Lord Grendel then took cover amongst the cattle humans, precisely as had his foes.
Had Lord Grendel not been overwrought, or had he been less concerned with the safety of the Lady Bina, he might have chosen to remain within the safety of his lines and allowed her to perish as she might, and would, at the hands of the cattle humans.
The leader of the cattle humans, of course, was not privy to the machinations of Agamemnon's minions, nor would he have understood their concerns even had they attempted to explain them to him.
He did have his hatred, of course, and his memories, and a single-minded program in mind, to deal with a bell human, a human who would have led him, and others, to the slaughter bench.
The other Kurii then rose, too, weapons readied, from amongst the cattle humans, their heads now clearly visible amongst those of the unkempt, lumbering, shambling, obese, bovine herd.
This must have been obvious to those in the revolutionists’ lines, as they had access to more than one optical instrument of the sort with which Cabot had made his earlier determinations.
One of the Kurii suddenly seemed to sink into the herd.
Lord Grendel's jaws were foaming with blood.
The Kurii then, in pairs, for these were elite Kur warriors, began to thread their way through the herd. No longer might Lord Grendel isolate a foe, and the likelihood of taking two at once, given their spacing, which was considered, for they were elite warriors, would be negligible.
There was the sound of the Lady Bina's bell and her scream was heard in the field.
Lord Grendel then, unwisely, as most would agree, tried to make his way to her, to afford her succor.
Whereas the hunting Kurii had not the least interest in the Lady Bina herself they had been well apprised of her importance to their target, this information having been supplied by Flavion, and so they began to converge on that locality from which had emanated the sound of the bell, and the scream. It resembled that of a shrill, terrified, caught animal, something similar to that perhaps of one of the womb tunnel's scavengers suddenly seized in the teeth of a Kur infant.
Lord Grendel, unwisely, began to thrust cattle human after cattle human from his path, hastening to the relief of the Lady Bina, who was in the midst of several cattle humans squealing and stamping about her, some with stones, and others with sharpened sticks. The herd leader had a large club, with which he was trying to turn her to her back. She screamed, several times, and began to choke, and sob, as they dealt with her.
The leader of the herd pushed his confreres back with the club, and raised it high over his head, to strike the torn, and bloodied, piece of flesh at his feet.
The blow did not fall because the club was torn from his grasp and then Lord Grendel, the massive club in his hands, began to strike about him, and the cattle humans fled back before these blows, limping, arms dangling, faces a mass of bones and blood.
The leader of the cattle humans, blood about his teeth, where he had bitten his prey, was seized in the mighty paws of Lord Grendel, lifted high in the air, and then flung to the earth, this breaking the back and neck of the leader of the cattle humans, who was then, as Lord Grendel had not loosened his grip, jerked upward, and the head was seized in Lord Grendel's jaws, and torn away from the shoulders, and then, with a movement of his head, flung fifty feet away.
Meanwhile, the two foremost of the Kurii of Agamemnon, these first through the cattle humans, intent on their target, and now having isolated it, leveled their weapons.
By this time Cabot had reached the edge of the herd.
The Kurii of Agamemnon, concerned with their priorities, were unaware of his presence.
Indeed, the following Kurii were not even aware, immediately, that two of their number, those closest to Lord Grendel, were no longer with them, but had been, for most practical purposes, with two charges from Cabot's weapon, incinerated.
Lord Grendel crouched down, jaws red with blood.
Cabot fired three times more.
With these three charges, he had managed to hit one other Kur.
Cabot's rifle, as most of its model, contained five charges, one in the bore, four in the magazine, which five had now been expended.
His foes having now clearly discerned his presence, and the nature of his weapon, and being quite as well aware as he of the likely expenditure of ammunition, began to approach his position, though warily.
Cabot, naturally, shifted his location, as he could. His rifle now was of little more use than would have been a metal club.
There was a bleating from the herd as Kurii now began to burn their way through the massive, obstructive flesh, almost as one might have set fire to a palisade, in order to clear a line of fire to its garrison. The herd then, many of its members stung and burned, several now no more than smoking meat, confused and tormented, finally alarmed, wildly bleating, piteously squealing, began to hurry away.
Some of the Kurii were buffeted one way or another, but then the herd was muchly scattered, and Lord Grendel would not move from his place, which was near small, torn flesh, and Cabot walked to join him, presumably that they might die together.
The remains of Agamemnon's Kurii then raised their rifles, but were almost immediately cut down in a withering torrent of flame.
"Are you all right?” called Statius.
Archon raised his rifle and brought down one of the two fleeing Kurii. The other made it to the habitats.
With Statius and Archon were more than a dozen Kurii and humans, armed with power weapons.
Lord Grendel reached down and lifted, tenderly, in his arms the limp, lacerated form of the Lady Bina.
He stood there, in the field, silent, in the grass, amongst bodies, those of cattle humans and Kurii, holding her.
"Is she alive?” asked Cabot.
Lord Grendel was looking toward the habitats.
"She is still bleeding,” said Archon.
"She is alive,” said Statius.
"It might be better were she not,” said a Kur.
"What is wrong with our commander?” said a Kur.
"There is water on his face,” said a Kur.
"Those are tears,” said Cabot.
"Kurii cannot weep,” said Statius. “They lack the means."
"He is partly human,” said Cabot.
Lord Grendel turned about and slowly made his way back to the insurrectionists’ lines, the unconscious, torn body of the Lady Bina in his arms.
Cabot, bending down, picked up a tiara, and followed them to the insurrectionists’ lines.
Chapter, the Sixty-Fourth:
THOUGHTS BEHIND THOUGHTS
"She is no longer beautiful,” said Archon.
The bell had been removed from the neck of the Lady Bina.
For four days she had been unconscious, and had then awakened raving, in delirium, her body burning with fever. In all this time Lord Grendel had remained at her side, watching over her, tending her, while the governance of the camp was surrendered to the human ally, Peisistratus, and the rule of the insurrectionists’ lines, the orders of the day, the arrangements of signs and countersigns, the inspection of weaponry, the postings of guards, the arrangement of patrols, and such, was accorded to Statius, who had once been a nondominant.
"If there should be any sign of enemy activity,” had said Lord Grendel, “I am to be notified, immediately."
But the habitats were quiet, and the field below was largely deserted, save for some cattle humans who had drifted back, to scavenge.
Flavion was missing.
This had been discovered shortly after the return to the insurrectionists’ lines.