IN NATURA: a science fiction novel (ARZAT SERIES Book 2) (9 page)

CHAPTER 12

VANISHED

The Arzat Hunters spent the entire morning searching downstream on both sides of the creek, but they could not find any recent sign of the
uman
. Then, at Za’at’s absolute insistence, they turned and once again trekked back upstream for quite a distance, well past the
umans’
camp. The hunters looked everywhere for tracks or any other sign of the female, sniffing and flicking, but found nothing. Somehow, they had completely lost her scent.

  Seven Arzats looking for one uman! It was if she had magically vanished from the earth. Impossible,
Za’at thought. He did not consider himself to be overly superstitious, but her utter disappearance defied logic. It was . . . well . . . impossible.

  As the morning wore on and
Qu’aa
climbed higher into the sky, Za’at’s determination to find the little female began to fade. He wanted to continue the hunt for her, but he didn’t want to risk spoiling the fine cache of meat they already had hanging in the trees by wasting any more time looking. The hunters were a long way from home and there were hungry Arzats waiting back at the caves. If they left now, at least they would have something to show for all of their trouble.

  Finally, when the Arzats had thoroughly scoured both sides of the water twice with no result, he reluctantly ordered them to return to the
umans’
camp.

  Mek was the first back. As he returned, he thought for the briefest moment that he had once again caught a fresh scent of the female. He was not alone in wishing that
he
would be the one who found her. Any of the hunters that might have corrected Za’at’s mistake by recapturing the little smooth-skin would gain status.

  He stopped immediately and sniffed the air, flicking his tongue to get the most of it, and carefully looked around. There was the strong odor coming from the
umans
hanging from the trees and the even stronger smell of their entrails and their worthless skins below, but the distinctive smell of the living female was lost to him. He shrugged his shoulders and moved on into the camp as Za’at had instructed.
Must have been from before,
he thought.

  “I blame you for this,” Za’at silently said to Baa as the other Arzats finally strolled back into the
uman
camp.

  Baa remained silent, carefully blocking all of his real thoughts from Za’at. Inwardly, he was delighted that they had failed to locate the
uman
—unless of course, it had been Baa himself who had found her.
We should have killed the female immediately as I suggested
, he thought.
The Elders will not appreciate Za’at’s failure in leadership.  Ack dead? Now the female that killed him allowed to successfully elude capture? Perhaps they will banish Za’at or order his death
, he pondered gleefully. That Baa might be held equally responsible for the mishap hadn’t yet crossed his mind.

  The hunters pulled the carcasses from the branches and skewered them onto three long poles, using the
umans’
own cords to tie them securely. Za’at assigned two Arzats to each of the poles—one for each end. This left him free to lead the group and to check for any danger along the way.

  It had taken several
het
for the Arzats to reach their current location, but Za’at felt certain they could make it back to the caves in just two if they hurried and ran a straighter path. The hunt had taken them on a long semi-circle of the lowlands, which had always kept them within a reasonable reach of home. Also, he planned a forced march, due as much to the fact that he was angry with the hunters as his wish to be back at the caves as quickly as possible.

  “Let’s go home,” he finally said once he was satisfied that everything was in order. He then set a brisk pace out of the camp, which he knew the hunters would struggle to match under their heavy loads of
uman
flesh.

  Za’at knew that he was going to face serious allegations from the group now plodding along behind him. They could block all they wanted, but he knew that some of them, perhaps all of them, would question his leadership before the Council upon their return. On his side was the fact that the Arzats would not be returning empty-handed.
After all,
he reassured himself,
were it not for capable hunters, the clan would not eat
. Certainly, if nothing else, he had proven himself worthy in that regard.
So much easier to be a follower than a leader,
he thought.

* * *

When Maria awoke, she felt like she was suffocating. She slowly pushed a fold of dead skin away from her face and took a deep breath, trying to get her bearings. Earlier in the night, when she had heard the lizards returning, she had been so miserable and cold that she had been ready to surrender and let them do to her whatever they were going to do. The thought of her unborn child was the only thing pressing her to survive, but even that motivation had faded.

  At the last moment, as she heard the lizards returning, her fear of death regained its strength and overcame her decision to surrender. She looked around the camp for cover and did the only thing she could think of; she crawled into the pile of bloody flesh that had once been her comrades and mate and covered herself, pulling their skins and entrails over her like a blanket and leaving just enough room for her nose so that she could breathe. She remained there motionless, her breathing as shallow as she could manage, hoping against hope the reptiles would not discover her hiding place. The stench had been horrendous. Several times, she was sure she would vomit and reveal herself to the lizards, but she had managed to stay silent.

  The flesh was still warm and had gradually taken the chill out of her body. Then, somehow, she had dozed until movement in the camp had awoken her. She dared not look, so she relied totally on her hearing to inform her of the lizards’ departure.

  When the camp had fallen completely silent and she was sure she had allowed enough time, Maria slowly pushed off the flesh that had been covering her and rolled out of it, vomiting in the process. She looked nervously around, checking to be sure that the lizard men had truly left the area.

  Eventually, she pulled herself to her feet and headed down to the creek’s edge. Maria followed it until she found a wide and shallow section where she could safely cross, checking over her shoulder often, worried that the beasts would return and pounce on her at any moment. She looked up and down the stream, letting her gut determine the best direction to go, hoping it was the opposite from what the lizards had taken.

  The sun soon reached the top of its arch and the air became warm. Maria continued to follow the stream for most of the day before she dared to rest. She finally stopped in the late afternoon, her body actually hot from travel, and stripped off her disgusting clothes and thoroughly rinsed them in the cold water. She scrubbed her long hair and used sand from the bank to scrub the dried blood from her body. She then continued on naked, her wet clothes and moccasins tucked under her arms.

  Totally exhausted, she finally spotted a high rock outcropping that looked like it would have a good view of the valley in both directions. She hiked up to it and sat down behind some cover, breathing heavily from the climb. When she had regained her breath, she surveyed the valley, looking closely back up the length of it for any sign of the creatures. She looked carefully, but the only movement seemed to come from the sunlight reflecting on the water and a light breeze moving through the trees. The sun was still high and she basked in its rays, careful to remain hidden and grateful to be warm. She laid her clothes on a large, smooth rock to let them finish drying and looked back down the valley.

  An eagle cried somewhere overhead. Maria saw a rabbit bolt from the underbrush. She watched as the eagle swooped and dove toward the small animal. The bird hurled itself at the ground, miraculously slowing just before impact, and snatched the rabbit in its giant claws, breaking its back in the process.

  The bird landed for a moment and then flapped its wings powerfully and climbed back into the air with the fresh kill hanging from its claws. It screeched triumphantly as it gained altitude. The eagle circled once, as if it had discovered Maria spying on him, and headed off somewhere further down the valley.

  Maria sat wondering what she should do. She knew her only real hope of survival was to reconnect with her tribe, but she was unsure how to do so. She had no idea where she was, no idea at the moment how to find them, and she was terrified to move. After a while, she curled up on the ground, still quite naked, and began to cry. It was the first time she could remember doing so since she was a young child.

CHAPTER 13

REVELATION

Za’at pushed the hunters along as hard as he dared. He knew if he forced them to go much faster, they might rebel, but more than that, he needed to make sure he carried a pace that they could maintain for the entire trip. Now that they were on their way, Za’at was ready to be home. He was looking forward to seeing his mate and anxious to face the Elders and be done with whatever repercussions he might have to endure as a result of his disastrous hunt.

  If I must die, then I must die,
he thought, as he trudged along.
But Baa had better not be anywhere near me if the Elders render such a verdict—for he shall go with me
. He glanced back at the hunters following him with their heavy loads and spotted Baa, struggling with the others to maintain Za’at’s fearsome pace.

  Death was not nearly as terrifying to Za’at as the idea of banishment from the clan. Banishment was the sentence that all of the Arzats feared most—the ultimate disgrace. With execution, the victim’s body would still be burned so he might have a chance at the afterlife. With banishment, an Arzat was doomed to roam the wilderness until death finally claimed him anyway.
I might even live for quite some time,
Za’at thought,
but what is life without other Arzats?
What is death without fire?
The thought of being torn apart by scavengers was enough to make him shiver.

  Certainly, there were other clans, but no male Arzat—so far as Za’at knew—had ever been accepted into one of them. The Elders sometimes arranged trades for attractive young females with exceptionally strong bloodlines, but—particularly for males—banishment meant banishment and was honored universally.
I will kill myself if that happens,
he thought, resolving again to kill Baa either way.

  The hunters had just reached a rise. There was a clear view from every direction. It was a good place to rest.

  “We will stop here for a short while,” Za’at commanded, suddenly in no hurry to return.

  The hunters gratefully set down their loads in some clean grass and squatted, drinking sparingly from the water sacks they carried. They were silent, trying to recover from the pace of travel, and afraid to say anything that might spark Za’at into another rage.

  Baa stayed far away from Za’at, careful not to look anywhere in his direction. From the corner of his eye, he could see the big Arzat staring at him.

  During the trip, apart from planning Baa’s demise and mulling over the prospects of his own, Za’at had spent a good deal of time trying to figure out how the female smooth-skin could have possibly escaped.  It was most perplexing. The Arzats’ sense of smell was so acute that at least one of them should have been able to regain her scent somewhere. That, or they would surely have found her drowned body somewhere in the water downstream. Neither of those things had occurred. How could she have remained alive and still been missed?

  He eyeballed the rest of the hunters suspiciously, especially Baa, sure that they had conspired against him to fail in the search for her.
The Elders will blame me for Ack’s death,
he thought. They will blame me for attacking the
umans
instead of pursuing better prey. Now, most of all, they will blame me for allowing the female to escape when she could be hanging on one of the long poles instead.

  “So, none of you could detect any sign of her?” Za’at said suddenly and aloud, his anger boiling again. “None of you?”

  The six Arzats warily glanced in Za’at’s direction, sure he was about to attack any one of them and bracing themselves inwardly for that possibility. No one said a word, and none made direct eye contact.

  Finally, after a long, uncomfortable silence, Mek spoke up. “When the female disappeared into the water, I completely lost her scent. The only other time after that was in the
umans’
camp. I thought for a moment I caught a whiff of her, but I am sure that was from before.”

  “When was that?” Za’at asked, suddenly interested in what Mek had to say.

  “When you called us back,” he replied. “But the stench was so strong from the
umans . . .
I just assumed . . .”

  Za’at was suddenly on his feet, blood rushing to his head.

  Of course, that was the only explanation. The female had doubled back and had used the scent of her dead companions as cover. She must have been right under their noses the entire time! They were crafty all right, these
umans
, just as the rumors about them had suggested.

  “I am going back,” he announced immediately. “Baa, you are in charge until I return. I expect that by the time I catch back up to you, you will almost be to the caves. See to it, or I will personally disembowel you myself, Baa. Is that clear?”

  Za’at looked each of the hunters in the eyes and sent a silent warning that they had better cooperate or they would all join Baa in the afterlife upon his return, regardless of what the Elders might have to say about Za’at himself. He pulled the strap of his scabbard over his back and fingered his killing stick. The hunters were still squatting, afraid to move.

  “Well, what are you waiting for?” he demanded.

  The Arzats remained silent. For a moment, Za’at thought they might have all decided to revolt. Instinctively, he began to pull his killing stick loose from its scabbard and prepared to do battle.
Kill Baa first,
he thought . . .

  Then, he noticed that each of the Arzats had a hand to the ground. They were listening intently to something and paying no attention to him whatsoever.

  Suddenly, even through his feet, Za’at began to feel movement. He dropped immediately to a squat and prepared for the worst. Nothing about this trip had gone well. It would be just like the Great Creator to wipe him and all of the rest of the hunters from the face of the earth for their poor efforts. He continued to squat and wait.

  The Arzats were all accustomed to earthquakes. When they happened in the caves, they were particularly frightening. Most of them, fortunately, were weak and lasted only a moment.

  The earth heaved once, throwing Za’at and several hunters off balance. Then it stopped just as suddenly. Not until the vibrations had completely ceased did the Arzats—as a group—finally exhale.

  Za’at could feel all of the hunter’s eyes on him. He knew they would consider the earthquake just another bad omen. He needed to get them moving. He stood and clamped his hand over his scabbard. “Well?” he asked again, as if nothing had happened. “Get moving!”

  The hunter’s jumped up, shouldered their heavy loads of
uman
meat, and began walking.

  Za’at watched as they trudged off in the direction of the caves until he could see them no more. Satisfied, he turned, and headed back toward the
umans’
camp at a swift trot that he could maintain for an entire
het
if necessary. He thought about the earthquake and realized that it might have saved him from his rebellious hunters. Yes, perhaps the Great Creator is with me on this endeavor after all.

  He looked to the sky and judged that Qu’aa was still high enough for him to get back to the
umans’
camp well before nightfall
. I will find this little female smooth-skin,
he thought,
and bring her to the caves as my personal prize! But first, I shall force her to show me the uman trick of conjuring fire. Then Za’at, son of the Great Hunter Qua, will show the Elders and all of the other Arzats how fire can be made from nothing!

  He smiled inwardly and quickened his pace.