Part 4 (2/2)
”But I plunged the spear through its brain! It is dead, by my hand. I claim the kill,' the visitor insisted.
Todd let his eyes meet those of the strange Hrruban. The visitor possessed a very broad back stripe, indicating that he held a position of rank in Hrruban society.
”With the greatest of respect,' Todd said, dropping into full formal Hrruban which forced him to suppress the fury he felt, ”there can be no doubt that the creature was already dying when you rode forward.” The broad stripe was somewhat taken aback by his host's use of the formal language. Since that was used only during events of the greatest importance, it was ingrained in the Hrruban not to disagree with the speaker without considerable forethought.
Hrrula, an old ally of Todd's, waited silently nearby.
”Perhaps we will discuss the matter later,' Todd said politely, gesturing to the Team Two leader.
”We must complete the Hunt. Time is pressing.”
”Quite right, honored guests,' Hrrula said, having slathered the snake slashes and scale pinches with vrrela salve. ”With your permission, zOdd Rrev, we must catch up with our team. We are needed.” Before the strangers could protest, the Hrruban grabbed the rein of one of the horses and pulled it after him. The animal obediently followed the lead mount.
In a moment, all three of them were out of sight.
Todd mounted up again. He sent a concerned glance toward Hrriss.
”There's a snake blind only a hundred meters ahead, if you need a rest.” ”I am all right,' Hrriss a.s.sured him. ”Truly. There is no real damage. The circulation will return to the leg in a short time. It could have been worse.
”Could have been much worse,' Todd said. Then, with a wicked grin, he added, ”It could have been your tail!”
”Team Three leaving the sp.a.w.ning grounds,' his radio announced. ”They're moving slow this year.
Vic just herded a couple of tiddlers that were trying to leave the grounds from the wrong side. Look out for ”em. They're mad.”
”Fardles !” Todd put his heels to his horse. Hrriss's episode had taken only a few minutes from start to finish.
The sound of hoofbeats pounding up behind her made Kelly swivel about in concern. One, no, two horses returning. She relaxed and smiled as Todd and Hrriss pa.s.sed her.
”Hrriss did it in!” Todd called. Hrriss was leaning to the right, obviously favoring his left leg. ”Good kill. Mommy Snake! Fifteen and a half meters or I'll eat it. But he'd better not get a big head, or he won't get through the trees!”
”You're lucky to be alive,' Kelly said to Hrriss, at the same time pulling a face at Todd. ”That was a magnificent tackle! I hope those two Hrrubans realize you saved their lives.”
”Those foolish ones were made to understand that by Zodd,' Hrriss a.s.sured her, his tail tip las.h.i.+ng to one side of his saddle.
The others cheered and shouted encouragement to him as he resumed his place in the line. Todd moved ahead and raised his radio on high as a signal to move out. Kelly told the other team leaders that Todd was in charge again and clipped her own box to her belt.
They were moving swiftly up on the most dangerous part of the Hunt. The team was about to leave the jungle and move out on featureless gra.s.slands. Without the trees to restrict them, the snakes often attempted to escape from their shepherds and go in search of landbound food. The task of keeping the swarm together the rest of the way was made more difficult by the local landowner.
Twenty-five years ago, when the Treaty allowed more Humans in, to match the Hrruban population, Codep had added four families to the original eleven in the First Village. The Boncyks were one of those four. In spite of warnings from the established colonists that the snakes used this area as a thoroughfare twice a year, Wayne claimed the fertile plain not far from the marsh for his family's holdings. On top of that disregard for local wisdom, the Boncyks compounded their problems by running herds of cattle and teams of pigs, China and Poland. Naturally the snakes, especially the hungry tiddlers, found the smell of live meat irresistible.
The larger ones, with the larger hungers, would go berserk if the wind s.h.i.+fted to tantalize them with the odor of edibles.
To prevent wholesale slaughter, this was when the teams had to be most alert. The Hunters were already tired. Fortunately the snakes were wearing out, too, but they became more cantankerous and tricksy.
Once the tantalizing Boncyk farmlands were past, the salt marshes were not far, and once the snakes reached them, they would disperse while the teams remained on guard to drive back any who might decide to return to dry land-and fat cows and pigs. When the last of the snakes were back in the salt marshes, hunting the rodents, waddlers, waders, and other such tidbits, the Hunt would be declared over and the triumphant teams would return to the village common, except for the skeleton force that remained on guard until the next morning.
Jilamey had had his eye on a pair of young adolescent snakes almost since he rejoined the run.
With the bare treetops of the marsh wood in sight, he was going to have to move quickly to capture his quarries before they vanished into the fetid waters.
Kelly watched him measuring the distance to the edge of the marsh.
With a now-or-never expression on his face, Landreau spurred his horse toward the pair. He had his quarterstaff well balanced in his right hand, confident that he could knock the snakes on their blunt skulls, stunning them, and secure them alive.
In theory, it was a good idea. However, it failed utterly to take into account the nature of snakes.
As soon as Jilamey thumped one of the fleeing tiddlers in the back of the head with the heavy staff, it turned. As quickly as patterned lightning grounding through a rod, the snake swarmed up the quarterstaff, hissing furiously. It wrapped its wristthick coils around Jilamey's arm and struck at him.
The long, white teeth snapped on nothing as the youth ducked and thrashed at his a.s.sailant.
Letting her crossbow dangle, Kelly drew her knife and kicked Calypso to the rescue. The snake struck again, this time penetrating flesh. With a screech that ascended into the soprano register, Jilamey warded off the snake and started clubbing the reptile over the head with the b.u.t.t of his little gun, which he had grabbed in desperation.
To the surprise of those observing the fracas, the snake dropped limp across the saddlebow. In the berserk frenzy of panic, Jilamey kept battering the twitching body even after the others had called to him to stop.
”Now, don't that beat all!” Don exclaimed, laughing. ”That micro-sized popgun did some good, after all!”
”Well, gather him up before he slides off your lap!” Kelly ordered Jilamey, reining in next to him and expertly digging her fingers for a firm hold on the slippery scales. With her free hand, she fumbled for a snake bag and pa.s.sed it over. ”I don't think you remembered one of these. Cram it in and be sure you tie the neck of the sack as tight as possible.
They've been known to wiggle free if they've any s.p.a.ce.”
”I did it, didn't I? I captured one!” Jilamey's red face was now suffused with incredulous triumph and his voice broke a bit on the ”captured.”
”If you remember to get it in the bag,' Hrrin called, teeth showing under his feathery brown moustache. Although excitement made his hands shake, Jilamey managed to stuff the limply uncooperative and slithery coils of snake into the bag and securely fastened the tie.
”Congratulations.
You're half-way there!” Hrrin added.
Still holding the bag, Jilamey looked about him, not certain what to do with his prize. Jan took pity on him and helped him secure it to the saddle on rings embedded in the saddle tree for just such a purpose. Eyes s.h.i.+ning, Jilamey galloped to rejoin Team One. Jan followed more sedately, an indulgent grin on her face.
Just inside the boundaries of his ranch, Wayne sat on his horse, flanked by his wife, Anne, and their eldest son. Nearby, on a pair of nervously curvetting horses, were Wayne's guests for the Hunt, a couple from the Hrruban home world.
They were all armed with crossbows with explosive quarrels, ready to deal with any reptiles escaping from the cordon. The younger Boncyk hefted a bazooka on his right shoulder while his horse s.h.i.+fted under him, trying to balance itself against the weight. Wayne posed another problem to the teams: he was a notoriously bad shot. He had a tendency to detonate the ground right in front of a Hunter's horse more often than the snake it was pursuing. Todd's horse had been spooked by one of Wayne's bombs the year before, dumping him in the pigpens, so he kept one wary eye on the stockman as they pa.s.sed him.
Kelly could feel the wind s.h.i.+fting as they came up the hill. That was the worst thing that could happen. Instead of a following breeze that swirled the heady snake musk around them, a new stench filled the air, as potent as snake, blindingly putrid as well as sickly sweet.
”Faugh,' Kelly said, averting her head and wondering if it would do any good to jerk her scarf over her nose.
”Oh, no,' Todd groaned. ”Pig air!” Not only pig was in the air but also the delectable aroma of livestock, blown directly from the Boncyk herds and teams into the noses of ravenous snakes.
In a maneuver as planned as a dress parade, the snakes turned, a great river of rippling, leafpatterned hide across the Hunters' cordon, rolling uphill toward the farm buildings. With no river, hill, or wood between the snake thoroughfare and the farm, there were no barriers to deflect the snakes' inexorable approach.
The moment the pig stink came his way, Todd called for the Sighter crafts to pick up Lures and make a drop near the marsh in an attempt to divert the main bulk of the reptiles. Then he called for any available Beaters and Hunters. The teams spread themselves out across the field to try and contain the flow and regain control. Kelly could hear the screaming farm animals, their cries reaching up the scale to pure panic. They seemed to sense their danger despite the s.h.i.+ft of the wind.
Boars might have stood and faced the reptiles, but not the gentler China and Poland pigs who were milling about their st.u.r.dy pens with no refuge from the approaching menaces. Even if the pressure of the terrified animals broke down the pen bars, they hadn't the speed to outrun snakes. The only hope of saving them was to head the snakes off again, with full firepower if need be, before they reached the pens.
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