by J. T. Edson
Seated in the place of honor at Tav-Han’s right side, after the bride and groom had taken their departure, Bunduki sensed there was something special in the air. An aura of expectancy came over the crowd as half a dozen young women appeared in the light of the fire. Gliding with graceful bodies and hand motions, they passed around the circle of guests until each was dancing before a clearly delighted young man.
‘This is the Dance of the Maidens,’ Tav-Han remarked in a voice which was just too casual. ‘Always at a wedding, those who are willing to become brides dance before the man of their choice.’
Even as the old man was speaking, a new dancer appeared. For a moment, the blond giant could hardly believe his eyes. It was Dawn, clad in the costume of a Telonga maiden and showing a very thorough knowledge of how the dance should be performed. Like her predecessors, she went around the circle. Her marvelous body was enhanced by the skimpy garments and her sensually graceful movements. Finally, arriving before Bunduki, she approached him. To delighted calls of approval, she went through the rest of the ritual. It culminated with her sinking to her knees almost at his feet and extending her arms in a gesture of pleading. Then, as tradition demanded, she rose and darted away.
‘I take the tiger’s skin, Bunduki,’ Tav-Han announced in ringing tones. ‘Care well for my daughter.’
‘That I promise you,’ the blond giant replied, having been primed on the conventions by At-Vee while they were travelling from Rol-Mat.
‘Bring wine for all!’ called Guildo, from his place at Tav-Han’s left.
If Bunduki had been less absorbed in the pleasure he was feeling, he might have noticed that all of the Elders had strained, worried expressions which did not seem to be in keeping with the general festive atmosphere.
Chapter Fourteen – We’re Too Late to Stop Them
Never had Bunduki been so close to utter despair as he felt at that moment. Realizing the full implications of his terrible predicament, particularly as it might be affecting Dawn Drummond-Clayton, he was almost beside himself with anxiety and rage. Only by exerting all his will power could he restrain himself from throwing his body at the huge latticework door. He knew that to do so would be futile to say the least.
Turning, the blond giant looked once more at the sleeping hunters. He noticed that his m’kuki and shield were on the floor under the bed he had occupied. However, they were as little use at that moment as the bow and arrows, or the other men in the cave.
At first, such was Bunduki’s sense of perturbation and distress, he failed to attach any significance to certain sounds which came to his ears. Appreciation of what they could mean suddenly struck him, causing him to swing around and face the door. He hardly dared to breathe, wondering whether his ears might have been playing tricks upon him. Then he heard it again, there was no doubt about it.
The sound was of elephants on the move!
Cupping his hands around his mouth, the blond giant signaled to the great beasts. He did not use a Mangani call. Instead, he produced a very good facsimile of the squeal given by a young elephant in distress. Having repeated the call twice, with the confines of the cave acting as a kind of sound chamber and increasing the volume, he listened once more.
Silence had fallen.
Had the cry for help been heard? More important, would Tantor respond to it? Almost a minute dragged by. Then, with a feeling of growing relief, Bunduki heard the elephants drawing closer. Suddenly the crackling of foliage ended. However, there was a squelching noise such as might be made by the huge beasts passing through fairly shallow mud. Next came more sounds and considerable agitation among the trees and undergrowth that surrounded the clearing. Led by the big bull, the herd came into the blond giant’s view.
Guided by Bunduki’s commands in Mangani, the bull and two of the largest cows moved forward. Their trunks passed through and took hold of the latticework. While the human muscle power which would have been available to Bunduki could have achieved little or nothing, the elephants were equal to the task. As they exerted their combined strength, there was a squealing of steel being ripped from resisting timber and the door was hauled out of its setting. Backing away, the elephants allowed it to fall to the ground.
‘My thanks, Tantor,’ the blond giant said, stepping into the open.
Raising its trunk, the herd bull trumpeted as if it understood and appreciated Bunduki’s gratitude. Then it turned and, followed by the rest of the herd, returned in the direction from which it had come.
On the point of re-entering the cave and collecting his weapons, Bunduki was struck by a chilling thought. The way for him to set off and discover whether his fears for Dawn’s safety were justified now lay open. But could the blond giant take it?
At first sight, it seemed that the great door had been erected to prevent the hunters from leaving in the event of them regaining consciousness prematurely. Yet that had never happened in the past. So it was more probable that the door had been intended to protect them from prowling predators as they lay in their helpless condition. In which case, he would be leaving them at the mercy of any tiger, leopard, jaguar, or other flesh-eating creature which might come along.
Even as Bunduki was pondering upon the quandary, there was a movement in the cave. He dashed inside and found that man after man was stirring.
The discovery filled the blond giant with elation. With his friends recovering, he could make for the village at all possible speed. What was more, in addition to them knowing the way to the village, they would also be able to support him in whatever action might be necessary.
Then a second and very disturbing factor intruded upon Bunduki’s considerations!
On every previous putting away, the hunters had not recovered from the drugs—almost certainly administered in the wine at the wedding feast on this occasion—until they were back in their homes. That they should be waking in the cave had serious and alarming possibilities.
Why had the Elders failed to carry out their duties in the correct manner?
‘Wh—Where are we?’ At-Vee demanded, lurching to his feet and staring around.
The question was repeated as hunter followed hunter in dazed condition. Waiting until the effects of the drugs had sufficiently worn off, Bunduki explained what had happened.
‘Then the People-Taker is at the village!’ At-Vee roared and bent to retrieve his weapons. ‘Come on, he’ll be collecting Joar-Fane and Dawn, if not more of our people.’
‘Wait!’ Bunduki commanded and, such was the regard in which the hunters held him since his killing of the tiger, they halted their movements. Quickly he told them what he suspected, concluding, ‘We’re too late to stop them being taken—’
‘Then, by all the gods of the jungle, Bunduki,’ At-Vee answered. Take us after them and well bring them back even if we have to fight the whole Mun-Gatah nation.’
Listening to the bellow of agreement from the other hunters, the blond giant was pleased that he had managed to teach them how to fight against other human beings while using their hunting tools. However, he did not underestimate the perils and difficulties of the task which lay ahead.
Firstly, they had to find their way to the village.
Bunduki learned that he was wrong in supposing they knew the way. On leaving the cave, the hunters looked around in a puzzled fashion. Not one of them, even Tav-Han, had the slightest idea of where they might be. Possibly because of the drugs’ after effects, or due to a mental block implanted by the ‘Suppliers’ against such an eventuality, their normally well developed sense of direction appeared to have deserted them.
Thinking with the speed of desperation, the blond giant sought for a solution. Dawn and he had drawn certain conclusions while discussing the ‘putting away’. One was that the hunters were removed from the village to avoid the chance of them being found by the People-Taker’s escort, who occasionally did some looting in the houses. The removal was probably carried out after dark by the Elders, employing some of the villagers’ large
carts drawn by teams of domesticated water buffalo. Which suggested that the hiding place could not be too far from the palisade.
The question to be solved was where the cave might be.
While roaming in the jungle around the village, Dawn and Bunduki had looked for the carts’ tracks in the hope of confirming their theories. They had failed to find any, although it seemed impossible for such marks to be concealed.
Suddenly the blond giant remembered the squelching noises that had been made as the elephants approached and the way their legs had been smeared with mud.
And he knew the answer!
Or at least, a part of it!
‘Come on!’ Bunduki ordered, having brought his weapons from the cave after stringing the bow. ‘Spread out and look for the tracks of some carts.’
Once again, the blond giant was obeyed without question. While the elephants had been of the greatest use in removing the massive door, they had obliterated all traces of how the men had been taken into the cave. However, the hunters fanned out and advanced into the jungle. Mo-Han made the discovery, finding a wide and well used path which ended behind some dense undergrowth that hid it from the clearing.
The elation experienced by the rest of the party at the discovery was tempered by the fact that the buffaloes’ dung was at least a day old. Nor were their hopes raised when the track ended at the edge of a swamp.
‘I know this place!’ Tav-Han declared. ‘It is known as the Land of the Sinking Death. I warned you against it, Bunduki.’
‘I remember, Wise One,’ the blond giant answered employing the term of respect due to a prospective father-in-law.
Looking at the mud, which was interspersed with undergrowth to such an extent that it was impossible to see the other side, Bunduki also knew where they were. The swamp bordered the main trail to Rol-Mat, being separated from it by an area of bare rock in most places.
Bare rock, across which the carts could move without leaving a trace. Nor would the marks of the wheels upon the track be likely to attract attention, as the carts frequently traversed it.
‘We can’t get across!’ groaned one of the hunters, his head filled with the stories he had been told regarding the terrible dangers of the Land of the Sinking Death. ‘If we try, we’ll all be killed!”
‘We must have been brought over,’ Bunduki replied, recollecting how the mud had barely extended two and a half feet up the legs of the elephants. ‘Let’s see what happens. Stay here until I find out.’
With that, the blond giant stepped forward. There was a concert of alarmed exclamations as he advanced into the mud, but he felt a solid if slightly rough base under his feet. As he had guessed, the mud was at the most twenty-four inches deep and neither thick nor clinging. That was, he realized, to allow an easy passage for the heavy carts and to prevent any tracks from remaining to betray their passage.
Holding his bow with an arrow nocked ready for instant use, and scanning the mud through which they were wading in case they encountered dangerous creatures, Bunduki moved onwards. He doubted whether the ‘Suppliers’ would have allowed conditions in the swamp to support wild beasts, having no desire to endanger either the Elders or the unconscious hunters, but he realized that he must take extra care. To lose a man might easily frighten the rest so that they would either panic or refuse to go any further.
Nothing happened and, led by At-Vee, the hunters followed the blond giant. From concern and alarm, their comments turned to relief as they continued to find a solid footing beneath them. Although the track wended its way through the undergrowth in such a way as to prevent either end from being seen from the other, it presented no difficulty. Nor were any dangers encountered. After covering about a mile, they emerged at a point where water flowed down the gentle slope of bare rock would wash away the mud from the carts’ wheels and prevent evidence of their passage from being left.
On reaching the trail, the men knew exactly where they were. The jungle might hide it from their view, but the village was less than half a mile away.
‘Let’s get there as quickly as we can!’ Bunduki commanded, returning the arrow to his back quiver. Slinging the bow across his shoulders, he took the m’kuki and spear from Mo-.Han; who had insisted upon carrying them to leave him free to discharge arrows if necessary. ‘Come on!’
Gripping their weapons and with their faces set in lines of grim determination, the hunters started to run. None of them, not even the most fleet of foot, could keep up with the blond giant. In spite of being encumbered by his various arms, he strode out as if free from any burden with his powerful legs carrying him along the trail like an athlete performing over a cinder track.
Rounding a corner, Bunduki saw the village and suspected that his fears were well-founded. The main gate stood open, but there was no sign of fife within the palisade. For all the pace he had set, he was holding something in reserve. Such was the state of his anxiety that the speed of his strides increased until he was literally sprinting over the last hundred yards.
Suddenly armed men appeared at the gates!
Even as the blond giant was preparing to give battle, he realized that they were not Mun-Gatahs. Knuckling the sweat from his eyes with his m’kuki-filled right hand, he identified them as hunters from the three closest villages.
‘The gods of the jungle be praised!’ Am-Kok of Rol-Mat greeted as the blond giant came to a halt before him. ‘We hoped that you had been “put away”, but feared the People-Taker had collected you.’
Standing on spread-apart feet, with the great, perspiration-sodden barrel of his chest heaving as he sought to replenish his lungs, Bunduki allowed the men to relieve him of the m’kuki, shield and bow. He did not have the breath to reply. Instead he glared along the deserted streets and could hear women wailing.
‘We had come for you to teach us how to fight,’ Am-Kok went on. ‘When we got here this morning, we found that the People-Taker had just left. All but the old people and the young children had been taken by him.’
‘They have left behind-babies not yet weaned,’ a hunter from another village went on in angry tones, for the Telongas loved children. ‘Unless they can survive on goats’ milk, they will die.’
‘There’s more than that,’ announced a man from the third community, the bitter timbre plain in his voice. ‘Guildo and the other Elders have been put to torture. I have never seen the like of it. One of them was still alive when we got here. He said that they wouldn’t tell the Mun-Gatahs where you have been “put away” and died before he could tell us so that we could come to find you.’
‘It seems that they knew something of you, Bunduki,’ Am-Kok continued. ‘But the Elders refused to admit you were here, even after they found Dawn.’
‘Where is Dawn now?’ the blond giant demanded, the words rasping from him like the snarls of a rage-filled jaguar.
‘They took her with them,’ Am-Kok replied. ‘From what Guildo’s wife said, she and Joar-Fane were sleeping in Tav-Han’s house. They were found and taken.’
‘One of the Elders’ wives told where they were to try and save her husband from further torment,’ the spokesman from the second village elaborated. ‘It did no good. Although the People-Taker had her put to torture too, not one of them would say where you had been “put away”.’
Although Am-Kok’s reply was what Bunduki had expected—feared in fact—that he would hear, it still came as a terrible shock to him. So much so that he barely heard the other mans explanation. His giant frame went rigid and his face, pallid under its tan, took on such an expression that the bravest of the visiting hunters stared at him in awe. Even those who had secretly discounted the story they had been told by the Rol-Mat contingent, of how the blond giant had killed the man-eating tiger single handed and with his knife, lost all their doubts. Studying him at that moment, they felt that there stood one who was capable of performing such a feat.
‘Give me my weapons!’ Bunduki commanded.
‘What are you going to do?’ Am-Kok
asked, before any of the others could comply.
‘Do!’ the blond giant answered, in a voice more menacing than the roar of a charging tiger. As he continued to speak, he saw a growing perturbation come to the faces of his audience and sensed the alarm they were feeling at the words. ‘I’m going to save Dawn, Joar-Fane and the rest of our people—Or I’ll die in the attempt.’
Chapter Fifteen – We’ll All Attack at the Same Moment
Clad in his metal helmet and leather breastplate, the young Mun-Gatah warrior leaned on his lance with his back against the trunk of a tree. He scowled malevolently past his ground-hitched ocha-gatah gelding to where fires’ red glows indicated the presence of the camp beyond the brush lined rim of the hollow in which the People-Taker had ordered a halt for the night. Not only did he object to a person of his social standing having to perform sentry duty when there were grar-gatah riders available, but he felt it beneath his dignity to be acting as one of the People-Taker’s escort. Normally he would have been part of the High Priest retinue and engaged on more congenial tasks. However, Dryaka had sent him with twenty-five men to act as protectors for the People-Taker, and to carry out another purpose. There had been complaints from the party on learning what the secondary assignment was to be, but not within Dryaka’s hearing. The way that the situation stood in Bon-Gatah, to have done so would have been inviting painful and possibly lethal repercussions.
Despite all they could do, the High Priest and Charole, the Protectress of the Quagga God, had failed to learn who was responsible for the abortive attacks upon them. However, the fact that they had clearly resolved their differences and supported each other had had a most salutary effect upon the citizens of Bon-Gatah. Once the news had been circulated by visitors to the capital city and the ‘talking drums’—a refinement granted to every nation by the ‘Suppliers’—the response from the rest of the population had been equally satisfactory. There had been no further attempts at assassination and a more acceptable state of affairs, at least as far as Charole and Dryaka were concerned, had descended on the land.
