Gelrut turned to Veenah. “Sayleeh, you surely see now that Veenah is worthless,” he said to Skyra and Veenah’s birthmother, who was still guarding her injured daughter. “The food and skins we have given that girl for ten cold seasons have been wasted. Now the worthless girl has a broken wrist. I propose we kill her now, as she will continue to be a burden on Una-Loto tribe.” He turned to the other hunters. “We have been troubled by this worthless girl long enough! Today we must reach a consensus. Allow me to take Veenah’s strength, as I should have done long ago.”
Bolyu, one of the respected women, and a friend of Skyra’s birthmother, spoke up. “Gelrut, you have no right to demand a vote where no vote is possible. Many of our tribemates are now at Una-Loto camp. You will not kill Sayleeh’s daughter.”
“Bolyu is correct,” said Amlun, one of the dominant men. “There can be no vote here. Perhaps when we return to camp, Una-Loto tribe will vote to make you Veenah’s caretaker. You can heal her wrist and then mentor her until she kills her first ibex.”
The other hunters let out a chorus of laughter. At-at-at-at-at.
“My wrist is not broken!” Veenah said. “It hurts, but I can move it. Watch me move it!” She held it up and swiveled the hand. The others might not have noticed, but Skyra saw the pain concealed behind her twin’s expression.
Gelrut glared at Veenah. He then stepped closer. “If I cannot kill this worthless girl now, I will give her a beating so that she will try harder next time.” He shifted his spear in his hand to swing it as a club.
Skyra darted forward and stood at her birthmother’s side. She held her khul ready, knowing that such a threat to a dominant tribemate was an offense punishable by death. The fact that she was defending her own sister, though, might convince the tribe to be lenient. She looked up into Gelrut’s eyes. “Veenah will not get a beating today.”
Gelrut bared his teeth and growled, but his eyes flicked to the side once, toward the other hunters. He was now in a bad situation. If he backed down, he would be ridiculed. If he stepped forward, he would have to fight both Skyra and Sayleeh to get to Veenah. This was obviously more effort than he had intended.
Skyra had never stood up to Gelrut before, and she truly felt the strength of the woolly rhino and cave lion flowing through her veins now. Their presence within her made her smile, which seemed to anger Gelrut even more.
Skyra saw it coming. Gelrut’s face twitched slightly, and he tightened one shoulder. He intended to swing his spear. She raised her khul to block the blow, but she had failed to predict he was aiming at her birthmother. Sayleeh didn’t have Skyra’s ability to anticipate movements. The spear whisked over Skyra’s head and hit something solid. Sayleeh’s legs folded, and she hit the ground, moaning.
Skyra should have known Gelrut would attack her birthmother first. Sayleeh was a skilled fighter and would pose a serious threat, whereas Skyra and Veenah were only girls. Skyra wanted to look down at her birthmother, but she knew Gelrut’s spear would strike her next if she averted her eyes.
The man prepared to swing again but then hesitated. He knew Skyra and Veenah could predict his movements, but he had no idea how skilled they were at it. They had tried to keep the ability hidden from their tribemates, only fully exploring it when playing and sparring with each other away from Una-Loto camp.
Gelrut feigned to one side like he was going to swing his spear, but instead he leaned forward and struck Skyra’s face with his fist.
She heard herself grunt, and she glimpsed the sky as her head popped backward.
Gelrut bared his teeth. “Today will be a good day. I will give you and your worthless sister a beating you will both remember.” He thrust out the butt of his spear, which glanced off Skyra’s chin and struck her throat.
She started choking but didn’t drop her khul and didn’t take her eyes off her attacker. She knew she was in for a severe beating, but this time she would fight back.
Veenah was now on her feet at Skyra’s side. She pulled her own khul from her sling and shouted, “Gelrut, the great fighter and hunter, has hurt our birthmother! Today Veenah and Skyra are hunters, and we proclaim our right to defend ourselves as Sayleeh’s daughters. Do we have that right?”
“You are now hunters and you have that right,” replied Amlun. Several of the others grunted in agreement.
Gelrut sneered in anger, but again his eyes flitted to the side.
“No, do not fight,” Sayleeh moaned. She was trying unsuccessfully to get to her knees.
Still struggling to catch her breath, Skyra swallowed. She studied Gelrut’s face. The man had every intention of delivering the beating he had promised. In fact, he probably meant to kill, perhaps telling the tribe later he hadn’t intended to hit so hard.
Skyra steadied herself and spread her feet apart. She extended one blocking hand in front of her and held her khul up beside her ear with the other hand, ready to strike. Beside her, Veenah took the same stance. Today, Gelrut would lose some of his own blood.
The man’s face was now contorted with anger, and Skyra hoped his strange expressions wouldn’t prevent her from sensing his intentions. She focused on his eyes, allowing her peripheral vision to catch all his other movements.
She didn’t have long to wait. Gelrut twitched one of his cheeks and glanced at Skyra’s khul as if he intended to knock the weapon from her hand, but then he turned one of his feet slightly. He was about to spin backwards and bring his spear around from the opposite side to strike Veenah instead. His intention was now as obvious to read as his anger. Veenah must have seen it too—she dropped low and dove for his feet.
Skyra knew Veenah’s move would surprise him. Feeding off her twin’s action, she tried to distract him by raising her khul.
It worked. Gelrut hesitated, and Veenah’s stone blade struck his leg below the knee with a stiff chuck.
His eyes grew wide, but only for a breath. Gelrut was a skilled fighter and wouldn’t allow the injury’s pain to give Veenah time to strike again. He leapt back out of khul range and immediately swung his longer spear at Skyra.
She saw the move coming, but he swung too low for her to duck beneath the spear. The shaft struck her shoulder, and Gelrut immediately swung it again, this time directly from above at Veenah’s head. Veenah was already gone, and the spear struck the dirt.
Chuck. Another blow to Gelrut’s leg, this time above the knee, and Veenah darted back out of range.
Gelrut flew into a rage, swinging and jabbing with his spear again and again, clearly attempting to kill one or both of the girls. His spear shaft caught Skyra’s shoulder again, but she quickly got into a rhythm of studying his face and predicting each move before it was carried out. She didn’t want to kill the man—that would force her and Veenah to leave the tribe, and two nandup girls wouldn’t live through one season on their own. She did want to hurt him, though. She wanted the Una-Loto men to know that beating Skyra and Veenah would no longer be easy.
Veenah seemed to have found her own rhythm, anticipating and avoiding every thrust and swing, dodging out of the way at every charge, and inflicting one nonlethal wound after another. Soon Gelrut was bleeding from wounds on every part of his body. The other hunters even began shouting at Gelrut to stop his onslaught before losing all of his blood to the sand beneath his feet.