“If it really is a disease,” Keselo added. “It might be something else entirely.”

“Such as what?” Rabbit asked.

“Some kind of poison, I’d say,” Keselo replied. “Diseases don’t really kill that fast, but poisons of various kinds can kill much, much faster.”

6

I don’t think they’ll believe you until you show them how well the spear-thrower works, Tlantar,” Dahlaine said a few days later when they were alone in his map-chamber.

Tlantar shrugged. “I’ll invite them to join us in a bison hunt then,” he said. “Three or four dead bison should persuade them that we Matans know exactly what we’re doing.”

“Don’t get any of our friends killed, though,” Dahlaine cautioned. “All sorts of things will fall apart if something that disastrous happens.”

“I do know what I’m doing, Dahlaine,” Tlantar replied. “I’ve been taking bison for more than thirty years now, and they haven’t killed me yet.”

He went on outside Dahlaine’s cave, and as luck had it, Longbow, Athlan, Keselo, and Rabbit were talking together just outside the mouth of the cave. “I think it’s time for us to clear something up,” he told the group of recent friends. “What are your feelings about a bit of hunting one of these days?”

“I’m always ready to go hunting,” Athlan said, “but from what I’ve heard, my arrows might not work very well on the bison you’ve got wandering around out here in the grassland.”

“They probably wouldn’t,” Tlantar agreed. “That’s why I’m inviting you all to join the hunt. You’ll need to see how effective the spear-thrower can be when the animal you want to kill is five or ten times as large as the deer you usually hunt. Until you see the spear-thrower kill several of our overgrown bison, you’ll probably be troubled about our weapon. After you’ve seen what we can do, you’ll probably sleep better.”

“We’ll probably sleep permanently if we happen to get trampled in one of those stampedes I’ve been hearing about,” Rabbit said.

“I know of a safe place where you can stand and watch without being in any danger,” Tlantar said then. “There’s a rock-pile that juts up out of the meadow near a place where several bison herds go to get water. Bison run across grassland without any difficulty. Climbing up a steep pile of rocks wouldn’t thrill them very much, though, and you’ll be able to see everything, but you won’t be in any danger.”

“This is fairly important to you, isn’t it, Two-Hands?” Longbow asked.

“I’ve always rather enjoyed teaching, friend Longbow,” Tlantar replied with a broad grin. “This time I’ll teach you and your friends not to worry so much. I’m sure you’ll sleep better if you’re not worrying.”

“Tomorrow morning, then?” Longbow asked.

“Was there something wrong with right now? Bison graze all day, probably because there aren’t any forests for them to hide in around here, so they’ll be right out there in the open. Shall we go?”

The midmorning sky was cloudy when Tlantar led his recent friends down to Asmie to pick up several more hunters. Tlantar took that to be a good sign. Bison sometimes grew fidgety when the bright sun was shining down on them. He’d once seen a herd bolt and turn when the shadow of a passing hawk flickered over them on a bright, sunny day. Over the many years Tlantar had spent hunting, he’d come to realize that bison will stampede sometimes for the smallest of reasons—a flickering shadow, a tiny noise, or nothing more than a shimmer of light. On one occasion, however, he’d seen a herd calmly grazing in the middle of a thunderstorm that was shaking the very earth.

Word of the planned hunt had evidently been spreading around, and that didn’t bother Tlantar at all. He was leading a group of the most experienced hunters in the village, so there wasn’t much likelihood of any serious mistakes. Their friends were going to be watching what promised to be a very successful hunt, and once they reported what they’d seen, the worrying should come to an abrupt halt.

“We’ll stop here,” he said quietly when they reached the pile of rocks near the sizeable creek that ran on up out of the mountain range lying to the south of Dahlaine’s part of the Land of Dhrall. “It might take you a while to climb up those rocks, but let’s find out if there are any bison in the immediate vicinity. I sent out a couple runners a while back, and they should be coming back quite soon. The bison usually go to water about this time of day, so the hunting should be good.”

“If you don’t mind, I think I’d like to come with you, Tlantar,” Longbow said. He held up one hand when Tlantar started to object. “I think I’ll need to see them up close,” he said. Then he smiled. “Don’t worry, friend Tlantar. I do know how to run if it’s necessary, and I can run all day, if I really have to.”

“Why are you suddenly so curious about these bison, Longbow?” Rabbit asked his friend.

Longbow shrugged. “You never really know when something might turn out to be very useful, Rabbit. From what I’ve heard, quite a few bison hunters are trampled to death by these stampedes every year up here in the North. When the creatures of the Wasteland invade this part of the Land of Dhrall, a stampede by a few thousand frightened bison could thin our enemies out quite noticeably, wouldn’t you say? This is the native land of the bison, after all, so it’s their duty to help ward off the enemies, isn’t it?”

The young Trogite Keselo laughed. “Your mind is working all the time, Longbow. These bison might turn out to be almost as useful as those Church armies were during the war in Veltan’s Domain. If it turns out like that, we could very well spend another war just getting out of the way, couldn’t we?”

“The old ones are the best,” Longbow agreed.

Then one of Tlantar’s runners returned. “There’s a large herd coming to the creek from the east, My Chief,” he reported. “I’d say that they’ll be watering in about a quarter of an hour.”

“Good,” Tlantar said. “Go on up to the top of this rock-pile, my friends,” he told Rabbit, Keselo, and Athlan. “You should be able to see everything from up there. Then, when we go back to Dahlaine’s cave, you’ll be able to tell everybody just how good a well-thrown spear can be. Maybe they’ll all stop worrying so much then.”