11 - Take

" Be as at alert as the tips of your ears."

The leader of the pack called. He was sure to keep his voice very low. Twas the prime of the day though but no one could vouch for the forest. Things which no one could even think of happened a whole lot of times.

The men kept to a lock of track. That was how they had been trained to move in a forest whenever they were on such serious a business.

Twas quite easy for them to leap on trees whenever they saw any predator coming for them. They strike better on the top of the trees. Twas their jungle.

"And always remember that the heart of an Elephant is in his eyes. Connect with his eyes, connect with his strength."

They all hummed at that. The kept on moving till they got to the mouth of the cave. They were going to use that route.

It had been quite easy a journey for them. Twas quite odd not to had been accosted by any of the wildlife or cat since they had been out in the forest.

The sun had danced about in the sky for some whiles now and the wings of the calling birds had bathed in the its orange rays.

The leader of the group of the seven men was jumpy. He knew something was wrong and had to make his men see that.

His responsibility was not to make them afraid or put them on a spot, but to keep them safe and at alert.

He knew he couldn't possibly keep all of them safe, all he would do was just to tell them what to do and when to do it.

Those who refused to dance to the tune of his orders always did have their blood on their own head.

The strongest of the seven men was the first to enter into the cave route. Then followed by an average. Then on and on till they all where in it. The leader was at the back.

They were headed to the river Put to retrieve the dark man, one of the Havas of the village. The man with great influence and consequence. He would take blames for what he had no idea what birthed it.

He only loved peace. He would do anything to keep the innocent alive at the expense of his own life. And he had done that again with the lover boy.

That path was dry but filled with crumbs and smothered rocks. There was a spot, halfway into the cave-tunnel where there were holes through which the tongue of the sun tickled the curves of the rocks.

"What do you think about this place? You think it's taken often?"

One of the men smothered the silence. What was the use of utter seriousness throughout the case,

"I guess those wild cats come here often."

Another man said, they call him Havilah, one of the sons of the dark man. He would do all he could to save his father. Who wouldn't?

"Guys, look at it. The fart of a Cougar."

The youngest who seemed to be the strongest at the front said.

Everyone laughed except Havilah. He kinda hated trying to make a joke of what was not precisely funny. Like when dealing with such business as that of the moment.

"Enough."

The leader ordered. He had been feeling uncomfortable but he had tried to keep it away from the pack member.

That obviously could had been because of the nuptials he would be having soonest. He had heard that it happened often.

"Let everyone be at alert."

He breathed the words out.

"Another Cougar is about to fart."

That youngest guy again joshed. Few men joined him in the laughter but one of the men close to him drew out his spear and put it to the neck of the fellow.

He was bent on plunging it into the neck and cutting off the head at the order of the leader.

His eyes were dark and his face long, he had pinned that fellow to the wall and was breathing heavily. That fellow pinned was not a cake walk.

"Let him go."

The leader said finally.

"No, I won't."

The fellow retorted. He wasn't bold enough to look into the eyes of the leader but he didn't let go of the fellow too.

"I won't say it again."

The tone of that was glazed with threat. And you could easily tell when the leader was under pressure.

"He shouldn't, Master."

"He shouldn't."

"He shouldn't."

He heard three subsequent people saying the same thing. He was confused.

"Is there something I'm not getting here?"

The leader said, fighting his way through the fellows to the front.

"Someone, talk to me."

His voice was getting higher and thicker and tougher. He was at the verge of anger. He sucked at hiding it.

He almost pushed a fellow to the wall and make him hit his head really hard. That would had been some hyped level of concussion. He didn't care.

By joining, they already loathed death.

As he got to the guy who had refuted his order and kept his hold on the other guy, he brought out the slide knife on him and was going to plunge it into his throat when he heard some faint gibbers and a waning shriek.

He wanted to be sure if that was what he heard.

He looked at his folks. They seemed to have heard that too.

"You should have listened to me."

He was going to plunge the knife into the neck again, then he heard movements from the back and from the front. They were like at the mid of the tunnel.

"What is that?"

"What do we do?"

The leader looked at them. He didn't have a response for them. He was only calculating the odds of getting out of there alive.

From the direction which led to the opening and of the cave from where they had come, were some ruthless Cougars flexing their limbs towards them.

From the other direction which was where they were headed, the river Put, came stones of several degrees and weights.

He knew those who were at the exit. The Mangani.

He needed no thought to prune anymore. He shouted.

"To the exit all."

He said and they all headed there, ducking as many stones as they could.

They were aware of what they would burst out to.