For an instant it seemed it would splinter; but then the spearhead sank into the creature's chest and, as the shaft snapped straight again, Sebastian felt himself being lifted from his feet and carried backwards. He remembered Joseph's story about his encounter with a rusa boar but didn't have time to dwell on it, because now he was crashing through bushes and ferns and leaves and he could do nothing but hang on grimly and hope that he didn't get pushed back into anything more solid.
And just as this thought occurred to him, there was another impact and his backward motion was suddenly halted. He lost his grip on the spear and dropped into a sitting position. The beast kept on coming, its front legs extended towards Sebastian's face. As he watched in rigid terror, he saw that the spear was sinking deeper and deeper into the beast's body and that its progress was finally slowing . . .
Glancing back, he saw what had happened. The butt of the spear had jammed into an opening in the broad trunk of a tree and the beast's own momentum had plunged the sharp spearhead deep into its guts. Finally it came to a halt, its legs quivering, its dripping snout a hair's breadth away from Sebastian's face. It gave a last convulsive roar, blasting out a great gust of raw-meat breath. Then its eyes flickered and clouded over, and the extended front paws swung downwards, the razor-sharp claws raking Sebastian's shoulders and tearing the fabric of his jacket.
For a moment Sebastian stared into those vacant eyes and then he remembered to breathe. He became aware of two sets of running feet approaching him through the undergrowth. Quick as a flash, he scrambled up, swung the end of the spear away from the tree, rolled the beast's carcass over onto its side and then took a seat on its lifeless body. When Cal and Galt burst into view from two different directions, Sebastian glanced up and affected a look of mild surprise.
'Oh, there you are,' he said. 'I wondered what had happened to you two.'
The warriors approached slowly, staring down in apparent disbelief at the great furry carcass.
'It's a gruntag!' exclaimed Galt. 'Biggest one I ever saw.'
'Oh, is that what it's called?' said Sebastian, trying to sound casual, though in truth his heart was still hammering fit to burst.
'What happened?' asked Cal suspiciously.
'What does it look like?' retorted Sebastian. 'This big lad decided he didn't like the look of me and charged. I had to take care of him. Well, I couldn't wait all day for help to turn up, could I? To be honest, I thought you two had given up and gone back to the others.'
Galt went down on his knees beside the carcass and examined the place where the spear had gone in. He let out a low whistle. 'How did you get it in so deep?' he asked.
Sebastian shrugged. 'I just threw it,' he said.
'You . . . threw it?' Galt looked astonished.
'Yes, the . . . what did you call it? The grunter?'
'Gruntag!'
'Yes, well it started towards me – it was still a good twenty spear-lengths away – and I thought, why not just throw the spear at it? Give it a sporting chance. Anyway, my aim was true, as you can see.'
Cal snorted derisively. 'There's not a man alive could throw a spear such a distance with that kind of force,' he said.
'True enough.' Sebastian got up from his seat on the gruntag's flank. 'But then, we Chosen Ones aren't exactly ordinary men, are we?' He started to walk away. 'I'll go and make sure the others are all right,' he said.
'Just a moment,' said Galt. 'If you're so strong, perhaps you'd like to throw this thing over your shoulder and carry it back to the trail for us?'
Sebastian rolled his eyes. 'Oh, come on,' he said. 'You can't expect me to take care of everything. I've done the hard bit.'
He looked around. 'Besides, this place is as good as any to make camp for the night.'
Cal sneered. 'Oh, so now you're an expert on campsites, are you?' he said.
'How hard can it be? Now you two get that thing skinned, gutted and ready to cook.' He thought for a moment. 'I suppose it is edible?' he asked.
Galt laughed. 'This is the jungle,' he said matter-of-factly. 'Anything that moves is edible.'
'Good. I'll go and fetch the others.' Sebastian smiled. 'I don't know about you lads, but I've worked up quite an appetite.' He began to walk away.
'Er . . . Chosen One?' said Galt, and Sebastian thought he deducted a new humility in his tone.
'Yes?' he said.
'You do realize you're walking in the wrong direction?'
'Of course.' He looked at Galt. 'A little test I devised,' he said. 'To . . . make sure you were staying alert. Yes, of course, I should really be going . . .'
'That way,' said Galt, pointing.
'Excellent.' Sebastian looked slyly at Cal. 'If only everyone was as clued up as Galt, we'd be laughing,' he said. He turned and walked in the direction Galt had indicated, hoping against hope that he wouldn't get lost.
CHAPTER 12
A FRANK EXCHANGE OF VIEWS
Sebastian sucked the last meat juices from a large bone and threw it into the fire, over which hunks of gruntag flesh were still sizzling enticingly. He gave a long sigh of content.
'Now, that's what I call dinner,' he said.
Everybody was seated around the flames – except for Max, who stood a short distance off, browsing through the lush undergrowth in search of something more suited to a vegetarian diet.
Keera, who was sitting on a fallen tree trunk beside Sebastian, nodded and let out a long belch, a popular custom among the Jilith. 'Yes, there's nothing like a hunk of fresh meat,' she agreed.
'Bit tough, if you ask me,' muttered Cal, who seemed thoroughly out of sorts. 'Not like a nice tender rusa. Now that's what I call tasty.'
'Nonsense!' said Sebastian. He looked down at Salah, who was sitting cross-legged by his feet, happily tucking into a hunk of meat that was nearly as big as she was. 'What do you think?' he asked her. 'Gruntag a bit tough?'
Salah grinned, shook her head, and gave him a thumbs up.
'No complaints there,' observed Sebastian. He was aware that he was laying it on a bit thick, but it was such a pleasure to get one over on Cal, he simply couldn't resist it.
'The Chosen One's right,' said Galt, through a mouthful of food. His mouth and beard glistened with grease. 'If you take the meat from the haunches, it's as tender as anything in the jungle.'
Now all eyes turned to Cornelius, as though his opinion might decide matters. He was eating all right, but without enthusiasm.
'It's fine,' he muttered dismissively. 'I'm just not that hungry.'
Sebastian frowned. He didn't like this new version of his old friend – somebody who seemed to have lost all appetite for life. It was not like him at all and Sebastian could only hope that something would return him to his usual good humour.
From a short distance away there was a sudden blast of expelled air.
''Scuse me,' said Max, still browsing. 'Some of this greenery is a bit rich on the old system.'
'Oh, don't worry,' said Keera. 'Amongst the Jilith, that is considered the height of good manners.'
'Don't tell him that,' muttered Sebastian. 'None of us will get a wink of sleep tonight.'
'I heard that,' said Max primly; and Sebastian and Keera shared a mischievous laugh.
'So,' said Cal, a little louder than seemed absolutely necessary, 'what's in this mysterious lost city we're seeking?' Sebastian glanced up in surprise, the spell broken. He shrugged. 'Blessed if any of us know,' he said. 'It's just that Thaddeus Peel asked us to find it.'
Cal's eyes narrowed suspiciously. 'Who's Thaddeus Peel?' he asked.
'He's . . . the man who sent us on this mission. A powerful man in Ramalat. He wants to know all about the lost city.'
'Well, why doesn't this Thaddeus Peel come and find it for himself?'
'He was . . . well, he's just not the adventuring sort. He asked us to come and look for it – and bring back proof of its existence.'
'Why would he want you to do that?' asked Galt, mystified.
'Well, h
e's heard people talking about it since he was a small boy. So he put together this expedition. You see, he thinks it could be worth his while.' He lowered his voice as though somebody might be listening in. 'There could be treasure,' he said.
The warriors looked back at him blankly.
'What's that?' asked Galt.
'You know – gold . . . silver . . . precious jewels?' They still looked bemused.
'What use would they be?' asked Cal.
It suddenly struck Sebastian what nonsense he was talking. The Jilith had no currency and therefore no use for any of the treasures that most of the world held in such high esteem. Give a Jilith man a handful of diamonds and he'd most likely use them as decorations to braid his hair. Hand him a bag of gold coins and he'd probably use them as ammunition in his slingshot. He certainly wouldn't have any other use for them. Sebastian considered what they might prefer.
'There might be other things,' he said. 'You know, like Joseph found? The globe with the little houses inside?'
Galt smiled. 'Oh yeah, now you're talking!' he said. 'I wouldn't mind one of those. I once asked Joseph if I could borrow his for a bit, but he just said no. He's very mean with it. We could find a really big one' – he extended his huge arms as wide as they would go – 'with big houses inside it. Then if he asked me if he could borrow mine, I'd just say no!' Cal looked at him in a pitying sort of way. 'And if we found one like that, how do you suppose we'd get it back?'
'Hmm . . .' Galt lapsed into a thoughtful silence.
Sebastian leaned back and then noticed that Keera was looking at him with interest.
'The world you come from,' she said. 'It must be very different to ours.'
Sebastian considered for a moment. 'Yes, I suppose it is,' he agreed.
'These . . . treasures you speak of. They mean something in your world?'
He nodded. 'Where I come from, a man's importance is measured by the amount of treasure he has,' he explained. 'If he has enough gold and jewels, he can have whatever he wants. A fine palace, land, slaves . . .'
'Slaves?'
'People who must do his bidding, bring his food, clean his house. That sort of thing.'
'Take my word for it,' said Max wearily, 'you've already got one of those.'
'But you are a slave too,' Keera told Sebastian.
'I am?'
'Yes, because you must do the bidding of this Thaddeus Peel.'
'Er . . . well, he is paying us to do this.'
'Paying you . . . how?'
'With money. Gold coins.' Sebastian studied her baffled face for a moment. 'It's hard to explain,' he said.
'And you have a lot of this . . . money?'
'Oh no, hardly any. But of course some people have money beyond imagination. In a place called Keladon there was a king – Septimus – the richest man in the known world. He had vast palaces, armies, stables, gold, jewels, you name it . . . He was a mighty man indeed.'
'Until you killed him, young master,' said Max, from behind a bush.
Keera's eyes narrowed. 'You killed this king? Why?'
Sebastian frowned. 'It's complicated. He shouldn't really have been king. He was supposed to be minding the throne for his niece, a young woman called Princess Kerin, until she came of age. But he plotted to have her killed. And I . . . I wished to protect her. So I helped lead an uprising against him.'
Keera looked at him and her eyes seemed to burn, such was their intensity. 'You loved this Kerin,' she said. 'I can tell from your voice.'
Sebastian felt himself reddening. 'Oh no, not really – though I was quite fond of her—' he said.
'You were mad about her,' said Max. 'You were like a great lovesick ninny wandering about the place!'
'I was not!' protested Sebastian. 'He's exaggerating,' he told Keera.
'Hardly. You were like a big moon-faced twerp. When she threw you over, you acted as though you were mortally wounded. I almost expected you to start writing poetry about her.'
'Will you belt up?' snarled Sebastian. 'Just get on with your supper and keep your snout out of this.' He turned back to Keera, aware that, by his feet, Salah was shaking with silent laughter. 'You'll have to forgive him,' he said. 'He's always lived in a fantasy world – you can't trust a thing he says.'
'I think he speaks the truth,' said Keera; and she could not conceal the disappointment in her voice.
'It's all in the past,' Sebastian assured her. 'I don't even think about her now.'
Galt suddenly clapped his hands together. 'You'd roll it,' he said.
Everybody looked at him.
'What are you blathering about?' snarled Cal, who couldn't seem to take his gaze off Keera and Sebastian.
'The big globe. You'd just roll it along the ground. You'd have to be careful it didn't smash on rocks or anything, but—'
'Joseph's globe has a flat bottom,' said Cal. 'It wouldn't work.'
'Oh, yes.' Galt frowned and thought for a moment. 'A raft,' he said. 'We could build a raft and float it downriver.'
'But we'd be heading upriver,' said Cal flatly.
'Huh?'
'If we were going back to the village, we'd be heading upriver, wouldn't we? How would we get a raft to go upriver?'
'Couldn't we paddle really, really hard?' suggested Galt.
Meanwhile Keera hadn't quite finished questioning Sebastian. 'So even a Chosen One can be unlucky in love,' she observed. 'Was this Princess Kerin the only one you loved, or were there others?'
'Umm . . . well . . .' began Sebastian. 'I suppose . . .'
She took hold of his hand. 'And do you think you could ever feel the same way about another woman?'
'Oh, I already do,' he assured her.
'Really?' She looked delighted.
'Yes, her name is—'
'I think you can safely let go of her hand now,' said Cal, staring across the fire at Sebastian.
Sebastian looked down in surprise. 'Oh, but . . . she was holding my hand,' he assured Cal.
'I don't see much of a difference. It seems to me that you need to learn your place, and not go chasing after Jilith women!'
'What?' Sebastian stared at him. 'I'm not chasing after anyone! I was just trying to—'
'I can see what you were trying to do. But you need to remember that Keera belongs to me!'
Now it was Keera's turn to look indignant. 'Is that so?' she said. 'Well, it's the first I've heard about it.'
'Oh, come on, you know how I feel about you.'
'I am aware of that, yes. But you must also understand that I have never felt the same way about you. To me, you're a good friend, nothing more.'
Sebastian Darke: Prince of Explorers Page 11
