An ugly sneer was spread across the whip man’s face when Likash spun to confront his new attacker.
Again the advantage was with Likash’s foe. Every time Likash moved forward to strike he would lose more skin to the five flailed assailant.
The whip man made no move to attack Likash. Instead he relied on the counter-attack as he waited for his fellow warriors to join the fight.
Two others appeared through the trees.
Aware that he couldn’t allow a long drawn-out battle, Likash reversed his grip on the knife and moved forward. Waiting until the whip man was ready for him, Likash feinted with his empty right hand.
The whip man reacted and swung his weapon. Turing his head away Likash took the full force of the blow on his arm. The pain caused him to bite another chunk out of his already ruined tongue.
Fighting to stay conscious, Likash gave a low backhand slash, his knife opening the whip man’s stomach.
Dropping the knife and snatching the whip from the whip man as he fought to hold hid entrails, Likash lashed out at the face of the nearest warrior. Four red snakes hissed across the man’s cheek with the fifth exploding an eyeball into a gelatinous spray.
His comrade wavered for a moment giving Likash the opportunity to swing the whip again. Gurgles escaped the frothing red mess of the man’s throat as he fell.
Stumbling through the forest Likash found a small stream. Digging handfuls of sodden clay from the bed of the stream, he smeared his wounds with clay to stem the bleeding. No one wound was life threatening, but he knew he’d lost a lot of blood and he could feel his strength waning.
More concerning was the remainder of the Mududa. He could hear their shouts as one by one they discovered the bodies of their fellow warriors.
Yet no more sounds of pursuit reached his ears. Only the shouts of discovery as others arrived at the battlefield.
While he tended his wounds, Likash recounted the battle in his mind. Totalled his kills, assessed his victories. One of the giant captors was gone, along with the whip man and thirteen warriors. That meant that there was still more than half the force left. Including one giant and the leader of the party who carried the nets.
A loud voice was issuing commands to the pursuers. He was instructing them to stay close to each other. To work as a team.
Likash listened to the leader give his commands with a sense of exasperation. The last thing he wanted was for someone to take control of the Mududa warriors’ tendency to isolate themselves.
He’d already lost a pitched battle against them as a group. He could pick off individuals in small numbers, but against an organised group with nets he would lose every time.
No longer fit to run from his pursuers, he would have to find a way to either hide or to isolate the Mududa into manageable numbers. Hiding was not his way: he was a fighter, the pride of his King’s army, not some child who cowered behind his mother’s legs. The decision was made. He would fight on until he won or died.
The only weapon he had left was the whip, and while he’d scored a kill and a maiming with it, he knew that it was designed to inflict pain rather than death. He’d been lucky his strikes had done the damage they had. Plus its noise would betray any attempt at a stealthy kill.
Foraging in the stream, he found a pair of fist-sized stones. Carrying one in each hand he circled around until he was behind the Mududa warriors. Each step was taken with care as he approached his quarry. Stealth was his friend. Surprise his assistant.
Creeping up behind two stragglers, Likash swung his left hand down onto the head of the nearest man. The sullen thud of a skull cracking alerted the other straggler. A shout escaped his lips.
Retrieving a club from his latest victim, Likash silenced the shouter with a blow to the temple.
The pack of hunters was now running his way, weapons readied. Using his good left arm Likash threw his last stone into the mess of running bodies before haring into the undergrowth with the club gripped in his fist.
With his latest assault eliminating another two enemies, Likash figured that he had killed or incapacitated half of the Mududa force.
Blood was seeping through the clay on his many wounds as the Mududa chased him. Encountering a steep ravine in the forest, Likash barrelled downhill with the chasing pack mere paces behind him.
Staying upright was a constant struggle for Likash, as his legs could not match the forward momentum of his upper body. Dodging roots and branches as he descended, Likash slung his near useless right arm around the bole of a young tree.
His impetus was reversed as he spun around the tree to face his pursuers. Several had passed him before realising his trick.
His swinging club greeted the remainder. Faces smashed and limbs broke under the fury of his swings. Cries wailed out from those whose bones were broken. Others lay silent.
Now Likash had the high ground. The remaining Mududa, including the other giant and the leader were several paces below him. Watching with caution. None prepared to lead a counter-attack.
The leader snapped a command. The Mududa fanned out into a crescent, with the leader and the giant at the centre. Step by step they advanced back up the incline.
Likash grabbed a knife for his right hand, the club held firm in his left. Turning his head he used his one good eye to observe the remaining ten Mududa.
The leader’s eyes narrowed as he assessed Likash’s injuries. Commands spilled from his lips as he directed the attack.
Likash moved across the incline to prevent himself becoming encircled. The Mududa matched his movement. Advancing upwards. Fanning around him.
The leader pulled two nets from around his waist and handed them along the line until they were in the hands of the outer markers.
Likash realised the leader’s plan. When the attack came, it would come from the flanks. With his left eye unseeing and his right arm effectively useless, the Mududa would use his injuries against him.
Seizing the initiative, Likash used a tree as a launch pad and propelled himself far to his right.
Taken aback by the sudden movement, the man he was charging at swung the net too low and too late to trouble Likash.
Bounding over the net, Likash swung his club just once, killing the man with a blow to the temple.
Snatching the net, Likash threw it at the next attacker in line. Too high. The man ducked under it, only for Likash’s club to land on the back of his skull.
The other Mududa backed away. Shouted threats from the leader halted their retreat but could not inspire an advance.
The giant was the one to push forward, the leader at his side.
Knowing that the other men would run if he could defeat this pair, Likash set off to meet them. Three paces from them, he dropped to the ground using his momentum to carry him downhill.
Likash’s knees were on his chest for an instant before they shot out and planted his heels into the groin of the lumbering giant. The force of the blow lifted the giant from his feet and sent him tumbling downhill.
Arresting his momentum, Likash used the butt of his club to pummel the leader’s feet. As the leader danced away, the knife in Likash’s right hand slashed at the tendons in his knees and ankles. The leader fell to the ground, his screams reverberating around the forest.
Leaving the leader, Likash went after the giant, who was leaning against a tree with both hands clasping his groin.
Cracking a defensive elbow with his first swing, Likash moved closer to finish the brute, when the giant struck back with a massive gnarled fist.
Likash’s vision swam as the giant went to repeat the blow. Likash knew another blow like that would finish him as a fighter, so he dropped to his knees below the punch and swung his club towards the giant’s shins.
A bovine roar accompanied the brute’s fall, only for Likash to silence him with a slash of the knife.
Scampering up the hill, he caught up with the retreating pack and set to work with club and knife. Six men fell at his feet. A seventh stood four paces away.