The bundles yielded several sets of clothes, along with containers of food
and some medical supplies. The girls and Brandes were pleased to discover sets
of trousers among the clothing. "No more riding in skirts!" Yané exclaimed.
Some of the clothing didn't fit properly – much was too large, and a few
items were too small – but there seemed to be enough for everyone to find at
least one outfit other than the ones they were wearing. Clean clothes seemed
especially appealing, Brandes thought happily, after getting a bath.
Most of the humans had had to settle for a quick sponge bath without soap, but
everyone seemed the better for it, even Edvic. The useable clothing and supplies
had been packed onto the animals, the non-useable items had been buried, the
shelters disassembled, and all personal effects gathered up. Looking around the
former campsite, Brandes could hardly believe anyone had been there at all.
"Dassen the point," Kimma Nril remarked. She was seated astride one of the kaadu
alone -- apparently she had been promoted, Brandes thought. Sen Tal and Hanar
were each sharing the saddle with one of the Gungan children; Plirri was still
wearing his blue feather tied to the top of one haillu.
As before, the humans mounted the falumpasets and the group set out, with
Tarpals again riding near the rear of the group, watching and thinking.
Eventually he motioned Rell Iss to ride beside him. "I've been thinking
about the Splitrock waystation," Tarpals said. "The area is open and
exposed, and the last thing we need is for the maccaneeks to find us
there. I'm sending in a small group – three or four at most. I'm assigning
Herns and Jenais; Jenais has ridden this route a number of times and is familiar
with the area. I want you to go as well."
Rell Iss jerked in surprise. "Me, Captain?"
Tarpals turned his head to peer at his aide. "Do you see anyone else riding
next to me?"
"No, sir."
"You're also familiar with the area. You know the message signals in case of
an emergency. And you're due for an assignment on your own."
"Yes, sir!" Rell Iss grinned broadly. "Thank you, Captain!"
"In addition, I'm counting on you to keep Herns in line," Tarpals told
him.
Rell Iss's grin vanished. "Uh, Captain?"
"I realize that technically he outranks you, and of course he's physically
larger, and he seems to have a belligerent streak that is no doubt responsible
for his failure to rise through the ranks, but I'm sure you'll be able to
keep him out of trouble," Tarpals continued.
Rell Iss ducked a low-lying branch, and then stared at his commanding officer.
"Uh, yes, sir."
"Show a little more enthusiasm, Caadrey," Tarpals ordered, using Rell
Iss's rank.
"Yes, sir!" Rell Iss managed a marginally more robust response.
They rode in silence for a few minutes. "Rell Iss."
"Yes, sir."
"I was joking about making you responsible for Herns." Tarpals noticed his
aide's eyestalks and haillu droop in relief.
"Yes, Captain."
"Ven Artil seems to think I need to improve my sense of humor." Tarpals shot
his aide a wry look. "Apparently it still needs some work."
"It's not my place to say, sir," Rell Iss replied tactfully.
His captain snorted softly in amusement. "I'll take that as a 'yes'."
He shifted in the saddle. "I'm sending Kimma Nril to complete the group. If
she can keep two essoans and a pair of sprattlings in line, I
suspect she's more than capable of dealing with Herns. Your job is to help
locate the waystation entrance, transfer the supplies, and warn us of any danger
in the area."
"Yes, Captain!" Rell Iss sounded much more confidant this time. He cleared
his throat. "Captain, may I ask a question?"
"Of course."
"You're sending Herns on this mission to get him away from the Naaboo,
aren't you?"
"Partly. And partly because he needs something to keep him occupied. Any
commander worth the title learns to use his or her personnel to the group's
best advantage. Herns seems to work best when he's focused on a task. He did
well during our attack on the maccaneek transports. I suspect he'd be
command material if he could get his behavior under better control. We'll see.
I'll expect a report from you when you return."
"Yes, Captain. How soon do you expect us to arrive at Splitrock?"
"The day after tomorrow. We're going to keep the main group under the cover
of the woods, so we'll stop tomorrow afternoon and make a semi-permanent camp.
You should only have a partial day's ride to the waypost. With skill, and
luck, you should be back the next evening."
Further ahead in the group, Hela Brandes had discovered that while falumpasets
could be surly and difficult to ride, they were also predominantly herd animals.
Once they started moving, they continued on as long as the rest of the herd
walked. Eventually the woman could shift some of her attention to what was going
on around them, giving the animal only occasional tugs on the reins to keep it
moving in the right direction.
She watched as one of the Gungans reached up and ran his fingers along the
underside of branches as he rode. For a moment she wondered if it was some sort
of religious ritual, like the one she had watched Tarpals perform that morning;
then the rider lowered his arm, hand cupped around something, and tipped the
contents of his hand into his mouth. Chewing, the rider scanned the surrounding
trees, guided his kaadu to walk under another tree, and repeated the
motions.
Brandes glanced around at the rest of the Gungans; many of them seemed to be
doing the same. Kimma Nril, several riders ahead of Brandes, gathered her
handful of whatever-it-was, and then slowed her kaadu until it walked
beside the animal carrying her youngest son. The youngster took the offering and
transferred whatever was in his hand to his mouth, using his long, nimble
tongue.
"Excuse me," Brandes said to Orrin, who was riding directly behind them,
"but what is everyone eating?"
"Deysa ipsil seeds," Orrin replied. She stood in the saddle and ran
her hand along a branch, then showed the palmful of small seeds to Brandes.
"Deysa ripe now, good ettin'." The Gungan cupped her hand around the ipsil
seeds. "Heah -- tekk dem." She tipped the handful into Brandes's palm,
then leaned forward to take the falumpaset's bridle as Brandes gingerly
rolled a few of the seeds into her mouth. They crunched between her teeth; a
nutty flavor filled her mouth.
"They're good." She twisted in the saddle to pass offer some to Zanté and
the Eckener twins. Orrin grinned and let go of the bridle, reaching up for
another handful that she passed directly to Irric.
"I've seen branches that had the same kind of nuts we picked up last
night," the boy said as his sister picked some of the seeds out of his hand.
The Gungan nodded. "Lott'n the trees ready to drop nuts an' berries,"
she said.
"Diss'n good time for gatherin'," came Peskis's voice as the Ankuran
Gungan rode up beside them. He leaned forward, ducking a branch, and peered at
Irric. "So! Yousa remember what wesa found yestiddy, eh?"
Irric nodded. "I think so. I recognize the leaves on that one--" he pointed
to a tree as they passed it "--and some of the low plants look like the ones
we dug for roots from."
Peskis grinned. "Yiss, yiss! Berry good. Findin' food iss important for
Patrol riders. How 'bout yousa come wit' mesa and see how much weas findin'?"
"Really? All right!"
"Now, wait a minute --" Brandes began.
"No fair!" exclaimed Nalla. "I can do it, too!"
"'Course'n," Peskis remarked agreeably. "But deysa on'y room for
one'a yousan inna saddle heah. Irric, hesa come wit' mesa now, an' yousa
come wit' me dis afternoon, h'okay?"
"Promise?" Nalla asked cautiously.
Peskis nodded. "Promise. An' mebbe tomorrow, mesa tekkin' Zanté, heh?"
The girl buried her face in Brandes's shirt nervously.
Brandes shook her head. "I'm not sure I like having Irric away from the
group. This isn't a pleasure ride, or a picnic...."
The Gungan's face took on a solemn expression. "Rep Brand-ess, right now
deysa none of ussan safe anywheres. The sprattling, hesa in as much
danger heah as wit' mesa searching for food. Least'n diss'a way, hesa doin'
some-att for ever'one, yiss?"
"I suppose so." Brandes sighed. "I suppose we'll need to stop so he can
switch animals—"
Peskis laughed. "No needin' dat." His kaadu matched the falumpaset's
pace and drew close enough for the Gungan's stirrup to nudge the larger
animal's flank. "Now, yousa swing yoursa leg h'over so's deysa both on
dis side – wit'out kickin' ennyone." Irric carefully slid his leg in
front of him and shifted his weight. Brandes held her breath, but the boy
didn't seem the least bit nervous. "Now, yousa step like'n dis and mesa
catch yousa heah...." and a moment later Peskis swung Irric across the gap
between the two animals and into the saddle behind him. "Hang onto mesa."
Irric grasped the Gungan's tunic and turned to grin at his sister and the
other passengers. Brandes exhaled in relief.
"An' 'way wesa go! See yousan later!" Peskis clucked to his mount; the kaadu
broke into a trot and soon disappeared into the forest ahead of the group, Irric
grinning every step of the way. Several of the riders, however, shot them
disapproving looks as they passed, and a couple turned to scowl at Brandes over
their shoulders.
Orrin, still riding beside the humans, scowled back, and the riders hastily
turned their attention away.
~*~*~*~
In midmorning, Tarpals again ordered Rell Iss to signal a halt to give the
animals a rest. Most of the command scattered -- some to watch for danger,
others to tend the animals. The riders who had been on point and at the rear
rode in, dismounting and accepting the edibles Peskis and Irric had brought
back.
Tarpals called Orrin and Peskis over as he stood off to one side, watching the
surrounding forest. He briefly outlined the plan he had discussed with his aide
earlier that morning. "I'm going to need both of you to assign duties and
keep track of activities. Orrin, you're going to be filling in for Rell Iss
while he's gone."
"Yes, sir. Captain, may I recommend that you send the two female Naaboo
tsanin with the group?"
"No."
"Sir, they both seem capable --"
"This matter is not open to debate, Lieutenant!" Tarpals's eyes narrowed.
"We are not giving any more of our secrets away to the Naaboo than is
absolutely necessary."
Orrin opened her mouth, closed it again, and finally said, "Yes, sir."
"Besides, I have something for the Naaboo to do, and it includes both
you and Lieutenant Peskis."
Orrin blinked at him curiously.
"It occurs to me that we've been immensely lucky up to this point at
avoiding the maccaneeks." Tarpals clasped his hands behind his back and
continued scanning the woods around them. "I don't trust luck. I appreciate
it when it's present, but I don't trust it. The Naaboo know nothing
about survival, or military protocol. I want you and Peskis to start teaching
them the basics of the chesna-recorr, the same signs we teach the older
children when they begin their required training. When Rell Iss returns from the
waypost, he's going to start drilling them in some of the message horn signals
as well. And everyone is going to practice emergency maneuvers – I want the
children and the Naaboo able to get out of the way as quickly as possible
if we're attacked. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Captain!" Orrin drew herself to attention, a note of pleasure in her
voice. "Sir, I've been thinking about something. It would help if the Naaboo
could actually control the falumpasets by themselves. Having our riders
leading them, as well as guiding their own mounts, just slows the whole
process."
"I know. The best way to solve that problem is to give three of the Naaboo
practice with the falumpasets. Show them how the tack works, and get them
to practice turning the animals."
"The Naaboo should also help care for the animals in the evening,"
Orrin said. "That way the falumpasets will get used to their smell, and
the Naaboo will get used to the way the falumpasets move."
"Yes, very good. See to it."
"Captain, the Naaboo mentioned something about needing to heat their
food in order to eat it," Peskis said. "They seem to think it's necessary,
especially with the meat. We heat several kinds of medicines before they're
used. They could use the same technique on their food. All we'd need is a pyrus
and a leather hide." A pyrus was a specially treated buuma that,
when punctured, discharged its heat evenly over a long period of time. Gungans
had no word for "fire" – in the wet world of the swamplands, nothing
burned easily. Every Patrol rider's standard equipment kit included at least
one or two pyrus as part of the emergency medical supplies.
Tarpals considered – in addition to heat, the pyrus also produced a
fair amount of light. Last night, the Gungans had used a small luminescent
glow-sphere, salvaged from the maccaneek convoy, to provide minimal
lighting. While the Naaboo had found it inadequate, there had been enough
illumination for Gungan eyes; Tarpals's people had evolved to see well in the
dim light of their underwater world.
Still, healthy people traveled better than ill ones. "All right. We'll make
camp early today. That will give our special mission team a head start, and
light from a pyrus will be less visible."
The group stopped again briefly at mid-day, then in mid-afternoon. This time
Tarpals had chosen a heavily wooded area, with only a few gaps in the tree
canopy overhead. If the Naaboo were going to light a pyrus, at
least they'd all be under cover and completely surrounded by brush.
The Gungans who had been riding in the middle of the group for the afternoon
moved off to take up sentry duty. Those who had ridden point or at the rear
fanned out to set up shelters and pasture the riding animals. Tarpals called
aside his chosen group of four for a briefing.
"I'm assigning you the task of riding ahead to the Splitrock outpost to
retrieve the supplies hidden there," he said. "We used up a great deal of
our available ammunition in the raid on the maccaneek transport two days
ago. Our food supplies are limited to what we can find in foraging each day, and
extra clothing is at a premium. There are other useful items, including medical
supplies, at the outpost as well. While I believe we could reach the Sacred
Place in our present condition, I've decided to take the chance at the
waystation. We can use those supplies, and our chances of surviving detection by
the maccaneeks would improve a great deal with more ammunition.
"Your task is simple. Locate the waystation, remove the supplies, and bring
them back to us without giving our position to the maccaneeks. I'm
sending Jenais because he's familiar with the area and the entrance to the
waystation. Rell Iss is going along to provide a second guide and to relay
messages in case of an emergency. I want to keep the rest of our experienced
riders here to continue training the militiagungs. Therefore, I'm
sending Kimma Nril, who has volunteered to assist. Herns, I'm putting you in
charge. Take two of the falumpasets -- they can carry more of a load than
the kaadu."
"Yes, Captain!" Presented with a chance to use his skills, Herns's
belligerence had vanished.
"Take every precaution," Tarpals ordered him. "If there's any chance of
you encountering the maccaneeks, forget the waystation and get out of
there. I'd rather have all four of you back alive and well; you're more
valuable than every scrap of gear in that outpost. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Captain."
Tarpals nodded. "Good hunting to you all. Dismissed."
