Bunduki (Bunduki Series Book One) (9 page)

At that moment, the girl started to
experience a sensation similar to one she had felt when competing
before spectators in some athletic event. She was being watched and
not just by the burly pursuer, or even the rest of his party beyond
the chasm. Yet the man gave no indication of being aware of the
mysterious observers. Nor had Dawn seen anything of them during her
flight. Concluding, from the way they were keeping themselves
concealed, that she could not count on them to help her she knew
that she must deal with the man unaided.

Lifting the butt of his lance from the
socket on the stirrup, Tomlu turned it forward instead of to the
rear. Although he had not received any advice or instructions, he
knew that Dryaka would want the girl taken alive and with as little
permanent injury as possible. That was understandable. The people
preferred active sacrifices for the Quagga God, such being more
entertaining to watch as the victims tried to escape or to make a
fight to save their lives. While a blow to the stomach with the
butt of the lance would render her helpless for long enough to let
him secure her, it would not seriously incapacitate her.

Grimly setting her teeth, Dawn started
to raise the bow. While doing so, she did her best to control her
heavy breathing. The way it was causing her chest to heave, she
could not hope to do any accurate shooting. In fact, it might even
seriously impede her ability to handle the far from inconsiderable
draw weight of the powerful hunting bow.

Being aware of the problems, the girl
watched the approaching rider. She sensed that she could not expect
to bluff or intimidate the burly man, but hoped he might recognize
the danger and keep his distance.

The hope did not
materialize!

The man was continuing to ride
straight at her!

Leaning sideways at an angle of almost
forty-five degrees on the saddle of his well-trained zebra, Tomlu
was studying his potential victim. He watched her presenting her
weapon at him, but did not feel unduly alarmed. An experienced
warrior, he had come into contact with archers on several occasions
and was satisfied that he knew their limitations.

The girl, Tomlu noticed, was
showing signs of having run both fast and far since killing
Charole’s eagle. What was more, as she began to draw the bow, he
observed with satisfaction that she was taking the easiest target
and aiming at the centre of his broad chest. That reduced the
danger to him and he was grateful that she was not making his mount
her target. No arrow, even when discharged by a man, had contrived
to pierce his breastplate of one and a half inch thick, sun-dried
and specially hardened rhinoceros hide.
^xxvii
So he believed, with some
justification in the light of past events, that he had nothing to
fear from a woman.

While she was drawing back the arrow
towards its anchor point, Dawn was all too conscious of the way in
which it was moving in concert with the rising and falling of her
bosom. Try as she might, she could not keep the weapon
steady.

Dawn realized that, in a very
short time, the man
would be in striking distance. Nor did she draw any
erroneous conclusions from the way he was holding the lance. Its
butt would prove as effective as the point if it should make
contact. Even more so, if—as she suspected—it was his intention to
take her alive.

Forcing herself to remain calm and
striving desperately to control her breathing, the girl finally
yielded to the inevitable. There was, she realized, no hope of the
man turning away. For all that, she still hesitated. If she should
miss with the arrow, she was all too aware that she would not have
sufficient time to extract a replacement, even from the more
readily accessible bow-quiver, nock, draw, take aim and loose it at
her assailant.

‘
Look
behind you!’ the brown-skinned girl screamed, pointing a
finger in the hope that it would help to explain what she meant if
the “jungle god” did not understand the Telonga
language.

Awe, reverence—and something
more earthy—had come to the girl’s pretty and expressive face as,
having watched her rescuer deal with
Bul-Mok
and turn in her direction, she had started
to rise. However, seeing the second of the ‘Hairy Men’ commencing
an attack on the blond giant—who did not appear to appreciate the
danger his incautious behavior had created—she was determined to
alert him to it. Once he had extricated himself from the
predicament, which she felt sure he could do, he would be suitably
grateful for the warning.

The girl’s words had not been
necessary, even though—in some mysterious way—Bunduki had been able
to understand them. He had known there was nothing more to fear
from
Bul-Mok
after having received the surrender, but he intended to
establish a similar sense of inferiority upon the rest of the
bulls. If there was to be a further challenge, he had known it
would come from the second largest male.

Glancing at
Bal-Tak
after having given his victory
roar, the blond giant had guessed that he was building up his
courage but was not quite ready to make his move. That was why
Bunduki had turned his back on the three young bulls. He was hoping
that his disdainful attitude would goad
Bal-Tak
into trying to take advantage of the
opportunity and attack. So he had been alert for the first hint
that he had succeeded.

Having heard the
Mangani s
growl and the sound
of his approaching feet, Bunduki was already starting to turn as
the words were leaving the girl’s lips.

‘
Bal-Tak
kill!’ the young
Mangani
bellowed, despite his surprise at seeing
his intended victim swinging to face him.

Roaring out the threat, despite
an inclination to retreat from his obviously prepared foe,
Bal-Tak
continued to rush
forward. Instead of following what would have been the most
sensible course and retreating, he raised and prepared to deliver a
powerful downwards thrust with his branch-spear when he came within
striking distance.

The young bull was not allowed to
complete his proposed attack.

Thinking and moving at a much
faster speed than the
Mangani
was capable of, Bunduki sprang at him. Out drove
the blond giant’s clenched right fist. It ploughed with terrible
force into
Bal-Tak’s solar plexus
before he could bring down the spear.
Halted in his tracks by the power of the blow, the
Mangani
acted as a human
being would under the circumstances. Letting go of his
branch-spear, he folded over at the waist and his hands flew to the
point of impact in an instinctive, if futile, attempt to lessen the
suffering he was experiencing.

Stepping forward a pace and
pivoting on his right foot to gain extra impetus, Bunduki swung and
propelled his left knee upward. It caught the
Mangani
in the centre of the chest.
Lifted erect and from his feet by the impact,
Bal-Tak
pitched over to land winded and
helpless on his back.

‘
Ka
—
Ka-goda
!’
Bal-Tak
managed to gasp out as his assailant loomed above
him.

Accepting the surrender, Bunduki went
by his fallen foe. He wanted to complete the establishment of his
superiority over the other two young males. From the perturbed way
they were watching him approach, he did not anticipate any great
difficulty in doing so.

‘
You fight?’ Bunduki
demanded, glaring at the third largest bull.

‘
No!’ was the immediate
reply, followed by a rapid retreat for several feet.

Without even waiting to be challenged,
the smallest of the quartet dropped his branch-spear and scuttled
away.

Satisfied that he had attained
an absolute moral and physical ascendancy over the
Mangani,
at least for the
time being, the blond giant once more turned and went towards the
girl. He glanced at
Bul-Mok
and
Bal-Tak
in passing. Although the former had risen, he slunk away
holding his back with one hand and avoided meeting Bunduki’s eyes.
The latter was sitting up in a painful manner and was too concerned
with his woeful feelings to even look at the man who had caused
them.

It was Bunduki’s intention to retrieve
his bow and then question the girl. Before he could do either, she
flung herself into his arms. Once there, she clung hold and
wriggled her warm, almost naked and very curvaceous body in a way
that suggested relief over her escape was not her only reason for
coming so close.

‘
Don’t be afraid,’ Bunduki
said, guessing that he was speaking a language she could
understand. He removed her arms from around his neck and eased her
gently away. They won’t harm you now.’

‘
I am not afraid now that
I’m with you, great god of the jungle,’ the girl replied,
attempting to come close but held beyond her arms’ length by his
hands on her shoulders. ‘I am Joar-Fane. Do you like me?

‘
“
The Loving One”,’ the blond giant translated
silently, keeping the girl at a distance. I bet you live up to it.’
Aloud, he went on, ‘Where do you live, I will take you
there.’

Even as Bunduki made the offer,
he realized that carrying it out might delay his search for Dawn.
The
Manganis’
attitudes had suggested that they had had little or no
contact with human beings. So the girl’s home would probably be a
long way off.

A disappointed frown came to
Joar-Fane’s features. When a woman was rescued by a jungle god, she
did not expect him to be in such a hurry to return her to her
village. Perhaps he required a hint to assure him of her
feelings.

‘
I don’t know
where it is and I don’t care
,’ the girl stated with a toss of her
head. ‘I will stay with you, jungle god. I’ll make you a fine wife,
you’ll see.’

Still holding Joar-Fane away
from him, Bunduki wondered what he could do with her. If he tried
to locate her village, she might deliberately mislead him. Or she
could really be lost and have no idea of the direction in which her
home was situated. In either event, he would be delayed—possibly
for days—in his attempt to find Dawn. That was something which he
did not care to contemplate. He had seen sufficient to realize that
the jungle contained many perils, some of which—such as the
presence of
Mangani
—were different from anything she might be
expecting.

‘
What is your name, great
god of the jungle?’ Joar-Fane continued, when her words failed to
elicit the desired response.

‘
Bunduki,’ the
blond giant replied, being able to say his name while speaking the
girl’s language although it had been impossible when using the much
more primitive speech of the
Manganis.
‘But I’m not a god. I’m just a
man.’

‘
Bunduki,’
Joar-Fane repeated, speaking the word
slowly. Then she turned on her
most winning smile.
‘Bunduki.
Bunduki.
I like it. I’ve never seen such a beautiful man as you,
Bunduki, and I’ll make you a very fine wi—’

Hoping to chill the girl’s ardor by a
display of indifference, the blond giant pushed her gently aside.
Her words had been trailing away even before he did so, and she was
staring past him in an alarmed fashion. He swung around, wanting to
find out what had attracted—or diverted—her attention.

Several more
Mangani
were coming from
the game trail. There were five females; one big and old, the
others younger but fully developed. A dozen children of various
ages were trailing along and two immature bulls brought up the
rear. Joining the new-comers, the two youngest members of the first
party started to explain—as well as their limited vocabulary would
allow—what had happened. The females and the youngsters did not
listen with any great display of interest. In fact, long before the
explanations were completed, they were beginning to scatter and
forage for food in the bushes and grass at the edge of the
clearing.

Bunduki decided that it might
be advisable to leave. There was a chance that the presence
of
Bul-Mok
’s
family would arouse his protective instincts and cause him
to lead a mass attack by the other bulls.

Gathering up his bow, the blond
giant went to retrieve the arrow from
Bul-Mok
’s
ruined club. If his suspicions regarding the
jungle were correct, it would be impossible for him to obtain
replacements of such quality and materials. The girl scuttled after
him, darting frightened glances at the
Mangani.
Having advanced with the intention of
attempting to reach the dead capybara, the largest of the young
females gave a snarl and rushed towards Joar-Fane.