“We have no experience as hunters,” said Hunter. “We shall remain here out of danger if you wish to pursue it.”
Vicinius nodded, adjusting his grip on his spear. He crept off the trail into the brush, following the tracks. Even Steve could see the trail of trampled weeds and broken branches the boar had left.
“What if it hurts him?” Gene asked Hunter. “He wouldn’t have found these tracks if he hadn’t been taking us down to the river. Haven’t we altered his plans?”
“Yes,” said Hunter. “Stay here.” He followed Vicinius, also moving quietly and hefting his spear into position to throw it if necessary.
“It’s a difficult choice for him,” said Jane. “Ordinarily, the First Law tells him not to change history-if a boar is going to injure Vicinius, he should allow it. But if we’re responsible for creating the danger, the First Law is open to some interpretation about what he has to do.”
Suddenly a loud snorting reached them, and Vicinius whooped, taunting his prey. Steve heard the snapping of twigs, branches, and underbrush. Gene hurried after Hunter.
“Watch it!” Steve yelled, following him into the trees off the trail.
Jane joined him.
The boar had trampled a small clearing for itself a short distance in front of Hunter and Vicinius. It looked huge to Steve; he had never seen a wild boar, and this one was at least as big as the biggest modem hog he had ever seen. This boar, however, was a shaggy dark brown instead of pink, and it sported long, curved tusks curling forward from its face. With fast-moving eyes, it warily watched its tormentors.
6
Vicinius slowly and carefully crept to his right, his spear held high. Hunter stood motionless, his spear also ready to throw. The boar made a snuffling sound and feinted, but did not charge.
Gene paused a safe distance behind Hunter.
“Do not participate,” Hunter said over his shoulder. “Please back away.”
Gene moved back and stepped behind a large tree.
“Come on.” Steve took Jane’s arm in his free hand and pulled her back out of sight. “Hunter will take care of them.”
“I didn’t doubt it,” said Jane, in an annoyed tone. “But we could watch.”
“I don’t want Hunter to argue with me. This is our chance, while the First Law has him occupied. Let’s go.” Still pulling her arm, he started back up the trail.
“Stop it!” She yanked her arm free. “Are you crazy? Splitting up just gets us all into more trouble. Haven’t you learned that by now?”
Behind them, Vicinius was still whooping and calling the boar, teasing it.
“What if MC 3 is with the Romans? They aren’t far. We saw them on this side of the river. And we both know that Hunter will just give me an argument. Vicinius probably won’t want to visit them and Hunter can’t just abandon him. So we should go, while Hunter’s busy.”
“I can’t believe you want to do this, after all the trouble we’ve had before.”
“I don’t have time to argue. You coming or not?”
“No.” She glared at him with her clear blue eyes, challenging him.
“See you later.” Steve turned and hurried on down the trail. He would walk along the river until he could see either the Roman legionaries or their camp.
“Steve!”
“Yeah?” He turned to look.
“All right, I’m coming.” She hurried up alongside him, her fur cloak swirling. “But I want one promise from you.”
“What is it?”
“After we get away, we’ll radio Hunter and tell him we’re okay.”
“I don’t want to-”
“Or else I’ll yell to him right now.”
“All right.” Steve couldn’t help grinning. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”
Vicinius was still baiting the boar with his calls and shouts. That meant Hunter’s attention was still riveted by the First Law imperative. Gene had not noticed Steve and Jane’s departure, either. They hurried down the trail.
They reached the edge of the forest quickly. Steve turned to his right and started hiking along the edge of the trees. Jane kept up, looking behind them every so often. They couldn’t hear anything.
“If Hunter had noticed that we left, he would have yelled or something,” said Steve. He looked at the river, which looked narrow and calm under the gray sky. “I’ll bet it’s running real fast, up in the mountains like this.”
Steve and Jane kept up a good pace. Light rain began to fall again and they moved under the canopy of trees, pulling their cloaks tight around them. They had heard no sign of Hunter.
“This should be far enough,” said Jane, stopping. “Let’s radio him.”
“All right.” Steve halted and switched on the radio in the small pin on his cloak. “Hunter, this is Steve.”
“Steve, I have been calling you and Jane,” Hunter said promptly. “Is she with you?”
“Yes. We hadn’t turned on our radios. How are Vicinius and the wild boar?”
“Vicinius killed it. What happened to you?”
“We’re fine, Hunter. I want to go see if MC 3 is with the Romans and I knew Vicinius wouldn’t want to go. We’re going, Hunter.”
“We should remain together.”
“Sorry, Hunter. We’ll contact you again later. Maybe we’ll have MC 3 with us when we do.” Steve shut off his communicator again, so that Hunter could not argue with him.
“He could follow us,” said Jane. “We’ve left a real easy trail in this damp ground.”
“He might,” Steve said slowly. “Hard to say. Certainly we can’t outrun him if he wants to join us.”
“He won’t want to leave Gene behind,” she pointed out. “He can’t go faster than Gene.”
“Good point. And Vicinius will want to get the boar back to his village. He can’t carry it alone and Hunter won’t reveal that he can, either.”
“Can they carry it together? All three of them?”
“Maybe. If they do, that will delay them for a long…” He was interrupted by the sound of a horn. It came from the direction where the boar had been.
“What was that?” Jane jumped in surprise.
“Vicinius’s horn,” said Steve. “The one he’s been carrying on a strap.”
“What’s he doing? Calling his warriors?”
“I guess so. Or maybe the women of the village and the older men, too. They could bring a pack animal for the boar.”
“Does that mean Hunter is free to follow us?”
“Maybe. But let’s just go and see if he catches up to us or not.” Steve started walking again.
“I just don’t want to do what Rita did to us on the last mission, when we had to spend all our time trying to find her instead of looking for MC 2.”
“We aren’t doing anything like that,” Steve said testily. “Come on, Jane. She was just out seeing the sights, adventuring on her own. You and I are looking for MC 3 and we’re still in touch with Hunter.”
“Well, we can’t risk changing history, either. We’ll have to be more careful than usual without Hunter around to remind us.”
“Even Hunter has changed his mind, remember? Back in the dinosaur age, he thought that almost any action could change the future drastically. That hasn’t proved out at all.” He looked at her, blinking drizzle out of his eyes.
“Yes, I know.” Her tone told him that she had run out of arguments, whether she was convinced or not.
Soon, up ahead on a nearby slope above them, Steve could see part of the twisting mountain road that the Romans were using. The wooden palisade of the Roman camp was visible on a ridge and the last of their wagons was just driving through the open gate. Getting to the road would require a tough hike, but at least their route was clear.
In the middle of the afternoon, under a light drizzle, Marcus Gaius Aemilianus had just finished supervising the unloading of the wagons inside the Roman camp when he heard a voice calling to him.
“Tribune! Over here, Tribune!” One of the sentries standing at the gate was waving his arm. The gate was open very slightly. “We have visitors.”
Marcus frowned. Unexpected visits from the Germans here were rare. However, this was his first assignment as a tribune and finding out what they wanted was one of his duties.
Mid afternoon was late in the day for traders. They usually finished their business in time to return home before sundown. Puzzled, he turned, causing his red cloak to swirl behind him, and walked quickly to the gate.