Thegdol eyed the three warriors for a moment. He seemed to make a decision. “No need to gut and clean your kills. Gorabor needs more work at it. Lok, Staggen, I want the two of you to keep hunting.”
“Yes, Corporal.” Lok sheathed his knife. “And thank you for that, Gorabor. So kind of you to volunteer.”
“You’re welcome,” Gorabor said, with no little amount of irony, as he worked at gutting. “Happy to help a fellow squad mate.”
“You can clean all of my kills, if you want,” Staggen said. “Thegdol, you might want to consider that. We could make Gorabor an expert in gutting and cleaning before we next return to the warband.”
Jodin chuckled at that. “He’s got a point.”
“I would not want to deprive you of the pleasure, Staggen,” Gorabor said.
“Staggen, Lok,” Thegdol said, “enough ass-dragging and jawing. Get back to work. Good hunting.”
“Yes, Corporal,” Lok said and jerked his head at Staggen, who shot Gorabor another amused grin before stepping away.
“Jodin,” Thegdol said, “you get to take Tovak out and show him the ropes.”
Jodin eyed Tovak unhappily. He was a little shorter than Tovak, with black hair spilling out beneath his helmet and a thick beard with two braids coming down from either side of his jaw. There was the trace of a black tattoo running up one side of his neck.
“I had a feeling you were going to have me do that,” Jodin said.
“Is there a problem?” Thegdol asked, his voice becoming stern.
“No, Corporal,” Jodin replied, “no problem at all.”
“Good,” Thegdol said curtly. “Find out how he is with the sling.” The corporal paused and looked over at Tovak. “You did bring your sling, didn’t you?”
“I have it,” Tovak said and patted his hip, where the sling was rolled up neatly in a small pouch. “Shot too.”
“Good,” Thegdol said. “Any questions, Jodin?”
“No, Corporal,” Jodin replied. He took a deep breath, and his frown turned to a weak and artificial smile. “None at all.”
Thegdol looked over at Tovak. “Do what he tells you and pay attention. It may not seem like it, but it can be dangerous out here. We’re hunting food for the warband, but there are things out here that will be hunting you. Don’t kid yourself, boy. You have a lot you need to learn.”
“Yes, Corporal.”
“Get to it then.”
“Come on,” Jodin said wearily, pointing the way Staggen and Lok had just gone. He started moving. “We thought we saw another group of heratta off in that direction.”
Tovak hefted his spear and set off after Jodin. He felt a thrill of excitement course through him. Granted, they were only hunting game, but it was a start.
CHAPTER NINE
Tovak and Jodin had gone about a hundred yards into the forest, leaving Thegdol and Gorabor behind. At first, nothing was said between the two of them. Then Jodin stopped and looked over at Tovak.
“It’s just my luck that I got stuck with you, boy,” Jodin said. “Fresh off the yuggernok and probably think you already know everything. Well, let me tell you, you don’t know nothin’, especially out here.”
Tovak did not reply, but he noticed how Jodin’s eyes returned to scanning the forest, moving from the needle-covered floor up into the trees, obviously searching for prey.
“I’ve been with the company for seven years. In that time, you learn a thing or two. With that learning comes trust to do a job right. The lieutenant trusts me.”
“He does?” Tovak felt compelled to ask.
“Aye,” Jodin said, “he does and so does Thegdol. While everyone else was making camp and you was marking the trail, I was sent to scout this area out and look for threats.”
Tovak was impressed, but he said nothing.
“If you watch and listen,” Jodin said, “you might learn a thing or two.”
“Then I will.”
“Talk is easy,” Jodin said as he started moving again. “We will see.”
Tovak moved with him.
“Have you ever hunted before?” Jodin asked, looking over.
“A bit,” Tovak said. He had been taught to hunt as part of his training, but he’d only ever hunted birds and rabbits. There had been no opportunity for larger game. He did not tell Jodin that.
“Well, whatever you think you know, forget it. You’re about to get an education, and it starts with me.” Jodin glanced over at him as they continued to work their way through the trees. “Tell me, what direction is the wind blowing?”
Jodin had picked that moment to ask, precisely when the breeze had stopped.
“From ahead of us,” Tovak replied immediately, pointing.
“Which means we’re headed in the right direction, especially so, since we’re hunting,” Jodin said. “Nothing to our front will smell us coming. They might hear us if we’re not careful, but they won’t smell us. Understand?”
“I do.” Tovak nodded his head. He was well aware of how to use the wind to his advantage, but he didn’t say anything. He figured he’d let Jodin go ahead and teach, while keeping his mouth shut. Tovak knew he might even learn something from the veteran, who had much more experience than he did.
“Keep a sharp eye,” Jodin said, lowering his voice a tad. “Watch for marks in the dirt, or animals in the trees. Most importantly, do your best to move as quietly as possible.”
They had traveled about three hundred yards without picking up any sign of wildlife when Tovak spotted a clump of fat, black-capped mushrooms growing inside a fallen and hollowed-out tree. There were about a dozen nestled inside the rotting wood, and he recognized them immediately, as they had grown in the caverns back home. They were not only edible but considered quite tasty and used for adding flavor to food. When he’d only been able to afford leftover scraps no one wanted, he’d gone hunting the mushrooms to spice up his food.
“Hey, look,” he said, pointing.
“What?” Jodin asked, turning his head in that direction. “Oh, blackheads. Good find.”
Jodin stepped up to the snag. He pulled out a foraging sack he’d tucked into his belt and leaned over, looking inside the rotted-out trunk. It was clear he was checking to see if anything dangerous lurked within before he began harvesting the mushrooms. Apparently satisfied, he picked the mushrooms out one by one and dropped them into the sack. When he got to the last two, he stood up, holding them in his hand. There was a long moment where he looked at Tovak, as if deciding something, then stepped nearer.
“Here,” he said, handing over the mushrooms. “Take these two. They are good for waterproofing leather and armor. It means less cleaning later.”
Was Jodin kidding?
“Rub these on your bracers,” Jodin said, making a rubbing motion with his hand against his forearm, “and it will keep the water from soaking in if it rains.”
Tovak knew perfectly well that these mushrooms weren’t used for that. He eyed Jodin, trying not to show any hint that he suspected he was being had. What was he up to?
“Waterproofing?” Tovak asked, returning his attention to Jodin, whose face was a mask of innocence. Tovak tapped the armor. “Really? I hadn’t heard that one.”
“Go on,” Jodin said, in an encouraging manner. “Helps protect the metal from rust and keeps the leather hard. I didn’t believe either, but an armorer taught me the trick. Trust me, it works. They’re also good for cooking, but since you spotted them, I am guessing you already know that.”
Tovak brought one of the mushrooms up to his nose and smelled the musky flavor. “These mushrooms can add flavor to even the worst meals.”
What game was Jodin playing? For a moment, he considered calling Jodin out, but then he thought he’d play along, at least for a while. It was clear Jodin was attempting to pull some sort of a prank on him. But what was the joke?
“Thanks,” he finally said, having made his decision. He broke off the stem and rubbed the insides of the caps over his bracers, ma
king sure to coat them as much as possible with the dark spores. They left a gray color on the tanned leather, which he rubbed in with his fingers until the color had mostly faded. When Tovak looked up, he saw a hint of a smile on Jodin’s face. It vanished, almost immediately.
“What about you?” he asked, raising an eyebrow and offering up the other mushroom.
“Oh, I’ve already done mine . . . a few weeks ago. I did my bracers, greaves, and even my chest plate. We should bring the rest back to camp, though . . . you know, for the cook pot.”
Jodin must have thought Tovak was a complete idiot, gullible at best. What was he up to?
“Good thinking,” Tovak said.
Jodin made a show of looking around. “I saw plenty of game when I came this way before, but none now. I think we’re gonna need to flush them out.”
Tovak glanced around, wondering how Jodin intended to make that happen.
“This is what we are going to do,” Jodin said, taking a step nearer. “You will move on up ahead a ways to the right, until you come to a small cliff face. It’s not large, but you can’t miss it. From there, circle back up the slope to the left and then come back towards me. Though you can’t see it through the trees here, there’s a boulder field up in that direction, straight in front of us.” Jodin brought his hands together. “I’ll meet up with you in the field. There’s bound to be something up in those rocks, and if it bolts, there is a good chance it will get spooked towards one of us.”
Tovak considered it and decided he did not like the suggestion or the idea of separating. Jodin was obviously figuring Tovak would come running back if he ran into anything more dangerous than a heratta. If he did, or called for help, Tovak knew he would be the butt of jokes for weeks, if not months to come. He was being set up and he did not like it, not one bit.
“What about checking me out on the sling?” Tovak asked.
“We can do that later,” Jodin said with a negligent wave. “Let’s take something down first, like a dain, then we can go looking for hoppers and see how you are with the sling.”
“Sure,” Tovak said easily, though he wanted to say no. “Off this way, to the right?” he pointed with his spear farther along the slope.
“Right,” Jodin said, flashing a reassuring smile full of yellowed teeth. “Move up that way until you hit the cliff face, then swing around to the left, come back this way, and meet me at the rocks. Between the two of us, something has to get flushed out into the open.”
“You got it.” Tovak hefted his spear in one hand and then set off through the trees in the direction Jodin had directed.
“And don’t get lost,” Jodin called out after him. “I don’t want to have to come find you.”
“Not likely,” Tovak said to himself. He moved off into the forest. Once he was out of view, he slipped back into his pioneer training, doing his best to make as little sound as possible as he moved. Tovak picked his way amongst the trees and through what little underbrush scraped out a living beneath the thick pine canopy. He moved from one tree to the next, his senses stretching to detect any sign of wildlife. He scanned the ground for tracks, listened for noise, and even sniffed at the air to pick up odd scents. Nothing, not even the birds called to one another. Something wasn’t right.
He went about one hundred yards and paused, going to a knee. Tovak became still, listening to the forest around him, as he’d been trained. He heard and saw nothing out of the ordinary.
Staggen had said there was plenty of game around. The proof of that had been the easy kills they’d made. Thegdol had also said these hills were filled with heratta. So why was there no game about? Tovak could not understand it.
He went another hundred yards to where the hill turned to a tall wall of rock. It rose above him thirty feet. Tovak swung around, as Jodin had indicated. A short way from the base of the rock wall, he discovered a large field of tumbled boulders and jagged stone mixed in amongst a scattering of trees. It was what he was looking for.
He began working his way towards where Jodin had said he would be. Tovak had been so concerned about the game that Jodin was playing, he’d not stopped to consider what type of animals they would encounter. He knew from his studies these hills and the surrounding mountains were home to some pretty dangerous critters, including large spiders, like krata. Tovak had never much liked spiders.
He stopped, suddenly alarmed. The boulder field was the sort of terrain murinok preferred. They were known to use the rocks and boulders as cover in order to approach and ambush their prey. Tovak closed his eyes.
“Great, just bloody great,” Tovak said to himself with a glance down at his greaves. “You are a bloody fool, is what you are.”
Murinok were attracted to the mushrooms Jodin had given him. Tovak cursed himself for not remembering from his lessons at the Academy. Teams that hunted adult murinok used bunches of blackheads as bait. Now, Tovak was the bait. Jodin had seen to that.
“Just bloody great,” Tovak said, for the wind was now blowing his scent over the entire boulder field. That was why there were no animals about. He was in a murinok’s territory. Jodin was likely out there watching him at this very moment or waiting for him to come running or cry out for help at the first sight of a murinok.
Tovak considered his options. He could go back. If he did, he could see Jodin branding him a coward. Tovak would become a laughingstock. So, that option was out. He was also certain Jodin was not trying to kill him. No one, other than Struugar and Benthok, knew he was a Pariah. If Jodin was not trying to kill him, then the danger was not so great as it seemed, which was why he’d sent Tovak out here by himself in the first place. If there was a murinok around, it must be a juvenile.
That decided it for Tovak. He would stay and show up Jodin, turning the prank against him. Tovak resolved to see it through to the end. This was just another test and one Tovak intended to pass.
He continued forward, making his way slowly around the boulders and rocks. When that was not possible, he pulled himself over the larger boulders. He kept to the rockier portions of the slope, trying his best to make no sound as he moved deeper into the field of rocks. This was harder than it sounded, especially while wearing armor and carrying a spear. His hobnailed boots did not help either, which tended to grate on the stone when he slipped.
While he moved, he did his best to recall what he knew of the murinok and their habits. Murinok subsisted mostly on other insects that happened into their hunting grounds. They were fiercely territorial and known to fight amongst themselves over females. The killer centipedes were deadly. Adults were, anyway. Juveniles could be too. The trick was not getting bitten, for they were highly venomous. But it was the adults that presented the real threat, for they could grow as large as fifteen feet from head to tail.
Despite being territorial, a juvenile would likely run or hide from him, so all he had to do was make it through the boulder field and to the other side. That would see Jodin’s prank turned back on him.
As he moved deeper into the rocky field, he kept an eye out for the telltale tracks of a multi-legged insect. He saw nothing, heard nothing, other than the occasional breeze through the nearby trees, rustling their branches.
He glanced at where he had rubbed the mushrooms on his bracers, and for a moment questioned the wisdom of continuing.
“I’ve come this far,” Tovak said. “All I have to do is make it through the field.”
He’d gone about thirty yards, moving from one boulder to the next, when the faint scent of decay caught in his nostrils. He paused and turned his head left and right, sniffing deeply. He pulled himself onto a small boulder and scanned the area. There was nothing moving. Even the nearest birds had gone silent. Then he saw tracks in the dirt around the boulder to his front.
Sliding down to the needle-covered ground, he studied the tracks and general area, letting his gaze widen to maximize the use of his peripheral vision to catch details he might not notice when looking straight on. Not far from the boulder w
as a streak of black, chalky goo about half a yard long. He recognized both it and the tracks from his studies. The droppings only confirmed it. Murinok.
Inspecting the area closely, he could make out the telltale patterns of additional tracks. They were just like the life-sized drawings of tracks his instructors had shown him back at the Academy, although these were somewhat farther apart width-wise, meaning the creature was wider and older. He suddenly went cold. He was not dealing with a juvenile, but an adult.
He moved up to the tacks and squatted down. There were two lines of indentations nearly four feet across, as if someone had poked the ground repeatedly about every six inches or so in two parallel lines.
Just ahead the number of tracks increased, forming a path of sorts through the dirt and pine needles. It was like the kind of trail deer would make through the brush, only there was no brush about. It was clearly a regular path for the creature. He moved cautiously forward. The path led to a nearby slab-like boulder. When he knelt, he could see there was a gap about a foot high and several feet wide that led down into the darkness below. Tovak held a hand up to his nose. The hole stank of decomposition. This was the creature’s den. He was sure of it. He glanced around. Was it nearby? Was it watching?
The afternoon suns beat down on him, seeming to cook him in his armor, but he did not notice it. Senses heightened, Tovak drew back and away from the den. The only question now was whether to call it a day or continue. If the creature wasn’t a juvenile, which Tovak now thought it wasn’t, he was in real danger. He thought about retracing his steps and then disregarded that thought. He was too far into the boulder field. The forest was only thirty yards away. If he could make it down into the trees, he might be able to slip away before the murinok became aware of his presence.
Crouching low and holding the spear ready in both hands, Tovak moved forward towards the trees. The closer he got, the more tracks crisscrossed the ground around him. He also came across the remains of kills, heratta parts and bones from other animals he could not recognize. He breathed slowly, focusing on his surroundings and stretching out with his senses.
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