The Trek: Darwin's World, Book II (The Darwin's World Series 2) (7 page)

“I saw the tracks. Your bow and arrows are still there, hanging in a tree to keep the animals from chewing on them. I can show you the tracks and the bloodstain when we get there.”

Matt looked around at his small camp. Well, he’d been thinking it was time to leave the river. He would need to pick up his fishing line and carry the chipped stones with him, the ones he’d been working on. They’d be useful.

He had known his name because of the dream, and now he knew a lot more, though some of the memories were still just bits and pieces.

“We can cook some of the venison if that’s OK with you. I’ll put out the fire after that and we can go. Bow and arrows?”

“Yes, and a quiver for the arrows too. I made the quiver. You made the bow and arrows, mine too. You made your spear and you also made a spear for me, but it’s back at camp. I left it with Lee.”

“Lee’s with the tribe? I wonder if Pavel’s back there too?”

“I’m sure he is. He’s got a small group, five men counting himself, and two women.”

“I think we should get my bow and arrows and go to the camp. I have a few questions to ask Pavel.”

#

Lee found Robert leaning against a tree. He was eating a bowl of Colin’s stew and a second gourd held some of the sweetened pine-needle tea. Lee sat down cross-legged and waited.

“Did you already eat, Lee?”

“I did. Pretty good stew. I’m glad you brought Colin back with you. I doubt we’d have been eating nearly as well without him.”

“I agree. Did you have something special you wanted to talk to me about?”

“Yeah, I did. I’ve been thinking.”

“Uh, oh. What about?” Robert smiled as he asked the question.

“You know I’ve had scouts out ahead of us, but they haven’t had a chance to really see what we’re facing. We know there are going to be rivers to cross, maybe other dangerous things ahead of us. I was wondering what you’d think if I went on a scout? Maybe go out two or three days before I come back.”

“Getting a little tired of camp life, Lee?”

Lee smiled. “I am. It’s fine, but it’s the same old thing every day. I’m itchy. I want to know what’s ahead of us.”

“Tell you what, Lee. We need food. You take a hunting party out tomorrow morning and see what you can find. If we have food, we can stay here for a week or two. It’s worth taking the time. People are getting really worn down, and we’ve still got a long way to go.

“Get us enough food for two or three weeks and you can go. That’ll give us an extra food reserve when we move on. We’ll be sending our foraging parties too but some days we may not find much. Rain, too much wind, maybe the country won’t have as many animals. There might not be enough plants. We need a reserve.

“Who did you plan to take with you?”

“I thought I’d go alone, Robert.”

“I’d rather you didn’t, Lee. Take one of the scouts, maybe Laz or Marc or Philippe.”

“Not Laz. He’s spending a lot of time with Cindy and I don’t think he’ll want to leave. I could take Marc or Philippe.”

“I’d suggest both of them. It would be good experience; you’ve done this before, with Matt, but they haven’t. Still, I’ll need one of them at the camp. We’re pretty shorthanded. So pick one to take with you.”

“OK, but I’ll want to take all three of them hunting. I’ll let them know and we’ll leave tomorrow. We can talk about the scouting trip while we’re hunting and I’ll decide which one goes with me.”

Lee led his three hunters southwest the next morning. He planned to repeat what he’d done before when he’d gone scouting with Matt, hunt southwest, bend northwest after a day, then turn back toward camp by heading east. When they reached the stream, they could follow it south to the camp.

#

Lilia held out her hand to caution Matt while she looked over the clearing. Seeing no danger, she slipped up to the tree and found Matt’s bow and quiver of arrows, hanging where she’d left them. She slipped the quiver’s strap off the stub, handed it to Matt, then took down his bow. He already had the quiver and his spear slung when she turned around with the bow.

Taking the bow, Matt examined it for a moment. He braced a limb against his instep, then stepped across with the other leg. The practiced moves were smooth. He easily flexed the heavy bow and slid the string into its notch. With the bow in his hand, he withdrew an arrow and examined it before nocking it to the bowstring.

His expression was nothing like that of the man she’d found only a few hours before. He might not have full recall of his memories as yet but now his expression showed grim purpose. Lilia looked at him and shivered.

Matt would ask his questions. Pavel would need very good answers…if indeed he could answer at all.

“Is this where they threw me in the river?” asked Matt.

“No. That happened ahead of us, a hundred yards or so.”

“Why don’t we have a look?”

She led off, still cautious, but somehow the presence of Matt behind her was very reassuring.

“It happened here. I found your arrows and the quiver over there, and the bow was a little nearer to the river.”

“I don’t see any tracks. You’re sure this is the place?”

“I’m sure. Look, here’s the bloodstain I found. But the tracks are gone. There were tracks of three men before, and there were drag marks down by the river.”

“We’ve had a little rain.”

“Not enough to wipe out the sign, not everything I saw. I think someone’s been here, maybe swept the tracks away.”

“Well, the bloodstain’s not very big. Tracks are easy enough to hide, but blood sinks into the dirt. Who would hide the tracks?”

“It had to be Pavel. He’s been here. No one else would have a reason to hide the tracks.

“I found your bow and quiver and hung them in the tree before I went south. That was a day ago, yesterday about noon. It’s after noon now, so Pavel could have been as much as a full day behind me. I followed the river south and killed that fawn just before I found you. Pavel must have wiped out the tracks while I was hunting.”

“Lilia, I wonder if he’s still around? Could he have been tracking you?”

“Matt, it’s possible. I didn’t tell anyone but our family group where I was going, but there aren’t many people in the tribe and my absence would be noticed. Pavel would have realized I was gone when I didn’t show up for rear guard. That’s what I had been doing, follow along behind everyone else so I could help stragglers and make sure nothing dangerous caught us from behind. I helped around the camp too, whatever needed doing; he would have noticed that I wasn’t around.”

“Would Pavel come alone? You said he had two men with him before when he came back to camp. Maybe he brought the others with him this time too.”

Lilia thought for a moment.

“He’s part of a group. He’s the one they look to for answers. Two of them are women, and there are four men plus Pavel. He could have brought all four of the men but not the women. They have friends among the rest of us. He wouldn’t have told them what he was planning for fear they’d tell someone else.”

“So; maybe five of them. Well, we’ll just keep our eyes peeled. How far ahead do you think the tribe is?”

Lilia thought for a moment.

“They’d have been going west while I looked for you. For your body,” she said ruefully. “But they weren’t moving very fast. I think we can catch them in two days, maybe three at the most. We can cut across country until we pick up the drag marks.”

Matt nodded. “We’ll need to be careful. If Pavel’s out there waiting, we don’t want him to see us before we see him.”

“I thought about that, Matt. You’re quiet, so am I. Pavel’s bunch are like mammoths, they just blunder along. Unless they’re hiding and waiting, we’ll see or hear them before they see us.”

“OK. We’ll stop early just to make sure we see them before they see us. We don’t have much to eat, though. If we see a deer or maybe a pig we should stock up on food.”

“Let’s go ahead, Matt. We’ll stop after lunch, eat the last of the fawn, then you hunt while I pick a few greens. I’ve seen dandelions, wild onions too. I’m sure there are other things.”

“Sounds good. Let’s go.”

Matt glanced at the sun to establish direction, then looked where the wind was blowing. He adjusted his course slightly to move across the westerly breeze, which barely stirred the new leaves on the trees. Moving with his usual caution, Matt led and Lilia followed.

#

Pavel found the tribe where they camped by the stream. He slipped closer and watched as the tribespeople prepared for a long stay.

He took care to remain well concealed as he slipped away and went to find his men.

“They’re having supper. For some reason, they’ve decided to camp here. Some are already putting up shelters.”

“You think they’ve had trouble, Pavel?”

“I don’t know, Gregor. But Lilia’s not with them.”

“Maybe a lion or something got her?” 

“No telling, Nik. We’ll watch the back trail for a day. We’ve got enough to eat now, so we just wait and watch. If Lilia’s not here by tomorrow, she probably won’t be coming at all.”

#

Matt spotted a small horse late that afternoon. Slipping closer, he tried to approach for a killing shot. He was still some fifty yards away when the horse raised its head and sniffed the wind.

The horse, now nervous, was across a clearing where only a few brushy plants grew. Matt decided he was unlikely to get a better chance for a shot. He drew back smoothly and launched the arrow.

The arrow hit but not where he’d aimed. Whether he’d flinched slightly or perhaps the arrow had ticked off a branch, he didn’t know; but it struck the horse too far back for an immediate kill. The wounded animal jumped and bolted northward.

Matt realized immediately that he shouldn’t have tried the shot…but he had. He searched the area where he’d seen the horse and found dark blood splashed on the ground. Not an artery hit, then.

It might run for a few yards, or it might run a mile. They would need to track the wounded horse. Matt didn’t like the thought of leaving an animal to die in agony. Darwin’s World did enough of that already; he didn’t need to add more.

He went back, found Lilia, and brought her to where the horse had been standing. The sun was already low, but maybe they could find the horse before dark.

Together they set off north, following the tracks and splotches of blood.

Chapter 6

Lee gave his weapons a final inspection before dark. He found nothing that need repairing, but decided to wipe down the wood with beeswax.

He routinely carried a small repair kit with him, wrapped in soft leather and stowed in the bottom of his pack. The kit contained a spare bowstring, a dozen arrowheads, and enough split feathers to craft a dozen replacement arrows should he need them while he was away from the camp.

Colin provided dried meat, enough to last the hunting party for two days. Lee divided the meat into three parts, then stowed his portion in his pack. Marc and Philippe added their share to what they already carried. Water bottles would be refilled before departing.

Lee ate his gourd of stew with a little of the dry bread, all that was left now. He was soon asleep.

#

He woke up well before daybreak and roused Marc and Philippe. A few minutes later the small party moved out single file, heading southwest. They crossed the small stream a mile below the camp and spread out. Maintaining rough alignment across their front, they slipped through the trees and watched for an animal.

Tall trees, sustained by the running water, lined the stream on both sides. Beyond the treeline, scrubby bushes and briars gave way to a grassy plain.

Lee hoped to avoid the plain, at least for now. His previous experience hunting in the tall grass had produced a lot of meat, but it had also cost René his life.

Life and death decisions; hunt where it was easier to find game animals but also more dangerous, or hunt where the hunters were safer but had less chance for a kill?

If they could bag a few deer without going onto the plains, perhaps a woodland bison or a stag-moose, the tribe would have meat and with less danger to the hunters. The tribe had already lost René and Matt; few others had good hunting skills.

Forest predators, the jaguars and lesser cats, hunted alone. It was necessary to be alert, of course, but a man with a spear could defend himself. Solitary cats were unlikely to attack a group anyway, preferring to ambush single animals.

The open-plains predators were more mobile and there was no refuge for hunters who became the hunted. Three men might easily find themselves overwhelmed despite their weapons.

Lions hunted in prides of as many as a dozen animals, sabertooths usually hunted in pairs or trios, and a wolf-pack might have greater numbers than even the lions. And predators had not yet learned to be wary of people. Until they did, the transplanted humans were just another source of meat.

In any case, more animals were migrating north as the snow retreated. There would soon be game enough even in the forest as the spring progressed, if the tribe could avoid starving in the meantime.

#

Noon came and the three rested briefly as they chewed on dried jerky. They’d seen a few tracks, some fairly fresh droppings, but no animals. Unless they had better luck soon, they would have to try the grassy plain. The first rule of any hunt is to hunt where the animals are. The open plain was dangerous, but starvation was dangerous too. People would soon begin to succumb to hunger. The youngsters were especially vulnerable. Adults had eaten less so that the children could have more, but that strategy could only work for a short time.

The three discussed whether to sleep in a tree or set up camp on the ground and keep watch during the night. The decision was unanimous, get as much sleep as possible, and that meant sleeping in a tree. They could wake at dawn and see what was stirring out on the plain, now green with new grass.

At least the grass wasn’t tall enough yet to provide cover for predators. Maybe hunting the plains wouldn’t be as dangerous as it had been last year.

Lee ate more jerky and got as comfortable in the crotch of a large tree as he could. This one appeared to be a walnut or perhaps a pecan tree; whatever it was, there had been nuts last year, and something had cracked the thick shells to get at the nutmeat inside. He soon dropped off to sleep.