Mammoth - 02 Longtusk by Stephen Baxter

Author:Stephen Baxter [Baxter, Stephen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Science Fiction Adventure, Animal Fantasy, Animal Science Fiction, Series - Mammoth
ISBN: 9780061051357
Publisher: EOS, 2001.
Published: 2002-04-02T04:00:00+00:00

at his trunk or belly, or trying for his legs.

Calmly, Thunder called to Longtusk: "Watch out for those knives. These brutes have fought us

before. They are trying for your hamstrings. Recall that rhino, grazer. I've no intention of carrying you

back to the stockade."

Longtusk growled his gratitude.

Jaw Like Rock, enraged by pain, feinted at a fat Whiteskin. The Firehead, evading the lunge of

those tusks, got close to Jaw with his spear. But Jaw swung his tusks sideways and knocked the

Whiteskin to the ground. Then, with a single ruthless motion, he placed his foot on the head of the

scrambling Whiteskin.

Jaw pressed hard, and the head burst like an overripe fruit, and the Whiteskin was limp.

Through all of this Spindle clung to Jaw's back, white-eyed, obviously terrified.

But for Longtusk there was no time for reflection, or horror; for now one of the Whiteskins

came directly at him, jabbing with a long spear. He was a big buck, shaven-headed and stripped to

the waist, and the whole of his upper body was coated with the acrid white paste. He had a wound

on his temple, a broad cut sliced deep into the greasy flesh there—as if made by a boomerang.

Crocus, on his back, yelled her anger. With a screech like a she-cat, her blonde hair flying

around her, she leaped off Longtusk's back. She landed on the big Firehead, knocking him flat. She

raked her nails down his bare back, leaving red gouges. The Whiteskin howled and twisted—and,

despite Crocus's anger and determination, he soon began to prevail, for Crocus's strength and weight

were no match for this big male.

Walks With Thunder, surrounded by his own circle of assailants, called breathlessly, "Protect

her, Longtusk. She's important now. More than you know..."

Longtusk had every intention of doing just that, but while the two Fireheads flailed in the dirt, he

could easily harm Crocus as much as her opponent. He stood over them, trumpeting, waiting for an

opportunity.

At last the Whiteskin wrestled Crocus flat on her back. He straddled her, sitting astride her

belly, raising his fists to strike.

Now was Longtusk's chance.

The mammoth reached out with his trunk, meaning to grab the Whiteskin around his neck...

The Whiteskin jerked upright, suddenly. His paws fluttered in the air around his face, like birds,

out of his control. Then he fell backward, twitched once, and was still.

Longtusk reached down and pulled the corpse off Crocus.

He saw immediately how the Whiteskin had died. The chisel that had destroyed the rhino—still

stained by the great beast's blood—had been driven upward into the Whiteskin's face, through the

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