“The trick is to make them do the work,” Romi said, getting to his feet. “I was trying to stop her like someone who wasn’t trained would do.”
“And so I used his fat arse against himself, instead of me,” Jou said cheekily. “Come back and we’ll try it again.”
Over the next half hour, Karik tried to learn the trick. Even when Jou reversed positions and threw him carefully, he still couldn’t quite see how she wanted him to move. It was only when Wepizi demonstrated on Romi, and then Jou on Romi once more that he realised what the move was designed to do. Once he could explain it to himself in anatomical terms, it was easy, and when Jou finally found herself on the grass after a successful toss, she smiled up at him as fondly as a mother looking at her newborn babe. “Well done. I’ve never had a beginner move that smoothly once they got the knack.”
Karik explained what he thought they were trying to do, and the bones involved, how the muscle groups had to be working to produce the effect. Wepizi was fascinated and insisted Karik gave him a commentary as he did another move, this time using Reisa to demonstrate.
“Hey, Jou, don’t forget to tell Karik the three most important bits,” Sibu called as the little lecture began to come to a natural end.
“Which are?” Karik asked.
“Romi, care to demonstrate?” Jou said.
“Gods, why me?” Romi groaned, but obediently took up an attack position behind her. “Be gentle, corporal.”
“Don’t be a baby, captain. All right, Karik, you can be the size of a child and still protect yourself against someone coming from behind if you remember toes, “ she swiftly stomped on Romi’s, “nuts and guts!” Karik winced as her elbow expertly—and painfully—applied itself to Romi at just those points. Romi collapsed in not entirely feigned agony as his soldiers laughed. “If you have to choose, go for his balls every time. Being shorter is an advantage if you need to do that,” she added with a wink.
“I’ll remember that,” Karik said with a straight face. “Especially if it’s Romi.”
“Oh, thanks very much, Karik,” Romi said, groaning again as he climbed to his feet, holding his stomach. “You’re a vicious little bitch, Jou, and I mean that as a compliment.”
“Thank you, captain, I try my best.”
“I’m sure. Right, everyone, I’m going to nurse my bruises. But we should do this again tomorrow. Jou, work out a programme—one that doesn’t need me as a victim, if you don’t mind.”
“You’re no fun, captain.”
“I’m getting old, corporal, and I’ve not done using my testicles, thank you.”
Karik grinned at that as he walked back to the camp with the others. That had been surprisingly enjoyable, and after the first moments, he’d entirely forgotten about being afraid. It had been a good day for that.
Soza and Kizinke were sitting at the fire drinking tea as the rest of the team came back—it was now getting dark, and Karik picked up a lamp to light with a brand from the campfire. “Don’t you think you’re wasting your time and talent doing something like that, Karik?” Soza asked. “I have to wonder what your esteemed uncles would think of you pursuing such a coarse activity.”
Karik’s temper, always an unpredictable beast these days, flared. “Are you suggesting that a pastime fit for my uncle Lord Arman is unfit for me, Soza? I’ll be sure to pass that observation on, next time he and Captain Tiko have one of their weekly spars.”
Soza wasn’t the least abashed. “It’s not the pastime per se but those conducting it. Some people soil all they touch,” he said, sending a dark look Romi’s way.
Karik glared at Soza. “Yes, indeed they do,” he snapped. “Sorry to be such a disappointment to you. I’m obviously unfit to inhabit your refined sphere and will take myself off to avoid offending you.”
He picked up a burning brand and lit the lamp, and bid the two a stiff good night before stalking off to relieve himself. Romi followed him. “Don’t let him rattle you,” he said quietly, leaning against a tree. “This isn’t about him, or his opinions.”
“I know. I won’t.”
Romi grunted. “Good. You did well tonight, Karik. You can be proud of yourself.”
“Thanks. Good night, Romi.”
“Good night.”
Perhaps it was pathetic of him that Romi’s praise could so entirely take the sting out of Soza’s disdain. At the back of his mind, he knew this fresh conflict between him and Soza would bear sour fruit in the future when he resumed his scholarly work, but the man he was now, in the place he was now, just didn’t care. Soza would cause him trouble, of that he was sure. But the approval of a man like Soza, senior researcher or not, wasn’t as important as retaining his own self-respect. Losing the second to keep the first just wasn’t worth it. Besides, his hero had revealed his feet of clay too thoroughly to ever regain Karik’s approval. He regretted that, but it was past changing. And for now, Karik would use whatever he could, whoever he could, to recover from the damage the attack in Visiqe had caused.
Staying Power: 24
The sparring sessions in the warm, long evenings continued, and Karik was accepted as part of them as naturally as any of the team. It helped his confidence, and taught him not only a good deal about defence, but also about his own prejudices. He would never look at soldiering in the same way again, and this was a good thing. He despised muddy or narrow thinking and it was rather shaming to acknowledge his own illogical areas. Still, having acknowledged them, like his fears, he could begin to surmount them, and that was what he intended to do.
True to his word, Romi switched from Matu’s team to Karik’s. There was a slight reorganisation of personnel anyway, with them splitting into three groups rather than four as had occurred before. Now Wepizi and Kizinke went with Matu’s group since the geology of this region was considered almost as fascinating as the botany, while Karik led the larger group of plant collectors into the field. Soza stayed in camp with Sibu and Reisa, and occasionally Pali or Tiro, with the soldiers helping him to process the huge amount of material coming in, and attending to the maintenance of the camp.
A week or so after that strangely peaceful day, Karik’s team were working in a high meadow east of the camp. The alpine flora was at its most magnificent, and he had to resist the temptation to just lie down in the warm sun and inhale the sweet scent of thousands of flowers all calling to the insects to come and spread their pollen. It was like the world’s most wonderful garden, he thought wistfully, and wished he had some way of recording the beauty to share with his friends and family back home. Jes would adore this, he thought.
“Now, now, no day-dreaming.” A shadow fell across his notes and Karik looked up. “Look at this, will you?” Romi knelt and uncupped his hand. “Isn’t he something?”
It was an enormous iridescent beetle, with long feathery antennae and red eyes. “He surely is,” Karik said, thinking how jealous Gyo would be not to have seen it. “Where did you find him? Did you record the location?”
“Of course I did, Master Karik. He was under a leaf on this plant—here, hold him.” Romi gently transferred the strangely docile beetle to Karik’s hand, and opened the collecting sack at his belt. Karik was pleased to see the card tag was correctly completed—he’d never had to nag Romi about this point. “This confused me—the leaves are like a grass but the flower isn’t a grass flower.”
Karik looked at it, and grinned. “Gods, not again. That’s the third plant in two days you’ve found that’s new to our records. We’re going to have so many plants named after you, we may as well create a genus specially for you.”
Romi grinned too. “Sorry. I can put it back—”
“Not on your life. And the beetle was with it...hmmm, I wonder if he was looking for prey or if he pollinates it. He’s a bit big for a pollinator.”
“Is he dead?”
“No, just pretending. Hold him while I make some notes, and then I’ll show you.” He quickly wrote down Romi’s exact description how he’d found
the beetle, the plant on which it had been sitting, and made a rough sketch. They weren’t collecting insects, for which Karik was very glad because it would have been a shame to have to kill such a fine creature as this. “Now, look.” He put the beetle on the ground, and moved back. Nothing happened for a minute or so, but then, suddenly with a sharp click, the beetle spread its elytra, revealed its bright yellow underwings and flew off.
Romi laughed. “He had me fooled completely.”
“That’s the point. Thanks for showing me that—he was special.”
“You’re welcome. I think I could really get interested in beetles.”
“You remind me of Gyo. He’d stop anything, anytime, if you showed him one. Still does.”
“Sounds like a good friend for someone like you.”
“Oh yes. The best friend I could ever have,” Karik said with feeling. “And it looks like he’s going to marry one of my other dearest friends.”
“Sounds cosy.”
“Yes, it does. I—”
He was interrupted by distant screams. A woman.
“Sibu!” Romi was already running for his beast. “Everyone, on your mounts, now! Back to the camp!”
Everyone was mounted up in moments, but Karik had to whip his beast hard to catch up to Romi who had raced ahead to find out what had happened. When they arrived at the campsite, it looked like a battlefield—the tent was collapsed, torn open, their belongings and stores scattered all over the clearing which stank of the blood which stained the ground in great spatters, and right in the middle of the destroyed camp, lay a dead tewi cub—the most probable culprit, but surely not the only one. Romi sent Jou and Taz in one direction after a trail, Kepi and Tiro in another. “With me, Karik,” he said, crouching low to sniff at a broken leaf, then moving silently through the woods.
Within minutes, groans led them to Sibu, lying curled around her injuries. She stirred as they rushed to her side, and knelt to tend to her. “Pali,” she whispered, moving her arm agonisingly to point deeper into the woods. “Reisa.”
“Stay with her,” Romi snapped at Karik, before crouching again to pick up the trail and heading off.
Karik knelt beside the injured woman. He took off his shirt and balled it against the deep wounds on her stomach and chest—he needed to clean, bandage and stitch, but these were tewi claw marks and until they were safe, he dared not move her. She was bleeding badly but she would survive if she got treatment soon. He checked her, careful not to jostle her. “What happened?”
“Tewis. Came into camp. Soza threw a rock.” She gasped in pain.
“Shhh, stay still. He threw something at a cub? The mother attacked?”
“Yes...tore up the camp...Pali shot it. Reisa wounded the mother....” She winced. “We went after it. Got me.... Reisa and Pali chased it. “
Karik nodded, secretly horrified by what he’d heard. Adult female tewis were about the most feared creatures in Andon, and to have attacked a cub when they’d all been warned that above all else, they must not go near them because of the danger of provoking the female, was madness. “Soza?”
“Ran off. No...time to deal with him.”
Karik turned sharply as he heard something coming behind them, but was relieved to see it was only Jou and Taz. “We found Soz— Sibu!” Jou rushed to her friend’s side. “What happened?”
“Later, Jou,” Karik said urgently. “Taz, Romi’s gone after Pali and Reisa who were searching for a wounded female tewi—that way.”
“We need to get Sibu out of here,” Taz said. “Can she be moved, Jou?”
Karik quickly told her what he’d discovered of her injuries, and then Jou did a brief examination to confirm. “Taz, do you think you can lift her without hurting her?”
“I’ll do my damndest.”
Sibu cried out a little as her teammate lifted her gently and carried her back to the camp. Jou held her hand. “What about Romi?” Karik asked.
“We’ll find him when Sibu’s safe,” Taz said. “We can’t abandon her.”
“Karik,” Jou said, “run ahead and see if you can find the medical supplies in that mess. We’ll need somewhere to lay her down.”
He obeyed, racing on through the trees, trying to make a mental map of the camp as it had been and where Netu had stowed the main supplies. He found Soza sitting on a rock, being tended by Kepi and Tiro—he didn’t look seriously injured, although he was holding his arm and Tiro was easing a boot off one foot. “Kepi, Sibu’s badly hurt—I need Netu’s supplies. Help me lift this lot up, will you?”
Soza looked at him, white-faced. “Karik, I—”
“Be quiet,” he snapped, and Soza quailed. “We’re still in a dangerous situation. Tiro, Taz and Jou are bringing her in, but Romi went after the others. There’s a wounded female tewi on the loose.”
“Gods. Right—Kepi, I’ll stand watch, you help Karik. Does anyone know which way Wepizi and Matu’s group went?”
“They were going to climb that low peak to the south,” Karik called over his shoulder. “You better keep an eye out for them until we know if the tewi is dead.”
The stench of blood was overpowering, but there was no time to deal with it now. With Kepi’s help, Karik lifted the collapsed tent, and they found the supplies. While Karik sorted them out, Kepi dragged a sleeping pallet out of the mess and set up a makeshift bed for their wounded colleague. Karik told him to bring out two more—it was likely that Sibu wasn’t their only casualty. He didn’t consider Soza to be one—Soza was sitting up, had good colour and wasn’t leaking blood. Compared to Sibu, he was fine, and could damn well wait until the emergency was over.
They were still finding the things they needed to help treat a wounded person when Taz and the two women entered the clearing. Sibu was only half-conscious but still in great pain. Jou took charge. “Karik, you and Kepi will help me. Taz, Tiro, go back after Romi.”
The two soldiers peeled off. Kepi was sent in search of clean water. Karik helped Jou cut Sibu’s shredded shirt from her body and the extent of her injuries became clear—ten deep gashes across her right breast and stomach, a broken right arm and bad bruising down her right side. They’d barely begun to deal with her wounds when Karik heard a shout and lifted his head to see Romi, Taz and Tiro helping Pali and Reisa into camp. Karik and Kepi ran to assist them—Reisa was the most seriously hurt with claw marks across his face and blood all over his upper body, but it looked like both men had tangled badly with the tewi. “Is it dead?” Karik asked as he supervised Reisa being lowered to one of the sleeping mats.
“It’s dead,” Romi said, his face grim. “Pali said there was only the one cub, so I think we’re safe for now.” He knelt by Sibu. “Courage, soldier,” he said gently as she winced against Jou’s handling. “Can I help?” he asked Jou.
“We’ll handle this, Romi,” Jou said. “You better deal with the camp and that stinking thing.”
“Yes. Does anyone know what happened?”
“Time for that later, Romi,” Karik said, not wanting him to find out while things were still so fraught. “Tiro? Can you help please?”
The three injured soldiers took all his attention as he and Jou worked to staunch the bleeding, and clean, stitch and dress the wounds. Around him, he was aware the camp was being put into order, and that Wepizi and the others had arrived, but he concentrated on the task and didn’t lift his head until all three of their patients were dosed with pijn and out of danger. Netu, coming to assist them, said he would check on Soza once Jou and Karik had things under control.
Karik and Jou were covered with blood by the end of it, and, retrieving his shirt, he went with her down to the stream to wash. “Gods, Karik,” she said, scrubbing her hands and arms in the swift flowing water. “That’s the worst I’ve ever dealt with. Sibu will bear those wounds until the day she dies.”
Karik nodded in sympathy as he wrung out his shirt—they were disfiguring and painful injuries for anyone, but for a woman to have one breast half torn off was e
ven more horrible. “At least she’s alive, and she’s young and fit enough to heal fast.”
“She can’t travel on with us though. None of them can. Did she say what happened?”
He waited until she’d finished rinsing her face before he answered. “Um, it looks like Soza provoked the cub and the mother attacked....”
~~~~~~~~
Romi surveyed the camp, rubbing his forehead as he tried to make sure he’d covered everything. The only person who’d told him what had happened was Soza, who was half-paralysed with terror. All he’d said, in a rather incoherent fashion, was that they’d found tewis in the camp on their return and had been attacked. The man himself had a slashed arm and a badly sprained ankle which Netu was treating, now Jou and Karik had finished with their more seriously wounded colleagues. Sibu and the others were now resting quietly on sleeping pads in the open—as Jou and Karik headed to clean up, Jou had said that the patients were out of danger and just needed time to recover.
Wepizi was supervising the resurrection of the tent—it was damaged and would need repairs, but at least it would still provide some shelter. The scattered packs and stores were being collected and tallied, while the corpses of the dead animals had been taken deep into the woods to be skinned and then buried. Slowly order was being restored, and now Romi would have to consider how this affected the expedition as a whole.
As he was pondering this, and watching the activities going on around him, he suddenly heard running footsteps. He turned just in time to see Jou wrench Soza from Netu’s hands, lift him up bodily and slap his face. Gods. Romi ran over and prevented her launching a more serious blow with her clenched fist. “Stand down, corporal,” he snapped, pulling her back. “What’s going on?”
She spat in Soza’s direction—the naturalist was cringing against the tree under which he’d been sitting. “All this is his fault,” she said, as she lunged at the man again. Romi pulled her back, wrapping his arms tightly around her to stop her doing Soza—or anyone else—an injury. “Sibu got hurt because this bastard threw a rock at the cub!”
Staying Power (Darshian Tales #3) Page 33