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The fire burned low, as if somebody had forgotten to feed it, while shadows rushed back and forth through the night.
“Holly,” Cara hissed, holding an arm open for me.
But I wasn’t inclined to just sit and huddle, being defenseless for whatever would come. Thor gave me one of his massive knives, and I fished it out from under my pillow before I moved into a crouched position. Holding the knife in front of me, I readied myself for whatever would come at us.
Large shadows and small ones moved back and forward. From somewhere, I heard the sound of a sword hitting a large rock. Or, I swallowed, it could have been a stone axe.
This truly was the stuff of nightmares. There was no doubt in my mind the smaller forms belonged to the Homo habilis, but there weresomany. More than we had encountered.They must have sent for help, I figured.
Another scream echoed through the night, it was deeper than the first one, guttural and gut churning.
One of the girls screamed, and when I turned, I nearly froze. A long arm was buried in Git’s red hair, trying to pull her into the bushes while Noelle and Cara held onto her with all they had. Git screamed in pain, and without hesitation I jumped back toward them, bringing my knife down in a wide arc straight for whoever’s hand was buried in Git’s hair.
With a shriek, the limb retreated, but a large stone axe emerged, swinging for me. A fraction of a second later, a small body emerged, the Homo habilis’ face was contorted in rage, and I noticed how humanlike it looked, not at all like the illustrations they had presented in history books. There was nothing apelike about him, even his skin was lighter and not as thick.
But those thoughts were only fleeting and random, just like I noticed the grayish color painted on his naked chest, which was covered in patches of fur. Not like chest hair, though, actual patches of shaggy fur here and there, as if most of it had fallen out.
What was on the forefront of my mind was the large battle-ax topped with a heavy, sharpened stone and how he was moving it with ease. The Homo habilis might have only been four feet tall, but he was wily and strong, and I would do better not to underestimate him.
With a guttural grunt, he came for me. Mistakenly, he forgot about the other women, and Git’s foot shot out and entangled his legs. He fell forward, and without thinking, I brought my knife down on him. With a sickening crunch, it sank into him, drenching my hand immediately with warm blood. When I pulled it out, he jumped back, grunted, and retreated into the bushes, leaving his axe.
Git dove for it, and the four of us moved back-to-back, staring into the night where the Vhar’Khyngs fought off more of the Homo habilis, who seemed to be everywhere.
“Good God, how many of them are there?” Noelle asked in a fearful, high-pitched voice.
Farther to my right, I saw Thor with a Homo habilis attached to his back, and let out a muffled moan. Thor tried to detach the smaller form from his body but couldn’t reach. I was about to move forward when Thor threw himself backward against a tree behind him. Over and over, he rocked the Homo habilis as he slammed him into the tree until the smaller foe fell to the ground.
Thor swung an axe he must have liberated from the enemy, and I turned my head, not wanting to watch him bash the man’s head in.
To my left, three Homo habilis had attached themselves to Oredeon, who let out an Earth-shattering battle scream. He grabbed one of the humanoids to twirl him through the air like a rag doll before letting go, and the smaller man hit a tree with the side of his body. Another climbed up Oredeon’s back, but Thor was there to pull him off, flinging him against a tree, just like Oredeon had done with his foe.
Four more broke through the foliage, and I screamed when I saw the blade of a sharp knife move across Thor’s face from a humanoid clinging to his back. I lost it then. Screaming, I rushed forward, swinging my knife and bringing it down on the vile man who had dared hurt my Thor.
“Holly, no, get back,” Thor yelled, flinging the Homo habilis off him.
One got in my way, and since I was wielding my knife, I cut straight across his throat without hesitation. Another grabbed Thor around his waist, and I stabbed him in the back while screaming unintelligibly.
When the first rays of sun broke through the canopy, there was only carnage left. So many dead Homo habilis littered the ground, I didn’t dare count them. And I certainly had no desire to figure out how many I had killed.
Strangely, that thought didn’t appall me as much as I thought it should. Something had changed in me. Savagely, I took the situation in. The women still stood in a circle by the tree where I had left them. Two dead Homo habilis by their feet attested to them not having gone unscathed but having stood their ground. Blood smeared Git’s face, though I wasn’t sure if it was hers or an attacker’s.
Around us stood our Vhar’Khyngs, heavily breathing, some injured, but I saw all of us standing. Thor! With a cry, I flung myself at him as soon as I caught sight of him.
“Holly!” He pressed me hard against himself. “Never do that again.”
“She saved your ass, brother,” Oredeon said, wiping blood from his forehead and clapping Thor on the shoulder.
“You’re bleeding,” I cried, as blood ran down Thor’s face, and I remembered the blade slashing across his face. With that memory, another flashed through me. A memory of a memory. When I sat in my hotel room and stared at the reconstruction of Thor’s face, and I thoughtthere should be a scar on the left side of his face, from…now I knew the Homo habilis had done this to him. That’s how he got the scar.
“That will need some stitches,” Oredeon supplied.
“That will pretty up his ugly mug,” Kharle added.
“Is everybody alright?” Thor asked, turning in a circle, keeping hold of me by his waist and ignoring the ribbing.
“Oh my God. Jesus, Holly, you were like one of those Valkyries or whatever those Viking women were called.” Noelle moved forward, staring wide-eyed at me.
“You really were. Wow.” Cara nodded while shaking her head at the same time.
