“Did you notice that the villagers weren’t as impressed by Brandt as they should have been?” Micah asked casually as the wind flowed through her hair and she comfortably bobbed in the saddle, melding with Speckles for an easy ride.
“I think they’ve seen an Aurochs before. We’d heard rumors of large creatures to the south of here, maybe we can find them. We have the best friends in the world if you’re looking for something in a big area!” Braden sent a special thank-you to his friends winging ahead. Skirill and Zyena waved their wings as they continued flying above the hills, directing the horses to the best route.
Braden led the way on Max with Micah behind. By riding single file, the horses crushed vegetation on a path wide enough for a human. If they follow the same path back, then they hoped that any person could follow it, even if they were fishermen unused to the hills and woods.
“I think Brandt would love to find more of his people. Being this far south, they would have avoided the Bat-Ravens. Do you know how far south the land goes?” Micah asked.
“I don’t know but we can find out.” Braden opened his neural implant for the first time since he asked Holly about cloning Pik Ha’ar.
‘Holly, how far south does the land go and can you please show me a map.’ Braden found it easier to ask than to dig through the files. After he asked, he thought that he could have just as easily pulled up the map showing their current position and simply expanded and scrolled. It didn’t matter as Holly was instantly responsive, as always.
‘The land continues for another three thousand kilometers to the south. The southern continent is the largest on Vii. The northern continent is roughly half the size. Here is a map of the continents of Vii.’ The image appeared before Braden’s eye. He asked Holly to share it with Micah as well.
They looked together, seeing the north. Braden zoomed in to find the cities that he knew, then expanded out to see where they were in relation to the whole continent. He did the same for the south. They’d only penetrated a third of the way. There was a great deal more to be explored. He scrolled past the area, but couldn’t tell if there were any settlements or not. He also found that there was another continent in the Western Ocean, about half the size of the northern continent. Holly said that a small settlement had been established there, but they hadn’t been heard from in over four-hundred years, or cycles as Braden called them.
“Wow,” Braden lamented. “The more questions we ask, the more we find out that we don’t know.”
‘Master President, the Androids inform me that the cloning process of your friend Pik Ha’ar is progressing normally,’ Holly told them both.
‘That is good news, Holly,’ Micah said slowly, furling her brow. ‘What can we expect when we meet the clone? Will he know us? Will he know anything?’
‘The cloning process is very advanced. From my understanding of your interactions, although they were brief, they helped him change his very nature. We can only hope those memories survived. If they didn’t, you’ll have to establish a new relationship with the Lizard Man, build your friendship again, but it shouldn’t take as long this time. He was open to new things, more than he let on when leading a Lizard Man squad.’
‘Thanks, Holly. I hope that he remembers something of us. He was, he is one of us,’ Micah corrected.
They continued in silence as both thought of meeting their friend again, after seeing him die in a shower of Android laser beams. They both determined not to give him blasters this time around.
When the group arrived at the hunting ground, they hobbled the horses and left them to graze the more fertile grasses at the edge of the forest. G-War showed them an area where deer were feeding. Bounder and Gray Strider loved to hunt deer, so they followed G-War’s directions while Braden and Micah took their woven bags and went where the Hawkoids told them they could find wild tubers and a type of green bean that grew near black raspberry bushes. The berries weren’t ripe, but the green beans were coming into their own.
After a short fight, the Wolfoids informed the group of two kills, and that they were dragging the deer back to where the horses were. Braden and Micah finished with the beans and started on the tubers, a small, red potato that tasted good raw but was better cooked.
When Bounder and Gray Strider dragged the deer into the clearing, Max and Speckles pranced and tried to move farther away. For as much blood had been shed in their presence, they still shied away from the smell. G-War was pleased as he knew that he’d get the choicest parts. Half the group stayed away from the entrails, while G-War, the Wolfoids, and the Hawkoids readily followed the ‘cat’s blood-fanged lead.
Braden and Micah returned and quickly gutted the deer and removed their heads and lower legs. The deer were too big to carry on the backs of the horses, so the humans took extra time to cut down a few saplings to make a game drag. They threw the carcasses on that along with the bags of vegetables and headed back to the Village of Cornwall.
Micah checked in periodically with the companions and Ax and ‘Tesh to make sure everything was fine. It was, but the children missed their parents.
“Braden, Rabbits are raising our children,” she stated in a way that said it all. He started to laugh and then threw his hands up in surrender.
“Yes, they are, along with a mammoth who is the King of the Aurochs. How about Hawkoids that look like Eagles? Lizard Men? Let’s not forget the furry orange creature who named them in the first place and a floating Tortoid who understands human philosophy better than humans. And another child who is only twelve. Yes, that’s who’s raising our children, except for the rare occasions when we get to help. I’m sorry about that,” Braden finished, but didn’t mean to end on a sour note.
“If we don’t bring peace, then who will and would it be the kind of peace that we want? No, we’ve surrounded ourselves with good people, of all shapes and sizes, fur and feathers. Our children are always in good hands, partner mine. I couldn’t ask for better for me and them,” Micah said, easing any tension Braden may have felt.
They continued the rest of the way in silence. The game drag that Speckles hauled scraped the earth and made a trail for the villagers that would last for the rest of the cycle and maybe even beyond that.
Max followed to make sure nothing fell off and by dusk, they’d returned to the village. This time, they were greeted without spears. They dropped off the vegetables and deer with the chief, in the hopes that he would join the trade route. The people gave him no choice as they cheered and went away with the food to prepare some for now and save more for later.
Micah pulled out a small bag that she gave to the Rabbits. They deserved a treat for watching the twins all day, although they said they much preferred that to hunting. They also missed their own children back on the ship, even though they were grown and having their own babies by now. No, the Rabbits had spent a day that was fulfilling for them, although they readily accepted the fresh green beans and ate them all in short order.
Aadi and Brandt were happy to see the successful return of their humans. They had no issues with the villagers and since they stayed behind, it gave the people of Cornwall confidence that the Free Trader would live up to his word. With the gifts of venison, deer hide, and wild vegetables, the village of Cornwall became a confirmed trading partner.
Micah would have never believed it. She wanted to kill the chief for how he had treated her, but she still carried his blaster and always would. Without it, the chief was just an average man. Braden and the companions had helped her establish her place as an equal in these societies where men ruled supreme.
Braden didn’t care about any of that. He looked forward to bringing rope and mushrooms, hoping that the Amazonians had a village closer to the Easter Ocean to shorten the trade route. They knew the Lizard Men liked fish and the villages of Trent and Cornwall could provide for them. Trade could happen without Braden and Micah once they introduced them and taught the people some basic hand and arm signals, like the villagers from McCullough
used.
Braden loved two things – his family and trade.
His family included all the creatures that traveled with him, too. The Golden Warrior was a completely different ‘cat after having found felines in the south, even though they were smaller domestic cats and not Hillcats. No one was a bigger fan of trading with Cornwall than G-War.
They slept that night and at daylight, they left, heading south. They followed the maps that Holly provided, which showed an ancient’s road south of the rainforest that led directly to the destroyed city of Sanctuary. They knew that they’d try the road and see if it was passable.
They needed to go to New Sanctuary for a number of reasons. They wanted to check up on the survivors rescued from Cygnus VI and see if they made any progress on the programming to improve how the sensors looked at the rainforest. The survivors had to find a way to locate the Overlords. Braden and Micah also wanted to find out what they needed to do to get Pik’s clone from the ship to Vii.
So much to do and so little time, but they’d detour as necessary to do things right, like let the Hawkoids fly south and see if they could find the rumored Aurochs herd. If not Aurochs, then other creatures. Braden and Micah didn’t care as long as there was the thrill of exploration.
G-War slept in the wagon, out cold from a long night of dawdling with the female cats. They weren’t Hillcats, but it seemed they appreciated the attention that the Golden Warrior lavished upon them. He told them all he’d return, even though they didn’t understand him.
Even the children playing nearby couldn’t wake him.
The Aurochs
Braden opened his neural implant so he could find the ancients’ road west. He assumed that it would be overgrown like the one through the Amazon, but after two turns of quick travel on the rolling hills overlooking the Eastern Ocean, they found the road as it was untouched by nature, looking like it must have during the time of the ancients.
The road was free of weeds and bushes, cutting a smooth line into the hills to the west, the scars of the road’s passing clearly visible after a millennium. It was hard not to marvel at the power the ancients wielded over nature, as they ripped hills in half to force a road through. Marvel, yes, but Braden felt sorry that the ancients chose to dominate nature rather than live in harmony with it.
They camped on the road as they waited for Skirill and Zyena to return from their trip south. Braden didn’t know how far they would go, but expected that they would try their best to discover if the Aurochs herd was real. They owed it to their friend to give it their best effort. They also looked for anything else that could be of interest, like a settlement, other intelligent creatures, or even beasts of burden.
With this road, travel south of the Amazon should be easy, Braden thought, an alternate route away from the rain and the fighting.
‘How are you two doing out there?’ Micah asked, wanting to hear something besides Braden thinking about trade.
‘We have passed two small villages and a herd of creatures that look like your water buffalo from the north,’ Skirill answered.
Braden told Micah about water buffalo, though she hadn’t seen one for herself. G-War had shared his memory with her, but it included his perception of their smells and small, dense minds. She smiled and shook her head.
‘We are now flying away from the rising sun. The hills end and rolling plains begin. It is wide open here, with good grass, very green. It looks like the plains between the human settlements and the mountains where I was hatched,’ Skirill told them. ‘My mate is between me and you, so we can cover more ground.’
‘I am here,’ Zyena told them. ‘It is a beautiful land. I see something and need to get closer. Skirill, to me!’ she sent over the mindlink. Despite the words, she didn’t say them as if she was in trouble. Braden and Micah waited anxiously as she flew lower. Skirill dove toward the ground, beating his wings hard. Soon, he could see what she saw and shared that with the companions.
‘Ha!’ Brandt yelled in his thought voice, more loudly than usual. The others all winced together as if shocked by thunder. ‘We must go meet them. Look at that! There are hundreds,’ Brandt’s voice drifted away as he focused on what the Hawkoids were seeing. The plains were covered by a vast herd of Aurochs. The King was overjoyed.
“Well then, it looks like we’re not going to New Sanctuary just yet,” Braden said as they played with the twins. The Rabbits had run toward a patch of trees to find some fresh grass. When they heard Brandt’s call, they hop-walked back. G-War wasn’t happy to be roused from his nap, but he felt for his large friend, knowing what it was like to be in a land away from one’s people.
Aadi took it in stride, but the Wolfoids had a different goal. They wanted to find the water buffalo, which they saw as a new challenge to their hunting prowess. Since the initial debacle with the buck, they’d improved their skills but knew they had more to learn. They admired how effective the ‘cat was regardless of his small size. They couldn’t mimic his dexterity, but they were learning how he prepared the final attack on his prey.
The Wolfoids determined that there were three types of creatures: friends, hunters, and prey. Bounder and Gray Strider considered the Rabbits to be friends, ones who would prefer not to hunt, but weren’t prey. They’d seen the Rabbits defend themselves in the fields outside Dwyer. The human attackers? They were prey, deadly but prey nonetheless. The humans Braden and Micah were not just hunters, they were the deadliest creatures the Wolfoids had ever met. Old Tech gave the humans an edge, but it didn’t change how they could best any opponent, any prey. All the companions and even the horses owed their lives to Braden and Micah.
“I wonder if the water buffalo are domesticated?” Braden said out loud. “If they aren’t, I wonder what it would take to train them to pull a wagon?”
They put Brandt into his harness, made more difficult by his anxious foot stamping and continuous leaning forward. He wanted to get going, see a herd of his people. They couldn’t calm him down. When they finally got the harness on, he took off, dragging the wagon at a dangerous rate over the open and rough ground.
The twins and Rabbits were inside! Braden and Micah jumped on the horses and galloped after him.
‘I got this,’ G-War shared as he deftly jumped to the buckboard and ran down the harness and up Brandt’s back. He continued until he was on Brandt’s head, then crawled down his face, using his claws extensively to hang on. With one a quick move, he dug one claw deeply into the middle of the King’s nose. With a snort and violent shake of his head, the King of the Aurochs was brought to a violent halt, sliding the wagon sideways as it stopped rolling.
Brandt bugled in pain. The twins were crying in the furry arms of the Rabbits as the horses raced to catch up.
‘Shut up!’ G-War roared in his loudest ‘cat voice. ‘You’re scaring the children.’ He retracted his single claw, much to the King’s relief and calmly walked back up Brandt’s face to sit on his head, licking a paw and grooming his face. ‘And there’s more where that came from if you run off out of control again.’
‘We are blessed to be in the orange creature’s presence,’ Bounder said as he arrived at the wagon a few heartbeats ahead of Max and Speckles. G-War started purring while Brandt apologized, ashamed at what he’d done.
‘We’re all children at heart, Brandt,’ Micah offered, putting her anger aside and letting the mother in her speak. ‘Please, keep our children safe or let us know you’re going to do something dangerous so we can get them out of the wagon. If the wagon overturns, you could kill them all, and I can’t have that. I wouldn’t survive that.’
She rode forward so she could touch Brandt’s head but Speckles shied away from the great horns. Micah looked him in the eye instead. ‘We’re here for you. Whatever it takes us to get there, we’ll get there. I suspect they’ve been grazing that land for hundreds of cycles. What’s a few heartbeats more? They’ll still be there when we arrive. I would like us to go at a more reasonable pace, if you don’t mind
.’
She winked at the ‘cat as Brandt leaned forward, setting out at his normal walk, forcing the horses to trot. He looked back often for Micah’s approval of the speed, while simultaneously apologizing.
‘Thanks, G,’ she said privately.
‘My namesakes! You think I’d let anything happen to them? By the way, I knew we’d be safe, because, well, me,’ he said confidently. Some might consider it arrogance, but the ‘cat could see a short distance into the future, far enough that he could and had saved their lives on previous occasions. On the ship, they would have walked into the middle of an Android patrol without G-War. He also had a special bond with the twins since he’d been talking with them well before they were born. With mental caresses, he calmed them and they settled in for the continued ride south. The Rabbits held them and Aadi counselled them on whatever he determined was the topic of the day.
Skirill and Zyena continued circling the herd, trying to count the numbers, but they couldn’t beyond believing that it was in the hundreds. From new calves to old bulls, they were all there.
“Is this what the Earthshaker Herd would have looked like without the Bat-Ravens?” Braden asked.
Brandt had gone from the peak of excitement to a deep pit of despair in just a few heartbeats. The others were worried that something was bothering him that he hadn’t shared. Their friend had stormed into the rainforest during a Lizard Man battle, so getting emotionally overwhelmed wasn’t beyond him, although they’d seen nothing like that since.
Aadi and Brandt were usually the wisest among them and led the conversations with Amazonian leader Zalastar. Aadi thought it best that he approach his fellow companion to find out.
‘Brandt, my friend. What ails you?’ Aadi asked. The King of the Aurochs didn’t answer, even after Aadi waited. ‘I know there is something wrong and you must share, or we can do nothing for you. You know that is not our way. We don’t let problems fester. We can’t. And we don’t let our friends suffer.’
Free Trader Box Set - Books 4-6: Battle for the Amazon, Free the North!, Free Trader on the High Seas Page 7
