Bunduki (Bunduki Series Book One) (27 page)

Bringing dry gunpowder into contact
with a naked flame causes one of two results. If the grains are
confined in a container which is capable of putting up resistance
against the tremendous volume of gasses created by their ignition,
there is an explosion. When the powder is weakly enclosed, or
unconfined, the effects are less violent—but equally
spectacular.

A spurt of fire leapt upwards from the
lamp!

With a ‘whoosh!’ sound, the bag
erupted into flames and a billowing, rapidly increasing cloud of
white gas!

Instantly, all was pandemonium inside
the pavilion!

Engulfed by the full volume of the
inferno, Talgum reeled backwards, his tunic alight. Almost choked
by the swirling fumes, he could not scream despite the agony that
he was suffering. Coughing in his attempts to do so, he twirled
around. Going in the direction of the main entrance, he collapsed
to roll over and over in the frenzy of his torment. His burning
garments caused the silk-like padded covering on the floor to
ignite. Once started, the flames spread across the inflammable
material and reached, then began to consume, the front
wall.

Being confident that she had
won Bunduki over, Cha-role had not suspected that he was trying to
trick her. However, seeing him turning his back, she sensed that
the experiment could prove dangerous. So, without attempting to
stop the warrior, she had started to back away. She was just far
enough from the
banar-gatah
rider to avoid being caught in the blaze when the bag
ignited. Startled by the effect, she let out a shriek which ended
in a burst of coughing as the gasses created by the burning powder
reached her. Throwing herself involuntarily to the rear, she
tripped over a cushion and toppled backwards.

Without needing to turn, as he heard
the sound of the detonation and felt the rush of heat strike his
back, the blond giant put the rest of his scheme into operation.
Bracing himself for the effort, he jerked his wrists apart! Such
was the power exerted by his mighty muscles that the swivel link of
the hobbles snapped as if it had been made of thin thread instead
of metal.

Attracted by the commotion, Charole’s
maid and Tal-gum’s companion dashed in from the kitchen portion of
the pavilion. Letting out a screech of terror at what she saw, the
woman rapidly retreated. Being made of sterner stuff, the man
started to draw his sword and run towards Bunduki. Despite his
courage, he was startled and not a little alarmed at the ease with
which the blond giant broke free from the hobbles’
confinement.

Having liberated his wrists, Bunduki
sprang to the table. He saw the warrior approaching as his right
hand closed on the hilt of the Smithsonian bowie knife. Scooping up
the lamp with his left hand, he flung it at the man. Then, grasping
the knife, he bounded over the table to the rear wall.

Glancing to his right, the blond giant
saw the warrior deflect the lamp by knocking it aside with his left
hand. It crashed to the floor by the rear wall and shattered.
Gushing out, the fuel burst into flames and started a second
blaze.

Swinging his right arm up and
around in a forward circle, Bunduki sank the blade of his knife
into the wall with a chopping motion. He could hear shouts of
alarm
being
raised from various points, warning him that the disturbance and
fire were attracting attention. By thrusting his left leg outwards
and bending his right knee, he crouched and drew the knife
downwards. Its edge sliced through the material without any
difficulty.

However, even as the blond giant was
cutting his way out, Talgum’s companion was rushing closer and
raising the sword ready to strike. Outside, the guards at each end
of the pavilion saw what was happening. Grasping their lances,
although they were on foot, they converged upon the opening that
Bunduki’s knife was making.

~*~

Watching Dryaka rushing across the
pavilion tent and into his sleeping accommodation, Dawn
Drummond-Clayton wondered what he had meant by his cryptic
reference to the ‘Thunder Powder’. She could tell that he
attributed a considerable amount of importance to it, whatever it
might be. So much so that he had not noticed that he had dropped
the Randall Model 1 fighting knife almost at her feet. What was
more, his behavior was causing the other occupant of the main
portion to ignore her. The man who had brought the news was staring
after the High Priest with his mouth hanging open was clearly
oblivious of everything else.

Dawn was alert for any chance that
might arise for her to escape. As yet, however, she could not see
how she might turn Dryaka’s perturbation to any great advantage. At
best, it offered her the opportunity to arm herself. Reaching
forward, keeping the spy and the flap through which the High Priest
had passed under observation, she closed her hands around the hilt
of the knife. It was her intention to hide the weapon under the
cushion upon which she was sitting. If she was lucky, it would not
be missed until the time came for her to make use of it.

Seeing Dryaka returning, Dawn knew she
would not be able to carry out her plan before he saw her. So she
turned the knife, hiding its hilt with her hands and, pushing aside
the hobbles’ connecting link, concealed the blade with her
forearms. Studying the cold anger on his face, she decided he was
so concerned by whatever he had discovered that he might not notice
her weapon was missing.

‘
While
Zongaffa had not seen any practical application for the Thunder
Powder’, Dryaka had sensed that it might be put to military use.
The problem had been to find a way of utilizing it. Having sworn
the old man to secrecy and prevented anybody else, even the Council
of Elders, from learning of the experiments, Dryaka had been
seeking some means of controlling the explosive qualities of the
powder. He had been asked to return the previous day because the
herbalist had believed they were approaching a break-through. For
various reasons they had not been able to put the idea to the test
so far. Their attempts to do so that afternoon had been frustrated,
which had been the cause of his annoyance when he arrived in the
pavilion that evening.

Due to his belief that the Thunder
Powder’ would give him sufficient power to overthrow the Council of
Elders and let him assume sole control of the Mun-Gatah nation,
Dryaka wanted to keep all knowledge of its purpose and qualities to
himself. Finding that one small bag was missing was cause for alarm
and anger.

‘
Who took it?’ the High
Priest snarled, glaring at the spy.

‘
I—I
d—don’t—kn—know,’
the man quavered, showing his fright at having to
deliver a negative reply. Talgum and—’

At that moment, there was a dull
‘whoosh!’ from somewhere beyond the front wall of the pavilion. An
angry exclamation burst from the High Priest as he swung to stare
in the direction from which the sound had originated.

For a moment, Dawn wondered if
her ears were playing tricks on her. As a child, she had helped
Bunduki
experiment with the effects of igniting a pile of
gunpowder. The noise it had made was almost identical to that which
she had just heard. Then, as shouts rang out from different parts
of the camp, she realized what the Thunder Powder’ must
be.

Letting out a bellow of rage, Dryaka
charged to and threw open the front entrance. As he was going out,
Dawn saw the red glow of a fire growing rapidly bigger from the
opposite pavilion. She knew that it was the one occupied by
Charole.

Bunduki’s captor!

Following his master’s example, the
spy dashed out of the pavilion without giving Dawn a single
thought. Coming to her feet, she changed the knife around so that
its blade would be available for use. While she was doing so her
eyes darted around. She guessed that Bunduki had contrived to set
off the gunpowder as a distraction to help him escape. Judging from
the commotion outside, he was having considerable success and she
wanted to find some way of adding to the confusion.

Dawn’s gaze went to the peak of the
pavilion where a chandelier-like cluster of lamps was hanging. The
cord by which it could be raised or lowered slanted down and was
tied to one of the supports of the partition from the kitchen
section.

Even as Dawn started towards the lower
end of the cord, the serving women came from the kitchen one behind
the other. Seeing the girl was not only standing, but was holding
the knife, the leading woman stopped and opened her mouth to scream
for help. Darting forward, Dawn bounded into the air to perform a
drop-kick. Caught in the bosom by the girl’s feet, agony numbed the
woman’s mind and chopped off her words before they could be spoken.
What was more, the impact flung her backwards to collide with and
knock over her companion.

Rebounding from delivering the
attack, Dawn landed
on her feet. Two strides took her to the cord. Grasping the
knife’s hilt in both hands, she cut through the strands. Down
plunged the chandelier. On striking the floor, the four lamps burst
and flames began to lick hungrily around.

Satisfied with what she had done, the
girl ran to the rear wall. Plunging in the knife, she slit open a
gash long enough to form an exit. A glance through it told her that
the sentries who had been at the rear were no longer there.
Deciding that they must have gone to investigate the cause of the
other disturbance, she stepped outside. Before she had taken more
than half a dozen strides, she heard a yell from behind and to the
left. A quick look that way warned her that at least one of them
had heard the chandelier fall and was returning. There was a second
yell, from the other side.

Without bothering to look, Dawn
started to run through the darkness and the two sentries took up
the
pursuit.

~*~

With the approaching warrior’s sword
lashing around at him, Bunduki dropped to the floor. Taken by
surprise and missing his mark, the man’s impetus carried him
onwards. He tripped over the blond giant’s legs and plunged
headlong through the gap in the wall.

Seeing the warrior half in and half
out of the tent, the guards did not wait to make an identification.
Raising their lances as he sprawled face down, they drove the
weapons to impale him before either realized he was making a
mistake.

Leaping to his feet, Bunduki looked
around him. The two fires were raging with unabated fury. However,
Charole was already sitting up. Satisfied that she would be able to
escape, he sprang through the gap. His appearance took the guards
by surprise. Their weapons were still embedded in the warrior’s
body.

Noticing the guards were
wearing metal helmets and
breastplates, the blond giant based his strategy
accordingly. Hurdling the body so that he passed between them, he
struck at both simultaneously. In one respect, the man on the left
fared somewhat better than his companion. He received the heel of
Bunduki’s clenched fist in the centre of the face, while the other
guard was struck by the scalloped brass butt cap of the bowie’s
hilt. It was a small mercy, something like feeling grateful that
one had been kicked by a horse instead of a mule. Each recipient
was flung backwards with blood gushing from his smashed nostrils
and mouth. Going down, neither of them was in any condition to
interfere with the blond giant’s departure.

Having made good his own escape,
Bunduki’s next concern was to rescue Dawn. He knew that she was
being held in the High Priest’s pavilion, or had been. There was a
possibility that she had been moved elsewhere. With the whole camp
aroused by the fire, searching for and reaching her would be
difficult. Unless he could create another diversion, it might even
endanger her life.

Hearing the snorting of the disturbed
zebras not far away, Bunduki remembered something which his short
acquaintance with them had taught him. An idea sprang to his head.
Knife in hand, he loped swiftly towards the herd. Alert for any
evidence that he was being pursued and hearing none, he selected a
route which would keep him hidden from the animals’ attendants.
Keeping going until they were between him and the camp, he came to
a halt. He noticed that a second fire was burning near the one that
he had started. From its position, he guessed correctly that it was
at the High Priest’s pavilion.

Worried in case Dawn should be trapped
in the second blaze, although he was also hoping that she might
have caused it as an aid to escaping, the blond giant tossed back
his head and cupped his hands about his mouth.

‘
Aaaah—eeee—aaaah—eee—aaagh!’

Deep, awesome and threatening,
the challenge roar of a bull-
Mangani
thundered into the air!

The result was everything Bunduki had
hoped to achieve!

Already made restless by the commotion
at the camp, the zebras were milling in a worried manner. Startled
by the menacing roar from so close at hand, they had one idea in
their heads. To get away from whatever had caused the sound. That
applied equally to the animals being used by the men who were
guarding the herd. Rearing and plunging in terror, the majority of
them threw their riders. Those which did not, bolted before the
herd-guards on them could do anything to avert the panic. Within
seconds of the call having been made, all of the zebras were
stampeding recklessly towards the camp.