Free Shadows in the Cave by Caleb Fox Page B

stopped at the crest of a hillock and looked carefully at all of the path they could see, which wasn’t much. It sloped to the river from the hills on both sides. No one was in sight.
    “They’re well ahead of us,” Shonan said. He was impatient today, and moving fast eased his mind.
    “Let’s have a look at the ford,” he said. The crossing was probably at the shallowest place in the river that was handy, because women and children sometimes had to cross, too. “Full and fast,” Shonan said. They’d gotten a lot of rain over the last week.
    Without hesitation, Shonan stripped to his breechcloth, tucked his shirt and moccasins under Tagu’s lashings, held his spear and club two-handed over his head, and waded in. If Shonan ever got hurt, at least he wouldn’t suffer fromfretting about it first. Aku did the same with his clothes, lifted his spear and blow gun, and followed his father. Why he bothered carrying weapons he didn’t know. He couldn’t do any more than scare someone with them.
    A third of the way across, Aku stepped into a hole and went down. He scrabbled along the bottom like a crab, felt for something higher to stand on, pulled himself up onto a rock, and stood up. Then he had to swim several strokes to catch up with his weapons. When he got them, he turned to look at Shonan, who was grinning. Aku grinned back.
    As they got to the far side, Big River curved toward them, and the current clawed hard at the bank. The stream deepened and picked up speed. Waves splashed Aku’s underarms, his neck, his chin. He sloshed his way forward hard because there was nothing else to do.
    Shonan got to the bank, reached his weapons onto the grass, hoisted himself up with both hands, and raised a knee onto the lip. At that moment a spear ripped through his thigh.
    Shonan splashed backward into the river, bleeding. The spear floated away.
    Without thinking, Aku leapt for his father and missed. He lost his footing and banged to the bottom. When he surfaced, he leapt for his father again. He barely caught the floating hair.
    Two enemies howled out of the trees, jumped off the bank, and landed on top of Aku and Shonan feet first. Father and son went under. Aku flailed at enemy legs with his fists. When he managed to stand up, pain lightninged the back of his head, and the world went topsy-turvy.
    When his mind stopped reeling, Aku felt himself being lifted onto the bank. Shonan was sitting up, a hand on his torn thigh and both legs splashed with blood. Tagu was raising a ruckus.
    The enemies laughed at the dog and slapped at its face. Tagu barked louder and jumped harder. Two men got in good rib kicks. A commanding voice stopped the play.
    The commander stood over Aku and Shonan. “Good,” he said in the Galayi language. “You came after us—that showed courage.” He smiled his victory. “In return you get to see your woman die.”
    “Where is she?” demanded Shonan. His voice sounded a little shaky.
    The commander pointed north. “Headed up to—”
    His words turned into flying vomit. A rock the size of two fists bounced off his skull, and he collapsed.
    Aku heard a pffsst and a dart stuck into the neck of the warrior behind him.
    A buffalo dropped out of a tree. No, it only looked like a buffalo—it was a shaggy human being with a hump. “Get the bastards!” he yelled, but his words were smothered by everyone’s yelling and hitting.
    The nearest enemy turned to run. Aku grabbed his ankles. The man fell and twisted his feet free by rolling.
    Flat on the ground, Shonan flung himself across the enemy commander, grabbed a rock, and banged it onto the man’s skull again.
    A skinny soldier swung his war club at the buffalo man. The monster grabbed the handle of the club, twisted it out of the skinny enemy’s hand, grabbed him, hefted him into the air, ran at the tree yelling, and rammed his victim headfirst into the trunk.
    One warrior skittered away like a mouse.
    The one Aku had grabbed tried to run away,