Free Koban Universe 1 by Stephen W. Bennett

would not hear a large pack of screamers closing with them. Ahead, he could see the shaking of some of the tall ferns where the pigs were still rooting for tubers or grubs. Now he was undecided. Should he fly over and draw the pack with him or land and release their annoying little ungrateful pack mate, and hope they would see or hear the pigs and attack.
    He landed, and released his captive unharmed when the pack was again thirty feet away, and he flapped directly towards the pigs, a short distance away in the ferns. His now released screamer raced towards the pack, but the dominate pack members in the lead of the chase went right past it, to make certain the wolfbat didn’t turn back, or perhaps was injured and unable to escape for some reason.
    Flock Leader passed a few feet above the pigs and they instantly squealed an alarm at sight of him, calling drove members to cluster together for defense, as usual. What he did that was not usual as he passed over, was to suddenly dip down and rake his jaws and claws along one side and flank of an old sow. He had identified her as the probable weakest member of the drove from his previous scouting. She obligingly squealed loudly, and bolted a few feet from the edge of the group.
    No matter if the screamers were merely still in pursuit of Flock Leader, or had zeroed in on the scent and sounds of the pigs, the result was a sudden burst of the pigs from their fern cover, with the pack in close pursuit. The chase would not last long, because the screamers would soon realize they probably could not isolate one of the much larger pigs if they stayed clustered and ran as a tight group. However, Flock Leader turned and came at the same sow from the front and this time bit and clawed her other flank and side in passing. She was not seriously injured, but the sight of blood would definitely draw the screamers attention, and the sow lost close contact for a moment with her group as she recoiled again from the attack.
    A dozen of the screamers leaped between the sow and the drove, which caused her to veer farther from her group protection. Flock Leader made a low frequency scream she would clearly hear as he again dove directly at her face. She pulled up her run just a moment before he climbed back up, which allowed most of the other screamers to catch up to her, and suddenly the bleeding sow was surrounded, at a standstill and watching her only protection recede into the trees.
    Her snorts and squeals of terror had caught the attention of several of the other pigs, one a large tusked boar that seemed to be the dominate male, and he and two other male pigs were slowing, looking back. Flock Leader quickly dove at them to distract them, then pulled up and chased after some of the now exposed piglets, which were normally hemmed in by the protective adult pigs. They squealed in fear as he screamed loudly at them and bit one in passing. The boar’s choice became one of returning to defend the surrounded old sow, or to go protect the future of the drove. The future won, and the pigs soon vanished into the underbrush.
    The screamers began their task of wearing the sow down, with simultaneous bites coming from all sides, and leaping up to come down with their middle toe claw raking her sides, drawing more blood. It wasn’t going to be a quick end for the big sow, not with attackers a small fraction of her size. Even a squadron of wolfbats would have had to exhaust the large animal gradually. This was larger prey than either set of predators would normally have tackled alone. None of them had the bite force to clamp jaws on her thick short throat to close her windpipe to suffocate her, or jaws large enough to cover her mouth and muzzle for the same sort of faster kill.
    Climbing above the trees, Flock Leader called for two squadrons he saw circling near the distant home plateau to join him. This prey would be far more meat than the screamer’s entire pack could consume in days. He suddenly heard loud