Koban (70 page)

They had avoided some of the flying debris, but not all. The
blood flow from small wounds caused by rock shards was already shutting down. One
warrior even ignored a three-inch long slender rock extending from his back, inaccessible
to him a foot below his left shoulder.

Pitda had been bounced into the air briefly as the hillside over
the cave expanded and settled, but he remained alert a hundred feet up the slope,
watching everywhere for human targets. His head was pivoting around constantly.

He made no move to help the two novices removing rocks, Tindak,
if trapped or killed inside was simply a sacrifice to Kimbo’s relentless attack
style. The two digging were not trying to find or save their clan mate, they were
pursuing the enemy that might be alive inside.

Tyroldor had lifted the shuttle immediately when the explosion
came, and he was now circling over the area at low altitude around the column of
dust that was rising into the clouded sky. He was seeking secondary dust eruptions
that would indicate where the pressure in the cave found an outlet. That could be
where the enemy might also appear.

There were no other dust plumes, and when he tried to contact
Tindak, he received no reply. With barely an instant to think about it, he ordered
the other three warriors to return to the shuttle, and he landed nearby. If humans
were inside, they were either dead or trapped. If his warrior was dead, he didn’t
want that confirmed by having the rubble removed. That would bring the hunt to a
humiliating early halt.

It was possible this had been a trap, or a human suicide to deny
his warriors the glory of the kills they deserved. Telour said the humans were intelligent,
but he had not told them they had given them explosives. That had to be truth or
Graka clan would lose considerable status for cheating on a minor combat demonstration.

The humans of course were free to add to their fighting capability
as they could, just as his octet was free to respond in kind. The humans apparently
had done so with explosives, leaving Graka clan with clean hands. His team did not
need explosives in this sort of hunt and he had but a single day to finish the mission.
He would allow no wasted time to negotiate for matching explosives. He wondered
what other tricks the humans brought to the game, that Telour was under no obligation
to mention.

The status points for humans found in the cave, dead or alive,
would be awarded to the octet. Live animals discovered later could be killed because
the novice’s “sacrifice” had trapped them by sealing them inside.

Finding and killing the remainder of the humans was a greater
priority, and they could return to check this hole later. If it had only been an
empty trap and all sixteen humans were found and killed elsewhere, they certainly
didn’t need Tindak’s body.

His three warriors had just returned to the shuttle, when he
received a report from the three that went into the marshes. He anticipated confirmation
of three kills because that was a very poor defensive location for the humans to
choose. They clearly had intended to hide there, and probably gave themselves away
with a panic shot at his warriors when they passed near.

He was pleased when the novice reported that all three humans
were dead. However, the report came from Sitdok, not Stokol. He was lower status
than was the warrior he placed in charge. The driver should have made the report,
and would never voluntarily yield the honor of reporting the kills to his leader.
Tyroldor sensed yet another problem.

Telour was certainly listening to their transmissions and watching
from the dome, so he had to be certain an inexperienced novice did not report what
the leader was not going to ask. To be forced to admit later that he knew of a loss
to the octet. He would have failed this test for his clan.

Tyroldor phrased his next instructions carefully, using the Imperative
mode of address that tolerated no question of the superior giving the order. It
was used to send warriors to probable death for clan advantage or honor, when they
were not permitted to submit to a superior force. Warriors with breeder level status
were assured that their frozen seed would spawn a new generation bearing their genes.
A novice simple sacrificed their blood.

“For the Path and clan, submerge all of the dead in the marsh
muck for the worms to eat and leave no trace. Return to the transport and go to
the edge of the jungle where the shuttle will join you. We will hunt together.”

“I salute our clan.” was the reply. The only sort honor allowed.

Pitda had joined him in the cockpit, and was fingering a shard
of bloody rock he had casually pulled from the back of a novice in passing. He deserved
an explanation since his high status and honor were equally on the line if this
hunt blew up in their faces.

“The hunt ends if humans kill any of our warriors, but it ends
only if I confirm that a death has happened. It is an honor agreement formed with
humans for a reason I do not understand. But this has been agreed to by the leaders
of the Clans controlling Koban.”

Pitda now understood why Tyroldor had stopped the dig for human
survivors in the cave. “Tindak must face them alone in the dark. He will kill them
all.” Confirming that he understood why his leader could not allow a probable dead
warrior to be found in the rubble.

“The Path demands more of our warriors in the marsh?” Pitda asked,
proving he had heard the instructions.

“The
second
in status of those warriors reported that
all three humans were dead.” He knew Pitda fully understood what that implied in
the chain of command, and he had also heard the instructions given to them.

Ignorance is bliss was a human term for this quandary, not that
anyone had asked one.

Kimbo’s honor demanded they complete the hunt, and to prove they
deserved a place alongside the Great Clans in the coming war. Humans might prove
to be the worthy foe the Path had needed them to find after so many years, despite
their puny appearance.

They lifted to fly towards the jungle to hunt there.

****

Sitdok, now the senior in status at the marsh, instructed Motgar
to help him submerge the four bodies in the pits where the humans had hidden. “Tyroldor
has ordered this for the Path and our clan.”

Motgar had to listen carefully. Her only good ears were on the
left side of her now scarred head, and she had reduced hearing in those because
of two nearby explosions.

She had largely been below and to the side of the blast that
had sent small pellets by the side of her upraised head, tearing through her right
ears. They passed over her prone body as they cut down the marsh grass around her.
Almost over, she amended mentally, because the ones that didn’t
quite
miss
she had extracted from her posterior with a few talon picks afterwards. The particles
were almost as small as the tip of a talon, and she saved them for debriefing.

It was the second explosion that had knocked her down and caused
deeper damage on that same side. She wasn’t sure if natural regeneration would restore
her hearing on that side, though the ears themselves would surely regrow. The deeper
punctures would heal at the surface, and her body should eventually push out the
painful fragments. If not she would need to endure their being cut out. It didn’t
feel like any organs had been seriously damaged, or at least enough to impair her
ability to fight for the rest of the day.

The two of them were halfway back to the truck when Sitdok heard
splashing behind them at the three pits. The eels they had seen when charging the
humans were probably fighting each other for larger shares.

Replenishing their ammunition from the cases in the transport,
Sitdok drove them towards the jungle, while Motgar, whose nose was undamaged, checked
the air for fresh human scent while riding in back.

****

In the dome, Jake repeated what the warrior in the marshland
had reported. Then the orders they received from the octet leader.

Maggi was confused. “Thad, we’re new here. Explain this to me.
The leader hasn’t acknowledged a loss of a warrior in the cave, but Jake heard him
radio to a warrior that never answered. Then he called three warriors by name to
return to the shuttle. Therefore, if there are four in the shuttle and three in
the marsh, one is missing. I thought they were honor bound to halt a hunt if we
killed one of them.”

“I may have outsmarted myself at the cave Maggi. I assumed they
would dig out any warrior that tripped the explosion. I’m afraid I made it possible
for them to pretend they don’t know he’s dead, if they won’t actually look under
the rocks.”

Noreen asked, “What do you make of the exchange between the leader
and the three in the marsh? They said they killed the three people there, but what
he ordered them to do after that seemed odd to me. Why hide the bodies? I thought
they left bodies where they fell unless they wanted a trophy to bring back?”

“Noreen, I’ve never been able to listen in on them before, and
I sure don’t know their customs. But our immediate problem is that they have abandoned
the ridge area, where we wanted them. All of them are headed for the jungle. If
I warn the people there it will confirm that someone is actually there, since that’s
the only target at the moment.”

Maggi was torn. “I hate to trade Tet and Dillon’s group for the
folks in the Jungle, but we need to draw them back, make them think someone is on
the ridge to fight. Tet has a lot of traps set but the rats all went somewhere else.”

“Perhaps we can get them back by setting off a couple of explosives,”
Noreen suggested.

Thad thought for a moment. “We want them
all
to go to
the ridge to ease the risk to our people in the jungle. That means we have to wait
for them all to join up as the leader ordered.”

Maggi noticed Thad’s use of “our people,” for those in the
Jungle. Something he had not been saying since they first met him. He had blamed
all of the Primes for the loss of his friends.

Intending to get a rendezvous time from Jake, Thad asked aloud,
“All of us here want to know how long before the three Krall in the truck will meet
with the shuttle near the jungle.”

This was Thad’s first attempt to ask a question that would include
everyone with him in on the answer. He was tired of having to repeat things. As
usual with the literal AI, they heard more than they expected, but not more than
they needed.

“Yes Sir. The shuttle could arrive near the edge of the woods
by the dirt road in four minutes if that is where they will meet. The area normally
defined as jungle is several miles deeper in from where the first trees start. I
must ask you to clarify where the truck is with three Krall in it. I can only detect
one truck with two Krall present, and it appears it will reach the woods in eight
minutes and twenty seconds at its pr…”

“How many Krall did you say?” interrupted Noreen. She was more
familiar with the AI’s precision and long answers.

“There are two Krall in the truck leaving the marshland, I do
not detect another…” he was interrupted again.

“Damn!” Thad swore, cutting the reply off. “They left a warrior
behind at the marsh. One that’s probably dead. If injured the other two could carry
a wounded warrior with them. The leader told them ‘for the Path and clan,’ which
sounds somewhat patriotic, like we might say ‘for God and Planet,’ to invoke a sense
of duty to our soldiers. He told them to shove the dead into muck and leave no trace.”

“Thad, you’re saying they’re cheating?” asked Maggi. “I thought
they had a bizarre honor code that prevented their doing that when they have an
agreement.”

“This ass wipe is skirting that code! He can deny that he knew
of any deaths of his warriors based on what he has allowed to be seen or broadcast.
Nothing fixes a partial failure better than a final victory. He isn’t going to leave
anyone alive out there if he can find them. The only way we’ve ever had survivors
is when they called off a hunt. They’ll cover the entire area before the day is
over, even if they hunt all night.”

Noreen had an idea. “Can we talk to Telour? Tell him warriors
are dead?”

Maggi, more adept at politics than Noreen shook her head. “No.
He’ll wait to prove the deaths after the hunt is complete. He doesn’t care about
the humans, only that his own plan to improve our fighting skills is working. That
will look just as successful no matter when it’s discovered we managed to kill one
or two Krall.

“Besides,” she reminded them. “We don’t want Telour to know exactly
how we know what’s going on out there, listening to and understanding their radio
calls. We are helping our people from here, which for all I know is a violation
of some other damned honor code.”

“Here’s a long shot we can try. Tet also gave us control of the
remote actuators, so I propose we trigger a few in places where the Krall apparently
aren’t going to go anyway. The top of the ridge has some mortars we were saving
to draw warriors from the valley to the ridge. The claymores up there were also
just to catch them as they took likely routes
down
to search the terrace
caves.”

“Won’t Tet’s team wonder what’s going on when we do that?”

“Maggi, they will figure we are drawing the Krall to the ridge.
As we were prepared to do,”

“I think the greater risk,” he added, “is of the Krall leader
suspecting a trap. We surprised them in the valley, and that shot Gladys made that
accidentally drew them into the marsh might seem like another lure, particularly
if we bloodied their maws with weapons they hadn’t expected.”

Noreen had her own mind made up. “Well, it’s what Tet and Dillon
planned for, and I
know
what their decision would be if they thought they
could save the people in the jungle.”