The Tattooed Tribes (21 page)

Sometimes they
were forced to go further inland than they felt comfortable doing
and a couple of times it got them lost and they found they had been
going round in circles in the darkness.

Lucien managed
to fall in the river twice, Vlic once, and several times they had
to chance wading out into the fast moving stream to get around some
obstruction.

It was
demanding work and they both knew in their heart of hearts, it
might not have been the cleverest move, but neither of them was
going to admit it. Plus, returning without a good reason for going
in the first place was likely to produce some unpleasant
consequences for both of them.

Lucien seemed
to accept this much the same way he accepted the rise of the sun
every morning, but Vlic had been brought up differently and upon
reflection, he was becoming uneasy about how far female permission
would sway his father.

Every now and
then this thought made him go quiet and thoughtful.

Lucien was
salving whatever small qualms of conscience he had by telling
himself Jon had not actually forbidden him to go sneaking off in
the night. Whatever he possessed by way of a guardian angel gave up
at this point and handed in his harp and halo.

Towards
morning they stopped and slept for an hour or so until the dawn
chorus woke them up and day light made the doubts of the night seem
trivial. They ate a cold breakfast on the move and made their way
back to where the sluggish stream left the main river and began
meandering back into the hills.

Vlic pulled a
long face when he saw the abundance of reeds, but Lucien scoffed at
his concerns and headed off along the way.

But Vlic was
right, the banks were very soft and soon they were sinking deep
into thick clinging mud.

“
We’re going to have to go up,” he said,
pointing to the slope of the hill above them. “We’re never going to
be able to get through this.”

Getting away
from the clinging ooze was not as easy as they would have liked and
by the time they had struggled to firmer ground, both of them were
caked in thick black mud.

“
You stink,” Vlic remarked and just managed
to duck as a fistful of pungent mud flew at his head.

They scrambled
up into the tree line where the ground was drier, but full of roots
and shale. They slipped and slid, sending small stones and soil
tumbling down the side into the valley; anyone within earshot would
have heard the noise and known someone or something was there.

“
We’re going to have to go higher,” Vlic
said, and they struggled further up and up until they achieved firm
safe ground.

The sun
overhead was hot and sweat poured down their faces making the mud
run in rivulets, but once nearer the crest of the hill it was
cooler and they could look down at the stream through the leaf
canopy, a glittering sliver of bright green and silver twisting its
way along the valley bottom.

They made
their way along the ridge line, keeping low so as not to be
silhouetted against the sky, but always trying to keep the water in
sight.

Sometimes this
worked, but often they were again forced deep into the woods and
made to guess the right way forward.

The lie of the
land helped them. They knew down meant the valley floor, but once
they were fooled by a rain cut notch and found they had been
following nothing more than a dry course. It took an hour to
retrace their steps and get back to the correct place.

The day wore
on and they knew they would have to return to the valley bottom to
find water. Unsure of what else they might find, they took a
cautious route, slinking from bush to bush, constantly stopping to
listen for unusual noises.

When they
finally reached the edge they found the stream was still lush with
reed, but it was also passable and Lucien grinned in triumph.

He scanned the
water both up stream and down and saw something to make the
adrenaline surge through him. There were places where the reeds had
been pulled from the mud and flung to one side to make the passage
wider.

“
Told you!” he crowed.

“
You did indeed,” Vlic replied, but he
seemed distracted. Suddenly he began to hurl stones, smooth round
pebbles he had been picking up as they came down the
slope.

Lucien stared
in the direction he was attacking and saw the fluttering bodies of
several small brown birds.

“
How many did I get?” Vlic asked, sliding
over and swiftly despatching the wounded.

“
Four,” Lucien replied, gritting his teeth
to wring the neck of the last survivor.

“
Quail,” Vlic told him with a grin. “Ground
feeders and not as fast as they should be.”

Lucien
inspected the small brown speckled birds. They were pretty little
things with soft feathers and red legs. He felt a little sad
something so small should have died.

He felt the
same as they plucked them, but changed his mind when he tasted the
result cooked crisp over the fire. Vlic smiled indulgently as
Lucien followed his example and cracked the skulls open to suck out
the brain.

As dusk fell
they settled down to make up for lost sleep.

Dawn saw them
back on the ridge. They had reluctantly decided if they found no
more substantive evidence by mid-morning, they would have no choice
but to turn back. They had nothing but the pulled reeds so far, and
there was no point in adding a missed deadline to the list of
probable charges Jon and Iesgood would have lined up for them.

They continued
following the stream and soon the land began to level off and they
began to see signs of beaver engineering.

“
I think there must be a dam making this
stream slow,” Vlic said and Lucien nodded in agreement. Somewhere
not far ahead, there would be a lake and an area of open land where
beaver had harvested the trees for food and building
materials.

Half an hour
later they still had not reached it and Vlic said, “We should turn
back.”

Lucien gave
him a speculative look.

“
Okay,” Vlic replied with a sigh. “Another
hour. No more!”

Eventually,
two hours later, a broad open space spread out before them. In the
middle they saw a wide still pool reflecting the clear blue sky and
the white clouds piled up like pillows high into the
atmosphere.

The dam
blocking the stream was a couple metres high and characteristic of
long established beaver work.

From the cover
of the trees both boys looked out over the meadow. Vlic took
Lucien’s arm and pointed to a place at the very edge of the tree
line.

There was a
cabin or shed there; built close up to the tree line away from
possible flooding, and a thin column of smoke rose from a fire
somewhere close by.

Over to one
side were indistinct shapes, some sort of humps upon the land. Both
boys stared and stared through squinted eyes trying to work out
what they were.

“
I think they’re tents,” Vlic
said.

Lucien
squinted again and nodded, “I think you’re right. They do look like
tents, but I’m not sure what sort.”

Movement
caught their eye, the cabin door opened and someone, probably a
man, came out, paused, then went and disappeared into a small
lean-to attachment at one end of the cabin. From the distance it
was impossible to make him out.

Whoever it
was, he had attracted attention there, and figures were coming out
of the tents and even from a distance, it was possible to see they
were tribesmen by the way they moved.

Lucien and
Vlic did a small triumphant war dance, before dropping swiftly back
to the ground.

“
We’d better go straight back,” Vlic
whispered.

“
I want to see what tribe they are,” Lucien
replied, preparing to move off down towards the lake.

Vlic put a firm hand on his shoulder and
said, “
Neen
!”

As usual in
the face of opposition, Lucien’s jaw set and he got the mulish
look. “I’m going to have a look,” he whispered, teeth clenched.

Vlic hauled
him back down to the ground. “Listen, you fool, I really like you.
I want us to be friends, just like my dad is with Harabin, but you
sure as hell make it difficult!”

“
I …”

“
Shut up! We had permission … sort of … to
do this, but it was on condition we came back quickly.”

“
But …”

“
No buts,” Vlic said. “We don’t know how
many are down there. What if you get caught or injured or even
killed? We
need
to report
this.”

Lucien
silently did battle with his pride and his ambition. The last time
he had ignored Vlic’s advice he ended up sick. And he had made Jon
angry, topping the whole fiasco off with an act of sufficient
stupidity to earn a good hiding.

He was fairly
certain he had managed to do the second part again, which might
lead to a repeat performance of the last part, something he was not
looking forward to, but he could avoid a possible reparation of the
first part if he listened to sense.

Without a word
he turned and began retracing their steps and Vlic sighed with
relief.

Chapter
15

They made good
progress back, but it was obvious they were not going to meet their
deadline; however they were sufficiently confident of the welcome
their news would receive to think they would be forgiven for the
delay.

Confident they
were leaving danger behind, they allowed themselves a little day
dreaming; there might be a few harsh words at first, but once they
announced their discovery, they both saw themselves being spared
painful repercussions and instead responding modestly to a few
words of praise.

It was a
pleasant little fantasy and each dropped their guard to indulge it,
thinking the other was on the alert. Neither gave as much attention
to the sounds around them as they should have.

The first
indication of trouble was a small shower of shale rolling from a
point above them on the ridge.

Vlic froze and
Lucien had his rifle off his shoulder in a flash. Their eyes went
straight to the source of the sound and just for a fraction of a
second they saw something move. The saliva dried in their mouths
and sweat broke out on the palms of their hands.

“
Deer?” Lucien mouthed to Vlic, who shook
his head.

Neither of
them were inexperienced hunters and Vlic had the wisdom of
generations behind him. He indicated silence and directed Lucien to
a well grown bush a metre away. They were both still grubby from
the mud of the previous day; this and their deerskin jackets
provided them with the perfect camouflage.

Vlic moved
slowly to concealment behind another bit of growth, settling down
to become one with the landscape.

There was
another small avalanche of stones as something made its way down
the slope.

Neither boy
made a sound, their breathing slowed to a minimum to avoid even a
hint of their presence. Silently Lucien gestured to his war club,
keeping the movement small and well covered. Vlic gave a tiny nod
and his knife seemed to flow into his hand.

More stones,
more dirt and a tiny grunt of pain.

The something was
someone
.

They were
coming down the slope and were not having an easy time of it, the
ground crumbled with every step taken.

There was the tiniest hissed whisper of
‘
shit
’ as a
larger shower of gravel came tumbling down.

Lucien mouthed ‘
How many?
’ to Vlic, who lifted one finger.

For a second
Lucien wondered if it might be Jon come looking for him, but he
dismissed this as foolish. The person on the slope was making
little noise despite not being able to get a grip, but Jon would
not only have been able to walk the slope with ease, he would have
done it in total silence.

Whoever was
there finally got his balance and was making his way more
confidently. From his place of concealment Lucien saw a pair of
tribal boots and a water canteen swinging from a long strap.

He was after
water and came down to the stream to get it.

As the boots
passed, Vlic thrust out a foot and they stumbled over it, falling
headlong down towards the stream.

Instantly
Lucien was upon him, thrusting a face into the soft earth, pinning
him down and Vlic rushed to sit on the legs to stop them flailing
around.

Lucien lifted
his club to put an end to it, but Vlic grabbed his arm as it came
down.

“
It’s a woman,” he gasped.

Startled,
Lucien let the club fall; grabbed his prisoner by the hair and
yanked that face out of the muck. She gasped and spat dirt from her
mouth and then began to struggle violently.

“
Stop it!” Lucien ordered. “Move again and
I’ll brain you.”

She stopped,
but every muscle was rigid, ready for fight or flight.

“
Who the hell is she?” Vlic asked. “Is she
alone?”

“
Dunno,” Lucien said. “Is there anyone else
up there?”

She glared at
him, brown eyes wild with rage and fear, but she did not answer.
Before Vlic could stop him, Lucien yanked her head back again by
the hair and snarled.

“
Is there anyone else up there? Answer
me.”

“
No,” she spluttered. “I’m
alone.”

“
If you’re lying, I’ll ...” Lucien was not
sure what he would or could bring himself to do, so he just said,
“Hurt you in ways you’ll find imaginative.”