bell tower ringed with ancient scaffolding over a narrow opening. It was their only hope. He steered Horse in under the rickety scaffolding still clinging to its long unfinished exterior. In the shadowy dark he dismounted Horse and raced back outside. He swung his tomahawk at the ancient scaffolding, cutting through a rusty bar with one stroke. He stepped back inside once he’d smashed the other support bar. The scaffolding began to collapse across the entrance as he saw the Big Lion come crashing through the warped and bent forest of dry wood, charging directly at him.
The scaffolding slanted down across the entrance as shafts of fading daylight shot through the dust.
The Big Lion crossed the ground between them in bounds.
Focus, Boy.
The Boy reached up and crushed another support with his tomahawk and more abandoned building material came crashing down across the entrance. Dust and sand swallowed the world and the Boy closed his eyes and didn’t breathe. Horse screeched in fear as the Boy hoped the collapsed scaffolding would be enough to block the entrance.
When he opened his eyes he could see soft light filtering through the debris-cluttered opening.
He put his good hand on Horse, conveying calm where the Boy felt none, willing the terror-stricken animal to understand that they were safe for now.
Then he looked at the wound.
Claw marks straight down the side. The whole flank all the way to the hock was shaking. He took some of his water and washed the wound. Horse trembled, and the Boy placed his face near Horse’s neck, whispering.
It will be okay.
I will take care of you
The wound is still bleeding, so I’ll have to make a bandage.
He poured some water into the sand and made mud. He didn’t have much water, but it was vital to get the bleeding stopped.
He can’t bleed forever, Boy.
When the mixture was ready he packed it into the wound, steadying Horse as he went, murmuring above the lion’s roar as he applied the wet mud.
SHE PACED BACK and forth outside the never-to-be-finished bell tower.
The Horse was definitely inside. She could smell it. She could smell its fear.
At the top of the bell tower, fifteen feet high, she could see narrow arches. If she could leap from another structure she might get in there and make the kill.
The Male rose up on his hind legs and began to bat away at the collapsed opening. Wood splintered and cracked as he put all of his four hundred pounds onto the pile of debris. As usual he tired quickly and went to lie down, content to merely wait and watch the entrance. The sisters came up to him one by one, trying to reassure him that all would be well, but he seemed embarrassed—or frustrated. Normally expressive, his great face remained immobile, which the young usually took for thinking. But she knew he was merely tired and mostly out of ideas and generally unconcerned at how things might turn out.
She knew him—and loved him.
She paced away from the tower and then turned, gave two energetic bounds, and leaped. She almost made the top. Her claws extended, ripping into the dry stucco of the bell tower, revealing ancient dry wood beneath. She began to climb toward the opening, and a moment later a sheet of stucco ripped away and she fell backward.
There is wood like a tree underneath. Once this skin is off, she thought, I’ll be able to climb in.
She began to stand on her hind legs and rake her claws down the side of the tower as chalky stucco, dry and brittle, disintegrated.
As if not to be outdone by her sister, another of the females began to dig at the base of the tower like she might for the making of a den. Now it would be a race. Who would get to the horse first? The Male would like that. He would reward whoever got in first. It was his way.
The sun was going down. It would be a long night.
Chapter Nine
HORSE HAD STOPPED trembling. He seemed resigned now to the tight space and had stopped threatening to fight present conditions. The Boy climbed atop Horse and reached for the high arched openings just below the roof. Leveraging himself upward, he was able to climb into them.
Below, the lions were instantly aware of him. Multiple pairs of glowing dark eyes watched him. By the barest of moonlight he could see them lying about while the one who had been digging at the base of the tower stopped.
If I had my crossbow I could pick her off.
Never mind what you don’t have, Boy. You better start thinking about a jailbreak, otherwise…
The Big Lion roared loudly, opening its mouth and showing its fangs as it turned its head, throwing the roar off into the hills. When the lion finished it stared straight at the Boy.
The Boy listened to the echo of the roar bounce off the far hills, its statement reminding him of the vastness of the high desert and how alone he was within it.
So that’s how it is, thought the Boy. All right then, no surrender.
One of the females suddenly ran forward, leapt, and almost caught the edge of the arched opening. The whole bell tower shook and Horse cried out in fear. The lion slid down as her claws raked the stucco off, revealing the dry wooden slats beneath.
This thing was not well constructed in the Before, and these hard years since haven’t improved it. You would tell me to stop and think, Sergeant.
He removed his tomahawk from his belt.
The feline turned and charged the tower again. The Boy waited and as it made its leap he slammed the tomahawk down into one paw. The beast screeched and threw itself away from the wall.
That should give me some time.
The Lioness watched the Boy for a moment, the contempt naked in its cool eyes, then lay down apart from the others, and began to lick the wound. The Boy could not tell how badly he might have hurt it.
He lowered himself down into the dark, finding Horse with his dangling feet. Then he gently let himself down onto Horse’s back. He sat there, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness.
I’ve got to do something about the digger next. If I can do something about her, maybe they’ll get the point that I’m not coming out. Maybe then they’ll go away.
You sure about that, Boy?
The only thing else I can think of is to strike at them as they come through the sand under the wall.
It seemed a thin plan, but looking at the four walls and Horse, what else could he do?
For the rest of the night he listened to the digger. Occasionally the lions would growl and he thought it best not to go up into the high arched openings.
If I remain invisible to them, then maybe “out of sight, out of mind” as you used to say, Sergeant?
Or …
If they can’t mind me, then I won’t matter to them.
And it was there in the dark that the Boy realized Sergeant Presley had been full of knowledge. Full of words and wisdom. Those things were a comfort to him in the times he and Sergeant Presley had been in danger.
I’m young. I haven’t had all the years it takes to acquire wisdom. Now death is closer than it has ever been.
Everyone dies, Boy, even me. Maybe it’s not as bad as you think.
SOFT, PALE LIGHT shone the through arched windows above. The night had passed and though he had not slept much, the Boy felt as though he’d slept too much. As if some plan of action should have occurred to him in the hours of darkness. But none had and he cursed himself, not knowing what the coming day might bring.
He heard a roar, far off, then another one and another, almost on the heels of