Time's Last Gift Part 8

'Those lions may be the ones that killed Skrinq last year. It would be good if we made sure that the male is dead, too, and so revenge Skrinq. And also make life a bit safer for us.'

'I think the hyenas will do your work for you,' Gribardsun

The lion had just wheeled on a tormentor, and as he did so, the two who had been dancing just a few feet from him, ran in and seized a leg. They gave one bite and spun and raced away. The lion turned again, but he fell on his side. Though he got up immediately, it was evident that he was hamstrung in one leg. 'After the lion is dead, kill the hyenas,' Thammash said. 'We have lost more people, especially children, to the hyenas than to the lions.'

'When I was a young man, I hated hyenas,' Gribardsun said. 'They seemed to me to be only cowardly stinking carrion eaters. But I came to know them better and to end up by admiring them. They are not cowardly, just intelligently cautious. They hunt quite often and bring down game. And they have affection for their cubs and can, if caught young and raised properly, be very intelligent and affectionate pets.'

The idea of raising any animal as a pet - except for the bear cubs - boggled Thammash. But that anybody could admire hyenas almost staggered him.

The tormenting attacks lasted for about five minutes more. Then the lion was bowled over and he and about six hyenas became a rolling, roaring, cachinnating, yelping mess. Two hyenas were killed and one was severely wounded. But the lion was dead, his windpipe crushed between a male's jaws.

The lioness was next, and she ripped the side off a hyena before she died. The survivors began eating at once, and the wolves and birds moved in closer, waiting for their chance. Thammash ordered some of his men to follow him in an effort to drive off the hyenas. He wanted the two heads and the tails. The rest the hyenas could have, since there was already so much meat harvested. The hyenas retreated reluctantly but did not attack. The heads and tails were hacked off and brought back triumphantly.

'This has been a great day!' Thammash cried. 'You have brought us much good fortune, Koorik!'

Thammash did not think the fortune was so good when the people moved on to the site of the dead rhinoceros. He and the three strangers and half of his tribe were moving across the plain to the rhinoceroses when they saw three men racing toward them. Thammash ran out to meet them. Gribardsun followed. He was in time to hear s.h.i.+mkoobt, a man of about forty, gasp out the end of his story.

While the six Wota'shaimg were cutting up one of the rhinos, they were attacked by fourteen Wotagrub. These sprang out from the heavy growth, yelling and throwing spears and boomerangs. Treekram had fallen with a spear sticking out of his thigh. The remaining five had thrown their spears without effect. The invaders had then thrown a second volley, and Lramg'bud had been hit in the neck with a heavy boomerang. The Wotagrub had been charged, and the four had turned and fled. But another boomerang struck Kwakamg on a leg and he fell down. Before he could get up, he was speared.

The news was a great shock. The loss of the meat was not so much, since they had two mammoths at the other site. But the loss of four men in one day was a terrible blow to the Wota'shaimg.

The women, on hearing the news, started to wail. Thammash told them to keep quiet and get back to their work. He detailed Angrogrim and s.h.i.+vkaet to follow him and set off. Gribardsun and von Billmann went with him; Silverstein stayed behind to guard.

Gribardsun had wondered for only a few seconds why the chief took only two men with him against the invaders. But then he saw that Thammash expected Gribardsun and von Billmann to use their magical weapons against the Wotagrub. The Englishman was now carrying the express rifle.

On seeing them at a distance of half a mile, however, the Wotagrub ran off; but not without taking those parts of the rhinoceros which the Wota'shaimg had already cut off.

All of the bodies, including Thrimk's, had been mutilated and the heads removed. Von Billmann took some films of these and then vomited.

Thammash stood silent for a long time. Then he spoke to Gribardsun.

'Shouldn't we go after them and kill them?'

Gribardsun did not reply at once. The deaths of the men had affected him, since he was coming to know them as individuals and even becoming fond of several. Moreover, if the killings were unpunished, the Wotagrub would try again. And if the tribe lost many more men, it would be in a critical situation.'

However, he did not like to take on the powers of a G.o.d. He would have liked to stand to one side and study the relations.h.i.+ps of the two tribes. Let them work out their own histories; if one perished, then that was too bad. But that was also the way things were. And he also hoped to be able to make friends with the Wotagrub and study them. He could not do so if he killed their men.

'Once you're involved, you have to take a stand,' he told von Billmann in English. 'If we take the lives of their enemies, we'll become one of the Wota'shaimg. Literally, because I'm sure they'll adopt us. That is, if they have the custom of adoption.'

He asked Thammash if the tribe ever made aliens members of their people.

Thammash said, 'I have never heard of such a thing.'

Evidently these people were not as advanced as, say, the North American Indian of pre-Columbian times.

'If you capture a baby,' Gribardsun said, 'what do you do with him? Kill him?'

Thammash's face brightened. He said, 'No, of course not, if he is healthy. We raise him to be a warrior and a hunter. But that is different. A baby is not an enemy. Nor even a Wota'shaimg.'

A Wota'shaimg was a human being. A non-Wota'shaimg was not fully human.

'He becomes a Wota'shaimg when he goes through the initiation of manhood,' Thammash said.

Gribardsun knew that he could not turn down the request for help. The relations.h.i.+p between the explorers and the tribe would never be the same again. And there was the strong urging of his own feelings to consider. He was outraged, and even touched by grief, at the death and the mutilation of his tribesmen.

His tribesmen! he thought.

He said, 'Very well. We'll trail them.'

And we'll see what happens then, he thought.

The four - Gribardsun, Thammash, von Billmann, and s.h.i.+vkaet - set out. They avoided ambush in the heavy growth by climbing above it on the hillside. Gribardsun thought it unlikely that the Wotagrub would dare to try an ambush, but there was no sense taking chances. They trotted along swiftly but looked for tracks or other signs of the pursued. They found a few that led toward the overhang under which the Wotagrub lived. Rather, it was the overhang under which they had lived. When they cautiously approached the site, they found the tents gone and cold ashes in the hearths.

'They must have moved some time ago,' Gribardsun said.

They cast about on all sides, including the hill above the overhang. But the frequent spring rains tended to wash out footprints and to carry off bits of fur caught on plants or dropped objects.

'Give me the 32 and its ammo,' Gribardsun said to von Billmann. 'I'm going after those fellows, and I don't want to be held back by slow runners.'

Von Billmann did as he was requested without protest. Gribardsun told the two tribesmen what he planned to do. They protested that they wanted to be in on the death. The Englishman refused to allow them to go with him.

'Your people need you,' he said. 'Now. Every hand available should be carrying the meat and the tusks of the beasts.'

'You are a very strong man,' Thammash said. 'You could carry much meat.'

Gribardsun smiled and said, 'True. But it is more important that I convince the Wotagrub that they should leave us alone.'

Von Billmann said, 'I can see the necessity of ensuring that our subjects are protected so we can study them. But you shouldn't go alone.'

'But I am,' Gribardsun said. He ran off down the hillside and was soon lost to sight as he made his way back up the hill to the top.

The two tribesmen poked around the camp for anything of value the enemy might have left behind. And then the three departed.

Three.

Rachel Silverstein was very disturbed by the account of the hunt, Gribardsun's narrow escape, and the killings and mutilations. But she was most upset by the report of his lone expedition.

'Why did you let him go?'

Von Billmann shrugged and said, 'I'm not strong enough to force him to return. Besides, he is the leader.'

'But he's out alone in that savage wilderness! Anything could happen to him! We might never see him again, not even know what happened!'

'That's true,' von Billmann said. 'And he knows it. But I'm not worried. Not much, anyway. He can take care of himself. If anybody can, he can. Would you like to see the films of the hunt? You'll see what I mean then.'

Drummond Silverstein said, 'Rachel, if I had gone, would you be as concerned?'