I have ignored you. Have you a plan?”
I hated to disappoint him. “Sorry, Sai, not yet. But stay strong and stay ready. Something will happen.”
And something did.
CHAPTER FIVE
SNEAK ATTACK!
F or about half a big moon... Now, wait. I guess I gotta explain about that first. I already said about the two moons—the big slow one and the little fast one. Well, the Aarurrh used them to tell time and keep track of the days. I picked it up just being around them.
The little moon went by so fast it lapped the big one twice a night—and twice a day too—you just couldn’t see it so well then. The Aarurrh called the time that the little guy was in the sky a crossing, and the time it was on the other side of the planet a dark, so the day was cut up into First Crossing, First Dark—sunrise to noon—Second Crossing, Second Dark—noon to sunset—Third Crossing, Third Dark—sunset to midnight—and Fourth Crossing, Fourth Dark —midnight to sunrise.
They kept track of the passing days by the quarters of the big moon, which went from full to dark to full in about twenty days by my count, so each quarter was five days long. Got it? Okay. Where was I?
Right. For about half a big moon, things had been getting tenser and tenser in the camp. Even Sai felt it. It was like somebody was winding a guitar string too tight. Any minute something was going to pop, you just didn’t know exactly when. There were high level councils around the men’s fire most nights, with the big chief and all his captains arguing long into the Fourth Crossing. Queenie and Kitten talked in hushed tones with the other females. One-Eye was crankier than ever, and more than once caught Kitten and Handsome meeting in secret and making like the last act of Romeo and Juliet . I thought he was going to kill poor Handsome, but though he whaled the tar out of him he was careful not to do any serious damage, though it sure looked like he wanted to.
Every day, raiding parties returned to camp with severed heads of Aarurrh stuck on the points of their spears. When they passed, the women howled and snarled like a wolf pack. Queenie would grin and point. “See how ugly? Disgusting. Barahir thieves. Poach our meat-birds. We make pay, hin? Ugly dung eaters.”
I guess you had to be an Aarurrh to see it. The junk jewelry they wove into their dreads was a little different, but other than that they looked just like the guys from Queenie’s tribe to me.
Ugly or not, our tribe, I mean Queenie’s tribe, the Hirrarah, had a major beef with these guys, the Barahir, and things were heating up big time. Everywhere we went in the camp I could pick out that name, “Barahir” from all the usual Aarurrh cat yowling. I noticed a lot of spear sharpening going on too. Defenses around the camp were doubled, and Queenie and Kitten were going to funerals for young Hirrarah warriors almost every night. Sai and I watched it all and started getting excited. War means chaos, and chaos is good for opportunities. Of course, when it came, it didn’t work out exactly the way I wanted it to, but that’s chaos for you.
***
It all started as just another day of hunting and gathering. Sai and I were out with Queenie’s work party about a half mile from the ravine, digging the black tubers, and also picking little sapphire-blue weeds which were in season. If you dried and crushed them, they made a sour, orange-rindy type seasoning. A hunting party had passed us on our way up to the plains, and rode off east at first light.
Sai was finally pulling his weight, and actually seemed to be getting used to the life, or at least not actively hating it. He was even interacting with Kitten a little. Not that he pretended to like her petting on him, but at least now he’d get pissed and wipe off the make-up she put on him instead of just sitting there like a lump. Kitten thought this was cute, and called him “bad baby.” Poor guy just couldn’t win.
We had armed guards with us
I hated to disappoint him. “Sorry, Sai, not yet. But stay strong and stay ready. Something will happen.”
And something did.
CHAPTER FIVE
SNEAK ATTACK!
F or about half a big moon... Now, wait. I guess I gotta explain about that first. I already said about the two moons—the big slow one and the little fast one. Well, the Aarurrh used them to tell time and keep track of the days. I picked it up just being around them.
The little moon went by so fast it lapped the big one twice a night—and twice a day too—you just couldn’t see it so well then. The Aarurrh called the time that the little guy was in the sky a crossing, and the time it was on the other side of the planet a dark, so the day was cut up into First Crossing, First Dark—sunrise to noon—Second Crossing, Second Dark—noon to sunset—Third Crossing, Third Dark—sunset to midnight—and Fourth Crossing, Fourth Dark —midnight to sunrise.
They kept track of the passing days by the quarters of the big moon, which went from full to dark to full in about twenty days by my count, so each quarter was five days long. Got it? Okay. Where was I?
Right. For about half a big moon, things had been getting tenser and tenser in the camp. Even Sai felt it. It was like somebody was winding a guitar string too tight. Any minute something was going to pop, you just didn’t know exactly when. There were high level councils around the men’s fire most nights, with the big chief and all his captains arguing long into the Fourth Crossing. Queenie and Kitten talked in hushed tones with the other females. One-Eye was crankier than ever, and more than once caught Kitten and Handsome meeting in secret and making like the last act of Romeo and Juliet . I thought he was going to kill poor Handsome, but though he whaled the tar out of him he was careful not to do any serious damage, though it sure looked like he wanted to.
Every day, raiding parties returned to camp with severed heads of Aarurrh stuck on the points of their spears. When they passed, the women howled and snarled like a wolf pack. Queenie would grin and point. “See how ugly? Disgusting. Barahir thieves. Poach our meat-birds. We make pay, hin? Ugly dung eaters.”
I guess you had to be an Aarurrh to see it. The junk jewelry they wove into their dreads was a little different, but other than that they looked just like the guys from Queenie’s tribe to me.
Ugly or not, our tribe, I mean Queenie’s tribe, the Hirrarah, had a major beef with these guys, the Barahir, and things were heating up big time. Everywhere we went in the camp I could pick out that name, “Barahir” from all the usual Aarurrh cat yowling. I noticed a lot of spear sharpening going on too. Defenses around the camp were doubled, and Queenie and Kitten were going to funerals for young Hirrarah warriors almost every night. Sai and I watched it all and started getting excited. War means chaos, and chaos is good for opportunities. Of course, when it came, it didn’t work out exactly the way I wanted it to, but that’s chaos for you.
***
It all started as just another day of hunting and gathering. Sai and I were out with Queenie’s work party about a half mile from the ravine, digging the black tubers, and also picking little sapphire-blue weeds which were in season. If you dried and crushed them, they made a sour, orange-rindy type seasoning. A hunting party had passed us on our way up to the plains, and rode off east at first light.
Sai was finally pulling his weight, and actually seemed to be getting used to the life, or at least not actively hating it. He was even interacting with Kitten a little. Not that he pretended to like her petting on him, but at least now he’d get pissed and wipe off the make-up she put on him instead of just sitting there like a lump. Kitten thought this was cute, and called him “bad baby.” Poor guy just couldn’t win.
We had armed guards with us
Similar Books
