DEBUT NOVELLA ALERT!!

Kufae and the Hunters

Kufae hurried up to the brambly bush where the two girls stood in the shadow of the great mountain. They had their heads bowed against the volcanic ash being blown around by the wind, grey flakes drifting this way and that.

“They are from my people,” Kufae said as she came upon the group.

“You saw them?”

“I know the sound of Edrorian horses,” she replied, stringing her bow. “We can not outrun them. You must hide in this bush while I lead away the hunters.”

None of them stirred, looking at her as if she had just asked them to jump into a fire. Perhaps she had. This would their first trial since following her and if they could not will themselves to push on even when their bodies screamed for an end, the girls would perish and drag her along with them.

“If we are lucky, the falling ash would conceal your footprints before the hunters reach this place,” Kufae told them. “They will see only mine and follow. Now go in there and hide. The hunters will do worse things to you if you are caught than those thorns against your skin.”

“I am pregnant,” one of them said, wide-eyed.

Kufae understood her worry but the situation could not be helped. “Then you go in first,” she replied, hardening her voice.

She touched an arrow to her bowstring before running away, wishing the girls would see the sense in her plan before the hunters were on them. Kufae sprinted for the giant wall of stone she knew was not too far away, cutting a straight path through the sparse woods, fear thick in her throat. All the way she expected an arrow in her back, chased by warriors who could pierce the eye of a horse from two hundred paces away. Kufae could not outrun the riders. The best she could hope for was to discourage a pursuit or make her stand on chosen ground. However, if it came to the latter, then she had lost already.

Kufae was scrambling up the cliffside when she heard the neigh of a horse frighteningly close. They had closed the distance. She took comfort in knowing the riders would not use the horses to climb the rocks, no matter how sure-footed the Edorian breeds could be. The warriors would be too exposed. Under the receding sunlight, Kufae risked a downward glance to see three figures halt at the feet of the cliff and dismounted. Just a hundred paces away, close enough to drop her like bird from its nest if she gave them a clear shot. Kufae quickly slipped behind a boulder and sort a different path upwards.

She reached the crest tired and panting only to find it a dead end. The only other path off the cliff was a sheer drop into a murky waterfall. She would have to make a stand after all, a possibility she did not relish. Kufae cursed her luck, knowing what she had to do, though somehow lacking the will. Each of the hunters were her match in skill and aggression. Her better gamble was a surprise attack to keep them off until nightfall. Then perhaps the dark would conceal her escape. She had to move fast before her pursuers reached the same conclusion.

As Kufae weighed her chances, a shadow fell over her and she spun around to see two warriors climbing on to the crest with drawn weapons. She quickly raised her bow as well, pointing to the woman on the right. Then the third hunter clambered up and, when the man saw Kufae, he smiled.

“Lower your weapons,” he told the others. The warrior was a huge fellow with broad shoulders, and a personal guard to the Edorian prince. “Now,” he went on when his companions hesitated.

Together, they all lowered their weapons very slowly as not to startle anyone. Kufae did not fail to notice more hesitation from the woman who was whispered to be a mistress of the prince and mother to one of his children. These hunters had a particular and rare skill. Loyalty. Kufae would not guilt herself out of this one. However, she had already concluded they were fools who obviously wanted to enjoy their power over her. But if they wanted to play around, the better for her to think of an escape.

“So it is true the prince sent those Fuli wanderers after me,” she said, her mind working. “And you were meant to finish them off, not me.”

The leader showed her the white of his teeth again. “So you spoke to those fools,” he said with a shrug. “That is why the prince could not trust them to master their tongues. So we were sent to finish off whoever was left standing.”

“Your father should have kept his mouth shut, Kufae,” the last hunter said.

She stared at the young warrior who had been her lover, before his marriage proposal was rebuffed by her parents. A nameless warrior was no fit match for the daughter of a shaman. He had pretended to take it in his stride and promised to proof himself worthy someday. She could not believe she had trusted him. Only Murae knew she would be by the river. They were suppose to meet there. It seemed her mother had the right of it. A nameless warrior had no honour, no reputation to protect.

Her chest swelled with a hatred she never knew she could muster, wishing Murae's death with the full strength of her imagination. Then without warning, the older boy jerked with a dead cry before dropping sideways to the ground, an arrow quivering in his back. They all stepped away in alarm, but the huntress was the first to recover and react. She leapt forward and struck, but Kufae had her blade out in a heartbeat to meet the blow. As the weapon was parried away, the woman used her momentum to knock her off balance and Kufae slammed into the cliff wall with a shuddering thump.

The air was almost knocked out of her as she fell to her knees, dirt dribbling on to her head. Kufae could hear a pair of fighters to her right, roaring and dancing. But when she looked up, all she saw was the flash of steel coming for her head. Kufae moved her body just a few inches before the jab came through to leave a painful sting on her cheek, the blade biting into the earthy wall behind her. Then she rose like a maniac with a wild swing of her sword to tear through leathers and skin, and heard a satisfying cry of pain.

Out of the corner of her eyes, Kufae saw the other hunter coming but could not react quickly enough. The man was fast as an iron grip closed around her wrist and a savage twist sent her sword clattering to the floor. Even as she screamed in agony, a leg connected with her chest and threw her to the floor. The warrior was still on the move, picking up her sword and advancing. But the man had barely taken two steps forward before an arrow appeared through his stomach. He gaped down at the bloody metal, surprised. Then another burst through his chest and his legs went from under him.

Over the hump of the dying hunter, Kufae saw her step-brother nocking a third shaft, his own leather vest soaked in blood. She quickly reached for her sword, sensing the presence behind her. When Kufae rose to her feet and looked around, the huntress was on the edge of the cliff, a hand clasped under her armpit even as blood sipped through her fingers. The woman gave one last glance at the archer before leaping off. Kufae rushed to the edge in time to see her hit the churning waters below. She did not know how long she kept on staring, somehow stunned by the feat.

“You think she will survive?” Ulugae asked, walking up to her.

That was the least of Kufae's worries. “I think she needed the bath,” she replied nonetheless. “You are hurt,” she went on as she took the boy in her arms.

He gave a faint grunt. “I will survive it.”

She nodded, seeing the small gash in his side. “What are you doing here?” she asked, walking over to cut strips of cloth from the bodies and bind the wound.

“Mother sent me for you when she saw them leave the camp,” Ulugae replied. “So I followed them.”

Kufae's heart sunk at the news, fearing for her family. But there was nothing more she could do for them now. Her step-brother's presence here was a clear message from the old woman.

“We can not return to the camp,” she told the younger boy and he grunted knowingly.

“I accepted Mother's decision to ride out,” Ulugae said with the demeanor of an older man. “And now my blade is yours to command, sister.”

“I am glad to hear it,” Kufae said, tightening the last knot.

“Where do we go now?”

“We are going north to the Bumi people,” Kufae replied, smiling at the confusion on the boy's face but giving no further clarification. She took comfort in his presence though as they walked down the cliff. Perhaps they could survive this exile together.

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By J.E. Mfombep