Alien Courage (Rise of the Empress) (21 page)

Teni took the coat off the boy and gave him one that
he had saved from one of his dead companions. He cut the coat up into strips
and shoved them in his carry bag and without delay scrambled up the rocky hill
and disappeared over the top.

Brakin found the boy’s knife in his bag and while
holding a strip of coat against the tree drove the knife through it into the
wood. Sasra had just completed burying the guns and other valuable equipment
from the hunting party in the back of the cave, then cut the bond between the
boy’s feet and pushed him southwest. Brakin went up to
Url
and told him, “we wait there for two sleeping periods and if nothing, we come
back here.”     

“
Ya
, good.
You see Url soon,”
Url
replied leaning against his gun.

Brakin nodded, turned and ran off after Sasra and the
boy. Two valleys away, the largest of a pair of Chesapeake bears stood up on
its back legs to its full eighteen feet sniffing the air. Its mate soon picked
up the scent with loud sniffing noises. Both bears broke into a trot towards
the source of the scent.

Url
kept the supply of wood on the fire until a great
many glowing coals formed under it. He then placed thickly matted green conifer
branches on top and large pillars of smoke rose up into the wind. From great
distances the smoke would be seen.
Url
climbed the
short distance to the top of the hill and using the rocks as cover made his way
to a large tree. He climbed high enough to get a full circle vista. To his west
rose mountains whose tops were shrouded in thick cloud, on both sides he could
see the rugged snow capped peaks of smaller mountains stretching off into the
distance. Their peaks having long veils of snow vapour trailing with the strong
winds whipping their peaks in endless torment. To the north, Beclin country,
only scattered snow capped peaks broke the endless sea of snow laden trees.
Small treeless areas dotted the scene here and there. Although he couldn’t see
them
Url
knew many valleys, hidden cliffs and ravines
were there and that was what his enemy would be using to travel. He got as
comfortable as possible, checked his gun, relaxed with his back against the
trunk and waited.

Brakin, Sasra and the boy made it to their position in
good time and made a rough snow shelter in a small depression. They were only a
short distance from the ravine and had good vision of the other side and the
approach from the south, they began their wait.

Teni found them after much searching. The climb he had
to make exhausted him and he was asleep the moment he laid down in the shelter.
Snow flurries were whipped in circles by the wind racing up the ravine lashing
at Brakin’s eyes as he tried to keep a steady vigil.

Url’s
legs were beginning to go numb and even though he
changed position often he needed to walk to get the circulation working. He
looked down and noticed the smoke from the fire was only a whisper. He grunted
as he swung his leg over the branch he was sitting on and started to climb
down. He nearly slipped on the next branch and gripped a side branch to steady
himself
, forcing him look to the south. He froze; two men
broke cover and ran to the shelter of rocks. They looked slowly over them and
sank back out of view. A party of ten fur clad figures then dashed out of the
trees and ran smartly across the small open ground disappearing into the rocks.
Url
scurried back to his branch and remained very
still. These are Beclin warriors he thought; they were very skilled to get so
close unnoticed.

Url
knew they were at the campsite, even though he couldn’t
see them. They would have found the knife in the tree. With all the instinct of
a veteran warrior
Url
hid his body against the tree
trunk, his gun and bags between his body and the tree. His outline camouflaged
perfectly with the dark bark and branches. Two figures appeared at the top of
the small rocky hill above the cave and quickly picked up Teni’s trail and
trotted off following it. Nine Beclin warriors soon followed the two scouts as
Url
remained part of the tree. He waited and waited, his body
going numb with his back exposed to a breeze coming through the forest swirling
through the branches.

Then at last, the tenth warrior appeared over the
hill.
Url
watched him through the corner of his eye.
The man’s skins were old and well used. His beard was grey with age but he
carried himself with confidence and caution.
Url
was
looking almost directly down when the Old Warrior stopped beside the tree and
knelt down, his hand flatly extended over the rocky ground and he moved it
slowly across the surface of the rocks. In a fluid movement he raised his gun
to his shoulder, stood up and aimed it directly up the tree.
Url’s
heart missed a beat but he didn’t move.
Url’s
eye was
locked onto the man below but he noticed the man’s aim was not directly at him
and exhaled in relief, the stream from his breath running along the trunk on
the other side of his head away from the menace below.
Url
knew at once this Warrior was the deadliest of foes and he would have to kill
him before all others in any battle with the Beclin. The Old Warrior just
waited at the base of the tree looking upwards.

In what seemed like an eternity the Old Warrior
finally lowered his gun and looked sharply around him before running off in the
direction of his companions.
Url
remained in his
position for sometime longer in case this Warrior doubled back. This Old
Warrior knew something wasn’t right about the cave and campsite suspecting more
than a simple enemy trap.

The going was easy for the Beclin. Teni laid the trail
so it was not complicated and lead directly to the ravine. The Beclin Chief had
difficulty keeping order with his men. The trail was so obvious many thought it
must lead to an ambush but the knife and fur strips belonged to
Sawt
, son of
Kuipo
,
Beclin’s
Holy Man. They reached the ravine and their trail
ended with a large section of jacket. The Beclin leader sent out scouts and
retired to a defensive position well back from the edge of the ravine.

Url
cautiously made his way along the trail of churned up
snow from many Beclin feet. The trail was wide and easy to follow but
Url
decided to leave the obvious trail and make his own way
to the ravine. His attention was focused on the Old Warrior, never before had
he seen a man operate from pure instinct like that. He felt a reluctant respect
for the Old Warrior to know the tree held danger.
Url
approached the slope leading to the ravine, sticking to the cover of thick
undergrowth he crept slowly forward. He saw a Beclin in the distance and turned
to higher ground thinking a high position would allow better observation and
safety. The trees were thick with low branches and
Url
silently slipped through them. A large rock blocked his way and he skirted left
but stopped to look down, the Beclin he saw earlier had disappeared but he noticed
slight movement behind the cover of undergrowth not far from where he seen the
earlier Beclin.
Url
struggled in waist deep powder
snow and stopped to lean against the large rock to regain his breath. He
grunted and resumed his struggle to reach the back edge of the rock and to get
out of the thick powdered snow.

Url
didn’t have time to raise his arm in defence as a
thick branch swung through the air striking him a vicious blow to the forehead.
A bright flash streaked through
Url’s
head with the
impact, he fell heavily into the snow.

The old Beclin Warrior bent down and grabbed
Url’s
hair and raised his head to have a good look at him
and finish him off. He looked closely at his enemy then changed his mind and
slipped his knife back in its sheaf. He tied
Url’s
hands behind his back and attached a leather strap from between his wrists up
to and tightly bound around his neck.
Url
was hauled
roughly to his feet and forced against the rock.
Url
had snow rubbed into his face again and again until consciousness returned.

Url
immediately struggled to get his hands free,
instantly chocking himself and coughing loudly. His struggling soon subsided.
“Kill me!” he grunted looking at his captor.

“What happened to the hunting party, you kill them?”
the Old Warrior asked.

Url
stared at his captor, his eyes blazing with hatred.
He tried to run, hoping his captor would shoot him. He knew his fate being a
captive in a Beclin village, death was coming anyway. The Old Warrior easily
tripped
Url
and he went down face first in the snow
coughing. The Old Warrior waited letting
Url
cough while having his head under the snow, thinking it might settle him down.
He reached down and grabbed him by the jacket at the back of his neck and
hauled him to his feet.

“You kill hunting party?” the Warrior hissed drawing
his knife. “Cut leg and leave you to animals. You kill hunting party?”

Url
grunted and strained against the bond around his
neck, the now frozen blood from the gash in his forehead matted his beard, some
had ran down into his mouth. He tasted the salty blood and spat it out. “Two
dead, boy captive…” he spat again. “Trade girl you take my village.”

The Old Warrior released his grip of
Url
and sheafed his knife. He nodded his head slowly in
understanding. “Maybe trade you for boy. Where is the boy now?” The Old Warrior
asked.

“You kill now or leave for animals. If trade me, I
kill many Beclin,” Url’s eyes went as hard and cold as ice, he bore his gaze
directly into the Old warrior’s eyes, “you die slow, real slow!” he seethed.

The Old Warriors face involuntarily jerked back in
surprise, his eyes wide. He then nodded his head again understanding what this
man was trying to do. This man from the Shihone tribe is doing exactly what I
would do, incite his own death, he thought. He grabbed
Url
and pushed him south. “I will let my Chief decide about you, get moving,” he
said picking up
Url’s
gun and slinging it over his
shoulder.

Url
took a few steps down the slope then ran as soon as
the snow was more solid. Without the use of his arms he quickly lost balance
and fell. Like a ball he rolled over and over down the slope. The Old Warrior
kept pace easily and smiled broadly at the antics of his prisoner.

Url
finally came to rest hitting a large tree, he coughed
loudly with the leather strap biting into the flesh of his throat. The Old
Warrior bounded easily through the snow and knelt beside him laughing. “Soon
you will get your wish. Keep this up and you will strangle
yourself.”   

Suddenly the Old Warrior’s laugh left his face; he
swung around sharply raising his gun. Two giant Chesapeake bears broke through
the cover of trees behind him to the left. They were within easy gun range
except bears are hard to kill even with a well aimed shot, and there were two
of them! It would be a death sentence to shoot and only wound it, plus the
other would stop at nothing to kill and eat the aggressor. They were too close
to reload or prepare
Url’s
gun strung across his back.

The Old Warrior stood up and ran a few paces toward
the bears shouting while waving his arms and gun in the air. The bears skidded
to a halt confused, and they both raised themselves up on their back legs. The
Old Warrior slowly shuffled backwards toward the tree, the two enormous bears
intently watching his every move. The sound of the bears roaring cut straight
through to the Old Warrior who knew his time had come, a good death, he
thought.

“Cut Url free,” a quiet voice sounded behind him. The
Old Warrior slowly turned his head so he could see out of the corner of his
eye.
Url
had managed to get himself standing against
the tree, his eyes were soft and pleading, “cut Url free,” he whispered again.
The bears were now were on all fours smelling the air as they cautiously crept
towards the men. They split and began to circle closer, one from the north and
the other from the south.

The Old Warrior slowly and carefully withdrew his
knife and backed towards
Url
. As he did he slipped
Url’s
gun from his shoulder and rested it against the tree.
The largest bear growled as it closed in towards him. The Old Warrior slipped
his knife behind
Url
and cut his bonds.
Url
whispered, “axe, knife.” Reluctantly the old warrior
withdrew the axe and knife from his belt and
Url
greedily seized them. “We die as warriors,” he whispered as he rapidly put his
axe through his belt.