The Usurper

8

“There!” cried Tuvo Ausonius, pointing.

A blast of fire rushed forth from the rifle of Julian, of the Aureliani, and one of the large beasts spun a dozen feet into the air, twisting, and howling, alit with fire, the darkness of the now heavily clouded night suddenly blinded with light, an incongruous instant of heat and noontide in the cold, bitter darkness.

“Another!” said Tuvo, discharging his own weapon, brought from Venitzia.

In the moment of brightness, the men had seen two of the creatures tearing at, and devouring, one of their own, struck by earlier fire.

A hundred yards away a tree burned in the night, where a charge had carried past its intended target.

“How many are there?” said Tuvo.

“Few, ten, twelve,” said Julian.

As will be understood there is, depending on several conditions, primarily the nature and abundance of game, an ideal pack count. A pack may be too small or too large. Too large a pack is hard to feed, and likely to overhunt the available game. A smaller pack needs less food. On the other hand, too small a pack may not be adequate to bring down certain large animals, such as the Tangaran hroth, the field stag, the forest bull, and certainly the Tangaran torodont, scarcely smaller than the Thalasian torodont. In times of plenty a pack waxes; in times of scarcity a pack wanes. Kinship relations commonly determine pack membership, except when game is abundant, a time which coincides, as one would expect, with the common mating season. In times of starvation, male pack members become irritable and intragroup attacks may occur, dominance competitions, and such, the result of which is cannibalism. Needless to say it is the older and weaker animals which tend, statistically, to be eliminated. Also, as would be expected, save for the mating season, packs tend to be territorial, which tends to distribute the packs, which enlarges the hunting areas for each pack.

“There!” said Julian.

“My charges are gone,” said Tuvo.

“I have two left,” said Julian.

“Each is precious,” said Tuvo.

“I think they are waiting,” said Julian.

The men stood almost back to back. Between them, kneeling in the snow, was the small, exquisite, red-haired slave, Nika.

“Burn the sled, the provisions,” said Julian.

“Is that wise?” said Tuvo.

“It is necessary,” said Julian.

“They may have no fear of fire,” said Tuvo.

“Then let them regard it with circumspection, with puzzlement, with wary curiosity,” said Julian.

Tuvo Ausonius applied the tiny camp torch to the small sled, and its freight.

Nika cried out in fear, pointing.

Two pair of eyes, intent, and gleaming, burned in the darkness.

“I see another,” said Tuvo.

“I, as well,” said Julian.

“There may be others,” said Tuvo, “farther from the fire.”

“I fear so,” said Julian.

The wolves on various worlds, for we shall call them wolves, are almost invariably related to the animals which we have been accustomed to refer to as “dogs.” Except on some of the inner worlds, where they may be bred in almost any way for almost any purpose, “dogs” tend to be territorial, dangerous animals. On the outer worlds, they are bred almost exclusively for hunting and war.

“The tracks turn,” had cried Tuvo earlier, shortly before the storm of blackness in the sky had begun to hide the pale, white moon, and the shadows of branches on the snow had fled, returned, and fled again.

This discovery informed Julian and Tuvo that, in all likelihood, the Herul sled had discharged its passenger, presumably an Otung, that he might return, presumably in stealth, to some Otung village or holding. This suggested the possibility, as well, that the imperial camp might be near, as its expedition had hoped, in its pursuit of, and support of, Captain Ottonius, to meet and deal with Otungs. In any event, it seemed clear that they had now arrived, for better or for worse, in the vicinity of Otungs, the largest and most formidable tribe of the Vandal nation. Shortly thereafter the hurrying darknesses in the sky had intermittently obscured not only the moon but the stars, this rendering more precarious and uncertain Julian’s capacity to keep to the expedition’s original course, that allegedly determined for it in Venitzia. Nonetheless, he and Ausonius had pressed on to the best of their ability, assisted by occasional glimpses of the stars, as the clouds would break, muchly in the same direction, certainly as nearly as they could determine, in which they had been moving. It was an hour or so later that the baying of the wolves had ceased.

“They are here, they are about,” had said Tuvo Ausonius.

“Do not move,” had said Julian, unslinging his rifle.

The flight of prey, of course, tends to stimulate pursuit. Too, a running animal does not defend itself. The pack tries for the hind legs, or slashes at flanks, crippling and bleeding the prey, until it slows, turns, and is set upon by the entire pack, and devoured alive. On the other hand, a wary, stationary prey is approached more tentatively, more cautiously. A blow from the paw of a hroth can break a wolf’s neck; the antlers of the field stag, the horns of the forest bull, the tusks of the torodont can shatter rib cages, impale, and disembowel wolves. The torodont is a particularly dangerous prey for a pack as it is commonly gregarious, and forms a defensive circle, with the females and young within the circle.

“I have two charges left,” said Julian.

“There are at least four about,” said Tuvo Ausonius.

“If they maintain their distance, I will not fire,” said Julian.

“Do not miss,” said Tuvo.

“I am unlikely to miss at this distance,” said Julian.

“Why do they not charge?” asked Tuvo.

“The fire, the fire, I think,” said Julian.

“It will not last, Masters,” said Nika.

“Then they will attack,” said Tuvo.

The men heard a low, rumbling growl, from somewhere beyond the flickering ring of darkness and shadows.

“That is another, another out there,” said Tuvo.

“Yes,” said Julian.

“One creeps forward,” said Tuvo.

“I see him,” said Julian.

“The trail is lost,” said Tuvo. “Provisions burn. Charges are few. Beasts abound.”

“The fire grows less, Masters!” said Nika.

“We are lost,” said Tuvo.

“I will expend one charge,” said Julian. “At this distance, I will not miss. Hopefully others will feed. We have seen that. We might then, with good fortune, withdraw.”

“To withdraw, wandering into cold and darkness, substantially defenseless, lost and facing starvation,” said Tuvo, “seems to me, dear friend, a surprising concept of good fortune.”

“Be of good cheer,” said Julian. “We might be soon set upon by Otungs or Heruls.”

“There are too many, they are too close,” said Tuvo. “Farewell, dear friend.”

Julian swung the rifle about, assessing the proximity of the beasts, and then, selecting the closest, that which Tuvo had earlier noted, which was presumably the most aggressive and most likely to suddenly hasten forward, pressed the trigger.

The beast exploded in fire and blood; the snow was melted for yards about, where it had crouched; the cold, clear night air, bright with sparks and drifting, scattered, flaming hair; was freighted, befouled, with the ugly, sweet stench of incinerated tissue.

“They do not feed!” said Tuvo. “They approach.”

“So, farewell, dear friend,” said Julian.

“Iaachus is triumphant,” said Tuvo Ausonius.

“I have one more charge,” said Julian.

“Expend it,” said Tuvo.

“It is for Nika,” said Julian.

“No, Master!” she screamed, looking into the short, wide muzzle of the rifle.

“I will not have you fed upon by ravening beasts,” said Julian. “You will not be torn to pieces, and eaten alive. I will spare you that.”

“No, Master!” she cried.

“It will be quick,” he said.

“Please, no, Master!” she cried.

His finger rested on the trigger.

At that point there was a bounding, hurtling furred shape which, rushing past, buffeted Julian about, spinning him to the snow, the rifle lost to the side. Nika screamed, and Tuvo staggered back, another, lengthy, furred, humped, crested thing bounding past, out of the darkness, in the wake of the first. “Wolves!” he cried, in dismay. “No!” cried Julian. “Dogs!” A few yards from the fire there was a whirl of tearing, snarling shadows rolling in the snow. Almost simultaneously two of the pairs of threatening eyes gleaming outside the fire ring disappeared, as the beasts turned and fled into the darkness. One may have been pulled down in the darkness, as a horrid wavering cry, clear in the cold, dry air, carried back to the glowing embers of the almost extinguished fire. Another pair of eyes suddenly gleamed in the darkness as a shape approached, a dark, crumpled shadow inert in the snow behind it. Nika cried out, and seized the sleeve of Julian, who shook her hand away. “Wolf,” whispered Tuvo. “No,” said Julian, “do not move.” The shape emerging from the darkness went, as though curious, to the remains of the beast on which Julian had recently fired, thrust its snout into the burned meat, and, a moment later, began to feed. It was joined, shortly, by its companion, and they fed together. Occasionally they lifted their blackened, bloodied snouts from the feeding and regarded Julian, Tuvo, and the slave, and then returned to their feeding.

Tuvo regarded the two nigh beasts. “Surely those are wolves,” he said.

“No,” said Julian, “dogs.”

“They are feeding,” said Tuvo, “on your kill.”

“Such things are familiar with cooked meat,” said Julian.

“I do not care how they look upon us,” said Nika.

“The margin which separates such things from their wild brethren is, I fear, narrow,” said Julian.

“We are in danger?” said Nika.

“Not now, perhaps soon,” said Julian.

“Surely they are wolves,” said Tuvo.

“No,” said Julian, “they are dogs, bred for size and ferocity, bred to hunt, bred to attack on command, bred to kill wolves.”

“Dogs?” said Tuvo.

“Yes, dogs,” said Julian, “and here, Otung dogs.”

“The wolves are gone,” said Tuvo.

“Probably not far,” said Julian. “They have probably returned, to feed on their fellows.”

“If those are Otung dogs,” said Tuvo, “then we must be in the country of the Otungs.”

“Yes,” said Julian. “We have arrived. We are now in the country of the Otungs.”

Tuvo recovered the fallen rifle and handed it to Julian. “You still have one charge not expended,” he said.

“I think we have little to fear from the wolves at present,” said Julian. “They fear the dogs, and there is enough feeding about for them. I think they will eat, and then drift away, and, in a day or two, range forth again, seeking the scent of possible prey.”

“Then we are safe,” said Tuvo.

“Not from the dogs,” said Julian, “nor from Otungs, if they are about.”

“Let us be on our way,” said Tuvo.

Then, warily, backing away for a time, regarded occasionally by the monstrous dogs, lifting their heads from the burned, blackened, half-eaten carcass, they turned, and moved into the darkness, away from the dying fire, inside its ring of dark earth, where the snow had melted.

“Heel us,” said Julian, to the slave.

“I heel, Master,” she said.

They had not gone far when, in the distance, they noted a spot of light, incongruous in the darkness, not far from a partly illuminated, thick border of looming trees.

“Look,” said Tuvo.

“I see,” said Julian.

The party stood in the darkness, in the snow, amongst trees, regarding that surprising, tiny, far-off point of illumination.

“Otungs?” said Tuvo.

“No,” said Julian. “That light, so cold, so bright, so bleak, so steady, is artificial.”

“Here, then, in the wilderness,” said Tuvo, “it can be but one thing.”

“Yes,” said Julian. “We have found the camp.”