Time Loves a Hero

TIME LOVES A HERO

By Michael James Jaquish

Suddenly, a piercing scream split the quiet of the moment, freezing Troy in mid-sentence. He jerked his head toward the sound and went numb as his mind registered that the pygmy in front of him was tearing desperately at the blood-covered tip of a spear protruding from the center of his chest. Troy watched in horror as the victim abruptly ceased screaming and flopped over on his side with his little feet and arms twitching uncontrollably.

"Troy! Get Down!"

Instinctively, he dove for the grass just as a second spear whizzed right past his ear. Keeping his body flat to the ground, he frantically surveyed his surroundings through the grass and discovered that the peace of the afternoon had been suddenly and brutally transformed to a scene of complete and utter chaos. Bloody screams filled the forest as pygmies dashed madly in all directions, some colliding with each other in their haste to escape. The buzz of spears and arrows through the air sounded like a hive of mad hornets stirred from their nest. Most seemed to be coming from the trees directly across the stream.

Two arrows bit into the earth simultaneously less than twelve inches from his face, kicking up a shower of dirt that sprayed his eyes. He shook his head and suddenly realized he was completely exposed. With his face in the grass, he gripped the turf with  his fingers and began a frantic crawl away from the stream toward the protection of a low bank several feet to their rear.

"Damn it!" he cursed, rolling over the rim of the bank and dropping directly on Eden with a squishy thump, "I should have known this was too good to last!"

The screams continued to increase and several more arrows whizzed over their heads. Troy struggled to get off Eden and finally succeeded in rolling down next to him in the narrow, shallow gully, placing several more precious inches of earth between him and the arrows. He could hear the soft thuds as one after another imbedded in the opposite side of the bank.

"I think we're being attacked by those cannibals I was telling you about," panted Eden. His voice had raised several octaves, and he was clearly fighting to keep from hyperventilating in his panic.

"No kidding, Einstein? Who clued you in on that one?" Troy felt a familiar tinge of anger bubbling up at Eden again as his mind flashed briefly over the fact that the entire mess was due to their Zarnian abduction. But there was little time to devote to such things now. Cautiously, he raised his head to peer over the edge of the bank.

Another hiss of a flying arrow followed by a slicing thud caught their attention and they turned to see a pygmy fall face down into the draw with an arrow protruding from the back of his head. This one didn't squirm or kick a bit. He died instantly. A stream of crimson trickled slowly from his ears onto the dark soil as they watched.

"What do you think?" breathed Eden. His face was only inches from Troy's, and it was a mass of sweat and dirt. Troy glanced at him momentarily, and then peeked cautiously over the bank. The enemy could now be seen edging into the shallows on the far side of the stream, coming right at them about a hundred yards away. They were pretty vicious-looking. Dark skinned, loincloths, arm and leg bands with what looked like human hair dangling in the breeze. Their faces were painted white with black circles around their eyes, and they had bones or something poked through their noses. Troy ducked just as another volley of arrows cleared their cover by mere inches.

"What do I think? What do I think? I think we better get the hell out of here, that's what I think!"

"Right," nodded Eden, clearing his throat nervously, "right. I agree."

Savage yells of glee reached their ears, and he poked his head up to see twenty to thirty cannibals, armed to the teeth, fording the stream unimpeded. The small bodies of half a dozen pygmies floated in the water, staining it red with their blood. A dozen more lay dead or dying on the shore between them and the water. Undoubtedly, a few had escaped to the forest behind them, but they were long gone now. It appeared that only he and Eden remained alive on the bloody battleground. And they were totally defenseless. His mouth went suddenly dry as he contemplated his own demise. He'd imagined a lot of things in his short life, but one thing he'd never considered before that particular moment, was the possibility of being gutted by the spear of a cannibal in some remote jungle. His life started flashing before his eyes, and he shook his head savagely to clear his thoughts.

"Damn!" he cursed, "Damn! Damn! Damn!"

Eden poked his head up and went pale as he saw the advancing party. "I thought we were going to uh, make a break for it." he inquired timidly. His voice was weak and shaky. Plainly, he was not up to this.

"Yeah, right," answered Troy, "make a break for it. "Here we go again, making a break for it." He sighed as he rose, wondering how much longer they would be forced to endure this gift of unsolicited adventure the Zarnians had blessed them with. Once he was on his feet, he turned and glanced behind them. Between them and the jungle lay a good thirty yards of open, upward sloping hillside. "I wouldn't give you two cents in hell for our chances," he murmured.Tensing for the inevitable, Troy