The Prey Read online

  We set off within the hour. This time they didn’t blindfold me or bind my hands. My bag was also returned to me – though the men were no friendlier.

  I saw more and more wooden buildings set amongst the trees and realized that this was a kind of town, spread over a large area – two hours later we were still crossing it – but much less densely populated thanGindeen. There were trees and areas of green space between the clusters of wooden dwellings.

  When we finally reached the far side, we came to a huge wooden building, oblong in shape like the others. It wasn’t anywhere near the size of the Wheel or the slaughterhouse in Gindeen, but it was still truly massive.I’d have expected to find something like this at the centre of the Genthai dwellings, but not here at the edge, with just the forest beyond.

  There were steps leading up to a veranda and a pair of large double doors, which stood wide open. Three prominent carvings of muscular men decorated that entrance. One was high above the door; the other two oneither side. All three had two features in common: the first was the Genthai facial tattoos I’d seen on Konnit; the second were their open mouths, from which protruded very long tongues, reaching well below the jaws.Each figure held a weapon – the ones on either side of the doors wielded huge clubs, the one above, a curved sword. They were clearly warriors making some kind of threatening challenge.

  There was a queue of Genthai sitting outside on the grass, waiting in silence. They were all barefoot.

  ‘You’ll have to wait your turn,’ the big man told me. ‘It could take an hour or more. Konnit likes to give everyone a fair and thorough hearing.’

  A line of white stones marked the edge of the grass, and when we reached it, the big man came to a halt and glared at me.

  ‘Take off your boots before you cross the line!’ he commanded. ‘This area is called the marae – it’s a sacred assembly ground.’

  We both took off our boots.

  ‘Leave your bag there as well. Nobody will touch it,’ he instructed. I obeyed, and we moved forward to join the queue.

  Before sitting down, I glanced over the heads of those waiting in front of me. In the gloom inside the building, I could make out two figures sitting face to face on the floor, engaged in conversation.

  The big Genthai waited beside me, not uttering another word until it was my turn. Then he gestured towards the open door, gave a grunt and walked beside me towards the seated man, who was facing us, arms folded.

  I noted that although the building was constructed of wood, there were three large stone fireplaces set into one wall. I looked up and saw hundreds of faces carved into all four walls. They seemed to watch me as Ipassed by.

  As I got nearer, I recognized Konnit. He still had the moustache drooping over his upper lip and the whorls of fierce-looking tattoos on his face.

  ‘This is the youth, lord. His name is Leif,’ said the warrior.

  ‘I remember him well, Garrett. He fought a tassel on the hill below Hob’s citadel. He fought and won, but did not have the courage to deliver the killing blow.’

  I felt dismay at Konnit’s words. He made my victory seem like nothing. Was he calling me a coward? I wondered. Perhaps I’d been a fool to come here.

  Konnit gestured at the wooden floor, and we sat facing each other. Garrett stood nearby, silently staring into the fireplaces. They were filled with grey ashes and the air was chilly – even colder than outside.

  I noticed another huge door at Konnit’s back. It could surely open only onto the closely packed trees of the forest.

  ‘Welcome to the meeting hall of the Genthai, Leif, son of Mathias,’ Konnit said with a smile. ‘This is the centre of our culture and our laws. Now, tell me, have you come to join us?’

  I knew that his invitation had been for me to take part in the coming battles, not to visit merely out of curiosity. But I screwed up my courage and told him the truth.

  ‘My training in the city is not yet completed,’ I explained. ‘I wish to fight in Arena 13 and must return before the next combat season starts. But I’m here to learn what I can of my father’s people – if you will allow meto stay for a while.’

  Konnit frowned. He looked far from pleased. ‘First you will address me as “lord” and give me the respect due as leader of the tribe!’ he said, raising his voice slightly.

  ‘Yes, lord,’ I replied, ‘but what of the Obutayer? Does she no longer rule here?’

  My father had told me that the tribe had always been matriarchal. The Obutayer had been the leader and mother of all.

  Konnit stared at me hard. ‘There are lines from the Amabramdata, our Book of Prophecy, which address this. Listen well.’

  He closed his eyes and began to recite from memory:

  ‘This is the time of waiting. This is the time when women rule. But soon it will be over. The moon shall dim as the sun grows bright. Then Thangandar shall return to lead us to victory over the cursed djinn . . . Areyou familiar with these lines?’

  ‘No, lord.’

  ‘Then I will alleviate your ignorance. The sun, of course, is symbolic and refers to the ascent of male leadership. The moon is the matriarch who has yielded power to me. The time of waiting and subjection to the willof the djinn is now over. We are preparing for war. When victory has been achieved, I will yield to the Obutayer and she will rule our people once more. We will speak again of this, and I will answer any questions youhave, but now I have business with others. You may stay, Leif, but you must work hard for your meat and bread. Garrett!’ he called, and the big man stepped closer. ‘I place Leif in your charge. Train him as a foresterand report back to me regarding his progress.’

  ‘Yes, lord,’ Garrett said, bowing.

  With those words I was dismissed, and after giving a bow towards Konnit I followed Garrett out of the hall, full of misgivings. I tried to shrug them off. It was only fair that I work for my keep, but I didn’t like theidea of being supervised by a man such as Garrett. He had been hard on me, but even worse was the way he referred to me as ‘half-blood’, which I found insulting.

  After crossing the sacred ground, we tugged on our boots and I picked up my bag. Garrett grunted and pointed. Instead of heading back the way we’d come, he led me in a different direction – I wondered if he wastaking me straight to work. But as we passed the end of the long meeting house and walked in among the trees, I saw the other end of the huge structure. Here there was no veranda, the ground sloping down to meet thebottom of the closed doors.

  And there was something else that caught my eye: four parallel paths sloped down through the trees towards those doors. Who would come out of the forest and use those when they could come through the front door,as we’d done? Perhaps they weren’t allowed to cross the sacred ground? Perhaps the paths were used by hunters or others who brought food to the meeting hall? It seemed strange to use four narrow paths when onebroader one would have served better.

  Suddenly, in the distance, far off amongst the trees, I heard a strange howl. Garrett didn’t react, but it sent a shiver down my spine. It reminded me of the cry of a wolf, but it sounded eerily human.

  THE WOLF WHEEL

  There are Wheels within Wheels.

  Amabramsum: the Genthai Book of Wisdom

  After Tyron had dismissed me for fighting with sticks, I’d spent several miserable weeks working in the Gindeen slaughterhouse. My memory of it was still vivid. It had been stinky, back-breaking work, but in manyways forestry among the Genthai was worse. My misery wasn’t caused by the work, hard though it was, but by the person who was supervising my training.

  No, it wasn’t just my aching muscles, blistered hands and lack of skill in swinging an axe; it was Garrett. I could do nothing right, and after a week he moved on from cursing and swearing to violence. Several timeshe cuffed me hard across the back of the head, then progressed to the odd kick to the backside or boot in the shins. Tyron always treated his trainees with respect, and Garrett’s bullying was more than I could stomach.

  Part of me wa
nted to return to Gindeen early, or perhaps spend some time in Mypocine, but my pride wouldn’t let me. Garrett was a bully, and I would not allow him to drive me away.

  One day I snapped and whirled round to face him, my fists raised. He was twice my size, but I didn’t care. I knew I was fast enough to land a few blows. It would be worth it.

  I balanced myself on my toes and waited for him to attack. It would be better if he made the first move. He was big – I was sure that if he rushed me, I could step aside and get at least one blow into the side of hishead.

  I took a step nearer and balanced myself again. ‘Come on!’ I challenged him. ‘You like dealing out blows from behind. Why don’t you try it face to face?’

  Garrett just stared at me, and then smiled. ‘So you do have a bit of spirit, half-blood. I’d almost given up on you!’

  My blood was up and I took another step towards him. Then I came up onto my toes again, my heart thumping, ready to launch an attack.

  His grin widened. ‘You still have all your teeth. That’s unusual in a stick-fighter – even for the champion stick-fighter of Mypocine. But I’ll tell you one thing, Leif: come at me with those fists and you’ll lose yourfront teeth for sure. Now get back to work!’

  His comment took me completely by surprise, but before I could respond, he turned his back on me and walked away. Slowly my anger dissipated; I didn’t go after him. Instead I picked up my axe and went back tomy inexpert chopping at the tree I was supposed to fell. But after this he never cuffed or kicked me again, and maybe he even swore at me a little less than before.

  Later, my mind kept returning to his remark about me being the best stick-fighter in Mypocine. How did he know that? I’d never told any of the Genthai about that part of my life. Had they been checking up on me? Iwondered.

  The weeks dragged by. I slowly got better at felling trees, but I was unhappy and ready to go back to Gindeen earlier than I’d planned.

  I was aware of intense activity all around me; things that didn’t include me. The older men were hunting and trapping far and wide, gathering food that seemed to be considerably in excess of the tribe’s current needs.Slowly I began to realize that the majority of the meat was being salted and stored against some future eventuality.

  Was this part of their preparations for war?

  Every morning the young men left early, before dawn, and set off into the forest in groups and didn’t return until dusk. I suspected that they were training for war, but when they left the communal shelters they didn’tcarry weapons. Eventually I realized that there must be training camps deep within the forest.

  Then, late one morning when I was working alone as usual, I saw part of the Genthai army. I was near the top of a hill and there was a track at its foot that wound through the trees. The only warning of their approachwas the thunder of hooves. A column of horsemen came into view. They rode three abreast at a canter.

  Dressed in chain mail, two great swords were attached to the saddle of each warrior. They rode fine thoroughbreds, made for speed. Some carried spears and others had bows strung across their shoulders. They musthave been aware of me but all looked ahead; not one even glanced in my direction.

  The column passed me by for almost an hour. That meant a lot of warriors. But I kept thinking of the weapons they wielded. They might pose a real threat to the Protector’s guards. But could swords, spears and bowsbe effective against the might of the djinn that dwelt beyond the Barrier?

  There was a great sense of comradeship amongst the Genthai, but I was excluded. Hardly anybody spoke to me. Nobody befriended me at work. Nobody shared a joke with me. I was the joke. They whispered andlaughed at me behind my back.

  At night, when we ate in one of the communal shelters, the women avoided my eyes and the children kept their distance. I was a half-blood – not even a person, in their eyes. But they seemed happy together –affectionate and warm; only I was excluded.

  About a month after I’d arrived, I was chopping down a tree chosen by Garrett. Later I was to measure it carefully and cut it into lengths. It would form part of the foundations of a new dwelling.

  Chips of wood were flying and I was almost a third of the way through the trunk. I’d finally developed the right muscles for the work, and I was getting into the rhythm and controlling the weight and swing of the axe.It had started to snow, and the ground was covered in a thin white blanket. I became aware of someone standing behind me and lowered my axe. I thought it was Garrett, but to my surprise Konnit was standing there, aslight smile on his face.

  ‘Leave that for now, Leif. Let’s walk for a while.’

  I put down my axe and followed him, feeling somewhat nervous. Had Garrett complained about me? I wondered.

  Immediately I was put at ease.

  ‘Garrett speaks well of you,’ he told me. ‘He thinks you’ve made real progress.’

  I was surprised, and was struggling to find the words to reply when Konnit asked me a question.

  ‘Are you happy here?’

  I decided to tell the partial truth. I didn’t want to reveal how miserable I was. ‘I am content, lord, but not happy. I’m not of full Genthai blood – I feel that I’ll never be accepted here.’

  ‘Sometimes acceptance can come suddenly. Were you to train as a warrior and fight with us, it would quickly come. But you prefer to follow in your father’s footsteps.’

  He was staring at me as we walked. I couldn’t meet his eyes, so I just nodded.

  ‘Your father defeated Hob in the arena fifteen times, but it all came to nothing. Hob murdered your mother, and then your father drove you away before taking his own life.’

  ‘How do you know about that?’ I asked in astonishment.

  ‘Remember my title, Leif! A Genthai warrior would not forget!’

  ‘Sorry, lord,’ I said.

  ‘I made it my business to find out what I could about you. You showed promise fighting that tassel. Your speed was truly something to behold. It will be wasted in the arena; your talent could be put to better use as awarrior, fighting with others who will liberate this land from the yoke of the djinn. But let’s speak of other things.’

  He came to a halt and turned to face me. Then he picked up a stick and drew a rough circle in the snow. Quickly he divided the circle into thirteen segments, one significantly larger than the others. Then he numbered each segment.

  ‘Do you know what that represents, Leif?’ he asked.

  It seemed obvious to me. ‘It’s the Wheel in Gindeen, seen from above, lord, with the dome cut away,’ I answered. ‘It’s a bird’s-eye view showing the arenas.’

  ‘It could be, but it’s not. This is something much larger. The Wheel in the city which houses Arena 13 is merely a physical representation of this far larger, invisible wheel. It has thirteen spokes and turns by oneincrement each year. We call it the Wolf Wheel – it divides the whole of Midgard into thirteen segments.’

  I listened to him, trying to keep the disbelief from my face. I had never heard of this before, and it came as a complete surprise. It seemed too fantastic to be true, but I didn’t want to offend him. Was this some part ofGenthai religion or a myth? Did they really believe it? There was a silence. Was he waiting for me to comment?

  ‘It turns each year, lord?’ I asked.

  ‘Yes, its geographical hub is the Omphalos, like the huge centre post in your city’s Wheel.’

  The Omphalos supported the dome of the Wheel; it must have been cut from a tree of incredible height and girth – I’d never seen its like in the forest. Each week the Lists – the schedule of contests to be fought inArena 13 – were fastened to it.

  ‘As I told you,’ Konnit continued, ‘our invisible Wheel revolves at the rate of one segment every year. The outer portion of each segment, close to the rim, is inhabited by a different species of wolf. Twelve of theseare just ordinary wolves. When that invisible Wheel turns, the wolves migrate with its movement; each year a different species hunts through the Genthai lands. But the th
irteenth year brings the worst of all: wolves thatare more than wolves. On thirteen nights, beginning on the night of the full moon, Genthai warriors fight them in ritual combat.

  ‘We fasten a young child to a stake – always a girl. She is the bait, the prey, and is chosen by lottery. The wolves come out of the darkness and try to snatch the child, who is defended by a single warrior armed withblades. There are four of them – a deadly quartet known as a werewight. Three of them run on four legs and look like ordinary wolves. The fourth is a beast with the head of a wolf that walks upright on two legs, drivingthe three before it like lacs. It is believed that the four of them share one mind.’

  I was astonished by what he was describing. It had some similarity to combat in Arena 13, but it was like something out of a nightmare. How could they be so cruel as to tie a child to a stake like that to face such ahorrific death?

  ‘Why is the child always female, lord?’ I asked.

  ‘Only one in four new births is female, so this inflicts the greatest damage on the tribe. Girl children are precious. The intention is to cull the tribe.’

  ‘Do many warriors win, lord?’ I asked.

  Konnit shook his head. ‘It is very difficult to defeat four adversaries while protecting a child.’

  ‘So the child and the warrior die?’

  ‘They die and are devoured.’

  It was snowing harder now. The circle, with its segments, was gradually fading from view, like a bad dream fading in the dawn light.

  ‘Why, lord?’ I asked. ‘Why is it done? Why fight in that way at the cost of so much life? Why sacrifice children and warriors?’

  Konnit frowned and his mouth tightened into a thin horizontal line. When he answered, I could hear the bitterness in his words. ‘The ritual only has one positive aspect for us – it is a test of bravery and combat skills,the ultimate test of a warrior. However, it is not something that we choose to do. It is the price we Genthai pay for being allowed to live our lives within the Barrier – it is the price of our continued survival. City peopleare ruled by the Protector, who has been placed in authority over them by the djinn who defeated mankind. That Protector turns a blind eye to Hob, who terrorizes the city. We Genthai bear a different burden. Ourbravest and best are culled by the ritual. It is a deliberate strategy to weaken our military strength. If we did not take part, we believe that the djinn would exterminate us.