into a pile of their strange clothing, she dropped instantly off to sleep.

  * * *

  Tom awoke immediately to Ara’s touch. Light was already beginning to show on the eastern horizon, though it felt as if he had just shut his eyes for a moment. He looked over toward the fire, almost surprised to see that the young girl was still sleeping exactly where he and Ara had left her. Her sudden appearance the night before still seemed like a dream.

  “I watched her all night, Tom Pilot,” Ara said to him, reading his mind.

  “I thought you might sleep, Ara,” Tom said, struggling to lift his stiff body from the hard ground.

  Jesus, I must be getting old, he thought, trying to work some movement into his limbs. He laughed at his own unintentional joke, suddenly remembering the eight thousand odd years that the cryo sleep had piled on to his original thirty-seven.

  “There was too much out there,” Ara said, her eyes indicating the perimeter of the camp. “Perhaps you should awaken the female, Pilot. She seems less frightened by your presence.” She looked back toward the impending sunrise. “We need to leave soon.”

  Tom slowly approached the young girl and gently placed his hand on her shoulder. She moved slightly, and then appeared to settle into an even deeper slumber. He shook her a bit and she finally opened her eyes, startled.

  Maria had been having a pleasant dream about being home, back with her tribe, as if she had never been foolish enough to leave in the first place. When she opened her eyes, she was instantly reminded of her current predicament.

  The strange male was crouching close by. He had surprised her, but there was something in his eyes that was immediately reassuring. He’s actually quite handsome, she thought, even if he is old. The hair on his head was the shortest she had ever seen. Maria glanced past the man and could see the female lizard some paces behind him, watching her.

  “At et ur namo?” Maria asked the male as she sat up.

  Tom heard her words and though he didn’t totally understand them, he knew what she meant. “My name is Tom. And that,” he said, gesturing behind, “is Ara.”

  “Tam . . . Aaara . . .” Maria repeated. “E ama et Maria,” she said, pointing at herself.

  “Nice to meet you, Maria,” Tom said, holding out his hand.

  Maria extended her own, expecting the man was offering to help her up, but he clasped it momentarily and released. How odd, she thought.

  “Well, Maria, we need to go find Alex,” Tom said.

  The woman gave him a confused look.

  “We need to go and find Tom’s mate,” Maria heard the female lizard say clearly in her head. “Maria, did you see another female yesterday?”

  Maria looked at the lizard Ara and attempted the reply only with her own mind. “Yes. I was close by when a woman was taken by another of your kind.”

  “Tom Pilot,” Ara said, “she saw Alex being captured. I also could see it in her memories last night, but the images were vague and from quite a distance.”

  “Where? What happened?” Tom said aloud, forgetting that the woman could not understand him.

  Ara redirected her attention to the female. “Maria, did you see what happened? Did the Arzat kill the woman?”

  Maria paused. “I am not sure. I was on the other side of the river, and it was hard to see. Is that what you . . . call yourselves . . . Arzats?”

  “Yes Maria, but we—my mate and I—are from a different time. It is a very long story. Where did you see this happen?”

  “Up the river,” Maria said, pointing in the direction Mot had gone.

  “Maria, we need you to take us there. Can you do that?”

  * * *

  It was late morning by the time the three of them reached Maria’s old camp. Ara was forced to move slowly, though she could tell that both of the humans were doing their best to keep up with her.

  Along the way, the young female had
stopped and pointed out the spot where she had seen Tom’s mate captured. Ara carefully sniffed the area and looked around, relieved that she could not see or detect the scent of blood, only the fading scents of both Alex and the Arzat who had apparently taken her. She had reassured Tom the Pilot that if Alex had been killed, it had not happened when she was captured.

  As they got closer to Maria’s camp, Ara cautioned them. The stench coming from the area was strong enough that the Arzat was sure even a human could smell it. Mot had done a good job marking his own trail for her, but there was another scent present in the area that Ara was not familiar with. It smelled dangerous—some sort of predator she could not identify.

  “Do you know these tracks, Tom Pilot?” she said, bending down over an area of soft earth.

  Tom studied the marks carefully. They looked like dog tracks, but they were much larger. A chill ran up his spine. “Wolves, Ara. These have to be wolf tracks. Too big to be anything else.”

  “Are these the beasts you described before?” Ara said, remembering Tom’s description of the four-legged “dogs” he had once talked about. She was already testing the ground.

  “Yes, Ara, very . . .”

  “They are close, Tom Pilot,” she said, rising and seizing his arm.

  Tom looked up just in time to see a large wolf silently running toward the three of them, teeth barred. He swiftly pulled his long knife and prepared for battle but not nearly as swiftly as his Arzat friend had moved, stepping between Tom and Maria and shielding them with her body from the charging wolf.

  Ara let out a scream that was so loud it seemed impossible to Tom that it could have come from her. The wolf stumbled and scrambled to regain its footing and then changed direction and vanished into the underbrush almost as quickly as it had appeared.