An Alex Hawk Time Travel Adventure | Book 3 | Return from Kragdon-Ah, стр. 46

“We will make ourselves useful here while you are gone, then.”

Alex chose a small contingency to retrieve the message, just himself, Harta-ak, Versa-eh, and Senta-eh. He figured that the three of them on horseback would be able to make the quickest time.

As they rode, Versa-eh said, “This should be the end of your conflict with Lasta-ah.”

“For now, at least, yes,” Alex answered.

“If that’s the case, we are going to go back to our home. We have much to do there, and winter will be here soon.”

“I’m sorry I kept you here so long. I don’t think I could have gotten through all this without you.”

“And we would not be building our new home without you. That is how friendship works, right?”

They managed to find the Lasta-ah traka-ta refuge, though they did get lost and were forced to backtrack a few times. Senta-eh even managed to not say, “Maybe we should have brought Klipta-ak with us,” which showed her self-control.

When they rode into the clearing, they found it much as they had before. A game bird had been cleaned and was laid out next to the fire. The two Lasta-ah men were resting on the platform above. When they heard Alex and company arrive, they poked their heads over and managed a smile, which faded slightly when they saw there were no other Lasta-ah with them.

Senta-eh leaned forward and whispered, “They might be afraid that we didn’t bring Klipta-ak with us because we have killed him.”

Alex raised his hand in greeting and said, “Gunta. Klipta-ak is waiting for us back at Winten-ah. We will take you back with us when we go. Has the traka-ta from Lasta-ah returned?”

“Yes,” the older of the two men said. “It came back yesterday.”

“Have you read the message?”

The man put his hand against his throat, the Kragdon-ah equivalent of shaking his head.

Alex held his hand out and both men scampered down the ladder and handed him the note. Alex didn’t even bother to open it, just handed it up to Harta-ak.

Harta-ak unrolled the small scroll and his mouth fell open.

Alex felt an uncomfortable tightening in his stomach. “What? What does it say?”

Harta-ak cleared his throat and read the short message. “No. We will come for you. Kill those men if you haven’t already.”

Alex was staring at the two Lasta-ah when Harta-ak read the message and at that moment he knew they had told him the truth—they hadn’t known what the parchment said. Both paled considerably and looked at each other as if considering their options.

Senta-eh raised her bow, which was already strung. That convinced the two men that they had few options to consider. It was easy to see that, like Alex himself, they thought Draka-ta the Younger would have saved them, even if it were a lie.

Alex cracked his neck to give himself a moment to think. Then he looked at the two scared men. “I don’t know what I am going to do with you and the rest of Klipta-ak’s men. But for now, I will take you both back to Winten-ah.”

The ride home seemed twice as long as the ride out had been. This time, no one spoke, with the exception of a few quiet whispers between Versa-eh and Harta-ak. Alex’s head swam. He had given Draka-ak the Younger every opportunity to save his men because he had no desire to kill them. Now, he felt backed into a corner.

When they turned off the forest path and crossed the field to Winten-ah, Alex saw Klipta-ak at the bottom of the cliffs. He was not only building a new style of chair, but he was showing two of the Winten-ah craftsmen how to do the same.

When he saw the returning caravan with his two remaining men, he smiled broadly and raised a hand in greeting.

“It’s not that the Winten-ah are bad craftsmen, it’s just that...” His words trailed off when Alex drew closer and he saw the expression on his face.

Alex did not speak, but simply handed the parchment over.

Klipta-ak took it, unrolled it, and after just a few seconds, his chin fell onto his chest. He glanced in the direction of the enclosure, where his men were resting after recovering from their wounds. Then his eyes moved to the two men with Alex. There was pain in his eyes. He let the parchment fall to the ground.

“All he had to do to save us was lie. He wouldn’t even do that.” Klipta-ak straightened his back, looked up at Alex, and said, “I will prepare my men. Some are out gathering firewood and two others are out setting snares. They will be back before dark. I will keep the men in the enclosure until you are ready.”

Alex didn’t stop him as he gathered his men and brought them back to their prison. He felt the shift between them. There had been a growing, unlikely friendship between them over the previous month. Now they were firmly on opposite sides again.

The four of them dismounted and turned their horses over to be stabled.

Sekun-ak approached and said, “Bad news?”

“He told us to just kill them.”

Sekun-ak did not react. “Anything else would have shown weakness. I thought this is what he would do.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Would it have made a difference?”

Alex considered. “No,” he admitted. “I forget that you have knowledge of hundreds of generations of Kragdon-ah, and I have only seen seven summer solstices.”

“What do you want to do with them?”

“I do not want to kill them.”

“That does not answer the question. We did not conquer all of Lasta-ah in this battle. If we had, we would make them Winten-ah. But it was only a battle. Our traditions and theirs say we should kill them, so they won’t come back to try and kill us.”

Versa-eh stepped forward and said, “I might have a solution.”

AN HOUR LATER, SEKUN-ak, Alex, Harta-ak, and Versa-eh approached the prisoner’s enclosure. The guards moved aside and let them pass through.

Inside, they found Klipta-ak and his men, dressed as best as