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farm,' Hrriss said, checking them on his list, "wherrre the woods end.
"Right you are!" Kelly saluted cheerfully and set the hover truck moving in
the right direction. In her rear-view mirror, she could see the youngsters
urging their horses after her, east towards the river, disappearing among the
houses and trees at the edge of town.
"Four zeams filled and despatched, twenz> seven to go, Hrriss informed
Todd.
"There you are!" Jilamey exclaimed, forcing his horse through the crowd.
The entrepreneur was clad in new and flambpyant riding gear that had
nevertheless been chosen with the perils of the hunt in mind.
His handunit radio and voder were clipped to crossed bandoliers in the centre
of his chest where they wouldn't interfere with free movement.
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After Todd's initial reproof, Jilamey always wore every bit of the compulsory
Hunt safety gear. He added a few pieces of equipment which he considered
necessary. His saddlebow was hung with quivers, one full of short spears,
another of crossbow quarrels to fit his custom-made, fast reload weapon,
including some marked with the red seal for high explosive. The sedately clad
Barrington followed closely behind his master in the small, but very speedy
flittercar. Responding to an over-the-shoulder nod from Jilamey, he parked
the vehicle beside the
Assembly Hall, and disappeared inside.
"Old Overprotective's going to help cook this time!" Jilamey said, with an
impish grin that made him look like a balding faun. "Out of my way at last.
I'm ready, able and oh so willing! Bring on the snakes!'
"Good to see you,' Todd said, chuckling. "Now that you've arrived, our team
is present and accounted for.
Take a position next to Hrrin and Errala."
"We musst all move to our assigned places,' Hrriss said.
"Then, my old friend, let us go!" Todd's grin was as much for past Hunts and
their success as Masters as it was for the present one. The stresses and
problems of the recent past were all behind them. This
Hunt was now!
A Sighter flew in overhead. The copter swooped low, facing the Hunt
Masters. Through the open hatch, Dar Kendrath waved wildly to get
Todd's attention. He pointed to his wrist and held up one finger, then five
more. The main swarm would reach the dunes in about fifteen minutes.
"That's cutting it close, Todd said to Hrriss, giving Dar the thumbs up sign
that he understood the message. He stood in his stirrups, twisting around at
his waist. "At the trrrrrot, forward!" he yelled, swinging
his arm in an age-old gesture.
Dar veered his craft out of the way of the on-coming horses. The second
Sighter chopper, a good distance from the throng, followed a moment later.
Hrrula, with Robin Reeve as his second riding behind him at the head of
Team Two, wheeled his horse around.
His team was full of visiting duffers, some of whom were reasonably good
riders, but Hrrula was competent in keeping team members out of grief.
"Moving out,' the Hrruban said, his sharp teeth flashing brightly in a wide
smile. "See you at ze salt mrrrshes!" Jilamey paired off with
Hrrin as Team One moved out.
As Todd and Hrriss led them along the well-worn river trail, they could hear
the two of them shouting excitedly to each other about grids and ships. That
left the one recently promoted hunter, a man named Harris, riding beside
Hrrin's mate Errala, with Jan and Don, Team One's own
Wrangler and sharpshooter, bringing up the rear. Team One was lighter in
personnel than most of the other groups of hunters, but as the team that took
responsibility for steering the lead snakes, they needed to be able to peel
away and move faster than any other.
Todd held the fast trot pace to the head of the desert where the snakes lay
their eggs. The weather was slightly overcast which was a minor blessing.
Bright sunshine meant hours of hot riding. Gerrh twitched nervously on his
pillion, reacting to the strong odour of snake which a slight breeze wafted
down the river path. Errala covered her sensitive nose with a citrus-scented
cloth, and coughed. Team One cut along the trail past the other teams in
place. As Todd and Hrriss passed, each leader acknowledged their readiness.
The radio crackled on Todd's hip.
"They're swarming!" Leah Kalman's shout came through clearly.
"Teams Six and Seven spreading out." Todd squeezed his legs into Gypsy's sides
and lifted him into a gallop, heard his team follow his lead. They arrived at
the edge of the marsh in time to see Mark Dautrish rolling up his big tractor
with its wide bucket inches above the ground. No snake could squirm through
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that space.
Several young tiddlers, none more than four metres long, broke in that
direction. At the sight of the sharp metal, they thought better of it and cut
away towards Todd. Hrrula's team was circling around to the north.
"Yaw!" Todd exclaimed, his gaze sweeping the heaving multitude of snakes.
"Numbers have increased beyond estimate,' Hrriss called in Low Hrruban.
"More must have survived zan usual. Good for us that we can trade the excess
to the Gringg now they've got a taste for the flavour.
"This swarm s going to take real handling, partner,' Todd called back and then
began shouting orders to the other riders. "Spread out!
Contain them. We've got to keep them rolling or they'll stack up here
and we'll have the devil's own time!" Big Paws, his powerful body crouched low
to the ground, was almost on all fours. But his fangs and claws were bared
and the small snakes that had tried to scoot out past him reversed, and he
herded them back to the marked route. When a three-metre tiddler made a hasty
break to dive between his legs, he seized it at the back of the neck, and
flung it bodily into the main stream of snakes leaving the dunes. He glanced
up and waved at Todd.
"Fun!" he cried.
The subsonics in his voice, which tended only to disconcert or annoy the
Hayumans and Hrrubans, seemed to cause a violent reaction among the reptiles.
At the sound of his rumbling roar, several that were headed in that direction
stopped where they were and doubled back on their own lengths.
"Look at zat!" Hrriss said, gleefully. "A new deterrent!
Zey must dislike Gringg vibrrations!" Todd, vigorously applying his
quarterstaff to curtail breakouts, grinned back. "Keep up the good work, Big
Paws!"
"Reh!" the Gringg chortled, flinging another four-metre snake overhand.
It struck the ground on its nose and hastily sought refuge among its fellows,
slithering away as quickly as it could from the gigantic black-and-white
terror.
Todd wheeled to follow the vanguard of the reptiles through the woods.
The snakes were relatively placid up near the dunes, in strong contrast to the
way they would act later on, when they were tired and the clutching hunger had
fully kicked in. Then they became dangerously cunning. Any breath of air
which carried rumours of a quick meal caused them to take any reasonable
chance to avoid the hunters and find food.
"Ware!" Todd cried, pointing at a pair of very small snakes, probably at the
dunes for their first clutches, that zipped around the front of the tractor.
"I'll get the one of the right!" Jilamey shouted, waving his crossbow over his
head and spurring his horse through the marsh waters after the snake. He
aimed and pulled the trigger, but the quarrel struck mud, missing the tiddler
completely. His horse slipped, nearly precipitating him into the fetid
waters. Jilamey was improving but he would never be a match for Kelly and he
missed her support on the team.
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