Fearless Master of the Jungle (A Bunduki Jungle Adventure (4 page)

Bunduki was fully cognizant of all the
risks and accepted that they would almost certainly have to kill
the bear, but he did not try to do so immediately he had completed
the drawing of his bow. There was just a slender chance that the
huge beast was only making a bluffing demonstration. If it had
selected Dawn as its objective, he would not have hesitated to
loose the arrow. As it was, despite the delay adding to the already
great danger he was facing, more in hope than expectancy he decided
to present it with an opportunity to withdraw.

The hope did not
materialize!

Showing no indication that it
intended to do other than press home its charge, the grizzly
continued to rush nearer at a speed of close to thirty-five miles
per hour. To make matters worse, as it was heading straight towards
the blond giant, only a very small portion of its
anatomy
’s
most vulnerable area was exposed to his view and his aiming mark
was greatly restricted.

At last Bunduki conceded that he must
yield to the inevitable!

In fact, despite understanding
the blond giant
’s motives, to the watching Dawn it appeared that he was
allowing the bear to pass beyond the limits of safety. For all her
grave concern, she knew better than to say or do anything which
might distract him. Instead, she concentrated her attention upon
sighting her weapon at where she believed its arrow would have the
most useful effect. Because of the bear’s motions while moving at
speed, she discarded the idea of a body shot. Only if she managed
to strike an extremely limited vital area would her efforts
supplement those of Bunduki, and achieving this would be far from
easy. The placement of the grizzly’s feet and its loose-fitting
hide’s seemingly rolling movements combined to create ever-changing
contours which rendered accurate sighting extremely difficult.
Throughout its stride, the legs ‘scissored’ rapidly and added to
the confusion. One moment the back legs would be close to the nose
and the front feet under the rump, bunching the vital organs. Next
the body appeared to have become extended out of all proportion,
with the effect that the essential areas had changed positions in
relation to the now extended frame. So she took aim
accordingly.

Employing all of his skill in
an attempt to maintain the correct alignment and allow for the
speed at which the grizzly was approaching, Bunduki uncoiled his
fingers from the bow
’s string. As the arrow was carried forward and he felt the
slap of the string against his leather arm-guard, his instincts
warned him that he had miscalculated. Not much, or through any
fault of his own, but sufficient to place him in the gravest
jeopardy.

Flying to meet the great beast,
the blond giant
’s missile failed to reach its intended point of impact. He
had hoped to strike the center of the forehead just above the eyes.
Instead, it passed over the top of the skull to bury almost to its
fletching into the hump of the shoulders. A roar of pain, mingled
with rage, burst from the grizzly’s slavering jaws; but it never
faltered in its stride.

Even as Bunduki was reaching
for another arrow and
preparing to take what could easily prove to be
futile evasive action, he heard a twang which informed him that
Dawn had loosed her shaft.

Like her mate—as she now
regarded the blond giant, although they had not yet gone through a
formal marriage ceremony—the girl missed the mark at which she had
been aiming. The error was not great, but would be enough to spoil
the desired result. She too had hoped for a brain shot, seeking it
at a point just below the bear
’s ear. Misled by the animal’s speed, she saw her
arrow was burying into the neck a good three inches behind where
she had intended it to strike.

Finding itself being assailed
from the right as well as ahead, the bear looked around. Then, to
Bunduki
’s
consternation, it began to swerve in Dawn’s direction. Clearly,
having discovered how painfully its challengers could strike, it
had decided to tackle the smaller and, possibly, less dangerous of
them.

By changing direction, the grizzly was
threatening the life of the woman Bunduki loved.

In an instant, all semblance of
civilization and thoughts of sympathy for the bear left the blond
giant. He became a primeval savage whose mate was being endangered.
For all that, the way in which he responded was far from as
reckless and
ill advised as it might appear on the surface. Nor, in
spite of his great anxiety, did he act without giving rapid thought
to what he was doing.

Dropping the bow without
liberating an arrow, but ensuring that it fell so that the quiver
was uppermost, Bunduki sprang towards the great predatory beast. As
he advanced, his right hand reached swiftly for the Randall Model
12
‘Smithsonian’ bowie knife. Flipping open the press-stud of
the sheath’s retainer strap in passing, his thumb and fingers
enfolded the concave ivory handle.

Further evidence that the blond
giant was behaving rationally and not out of a blindly impulsive
rage was given by the manner in which he was arming himself. An
exceptionally competent knife-fighter, he would have grasped the
handle so that the blade extended below the
thumb and forefinger if he had
been up against a human adversary. Such a grip offered greater
facility to cut, thrust and chop, but would not serve his purpose
at that moment. Instead, he plucked the weapon from its sheath with
the clip point
^xvii
protruding below the heel of his
clenched fist.

Just as startled as Bunduki had
been at the sight of the infuriated grizzly turning upon her, Dawn
duplicated his estimation of her dire straits. While her right hand
was starting to pluck free a second arrow, she realized that the
attacking beast would reach her before she could make use of it.
What was more, despite the speed at which it was approaching, it
still retained sufficient
maneuverability to be able to counter any evasive
attempt she made.

Striding out with all the speed
he could muster, Bunduki converged with the grizzly. Thrusting
ahead his left hand, he sank his fingers deep into and grasped the
long hair on the back of the predator
’s neck. Giving it no chance to react to
such treatment, he vaulted astride it as if making a flying mount
on to a passing horse.

To Dawn, who was engrossed in
trying to gauge the best momen
t for what would in all probability prove a
pointless leap aside, it seemed as if the blond giant had suddenly
materialized upon the grizzly’s back out of thin air. Regardless of
her surprise, she did not allow it to blind her to the fact that
she was still far from being out of danger. She could guess what
Bunduki was hoping to do; but she was equally aware that, even if
he succeeded, it would not be swiftly enough to prevent the enraged
animal from reaching her,

Massive though the bear might
be, Bunduki
’s arrival on its back caused it to stagger a little.
Retaining the grip with his left hand, he clamped his legs around
the hairy ribs for added security. Seeing how close they were to
the girl, he dare not waste a second. So he raised and brought
around the huge knife in a semi-circular motion that was powered by
all the Herculean muscled force of his two hundred and twenty
pounds’ weight.

Made from the finest quality
high carbon Swedish tool steel, the knife
’s blade had great strength. It was
carefully tempered and designed so that it would hold an edge as
sharp as a barber’s razor. With the target its owner had selected,
it needed all those sterling qualities. Coming around, the needle
sharp tip of the clip point pierced the side of the grizzly’s skull
where Dawn had hoped to send
in
her arrow. Driven onwards, it punctured the brain for an
instantaneous kill. Even so, the girl would still have been caught
by its collapsing body if she had stood still.

Seeing what had happened when
Bunduki jumped aboard the bear
’s back, Dawn had made the most of the opportunity
with which she was presented. As it reeled slightly under the
impact, she displayed her superb speed and agility by flinging
herself in the opposite direction. Swiftly as she moved, it was
only the marginal deviation in the animal’s course which averted a
collision. In fact, the blond giant’s knee struck her a glancing
blow in passing. Knocked off balance, she lost her hold of the bow
and went sprawling to the ground.

Leaving his knife embedded in
the bear
’s
skull, Bunduki dived clear as it began to collapse beneath him. He
landed rolling, as he had been taught to do when taking a fall.
When his momentum ceased, he leapt to his feet and swung around to
look at the huge beast he had killed. What he did next was a pure
reflex action, stirred into being by some subconscious—or
inborn—urging out of man’s primeval past. Without any need for
thought, he gave notice of his success in defeating such a savage
and dangerous creature. Standing with his feet spread apart and
fists clenched, he tossed back his head and thundered out an
excellent reproduction of the
Australopithecus
male’s victory roar.

Dawn had also regained her
feet. Turning her head as she heard the triumphant sound which was
bursting from the blond giant, she too could
not hold back her pent up
emotions. Running towards him, she threw herself into his arms.
Oblivious of everything except each other for the moment, including
the way in which the hobbled
banar-gatahs
were displaying alarm over the menacing roar
Bunduki had uttered, they kissed long and passionately.

‘
Whew!’ Bunduki ejaculated, after their emotional turmoil
had been sated by the embrace. Separating, they began to take
notice once more of their surroundings. ‘I’d hate to go
through
that
again.’

‘
Well,
if you should have to,’ Dawn replied, although she agreed with the
sentiment, as she glanced pointedly at their snorting and rearing
mounts, ‘I hope that you remember how hearing a “Hairy Man”
bellowing frightens
gatahs.
Those two are going to be too nervous to be any use to us
for hunting the quaggas today. Not that it matters, though. Howling
like you did has probably frightened them away.’

‘
It’s
too late for us to do anything about them today, anyway,’ Bunduki
called after the girl as she hurried towards their mounts. ‘And
another thing, the way you’re nagging me now, I think I’ll tell
Tav-Han I want the tiger’s skin back.’

‘
You
just try it, my lad,’ Dawn warned over her shoulder, the item in
question having been given to Joar-Fane’s father in lieu of her own
parents as the traditional bride price from a Telonga hunter. ‘I’m
not letting you wriggle off the hook
that
easy.’

‘
I
could always run away,’ Bunduki pointed out, walking over
to the bear with the intention of retrieving his knife. ‘I could
always beat you in a foot ra—’

The words trailed away as the blond
giant saw two mounted figures coming over a ridge some distance to
the southeast.

Apart from the
pa
rty of
Amazons under Beryl Snowhill’s command, no riders were likely to
behave in a friendly manner!

In spite of the distance being
too great for any positive identification, as one of the newcomers
was clearly a man, Bunduki felt certain that they could not belong
to the Earth woman
’s all female party!

Although
Charole
’s
support for Dryaka in the abortive attempt to sacrifice Dawn of the
‘Earths’ had caused her to forfeit the title, ‘Protectress of the
Quagga God’, she knew that she was fortunate not to be dead. What
was more, staying alive in her present circumstances was anything
but a sinecure. However, being a woman of spirit and resolution,
she was determined not only to stay alive but also to regain her
position of power in the Mun-Gatah nation. She realized that
achieving her aims would be far from easy, which was why she was
taking the chance of returning to her villa before attempting to
escape from Bon-Gatah. Concealed at her private quarters were some
items which she felt sure would help her attain her
ambition.

When Charole and the High
Priest had been knocked over the parapet of the
temple
’s
balcony at the unexpected conclusion of the sacrificial ceremony,
they had fallen with him in the upper position. So his body had
shielded her from the blast of the ‘Terrifier’ which had been
thrown by one of the invaders and had exploded above them. By a
piece of equally good fortune, another of the devices which she had
been about to ignite had been knocked from her hand before she
could do so. If it had not been, it would have gone off beneath her
and she would have had no protection from its fury.

Charole had also benefited from
having been clad in the attire prescribed for the Protectress when
a sacrifice to
the
Quagga God was being made. Her magnificently endowed body
was protected by a sturdy metal helmet with a crest made from the
mane of a quagga, a thick oak brown breastplate of specially
hardened leather, a brief kilt, greaves and sandals of the same
material. So, despite having been stunned by the landing in the
arena, she had not suffered any serious or incapacitating
injuries.