Primal Dawn

by Ryan Kirk

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  CTA

  Acknowledgments

  Primal Dawn

  Copyright © 2016 by Ryan Kirk

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  For information about this title, please visit www.waterstonemedia.net

  Reproduction in whole or part of this publication without express written consent is strictly prohibited. The author greatly appreciates you taking the time to read my work. Please consider leaving a review wherever you bought the book, or telling your friends about it, to help spread the word!

  Thank your for your support!

  Cover Design by: Andrei Bat

  Edited by: Sonnet Fitzgerald

  To my baby girl

  Born during the writing of this book

  I love you

  Tev woke up before the sun rose, as was his custom. But today was different. Today he was driven by a greater purpose. His eyes opened, and without making a move or sound, he studied his surroundings. The other hunters of his clan slept nearby, but he paid them no mind. The sounds of their sleep came to his ears, the regular breathing and soft snores of the exhausted, and he knew he was the only one awake. Without even a whisper, he extricated himself from his sleeping pad, rolled it up tightly and tied it together with leather straps. He kept every sense alert to ensure his actions didn't disturb the sleep of those nearby. What he had to do, he had to do alone.

  Tev knew his actions would have repercussions. Favored by the clan as he was, this decision might cost him a seat among the elders. There were reasons they always hunted together. The deep forests were dangerous, no matter how experienced one was. To wander alone in the woods was courting disaster. Some of their most respected hunters had tried what Tev was now doing, and they had never hunted again.

  He looked over at the sleeping figure of Shet, the elder leading this hunt. He had more respect for the older man than he could say. Shet was a veteran of not just countless hunts, but years and trials. Despite his age, he still kept to the trail as though he were less than half as old, and his cunning made him a dangerous hunter. If there was anyone who could dissuade Tev, it would be Shet. But not today. It might cost him the respect of the elder, but if it saved the lives of the clan, Tev didn’t see another way.

  In his heart, Tev didn’t think he was like the others. Where others had gone missing, he would succeed. He was a hunter, in the prime of his life, and the clan had never seen anyone with his skills. He trained harder than anyone else, and if he couldn't put those skills to the test for the good of the clan, what was the point?

  Tev tested his gear to ensure it would remain silent as he moved. He didn’t want to wake the other hunters, but more importantly, he didn’t want to wake up anything else in the forest. They were not the top of the food chain here, and plenty of species nearby could stalk him by sound alone. Silence was safety.

  Before he left, Tev looked to the sky, still dark before the dawn. She was still there, a good omen. He knelt to his knees and said a quick prayer to Lys, the goddess of the hunt. Skilled as he was, he would need her strength if he was going to succeed today. She had always looked out for him before. He took one last glance at her figure painted by the stars in the heavens, then stood up and left the peaceful confines of the camp without a second thought. Once the decision was made, there was only action.

  Before he crested the ridge that would hide the camp from view, he glanced back at his fellow hunters. He hoped they would understand. Already the boar had taken two of them, and the clan was too small to sustain these losses. The arguments circled in his head one last time, but he was convinced this was the way. Far better to risk one hunter than several. The danger was greater to him, but if he could do anything to keep the clan safe, he wouldn’t hesitate.

  Beyond the boundaries of the camp, all his senses came alive. He had his spear and his blade, but his greatest weapon was his awareness. Sight, sound, smell and even taste would give him the information he needed to keep himself alive. A clear head and a calm mind. The mantra had been driven into him by the elders. Those skills were far more valuable to him than mere weapons.

  He set out toward the rising sun. Memories threatened to disturb his focus. He was heading towards the area they had last seen the boar, the battleground where Tev had lost a friend. Tev hoped to pick up the trail from there. The boar was huge, one of the bigger ones he had ever seen. But far more intimidating than the beast’s size was its intelligence. It had been hunted before and knew what traps Tev and his fellow hunters would try to lay. The boar never allowed itself to be surrounded, and it did not hide when it knew hunters were near. It bolted before it could be surrounded.

  Peyt, Tev’s fellow hunter and friend, had thought he was quicker and smarter, but the boar had proven him wrong faster than anyone could react. Peyt had tried to attack it from the side, an almost impossible spear throw from the distance attempted. To Peyt’s credit, the spear had flown just centimeters above the boar’s back, but Peyt had left himself undefended as the boar turned and charged. He had tried to defend himself with his knife, and the other hunters had converged to protect their brother, but everyone was too late. The boar got one tusk into Peyt’s leg, and he wasn’t much longer for the world. It was Tev who had led the ceremony of remembrance. He had said the final words and guided his friend’s soul to Lys, who cared for all who died in the hunt.

  Tev wasn't sure how he would outsmart the boar, but he knew he had to try. His clan needed food, and they couldn't risk anyone else. A part of him knew his attitude bordered on conceit, but he didn’t view it that way. He had a certainty he could do this. He could kill the boar without putting his friends in danger. All he had to do was figure out how.

  He found the place where they'd last seen the boar without difficulty. He knew the land well, but this place in particular was seared in his memory. A friend had fallen here. Marks were everywhere. The ground was trampled, and shallow pools of dried blood marked the place where Peyt had died. Tev’s instinct was to glance away, but he took a long breath and focused. In the first light of the dawn, Tev knelt down and examined the scene with fresh eyes. His footprints and the prints of the other hunters were as clear as day to him. He could tell where each of his companions had been and how they had acted. The prints told a story, and he let his mind go blank and make the connections as he observed them.

  Everywhere he looked he saw marks of the boar mixed in with the prints of his friends. Stepping with care, he circled the perimeter of the scene, looking for any sign as to where the boar had gone. He found one set of tracks, but they were leading to the battle, not away from it. Unperturbed, he continued his circuit, finally finding the tracks he was seeking.

  While hunting boar was a challenge, tracking one, especially one already wounded, was not. Once he located the tracks, they were easy to follow. The boar had left a trail of blood and disturbed plants so obvious a child could follow it. Tev wondered for a moment if the boar had died last night. There was more blood on the trail than he had expected. He was hopeful, but he proceeded as though the boar was still alive and well.

  Despite the obviousness of the trail, Tev moved with caution. There was no tellin
g where the boar had stopped and he didn’t want to be taken by surprise. Once in a while he stopped and scanned the area around him, even though he knew he was on the right track. He sniffed the air and looked around for other signs he had missed. Information was safety. Awareness was his sharpest blade.

  The sun was a quarter of the way above the horizon when Tev found his quarry. It wasn’t sight that gave the boar away, but smell, an unmistakable scent Tev associated with shit. The odor was potent enough that the boar had to be within a dozen paces. Tev knelt down with perfect control, careful not to make a noise, and considered his options. He could attack the boar head-on, but it felt foolish. Tev was confident, but even he didn’t want to risk his life in a one-on-one match with an intelligent beast. If it was injured, it was even more unpredictable.

  In his silence, Tev could hear the labored breathing of his quarry. The boar was injured. It was time to end this hunt. Killing the boar would honor Peyt’s memory. He just had to find the way.

  Tev felt the wind change direction against his skin. It was a concerning development, but he didn't panic. Right now he was downwind of the boar, but if the wind shifted too far, the boar would pick up on Tev’s scent. It would put Tev in much more danger. Tev kept his eyes moving, studying the environment, trying to gain an advantage on the boar.

  His gaze paused on the branches above both him and the boar. An idea occurred to him. It wasn’t traditional, or even the safest idea, but it might work. He ran the plan over and over in his mind, trying to get a better sense of the boar’s location from its labored breathing.

  Then it was time for action. Tev took two powerful and silent steps up to the tree, leaping off his left foot and planting his right foot high on the tree, above the level of his own waist. He pushed off his right foot and angled his momentum so he was flying straight up. He grabbed the lowest branch of the tree and hung there, studying the surrounding area. From this height, he could see the dark shape of the boar hidden in the undergrowth of the forest. Lys was with him. The boar was facing away from him and was about eight meters away.

  Tev hung from the branch for a moment, watching the boar with a steady gaze to see if it had heard or noticed him. When he was confident he hadn't alarmed the creature, he pulled himself smoothly up onto the branch, causing only the slightest rustling of the leaves.

  Perched on the branch, he paused one last time. He studied the branches between him and the boar, deciding how he would proceed. Once his mind was made up, there was no hesitation. He had to commit with all his heart.

  Tev ran along the branch he was standing on, leaping to a new branch to get closer to the boar. The leaves rustled, but there was no helping it. He chose speed over stealth.

  As he had expected, the boar’s head immediately came up. It glanced from side to side, and Tev was counting on just a second or two of delay before the boar looked up. He was betting the boar had never been attacked from above, and his whole plan hung on just the slightest amount of confusion.

  Tev leapt from the branch. He was still three meters away from the boar, but he knew he had the strength to make the jump, and if he waited any longer, he feared his element of surprise would disappear. He fell towards the boar, spear in hand.

  His plan worked. Surprised and confused, the boar didn’t break right away. Tev dropped towards it, leading the fall with his spear. His aim was true, stabbing the boar from above and piercing its vital organs. Tev didn't try to hold onto the spear. As soon as he thrust, he let go and focused on his own landing.

  He hit the ground with his feet, bending at his knees to absorb as much impact as he could. He was moving too fast and too far forward, and he leapt into a roll over his shoulder, coming back to his feet with his long knife in hand.

  It was good that he did. Boars were fierce fighters, warriors of the animal kingdom, and this one was no exception. The animal was dead, but it didn't know it yet.

  The boar turned and charged. Armed with nothing but his knife, there was little Tev could do to stop it. With another spear he might have stood his ground, but he dove out of the way at the last possible moment, using the same roll over his shoulder. His body fell into relaxed readiness, prepared to move in any direction. At times like this, thought fell away, and Tev embraced his instincts.

  Evading the boar was his best strategy. If he could gain even a few seconds, he could scamper up a tree and wait for the boar to die. Trying anything more would be pressing his luck.

  The boar charged again, this time with less speed. Tev assumed it was due to injury. He leapt out of the way again, but this time the boar’s slower speed gave it time to adjust at the last moment, leaving a shallow gash along the outside edge of Tev’s thigh.

  The boar didn’t give him a chance to think. It turned around and charged again. Tev reacted, his body and training taking over from his mind. His leg was weakened, and he didn’t dare put too much pressure on it. As the boar got close, he threw his knife.

  The knife wasn’t balanced for throwing, and Tev counted himself lucky that it even caused a slight gash. But it did cause the boar to lower its head. Tev leapt, ignoring the pain that flared up in his injured leg. The boar tried to stab at him as he passed above it, but missed. Tev wrapped his hands around his spear, still jutting through the boar. He put all his weight against it, pulling the boar off its feet.

  Both he and the boar landed hard on the ground, but the pain seemed to draw the last of the fight out of the boar. It struggled, just for a moment, before resting its head on the ground. Tev was ready for anything, but the light went out of the boar’s eyes, and Tev was successful. He laid back and breathed a deep sigh of relief.

  When Kindra woke up, she was in a new star system. No matter how often it happened, there was still something about it that bordered on the magical. The scientist in her had a basic understanding of how space travel happened, but it was almost impossible to believe the light she had just left would take almost a hundred years to reach her now.

  Perhaps the feeling was a side effect of the sedative. The first people to go through space jumps had succumbed to insanity, and to this day science couldn’t explain why. Derreck, Kindra’s captain, had done a jump awake once, and he refused to speak of it. Some of the less-controlled captains openly bragged about jumping without sedatives. But Kindra had jumped a lot, and she knew what she wanted. She strapped into her bunk and took her sedative. Once the computer was certain everyone was under, it initiated the jump.

  The sedative was designed to last sixty minutes and disappear without a trace, leaving Kindra alert, but she didn’t move. She had learned the hard way as a child during one of her first jumps. She might be awake, but she took a few minutes to catch up. Although she didn't consider herself spiritual, the only language she could use to describe the sensation was that of leaving a piece of her soul behind.

  Kindra pressed her palms against her forehead and stretched out her eyes, forcing them to wakefulness. A soft groan escaped her lips as she undid the harness that kept her attached to the bunk during the jump. She had jumped well over a hundred times, but each one awakened her inner philosopher. Humanity had been debating whether they belonged in the stars ever since they had the ability to reach the moon. Ultimately, it didn’t matter to her. She belonged here. It was why she took the risk of joining Fleet.

  A few thoughts pulled up an old-fashioned analog clock in her vision, appearing to float about a meter in front of her face. It had been exactly one hour since the sedative flooded her system, a perfect jump once again. Even though only an hour had passed, she couldn't help but feel she was much older than she had been when she fell asleep. Just like every other time.

  She was supposed to be reporting for duty, but years of experience had taught her it was much better to take the first few minutes after a jump to herself. She rolled her head from side to side, rejoicing as her neck popped and cracked. For the next few moments she did a basic warm-up. She stretched, rolled her limbs back and forth and did a few pu
sh-ups and squats, just enough to ensure everything was working the way it should.

  When she finished, she spoiled herself with a quick shower. It would probably be the best she would have for a few weeks. The hot water warmed her body and erased the last bits of tension in her muscles. She stepped out, dried quickly, and threw on Fleet’s latest attempt at a uniform.

  Another focused thought brought a wave of information to her vision. The captain was already on the bridge and the rest of the crew were on their way. Even if she left now, she was certain to be the last to arrive. She didn't mind. It wasn’t like the planet was going to disappear on them. She understood the importance of timetables, but some part of her, a childhood rebel that had never been tamed, enjoyed throwing off their schedules, even if it was just for a minute or two.

  She overlaid a path to the dropship. This was the first time she’d been on this particular jumper, and it was clear the crew didn’t like having guests very much. They were a long way from charted space, and the Destiny was one of Fleet’s long-range jumpers. The crew were used to going months without regular human contact, and their social skills demonstrated that admirably. Kindra had barely left her room except for mess. One last glance ensured she hadn’t forgotten anything. She had packed her gear on the dropship days ago and had already been through this procedure multiple times. Satisfied that everything was in its place, she thought off the lights and left the room.

  As Kindra expected, she was the last to arrive. She paused after she passed the final bulkhead. Every time Kindra saw her, she took Kindra’s breath away. It was Kindra’s second home, the dropship Vigilant.

  The ships that traveled between the stars were far too large to ever drop into atmosphere. Teams like Kindra’s relied on dropships to ferry them between the jumpers and the planets they explored. Kindra had been crewed on the Vigilant for almost seven years now, but it still had the power to stop her in her tracks. Jumpers, because they never approached atmosphere, tended to look as though a child had glued them together. But the Vigilant was sleek, designed for atmospheric flight and exploration. In the cavernous hangers of the jumper it seemed small, but it would be her home again for the next few weeks.