Hunters Unlucky

by Abigail Hilton

  Storm could not meet Roup’s steady gaze. “Not anymore.”

  “No,” said Roup in a tired voice, “he still does. You never really stop loving someone like that…no matter how hard you try.” Roup turned away before Storm could respond and went back to lie down beside Arcove.

  * * * *

  Leagues below, in the twilight of the Dreaming Sea, a pair of blue eyes opened, fully alert for the first time in decades. Syra-lay raised his snowy head, scattering brightly colored fish and crabs. His coils rippled and uncurled, snapping off crustaceans and bits of coral. He yawned hugely, shook himself, and laughed. “My song is finished.”

  Chapter 5. Loyalty

  In the chilliest time of night, just before dawn, Charder crouched on the cold stone near the northern mouth of the tunnel. He wrapped his tail around his legs and tried to stay awake. He was thinking that this all felt familiar—as though the past and the future were colliding. I have waited, hungry and cold, in such caves before.

  Then a darker shape—a little blacker than the shadows—came gliding around him.

  Charder managed to repress his instinctive flinch. “We don’t need anything killed yet.”

  Arcove sniffed at the breeze blowing in from the mouth of the tunnel. Charder already knew that it smelled of woods and sea, but not of other animals. Arcove yawned and lay down on his belly, closer than Charder would have liked. The cat put his head on his paws and shut his eyes. “Tell me.”

  Charder swallowed. “Tell you what?”

  Arcove smiled without opening his eyes.

  Charder fidgeted. “Don’t you want to wait for Roup?”

  The tip of Arcove’s tail twitched. “If I wait for him to wake up, I’m not sure I’ll have time to kill you.”

  Charder said nothing.

  Arcove’s green eye opened a slit. “You never know when I’m joking, do you?”

  Charder concentrated on breathing. “I would not presume to guess.”

  “Are you trembling because you’re cold or frightened?”

  “Both.”

  “Well, let me see whether I can tell you what happened. Lirsy survived…somehow. That’s the only thing that makes sense. Storm’s mother is her…daughter? Granddaughter?”

  “Daughter.” Charder felt a strange relief as the secret left him. “Lirsy didn’t fall from the cliff. She jumped into a tree that overhung the edge. I found her…after.” After I watched you kill Coden, and I couldn’t abandon his foal, Arcove. I couldn’t. No matter what I’d promised.

  “So you hid her from me…and lied to me about it for fifteen years.”

  Charder laid his head on the ground and shut his eyes. Please use your teeth and not your claws.

  “You did this even though you’re scared to death of me. That is remarkable loyalty, Charder.”

  “Don’t you think Roup would have done the same if you’d died and it had been your cub?”

  There was a long silence, during which Charder hardly dared to breathe.

  “Yes,” said Arcove at last, “I suppose he would have.” He didn’t actually sound angry. Charder dared to open his eyes. “Peace,” said Arcove. “I’ve lost enough officers lately.”

  You think of me as one of your officers? The world seemed upside down and backwards.

  “Is she still alive?” asked Arcove. “Lirsy, I mean?”

  Charder cleared his throat. “No. She took a mate, but had several miscarriages. She died when So-fet was born. A friend nursed the foal, and I fed her and protected her during her first two seasons. Then I distanced myself. I was afraid you’d notice.”

  Arcove said nothing.

  “Would you…would you have killed her…if I hadn’t run with her?” Charder wasn’t sure which answer would be worse, but he had to know. She was never quite right after the war. I’m sure she would have lived a longer life if she hadn’t been on the cliff that night.

  Arcove thought for a moment. “If I had caught her, I would have used her to threaten Coden into surrender…to get him down off Turis Rock alive. I would have preferred to keep him in charge of the ferryshaft. They would have obeyed him more readily, and things after the war would have gone more smoothly. I had no plans for his foal beyond that.”

  Charder bowed his head.

  “But,” continued Arcove, “the assumption that I intended to kill her was not unreasonable, given the circumstances. In your position…I won’t say I would have done the same, but I would have considered it.”

  Charder gave a bitter laugh. “In my position, you would have fought beside Coden and died.”

  “I am glad you did not,” said Arcove. “Your herd should be glad of it, too.”

  Charder didn’t know what to say to that. After a moment, he muttered, “It is difficult for low-ranking ferryshaft now. Ferryshaft herds were never meant to be so large. There aren’t many resources left over for those at the bottom. Kelsy is right when he says that the low-ranking animals are most often killed in raids. He’s correct, too, that it would be easier to manage things in a smaller, more natural-sized herd.”

  “I will not be outnumbered and surrounded again,” growled Arcove.

  “Too late,” said Charder and wondered where his new bravery had come from.

  Arcove gave a sad little chuckle.

  Charder had stopped trembling. I am old enough to be your father, and when we met, you were hardly more than a big cub. A cub feeling his way along in the dark. Why did I never see that?

  “This thing with Treace,” said Charder, “I always knew something like this would happen eventually.” He hesitated. “I thought I would enjoy it more.”

  “Well, the irony might be sweeter if you weren’t in here with me,” said Arcove.

  “No,” said Charder, “I don’t think so. Arcove…what if I could get the herd to fight for you…for your cats?”

  The twitching tip of Arcove’s tail grew suddenly still. You weren’t expecting me to say that.

  “It would put you in my debt, of course,” continued Charder with no small degree of smugness.

  Arcove was silent for a long moment. “You’ve learned from me too well,” he said at last. He thought for a moment. “I don’t think you could get them to do it.”

  “But if I could,” persisted Charder. “Would you stop the raids and let the herd split up?” Would you trust us?

  Arcove was perfectly still. At last, he said, “Is that your advice, then, councilor?”

  “It is.” You’re going to have to trust someone before this is over.

  A clatter of hoofbeats sounded in the passage. Charder and Arcove rose quickly as Storm dashed out of the shadows, Kelsy and Roup on his heels.

  “We may be discovered,” said Storm in a frantic whisper. “I heard— I thought I heard—”

  “We heard voices on the ledge overhead,” said Roup more evenly. “Indistinct voices.”

  “It was Teek,” said Storm miserably. “I think he was telling them how to get in. He knows. I told him.”

  Kelsy looked bleary-eyed and skeptical. “Storm, you couldn’t even understand what they were saying—”

  “I know his voice,” snapped Storm.

  “I don’t think your cub would do that,” said Roup.

  Storm only shook his head.

  “Quiet,” muttered Arcove.

  They all sat perfectly still. In the silence, Charder realized that the night birds outside had stopped singing. So much for loyalty. This tunnel would be a terrible spot to get trapped. But if we bolt, and Treace’s cats haven’t found us…we could lose our hiding place.

  Arcove was listening intently. And now Charder heard it, too—low voices, not far away.

  Suddenly, Roup came stalking right up to the cave’s mouth. He reared, so that his head was above the opening, and made a chittering noise. Arcove cocked his head, but he didn’t say anything. Roup did it again, and this time, there was an answer.

  Roup looked like he was ready to jump out of the cave then, but Arcove said, “Wait.�
�

  “It’s someone from my clutter,” hissed Roup. “Has to be. No one else would answer that call.” He was pacing back and forth in the spill of moonlight at the cave’s mouth.

  “Wait,” repeated Arcove.

  The chittering came again, much closer. Arcove crouched, eyes fixed on the lip of the cave’s mouth. Then the silhouette of a creasia’s head popped into view. “Roup?” it whispered—a female voice.

  “Lyndi.” Roup’s voice was undisguised relief.

  She jumped down into the cave’s basin. “Oh, boss. We’ve had a rough night.”

  Behind her, two larger shapes thumped down into the cave. “Halvery?” Arcove rumbled in surprise. “Sharmel?”

  “Arcove,” came Halvery’s tired voice. “By all the ghosts… I was beginning to think we’d never see you again.”

  Arcove chuffed. “Likewise.”

  “Treace attacked us with at least three times our numbers,” grated Sharmel. “They killed Ariand—”

  “No,” snarled Roup, “they left Ariand at the foot of the cliffs, dying, with his guts tangled in a bush, as a messenger. I haven’t seen anything like that since the war.”

  Sharmel sagged visibly, and Halvery growled beside him. “We should have gone back for him. We shouldn’t have run—”

  “Yes, you should have,” said Arcove. “If you hadn’t run, you wouldn’t be here.”

  “We wouldn’t be here anyway,” said Halvery, “if not for this little fellow.”

  A smaller shadow detached itself from Halvery’s and came hesitantly towards Storm. “I knew who he was,” whispered Teek. “Because of his short tail.”

  Chapter 6. Council in Hiding

  “Treace’s followers killed the sentry at the foot of the trail to the council ledge first,” said Halvery, “to prevent Arcove from getting a warning. Roup and Ariand’s clutters were stationed in that part of the boulders. I’m sure Treace’s cats were trying to kill them quietly. They probably ambushed a few before anyone knew what was going on, but Lyndi saw what was happening and ran to get me.”

  “They’d already surrounded the foot of the trail,” put in Lyndi. “They were killing anyone who tried to get near it. I thought going for reinforcements made more sense.”

  The group had moved a little back into the tunnel, where their voices wouldn’t carry. In the darkness, Storm could hardly see the outlines of the others. He kept glancing over to the puddle of shadow that was Teek, but the cub had lain down about halfway between Storm and Halvery. He’d grown so still that Storm thought he might be asleep.

  “The waterfall really did work to their advantage,” said Halvery bitterly. “I was stationed up there, and I didn’t hear a thing until Lyndi came running out of the trees, shouting that Treace’s cats were killing Ariand and his clutter. I had just enough time to give a few rally cries. Then the world went mad.”

  “They stampeded the ferryshaft herd,” said Sharmel. “They were well-organized—driving the ferryshaft together in a mass and then pushing them towards the headwaters of the Igby. It was the easiest way to get them to cross the river, but it also sent a thousand panicked ferryshaft directly into my clutter and then Halvery’s. As nearly as I can tell, four of my six creasia were killed—either trampled to death or injured and then finished off by Treace’s cats.”

  “They had it easy,” growled Halvery. “They just came along behind the ferryshaft, killing whatever limped out of the dust. Five of my ten cats are dead or missing. The rest of us ran. It was that, or be trampled.”

  “Did you see any lowland curbs?” asked Arcove.

  “Not at the time,” said Halvery, a curious note in his voice, “but later, as we tried to regroup and fight our way back to the council trail, we did see a few. They appeared to be helping Treace’s cats.”

  “He’s made friends in the Southern Mountains,” said Arcove. “Continue.”

  “We tried to get back to you,” said Halvery. “But, by the time we managed to separate ourselves from the ferryshaft herd and regroup, we were well south of the Igby, and Treace’s cats were hard after us. I decided that it made most sense to split up. We needed numbers. I sent what remained of our clutters to our respective dens to warn them and to rally our commands. We had two cats left from Roup’s clutter besides Lyndi, and I sent them home, too. I told everyone to come to Arcove’s den, since I think it’s the most defensible.”

  “Also, the most likely to be attacked,” muttered Sharmel. “Treace’s creasia are not playing by the rules.”

  “Do you think your messengers got through?” asked Roup.

  “I don’t know,” said Halvery. “I…I really don’t know. As night fell, we finally managed to put some distance between ourselves and our pursuers by climbing the cliffs. We headed back north, determined to find you or your body. Lyndi insisted on coming with us. We were excited when we finally crossed your trail, but then it ended at this fiord.”

  “Which, of course, I remembered,” said Lyndi. “I figured that, if you were still with Storm, you must have gone wherever he went. But these two didn’t believe me.”

  “It’s not that we didn’t believe you,” snapped Halvery. Storm could tell that he was very tired. “We just couldn’t figure it out. Treace’s cats had obviously been following Arcove. Their scent and tracks were mixed up with everyone else’s. There wasn’t any blood, but we thought they might have pushed you off the cliff. Then we met this cub…”

  Everyone paused and looked towards Teek. After a moment, Storm saw a stir amid the shadows. “There was a dead creasia in the trail when I ran down,” said Teek, his voice creaking with exhaustion. “So I looked for someone to tell. But then a curb saw me, and he chased me, and there were a lot of them.” Teek hesitated. “So I remembered some of the places that Storm and I went last year, and I remembered that lowland curbs don’t like sheep trails, and I went to the trail that’s near the crooked tree spring, and I lost them.”

  Storm sat up. “You ran that trail…after being gone for a season?”

  Teek’s voice held a note of defiance. “I ran the trail.”

  “You’re lucky you didn’t break your neck,” said Storm.

  “You’re lucky I didn’t break my neck.”

  That made Storm shut his mouth.

  “I got to the top of the cliff,” continued Teek, “and I couldn’t go back because of the curbs. While I was watching, everyone came down from the council ledge, and I saw the curbs chase you, and I tried to follow, but I couldn’t keep up.” Teek drew a deep breath. “So, then it was night, and I’d been awake all day, and I was really tired, but there were still curbs around, so I was afraid to stop anywhere to sleep. I kept walking south, hoping I’d see you. Finally, I saw these creasia coming the other way. And I hid from them, but then I saw Halvery’s short tail, so I knew who he was.”

  “You can stop mentioning that part,” cut in Halvery.

  “It’s not his favorite feature,” said Roup with a hint of mischief.

  “He knew about the tunnel in the fiord,” said Halvery, “although it took us a while to find the southern entrance.”

  There was a moment’s heavy silence.

  “What does Treace want with the herd?” asked Charder.

  “He wants to eat them,” said Roup.

  Kelsy drew in a sharp breath.

  “He wants to groom them as a food source,” said Arcove more evenly. “He’s not going to eat them right away.”

  “I thought,” stammered Kelsy, “that creasia didn’t like eating ferryshaft.”

  “You don’t taste good when you’re eating meat,” said Halvery with a nasty smile in his voice.

  “Why do you think I send the raids in winter?” asked Arcove. “I do not approve of talking animals eating each other. If I wanted you all dead, I’d kill you and leave you for the birds and the foxes.” He hesitated. “You would not believe how your elders complained of that in the last war.”

  “You left bodies so they could be found to inspire fear,
” snapped Charder, and then closed his mouth quickly and looked away.

  “At least I didn’t eat them,” said Arcove in a dangerous murmur.

  “I think,” ventured Sharmel, “that some of Ariand’s command has gone over to Treace.”

  “I think most of them have,” muttered Roup. “Treace has been working on Ariand’s command for years. He’s put a lot of cats into those clutters and dens. They share blood ties with his cats, and most of them are less than twelve years old. They didn’t fight with us during the ferryshaft wars. They didn’t see Arcove kill Ketch or…anyone else.”

  “If that’s true,” said Sharmel softly, “we were outnumbered two-to-one before he even attacked us.”

  “I would put one of my forty-year-old creasia against two of Treace’s ten-year-old’s any day,” scoffed Halvery, “and watch mine tear his to pieces.”

  “I’d bet on yours, too,” said Roup, “in a fair fight. But maybe not if they were surprised.”

  “Even if they were surprised,” returned Halvery. “My cats actually go on raids, Roup. They still know how to kill things.”

  “You think killing panicked ferryshaft is good practice for war?” flashed Roup.

  “We killed a telshee two Volontaros ago—”

  “Enough,” growled Arcove. “Halvery, Sharmel, you’re in no state to fight right now. Sleep. We’ll leave in daylight, after our pursuers have exhausted themselves. I suspect we will have to fight our way into my den.”

  Storm wondered whether Arcove was worried that Treace had killed his mates and cubs. If so, his voice gave no sign. As the others spread out along the passage to find comfortable sleeping places, Storm inched towards the spot where he’d last heard Teek. The cub had gone, and Storm followed his scent along the tunnel to the darkest corner—a place where no ferryshaft eyes could pierce. His nose told him that Teek was there, somewhere in the shadows.

  All year, I’ve tried to get you to sleep alone. And every night you’ve come crawling over to curl up beside me. And now…now it’s the other way around.

  “Teek?” he whispered.