by Inmon, Shawn
“And the type to seek vengeance?”
“No doubt.”
“He wouldn’t come all the way here himself, would he?”
“Unlikely. Like his father, he also likes his comfort. He would stay in Lasta-ah and oversee the rebuilding of the city. Starting, I’m sure, with a new luxury home for himself.” Harta-ak glanced at Alex. “But with the traka-ta to carry messages great distances for him, he doesn’t need to be here. He could have given orders to gather a large force of warriors who were out doing other tasks when the city fell and focused them on Winten-ah.”
Alex rolled his shoulders and twisted his neck, trying to relieve the tension that was suddenly there.
“Capturing and killing a small work crew seems like it might be sending us a message. But if they have a big enough army to attack us, why did they give away their element of surprise? They should have just attacked us.”
“Maybe they don’t have enough men to sustain an attack against Winten-ah, even with surprise in their favor. If they attacked in a swarm, they would no doubt catch a few by surprise, but you would quickly pull up the ladders and then there would be a standoff. Could you withstand a siege?”
“Of course. We always have food stored, and we have methods for bringing water up to the caves. They would grow old trying to wait us out. I don’t believe in hiding, though. I would take the battle to them.”
“So I’ve seen,” Harta-ak said with a small smile. “But, this could be more than just sending a message. He is a strategic thinker. He could be hoping to draw you out so he can attack you while he has the advantage of numbers.”
Alex looked at Harta-ak. “I can see why your father would have been a good leader of Lasta-ah. It’s important to look at things from all angles before acting. Unfortunately, devious men with no sense of honor manage to take out good men. It’s always been that way.”
“Do you have a plan?”
“Manta-ak always has a plan,” Senta-eh said.
“Whatever it is, I want to help,” Harta-ak said.
“To fight against your own?” Alex asked.
“Lasta-ah is no longer my home. I will make my home with Versa-eh where the danta is. Here, I have allies I can trust, like you and Rinka-ak.”
“Good enough. We’ll need all the strength we can get.”
The three of them turned as one and headed back to where they had found Tranta-ak. By the time they arrived, they found that the guard to the south had also been ambushed and permanently silenced.
Sekun-ak pointed at two men and said, “Replace the two lookouts that way,” pointing south. He chose two others and pointed north. “The men you are replacing were good warriors with sharp eyes. That means whoever is hunting us is stealthy. Only one of you should be on lookout at a time and the other should stay down. If whoever is on watch is attacked, sound the horn before you do anything else. Understood?”
The four men said, “Yes,” and hustled off toward the watch stand built into the trees.
Quietly, Sekun-ak said, “We’ve got to improve our guard stands in the trees. This is twice our guards were killed and we did not learn our lesson. Now we are paying the price.”
Alex held the crossbow bolt out to Sekun-ak. “These are the same attackers that took Lanta-eh. They come from where Harta-ak did and he confirmed it.”
Sekun-ak moved his head back with the realization, letting it sink in.
“Have they come back for her, then?”
Alex dropped his head in shame. He hadn’t even thought of that. He had assumed that they were just back for vengeance, but if they still believed Lanta-eh held supernatural abilities, that might be exactly what they were doing.
“I am sorry—I hadn’t thought of that, but that is possible. It could be another attempt to kidnap Lanta-eh or seek vengeance for what I did to their town, or both. Either way, we need to deal with them.”
Harta-ak stepped forward and said quietly, “It’s also possible that this is just a scouting expedition, intended to stir up trouble. They may have reinforcements on the way.”
Sekun-ak made a decision. “We are looking at a very different mission than we set out on this morning. Let’s transport the bodies of those we have lost back and give them the burial they deserve. Then we will make a better plan to deal with these invaders.”
Chapter Fifteen
The Hunt
“Part of our problem,” Alex said, “is that we lack information. Everyone who has seen these people are dead. If we hadn’t recognized the arrow they used, we wouldn’t even know who they were. We’ve got to assume that whoever is in charge of this raiding party is smart and ruthless.”
Alex, Senta-eh, Harta-ak, Sekun-ak, and Ganku-eh sat in a circle in one of the small upper caves. In addition to doubling up all the lookouts in the forest, Sekun-ak had also increased the guards that stood on the top of the cliffside looking east. Meanwhile, dozens of eyes stared across the field at the forest, ready to sound the alarm at the first sign of trouble.
“But we have advantages. We have the cliffside, which is easy to defend. We know the area well, and they do not. We almost certainly have the advantage of numbers, or they wouldn’t have been hidden from us. We need to use our advantages and minimize our weaknesses.”
“How many places can they be hiding? They have to be close enough to reach us easily, but they will need a safe place to sleep,” Sekun-ak mused.
Alex took a sharp stick and drew a rough map on the floor. “That means we can eliminate the plain. It is wide to cross and the dire wolves are always there.” He drew an “X” through that section of the crude map. “They won’t want to be too close to the path that runs along the forest, or the guards will see them eventually. Even with lookouts, there aren’t many places they can stay safely at night.”
Lanta-eh entered the cave. She hadn’t been invited, but she was welcome wherever she wanted to go.
She tilted her head, as if listening to something far away, and said, “Prata-ah. It is not far, but it is away from the guards. It is easy to defend.” She didn’t wait to see what anyone else thought, but turned on her heel and left.
Harta-ak said, “Prata-ah?”
Sekun-ak was already leaning forward. “It is not far from here. Much less than half a day’s walk. It is the tallest peak in the area. It’s a steep hike to get up it, but there is a flat spot near the top that would be easy to defend. There is only one path up, and that path is clearly visible from the flat place. It would be a good place to hide a few dozen people safely.” He glanced at Alex as if to say, Why didn’t we think of that place?
Alex contemplated saying, “And a little child shall lead them,” but as he watched Lanta-eh’s retreating back, he realized she was not a little child any more. She was tall and lithe and would soon be growing into womanhood.
“What is the best approach?” Sekun-ak asked, looking at Alex. “Send a single scout or assume they are there and send a force?”
“Neither,” Alex answered. Then, changing his mind, he said, “Both.”
An hour later, a moderate force of Winten-ah warriors gathered at the base of the cliffs. They still had no idea how many of the Lasta-ah might be in the invading party, and didn’t want to leave the cliffside without enough defense.
Alex had faith in the men and women he gathered around him. Almost all of them had marched with him on Denta-ah, which meant that they had gone through the months of training leading up to that battle. He was sure that every one of the warriors he took with him was equal to two of the Lasta-ah, no matter how devious the invaders were.
“We will need to be as stealthy as if we were on a hunt. They will no doubt have lookouts along the trail to alert them. But, they think they are hidden, so perhaps we can catch them unawares.” He turned to Senta-eh. “Do you have your unit put together?”
“Yes. We are ready.”
In the battle of Denta-ah, Senta-eh had led the longbow archers, which had helped turn the tide against the crossbows. When
they had returned home, they had put the longbows away for the most part. They were excellent weapons for war, but their overall lack of accuracy made them less than ideal for hunting. Still, from time to time, Senta-eh had gathered her cadre of archers together and practiced with the longbow in the big field. They may not have been much more accurate than they were years before, but they hadn’t forgotten everything they had learned, either.
“Which bow do you think we should bring?” Senta-eh asked Alex.
He closed his eyes and envisioned the many possible scenarios that might play out. After a long minute, he said, “I think the regular bows will be best. There’s a much better chance that we will be firing from closer range and the longbows would be a hindrance instead of a help.”
Senta-eh gathered her archers and armed them with their short bows.
Meanwhile, Alex had another eighteen of the warriors he trusted who would skulk along quietly. He knew they would acquit themselves in a tight situation.
Alex had never been to Prata-ah, so he asked Senta-eh to lead them.
“It is more important that we see them first than it is to reach them quickly. It’s also possible that we will meet them somewhere along the trail. Slow and steady, stopping to look ahead is best.”
Senta-eh took the lead and they marched quickly until they got to the end of the forest trail, then used the move, pause, move, pause method. It made for slow going. They turned right—the same direction Alex had traveled when he had retrieved the plate from the rattlesnake long ago.
After making a mile’s progress in that direction, Senta-eh stepped around a large boulder on the right side of the trail. Immediately behind the rock was heavy foliage, but beyond that was another trail. Alex had walked by it a number of times and never realized the path was there.
Senta-eh knelt and pointed to the ground. There were stray footprints that looked fresh. Not a lot, and whoever it was had avoided crushing the foliage, but it appeared people had been on the path in the previous few days.
Alex leaned into Monda-ak and said one word. “Quiet.”
When he had been a puppy hearing that word would have made the dog bark or at least whimper with excitement, because it meant they were on the trail of something. As a more mature dog, he just stared back at Alex, panting.
Alex had no idea how far it was to Prata-ah, but their stopping and starting technique made the hike seem long. They spread out single file and did their best to step in the previous person’s footprint.
After almost an hour, Senta-eh held her arm out to stop the troop. She pointed ahead to where the forest opened up into a small glade. A stream ran through the rocks ahead and looked tempting to the thirsty warriors.
Softly, Senta-eh said, “If they have a lookout partway up the hill, they will be keeping watch on this clearing.” Without any further explanation, she left the path, skirted the clearing to the left and circled around it.
Alex watched her with pride, knowing how fortunate he was to find a woman who was both competent at everything she did, beautiful, and, most importantly, wanted to spend her life with him.
Senta-eh led them around the clearing and picked up the path through the forest again.
On one of their momentary stops, Alex said, “If they are paranoid, we will run into lookouts soon,” under his breath.
They did not come across any lookouts. Beyond the small collection of footprints at the trailhead, they hadn’t seen any sign that the Lasta-ah were in the area.
Finally, they came to the end of the forest. Standing back in the deep cover of the fir and pine trees, Senta-eh pointed ahead. Just a hundred yards ahead, the trail started up the side of a hill.
Alex estimated that the hill stood somewhere between a thousand and fifteen-hundred feet tall. From where he stood in the woods, he could see the greenery at the bottom gave way to shale rocks near the top.
A flat area was notched into the side of the hill just below the summit. From where he stood, Alex could see a small wisp of smoke curling up from a fire. It was small and thin enough that he knew he wouldn’t have been able to see it from any farther away.
Senta-eh leaned into him and pointed her finger along his line of sight. When he focused, he saw that she was pointing at a man standing, half asleep beside a tree. She moved her finger and pointed out another and another.
The Winten-ah blended back into the forest and formed a tight circle.
Sekun-ak deferred to Alex. “They are there. What do we do?”
Alex contemplated for a long moment, considering everything he saw in front of him.
“We still don’t know how many of them there are. Their guards aren’t alert, but the fact that they have them at all means they know they are not completely safe here. It doesn’t make sense to try and launch an attack at an unknown enemy up a steep hill. If they have any strength at all, they will slaughter us.”
Everyone remained silent, knowing Manta-ak was working his way through the problem.
“Before we do anything, we need to know what we are up against.” Alex turned to Senta-eh. “Is there any way to approach them from around the other side?”
She looked up and to her left, remembering. “Yes, maybe. It would be risky, but possible.”
“I am going to go scout them, then.”
“No,” both Senta-eh and Sekun-ak said simultaneously.
Alex hesitated. He had learned that when his two best advisors were against something, he needed to listen. “Why?”
“Does it make sense to send our leader on a scouting mission?” Sekun-ak asked. “Of course not.” He turned and looked at the assembled warriors in the circle. Finally, he said, “Wenta-eh. You are familiar with the area, aren’t you?”
“Yes. We gathered berries all over Prata-ah.”
“Try to get to a place where you can see how many of them there are without them seeing you.”
“They won’t be as alert to a scout coming from that direction,” Senta-eh said. “There’s no trail. You might be able to climb the summit on the far side and see down. I trust you to find the best way.”
Wenta-eh didn’t hesitate, just turned to get some distance away before moving toward Prata-ah.
Alex’s heart beat hard in his chest. Wenta-eh was the older sister or Werda-ak. They looked so much alike that as she walked away, Alex would have sworn they were one and the same.
“Don’t take any chances, though,” Alex said. “If you can’t get a good angle, just come back.”
Wenta-eh looked at Alex and laughed. “I know what I am doing.”
So she doesn’t just look like her brother, she acts like him too.
Until Wenta-eh was discovered or came back with news, there was nothing else to be done, so the warriors sat in the deep shade and ate whatever lunch they had brought with them.
But not Alex. While the others relaxed and ate, he paced back and forth, his stomach in knots. He was always nervous before a battle, but he felt completely helpless waiting to see if Wenta-eh came back or not.
He needn’t have worried. Before the sun dipped low in the sky, she slipped soundlessly back to them, smiling.
“They are not so clever as you said, Manta-ak,” she said grinning. “I climbed right up behind them and looked down. Most of them were sleeping in the afternoon sun. There were a few guards, but they all were looking down the hill.”
“How many are there?”
“I saw thirty of them, but I’m sure there are more in the trees below. There might be forty of them altogether.”
“We’re outnumbered, then,” Alex said. “But we have surprise on our side. Gather together. I have a plan.”
Chapter Sixteen
The Battle
The young Winten-ah warrior known as Ronda-ak stepped out into the clearing at the base of Prata-ah. He walked carefully, as though he was afraid he might be spotted, knowing full-well that the guards above had seen him.
Still, he slunk along and hurried into the forest at the bottom of
the hill. He continued on his way, ears pricked, waiting for the first sign that they were coming after him.
He didn’t have to wait long. There was one short horn blast above him, then two more from a sentry higher up. Those piercing sounds were followed immediately by the sound of feet pounding down the trail.
Ronda-ak turned and retreated immediately, hurried back down the trail, and sprinted across the clearing.
Almost immediately, four warriors pounded down the hill after him. They entered the clearing just as the young warrior sprinted into the forest on the other side. The onrushing warriors saw how close they were to their prey and sprinted directly into the shadowy darkness of the trees.
That was their mistake.
Before their eyes had a chance to adjust from the brightness of the afternoon sun to the deep dark of the forest, six Winten-ah warriors were on them, swinging their heavy hammers in a flat, whizzing arc. None of the blows the Winten-ah struck were fatal and they were not intended to be. The blows were completely debilitating, though, breaking arms, legs, shoulders, and hips.
The first Winten-ah warrior, who Alex had designated as the rabbit, ran out into the center of the clearing, paused, and listened. While he was waiting, the eight warriors in the forest roughly grabbed the injured Lasta-ah warriors, pulled them deeper into the forest, and gagged them to stifle their moans.
The rabbit didn’t have to wait long, the blasts of the horn had drawn more warriors down the hillside at a sprint. He waited until he knew they would spot him, then once again turned, and ran back to the darkness of the forest.
There were half a dozen warriors this time, but with the advantage of position, surprise, and better vision, the Winten-ah once again took all the armed men down with very little struggle.
There was no time to haul the wounded deeper into the forest this time because as soon as the rabbit peeked out of the woods, he saw another stream of warriors heading their way.
There were eight more warriors this time, and some sixth sense told them to slow down a bit before entering the shaded copse of trees.
