The Far Side (27 page)

The privates were like small children watching their fathers shoot.  They ran in a chattering group to the rock.

He sucked air when he saw the two bolts just inches apart.  Only a fool would think it was luck.  Sure, she’d been but thirty paces, but few but the best archers got arrows that close together, even at that range.  That a chit of girl had done it was no accident, not when you considered everything else!

“How is she doing that, Sergeant Melek?” Menim asked, nodding at the two bolts.

If Menim had had any doubt before just where he now stood with his soldiers, their sarcastic laughter had to make it obvious.

Ezra stood next to Melek, pointing at the young woman.  He held a stick in his hand, motioned at the bow and broke the stick.  Melek frowned.  A bow that lasted two shots?  What good was that?

He laughed at himself.  How long would a bow he made from scratch from the leavings of a midden heap last?

“Collum!” Melek called out.  The private turned to him.  “Run back to the watch post.  Bring the tools -- all of them.  Bring some bow blanks and your knives!”  Collum started to turn, and he stopped him.  “Collum!  One more thing!”

The other obediently paused.  “We have some steel wire from an old sword hilt that we used to fix one of the wagons.  Bring it as well!”

Chapter 10 :: The Woman Who Counted

Andie looked at Ezra.  “What’s that smug look on your face?”

Ezra laughed.  “Do you read much science fiction?”

“Some,” Andie told him.

“Poul Anderson?”

“That is so my grandfather’s sort of story.”

“Yeah, well, when we get home, you have to promise me to find his story
The Man Who Counts
.”

“Let me guess -- he could count higher than ten?”

“No, not that kind of count.  The important kind.”

“And how was it that he counted?”

“The story is about a stalwart young hero cast away with a beautiful woman and a fat old merchant.  The hero spends the story beavering away, trying one scheme after another to find a way to escape.  None of them work.  He can’t figure out why the girl sticks with the fat old guy, except that the merchant was her employer and so he figures that’s it.

“When they’re finally rescued, he is bragging and crowing -- then he finds out that it was the fat merchant’s plan that had worked.  He goes to the girl, intending to apologize, only to find her in the arms of the fat merchant.  It was the merchant that had saved them, and she was rewarding him.”

Andie frowned.  “I’m not sure I approve.”

“Andie, you count.  I’m the stalwart hero, who will have a million schemes that have no long-term value at all.  Kris is the clever, confident heroine who does everything she can to help you.  You, Andie, you’re the one who counts.  You sat down and did something which you, beyond a shadow of a doubt, didn’t think was a big deal.  You did it in a few hours, where I’d have needed days to even begin to get to where you were at lunch.

“You, Andie.  You’re the one that counts.  It’ll be you that gets us home.”

“Fucking right!  Where did that guy go?”

“They have a post nearby.  Melek hasn’t come out and said it, but this cave is less than a half mile from their location and they never noticed it.  Not for more than a hundred years.

“Of course, that’s partly because if anyone had put their head in here, they’d have recognized it for what it was and turned tail and run.”

“And that guy who left?” Andie asked, impatient.

“I’m not sure, but I told Melek that you don’t think your crossbow will stand up to another shot.  I think he plans on doing something about that.”

“What?”

“Andie, I understand two words in a hundred, if I’m lucky.  I have no idea.”

“The stock piece is splintering,” she told him.  “I don’t think I can draw it again without the wood cracking.  I have no idea where the pieces would go.”

“And I have no more desire than you do to find out, either, Andie.  So relax.  Chill.”

Kris watched Andie, Ezra, Melek and the man who’d come back with any number of things, talking with each other.  Melek sketched a bow on the square block of wood to show Ezra what it was.

Andie turned it sideways, mimed cutting it in half, lengthwise, then drew what looked like a pistol grip on what was left.  Andie wasn’t happy when the one man pulled out a knife and started cutting on the piece, but he was like a beaver -- shavings flying as he worked.

Kris decided that Andie must have come to the conclusion that the man knew what he was doing, and used a pen to sketch in real lines for him to cut to, top and sides.  She worked with him as he got closer and closer to the shape she wanted until she pronounced herself satisfied.

Again, the sword blade was used, again, wrapped in place by rope, and lowered into a groove cut in the stock.  This time there was a bolt thing that was put in a hole, so that the crude fork that Andie was using worked better to cock it.  The trigger was one of the many eyelets that had been shaped to pull and let loose the bow “string.”  This time, instead of steel bands, there was steel wire.

Everyone had watched as Andie tied knots in the wire with a pair of pliers, confining it to a series of holes in a heavy piece of wood.  Then another piece of wood, with similar holes, and more knots.  Andie then twisted four strands of wire into a multiple strand, before using the nippers to cut the resulting heavier wire.

By then it was dark, and the men built a fire just outside the cave and had some sort of hard tack rations, while the three from Earth ate more MREs.  Ezra shared some with Melek, and the other looked far more excited about it than Andie felt.

Melek also was excited about the heaters, which Andie thought was silly, considering how easy a time they’d had building a fire.

Finally, Kris and Andie were bedded down in the room with the rations, well away from the cave entrance.  In spite of the pitch darkness, for the first time she felt at home in it.  How weird!

Morning brought the usual urges, but Kris put a cork in it, and waited until Andie was stirring.  Andie wasn’t as sensitive about Ezra’s sleep as Kris -- she shook him by the shoulder.  “Potty run!”

Kris could see it -- the calculation on his face.  He didn’t get up to follow them, but Kris knew he was just outside the ring of light from their flashlights as they went towards the main chamber.

One man was awake and watched them walk across the chamber to the outhouse.  He grinned and ostentatiously turned his back.

When they finished, they went outside and Andie took a deep breath.  “Ah, sunlight!”

Kris motioned towards the southeast.  “That doesn’t look like sunlight to me.”

Andie looked.  “Storm clouds.  Even deserts have thunderstorms, Kris.”

“Andie, there is no vegetation around.  We live in Southern California, Andie -- what do denuded hillsides and heavy rains equal in your mind?”

Andie looked around again.  “I don’t think there’s any danger of mudslides, he...” she stopped.  “Uh oh!  Company!”

Kris turned and didn’t see anything.  Then Andie grabbed her arm and lifted it up.  In the distance what looked like a good-sized hawk beat its wings for a moment, and then continued gliding.

Then perspective snapped into play, and Kris realized that the “bird” was miles away, and you didn’t even want to think about what size the wings would have to be to show a flap at that distance.

Andie dipped into her pants and pulled out an air horn.  “This is going to be so cool!” she said with a wicked grin.

The air horn went off for a solid five count.  Then Andie yelled, “Melek!  Melek!  Get your ass out here!”

Kris rolled up her eyes, hoping Melek hadn’t picked up any English.

Melek was out in a minute, his bow ready.  Andie pointed in the right direction.  “Dralka?”

“Dralka!” he agreed.  He yelled a loud command inside, and the men began to come out, all with bows at the ready.  He said more words and everyone craned to look at the dralka.

Ezra appeared, his rifle in his hand.  Kris could see Andie glance at her.  She knew that this was something she didn’t know about.  “Andie, it has to be up to you and Ezra.”

Andie nodded.  “Ezra, time to go all in?  Or hold something back?”

“All in, Andie.”

“How far away can you hit it?”

“Call it three hundred meters.  A thousand feet, give or take.  It’s turned towards us and is coming straight on.  Piece of cake -- no deflection.”

“Do it, then.  If you can, tell Melek not to panic.”

Ezra spoke to Melek.  “Melek, me kill dralka.  You understand?”

“Aye!”

* * *

Melek cautioned the others with a few words as Ezra had requested.  Melek mentally crossed his fingers hoping that they would obey.

Far sooner than he would have imagined, Ezra put the weapon to his shoulder.  There was another of those deafening bangs.  Of all of them, Melek was the only one who watched the dralka, not the thunder rod.

The dralka folded its wings and plunged straight to the ground.  There was no sign of injury, nothing -- it just died and fell.

Menim was upset and angry, wanting to know what was happening.  By then, the others were aware that the dralka was gone.

“It’s a weapon,” Melek said firmly.  “We’ve heard it before.  It wasn’t directed at us then and it’s not directed at us now.”

“A weapon?” Menim croaked.  “I thought you said they had none!”

“I said they had no bows!  They didn’t disarm us and I didn’t like the odds of trying to disarm them.”

Collum laughed and so did another.  Menim’s face turned black with rage, only to be brought up short when Ezra poked him in the chest with the weapon.  It was nearly comic.  Menim’s eyes crossed, focused on the end against his chest.  He dropped his bow, the only one of them to do so.

Melek growled to the men, “And when was the last time you saw just one dralka hunting?”

Eyes immediately went to the sky and that was when Collum spoke to him.  “Sergeant, storm clouds to the southeast.”

Melek turned and looked.  He wasn’t used to storm clouds like those!  Sure, towering thunderheads -- he’d seen those.  He’d seen rain clouds from horizon to horizon.  But these were storm clouds, filled with lightning, looking like a giant wall, not regular clouds.

Ezra started trotting to the northeast, and Melek told Collum and another man to come with him.  It was nearly a half mile before they found the dralka, dead in the rocks.  As he got close, Melek saw a hole the size of his fist in the middle of the creature’s back.

Ezra walked right up to it, his weapon ready, while the rest of them hung back.  Ezra kicked it solidly in the head and the dead predator didn’t twitch.

Melek walked closer knelt and pulled its head up.  There, in the chest, was a dark hole the size of his thumb.  Ezra met his eyes when he looked at the stranger, and Ezra nodded to confirm that this was what his weapon had done.

One shot!  One of whatever it was that Ezra had used had killed the dralka with one shot, hitting it squarely in the chest, the most heavily armored portion of the predator!  How fast could he get shots off?  Melek remembered the finger snaps.  Would Ezra exaggerate?

Melek didn’t think so.  His actions were exaggeration enough!

“Sergeant, there’s one to the north and another to the northwest,” Collum reported.  “Four and five miles.

“Back to the rookery,” he told them.  He could sense the hesitation, but there were also a lot of glances at Ezra.  It was, he thought, a safe choice with Ezra along.

They started trotting and he was pleased that Ezra could run with them without tiring.  He reported to Lieutenant Menim who glanced northwards and then pursed his lips.  The good news was, as Melek had already noted, the two dralka had turned away.  The bad news was that they looked like they were going to find a roost for the storm, and that as soon as things cleared, they’d be back -- and if they weren’t hungry now, they’d be hungry then.  Of course, then there was Ezra.

“Lieutenant, Ezra fired one shot from his thunder rod and it smote the dralka in the chest and out the spine, just behind the head.  It must have died instantly.”

“We have to disarm them,” the lieutenant said, a little desperately.

“Lieutenant, earlier Ezra said he could shoot as fast as a man can snap his fingers.  If we caught him by surprise, we might be able to take him.  Perhaps we could cow the women as well -- because I think those things under their arms are smaller versions of the big thunder rod device.  Lieutenant, if it went wrong, all or most of us could die, and if any others from where these people came from learned of our treachery... it would not be good.  It would not be good at all.”

“Treachery?” the lieutenant bridled.

“Treachery, sir.  We’ve been treating them fairly.  To change our minds without something from them that suggests hostile intent on their part would be treachery.  They’ve shared a little of their food with us.”

“And turned up their noses at ours,” the lieutenant snapped.

“Lieutenant, any sane individual would turn up their noses at our field rations.”

There was, of course, always that.

“So, what are you saying?”

“Ezra has a device which will kill a dralka with one bolt or arrow.  The two young women probably have them too.  The little one has built one device that will do the same thing for us, and has nearly finished another.  I’ve watched Collum and talked to him.  He says he thinks he understands how to make it now, himself.  Lieutenant, this could be a tremendous advance in weapons.  One that might even be able to kill dralha.  Dralha, sir!”

The lieutenant subsided as Melek knew he must.  “I hope Corporal Destu is careful, Landrew as well,” the lieutenant whispered.

“He is the best of the corporals, sir.  He’s fought dralka since he was a boy.  He will be fine, and Landrew is a careful man as well.  Three dralka together like this, have to be a cadet flock.  The one Ezra killed was a female, so there is a still a male and another female in the group.  Hopefully, Destu saw them and will report the fact.  If the dralka had found him and killed him, they wouldn’t be flying now.”