Hangman pulled up short somewhere deep in the jungle. He couldn’t even be sure where he was. He didn’t know this territory.

  This used to be Godless country before Hangman was born—before the Renegades crossed the Jagged Points and drove the Godless out.

  He glanced around him and up at the trees just to make sure no creatures came after him, his father, and his cousins. Then Hangman finally let himself double over, prop his hands on his knees, and catch his breath.

  Alien collapsed against a tree and slumped on the ground. “We have to go back,” he husked. “We have to save them from the Renegades.”

  “Of course we have to go back,” Shadow stifled a cough. “We have to rescue the others and we also have to get through the Grey Ghost.”

  “Is that wise?” Viking asked. “Butcher isn’t here. You’re Kral now.”

  “Butcher is still alive,” Chaos pointed out. “No one else can be Kral as long as he’s still alive.”

  “I’m flattered that you think of me that way,” Shadow replied. “If I was Kral, I would make the same decision. We have to get through to at least one of the Jagged Points. We have to find out if these strange mountains are beyond them to the west. We won’t know for certain unless we check. The Grey Ghost is the closest.”

  “We just have to get past the Renegades,” Hangman panted. “What’s so difficult about that?”

  “Did you not see how many of them there are?” Banjo countered. “They overwhelmed us.”

  “Feather is over there,” Alien snapped. “We’re going back for him. I don’t care if I have to go alone.”

  “We all have someone over there,” Shadow murmured. “We won’t leave any of them behind.”

  “They overwhelmed us because we didn’t see them coming,” Hangman pointed out. “We can overcome their numbers by changing our strategy. We can wipe them out to the last man. Then none of them will stop us from going up to the Grey Ghost and none of them will tell any other Renegades that we were here.”

  “How?” Viking asked. Then he glanced at Shadow. “I’m sorry, Uncle. I should have asked you.”

  “Go on and tell us your idea,” Shadow told Hangman. “You seem to have already thought about this.”

  “Of course he has,” Alien muttered. “He always does.”

  “The Renegades won’t have gone far—not with prisoners,” Hangman replied. “The Renegades will either stay in the same camp to find out why the Godless are in the area or else the Renegades will retreat to another camp to do the same thing. Six prisoners will slow them down no matter what they do. We can catch up with them and ambush them on the way—but not the way we did it just now.”

  “What other way is there?”

  “We pick them off one at a time,” Hangman replied. “We either wait for them to separate from the main group or else make noises in the jungle to lure the Renegades out of their camp. They won’t all come. They’ll leave men behind to guard the prisoners. We won’t have to fight them more than two or three at a time.”

  “That’s cowardice,” Vulture pointed out. “Hitting a man from behind or without warning is the coward’s way.”

  “I didn’t say we would hit them from behind or without warning,” Hangman replied. “I said we would lure them into the jungle one or two or three at a time. We can at least reduce their numbers. Then we won’t have to face so many of them when it comes time to free the prisoners.”

  “It’s a good plan,” Alien interjected. “I like it.”

  “You always like Hangman’s ideas,” Banjo pointed out.

  “That’s because they’re always good ideas,” Alien countered. “He has a brain in his head—which is more than I can say for some people.”

  “That’s enough discussion,” Shadow cut in. “Let’s go. We’ll split up into three the way we did before. We’ll flank the Renegade camp from three sides. If we see anyone isolated, we’ll fight them and eliminate them. If not, we can make noise to alert them where we are. They’ll go and check. We’ll reduce their numbers until we can free the prisoners.”

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  No one argued. Shadow was acting as Kral now.

  Hangman would have gone with Chaos, but Alien collared Hangman instead. “You come with me, little brother.”

  “You always have a favorite, Alien,” Banjo grumbled.

  “You can come with us,” Hangman pointed out. “There are seven of us. One group will have three.”

  “No,” Alien snapped. “Let Vulture come with us instead.”

  Hangman glanced around the group. He half-expected his father to object, but Shadow was already walking away with Vulture.

  Banjo shot Alien a glare and left with Viking instead. That left Chaos to come with Hangman and Alien.

  Chaos was too easygoing to care who he went with. He bounced with a spring in his step when he followed Hangman and Alien back along the route they took to get here.

  Hangman led the way to the same spot where he and his party attacked the Renegade camp the first time.

  Alien had a hard time hiding his big body behind the curtain of foliage, but it didn’t matter in the end.

  The Renegades had tied up Butcher, Boxer, Magnet, Cross, Fang, and Feather. Renegades stood guard over the prisoners.

  One big man kept kicking the prisoners one after the other and yelling at them. He kept demanding to know what the Godless were doing this far west in someone else’s territory.

  The other Renegades in the camp crowded around to watch. Some leaned against their huts. Others squatted nearby or just stood out in the open.

  Hangman stiffened when the big Renegade kicked Cross. Cross winced from the blow, but he didn’t cry out.

  He huddled close to his bigger relatives, especially Feather and Magnet, but Cross didn’t say a word. He was proving himself today even more than he did during his initiation.

  Butcher glared at the Renegades in outright hatred. Fang stared off in the other direction. Did he even realize he was a prisoner?

  Magnet and Feather roared at the Renegades every time that one man tried to confront them. Both Feather and Magnet struggled to break the ropes binding them.

  The only prisoner in any danger of spilling the Godless’ secret was Boxer. Even his younger brother Magnet turned out to be braver than Boxer.

  The big Renegade worked his way through the group again. If he was half as smart as he was strong, he would quickly realize who was the weakest link.

  The Renegades could have gotten more information out of Boxer if they only isolated him from his relatives.

  The Renegades didn’t think of that—or maybe they had orders from someone else not to separate the prisoners.

  Everything Hangman suggested turned out to be true. Clusters of Renegades kept splitting away from the interrogation to patrol the camp.

  Some of these patrollers went out into the jungle to make sure no dangerous creatures attacked while the Renegades were busy with their prisoners.

  Hangman signaled his cousins. They crept through the undergrowth to the right to intercept one of the patrols.

  The three cousins communicated using hand signals to separate and put distance between them.

  The Godless didn’t bushwhack their enemies. The Godless frowned on that as cowardly. The men had to do everything head-on.

  It worked out for the best in the end. A Renegade patrol circled their camp and moved into the jungle to follow the sounds of warthogs rooting through the undergrowth.

  Hangman, Alien, and Chaos cut across the Renegades’ path. The Renegades fell right into the Godless’ trap by staying close together.

  The Renegades were too busy looking for stray warthogs. It took the Renegades way too long even to realize they were facing Godless invaders instead.

  Hangman took out his kukri while he watched them come. He stood on Alien’s left with Chaos on Alien’s other side.

  The Renegades almost blundered straight into the three men. The Renegades reared back in surprise. Then they had to scramble to draw their weapons and bring them up.

  The Renegades’ surprise played to the Godless’ advantage. The three Renegades separated and came at the Godless one on one.

  The biggest Renegade went after Alien, of course. The guy was big, but not as big as Alien.

  The second biggest went after Chaos. The Renegade stood six inches taller and much bigger in the shoulders.

  He misjudged Chaos, though. Chaos always stayed affable and laid back as in ordinary life with his relatives, but he could switch it off and became as bloodthirsty and ruthless as any man Hangman had ever met.

  Chaos would have been one of the most dangerous men in the whole Clan if he had been any less outgoing. He also proved to be a much more agile and intelligent fighter than his adversary anticipated.

  The guy rushed Chaos. The Renegade fought with two long, rectangular metal blades. He relied on his strength to overpower Chaos, but it backfired.

  Chaos saw at first glance that he couldn’t overcome the guy by brute force. That was never Chaos’s game anyway.

  He danced around the guy in blinding circles, forced the enemy to constantly whirl from one direction to another, and Chaos slashed and sliced his opponent again and again in all the most strategic places.

  Blood drenched the guy within a few minutes. He staggered and missed his strikes more often and by a wider margin.

  Hangman didn’t see how that fight ended. The last Renegade was a smallish guy not much bigger than Hangman himself.

  The guy was small enough to be quick and sharp. Hangman wouldn’t be able to use speed, agility, or superior strategy against this man.

  Hangman made up his mind and stepped forward to engage the guy. The Renegade sprang to his left and dove in to stab at Hangman’s leg to cripple him.

  Hangman didn’t really care what the Renegade’s first move was going to be. He waited for the man to act.

  The guy never got a chance to recover from his first stroke before Hangman sprang forward, but he didn’t engage his enemy.

  Hangman leapt to a spot behind and to the guy’s right, swung around, and chopped his kukri into the back of the guy’s neck.

  End of Chapter 8.

  ? 2024 by Theo Mann

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