Visions (18 page)

Hidaig leaned back against a tree, and Kretan squatted on the ground beside him. Maki remained in front of them, sprawled out on his stomach, chin on hands to watch the valley. For a while, there was nothing to see. Baela had gone inside the house, and it was quiet outside. Sunlight warmed his face, eyelids fluttered, closed. He even dozed.

The clattering and shouting jolted him wide-awake. He watched the vehicles pull up to the house, bristling with weapons and full of Hinchai males. He turned and looked at Hidaig, who smiled back smugly.

“If we had attacked a few minutes ago, you see what a nice welcome we would have had? It is a good thing to be patient, and if my guess is right we will soon have no opposition to worry about.”

In seconds Pegre came out of the house with a weapon, and all the Hinchai males got back into their vehicles. They drove away quickly, and Pegre’s mate went back into the house, closing the door behind her, but in the next few minutes the Tenanken of Maki’s band came one-by-one out of the longer building and walked over to the house, disappearing inside. Maki looked at Hidaig expectantly.

“Not yet. We want the vehicles far away before we do anything; all those weapons could destroy us in minutes. We can wait. I count five males who can give us any kind of fight, and they might even decide to join us. It’s the females we want, anyway. Patience, Maki. I’m sure that’s a hunting party we saw; they won’t be back before dark, and we’ll be far from here by then.”

They waited.

The day grew warmer. Tenanken went back and forth between the house and long building. A few wandered around the fields and visited a wider, higher building some two hundred paces from the house. The structure was unfinished in places, connected to a fenced-in area used to keep animals, though there were none there, now, and the wood was not painted in colors like the other buildings. By early afternoon most of the Tenanken had retired to the long building to sleep, for the heat had become intense, and was a new experience for them. Pegre’s mate appeared a couple of times, hanging clothes and bedding on a line behind the house, but otherwise it was quiet.

“It is time,” said Hidaig, and Kretan and Maki were immediately on their feet, the rest following more slowly. “Form two lines, equal in numbers,” Hidaig ordered, and the warriors scrambled to obey. “I will lead this group, and attack the house. Kretan, you take the others and occupy the long building. All Tenanken males can choose to join us, or die. Take the females alive if you can, but kill any Hanken in the group. I will not tolerate them in my band. Maki, you go with Kretan and show us you can conduct yourself like a warrior. Your ambition may yet be fulfilled. Are there any questions?”

There were none.

“Move quickly and boldly, and none of us should be hurt. Now move!”

They moved out in a line down the ridge, descending quickly until they reached grass, and the line became two, snaking towards the house and long building.

* * * * * * *

During the morning the canyon breathed in, sucking streams of air from the valley to the headwall to fan the glowing embers until a root smoldered. Only a stick or two remained from Tel’s scattered signal fire, but new life was added with dried pine needles, twigs and cones, and now the root. For hours it had smoldered, growing hotter with each tiny gust of wind, tendrils of smoke appearing and disappearing, and then there was a tiny flame igniting more pine needles and a cone. The flame grew hungrily, dancing in the wind and reaching out for food, a joyful light in the gloom beneath the trees. A squirrel came by and stood on its tail in surprise at the sight of the flame, staring at it with black eyes. The flame frolicked before the squirrel with a surge of new life, whipping close so that the animal blinked its eyes at the wave of sudden heat and darted away through the trees, heading instinctively towards the open valley below. The squirrel had seen fire before, and knew what it could do. To stay in the canyon was to die, and so it fled.

The single flame grew to a vortex of fire, heating the air around it. The velvet mat of pine needles began to smoke, and beetles burrowed frantically to escape the heat. Around the vortex a firestorm grew, swirling and leaping until suddenly the canyon floor exploded in flame reaching upwards for closely packed trees, and in seconds the canyon was a living hell of fire sweeping towards the headwall.

For two hours the flames consumed everything in the canyon, even the wretched bodies of dead Tenanken and two hapless deer that had been late to rise that morning. Flames reached far above the canyon rim, sending a column of smoke two miles into the sky, hot air rising so quickly that a miniature cumulonimbus cloud formed right over the area and gave birth to light rain which cooled the canyon when there was nothing left to burn.

By that time, many people had died in the valley below.

FIRE

“You sure are grim this mornin’,” said Jake. “You mad at me for somethin’?”

The concern in his friend’s voice shook Pete from his reverie, chin in hand, staring out at passing trees. “Daydreaming, Jake,” he said, reaching over to put at hand on the man’s shoulder. “You drive, and I daydream. I’m not in favor of this search party, you know. I’ve got a nasty feeling about it.”

Jake smiled. “I’ve got a feeling about it too, Pete, but it ain’t bad. I think this is the day we’re gonna find those suckers, and I’m gonna get another shot at the son-of-a-bitch who tried to kill me. Remember when y’all thought I was nuts talkin’ about the critters? Now here we are chasin’ them. I think it’s great.”

Pete patted the bony shoulder affectionately. “You were right, Jake. You knew before any of us, but when you haven’t seen those guys it’s a little hard to believe.”

“Yeah, and I was drinkin’ a lot then. Thought they was some kind of monsters ’cause I never saw wild white people before. What do I know?”

The men ahead of them had turned off onto a side road, and Jake slowed to make the turn. “Didn’t see Diana this mornin’,” he said.

“Wasn’t up, yet. Only one of the kids got up early. They were all tired last night.”

“Pretty girl. What’s her last name?”

Pete thought fast. “Galleos, I think. She’s distant family; hard to keep up on all the names. Yeah, I saw you talkin’ to her.”

“Only speaks a few words of English, but we seemed to get along okay, and that smile of hers can just about knock a man down. You mind if I call on her sometime?”

“That’s between you and Diana, Jake. Good luck.”

It was the first time Pete had seen Jake really grin since before Ester had left him.

The road ended at the little creek meandering through the valley, a rushing torrent in spring now barely a trickle. The men piled out, weapons clacking as they were checked and loaded. Pete figured there were fifty guns among the group, and every man a good shot. No matter, because by now Hidaig had surely moved in on the cave to find only a few old ones with Tel and Anka, taking what little there was to take and leaving. He would not be so foolish to risk a confrontation with the firepower of the entire town. He would leave the area right away, and likely head south. But somehow it seemed he was near, a kind of malevolent spirit hovering over Pete and his friends, threatening them. The feeling had nagged at Pete since early morning, and now the nagging was urgent, forming a little cramp in his stomach, a fluttering pain that would not go away.

Jake pulled his knapsack out of the back of the wagon, opened it, tipped it so Pete could look inside. Nestled beside a canteen and food bag were several half-sticks of fused dynamite. “Heavy artillery,” said Jake. “Those critters get near me I blow them to kingdom come.” He closed up the sack and slung it over his back while Pete held his rifle. They followed the ragged line of men to the creek where Zeke and his big dogs were already working the opposite embankment, and it was only a few minutes later when the animals huffed and whooped, dragging their master off through the trees, the rest of the group charging through cold water after them.

To Pete, the trail was clear, a line of heel marks on pine needle-covered ground. There were some with him who also saw the signs, experienced hunters with prey instincts approaching that of The Mind Touch, and at times Pete wondered if in fact it was also a Hinchai gift, neglected and unused over the long centuries. Did they feel his own apprehension at this moment; did they feel a strange warning of immediate danger that squeezed their intestines and made their throats tighten?

They charged up the hill, all men excited by the baying of the dogs, slipping and sliding on soft earth and grasping at roots to pull themselves upwards near the summit, where they stood panting and sweating.

They were at the headwall of the canyon.

Pete looked over to the side, and gulped. The brush covering the entrance to Anka’s caverns was pushed aside, the black maw of the opening now clearly visible. For the moment, they were moving away from it. The dogs had found something beyond the canyon rim, and were howling excitedly. The men stumbled after them to a clearing by large granite boulders, where they found scraps of corncob and what looked like jerky, which the dogs greedily snapped up.

“Okay,” said Zeke, “it looks like they bedded down here. Grass is bent, garbage all over the place. You know, it’s just a little ways over to where we found Tom. Shit, they was probably here watchin’ us, ’cause we followed the canyon back just below this spot.”

Another man yelled from nearby, and they drifted over to look at the big splash of blood he’d found on the ground. A line of red trailed from one puddle to a second, smaller one at a spot where the pine needles were scraped away to show dirt. All of them shuddered. Someone or something had died in agony here, tearing up the ground. Ned hunkered down, and touched the blood. “Pretty old, I’d guess. Probably a dog or a deer.”

“Yeah? Is that what Tom was?” asked Jake.

“Let’s get on with it,” said Ned.

“But where to?” asked Zeke. “Scent’s so strong here the dogs don’t want to leave. Besides, it’s noon, and I’m tired from draggin’ two hundred pounds of dog. Let’s eat.”

No opposition. They sat down in the clearing, and ate the lunches they’d brought along, and for a while Pete thought they might go back the way they had come, leaving the caverns undiscovered. But it was Ned, munching bread and strolling along the canyon rim, who first saw the man-sized hole in the wall and let out a whoop that scared them silly.

Pete thought fast, and moved faster. While the others went to Ned, he angled off in the other direction, crossing the canyon at the edge of the headwall and climbing around the rock where the nest of the great hunting bird now lay empty. They hadn’t seen him yet when he found the crack leading down to the long shelf by the cavern entrance; he raised a foot to step into it, but stopped when there was a sound behind him.

He turned, and found Jake grinning at him from a meter away.

“Right behind you, buddy. Didn’t think you were goin’ in there alone, did ya?”

The best answer was no answer. Pete slung his rifle across his back and descended the crack looking forward, swallowing hard again at the sight of the canyon floor over forty meters below. Jake scrambled happily behind him like a skinny lizard until they stood on the shelf, breathing hard, and not from the effort. “Aren’t you gettin’ a bit old for this?” asked Pete

“Speak for yourself,” said Jake, pleased with himself. The others saw them, then, and hollered.

“Hey, what’re
you
doin over there!” shouted Ned.

“Sneakin’ up on ’em,” said Jake sarcastically.

Everyone got the meaning, and shut up while they edged their way along the shelf, Jake right at Pete’s back.

“You think anyone’s in there now?” asked Jake.

“I doubt it. You have a light?”

“Nope.”

“Never mind. I got a candle here,” said Pete, and Jake looked at him curiously.

They stepped up to the entrance, and listened. There was a faint moaning sound coming from the blackness. “Big cave,” said Jake. “I can hear it breathin’.”

From their left came the sounds of rifle actions working. “Jeezus, don’t anyone get trigger-happy and shoot the first thing that moves over here,” yelled Pete. He unslung his rifle, pointed it at the blackness, handed the candle to Jake. “Light it for me. Here’s a match.”

Jake lit the candle, handed it to him. They stepped inside, a soft glow spreading ahead of them, the moaning suddenly loud in their ears. Pete moved the flickering candle to the right, then quickly back again in surprise. Maki’s sleeping furs were still there.

“You see that? Someone’s been sleepin’ here, all right.” Jake pressed so close one shoulder was digging into Pete’s back. “Sound’s comin’ from the left. The real cave must be down that tunnel.” He pushed Pete in that direction, sniffing the air. “You smell the wood smoke?”

“Yes,” said Pete, and he snicked back the hammer of his rifle. The tunnel seemed forever until they finally reached the main cavern in darkness except for the faint glow of light that Pete played around on the walls, past burned out fire-rings and torches, scattered pieces of garbage left carelessly on the floor. Pete lit a torch, handed the candle to Jake.

“This is it,” said Jake. “This is where they lived; I remember the stink of their hair, and it’s here. God, Pete, this is close to your place. All the time they was right at your back door. We’d better get goin’.”

Pete didn’t answer, didn’t seem to hear. The light continued to move around the immense cavern, darting in and out of fumaroles and tunnels, pausing at a fire ring, moving on, stopping for a long pause at what looked like a streak of blood on a rock, then flickering out.

“Hey!” shouted Jake, grabbing onto Pete’s belt.

Pete shushed him. “Listen for a minute,” he said.

Jake hung on, listening, but all he heard was Pete’s breathing growing slower and shallower, until it seemed he wasn’t breathing at all. His own heart was pounding, the darkness closing in, suffocating him. His fingers twisted Pete’s belt, and then suddenly a match scratched and the light was on again, a blessed glow of relief.

“Okay, they’re not here now, but they were here. I want to get back to my place, Jake, and right now.”

“Yep, especially with the women down there. Right behind you, Pete.” Something had changed in the big man’s voice, thought Jake. It was deep, soft, without emotion.

They retraced their steps, Jake taking a deep breath when they stepped out into sunlight again.

“What’d you see?” shouted Ned, the others lowering their rifles.

“It’s a big cave, and people been livin’ in it, all right. Empty, now,” said Jake. Pete moved along the shelf again, following the canyon towards the valley, Jake right behind him. The big man said nothing. Didn’t even look back.

“Hey, where you goin’?” shouted Ned.

“Back to Pete’s place. It’s awful close, Ned, and he’s worried about his people.”

“I’m beginnin’ to think those guys have left the area by now, but we’re gonna backtrack and see if we can pick up another trail. Four hours or so, and we’ll meet you down there.”

“Okay,” said Jake. “See you then.” Ned and the others were already moving up towards the canyon headwall while Pete was charging off in the other direction without a word, big feet picking along the narrow shelf like the hooves of a mountain goat. He stopped once to sniff the air, looked back briefly, then charged on.

“I’m comin’,” shouted Jake. He put one reassuring hand on the rock wall and shuffled cautiously along the foot-wide path hanging above certain death by seventy meters.

Quite suddenly, there was an odor of wood smoke. Strong. Blowing up the canyon. Jake looked down at the valley, and Pete’s house. No smoke coming from the chimney. An instant later, he felt a warm breeze on his face, surprising him because all morning there had been a chill in the air. The odor of smoke was continuous, now, and below him at the edge of his vision he thought he saw light and movement, but his path was so precarious he didn’t dare lose concentration on the placement of his feet. Even when wisps of smoke curled over his boots, he watched only the shelf and moved carefully ahead, beginning to sweat, and below him there seemed to be a rushing wind.
Never mind. Watch your feet, and stay alive.

And his world exploded in a hell of flame.

A low whooshing sound filled his ears as the blast of heat seared one side of his face, and instantly he was pressed to the wall by towering flames reaching up for him from the canyon floor. Wind generated by the fire buffeted him on his narrow perch so that he turned to get both hands on the rock with his pack-covered back towards the flames. He heard Pete yelling something he didn’t understand, and shouting from somewhere up the canyon was nearly drowned out by the roar of the fire as he crab-walked the shelf one agonizing step at a time, feeling the heat now in his boots and legs and butt. Hotter and hotter. He smelled singed hair, and something sharper, and knew he had begun to smolder. Any instant now he would burst into flame like a match, eyes burning and pain making him reach for his face, letting go of the rock and losing his balance to topple into the inferno below him. Exit Jake Price.

No. He crabbed faster, grunting, seeing only his feet, sweat pouring into his eyes to blur his vision. Pete yelled again, and this time the voice seemed near.

“It’s movin’ up the canyon, Jake! A little further, and you’ve got it. Come on, a few more steps!”

Now his chest hurt, and he was coughing, and for one heart-stopping instant his right hand slipped off the wall, twirling him backwards to a new blast of heat that nearly blew him from the shelf before his left hand, wedged in a crack, snapped him back again like a recoiling spring.

“Come on, Jake. A couple more. Here, grab my hand!”

Jake saw a blur that was his feet, and crabbed again. Strong arms grabbed him, and there was the odor of garlic.

“Christ, you’re eyes are watering hard. Here, sit down, and we’ll clean ’em out.”

“You guys all right over there?”

“Yeah, but it was close. Fire started right below us when we were comin’ down. Jake was in the middle of it.”

A cloth was pressed into Jake’s hand, and he wiped his eyes clean. The smell of singed hair was strong, now. His hair.

“Look at that thing go!” yelled Ned. “It’s gonna clean out the whole canyon!”

“I’ve got to get Jake to my place! Nothing serious, but we should take care of some burns.”

“We’ll go down from this side, and meet you there,” said Ned.

Jake opened his eyes. Vision was clear, and Pete’s square face was right in front of him. Across the canyon Ned and the others were disappearing into the trees, headed down towards the valley. When he turned, the skin on the back of his neck hurt like hell, and he saw a wall of flame near the headwall of the canyon, moving away from them like a wave surging against a shore. “Am I burned bad?” he asked.

“Don’t see any blisters coming, but the hair’s gone back there, and the skin’s red. Pretty lucky, Jake. If we’d been comin’
towards
the fire when it started, we’d both be cinders now. It started right below you; must have been smoldering for a long time to blow like that.”