The Book of Dema

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE + Weary Bones

Carter was almost out of breath as his feet fought for footing on the slick Trench hillside. Kash led the hunter-seeker team in swift pursuit mode, and Carter was struggling with the pace and the terrain. He had been accustomed to the long scout hikes of his teen years and the fast-paced door outings with the First Circle, but this trekking was different. They had been on the trail of two saturators for thirty-six hours. During that time they had stopped to rest for only four. This was why the teams had no trouble sleeping when they returned to the Bandito camp, he thought. These chases consumed every calorie they had stored away.

Upton had been right to reserve the best food for the teams and treat the sedentary Banditos with dismissiveness and the outsiders with sheer derision. The function of the outward bound teams was essential to the Banditos' mission, and those assigned to the teams deserved the best food the camp could offer. Everyone else made do.

At the crest of the hill, Carter collapsed to his knees, sucking the air into his body as deeply as his tired chest could handle it. Kash had glanced back moments earlier and had signaled to Oscar to drop back. They needed Clancy's memories if they were going to be able to draw any information out of the fleeing servants of Dema, assuming that they could catch them.

Oscar slid in next to Carter, little mounds of soft peat rolling up under his feet as he came to a stop. He pulled his field canteen out of his pack and handed it to Carter. Carter held up his index finger as he fought to catch his breath. Cresting the hill had taken his last bit of muscle control.

Oscar stood up while he waited and peered out at the landscape. Being out here always made him feel small–free for certain–but very small.

There were many similar hilltops in this region of Trench. He could see twenty of them from here. They were like a stationary sea, waves and troughs that had been captured in an instant, frozen into this landscape. It was as if some raging waters had somehow been woven together to form the rolling damp fabric of the countryside that had lost the threats of the sea. Up here, the hills were safe. From any hilltop, a person could see for miles. Threats like saturator bands or Numan units were easily spotted if they were on the move through this region. It was impossible to traverse it without occasionally mounting a series of the hills. It was the deep places in between that created the difficulties. Down there was the danger. A band content to sit and wait for the enemy's inevitable descent, could strike with surprise and impunity, particularly when they had nothing to lose.

That was the situation now. Oscar knew the saturators were trapped, but in which valley they were hiding was the danger. The hunter-seeker team would have to proceed with caution.

The chase had begun late two nights ago when the Vulture had sent Kash's unit out to address annoyances the two saturators were causing in nearby villages. They were doing what they usually did, permeating the scattered villagers with despair and discontent. Their torment often led to people wandering from their homes, falling from high places, and committing acts of violence including torching their homes and destroying crops and food barns. The Banditos had two choices: they could go into recovery mode and work to bring in the few who had disappeared into the wilderness, or go on the offense and deal with the saturators directly. That had been the Vulture's decision this time.

Kash's parents were noted hunter-seekers. It had been what had made them targets of Dema's own attack teams and had led to their end. But even as they rotated between the recovery units and the more offensive minded squads, their dedication to protect the people was known throughout the regions. Kash proudly served in the same capacity and employed the many tactics his father had taught him.

Never allow them to flee towards Dema. That is the most important rule of all, Kashbar, his father had taught his son. They will call for reinforcements. If you don't reach them before they come within five kilometers of Dema, you will either lose them or will likely be running for your own life.