Chapter 18: Success - Sort of

~~ Delta - Aug/02 - (Earth - Feb/2095) ~~

Jahn suddenly stopped.

They were still two days short of home and had been thinking of stopping for lunch. They all saw Jahn grab the medallion that appeared around his neck. He then drew his wand and extended it. The five men moved slowly, so they stood in a circle but facing outwards.

Then one after the other dropped their packs behind themselves. They had left enough space to move but were close enough to help protect the fellow on either side. Snorre sniffed the air. “Whippers,” he whispered.

They all stood still and watched the undergrowth around them. Snorre held his spear ready as did his brother. Alec and Hador preferred their swords, and they too drew their weapons. Whippers were formidable hunters. They often travelled in large family packs of six to eight animals on this island. The men would have preferred wolves.

Snorre said to Yves, “If we live through this, we are getting married, my brother.”

“We have got to live first. I have picked out three on my side,” Yves replied quietly.

Jahn said quietly, “I believe there to be at least six animals.”

“Just great,” said Hador. “Someone really doesn’t like you, mage.”

“How far are we from the cavern?” Jahn came back as he peered into the bushes, noting the movement as the beasts circled around them.

“About a day’s walk to the east. We have been circling around the area the last couple of days due to the ruggedness of the mountain,” Hador said.

“I believe my old Master laid protection spells. Something in my blood or on my person must be causing the predators to attack us.”

“Once I reach the cavern, I can remove the spell,” he said to them. He then thought to himself, ‘I hope.’ He knew his powers were nowhere near, what they once were. They had notably reduced in range and effect over the last two hundred years in particular.

Hador nodded, “Yes, I think you are right. We have been compelled to remain on this island since we were brought here. Only those with more Genteli blood than Grandteli, can leave the island and eventually, they too have to come back.”

“The old ones believe the compulsion has been diminishing since the big mountain west of us erupted about two hundred and thirty years ago. We have been able to spread out a lot more since then. However, we are still bound to this island.”

Jahn nodded. His eyes were watching one of the whippers shift in even closer. ‘That makes sense,’ he thought. ‘The vents in the cavern may not be so active anymore and not be able to keep the crystals charged to full strength.’

‘It gives me a better chance of cancelling the spells. In the caverns, not all of the crystals were well insulated from the walls. Over time, the charge would bleed off. If the energy source diminished, then the charge in the crystals held would also drop.’

The Whippers finally got up the courage to attack. They didn’t normally attack a group of this many of the two-legged beasts. Nevertheless, they all felt compelled to attack the smallest of them. They rushed out of the undergrowth each picking a target.

The leader and her mate both went for Jahn, while the others tried to distract the other bigger men from their goal. The men slashed and stabbed as the beasts dived in and then backed away. They would circle them and then try again.

Yves was the first to score a hit. One of the beasts had dived at Jahn, and he had just danced back. Yves stabbed at the whipper who was centred on Jahn. He scored a fatal body blow, and the beast went down screaming. Jahn hit out at the other whipper, on his side but it didn’t get the full sting of the wand and danced back to get ready to attack again.

The screaming of the downed whipper distracted the one going for Hador. He managed to slice it across the neck and decapitate it. Hador then turned to help Alec. He wasn’t their best hunter, but he was a skilled swordsman.

Alec swung his weapon at the beast that was going for him. He just missed taking off its head as it ducked nimbly aside. Unluckily for the creature, it danced into Hador’s longer reach, and he didn’t miss. He drove his sword into the whipper at the base of the neck, and it too screamed, before it died.

Snorre also managed to collect his trophy. He had been raked down an arm by one of the long sets of claws on the beast’s winged arms when it had ducked under the point of the spear. He managed to defect it with the back end of the spear forcing it back. It regrouped and attracted again. This time he got a direct hit and his spear sunk into its chest.

Yves also earned a set of scars to tell his kids about when he had them. While he was pulling his spear from the first animal, the other hit him in the thigh and sunk its very sharp teeth into him.

The thick leather of his pants ripped away, but the whipper didn’t get the mouthful of flesh it wanted. Its long, razor-sharp teeth, however, still gouged Yves’s thigh-deep enough, for it to start bleeding freely down his leg.

By reflex alone, Yves swung the now repossessed spear in the direction of the whipper, and the head of the spear smashed into its head, knocking it for six. Yves and his brother both drove their spears into the downed whipper.

Jahn had also managed to clout his when it tried to sidestep Alec’s swing at. It went down, and Alec happily slashed his sword across its neck. The men stood still breathing heavy as they looked at the surrounding carnage.

Hador grinned, a big feral grin, “Damn, that was fun. I bet this was the group, which have been harassing the outer villages. Maybe you are good luck after all, mage.”

Alec bent and looked at the largest animal, a young female. He picked up the head and looked closer. She had a blue and yellow crest with a piece missing on one side and a scar evident. “Didn’t Jakobe say he had hit the large female and describe this crest?” he asked Hador.

Hador looked as well. “Yeah, I think this is definitely the group we had been looking for before we left to go get the mage here.”

“They are all young and must have been trying to set up a new territory. They probably have eggs around here somewhere for them to still be here. This female is definitely old enough to be producing.”

All the men were happy to have dispatched them. They were responsible for taking three of the children, one being female from the smaller villages near them. They wouldn’t morn their deaths. They would be more than happy to collect their feathers. They were highly prized amongst the people as they had many uses.

The meat wouldn’t be wasted either. They tasted more along the lines of game birds. They tasted better if hungover smouldering wood chips that produced smoke and not flame for a week. The flesh became more succulent. Whipper flesh for a wedding feast was considered a good omen for the couple.

“Looks like, we have gotten the meat for your wedding feasts boys. You can have the feathers from one of mine, as a wedding gift,” Hador said.

Yves and Snorre both grinned. Having two of the Whippers each and a Catalo skin, both were sure their heart’s desire would say yes. Hunting prowess was desirable in a mate. Their kills proved they were strong men who should produce healthy offspring. Presenting this much Whipper flesh for the feast would also increase their status.

The men set up camp. They needed to gut the Whippers. If they lightly salted the insides and then wrapped them in the broad leaves from the peppery bushes near their camp, they would taste even better once smoked. Yves and Snorre collected some larger leaves of the broad-leafed plants that grew in the underbrush and then set about gutting the Whippers.

Jahn got the fire going and put water on for tea and the pot for the bag of stew, they still had in Hador pack. Hador and Alec dug the pit for the guts and heads and left it open. The brothers deposited the offal into the hole as they finished doing each animal.

They put the small firm organs aside for Alec’s medicine kit. Alec also collected a heap of the longest, thinnest teeth with a pair of metal pincher’s and the eyes after the heads had been removed. The long thin and sharp teeth made good pins and needles he explained to Jahn. They were a young family group, so all had good sharp teeth.

Hador went and hunted for the eggs. Whippers hide them well, but he found the nest. They were very close to it. This alone would have caused the group to be extremely aggressive. There were eight in the nest. He shook an egg. She must have only recently finished lying, so they were not developed.

Hador collected them for his sister Gemma. She would cut and carve them and treat the shells and make beautiful bowls, which sold well to the other royals. She was a fine craftswoman and very inventive.