An Alex Hawk Time Travel Adventure (Book 2): Lost In Kragdon-Ah Read online

  Alex looked at Monda-ak, who stared back with mournful eyes. “I’ll bet she would surprise me, wouldn’t she?”

  An hour before dawn on the third day, when the stars still shone so bright they nearly cast a shadow, Alex, Senta-eh, Werda-ak and Monda-ak descended to the clearing. Alex was hoping to slip out without attracting any attention. He should have known better.

  Just as she had before he had led his army off to war, Benka-eh, the high priestess, stood above them and chanted a blessing.

  Well, it worked last time. Why not?

  When they reached the plain, the small group encountered most of the Winten-ah waiting for them.

  Sekun-ak, now chieftain of the tribe, laid his hand on Alex’s shoulder. “I would rather be going with you.”

  “Too much for you to do here, brother. I will return with her.”

  “Or die trying,” Dan Hadaller said. That was something Alex had said before he completed the third and final quest to become a hunter for the tribe. “And that’s what I’m afraid of,” Dan finished.

  “I don’t have any interest in dying on this mission,” Alex said.

  “But does death have any interest in you?” Dan wondered.

  Months earlier, there had been some talk about Dan going with the army to attack Denta-ah, but this time they hadn’t even bothered with that conversation. There was something in Dan’s eyes that Alex didn’t like these days. A faraway look, the thousand-yard-stare, was settling in.

  Alex leaned in close and whispered into Dan’s ear in English. “When I return with the girl, nothing on Kragdon-ah is going to stop me from getting back to that door. I’ll make sure they let you come with me. They’ll owe me that much. They’ll owe both of us that much.”

  Dan nodded, but Alex sensed no conviction.

  Alex laid his hand on Monda-ak’s shoulder, looked at his two companions, and set off for the forest that ringed Winten-ah.

  When they reached the edge of the forest, he turned and looked back at Winten-ah. Initially, it had been his prison, but over the years, he had forged strong bonds with the people who lived there. He had a sudden prescience he might not see it again for a very long time.

  Chapter Two

  A Journey of a Thousand Miles

  Begins with a Single Step

  When they came to the forest that surrounded Winten-ah, Alex realized that, driven by exhaustion and disappointment, he had put almost no planning into this rescue mission.

  When he led his army against Denta-ah, he had planned every detail meticulously. Now, he didn’t even know what was in the pack he carried on his back—Sekun-ak, Dan Hadaller, and Niten-eh had packed it for him.

  They reached the trail that ran north-south along the outer edge of Winten-ah. Alex stopped and looked a question at Werda-ak.

  “Maybe I should tell you what I’ve figured out so far,” the boy said. “They are weeks ahead of us, but that only means their trail is old. It isn’t gone—I can still follow it, especially through this area, where I know the terrain so well.” He shrugged his bag off his shoulders and kneeled on the trail. Dawn had not fully arrived, but a glowing pink was gathering in the east, back toward the cliffside.

  Werda-ak pulled a piece of woven fabric out of his pack. It was dark gray and mottled with blood, but on one side there was also a red pattern in the material.

  “This came from the robe of one of the invaders that was killed. No one in Winten-ah has ever seen material with this pattern. That means no trader, no traveler has ever worn it. They are either from far away, or they had these clothes made to confuse us.” He held the material out to Monda-ak, who sniffed at it with interest. “His nose is so much better than ours that he will recognize this scent if he comes across it.”

  “Let me know if you smell anything like this,” Alex said to Monda-ak as though speaking to a child.

  Monda-ak growled deep in his throat in acknowledgment.

  “We know that the invaders arrived from the south, because that’s the direction they killed our southern lookouts first. I think that was just to throw us off, though. Several of them were injured in the battle and I found blood spatters heading north, not south.”

  “Or,” Alex said, “they really did come from the south, but left via a northern route then circled around when they left. They don’t want us tracking them.”

  “True. If that is what they did, I will know soon enough and we can double back.”

  “I will always trust your instincts. Let’s start north.”

  “I know speed is important, but if we move too quickly, I will miss their trail. Sometimes I will need to go ahead or lag behind.”

  Alex considered that. “For now, we will stay together. When you need to stop, tell us. If you are ahead or behind us and meet ronit-ta or another hungry predator, we won’t be able to save you.”

  “Grandfather taught me to be aware at all times. I will not be killed.”

  The hubris of youth.

  “I believe you and that brings me comfort. Until I say differently, you will stay with me.”

  Werda-ak did not answer, but turned and walked north. Monda-ak looked at Alex, waiting for the signal that would free him. Alex clicked his tongue once, and the mighty dog left the trail and moved through the forest.

  “He is just young,” Senta-eh said quietly. “He will learn.”

  “There are so few of us to carry out this mission, I need him to learn without becoming maimed or killed, though.”

  “The world is the world,” she said, then turned and followed.

  It had taken Alex a few years to become accustomed to that saying—the world is the world—which to them meant that whatever is destined to happen will, no matter how people might struggle against it.

  Alex had always preferred to believe in free will and the ability to change his own path. That made him doubly regret some decisions, such as stepping through the door and away from Amy.

  The trio stuck to the trail until it ended at the small river where Alex had once battled a giant rattlesnake. By the time they arrived at the river—no snakes in evidence today—the sun had risen and the late-summer day was warming up.

  “I suppose I should have asked earlier,” Alex said. “But can you two swim?”

  Senta-eh simply put two fingers against her forehead in positive acknowledgment, but Werda-ak said “My friends call me krista-ta.”

  The fish.

  “Good. Krista-ta, you can lead us across the river then, and we’ll use you to find out how swift the current is.”

  While they were talking, Senta-eh slipped her pack off and put it on her head. She slipped easily into the water and swam to the other side.

  “I guess the current isn’t too bad, boys.”

  Alex and Werda-ak exchanged slightly shame-faced glances, then also put their packs on their heads and swam across.

  Alex laid down at the edge of the other side and drank deeply. “No sense in using up our canteens when the water is cold and free running.” He turned to his companions. “What lies beyond this river?”

  Both of them put the back of their hands against their throats, which was the Winten-ah equivalent of an elegant shrug.

  “Have you never been beyond this river?”

  The same reaction again from both of them.

  “I guess it’s all new for all of us, then.”

  I forgot that most Winten-ah are born and die never having gone more than twenty miles from the cliffside.

  The warmth of the morning sun soon dried their clothes, and by noon it beat mercilessly down on their heads. They trekked on relentlessly, slowing only for Werda-ak to kneel and examine a print or a blood spatter.

  If Monda-ak was holding up his end of the tracking, it wasn’t obvious. He was traipsing off the trail, chasing small animals and generally making a nuisance of himself to everything except the three humans he traveled with.

  They grew more confident that the invaders had taken the same trail they had been following, and be
gan to move a little faster. They felt the pressure of being so far behind and came quickly around a blind corner at the base of a mountain. Werda-ak, who was in the lead, nearly fell into a deep hole. He stopped abruptly, pinwheeling his arms. Just when he found his balance, Alex bumped into him, once again sending him teetering precariously toward the hole.

  Alex grabbed the boy’s pack and pulled him back from the edge. At the bottom of the hole was a coyote, which the Winten-ah called grunda-ta. Its yellow eyes glared up at them, fangs bared.

  Monda-ak hurried to them and sniffed at the hole with interest. Alex clicked his tongue at him twice to tell him to stay back.

  “You’re so damn big, I’ll never get you out of there if you fall in. Now, what the hell is going on here?” Alex wondered.

  The hole was only five feet by five feet wide, but it was deep, and the walls sloped inward from the top of the hole to the bottom, which made it difficult to climb out. The sides had also been made smooth so it was impossible for the grunda-ta to dig steps out. Or, at least it hadn’t done so yet. At the bottom of the hole was the picked-over carcass of a creature none of them could identify. It looked like the grunda-ta had mostly devoured it.

  Sharp spikes pointed up through the ribcage of whatever the animal had been.

  Alex walked around the edge of the hole, considering, turning it over in his mind. Finally he nodded.

  “Look,” he said, pointing. “There are small limbs and branches underneath the grunda-ta and the animal. Then there are spikes that impaled and killed whatever it was that fell in the hole.”

  “Even so,” Werda-ak said, “What is the grunda-ta doing down there?”

  Alex thought it through. “I think the invaders knew they were well ahead of us and that we would be trailing them. They stopped here, dug this hole, and set a trap for us. If we were in a hurry, we would have blundered around that corner and we could have fallen in like this animal did.”

  “That still doesn’t answer what the grunda-ta is doing in the hole.”

  “I think the first animal fell in, and it probably didn’t die immediately. It could have squealed and cried and bled out, which attracted a pack of grunda-ta. I think it was too tasty a treat for them to resist, so they tried to climb down into the hole. This unfortunate one fell in and its pack abandoned it. It’s been eating and drinking the blood of the animal to stay alive.”

  Alex glanced around warily. “In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if the whole pack of them is watching us right now.” His hand dropped to the heavy hammer that was his primary weapon, but no movement caught his eye.

  Senta-eh considered what Alex said. “If we had fallen on one of those spikes, that would be the end of us just as sure as it was the end of this animal.”

  Alex nodded, his Ranger training still working on the problem. “And, even if something like this happens, and an animal falls into the trap, when we come along we will see it and know they are setting traps for us. That will slow down our pursuit.”

  “So what do we do?” Senta-eh asked.

  Alex smiled grimly. “It’s an effective strategy when being tailed. But look,” Alex said pointing at the hole, “even if they had covered that with leaves and branches, we would have seen it if we weren’t coming around a blind corner too fast. We just need to be cautious when we can’t see ahead, and keep our eyes open for other traps.”

  Alex looked at the grunda-ta—at least twice the size of any coyote he had ever seen in his own time—and said, “Bad luck that you were the one to fall in.”

  They skirted the hole and continued on, leaving the animal to his fate.

  Kragdon-ah was a cruel world.

  Once the sun was past its apex, they came upon a small, fast-running creek. None of them were tired yet—they were all young and strong—but Alex knew they had a long journey ahead of them. It didn’t matter if they ran as fast as they could until they collapsed, they wouldn’t catch up to the invaders any time soon. They had to play it smart and conserve their strength. This first day had been easy, but they had still been in mostly-familiar territory.

  Alex kneeled at the stream, filled his water jug, and emptied it down the back of his neck before refilling it. He nodded at a spreading elm tree.

  “Let’s stop and eat, then we can start again.”

  Alex sat with his back against the tree and opened his bag, hoping that Sekun-ak or Dan hadn’t forgotten to pack some food for him. They hadn’t of course. He pulled out a piece of pemmican.

  “Whoa, hold on,” Werda-ak said. “I thought those rations were for emergencies.”

  Alex looked at the pemmican, then at Werda-ak. “Got a better idea?”

  “Of course I do. Lay back and rest for a few minutes, old man. Start a fire if you want to make yourself useful.”

  Alex considered grabbing the boy by the ankle and turning him across his knee. The kid may have been four inches taller, but Alex knew he could do it. With age had come at least some wisdom, though.

  He waved him away and said, “Fine, fine. Off with you.”

  Werda-ak ran back to the stream and Alex gathered dried grass and twigs to build a fire. When he returned with a small armload, Senta-eh had done the same.

  She said, “Sit back now and I’ll build the fire,” before adding “old man.”

  Alex laughed, laid a piece of cloth across his eyes, and leaned back against the tree.

  I wonder if I could turn you over my knee? Alex considered for a long moment, then decided that would not be a prudent course of action. Not at that moment. Not ever.

  He drifted off into a half-doze until he was pulled back to consciousness by the pleasant smell of fish cooking on a spit over the fire. He pulled the cloth away from his eyes and squinted at Werda-ak, who stood over the fire, looking inordinately pleased with himself.

  While he had rested, Senta-eh had not only started the fire, but had also journeyed along the stream and found a type of wild blueberries. She divided them into three piles, put them onto broad leaves she had found and handed them out.

  “I can see I chose my traveling companions wisely,” Alex said. “The mark of a good leader.”

  People didn’t typically roll their eyes in Kragdon-ah, but Alex thought the two of them might have invented the response at that moment.

  When the fish was done, the three of them dug in. As they ate, Monda-ak trotted up to Alex, laid down, and began gnawing on a bone. No one paid him any mind at first, as the dog was always chewing on something. It wasn’t unusual for him to haul a large rock to bed with him and chew on that.

  Eventually, Alex looked down and saw what looked like a piece of cloth attached to the bone. Slowly, he reached his hand out and said, “May I see this, please? I’ll let you have it back.”

  Monda-ak eyed Alex suspiciously. After a long moment’s contemplation, he let the bone fall from his mighty jaws with a wet plop. That drew Senta-eh and Werda-ak’s attention. In a flash, the boy was up and tugged at the small piece of cloth. He withdrew the piece of cloth he had brought with him. A perfect match.

  “Here’s your bone back,” Alex said, dropping it on the ground. “Can you show me where you found it?”

  The dog put the bone between his jaws and shut them, splintering it into many pieces. Contentedly, he chewed each piece until it was gone.

  Alex had long since learned not to come between his dog and his food, so he waited patiently. When the last of the bone had been demolished, Monda-ak stood, shook the dirt off himself, and trotted back toward the woods.

  They didn’t have to follow him far. They found a hole—this one obviously dug by Monda-ak, as the fresh dirt was sprayed everywhere. He hadn’t had to dig too deep—some evidence that perhaps the invaders were in something of a hurry after all. Both in and out of the hole was what had once been a human carcass, now partially devoured. There was more of the clothing that had been attached to the bone the dog had dragged back to the campfire.

  The smell of decaying flesh was strong.

/>   “I think we’re going the right way,” Werda-ak said.

  Alex wanted to say, ‘No shit, Sherlock,’ but there was no translation of that into Winten-ah. The bone that Monda-ak had brought back to the camp looked like any other bone he retrieved in the wild. Without the identifying cloth, they likely would not have noticed.

  Monda-ak nuzzled in amongst the rotting carcass for a few moments, then sneezed and trotted into some bushes a few strides away.

  Alex kicked at the bones, trying to see if there was anything else to be learned from them when the dog returned with a prize, which he dropped at Alex’s feet. It was a leather hat with long flaps that came down at the back and sides, which would have covered the neck and ears of whoever wore it. Three wavy lines had been carved into the front.

  Alex picked the hat up, flipped it a few times to get the ribbon of saliva off it, then said, “Did you find this in the hole you dug?”

  The dog didn’t answer, of course. He was a dog. But he and Alex were so connected with each other that they managed to communicate simple ideas easily.

  Alex nodded to himself, and held the hat out to Werda-ak.

  “Ever seen anything like that before?”

  “I didn’t know anything like that existed.”

  Senta-eh concurred.

  “And that tells me that our kidnappers came from far away. If they were from anywhere around Winten-ah, you two would have at least seen the red in the fabric or this style of helmet.”

  Werda-ak reached for the helmet, which Alex happily released. The boy plopped it on his head, undeterred by the fact that it had likely been attached to a corpse until very recently. It was too big and slipped down over his eyes.

  “Big heads, too,” he observed. He moved things around in his pack and tucked the helmet inside.

  Alex glanced at the sun, a little lower in the sky now, but not losing any of its heat.

  Alex kneeled beside the shallow grave, breathing through his mouth. He had learned to endure many things in Special Forces, but he had never gotten used to the smell of death. He poked through the remains with a stick.