West of Eden

from his face with a filthy hand, smearing the dirt there even more.
    "I was in the hills, hunting alone," he said reluctantly. "All night by a waterhole. Deer never came. Went back to the tents this morning. All dead."
    A cold premonition seized Kerrick as Sanone spoke. "Dead? Your sammad? What happened to them?"
    "Dead. Arderidh the sammadar, no head." He made a swiping motion across his throat with his finger.
    "No spear, no arrow. All dead. Just these."
    West of Eden - Harry Harrison
    He dug inside his furs and took out a folded scrap of leather and opened it slowly. Kerrick knew as he unwrapped it, knew what he would see there.
    Small, pointed, feathered.
    Darts from a hèsotsan.
    "They have followed! They are here!"
    Herilak bellowed the words aloud, a roar of mighty pain. His fist lashed out and smote the Kargu's arm so hard that the hunter screeched in pain. The darts fell to the ground and Herilak ground them underfoot.
    The Sasku looked on in amazement, unable to understand, and Sanone looked to Kerrick for some explanation. But Kerrick felt the same mixture of black anger and fear as Herilak did. He drew in a shuddering breath and forced out the words.
    "It is them. From the south. The murgu. The murgu who walk like Tanu. They are coming again."
    "Are these the murgu you told me of? The ones you have fled from?"
    "The same. Murgu of a kind you have never seen nor thought possible. They walk and talk and build cities and kill Tanu. They killed my sammad, they killed Herilak's sammad. Every hunter, every woman, every child. Every mastodon. Dead."
    At these last words Sanone nodded with solemn understanding. He had given this matter much thought ever since Kerrick had first told him about the murgu. He had not spoken of it until now; he had not been sure. The surety came now for it had been taught, and he knew the teachings, and he knew that there was only one creature that would dare to kill a mastodon.
    "Karognis…"he said, in a voice so filled with loathing that those closest to him shivered and stepped back. "The Karognis is loose on the land and is now close to us."
    Kerrick was only half-listening for he was not interested in what Sanone was saying. "What do we do, Herilak? Do we flee once again?"
    "If we flee again they will only follow again. Now I know the meaning of my dreams. This is the day that I saw coming. I will meet them and I will fight. Then I will die. But it will be a warrior's death for many of the murgu will die with me."
    "No," Kerrick said, the word harsh as a slap across the face. "That would be good if you were one man and wanted to die. But you are the sacripex. Do you want the hunters and the sammads to die with you?
    West of Eden - Harry Harrison
    Have you forgotten that the murgu are as numberless as the sands upon the shore? In open battle we can only lose. So now you must tell me. Are you the sacripex who will lead us in battle—or are you the hunter Herilak who wishes to go alone against the murgu and die?"
    The big hunter was a head taller than Kerrick and stood looking down at him, his hands opening and closing now, hands that could reach out and kill. Yet Kerrick was as angry as he, staring back at him in cold silence, waiting for his answer.
    "Those are harsh words, Kerrick. No one speaks to Herilak in that manner."
    "As margalus I speak to the sacripex. To the hunter Herilak I would speak differently, for his pain is mine." His voice softened now. "It is your choice, great Herilak, and no one can decide for you."
    Herilak stared down in silence, his fists now clenched so tightly that his knuckles were white. Then he nodded slowly, and when he spoke there was understanding and respect in his words.
    "And so shall the son teach the father. You make me remember that I forced a choice upon you once, and you listened to me and you left the murgu and became a Tanu hunter once again. If you could do that, then I must do my duty as sacripex and forget what I saw in my dreams. But you are margalus. You must tell us what the murgu are doing."
    The incident was over, forgotten. Now there were decisions to be made. Kerrick looked at the Kargu hunter, eyes unfocused and looking through him, deep in thought, seeing instead the Yilanè and the fargi who had come here. Trying to see what they were doing and how were they doing it. The Kargu moved uneasily under his unseeing gaze as long moments passed before Kerrick spoke to him.
    "You are a hunter. You found your sammad dead. What