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.There was no sign of the Assenzi, but Meu was visible, lying on the ground beyond the donkeys.He was not moving.Another pyluk came into view from farther down the trail.He called to the four by the donkeys, who answered with hisses and guttural noises.Thru stepped carefully back into the alders and crouched while he pulled his bow off his shoulder and nocked an arrow.Five pyluk and six arrows with steel heads.It would be close work with little room for error.He wasn't even sure if a single arrow would be enough for pyluk.They were said to be hard to kill.He pulled the quiver around to rest on his hip and checked that his sword was loose in the scabbard.Then he moved forward again.He had to admit that he was afraid.One young mot against five grown pyluk was long odds.He took a deep breath, gathered himself, and looked out through the alder screen again.To his surprise the pyluk had gone off, taking the donkeys and Meu.He followed along carefully behind them.There was no sign of any blood at the stream crossing.Nor was Utnapishtim's body visible.He checked for the slim, short tracks of the Assenzi but could not spot them in the churned dust left by donkeys and pyluk.He could not tell if the Assenzi had gone ahead or gone back.There was no blood on the ground, so the pyluk had not speared either Meu or Utnapishtim, and Meu had not fired his bow, which had been discarded by the pyluk, who disdained the bow and arrow in favor of their long spears and throwing sticks.The surprise must have been complete, he concluded.Somehow the Assenzi had failed to detect them in the twisted terrain of ridges and canyons.Thru followed them back up the trail.He could not leave poor Meu in their hands.There was no time to go down to White Deer and rouse a posse.It was up to him.Keeping a wary eye ahead and pausing frequently to scan the trail above for any sign of ambush, Thru stalked the pyluk.For the most part he kept to the sides of the trail, moving beneath the eaves of trees or in the shadow of rocks, but he needed to keep up a good speed so he had to use the trail.Above the meadow, below the switchback, he sensed something was different.There was no birdsong from the slope above.He moved off the bare rocky trail and into the heather.Scrambling up the slope he left fur and even some skin on the heather, but he kept going and climbed the slope above the trail.From the top he could survey the trail all the way to the crest.He spotted them after a few moments, three pyluk crouched below in ambush.They were spaced along the trail, hidden in the heather at a place where the trail turned up toward the switchback.The other pyluk were not to be seen, nor were the donkeys and Meu.Thru considered shooting the three in ambush for a moment, but they were just a little too far for a good shot, and he could not afford to miss.Besides, they would warn the others up the trail, who might kill Meu, if he still lived, just to be sure of him before confronting Thru.He crouched in the heather and watched until the pyluk stirred themselves from cover and loped up the trail in search of their fellows.They wouldn't want to miss the meat.Thru climbed down to the trail again and followed with cautious steps while trying to think of a way to equalize the odds a bit.The pyluk were justly famous for their prowess with their long throwing spears.The pyluk drove the donkeys back up to the top of the hill and halted just outside the temple.They were joined by two more members of their sept.Immediately all seven began the slavering ululations of the pyluk hunting call.Thru heard the terrible sound as he approached the top of the trail, and tried to distinguish the number of voices making the ululations, in case all the pyluk were at their meat and they had left no sentry.It sounded as if all of them were calling, but he could not be certain.Caution kept him from charging ahead and attacking directly.With great care he climbed up a steep rocky slope well away from the trailhead, then eased himself through the brush until he had a view of the temple precinct.The pyluk had knocked one of the donkeys down and crushed its skull with a rock.They were tearing it open with their hands and teeth.The other donkey was raving on the end of its tether, bucking and braying as it saw its herd-mate devoured.Meu was lying nearby faceup.Thru saw his friend's chest rise and fall.Meu was alive! Thru took heart from that, but then he realized there were now seven pyluk and his hopes sank again.The pyluk swarmed over the donkey with their usual avidity.They were smeared in blood and offal.One pulled its head out of the donkey's body cavity with a large piece of liver in its jaws.A gulp, a flash of bright sharp teeth, and it was gone
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