Sebastian Darke: Prince of Explorers (15 page)

'That's lovely. Now perhaps you'd like to find a stream so I can wash my hand?'

Cal ignored him. He stood up again and stared thoughtfully off into the jungle. Sebastian wiped his hand surreptitiously on some leaves. Cal seemed to reach a decision. He turned back and thrust his spear into Sebastian's hands, then motioned to Sebastian and Galt to follow him. He left the trail and set off into the bushes.

Sebastian followed dutifully, but the last thing he felt like doing right now was hunting for rusa. He didn't really have the first idea how to go about it. He watched how the other two placed their feet carefully in the damp undergrowth to ensure they made no sound and tried to follow suit, but his boots crunched and crashed around as if they had a life of their own. Cal kept throwing him indignant looks, which he tried to ignore. When he glanced back, he could see that he was already some considerable distance from the trail, and it occurred to him that if he were somehow left on his own, he would struggle to find his way back to the others.

Cal paused again and signalled to Galt to circle round to his left. Then he looked at Sebastian and indicated that he should go right. Sebastian had no option but to do as he was told. He moved forward, holding the spear out in front of him, feeling vaguely foolish. Within a few moments Cal and Galt were lost to view and he found himself pushing his way through thick screens of fern and hanging vines. It was so dark here that he had to peer carefully at the ground ahead; the infernal background noise, myriad twitterings, shrieks and hoots, set his nerves on edge. The smell of rusa dung from his hand assailed his nostrils and sweat trickled down his back.

Sebastian was just telling himself that this was a complete waste of time when he detected movement up ahead and froze in his tracks. He tried to focus: a dark shape moved past the tree trunks in front of him, a splash of dappled light playing across a furry back . . .

Furry?
Shouldn't that be
hairy
? The thought flashed through his mind an instant before he registered that the creature he was looking at wasn't a rusa at all, but something a good deal bigger. A low, rumbling growl seemed to resonate through the undergrowth. As he stared in mute terror, the huge shape suddenly reared up on its hind legs and bared its teeth, which glinted dangerously in the gloom.

Now Sebastian could see it in more detail: a huge beast with vicious-looking teeth and massive paws that ended in curved claws. He said something colourful under his breath and thought about beating a hasty retreat, but a great blasting roar from the creature seemed to fix him to the spot.

'Oh, great,' he murmured.

The beast dropped back onto all fours and started clawing the ground, flinging up clods of earth and shredded vegetation – a great bristling monster that looked powerful enough to tear the strongest man limb from limb. Its tiny black eyes glittered with feral rage, its open jaws dripped saliva – and it was preparing to charge. It didn't take an expert to see that.

In the brief time he had, Sebastian reviewed his options. He could run for his life; he could yell for Cal to come and help him; or he could stand and make a fight of it. He doubted whether he had time for the first option; the second would mean total humiliation; and so there was nothing for it but to

take a firm grip on his spear and brace himself for the onslaught.

He didn't have long to wait. The beast surged forward and came for him, head lowered, teeth bared. Sebastian gritted his teeth and tried to keep the spearhead pointed at the creature's chest but his hands were trembling violently. There was a sudden impact that jarred every bone in his body and the wooden shaft of the spear bent as though it had no more substance than a blade of grass.

For an instant it seemed it would splinter; but then the spearhead sank into the creature's chest and, as the shaft snapped straight again, Sebastian felt himself being lifted from his feet and carried backwards. He remembered Joseph's story about his encounter with a rusa boar but didn't have time to dwell on it, because now he was crashing through bushes and ferns and leaves and he could do nothing but hang on grimly and hope that he didn't get pushed back into anything more solid.

And just as this thought occurred to him, there was another impact and his backward motion was suddenly halted. He lost his grip on the spear and dropped into a sitting position. The beast kept on coming, its front legs extended towards Sebastian's face. As he watched in rigid terror, he saw that the spear was sinking deeper and deeper into the beast's body and that its progress was finally slowing . . .

Glancing back, he saw what had happened. The butt of the spear had jammed into an opening in the broad trunk of a tree and the beast's own momentum had plunged the sharp spearhead deep into its guts. Finally it came to a halt, its legs quivering, its dripping snout a hair's breadth away from Sebastian's face. It gave a last convulsive roar, blasting out a great gust of raw-meat breath. Then its eyes flickered and clouded over, and the extended front paws swung downwards, the razor-sharp claws raking Sebastian's shoulders and tearing the fabric of his jacket.

For a moment Sebastian stared into those vacant eyes and then he remembered to breathe. He became aware of two sets of running feet approaching him through the undergrowth. Quick as a flash, he scrambled up, swung the end of the spear away from the tree, rolled the beast's carcass over onto its side and then took a seat on its lifeless body. When Cal and Galt burst into view from two different directions, Sebastian glanced up and affected a look of mild surprise.

'Oh, there you are,' he said. 'I wondered what had happened to you two.'

The warriors approached slowly, staring down in apparent disbelief at the great furry carcass.

'It's a gruntag!' exclaimed Galt. 'Biggest one I ever saw.'

'Oh, is that what it's called?' said Sebastian, trying to sound casual, though in truth his heart was still hammering fit to burst.

'What happened?' asked Cal suspiciously.

'What does it look like?' retorted Sebastian. 'This big lad decided he didn't like the look of me and charged. I had to take care of him. Well, I couldn't wait all day for help to turn up, could I? To be honest, I thought you two had given up and gone back to the others.'

Galt went down on his knees beside the carcass and examined the place where the spear had gone in. He let out a low whistle. 'How did you get it in so deep?' he asked.

Sebastian shrugged. 'I just threw it,' he said.

'You . . . threw it?' Galt looked astonished.

'Yes, the . . . what did you call it? The grunter?'

'Gruntag!'

'Yes, well it started towards me – it was still a good twenty spear-lengths away – and I thought, why not just throw the spear at it? Give it a sporting chance. Anyway, my aim was true, as you can see.'

Cal snorted derisively. 'There's not a man alive could throw a spear such a distance with
that
kind of force,' he said.

'True enough.' Sebastian got up from his seat on the gruntag's flank. 'But then, we Chosen Ones aren't exactly ordinary men, are we?' He started to walk away. 'I'll go and make sure the others are all right,' he said.

'Just a moment,' said Galt. 'If you're so strong, perhaps you'd like to throw this thing over your shoulder and carry it back to the trail for us?'

Sebastian rolled his eyes. 'Oh, come on,' he said. 'You can't expect me to take care of
everything
. I've done the hard bit.'

He looked around. 'Besides, this place is as good as any to make camp for the night.'

Cal sneered. 'Oh, so now you're an expert on campsites, are you?' he said.

'How hard can it be? Now you two get that thing skinned, gutted and ready to cook.' He thought for a moment. 'I suppose it
is
edible?' he asked.

Galt laughed. 'This is the jungle,' he said matter-of-factly. 'Anything that moves is edible.'

'Good. I'll go and fetch the others.' Sebastian smiled. 'I don't know about you lads, but I've worked up quite an appetite.' He began to walk away.

'Er . . . Chosen One?' said Galt, and Sebastian thought he deducted a new humility in his tone.

'Yes?' he said.

'You
do
realize you're walking in the wrong direction?'

'Of course.' He looked at Galt. 'A little test I devised,' he said. 'To . . . make sure you were staying alert. Yes, of course, I should
really
be going . . .'

'That way,' said Galt, pointing.

'Excellent.' Sebastian looked slyly at Cal. 'If only everyone was as clued up as Galt, we'd be laughing,' he said. He turned and walked in the direction Galt had indicated, hoping against hope that he wouldn't get lost.

Sebastian sucked the last meat juices from a large bone and threw it into the fire, over which hunks of gruntag flesh were still sizzling enticingly. He gave a long sigh of content.

'Now, that's what I call dinner,' he said.

Everybody was seated around the flames – except for Max, who stood a short distance off, browsing through the lush undergrowth in search of something more suited to a vegetarian diet.

Keera, who was sitting on a fallen tree trunk beside Sebastian, nodded and let out a long belch, a popular custom among the Jilith. 'Yes, there's nothing like a hunk of fresh meat,' she agreed.

'Bit tough, if you ask me,' muttered Cal, who seemed thoroughly out of sorts. 'Not like a nice tender rusa. Now that's what I call tasty.'

'Nonsense!' said Sebastian. He looked down at Salah, who was sitting cross-legged by his feet, happily tucking into a hunk of meat that was nearly as big as she was. 'What do you think?' he asked her. 'Gruntag a bit tough?'

Salah grinned, shook her head, and gave him a thumbs up.

'No complaints there,' observed Sebastian. He was aware that he was laying it on a bit thick, but it was such a pleasure to get one over on Cal, he simply couldn't resist it.

'The Chosen One's right,' said Galt, through a mouthful of food. His mouth and beard glistened with grease. 'If you take the meat from the haunches, it's as tender as anything in the jungle.'

Now all eyes turned to Cornelius, as though his opinion might decide matters. He was eating all right, but without enthusiasm.

'It's fine,' he muttered dismissively. 'I'm just not that hungry.'

Sebastian frowned. He didn't like this new version of his old friend – somebody who seemed to have lost all appetite for life. It was not like him at all and Sebastian could only hope that something would return him to his usual good humour.

From a short distance away there was a sudden blast of expelled air.

''Scuse me,' said Max, still browsing. 'Some of this greenery is a bit rich on the old system.'