"Leave? I was considering it," Cato replied warily. Who knew what this man wanted?

"Might you care to explain why?" Banage asked.

Danine's ears twitched but she said nothing.

"We may survive the next zombie attack but I doubt it will be as bloodless as the first. And it will not be the last, not with an army of zombies large enough that Ka can see them from the air," Cato said. Danine looked sadder, Cato had just proclaimed that he thought they were all going to die, but Irld and Arbor stayed just as calm as ever.

Banage sighed, "It's good to find another person who thinks the same. I agree. "

Cato closed his open mouth and thought quickly, "Uh, does that mean you're going to come with me when I go?"

"I would like to make a different proposal. Both of us wish to defend this village, I presume?" Cato nodded slowly, but what was Banage getting at?

Banage continued, "Tulore is too traditional to countenance new ideas like yours. But I'm not required to obey her. Let us discuss your ideas then, my clan is large enough to make them work even if no one else helps. "

You could have heard a pin drop. Banage's grey eyebrows regarded Cato steadily despite the bombshell he had just dropped.

"Will they even listen to me?" Cato asked finally, "And how many people are we talking about?"

"I have three siblings who each have their own family, most of whom are by now grown. Perhaps as many as thirty will answer a call to arms if I give it. And do not underestimate yourself, the feat you pulled with the tremor was very inspiring. Outside of the close-minded circle of Tulore's, it is more highly regarded than you think. "

Cato was glad that he was sitting down. That was far too sudden a change of circumstances. With thirty people, defences might be constructed and the zombies might be harried. If they all had bows, they might even be able to skirmish the zombies effectively!

"Don't believe him," Irld said, "Banage, don't go against the Elder. No matter what you say, the Elder isn't someone you want to cross. "

"But mama, he's going to help us! I also believe in Cato," Danine said. Cato raised an eyebrow and she nodded firmly back at him.

Banage smiled at her gently, "thank you. But your mother would not like that. Cato is free to make his own decisions without familial ties. "

"Cato," Irld addressed him seriously, "please listen to me. The Elder has lead our village for three generations. Everyone knows how hard Tulore has worked to master curse breaking. She knows more lore than any of us and we have never gone wrong listening to her. "

And none of those were good reasons to continue listening. Cato refrained from pointing out. For that matter, they hadn't done that well following Tulore.

"Without her, we would have fallen apart. Her mother kept us together when the Inaths ruled us and Tulore did the same when they left. This place, our traditions, are all that we have left. " Irld paused, "Banage's family is large, as he says, and there are not a few other families who have close ties to them. I fear that if Banage does this, it will split the village apart. And we will disappear like leaves in the wind. "

The zombies will kill all of us, unless you think dying together is better than living separately. Cato also didn't say that. Tulore and now Irld seemed to be so misguided, surely no one could seriously believe those reasons?

But no, Danine was clearly wavering. Well of course, it was her mother making the arguments.

Banage sighed, "Come with me, meet my clan, Char. With your help, we can defend this village. "

Cato thought about it for a moment longer then made his decision.

The torches on the walls filled the air with a choking smell of smoke, mixed with the breaths of nearly fifty people. The rustling of clothing and tails blurred together with the voices of men and women, talking quietly. Danine was standing off to one side, looking a bit nervous at all the people.

"Remember, while I support your ideas, not all of my clan are as forward as I would like it. They are eager to act but too many new things at once might scare them," Banage said to Cato, "Let me start and you add to it. "

He nodded. That made sense.

Banage raised his voice to cover the entire courtyard where the clan was gathered, "No doubt all of you have already heard of the failure of the village meeting four days ago and its reasons. We know that the Elder refuses to act, that Tharoden blocks our suggestions from being heard, that there is no plan in place for the zombies. That ends today. Cato, the human who help us kill the tremor, is willing to help us with his ideas that Tulore and Tharoden wish us not to hear!"

Banage nodded at Cato. The clan were talking softly to each other. It sounded at least more hopeful than Cato had heard over the last week.

"The zombies are slower than you or I," Cato addressed the Fukas looking at him, "While they are still a day's walk away, near the valley's entrance, we should attack them to reduce their numbers. If the full force hits here, I doubt we will get by as lightly as we did before. If you are careful, you can do this with hopefully no casualties. "

"Are you seriously proposing attacking the zombies?" a man near the front asked incredulously.

"Yes," Cato said simply.

The murmurs got louder.

The same man asked again, "how? Without the walls, the zombies will be free to kill us!"

"You don't have to stand and fight," Cato explained, "Only those with bows, with slings, or other ranged weapon can participate. You fire once, then retreat back towards the village. "

"But we won't be able to shoot all that much. The zombies aren't that slow. What happens if they decide to charge us?"

"It's all right. The idea is not to kill them all but merely reduce their numbers," Cato said.

There were other reasons, of course. He knew precious little about the zombies and seeing them in the field would show their behaviour better. Why did they mindlessly attack? Were they guided by some intelligence or did they have behavioural patterns, like the tremor, that could be exploited?

He didn't say any of that however.

"For one thing, I agree," Banage stepped forwards into the center of the courtyard, "Tulore has avoided taking any action, so it is up to us to defend the village. All of you who have bows, I want you to help. The others should make arrows and reinforce the gate for when the zombies get here. "

"What about Tharoden? Won't he disapprove?"

"That's perfectly acceptable," Banage smiled, "Not to worry, just leave those matters to me. Char will be greatly strengthened if we can do this. "

Ryulo crept slowly through the underbrush. Where were the zombies? Ka had said that the movements had been around the mouth of the valley, almost a full day's walk away. They were getting close now and then Ka had said he lost track of the movements.

He whistled a clear high tune, like a song bird. An answering whistle came back. Still all clear.

He recalled the epic shouting match between Banage and Tharoden that had started when the ten hunters in the Char clan attempted to leave from the gate. Ryulo hadn't stuck around to hear what came of it. The last he knew was that Tulore was getting involved too.

He crept forward for another few minutes then the wind shifted and Ryulo froze. That smell was familiar.

Ryulo gave a warbling cry of the night sparrows and hoped that the zombies didn't know that it was the wrong time of the day.

This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

More warbles sounded as the other hunters echoed his warning and Ryulo began to back away from the stench. Somewhere up above, Ka was circling, ready to pass messages if they could get to the top of the trees and use those flags that human had so cleverly thought of.

Where the boy had gotten those ideas from, Ryulo couldn't figure out. But with three hundred of the dead on their way, he would take any help he could get.

They would meet up to scout forwards more carefully.

"What are they doing?" Ryulo asked the woman on the other side of the tree, a distant cousin.

The woman who hadn't even introduced herself just shrugged, instead settling down into the nook of the trees expertly to watch the zombies.

Not that there was much to watch. Across the tiny clearing and not a few trees away, the zombies were mostly lying down on the ground. Completely motionless.

Not a single movement. Not a sound. Not even the twitching of limbs or the general fidgeting that living things did, humans or otherwise.

Ryulo tried to suppress the chilly feeling crawling over his skin. It was death, that was what it was.

It would be quite unmanly to simply run away screaming but that was what he felt like doing and Ryulo would not lie to himself. The zombies lying in neat little rows under the trees on the other side of the clearing were terrifying, as if the fear was digging under his skin no matter how he tried to push it away.

The woman on the other side seemed to be treating this as if it was a stroll through the woods.

Hm, now that he thought of it, her hair and tail were rather good looking. The damp fur was enticing... no no, now was not the time to get distracted.

"Watch them for a while, won't you?" she said and Ryulo ripped his eyes away guiltily.

Whatever for though? The zombies had not been doing anything for the last hour. Even the birdsong was starting again, although it was now two hours after the end of Little Night and thus beginning to get dark- The creak of a bow whipped his head around.

"What are you doing?!" he whispered urgently to the mad woman.

She ignored him and strung the bow deftly. Oh Selna, was she really going to shoot them? She definitely was!

He grabbed her arm as she drew an arrow, "um, I think that would be a really really BAD idea. "

"We were told to harass them," the woman said, still keeping an eye on the zombies, "let me go and get ready to run. " Her voice left no misunderstandings that she was going to shoot them the moment he let go.

Ryulo glanced back to the zombies reflexively, in case they had been heard, but no, no movement. He couldn't be sitting here with one arm around the tree trunk holding onto her arrow arm for the rest of the day.

"All right, at least let me warn the others. " She nodded, the insane woman was actually serious about this. Ryulo glanced around to the two neighbouring groups, just about visible in the dense trees, and gave a pair of staccato cries of a Kak.

The cry of the hunter bird meant they were attacking.

With one trembling hand, Ryulo strung his bow and nocked an arrow as the returning single cries of acknowledgement to either side came back.

Kee, who had substituted Ka up in the sky, waited for the agreed on three minutes before giving the same sharp cries.

Then the arrows began to fly and all hell broke loose.

Ryulo practically flew through the forest, bounding from rock to tree back to soil.

There was no time to tell if their arrows had done anything. No time to do more than fire off two more hastily aimed shots before the zombies figured out where the attacks were coming from.

And then they had had to run. The zombie pack scrambled over the rocks and under gaps of fallen trees, like a surging mass of frenzied humans except for the complete silence in which they were doing it. The slapping of feet and crashing through bushes still made an unholy amount of noise but they did it without a single voice coming from them.

Triggered by some sign he wasn't even aware of, Ryulo spun around, drew and fired almost without thinking. The zombie, just about to jump off the fallen tree onto the woman, stumbled backwards and lost its footing. She jumped up from the ground where she had fallen.

"Don't fall behind!" he gasped out as they resumed running.

"Do... I... look suicidal?" she said, hair whipping around her face as they raced through the forest.

She stumbled a short while later and Ryulo had to stop. The zombies were still thrashing around somewhere behind them but they had managed to break away. "What happened to you?" he asked.

She shook her head but Ryulo could tell she was just being stubborn. That wince of pain every time she put down her left foot was too obvious.

"Did you sprain your ankle?" he bent down and prodded it.

She jumped slightly and hissed at him but quickly looked away.

He sighed, "Can you keep up?"

The woman didn't answer, just looking at the ground. Her tail wound slowly her pained leg.

Darn. What could he do? Call the others? If they grouped up, they might stand a chance of driving off whatever zombies managed to get far enough ahead of the pack. Who knew where all the other pairs were though?

Ryulo breathed in and out a few times then took the deepest breath he ever had.

The traditional hunting call came out louder than he anticipated. The woman next to him would have jumped in shock if not for her leg. Even so, he had to catch her from falling over.

"Get moving, the zombies must have heard us," he said, holding her up by the arm.

"Right," she grimaced and started walking.

Ryulo ignored the grinding sound of her ankle bones. As much as it hurt her, he was determined to get both of them to safety and that meant they had to run.

"What happened? We agreed not to use the hunting call!" the last stragglers finally managed to join up.

Ryulo pointed at the woman back under the trees. The half-run they had taken away from the zombie pack had inflamed her ankle to a red swelling. They had to get her back to the Elder or she would be in serious trouble. Verrad had done all he could but the binding was clearly insufficient. She might even need a curse-breaker.

"Still, we are quite far away from the village," Ryulo said under his breath.

The rock he was standing on stood out from the rising slopes. The trees were getting sparser before Ryulo had realized they were going in the wrong direction and by then the zombies had gotten between them and the village.

He had volunteered to expose himself to guide the others to their spot. Both of them had expected to attract the zombies as well, the woman had wanted to do it claiming that she was injured and therefore more dispensable. Ryulo overruled her by pointing out that she couldn't even stand up anymore without help.

It turned out to be moot, the zombies never followed them up. They still hadn't figured out why.

Coo, on third shift, circled above Ryulo's position, watching the zombies and signalling their direction. How useful that was going to remain was a mystery though. The sun was setting soon and if they didn't want to have to camp out, they were going to need to find some way to get around the zombies.

She waved the flags and Ryulo read them out slowly in his head. "Z move lost not see"

Hm. The movement had stopped again?