Nick watched, barely daring to breathe, as the bonecruncher pack converged on a trio of komos that had wandered into the region a few minutes earlier.
Although the lizards would not realize it for another thirty seconds, their fate was already sealed. The hyena-boars had heard the komos coming well before they arrived on scene, spreading out to cut off all avenues of escape. The brutal beasts’ method of hunting was both fascinating and deeply frightening. He raised his estimation of the crunchers’ prowess by another notch as he watched them go in for the kill.
Nick would not have been nearly as copacetic about the beasts prowling below had he not been watching from the safety of the treetops, where he had been waiting for the pack for the better part of two hours. At the moment, he was further inland than he had ventured before by quite some distance. His journey had taken him to the northern edge of the southern forest, where the woodland terrain transitioned into the highlands that ringed the mountain jutting up from the center of the island.
He would never have been willing to press this deep into the pack’s territory if his first, early morning scouting mission had not been a resounding success, for he had learned a great deal about the crunchers’ capabilities. Now, Nick was confident that he could avoid the pack’s notice—if he was careful.
Although they were incredibly strong and much faster than him, the hyenas were impatient and highly vocal. It was easy to hear them coming when Nick paid close attention to his surroundings. The beasts had poor eyesight and a weak sense of smell, relying on their excellent hearing to track their prey. Taken together, it meant that he could avoid the pack if he took to the trees and remained silent after.
After waking before dawn, he skipped his morning training in favor of entering the pack’s territory before the beasts were up and about. Traversing the woodlands in the misty morning light, he found the tree he had picked out the day before, climbed to the top, then settled in to wait.
After rubbing in some ash to mute his scent, Nick climbed into the branches, a spot that offered him a wide view of the surrounding terrain. He had come to love the leather gloves that he had found in the dungeon with all the climbing he had been doing lately. An hour or so into his stakeout, the sounds of conflict drew his attention to a nearby clearing.
From his post in the treetop, Nick was able to observe what had begun as a fight between a pair of lemurs and a komo—a three-way standoff that involved a great deal of hissing and shrieking as the lemurs and the lizard contested the half-eaten corpse of a swordclaw. Their posturing had eventually broken out into a full-blown melee, the lemurs having armed themselves with a pair of stout sticks.
Nick would have helped them had the lemurs not had the option of climbing to safety whenever they wanted. It wound up being a good thing that he had stayed put. Before any of the beasts could land a decisive blow, the pack, who had been drawn by the sounds of their battle, burst into the clearing while the fight was underway.
In the blink of an eye, the warring trio had ceased their melee and stood stock-still, remaining frozen in place rather than trying to flee. The closest cruncher was about the same distance away from their location as it was from the nearest tree. The lemurs must have been convinced that the hyena would beat them in a race to the trunk, although it didn’t explain why they were just standing there.
Nick had been puzzled by this behavior until he realized that the pack had stopped moving as well. They spread out while cocking their ears to the side, poised like they were waiting for something. If the crunchers had eyesight like Nick’s or a nose like a dog’s, they would have spotted the lemurs and komo immediately.
Instead, they started darting around the clearing, picking directions seemingly at random. That was when, without warning, all seven hyenas let loose a piercing howl, causing him to flinch despite the considerable distance between them.
Although their eyes went wide with fear, the lemurs remained as still as statues, gazes locked onto the prowling predators. As for the komo, it startled at the sudden sound. It only took two small steps before it became motionless once more, but that tiny scramble was enough to seal the lizard’s fate. Fourteen furry ears swiveled to face the komo, and the pack surged into motion half a heartbeat later.
The instant it realized that it had been spotted, the komo began a mad dash for its life, fear fueling its muscles into a blurring burst of speed. But its impressive velocity was no match for the pack. In less than a minute, the crunchers had spread out to surround the unfortunate reptile, trapping it within a ring of jutting tusks and snapping jaws. They performed the maneuver with impeccable teamwork, offering Nick a crash course in pack tactics.
Although the lizard had four sets of claws and its own razored jaws, it could only look in one direction at a time. Each time that a cruncher feinted to draw the komo’s attention, three more would strike from the rear and flanks, charging in from beyond the komo’s field of view. The reptile was unable to attack or mount a proper defense, although it somehow managed to avoid the first round of attacks.
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Utterly outmatched, the komo started spinning in circles in a desperate attempt to catch one of the bonecrunchers off-guard and land a decisive blow. Its plan was clear. Create an opening, break through, and escape the living cage of ivory while ringing it on all sides.
Suddenly, an opportunity presented itself in the flow of battle, as a hyena overextended itself after a clumsy lunge. The lizard pounced, jaws streaking for the cruncher’s throat, seemingly set up to score a devastating bite. But that was exactly what the pack had been waiting for. Lured into lowering its guard for a handful of heartbeats, the komo failed to notice a second beast closing in from the side, timing its attack with the advance of its packmate.
That entire setup was planned. A trick to draw the komo into an exposed position, allowing the crunchers to close the distance without being wounded in return. The terrified lizard realized its mistake at the last possible moment, but it was already too late. The bonecruncher’s jaws closed around its throat, tearing into scale and flesh before pinning the lizard to the ground with its superior mass.
The pack pounced the instant that the komo was disabled, tearing the helpless lizard apart in a feeding frenzy and devouring its legs and tail while the beast was still alive. To Nick’s relief, the lemurs had darted for the safety of the treetops the moment the pack’s attention was absorbed in consummating their kill. A pair of hyenas mounted a half-hearted pursuit, but they abandoned the attempt when the lemurs climbed into the canopy, returning to where the pack was deciding how to split the spoils from their hunt.
The cruncher who had initiated the trap tried to carry off the komo’s head, which seemed to be the choice piece of the carcass. But the alpha forced its packmate back with a menacing growl, claiming the gore-smeared prize for its own. Nick watched, torn between fascination and revulsion, as the pack pulled the corpse into pieces and began to feast, jagged teeth shearing through tissue and bone with no appreciable resistance.
I can’t fight those head-on. He nodded to himself with total certainty. Even facing off against one of the smaller ones would be a terrible idea. There is no way I can win in a fair fight. I need to find a way to stack the deck.
Watching their hunt had only solidified his resolve to remove the pack from the board. If Nick made a single mistake while crossing the forest and failed to notice their arrival, it would surely cost him his life. Plans were cycling through his mind as Nick considered and discarded a dozen strategies back-to-back. Each was more suitable than the last, although he was unable to find a solution that satisfied him.
I need to work out a way to break the pack’s cohesion, lure them away from their territory, and then whittle down their numbers once they are isolated. Only then will a path to victory lie before me.
Although he still needed to form a viable plan, Nick’s scouting run had been worth the effort. After watching their movements closely, he was able to evaluate the crunchers’ abilities. At a rough estimate, they hunted 70 percent by sound, 20 percent by sight, although their vision was shit at picking out stationary targets, and only 10 percent by smell.
While the hyenas stopped to sniff at feces and other strongly scented objects, they seemed to use the information to identify the species in question rather than following the odor to track their prey. Their eyes helped them to home in on their target once they were near, although their hearing seemed sufficient for that task as well.
Taken together, Nick had learned that if he wanted to evade detection, he had to change how he moved through the forest as he began tracking the pack to their lair. Once the coast was clear, he had begun hiking north, intent on following the brutal bonecrunchers into the highlands beyond the forest.
Now that he knew the beasts were able to perceive their prey well before it came into view, Nick was certain that they could hear him as he advanced into their territory. He had countered this threat by only moving for short stretches before going completely still. The crunchers could tell what direction he was heading from a considerable distance, but not where he was standing once he stopped making noise.
By the time the pack arrived, they were unable to pin down Nick’s exact location. Fortunately, the crunchers were not patient hunters and quickly gave up in favor of finding an easier meal. Even so, each time he heard the deadly beasts drawing near, he broke into a cold sweat, certain that this time they would find him.
He knew that his luck wouldn’t last forever. If he stumbled across the bonecruncher pack without sufficient warning, they would be on him before he knew what hit him. He was also worried that they would hide somewhere nearby, waiting to launch an ambush when Nick revealed his presence.
So far, they hadn’t tried it, but if the hyena-boars took offense at his intrusion into their territory, their behavior might change. That was why he had decided to keep on pushing and try to determine where the pack was laired, although he wasn’t ready to scout any further than he had today.
Nick pulled himself back into the present as the crunchers converged on their prey. By now, the pack had fanned out to surround the komos, cutting off all avenues of retreat before the lizards even realized that they were under attack. It was the same tactic that the color-changing reptiles had used on Nick on his first day on the island, and he felt a grim satisfaction in watching the tables turn.
Five minutes later, it was over. The pack enjoyed their meal before heading north into the highlands, returning to their lair with full bellies. Having learned all that he could from direct observation, he was ready to move on to the next stage of his preparations.
Just to be safe, Nick waited twenty minutes before climbing out of the tree and heading back to the lemur’s side of the forest, plots and plans whirling madly within his brain.