Meeting the New Enemy

'Do you trust them?' asked K'Kess after Tashee had left him and Iloma in the room.

She unpacked the bag, checking each item as she pulled them out. 'So far they've been friendly.'

'But have you seen those..?' he started and inspected the blade of his knife. 'I heard stories of creatures up north, with fur all over their bodies, short tail. Vicious warriors. Many thought they were lucky coming back alive after clashing with them.'

Iloma sat down on the bedding against the wall for her use. 'Never heard of them. But we didn't knew much of you either.' she said. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. 'Until you attacked us.'

K'Kess nodded slowly.

Iloma sat quiet for a moment. 'Thanks.' she said softly.

K'Kess looked up at her.

'For treating me well. And for thinking I was in danger and defend me when Rafe and Wendy attacked the others.'

He put away his knife. 'They saved you.' he said. 'I would have been too late because I didn't hear you at first.' He laid down on his bedding. 'And I wouldn't have been able to defeat Lorr and his friends by myself. I'd be dead now. I was only able to keep you safe before because the chief was close.'

'But you would have tried?'

'I'm very tired.' he said and closed his eyes. 'We'd better sleep. Who knows how much we'll get in the coming days.'

Iloma smiled softly and laid down to sleep as well.

***

'Turn left to open up more, right to turn off.' said Tashee explaining the shower to a fascinated Iloma. She laughed in delight as she held her hand under the shower head to test the temperature.

'I'll be upstairs.' Tashee said pointing at the stairs and Iloma nodded.

'Sounds like she's having fun.' said Rafe when he saw Tashee enter the corridor.

She chuckled. 'Yeah. Small technological miracles do that.' she said. 'K'Kess?'

'With Naylee. Trying to get an idea on weapons and how the Eshe operate in combat.'

Tashee nodded. 'Let's discuss our options during breakfast then.'

Mina and Nami had set up breakfast in the side room in case the Eshe came back early and Iloma and K'Kess compared the unknown fruit and meat with what they were used to, liking it a lot.

Rafe grabbed the whiteboard when he was done and summarised what they knew so far. 'We're talking about fifteen Eshe, armed with knives, short swords, bows, spears, shields.' he said and looked at K'Kess who confirmed. 'One chief, one second in command, the rest basically footsoldiers with some who have specific skills.'

'Pretty much standard military unit.' Tashee said. 'Nothing we've not seen before.'

'Yes.' said Rafe. 'Except this is like being in an ancient battle and not the modern warfare we're used to. We only have knives and hunting bows, although we could make spears and shields when needed. When I was outnumbered before I could call in an air strike, or we used sniping to thin out the numbers. Now it's more direct hand to hand combat.'

'We do have the advantage of claws.' said Naylee.

Rafe nodded. 'If possible, I'd like to avoid getting close to them. They've got more experience using swords and the like.'

'How about guerilla warfare?' asked Naylee. 'We all had training in that. That could be our advantage.'

Rafe scratched his head. 'If they haven't fought like that before it would certainly help.' he said and put the question before K'Kess, drawing on the whiteboard.

With a little effort K'Kess made it clear that his people were used to hunting in forest and jungle, but fighting had always been out in the open between armies.

'So, we have an advantage.' said Tashee. 'But I hope they don't learn fast.'

Rafe nodded. 'Yeah.' he said. 'But what are we going to do with them? Can we reason with them after defeat? Have them leave us alone?'

He put the question to both K'Kess and Iloma but the answer wasn't hopeful.

'So they're real conquerors.' Naylee said. 'All or nothing.'

'I guess we'll have to disable them first, then think about what to do next.' Tashee said leaning back against the wall. 'If we manage to defeat them all.'

'When.' said Rafe. 'When we defeat them. We've got three highly trained soldiers here. Have faith in ourselves.'

Tashee chuckled. 'Right. We've survived worse odds. And that monster thing.'

'We can fight too!' said Mina, pulling her sister to her. 'We hunt too!'

Naylee smiled softly at them. 'We know you can hunt, but this is not the prey you're used to.' she said. 'If it comes down to it, it's not the sort of killing you've done before, and I won't let either of you experience this at your age.'

'You'll be busy with supporting us anyway.' said Tashee. 'We'll need you to take care of things around here so we can concentrate on them out there.'

The sisters looked down and nodded. 'Okay.. But we will hurt anyone who hurts you!'

Rafe chuckled. 'We'll try hard not to get hurt.'

'You better.' said Nami. 'Or this time you'll get a scolding from us.'

Rafe was about to give his daughters a thorough tickling when Iloma pointed at the outside view. 'Eshe!'

Everyone watched while one of the Eshe came out from the trees, checked the open area, then proceeded carefully toward the old nest of the flying insects. Examining it from a distance then tossing a small branch on it told him that the insects didn't use it anymore. He said something and other Eshe came out of the trees spreading out in pairs.

K'Kess pointed at one of them. 'Lorr.' he said with a sneer.

'He's one of those from the beach.' said Rafe. 'They now know about me and our two friends.'

'Let's hope they have no clue about us being right here under their noses.' said Naylee.

'Looks like they're serious about camping out here.' Rafe said, watching the Eshe set up camp with tents and clearing the ground for a fireplace.

'For now, let's keep quiet and observe them.' Tashee said. 'If we're lucky enough they'll leave after a few days of boredom.'

The others agreed although K'Kess let them know there was little hope of that.

***

During the next days the Eshe were searching the island in groups of five after the two groups that went along the perimeter of the island joined up with the main group.

'I get the idea that the chief didn't like to have lost Iloma to another human.' said Naylee while she saw him talking to his second with a lot of irritation in his gestures.

'He angry, yes.' said Iloma after K'Kess spoke to her.

'Angry.' K'Kess repeated.

Naylee was glad the two had picked up their language quickly and smiled a little as it reminded her of the first months together with Rafe. At least they had the benefit of having learned his language for a bit because of their job. They could communicate roughly now with words and gestures.

'You're an important catch then?' Naylee asked Iloma.

Iloma looked puzzled at her. 'Impotent cash?'

Naylee chuckled. 'Important, catch.' she said and tried mimicking what she meant. 'Big find, like treasure, or mighty weapon.'

'Ah.' said K'Kess. 'Menuik great warrior. Take to,' he frowned as he looked for the right word. 'king? Want to see, learn.'

'I see.' said Naylee. 'He wants to know his enemy.'

Tashee called everyone together later that day to discuss options on what to do with the Eshe. K'Kess advised to go on the attack because nothing else would get them to go away if they didn't want to, especially with the loss of Iloma, but he didn't know how since they were outnumbered.

Rafe nodded. 'True.' he said and smiled deviously. 'But Silth and humans have developed different tactics in our history of war. We're not going to attack directly.'

'Not?' Iloma asked. 'How fight enemy?'

'By making their life here miserable.' Rafe said and drew on the whiteboard. 'To be able to fight they need food, water, sleep, weapons, shelter. We take out as much of that as possible and they'll need to leave to recover.'

Iloma and K'Kess nodded as they understood what Rafe meant to do.

'Guerilla warfare.' Naylee said.

'And since most people on my planet associate it with the jungle, it's perfect.' said Rafe.

'Now we need to think of how we're going to sabotage them.' said Tashee. 'And what materials we need.'

The Eshe who stayed next to the bunker kept close to the camp, creating the opportunity to leave and enter the bunker at the other side when none of them happened to be around there. Rafe, Tashee and Naylee had slipped out several times with Iloma and K'Kess to collect their materials in secret and were ready to start the war.

'It's not what we were used to in our wars but it'll have to do.' said Rafe when all were in the side room where the weapons were stored. 'We have stone knives for everyone and Tashee, Naylee and I have our army knives.' He gestured at the improvised rack behind him. 'Bows, arrows. Take plenty of arrows with you, I don't expect you can retrieve many. Caltrops we made from wood.'

Iloma picked one of the spiked objects up. 'What for?' she asked, examining the small object.

'In case they chase after you.' Rafe said and tossed a few on the floor. 'Somewhere they can't see and can't go around.' He held his foot over one.

'Ohh.' said Iloma. 'Good.'

'So take plenty of these as well.' Rafe continued. 'The girls made sturdy backpacks from the hides of what we're calling sheep here so that should be no problem.' Mina and Nami smiled with pride at their handiwork. 'There are also slings to throw rocks or caltrops. Since no one has used these before you might not hit the target but you could throw a rock to distract the enemy.'

Rafe moved over to another rack. 'Only K'Kess has a sword and we don't have the means to make one, take the enemy's one if possible, and if it's safe to do so. As a substitute we have these stone hammers with a sharp edge.' He held up one, the wooden handle the length of an arm with a wedge shaped stone strapped to it. 'That's about what we could do in a short time.'

'We also have nets.' said Tashee. 'Use these for defence or capture an enemy.'

'What we do with enemy?' Iloma asked.

'We can't lock them up, there's no place for that.' Rafe said. 'We can only encourage them to make their retreat.'

She nodded. 'Kill?'

K'Kess shot a glance at her with worry. Rafe picked it up and shook his head. 'Only if we have to.' he said. 'There's no honour in taking a life, only in saving it.'

She nodded again.

'Since the Eshe move around in groups of five I suggest we split up in two groups.' Tashee said. 'K'Kess, Wendy and Rafe in one, Iloma, Naylee and I in the other.'

The rest agreed, including Wendy who barked her approval.

After everyone had a full backpack of ammunition and rations they snuck out of the bunker and through the thick bushes at the garden side when no Eshe was present. Tashee and Naylee couldn't help stealing a few more kisses before they split up while Iloma and K'Kess exchanged an embarrassed look as they tried to ignore the three lovers.

'You and Rafe like young lovers.' Iloma said to Tashee and Naylee when they were out of earshot of anyone else.

Naylee chuckled. 'Yeah, we're pretty much just like we were the first time.'

she said with a smile. 'I think we were very lucky.'

'No regret not having same, you, as husband?'

Naylee shook her head. 'No. We never really thought about bonding with a human before, even if they weren't our enemies, but here it just happened.'

'Rafe said humans are easy.' Tashee chuckled. 'It's not about what you are, but about who you are. And he couldn't hide his feelings for us eventually.'

'I saw the look on your face after we rescued you.' Naylee said, grinning a little. 'He made a big impression on you then.'

Tashee chuckled and smiled. 'That he did.' she said softly.

'Does that answer your question?' asked Naylee.

Iloma nodded. 'Yes.'

'You've never seen an interspecies couple, as we call it?'

'No. You first one.' Iloma said. 'Eshe first others we met too.'

'Ah.' Tashee said. 'We don't know anything about the planet, so who knows who else we'll meet?'

***

Rafe and K'Kess moved quickly through the jungle. They were going to target the group of Eshe that were at the fields with sheep. He had done a quick calculation and if the Eshe stayed here long enough they'd kill off enough sheep for food to exterminate the herd. Especially if they also planned on taking some with them on the boat. They had to stop them before the last sheep was dead or gone.

Wendy warned Rafe the moment she smelled the Eshe.

'Let's give them a wide berth and observe them from a distance.' Rafe said.

They took a detour to another side of the field where they crawled under bushes at the edge between the jungle and the field. The sun was behind them, which should make them even more inconspicuous.

'Five.' Rafe said and K'Kess nodded in agreement.

Three were busy cutting up sheep while one was busy at a fire and the fifth stood guard.

'What can we do to get them to leave?' Rafe said while he searched for a vulnerability.

'Water.' K'Kess said. 'Large sacks.'

Rafe noticed the large leather water skins and grinned. 'Great idea.' he said. 'There's no nearby water apart from a small stream on the other side of the field. Without water they can't stay there for long.' He looked around the camp site. 'We can send several arrows through the skins from cover at the edge of the trees, but we will need a distraction.'

He had barely said it when he and K'Kess looked at Wendy, who looked back at them murmuring her readiness.

Ragg had just finished gutting one of the animals they had shot when he heard a noise in the distance. It seemed the herd of the unknown animals was making the noise but he couldn't see why. The animals were bunching together.

"A predator?" he thought and tapped Gema on his shoulder. 'Look.' he said. 'Something's going on at the herd.'

Gema looked up and peered at the moving light grey mass. 'Something scares them.' he said.

'Maybe one of the jungle creatures that attacked Ragg without being seen.' Doma said. 'Maybe we won't think he just hit his head and made up an excuse then.'

The rest sniggered until Ragg hissed for them to shut up. 'The herd is coming this way.' he said.

'It's true.' said Gema. 'Better get our weapons.'

The Eshe took their swords and moved far enough towards the herd to repel it before they could damage the camp. The size of the herd made them nervous though. A few checked left and right for a place to escape to just in case. Ragg only glanced quickly because he did not want to be seen as incompetent again after the earlier incident.

'Get ready.' he said. 'We're stronger.'

The herd came closer and the Eshe tensed their muscles and gripped their swords tight, prepared to use them in a few moments when the herd reached them. The thundering noise grew louder and became a cacophony with the animal's calls. The ground started to tremble under the Eshe's feet.

A grey shadow rushed to the front of the herd from the side and steered the herd suddenly away from the Eshe. It growled loud catching Ragg's attention. It sounded similar to back then to him.

'Predator!' shouted one of the others. 'That made them go wild!'

The animal stood still for a moment and seemed to look straight at them before going after the herd again, driving them farther away from the Eshe. Ragg frowned, something felt wrong. He watched the predator move away from the herd when he heard cursing behind him.

'Our water has been shot!' shouted Mek'mel who had been busy with preparing meals.

Ragg saw him hold up the water skins pierced with three arrows each, then looked back at the field to see the predator disappear into the trees. 'We have smart enemies here.' he said to himself.

Wendy was already back at their observation spot when Rafe and K'Kess returned.

'Well done.' Rafe said, giving Wendy a big kiss on her muzzle which she returned with quick licks on his face.

'She indeed very smart.' K'Kess said, ignoring the exchange and still thinking it was weird how close Wendy and Rafe were after seeing it a few times before. He dismissed it as probably a human thing.

'Back on my planet we have several smart animals, but Wendy is something else.' Rafe said, giving Wendy a cuddle. 'She's almost as smart as us.'

Wendy murmured.

Rafe chuckled. 'Okay, maybe even smarter than us.' he said and received a lick from her.

'They working all on killed animals now.' K'Kess said, checking up on the group of Eshe. 'Prepare to leave field.'

Rafe watched as one gathered tools and four were finishing up the sheep they had shot to take back to their camp. 'Okay, let's see what they'll do next.'

***

'Looks like they're exploring.' Naylee whispered.

The women had found the group of Eshe moving through the jungle, apparently searching for signs of anyone else on this island. Tashee hoped they were still thinking it was only their former comrade K'Kess, Iloma, and the unknown human Rafe to them.

'What we do with them?' Iloma asked.

'Give them a good reason to get back to camp first.' Naylee said. 'So what would make them do that?'

'Out of food, fear, death of one of them are usually good reasons.' Tashee said. 'But we would like to avoid killing any of them if possible.'

'Wounds.' said Iloma.

Tashee and Naylee looked at her. 'But we can't be sure we only wound them if we shoot at them.' Tashee said.

Iloma pulled out the caltrops from her backpack. 'Use these.' she said with a grin. 'They chase me, you drop caltrops.'

Naylee grinned with her. 'Sounds good.'

Tashee pondered for a moment. 'Yes, but only in a place where they can't shoot you with a bow, and only if you can run fast enough.' she said. 'And enough cover for us to keep hidden.'

'Well,' said Naylee with a devious twinkle in her eye. 'They are heading toward the practice and play area.'

***

The place Tashee, Naylee, and Iloma arrived at after a detour was covered in bushes of various green shades and sizes. It was like standing inside a green lake covered in high waves. A natural maze.

'Think you can run through this?' Tashee asked while Iloma looked around her.

The low bushes reached up to her chest, but the flexible branches and soft leaves gave little resistance and she could see where to go between them since most bushes differed in colour from the ones next to them. 'Yes.' she said.

'I hoped you did.' Tashee said. 'Our girls love to play a game here taught by Rafe. Some call it Marco Polo at his planet. One person has to find the rest by calling out "Marco" and the rest responds by replying "Polo". Then that person has to try to locate them just from the sound.'

Naylee chuckled. 'It's actually good training for hunting.' she said. 'When the girls were little nobody moved. When they got better at it the hunted could move more and the hunter would call out less often. In time they learned to hunt without the need to call at all. They became the best at this game.'

Tashee chuckled. 'Yeah, and Rafe was always the first to get caught.' she said, looking at Iloma. 'I don't know if it's him or him being human, but he just can't keep quiet enough for us not to hear him eventually. He always acts like a kid when the girls catch him and they love to tease him.'

'Still, some of it must be his fault because the girls are much better at it than we are.' Naylee said with a soft smile. 'Only Wendy has been undefeated in this game.'

Tashee nodded and once more wondered what other differences a human father might make to the girls.

Naylee's ears pricked up. 'They're coming.'

'All right.' Tashee said and looked at Iloma again. 'You ready?'

Iloma gave her a confident nod.

'Good. Let's go.' Tashee said and the three women spread out silently towards the oncoming group of Eshe.

'Does he really think we can find them on this island with just the few of us?' grumbled Kamel when he and the other Eshe stopped at the border between the jungle and the sea of bushes.