Fearless Master of the Jungle (A Bunduki Jungle Adventure (6 page)

Showing surprising agility for
one of his squat and heavy build, the
Brelef
changed the direction in which his club
was moving. He swung it in a horizontal arc which would have caught
the woman if her kick had not pushed him far enough for her to be
clear of it. Nor, for all the haste in which it had been launched,
would the blow have been a light one if it had landed. In fact,
such was the vehemence he had used that he could not prevent
himself from continuing to turn away from his objective when it
missed.

Charole took advantage of her
assailant
’s
misfortune like a flash. While the majority of Mun-Gatahs tended to
rely solely upon the edge of the blade when using a sword, Dryaka
had taught her—without ever having heard it—the value of the
Ancient Roman saying,
‘Duas unicas in puncta mortalis
est
’
,
^xxii
with regard to the point. Swiveling
into a lunge and turning the twenty-four inches long, two inches
wide blade so that it was parallel to the floor, she plunged it
between his ribs and onwards until it reached his vital organs. A
screech burst from him and the club left his hand. He jerked
himself involuntarily away from the source of the agony that was
being inflicted upon him and the action helped her to snatch the
weapon free.

Liberating the sword was to be a
matter of vital importance to Charole!

Even as the stricken
sub-human
’s
scream was dying out and he crashed to the floor, the connecting
door to the dining room was thrown open. Baring her teeth in a hiss
of fury, the woman turned her attention to the three men who were
entering. In the lead, also armed with clubs, were two more
Brelefs
of the Council’s
bodyguard. They were followed by a white haired Mun-Gatah of medium
height whose formerly hard-fleshed, bulky body had grown soft and
fat with good living. Holding a sword, he wore a white toga-like
garment decorated by a rampant quagga. He was Elder Eokan and had
never been friendly with Charole, so she decided that his presence
could bode only evil.

For all her belief, Charole
considered the elder Mun-Gatah was the least of her worries at that
moment. She realized that she must defend herself against the
two
Brelefs
before she could even start to think of dealing with him.
However, she did not relish the prospect of a close quarters fight
with the pair of brute-men.

On the face of it,
Charole
’s
solution to the predicament seemed at the least most ill advised.
Before either of the
Brelefs
could take more than three steps beyond the
doorway, she flung her sword across the room. The result would have
been completely satisfactory if only one assailant had been
involved. Slightly in the lead, the brute-man at the right took the
spear point
^xxiii
of the blade in the left
breast. Dropping the club, he clutched at the hilt of the weapon
which had buried deep into his vital organs. He wrenched it out
with a spasmodic jerk and flung it aside. Spinning around, he
staggered in front of his companion.

Employing the momentum she had
gathered while throwing the sword, Charole turned and darted in the
direction from which she had come. She picked up the pouch
and
‘fire
box’ in passing, leaving the arrow behind. Making for the wall
through which she had entered, she had already extracted one of the
‘Terrifiers’ by the time she reached it. Turning to face the two
men, she jabbed her elbow on to the disguised catch and the secret
panel slid open. Then, dropping to her left knee in the opening,
she set down the box and pouch. Raising the former’s lid, she took
out the smoldering cord. As she had anticipated, Eokan halted at
the door, leaving the assault upon her to his remaining
assistant.

Shoving aside his mortally
wounded companion, with no more compunction than if he had been
dealing with an inanimate object, the third
Brelef
lumbered forward. At the sight of the
object in Charole’s hand, a change came over him. He had been in
the Council Chamber when Dryaka had demonstrated the potency of the
‘Terrifiers’ for the first time. While of limited intelligence, his
retentive memory was sufficient for him to recall the shattering
roar and the terrible devastation caused by the explosion. Letting
out a howl of terror, he discarded his weapon and turned to scuttle
from the room. Giving a snarl of rage as the brute-man approached,
Eoken swung his sword and laid open the other’s throat.

‘
You
can put that down,’ the Elder stated, as his stricken assistant
stumbled onwards to collapse dying in the adjoining room. He
remained by the door and continued, ‘Since Dryaka failed to
sacrifice Dawn of the “Earths”, their power is gone.’

‘
Those
you tried might have lost their power,’ Charole replied, realizing
that the Elders had been experimenting with the useless devices.
‘Shall we see if this one has?’

‘
There’s no need for that!’ Eokan answered hurriedly,
appreciating his peril. If the woman ignited the ‘Terrifier’ and
threw it, she could step back into the safety of the tunnel before
it exploded. He dropped his sword and went on, ‘I knew you were
still alive—’

‘
And
intended to have me killed?’ Charole interrupted, more as a
statement than a question, nodding at the body of her first victim
without relaxing her vigilance.

‘
To
help you,’ Eokan corrected. ‘I only left him here to make sure
nobody else could get in and wait for you. Once it was discovered
that you hadn’t been killed, they’ve been searching for you. You
need a friend badly, Charole. And that’s what I’m offering to
be.’

In one respect, the Elder was
sincere with his offer. Age had brought a greater wisdom and
caution than when he had been a warrior of renown. Now he knew that
it was safer to be the power behind the throne rather than the
person who sat upon it. Even an opportunist, on learning that
Charole was not dead, he had seen how he might attain such a
position. She was not the kind to accept banishment. She would be
determined to regain her lost eminence. That she had
surviv
ed the
explosion which killed Dryaka and had escaped from the arena
suggested that she had not entirely forfeited the Quagga God’s
favor. However, she would need help to re-establish herself. As her
uncle, Elder Temnak, had turned against her when she had become the
High Priest’s ally, she could not obtain it from him.

Before deciding to commit
himself, the ever-cautious Eokan had arranged a further test. He
had left the
Brelef
hidden in the main bedroom while he was searching the rest
of the villa. The way in which the woman had coped with the
situation struck him as convincing proof that her fall from the
Quagga God’s grace was not too severe. So, providing that he could
win her over, he could attain his ends.

‘
Has
the fighting ended already?’ Charole asked, wanting time to
consider the offer.

‘
Things quietened down last night,’ Eokan replied. ‘They’ve
been trying to find you all day, but I’ve spread the rumor that
you’ve already fled the city. Your
banar-gatah
stallion is saddled and provisioned ready
for you and it’s safe for you to leave.’

‘
Why
are you doing all this?’ Charole inquired, realizing that she must
have slept for almost thirty-six hours. She was impressed at the
way the Elder had anticipated her plans.

‘
You’re going to try and regain your lost status, if I know
you,’ Eokan explained. ‘As I’m not averse to having the Protectress
as a friend, I’ll do what I can to help you. Have you any more of
those hellish things?’

‘
Enough,’ Charole answered evasively, glancing at the
‘Terrifier’.

‘
Can
you make more?’ the Elder wanted to know.

‘
Yes,’
Charole lied. ‘But I’ll need help to do it.’

‘
Go to
Zeh-Gatah,’ Eokan instructed. ‘I’ve sent my nephew Abart there to
take over as District Administrator and I’ll give you a letter
telling him to help you.’

‘
Very
well,’ Charole assented, although she would have preferred to
receive aid from one of the larger and wealthier
districts.

‘
There
is one thing you must do before you can return to Bon-Gatah,’ Eokan
warned.

‘
What
is that?’ Charole challenged, although she could guess at the
answer.

‘
Take
revenge on the “Earths”,’ the Elder stated, as the woman had
anticipated. ‘Until you have, there’s no hope of you ever becoming
the Protectress again. Don t come back while they live, unless you
bring them as your prisoners.’

‘
Don’t
worry,’ Charole gritted, her face set in lines of hate-filled
determination. ‘I’ve no intention of returning until they’re dead,
or my captives.’

Despite Eokan having offered
her the means to achieve her purpose, the woman did not tell him of
her full intentions where the
‘Earths’ were concerned. She wanted to take them
alive, not only for sacrifice to the Quagga God, but because she
felt sure that they knew how to make the ‘Thunder Powder’ and she
was determined to obtain that knowledge.

‘
Forty
yards at least,’ Bunduki estimated
sotto voce,
studying the band of quaggas which were
drinking at the stream in front of his and his companions hiding
place. ‘This is as close as we can get without them seeing us, and
we won’t be able to get even this near once they’ve moved out on to
the plains to graze.’

By the time the blond giant had
withdrawn his knife from the grizzly bear
’s skull, and was on the point of
collecting the rest of his armament, he had known there was no
cause for alarm over the approaching figures. Although he had been
somewhat puzzled by discovering that they were in the vicinity, he
had recognized the two riders. In a short while, Joar-Fane and her
husband At-Vee the Hunter had arrived. Their pleasure at having
found Dawn Drummond-Clayton and Bunduki alive and unharmed was a
tribute to the very warm relationship that had developed between
the Telonga and Earth couples.

Following an exchange of
delighted greetings, Dawn had suggested that all further
conversation should be postponed until they had investigated the
effects of the blond giant
’s proclamation of victory over the bear.
Returning to the opposite side of the bushes, they had discovered
that these were less serious than she had expected. The awesome
bellow had caused the quaggas to flee, but they had not gone far
and were still within visual distance. What was more, being animals
with a strongly developed territorial instinct, they were unlikely
to leave the vicinity unless continued harassment drove them from
it.

However, as the day had been
too far advanced to make any attempt to capture the mare and
stallion, the quartet had sought for a safe place in which to spend
the night. There had been no sign of pursuit from Bon-Gatah. Nor,
considering the state of affairs in the city when they had taken
their departure, did Dawn and Bunduki anticipate any at so early a
date. In spite of that, they were disinclined to take chances.
Anybody else who might come across them was almost certain to prove
hostile and they had no desire to be compelled to leave the
neighborhood of the
quaggas. So they had located a hollow not too far from the stream
where a fire could be lit without the glow being visible beyond the
rim. Leaving the men to take care of their mounts, the girls had
gathered fuel and lit a blaze so they could cook a meal of meat
taken from the dead bear. While they were eating, At-Vee had
explained how he and his wife had come in search of the Earth
couple.

Once the rescued population had
been returned to the Jey-Mat Telonga village, Joar-Fane had
insisted that she and At-Vee must follow Bunduki and help him
rescue Dawn. Being equally concerned over their
friends
’
welfare and conscious of the debt he owed to them, the Hunter had
already been contemplating such a venture. It had not been his
intention that his wife should accompany him, but she was adamant
and he had yielded to her insistence. Leaving the rest of the
hunters to organize any protection which might become necessary,
they had set off on their mission. Although no member of the
Telonga nation would even have considered using
gatahs
until the arrival of the Earth
couple, Joar-Fane and At-Vee had now learned how to ride on the
beasts which had come into their possession before the mass
abduction. They had decided therefore to make use of two of the
animals captured after the defeat of the People-Taker and his party
so as to travel more quickly.

Following the tracks left by
Dawn
’s
abductors and Bunduki, which were becoming indistinct, the Telonga
couple had heard the kind of triumphant roar given by a male
Australopithecus
at the moment of a victory. Although the sound had
originated some distance to the east of the route they were
following, they had decided to investigate. The ‘Hairy People’ were
jungle-dwellers and hardly ever strayed so far onto the open
plains. So they had concluded that, even if it was not Bunduki who
had given the call, it might have been made by another member of
the ‘Earth’ nation who could be of assistance in their
quest.