- We must go for Lur! - shouted Lana, daughter of Yom
- No! - said Koba son of Koba - It's not convenient yet.
- We don't know if there are any more beasts in the forest, we don't even know if Lur is still alive.
- It's moving! - said Sema who had been watching the state of Lur since the riddled Saur fell almost on top of him.
- There are no more beasts - Lana sentenced
- If there were more, they would already be shouting the alarm cries...
Humans knew of some of the signals with which the Saurians communicated with each other in a primitive but effective and complex proto-language.
The Saurians grunted, gorgoriteaban, croaked, but also emitted some bellows in low frequency that served them as signals of long distance to launch alerts of danger, of humans, of abundant hunting and other alarms that the humans had not identified, some of these were absolutely inaudible for them, but if they were to be to the suitable distance, in a range of ten to a hundred steps they could feel them as vibrations in the environment, this sensory capacity was not extensive to the whole human species, it was very rare and above all it was given in the youngest who were curiously more likely to be able to perceive these alterations in their environment, but before or after that range of distance nobody could feel and much less hear anything.
The most feared by the whole human race was the latter, inaudible but perceptible, which they had called "There are humans here", because it triggered the massive attack of all the hordes that were relatively close, before the possibility of abundant and delicious food and the perspective of continuing to annihilate the terrible enemy that was for them the human being. The mammals in general could not hear any signal of low frequency, but those who, for some reason not yet understood, could notice the vibration warned the rest of the tribe that a Herald was "Transmitting" and they were all invaded by an enormous panic because, although they were in an advantageous position, they knew that in a short time Saurians would arrive from all sides to kill them and then eat them.
But fortunately for humans, launching a low frequency call was not easy and only a few of the Saurians within a horde could do it, although not spontaneously, they had to prepare their throat muscles, consciously enlarge the rib cage, inflate their lungs and emit it, for this reason generally in every advanced group or exploration of the Saurians, there were at least two warners or heralds.
When the roar came out of their throats, nothing was heard, it was a very low tone, deep and totally inaudible to the ears of human beings, but this vibration or low frequency sound, traveled a long way in the middle of forests, mountains, water surfaces, being perfectly audible to the Saurians at great distances, about six or seven lengths.
- Let's go down! Lana insisted
- Good! said Koba, but only four will go and the rest of us will be pending up here, because it's still very dangerous.
- Who wants to go?
Everyone raised their hands in unison and Koba rolled his eyes, snorted noisily and decided personally who would be the ones to go down starting with Lana, for he knew that, even if he did not choose her, she would go down anyway without anyone being able to stop her.
- Lana, Sema, Krull and Yoba, come down, the rest of us support from here - he said while he thought that he too would have signed up to go for Lur if it had been possible.
They set to work, some went to bring long ropes with a series of thick knots spaced along and especially at the tips, where they could rest feet and hands, Krull and Lana would come down from one side of the gorge, Sema and Yoba ran to another line of descent to descend further to the bottom, it was better to do so, descend or ascend from various points to mislead the predators because they would be confused to see them climb to different places and for an instant would not know which group to pursue, giving them the time to escape in a case of urgent need.
After a short while they were going down, each one hanging from a rope that was held by three companions, all were sentries and experienced archers, agile, with great strength in legs and arms, there were two wool and Yoba women plus two men, Sema and Krull, actually a little boy and a man, but the little Sema compensated with an extreme skill and speed for his short age and stature, all carried small and sharp intertwined swords to the back, as Lur had carried them and used a few moments before, in addition to a quiver full of arrows and a bow well secured to it.
As they touched the ground, they all drew arrows and charged their respective bows, ready for anything, but everything was calm, the two Saurians who were near Lur were well dead.
Lana and Krull approached Lur to examine his wounds which at first glance seemed to be very serious and deep, but when they made a direct inspection of his body, they realized that fortunately they were not mortal, nor so deep, rather they were big tears of skin which had already stopped bleeding and possibly had some broken rib, but apparently he had not injured the extremities so that he could walk and recover in a short time, at least that's what he hoped, because he would not have liked to give rest to whom they considered a brother, more than his friend.
Lana stayed with Lur trying to reanimate him, Sema and Yoba dedicated themselves to take out the usable arrows of the reluctant Saurium, but for that they had to turn it with much effort because the beast weighed, Yoba went to the slaughtered Saurium and recovered a pair of arrows that had nailed in the tail and back, the search was joined by Krull and the three went deeper recovering more arrows in the other Saurians that had been shot down before, Lana gently shaking a faint Lur by the shoulders.
- Lur, can you hear me? - Lana said
Lur opened his eyes and nodded in pain.
- Bebe," she said, pulling out a small boot full of fresh water, putting the tip of the boot on her lips.
Lur sucked and drank some water and swallowing the liquid was painful but refreshing.
- Ahhhh! Thank you Lana
- Asshole! - she replied
- How can you jump on a beast?
- I was going to escape, what would you have done?
Lana said nothing, for she would have done exactly the same thing, but possibly her if the reptile had killed her.
- Are you going to give me rest?
- Idiot!
- We'll have to get you up because I imagine you can't even get up.
- It hurts, but I don't think I broke anything.
Lur tried to get up and was able to do so with Lana's help, but as he stood up he shrank to his right groaning a little.
- I think, if I broke something, but it's not serious
Then Lana saw her wounds on the side and back, they were where the claws of the saurian had been nailed, the leather breastplate had protected him a little, but the claws had penetrated his flesh, although very superficially, the wounds were rather shallow skin tears that would become seriously infected if not treated properly and soon.
- Can you walk?
- Yes
And leaning on Lana, she managed to get up with some effort and after a moment of dizziness, she was able to recover by going both towards the nearest rope, when she reached the wall where the rope was, Lur tried to grab it and get up, but she couldn't, the pain was tremendous, then she tried again, giving up in the middle of a deep groan.
-Lana unwound a small rope tied to her waist and made a saddle knot which provided a flat surface for Lur's buttocks and two points which she tied to one of the knots of the thick rope to form what appeared to be a kind of swing.
Lur sat at the base of the knot prepared by Lana, with the rope in front of him and in the middle of his legs, Lana took another rope and began to tie it to the thick rope to secure it to the chair.
Krull, Sema and Yoba were recovering arrows from the other dejected Saurians when they heard a warning ulular thrown from above and they all turned to the entrance of the gorge and saw two other Saurios explorers appear who when entering the clearing saw their dead companions at the entrance of the throat and in the background those responsible for their death who were only three, they did not see Lur or Lana who gave the signal to go up to the wounded, who could only shout at Lana.
- No! Not me! Leave me here and go up...
- Farewell Imbecile - said Lana giving the indication to begin to climb to Lur, the sentries that were above lifted him in vilo ascending quickly and when he was already up, out of sight, she left the column where they were hidden and shouted to the reptiles waving their arms.
- Hey! Beasts! Here I am.
When both Saurios saw her, they immediately charged against her who was waiting for them with one hand on the rope and at her signal they hoisted her among four companions, the reptiles did not count on the rope and when they saw her ascending up the wall almost flying, they understood the trap, but it was already late, a rain of arrows fell from above and to the side, the other three sentinels also approached to finish off the Saurians who did not have a chance and joined their fellow massacred, lying and bleeding at the bottom of the throat, until the last rales of his life were extinguished.
After a while, the three sentinels that had remained below approached stealthily, sword in hand to finish off the beasts and when Krull gave a cut in one of the Saurians, this one did not even move, but the other was dangerously debated at the moment in which Yoba sliced his neck with his sword, in the end both reptiles were definitively dead, many arrows were recovered and the three sentinels were hoisted with the ropes.
Lur was taken away among six men, against the wishes of Koba, who wanted to have more arms at his disposal in the Bast, but Lana urged them to arrive quickly at the Village where their wounds would be treated.
Koba, showed very little discontent because he had taken control of Bast, he was organizing it in crews to rescue the meat, since the two species, Saurians and humans devoured each other and found delicious the taste of the opposite.
A messenger on horseback was immediately sent to the village to report the confrontation and the availability of abundant meat, they waited half a fifth of a sun(7), to see if no one else would come, and some sentinels came down with their swords to begin the work of separating the meat from the bodies, shortly after the fourth fifth of a sun came the gatherers with their bags of cargo, cutting implements and descended to the throat.
The mythical horses were magnificent mammals, which had been brought by the first settlers of the mountains a lot of cycles ago, very few had seen them because they were not abundant, were similar in shape to dogs, but much bigger and less wild, could transport people and cargo over long distances at an enormous speed, a little slower than that of the Saurians, but for a very much longer time.
Six archers first came down and stood at the entrance to the gorge, then about 20 stockpilers cut up the reptiles to take their edible parts in a hurry, set aside the smallest heads to make helmets and containers.
They cut the nails of the claws for arrowheads, they took out the intestines to be able to use them as cover of sausages, of the skin of the stomach excellent water boots could be elaborated.
Although almost all of the saurian was usable either as food or as an input for the manufacture of utensils or garments, ie that bones, skin and guts were usable, the instruction was turned to leave enough remains of bones, heads and meat to try to deceive the parties of Saurians that could be sent in search of those who had massacred.
It was a very tense moment because if Reptiles appeared again in large numbers, the carnage would be frightening, because they could not raise so many people at once and although they could contain them because of the advantageous position of the archers above, all those below would die.
By the end of the afternoon they were ready with all the bags loaded with meat and useful pieces of the Saurians, the remaining parts had been placed in a pile near the moat while they decided what to do, the trail of blood and remains would be washed by the storm that threatened to fall from the previous day and everything seemed to indicate that tonight there would be a good dinner in the Clan.
Since the messenger had arrived in the main village, they had warned the others to go and collect their share of the loot, and the day was already ending when the well-loaded messengers went to their respective towns, where they were preparing the condiments and other companions for the main course, which was the juicy reptile meat.
Far from Bast in the Main Village of the Thar Clan, the old Tora, the second healer of the village, accompanied by Lana were cleaning and treating the wounds of Lur, washing them initially with oil and juice of boiled Lumas, a citrus fruit quite acid that had healing and disinfecting properties, Tora prepared a paste from which she would obtain a healing ointment and which also had anti-inflammatory properties based on a combination of the boiled juice of some leaves with a paste made of roots crushed from other plants to which she added other infusions that she herself prepared with the dedication of an alchemist, thanks to the knowledge acquired by herself that she had of the special properties of the plants or of some that had been indicated to her by Seton the Blind, old master in the art of the healing and the manufacture of medicines based on natural ingredients, as much vegetable, animal or mineral.
By sundown at the Bast, there was only one special group of stockpilers left who would begin to erect a scenario of confrontation between the Saurians and a fictitious pack of wolves in the hope of being able to deceive the groups of explorers who would surely be sent out in search of their companions.
In the nearby villages they waited for the carriers to incorporate the main ingredient into the stews they had been preparing since the news spread, which did not make anyone happy but would not take away their appetite either.
Dinner was sumptuous, large pieces of meat in a stew with red and green sauce that gave a spicy flavor to the stew, accompanied by rice cooked and bathed in black sauce, with loaves of freshly baked bread and to wet everything, a hot infusion of Lumas leaves sweetened with fermented mead, which in some bowls was more mead than the infusion of Lumas, which put some more talkers than usual.
The vigilantes who had participated in the adventure were called in pairs to the different common tables to tell the story of the confrontation, which would be remembered as another battle by the guardians of legends and these adorned with grandiloquent words the way in which Lur Thar's son threw himself on the herald of the Saurians who ran to give the alarm, omitting the fact that the young saurian whom he had possibly killed could not throw alerts, but the feat was worthy of being remembered forever.
This was the first time that a group of watchmen had had an encounter with Saurians since they had reached the mountains, all the great narrations of struggles or encounters against the Saurians reached the mountains from the mouths of the nomad warriors who were going to live for a couple of lunar cycles in the lowlands, but this time the sentinels were the heroes of the moment and all the attention was on them as protagonists.
The children listened with open mouth to the story attentive, filled with astonishment and when they told them in great detail the way in which Lur threw himself to kill the beast, waved their arms and legs possessed by an indescribable emotion, these stories later became games and became part of the children's imaginary, it did not take long to hear the children shout the phrase "Flight of Lur" and then throw themselves from tables, benches becoming a battle cry in the mouths of the children.
Thar had summoned the council of the elders, asking for the presence of Lur, Koba and the chiefs of "Bast" from the four nearby villages to discuss the threat and possible consequences of the recent massacre of Saurios, and messengers had been sent to the most distant tribes, including the Iron Clan.
When the summoned arrived, they dined frugally and drank mead alone in small containers and after thanking the giver of light they withdrew to the room to begin the meeting as soon as possible, the room had a wooden floor and was carpeted with skins, it had a table that was nothing more than a smooth board in the form of an irregular circle held up on four stones that had been carved to give them a cubic shape.
There were no chairs, all the assistants sat in front of the table, with the legs crossed or extended, each one carried his pot with mead and placed it in small leather rings that served as support to the bowls that were basically half of a species of coconut of thin and hard crust, that were cut in half to make two pieces for each fruit and the edges were smoothed with sanding stone.
The room was illuminated by small oil lamps in which floated a wick of lianas of lit rope, that offered a yellow light but quite intense by the composition and combination of the oil with the wick.
The flame was small, bright and stable, did not have the annoying flickering of candles or other lamps that gave a very shaky light at the slightest gust of wind and even though no air currents were perceived, in this sense the oil lamps and vine wick provided a very regular and constant lighting.
Extended on the table was a map drawn on a buffalo leather parchment with markers of hardened and almost dry black pitch that gave some very black, thick and well defined lines, the pitch was rolled up as a bar and wrapped in a soft skin so that it did not stain the fingers and the tip was taken out as it was worn.
Thar opened the session
- This afternoon we had a clash with a group of Saurian explorers, there were eleven in total, we killed everyone, seriously wounded Lur, that is why he is not here, they are treating the wounds that say they were not so serious, but they have complicated him because he is with fever and without waking up, for the moment, we will not have to give him rest.
- They say that he has already learned to fly.
- With ten swords in his hands.
- And they say he killed them all, all by himself.
- Only with a fart - said Thar among the generalized laughter, but immediately put order adding.
- Out of jokes, what happened today is serious, the vigilantes have been watching for days around the lake some hordes, but at far ends of our location, as has always been, however, yesterday, the young vigilante Sema, spotted a complete horde of Saurios that comes bordering the lake and do not seem to be looking for hunting grounds, because we are already in cold areas and they do not like to be with this climate.
Yom, Lana's father said:
- The behavior of this horde is not normal, I think they are looking for a human settlement, but have no damn idea where we are or how many we are, do not know that we are several clans who live in this mountain and even ignore that the mountain is habitable, if we get to discover will be a disaster for all, even for the clans who are higher.
- How far away will the horde be? Thar asked.
- Explorers usually go almost five or six starts from the horde, always less than the maximum distance they can hear the alerts. What about Ramel? - asked Yom
- That's right," replied the aforementioned, "these explorers were surely about to return to the horde to arrive before nightfall, hopefully they'll think they're lost, devoured by some giant saurian, wild wolves or by the forest cats. Are you sure they didn't send any alerts?
- Yes," said Koba, "Lur first killed the one who looked like he was going to sound the alarm, the other saurian was very young, he just wanted to escape and he didn't seem to be a herald.
Everything happened very quickly but fortunately it seems that Lur took charge of thinking and acting for everyone, otherwise we would not be having this conversation, but perhaps we would already be about to become food for Beasts and we would have this conversation in the filthy belly of a damned animal.
- Tomorrow will we see what to do with the traces?
- No! They're already doing it at this very moment.
- But there's a storm coming...
- Let us pray that no hammer of light falls on them then, but everything must be clean by dawn, we do not know with certainty how long it will take to go out in search of these explorers and nobody wants surprises.
- Well, but from now on no bonfires during the day, we already know that they know bonfire smoke and distinguish it from any other type of fire, that calls them all, therefore, to cook with smokeless burners - said Thar.
Ramel added:
- We must warn the rest of the Clans, to send reinforcements, sentries, archers and auxiliaries, we will have to redouble our vigilance and from tonight we must clean the traces of the battle very well.
- Luckily it seems that the mother of all storms is coming - said Koba.
- Luckily and unfortunately at the same time because, although the night and the rain protect us from premature sighting, it also hinders us in the cleaning work.
- We must work fast and without errors, so that they do not discover us, we will not be able to contain them if the whole horde comes.
- Not even with the three bastions?
- Not even with five did the old sage affirm...