The Trek: Darwin's World, Book II (The Darwin's World Series 2) (16 page)

Chapter 14

Matt settled in for more waiting, glad he’d had time to eat. Wonder of wonders, none of his archers had the urge to talk. The only way of knowing that two dozen people waited behind cover, all with bows and arrows ready except for the tiny group waiting with Matt, was the absence of forest noise. And the group moving toward them would have caused the animals to be quiet anyway.

If Lee was right about the raiders and the noise they were creating, they wouldn’t notice.

At least the raiders were prompt; Matt had been waiting less than an hour when he spotted the first pair approaching.

Very careless; they hadn’t even bothered with scouts. As nearly as he could tell, the oncoming group had spread out and was following the drag marks the tribe had left more than two weeks ago. If this was their idea of a combat formation, they were in for a rude lesson in tactics!

The raiders were too far away and he couldn’t recognize faces, but it wouldn’t be much longer. Matt spared a glance to each side, then to the three spearmen who would act as his personal guard while he killed as many as possible before exhausting his arrow supply. They appeared ready.

As soon as his arrows were gone, Matt would look for a place where he and his spearmen could join the fight. Other tribesmen would be watching; from that point on, the fight would be hand-to-hand and spear on spear.

The sky continued to lighten and the raiding party got closer. Could that be Gregor near the center? If so, Pavel would be nearby.

Matt waited. The raiders were now less than forty yards away, almost in range for the least-capable of his bowmen. He waited; his conscious mind might wander, but the subconscious would be calculating distance, visibility…

Matt raised his bow and launched his first arrow. Thirty yards away, Gregor feebly clutched at the feathers sprouting from his throat as he fell. Matt had another arrow on the string before Gregor hit the ground.

That other one, there…but the man dropped, two arrows sticking from his abdomen. Matt’s tribesmen had been ready.

Matt waited, bowstring half-drawn and an arrow ready. Where was Pavel?

The rifle fired from somewhere behind the first clump of raiders, two quick popping sounds, then silence. Was Pavel that skilled, that he could limit fire to only two rounds?

Someone among the tribe was down, wounded at least and possibly dying. Matt couldn’t tell who, but there had been a choked scream and a thrashing in the brush where the tribespeople waited. No time to worry now, there was one…the man Matt shot fell. Matt reached for another arrow and searched for another target.

No Pavel, and the surprised raiders were beginning to back up. They bunched together and Matt put more arrows into the mass without waiting to see what he’d hit.

Still no sign of Pavel. Matt’s searching hand came up empty. He glanced at the quiver; he had no arrows left.

Matt dropped his bow, shrugged the quiver strap from his shoulder and let that drop too. He stooped and picked up his spear, the long steel blade glinting wickedly in the morning light.

“Time to get among them. You four, stay close and make sure the one you stick your spear into isn’t me!”

There was no time to look back; they would follow, or not. Matt crouched slightly and charged toward the raiders.

There were few still standing. Bodies littered the ground, some moving feebly. The arrows had done good work.

Matt spared a glance at Gregor…dead…as he ran past. Still no Pavel.

The group ahead was retreating. Not running yet, but if any of their leadership survived it was not apparent.

Suddenly more of them began falling, the arrows now coming from Lee’s position. Confused, they hesitated and Matt caught up. He found them within reach of his spear and slashed at them with the long steel blade.

They were targets for arrows as well, continuing to fall from Lee’s flanking attack.  Matt, spear thrust forward, saw an intended victim fall to an arrow that suddenly appeared in his shoulder. Grabbing an overly-enthusiastic Piotr by a bloody sleeve, Matt yanked him back from the melee.

“Watch where you're shooting!”

The arrowstorm stopped; Lee had heard. The bushes rustled, then Lee and his men filtered through to attack the remaining guardsmen from the flank.

There were only a few of the guardsmen-turned-raiders still able to stand. One by one, they dropped the crude spears they were holding, those that still had them.

“Take off those short swords, too. You won’t be needing them.”

Finally, one of the raiders stepped forward.

“Are you going to kill us?”

“I haven’t decided,” Matt answered. “Lee, take them around and see to the wounded. Use your scouts as guards. As for the wounded raiders, have the ones we captured finish them off. But not Pavel or Vlad…if you find them alive, put a guard on them.

“If any of our people are wounded, find the Wise Woman. Sal can help her move people that need to be taken back to camp. She can decide how best to care for them. Piotr, you find Robert and ask him to join me here, Colin and Margrette too. I need to talk to them.”

Margrette was the first to arrive, followed closely by Colin.

“Margrette, our people are going to need food. Round up a few people to help, get the kitchen going. Hot meal for everyone as soon as you can, OK?

“We’ll need to sort all of this out first, but if we can, I still want to leave the camp today. We’ve still got those slave-raiders to worry about.

“Colin, you’re with me. You, me, and Robert will decide what to do with the guards that are still alive.”

Piotr came back and found Matt. Matt looked at his pale face and understood something was wrong.

“What is it, Piotr? Are you hurt?”

“No, Matt. It’s Robert. He’s hurt bad. The Wise Woman is with him now, but Robert…”

“All right. You stay with me. I’ll see Robert as soon as I finish here.”

Colin soon came up to join Matt.

“Colin, we’ve got a mess on our hands. People aren’t going to want to move, but we’ve got to. We have no way of disposing of the bodies. I don’t have a count yet…I estimate twenty dead just from what I can see, about seven unwounded or only lightly scratched. I haven’t seen Pavel yet, but he was here. He had the rifle and I heard two shots.

“Lee is seeing to the wounded. I told him to have the ones we captured execute their own wounded, except for Vlad and Pavel. If they’re alive, they don’t deserve any better, but they’re our special problem.

“This is a lot of dead meat. It’s going to draw scavengers as well as flies. Since Robert’s hurt, can you get our people ready to move as soon as we finish here?”

“Sure, Matt. I’ll take care of it. What are you going to do with the prisoners?”

“Probably turn them loose. I won’t let them have weapons, nothing but those emergency packets we all carry. I’ll donate mine, can you round up six more?”

“Sure. You can have mine too. Did Pavel and his three have them already?”

“You’re right, they did. Collect Robert’s packet too, he won’t be able to use it right away.

“I’ll go have a look at Robert and our other wounded. As soon as the Wise Woman has them ready, we’ll fix a place on a cart for the ones who can’t walk. Lots of furs for padding, you know what’s needed.

“Everyone’s tired, but they have to work. Maybe we can travel for a couple of hours and quit early. But we’ve got to get as far away from here as possible.”

Colin nodded and left.

#

Lee returned with the prisoners, all of them pale and shaky.

“I’ve got one more job for you people. After that, I’m going to turn you loose. What happens after you leave is your problem. The mine people didn’t trust you, neither do I. If I ever see you again I’ll kill you on sight.

“Lee, let’s walk over here a bit. I’ve got instructions for you. Are you OK?”

“I’m fine, Matt. Not easy to order those men killed, but I understood why it had to be done. We can’t help them, and if we left them behind, wounded, some animal would have them within an hour. Killing them quick was the merciful thing to do.”

Matt nodded. “I’d burn the bodies if we could, but we don’t have the manpower. Our people have to get ready to move. Those slavers are still out there. We don’t know where, but if we aren’t careful they’ll hit us when we least expect it.

“I’ve got a final job for your prisoners. I can’t take the time to supervise them myself, you’re going to have to do it. Take my three spearmen to help, Willie and Carlo and Karel…I’ll keep Piotr with me …and when the prisoners are done, give them one of our emergency packets. I’ll send someone up with food, so feed them and then turn them loose.

“Here’s what I want them to do.”

Lee looked at Matt in shock.

“Matt, you’re sure?”

“Yes. Did you find Vlad or Pavel?”

“Vlad’s dead. Arrow in the chest, broken shaft. Not yours or mine, someone else shot him. I saved the arrowhead. I put the prisoners to doing that as we went around, gathering up arrows. One of the scouts bundled them and took them back. We found your bow and quiver, too. You can pick it up when we’re back at camp. I couldn’t be sure which arrows were yours because of the blood.

“But Pavel’s alive. He’s hurt, arrow through an arm that pinned it to his chest. I left it. It’s one of my arrows.”

“Thanks, I forgot about my bow. All right, finish up, turn those people loose, then bring your scouts to camp. Robert’s hurt bad, I’m going there as soon as I can. Where is Pavel?”

“He’s right over there, by the two guards. That rifle…long black thing?”

“That’s it.”

“I moved it away so Pavel couldn’t reach it. But I didn’t know what else to do with it.”

“I’ll take care of it. I’m going there now.”

Lee went back to where his guards watched the prisoners, bows and spears ready. But the cowed prisoners showed no signs of wanting to resume the fight.

Matt walked over to where Pavel lay. The rifle was as Lee had described. Matt picked it up and looked at it; it was similar to others he’d seen downtime, if not quite the same. Well, he’d have time to figure it out later. He found the safety lever on the left side, noticed a similar one on the right, so the rifle was meant for left or right-handed users. He moved the lever to the S position and slung the rifle over his shoulder.

Despite the wound, Pavel was conscious and still full of hate. He glared up at Matt.

“That rifle wasn’t much use, was it?”

“Fucking thing jammed after only two shots. I would have…”

“You should have made sure of me, Pavel, back there on the river. We found the place later.”

Pavel looked back at him and said nothing.

“Are you going to keep talking or get this arrow out of my arm?”

“Neither, Pavel. I’ve had enough grief from you.”

Matt lifted his spear as Pavel’s eyes opened wide in shock. Stepping forward, Matt put the steel blade just below Pavel’s rib cage. Leaning on the spear, Matt watched the point slide into Pavel’s chest. When half the long blade was in, Matt levered down on the spear, forcing the sharp blade to slice through lungs and up into the heart. Pavel’s mouth sagged open and blood gouted as he coughed. His eyelids half-closed, then stopped moving as the blood flow slowed to a trickle.

“Tell Lee to collect his arrow and throw this body with the others.”

Matt turned and walked away. Piotr looked pale…well, if he hadn’t known before, this world wasn’t long on mercy.

#

Lee’s guard watched the prisoners work as Piotr led Matt to the Wise Woman. She was working on Robert, now mercifully unconscious.

“How’s he doing?”

She shook her head. “That arm is shattered. It will have to come off. It’s just fortunate that Robert’s not feeling it, he’s out cold. I’ve never done major surgery before. I know how, of course, but only from watching the surgeon do it. He had anesthetics and antibiotics, I don’t even have any surgical tools.”

“Do the best you can. You worked in a hospital downtime?”

“I was a medical assistant. I had some training and I watched surgery done, but except for basic anatomy and things like nutrition, I’m not qualified.”

“You’re the most qualified person we have…Doctor. Get help, plan what you’ve got to do, get it done before Robert wakes up. You can use my knife, camp-axe too if you need it. We had classes on battlefield first aid, the history of combat medicine. One thing I remember from that, surgical procedures from the Civil War and the age of sailing ships, good surgery was fast surgery. The sooner it’s done and the stump bandaged, the better.

“I can’t keep calling you Wise Woman; don’t you have a name?”

“I do. But I preferred what Robert called me, the Wise Woman.”

“So what’s the name?”

“It’s Bambi, all right? But if you laugh or call me Bambi, you’d better hope I never have to cut on you!”

“You don’t like Bambi, I don’t like Wise Woman. You can pick any name you want. No rule says we have to stick with what parents or the downtimers gave us. Any name you’d prefer?”

“Elizabeth. Call me Elizabeth.”

“Fine, Elizabeth. I’ll let you get to work. Draft people to help, anyone except Lee and Colin or Margrette. They already have jobs.”

“I’ll take the new girl, Shani. Millie too. Millie’s been working with me and Shani’s not afraid of blood.”

“Done. Do the best you can for our people.”

Matt looked around, but people were working and there was nothing that needed his immediate attention. He went back to camp and helped people as they packed their bedding on the carts.

#

An hour later four tribesmen brought Robert into camp, two carrying him with their arms slung under his torso, another supporting his head, one carrying his feet.

“Bedding furs first, make a thick pad on a cart for Robert. Lay him on the pad with his head up, feet down. We’ll be moving out soon. Find Margrette and get something to eat.

“First, let me thank you for all you did this morning. Not easy I know, but it had to be done. I wish we could stop to rest, but we can’t. The slavers are still out there somewhere and we’ve got to move. All those dead bodies, they’ll attract scavengers; predators, too. I’ll look for a place to stop a few hours down the trail. Thanks again, and let’s get to work.”