Shikari by Alma T. C. Boykin

Author:Alma T. C. Boykin [Boykin, Alma T. C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-09-08T22:00:00+00:00

8

Patterns and Finds

Rigi watched the striped leapers browsing on some brushy kalo plants in the grass below her. The cluster of a dozen or so heavy-bodied, long-headed marsupials hopped slowly as they nibbled their way down the small valley. Several of the females still had young in the pouch, and the matriarch and patriarch kept close watch on the sky for broadwings. Rigi ignored the older animals, far more interested in a yearling that seemed to be lagging behind, healthy but distracted by something upwind. It stopped and rose fully onto its back feet, looking left and right, its back to her. Rigi sighted to the left of the spine, just below the shoulder, and fired.

The tan and black striped animal fell forward without a sound. Did the others notice? Rigi kept still, watching. Another yearling paused, turning its head as if to look for the dead leaper. Kor fired and the second yearling dropped. The leaper clan moved on, not noticing the two missing, or not caring. Since the two yearlings had been lagging behind for several days, Rigi suspected that the others did not miss them yet. The wind blew across the clan toward Rigi and Kor, hiding the telltale burnt smell of a beam-shot animal. Even so, Rigi waited for Kor’s signal to safety the rifle and follow him down the slope.

They needed meat, and the two leapers would feed the camp’s omnivores for several days. Rigi offered a little prayer of thanks to the Creator and Creatrix for their gift and for a clean shot. Kor had been forced to finish off a pain-maddened long-nosed wombeast that had survived an attack by striped lions, and the sounds and smell drove home the order that if they couldn’t kill, they shouldn’t shoot. And that wounded animals had to be followed and killed.

Rigi inspected her kill. She pulled back the lips to look at the yearling’s teeth and to smell its mouth. She didn’t detect any of the sour, musty scent of worm-gut, and the gums seemed healthy and pink. The ears also appeared clean, and the yearling’s shiny, smooth pelt confirmed the animal’s general health. Too bad for him that he wasn’t as wary as he was sound, Rigi thought. Good for her and for the others who needed food. She managed to flip the striped leaper onto his back and spread the limbs. Kor and his helper would gut and prepare the carcass for travel back to the camp. Getting all the organs out without spilling the contents and without accidentally spoiling the meat with gall or gut-musk required skill Rigi didn’t quite have yet, and strength she certainly didn’t have. Task completed, Rigi picked up her rifle again, checked the charge, and took up a watch position. As the males worked, she kept an eye out for predators. Uncle Eb and Kor had been surprised the previous week by a pair of terror birds and had almost lost a cleaned and field-dressed wombeast yearling. Rigi

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