Sword of the Gods: The Chosen One (85 page)

"It's not
about
me."  Mikhail glanced over his shoulder at the younger warriors amassing
behind them, eager to begin the hunt.  "It's about them … working
together.  If supper gets away from them, I'm not going to fly in and save the
day.  It's a lesson they need to learn."

Mikhail gestured for
Siamek to move towards the front.

"Sir?"
Siamek asked. 

"We'll separate
into three groups," Mikhail said.  "Ten warriors each team
leader."

Although Siamek had
not yet lost that wary expression, Mikhail had no complaints about how he'd
been carrying out his duties.  He was a solid performing, competent leader,
perhaps not the best in each of the individual weapons skills, but the most
consistent performer overall.  More importantly, he had a modicum of common
sense and not a lot of self-ambition beyond doing his best, two important
traits for a second-in-command.

"Who has to take
the three … um … Sir?"  Siamek stopped himself from saying the word
'girls.'  Pareesa had qualified on her own, male
or
female, but he'd
done a separate contest to make sure two other women qualified for today's
hunt, one of them a recent addition to the team.

"I want Pareesa
to go with Kiarash," Mikhail said.  "I'll take Azin.  You should take
Gita." 

Siamek blanched. 
"I'd rather not, Sir.  Why can't I have Azin?"

"I want the teams
to be evenly balanced as far as abilities go," Mikhail said.  "I know
she's brand new, but she won her slot fair and square.  I want her paired with
you and Varshab "

He was trying to walk
that fine line between encouraging Pareesa to be the best warrior she could be
while
not
encouraging the 'crush' the little fairy purportedly nursed. 
Originally he'd intended to bring the newbie along in
his
group so he
could keep an eye on her, but Ninsianna had erupted in a fit of temper, which
seemed to be occurring more and more the last two weeks while she fended off a
stomach bug.  It was important to show the other warriors that women could
perform under fire.

"It could be
worse,
"
Varshab ribbed Siamek.  "He could have made you take along Ebad."

Siamek snorted, trying
not to laugh.  Pareesa's prize 'student' had
not
qualified for today's
hunt.  Nor had any of the other fifteen young men Mikhail had saddled her with
bringing up to speed so that the sons of potters, weavers, and other tradesmen
who had never hunted a day in their lives wouldn't accidentally shoot
each
other.

"You'll
survive," Kiarash slapped Siamek on the back.

The team leaders
briefed, Mikhail called the other warriors to gather around and assigned them
to teams.

"Two groups will
move in a V-formation to herd the gazelles towards that embankment,"
Mikhail said.  "Meanwhile, the third group should circle around that ridge
and make sure they don't escape."

"But the river
has dropped below the level of the embankment, Sir," Siamek said. 
"They'll slip past us on that narrow spit of land."

"That's where the
teamwork comes in," Mikhail said.  He pointed to the grazing gazelles. 
"A-team
^[9]
should move ahead so that their end of the V stretches out that way.  B-team
will block them from coming back this way.  C-team will surprise them when they
try to climb that embankment.  They'll have the high ground, so they should be
able to intercept enough gazelles for a respectable hunt."

He'd made them leave
their bows behind so they would be forced to work together to get in close to
the quarry.  Gazelles were swift creatures.  It would force the warriors to
think quickly on their feet and use the command signals he'd been teaching them
to let the other person know what they needed to do.

"Why does C-team
get to do all the killing?" Firouz lamented, sans his sidekick Dadbeh, who
had not made the cut.  Mikhail had assigned him to Kiarash's group, trying to
break up the 'elite' warriors amongst the newer ones who were showing promise
in skills such as the ability to follow a chain of command.

"How many
gazelles does a hunting group this size usually kill?" Mikhail asked.

"Thirty
men?" Siamek said.  "We usually get one each.  Jamin always got
two."

"Well let's see
how many we get if we do it my way, okay?" Mikhail said.  "The worst
that can happen is we all go home hungry and take our lessons on teamwork more
seriously next time."

With a 'hoo-rah' and
bumped fists, the groups broke up.  The sun began to climb in the sky towards
its apex as they waited for C-team, headed by  Kiarash, to move into position. 
After half an hour or so, he spied Pareesa scrambling up the rocks, fleet as a
gazelle herself.  With a nod to Siamek, the B-team began to circle around the
water's edge, cutting the gazelles off from the river.  The herd milled about and
stomped their feet, sensing predators were moving in for the kill.

"Let's go,"
Mikhail signaled his group when Siamek gave him the signal to move into
position.  A-team began to spread out in a line, the fastest members moving
their end of the V towards the tail end of Siamek's group.  Mikhail anchored
the far end, giving his team a series of hand signals to communicate they
needed to straighten out their line and move in unison.  As expected, when the
two lines converged and began to move towards the grazing herd, they began to
stampede.

"Hey-yah!"
Mikhail gave the signal to rush at the gazelles.  The gazelles made a break for
it. 

The warriors were
under orders not to throw their spears until the gazelles approached the rocky
embankment.  Mikhail couldn't remember ever hunting a herd animal such as this
before, but many of the Ubaid had.  Once the creatures hit the obstacle,
experience dictated half would attempt to climb to safety while the other half
would try to break back through the line.  They were more likely to make a
clean kill when an animal ran
at
them, keeping their spears in their
hands so they could make another kill right away, than when one was running
away, disarming themselves.  When they started to climb, C-team erupted out of
the rocky hill, panicking the creatures and turning half of them back as
expected. The buck spied a weakness in Siamek's line, a place where the
warriors had not kept their line straight, and made a break for it.

"Close that
line!" Mikhail shouted.  His words were drowned out by the sound of
hundreds of tiny hooves pounding against the rocky soil.  As he'd hoped, the
gazelles had found the places they were weak and dozens of them escaped,
demonstrating better than a week's worth of words
why
they needed to
become better coordinated.

Kiarash signaled one
of the C-team warriors close to the failing line left by B-team and scrambled
down the rocks.  Firouz rushed after the disappearing herd. 

"No!"
Mikhail shouted in vain, his words lost in the ruckus.  "You're supposed
to close the line!" 

Firouz chased after
the buck, pursuing the status symbol of taking down the largest gazelle
himself
rather than the group goal of capturing the greatest number of gazelles. 
Meanwhile Siamek had regained some control over his team and signaled the
female in his group to close the line.  Their easiest route of escape now
blocked, the gazelles acted as the older warriors had predicted.  Half of them
began to climb to where C-team waited to ambush them, the other half tried to
break through the combined lines of A-team and B-team.

A doe with two kids
rushed at him.  Mikhail lifted one wing and let them pass.  Immanu had tutored
him before the hunt that a wise leader allowed the very young to escape so
there would be gazelles to hunt next year.  A young male rushed at him, his
horns showing he was about a year old.  Perfect eating.  Mikhail stabbed at the
creature with his spear.  The poor thing flailed, crying out as the spear
missed its heart.  Mikhail pulled his knife and finished it off.  He had no
problems with hunting, but he couldn't bear to watch it suffer.

"Whoo-hoo!"
the warriors shouted, stabbing away as gazelles practically impaled themselves
upon the warriors spears.

"Don't let that
line open up!" Mikhail warned one of his own team members, a middle-aged
man who showed promise despite claiming he'd never hunted the animals before. 
The man closed up the line as they tightened around the herd of frantic
gazelles like a noose. 

He killed a second
young buck, and then an aging doe.  All around him, his team members were doing
the same.  The death-screams of frantic gazelles cried out from the rocky
embankment, where C-team was engaged in a bloodbath of animal slaughter. 
Another doe rushed at him, her belly swollen.

"Let her
go!" Azin shouted.  "She is with fawn.  It's bad luck to kill
her."

He lifted his wing and
let the creature pass.  A second one slipped away, good reflexes allowing it to
get the better of him.  Immanu had lectured him to not allow the warriors to
kill the entire herd, something rarely accomplished, but of concern with a
well-organized group.  No more than a third or She-who-is would punish them for
their greed by denying them meat next year.  Mikhail gave a rough count and
estimated they were almost there.  A few more, perhaps.

A blood-curdling
scream broke through the air, not one of the gazelles.  A
human
scream. 
A roar, and then another scream.  But where?  He scanned the warriors.  A-team
… ten men.  B-team … Siamek had paused killing gazelles and pointed down
towards the narrow peninsula where Firouz had disappeared.  Another scream, and
a roar.

Céilí mór!

The gazelles
forgotten, the warriors rushed in the direction Firouz had disappeared. 
Mikhail spread his wings and leaped into the air, flying above the embankment
to see where the screams were coming from.  No sooner had he reached the top
than he spied a large predator with a golden pelt leap towards a second such
predator which dragged the screaming Firouz off by the leg.  An enormous…

Mikhail dropped to the
ground, his wings trembling with the memory that
wanted
to come to the
surface, but wouldn't.

"Just let him
go!" 

He held out his hand
to the creature which had Firouz by the leg, trying to reason with it.  A deep
rumble growled in its throat.  The second creature snarled at him, baring
enormous fangs.  The larger of the two had a reddish mane like a king wearing a
crown.  It dropped Firouz's arm and crouched to leap at
him
, sensing he
was a threat.  Firouz cried out and tried to roll away.  The female leaped on
the prey animal dropped by her mate, pinning Firouz to the ground.  It was a …
a … a…

"Please," he
told the creature.  "We can work this out.  Who is your commanding
officer?"  The overwhelming sensation he should
remember
who these
creatures were muddled his brain.

With an ear-splitting
roar, the big male leaped at him, fangs going straight for his throat.  An
errant thought went through his mind.  Why was one of his allies attacking
him?  Disbelief slowed his reaction time.  He fell backwards, claws raking at
his wings and tearing out clumps of feathers as the creature bit at his head,
trying to bring
him
down the same way it brought down a gazelle. 
Standing up, the creature was the same size as
he
was without his wings,
but for some reason all he could think about was how
small
this creature
was compared to what it
should
be.

"Don't make me
kill you," he pleaded.  Every fiber of his being screamed that killing
this creature would be
wrong!

Fangs broke through
the flesh in one wing, claws dug into his arm.  Whatever he
thought
these
creatures were didn't matter.  He needed to fight back or he would be killed. 

He heard the shout of
the other warriors rushing up behind him, spears held aloft as he pulled his
knife and rolled, he and the creature locked in each other's embrace.  The big
male outweighed him.  It came down hard on one wing and knocked him onto the
ground, flat on his back.  Out of the corner of his eye he saw the other
warriors rush towards Firouz, stabbing at the second beast.  The female roared
as a spear pierced its hide, rushing at the warriors who were stabbing at it
with spears.  A second spear landed in its hide.  The creature screamed

"No!"
Mikhail shouted.  Killing these creatures was
wrong!

The big male which was
on top of him snapped at his head, its enormous claws ripping out chunks of
feathers and clawing at his flesh.  It knocked the knife he'd hesitated to use
right out of his hands.  It was him … against the beast.

"Get out of the
way!" Varshab shouted at him.

"Don't kill
it!" Mikhail shouted.  He rolled so that his wings shielded the creature,
preventing them from plunging a spear into its heart.  Fangs grazed his cheek,
barely missing taking out an eye.  Mikhail grabbed the jaws and pulled them
apart, the creature's hot breath bellowing in his face.  His hands were a
paltry weapon against jaws so powerful.  The creature furiously clawed with
both front and hind legs, trying to get its kill.  Their close proximity was
Mikhail's saving grace, too close for the creature to claw at anything except
his enormous wings.  He flailed, no more able to hit the creature with the
club-like leading edge of his wings than the creature was able to get at him
with its claws.  Mikhail spied his knife and moved his hand, yelping as enormous
jaws clamped down around his wrist.  He punched it in the head with his other
hand and reached for the knife he'd dropped.