‘Not quite built for speed, is it?’
Trull glanced over at Quick Ben, saw the wizard holding a dagger in one hand. ‘We should get you a spear,’ the Tiste Edur said.
‘I’ll take one of your spares-if you don’t mind.’
Trull slipped the bound clutch from his shoulder and said, ‘Take your pick.’
The emlava was studying them. Then it yawned and with that Onrack moved lightly forward in a half-crouch.
As he did so, pebbles scattered nearby and Trull turned. ‘Well, it seems Onrack has allies in this after all.’
The wolves-ay in the Imass language-had appeared and were now closing on Onrack’s position, heads lowered and eyes fixed on the huge cat.
The sudden arrival of seven wolves clearly displeased the emlava, for it then lowered itself until its chest brushed the ground, gathering its legs beneath it. The mouth opened again, and a deep hiss filled the air.
‘We might as well get out of their way,’ Quick Ben said, taking a step back with obvious relief.
‘I wonder,’ Trull said as he watched the momentary stand-off, ‘if this is how domestication first began. Not banding together in a hunt for prey, but in an elimination of rival predators.’
Onrack had readied his spear, not to meet a charge, but to throw the weapon using a stone-weighted antler atlatl. The wolves to his either side had fanned out, edging closer with fangs bared.
‘Not a growl to be heard,’ Quick Ben said. ‘Somehow that’s more chilling.’
‘Growls are to warn,’ Trull replied. ‘There is fear in growls, just as there is in that cat’s hissing.’
The emlava’s single lungful of breath finally whistled down into silence. It refilled its lungs and began again.
Onrack lunged forward, the spear darting from his hand.
Flinching back, the emlava screamed as the weapon drove deep into its chest, just to one side of the neck and beneath the clavicle. At that moment the wolves rushed in.
A mortal wound, however, was not enough to slow the cat as it lashed out with two staggered swings of its forepaws at one of the wolves. The first paw sank talons deep into the wolf’s shoulder, snatching the entire animal closer, within the reach of the second paw, which dragged the yelping wolf closer still. The massive head then snapped down on its neck, fangs burying themselves in flesh and bone.
The emlava, lurching, then drove its full weight down on the dying wolf, probably breaking every bone in its body.
As it did so, four other wolves lunged for its soft belly, two to each side, their canines tearing deep, then pulling away as, screaming, the emlava spun round to fend them off.
Exposing its neck.
Onrack’s sword flashed, point-first, into the cat’s throat.
It recoiled, sending one wolf tumbling, then reared back on its hind legs-as if to wheel and flee back into its cave-but all strength left the emlava then. It toppled, thumped hard onto the ground, and was still.
The six remaining wolves-one limping-padded away, keeping a distance between themselves and the three men, and moments later were gone from sight.
Onrack walked up to the emlava and tugged free his gore-spattered spear. Then he knelt beside the cat’s head.
‘Asking forgiveness?’ Quick Ben queried, his tone only slightly ironic.
The Imass looked over at them. ‘No, that would be dishonest, wizard.’
‘You’re right, it would. I am glad you’re not dumping any blessed spirit rubbish on us. It’s pretty obvious, isn’t it, that there were wars long before there were wars between people. You had your rival hunters to dispose of first.’
‘Yes, that is true. And we found allies. If you wish to find irony, Quick Ben, know that we then hunted until most of our prey was extinct. And our allies then starved-those that did not surrender to our stewardship.’
‘The Imass are hardly unique in that,’ Trull Sengar said.
Quick Ben snorted. ‘That’s understating it, Trull. So tell us, Onrack, why are you kneeling beside that carcass?’
‘I have made a mistake,’ the Imass replied, climbing to his feet and staring into the cave.
‘Seemed pretty flawless to me.’
‘The killing, yes, Quick Ben. But this emlava, it is female.’
The wizard grunted, then seemed to flinch. ‘You mean the male’s still around?’
‘I do not know. Sometimes they… wander.’ Onrack looked down at the bloodied spear in his hands. ‘My friends,’ he said. ‘I am now… hesitant, I admit. Perhaps, long ago, I would not have thought twice-as you said, wizard, we warred against our competitors. But this realm-it is a gift. All that was lost, because of our thoughtless acts, now lives again. Here. I wonder, can things be different?’
