Sekun-ak counted off two sets of six men. “Run to the guards. Make sure they are all right.” He pointed to the burned body on the ground in front of him. “But be watchful.”
When the groups ran off, Sekun-ak turned to Alex. “Why? Why would anyone be interested in kidnapping and killing our work crew? What benefit does it give them?”
Alex searched his brain for an answer, but came up blank. “More important right now—how can we catch them? How can they move past our guards without being spotted?”
The remaining Winten-ah set up a small perimeter around the burned body and discussed possibilities but came up with no satisfying answers.
A few minutes later, the group from the north returned at a run. “They didn’t sneak past the guards. They killed them.” The man held out a short bolt. “This was in the throat of the guard, but he had been shot by two more arrows like this.”
Alex held his hand out and took the bolt from the runner. It was small—only about half the length of a normal arrow, but thicker, with a greater heft. Alex had seen arrows like this before. He held it out to Senta-eh.
“It is like the arrows the Denta-ah shot at us.”
“Right. One and the same,” Alex answered. “But we were just in Denta-ah. We know there is nothing there.”
“Who else might use this stama?” Sekun-ak asked.
“I think I might know,” Alex answered. “Senta-eh, come with me. Everyone else, stay here. I’ll be right back.” He snap-turned and ran back to the caves, calling for Harta-ak as he ran. They met at the base of the caves.
Alex held the bolt out. “Have you seen this before?”
Harta-ak took it and examined it closely, turning the bolt in his hand, examining the metal arrowhead, the neat way the feathers were attached to the haft of the arrow.
He met Alex’s eyes and said, “This is a Lasta-ah arrow. I’ve used them and carried them as cargo for years.”
“Then the Lasta-ah are here. This was pulled from the throat of our guard in the forest.” While Harta-ak absorbed that, Alex added, “And they killed and burned the bodies of our workers.”
Harta-ak winced at the thought. “Burned them? Why would they burn the bodies?”
Alex’s eyes looked haunted. “What did I do to Lasta-ah?”
Without thinking, Harta-ak said, “You burned it,” making the obvious connection.
“Do you think they would travel thousands of miles for revenge like this?”
Without hesitation, Harta-ak said, “Yes.”
“Do you know who took over Lasta-ah after I killed Draka-ak?”
Harta-ak looked unhappily off into the distance. “His son, also known as Draka-ak. He is very much like his father. Strong. Ruthless. Ambitious.”
“And the type to seek vengeance?”
“No doubt.”
“He wouldn’t come all the way here himself, would he?”
“Unlikely. Like his father, he also likes his comfort. He would stay in Lasta-ah and oversee the rebuilding of the city. Starting, I’m sure, with a new luxury home for himself.” Harta-ak glanced at Alex. “But with the traka-ta to carry messages great distances for him, he doesn’t need to be here. He could have given orders to gather a large force of warriors who were out doing other tasks when the city fell and focused them on Winten-ah.”
Alex rolled his shoulders and twisted his neck, trying to relieve the tension that was suddenly there.
“Capturing and killing a small work crew seems like it might be sending us a message. But if they have a big enough army to attack us, why did they give away their element of surprise? They should have just attacked us.”
“Maybe they don’t have enough men to sustain an attack against Winten-ah, even with surprise in their favor. If they attacked in a swarm, they would no doubt catch a few by surprise, but you would quickly pull up the ladders and then there would be a standoff. Could you withstand a siege?”
“Of course. We always have food stored, and we have methods for bringing water up to the caves. They would grow old trying to wait us out. I don’t believe in hiding, though. I would take the battle to them.”
“So I’ve seen,” Harta-ak said with a small smile. “But, this could be more than just sending a message. He is a strategic thinker. He could be hoping to draw you out so he can attack you while he has the advantage of numbers.”
Alex looked at Harta-ak. “I can see why your father would have been a good leader of Lasta-ah. It’s important to look at things from all angles before acting. Unfortunately, devious men with no sense of honor manage to take out good men. It’s always been that way.”
“Do you have a plan?”
“Manta-ak always has a plan,” Senta-eh said.
“Whatever it is, I want to help,” Harta-ak said.
“To fight against your own?” Alex asked.
“Lasta-ah is no longer my home. I will make my home with Versa-eh where the danta is. Here, I have allies I can trust, like you and Rinka-ak.”
“Good enough. We’ll need all the strength we can get.”
The three of them turned as one and headed back to where they had found Tranta-ak. By the time they arrived, they found that the guard to the south had also been ambushed and permanently silenced.
Sekun-ak pointed at two men and said, “Replace the two lookouts that way,” pointing south. He chose two others and pointed north. “The men you are replacing were good warriors with sharp eyes. That means whoever is hunting us is stealthy. Only one of you should be on lookout at a time and the other should stay down. If whoever is on watch is attacked, sound the horn before you do anything else. Understood?”
The four men said, “Yes,” and hustled off toward the watch stand built into the trees.
Quietly, Sekun-ak said, “We’ve got to improve our guard stands in the trees. This is twice our guards were killed and we did not learn our lesson. Now we are paying the price.”
Alex held the crossbow bolt out to Sekun-ak. “These are the same
