Andre Norton - The Science Fiction anthology

Occasionally, Extrone halted, motioned for his water carrier, and drank deeply of the icy water to allay the heat of the forest, a heat made oppressive by the press of foliage against the outside air.

Ranging out, on both sides of the central body, the two businessmen fought independently against the wild growth, each scouting the flanks for farn beasts, and ahead, beyond the cutters, Lin flittered among the tree trunks, sometimes far, sometimes near.

Extrone carried the only weapon, slung easily over his shoulder, a powerful blast rifle, capable of piercing medium armor in sustained fire. To his rear, the water carrier was trailed by a man bearing a folding stool, and behind him, a man carrying the heavy, high-powered two-way communication set.

Once Extrone unslung his blast rifle and triggered a burst at a tiny, arboreal mammal, which, upon the impact, shattered asunder, to Extrone’s satisfied chuckle, in a burst of blood and fur.

When the sun stood high and heat exhaustion made the near-naked bearers slump, Extrone permitted a rest. While waiting for the march to resume, he sat on the stool with his back against an ancient tree and patted, reflectively, the blast rifle, lying across his legs.

“For you, sir,” the communications man said, interrupting his reverie.

“Damn,” Extrone muttered. His face twisted in anger. “It better be important.” He took the head-set and mike and nodded to the bearer. The bearer twiddled the dials.

“Extrone. Eh?... Oh, you got their ship. Well, why in hell bother me?... All right, so they found out I was here. You got them, didn’t you?”

“Blasted them right out of space,” the voice crackled excitedly. “Right in the middle of a radio broadcast, sir.”

“I don’t want to listen to your gabbling when I’m hunting!” Extrone tore off the head-set and handed it to the bearer. “If they call back, find out what they want, first. I don’t want to be bothered unless it’s important.”

“Yes, sir.”

Extrone squinted up at the sun; his eyes crinkled under the glare, and perspiration stood in little droplets on the back of his hands.

Lin, returning to the column, threaded his way among reclining bearers. He stopped before Extrone and tossed his hair out of his eyes. “I located a spoor,” he said, suppressed eagerness in his voice. “About a quarter ahead. It looks fresh.”

Extrone’s eyes lit with passion.

Lin’s face was red with heat and grimy with sweat. “There were two, I think.”

“Two?” Extrone grinned, petting the rifle. “You and I better go forward and look at the spoor.”

Lin said, “We ought to take protection, if you’re going, too.”

Extrone laughed. “This is enough.” He gestured with the rifle and stood up.

“I wish you had let me bring a gun along, sir,” Lin said.

“One is enough in my camp.”

The two of them went forward, alone, into the forest. Extrone moved agilely through the tangle, following Lin closely. When they came to the tracks, heavily pressed into drying mud around a small watering hole, Extrone nodded his head in satisfaction.

“This way,” Lin said, pointing, and once more the two of them started off.

They went a good distance through the forest, Extrone becoming more alert with each additional foot. Finally, Lin stopped him with a restraining hand. “They may be quite a way ahead. Hadn’t we ought to bring up the column?”

The farn beast, somewhere beyond a ragged clump of bushes, coughed. Extrone clenched the blast rifle convulsively.

The farn beast coughed again, more distant this time.

“They’re moving away,” Lin said.

“Damn!” Extrone said.

“It’s a good thing the wind’s right, or they’d be coming back, and fast, too.”

“Eh?” Extrone said.

“They charge on scent, sight, or sound. I understand they will track down a man for as long as a day.”

“Wait,” Extrone said, combing his beard. “Wait a minute.”

“Yes?”

“Look,” Extrone said. “If that’s the case, why do we bother tracking them? Why not make them come to us?”

“They’re too unpredictable. It wouldn’t be safe. I’d rather have surprise on our side.”

“You don’t seem to see what I mean,” Extrone said. “ We won’t be the—ah—the bait.”

“Oh?”

“Let’s get back to the column.”

“Extrone wants to see you,” Lin said.

Ri twisted at the grass shoot, broke it off, worried and unhappy. “What’s he want to see me for?”

“I don’t know,” Lin said curtly.

Ri got to his feet. One of his hands reached out, plucked nervously at Lin’s bare forearm. “Look,” he whispered. “You know him. I have—a little money. If you were able to ... if he wants,” Ri gulped, “to do anything to me—I’d pay you, if you could....”

“You better come along,” Lin said, turning.

Ri rubbed his hands along his thighs; he sighed, a tiny sound, ineffectual. He followed Lin beyond an outcropping of shale to where Extrone was seated, petting his rifle.

Extrone nodded genially. “The farn beast hunter, eh?”

“Yes, sir.”

Extrone drummed his fingers on the stock of the blast rifle. “Tell me what they look like,” he said suddenly.

“Well, sir, they’re ... uh....”

“Pretty frightening?”

“No, sir.... Well, in a way, sir.”

“But you weren’t afraid of them, were you?”

“No, sir. No, because....”

Extrone was smiling innocently. “Good. I want you to do something for me.”

“I ... I....” Ri glanced nervously at Lin out of the tail of his eye. Lin’s face was impassive.

“Of course you will,” Extrone said genially. “Get me a rope, Lin. A good, long, strong rope.”

“What are you going to do?” Ri asked, terrified.

“Why, I’m going to tie the rope around your waist and stake you out as bait.”

“No!”

“Oh, come now. When the farn beast hears you scream—you can scream, by the way?”

Ri swallowed.

“We could find a way to make you.”

There was perspiration trickling down Ri’s forehead, a single drop, creeping toward his nose.

“You’ll be safe,” Extrone said, studying his face with amusement. “I’ll shoot the animal before it reaches you.”

Ri gulped for air. “But ... if there should be more than one?”

Extrone shrugged.

“I—Look, sir. Listen to me.” Ri’s lips were bloodless and his hands were trembling. “It’s not me you want to do this to. It’s Mia, sir. He killed a farn beast before I did, sir. And last night—last night, he—”

“He what?” Extrone demanded, leaning forward intently.

Ri breathed with a gurgling sound. “He said he ought to kill you, sir. That’s what he said. I heard him, sir. He said he ought to kill you. He’s the one you ought to use for bait. Then if there was an accident, sir, it wouldn’t matter, because he said he ought to kill you. I wouldn’t....”

Extrone said, “Which one is he?”

“That one. Right over there.”

“The one with his back to me?”

“Yes, sir. That’s him. That’s him, sir.”

Extrone aimed carefully and fired, full charge, then lowered the rifle and said, “Here comes Lin with the rope, I see.”

Ri was greenish. “You ... you....”

Extrone turned to Lin. “Tie one end around his waist.”

“Wait,” Ri begged, fighting off the rope with his hands. “You don’t want to use me, sir. Not after I told you.... Please, sir. If anything should happen to me.... Please, sir. Don’t do it.”

“Tie it,” Extrone ordered.

“No, sir. Please. Oh, please don’t, sir.”