I took one of the pups out past the herds.. clearing even the outer bulls by a good measure to make sure I got well past the fresh sent of bosk lingering in the grasses. I asked Rook to bring Tug out with me to scent test Tesla to him. They followed behind a few hundred yards behind and down wind from us until I stopped, dismounted and gave the signal to Tesla to hold. The animal hunkered down looking rather ready to bound off at the slightest hint of action. Honestly, he looked ready to bound off at the slightest hint of the slightest hint .. of.. well... anything at all. It was a good sign actually. His eager curiosity and natural lack of fear were traits I would breed for. By all accounts.. an exceptional animal as I have already mentioned.
However, I had spent extra time with both sleen I intended to trade to the Ubara. I wanted them to make a good showing both with their training and their confirmation. I wanted her young son to be so pleased with his animal that he would rave to his Mother.. rave to his clan about his sleen. He would make wagers against him.. He would win and be proud and that warriors would see and women would talk, telling of the proud son of the Ubar Ba'atar and his sleen Tesla. That his name and mine would find its way thru the harigga adding one more arrow to my quiver and making my kennels a name in the Tuchuk.
That was my plan.... and.. it seemed a good plan.
I gave Tesla the signal again then walked over and layed a tattered hide over his head so he couldn't see, then signaled Rook to bring Tug around to cross about a hundred yards in front of the sleen's position walking thru the grass carefully. The boy walked quietly and softly behind the older warrior.. careful not to bend the grasses and give away his trail too easily. His young eyes watching me.. watching to see Tesla, watching Rook from behind. Tesla perked under the leather as soon as he caught scent of Tug which made the boy grin wide and I straightened my shoulders and grinned back at him. The two wound thru the grasses in a wide pattern of three circles then went west crossing a small stream near a wide shallow spot. A spot I had hand picked as a particularly difficult crossing to keep the scent over.. Out into the field on the far side making another set of three large circles thru the grass on that side of the stream. That is when there was a small hiccup in my original plan.
Any good Tuchuk knows that there are three commands that are very important to get straight and distinct in the head of any sleen over two weeks old. Those are "track" "hunt" and "retrieve", track means follow and find the prey, hunt means follow, find and kill said prey, and retrieve is find and bring back prey unharmed. Unharmed being the operative word here. Unharmed being the very life altering word here.. the word currently threatening my future free of visits from the black masks.
Tesla broke from his position without any of those commands, just as Tug and Rook were crossing back across the stream... The old warrior drew his quiva watching the sleen making tight circles in the grass searching for their scent. Took him about two circles to find the boys scent and go racing off after it following the trail around the three circles. I saw Rook tense watching.. I tensed myself hoping like hell he didn't decided to put his quiva thru Tesla's skull before he knew the sleen's intentions. I would bet my life that the sleen would not harm to the boy. I was betting my life that the sleen would not harm the boy but Rook looked to want no part in that particular wager. The last damn thing I needed was there to be a cloud of doubt hanging over my kennel because he killed Tesla just incase.
The transition between breeder/trainer relationship with a sleen and an owner/master relationship is a tenuous exchange of loyalty. If all goes well, from that moment on Tesla would belong to the boy Tug. The alternative is not pretty and always ends with the death of that particular sleen. On the bright side the young sleen performed spectacularly.. Tugs eyes lit up like a spark on the dry plains watching him follow the trail around those circles and across the stream.. making the bend back in our direction from the third circle and into the home stretch, head long for the boy. At this point I had broken out into a full on run myself.. hoping vainly to reach Rook and Tug before Tesla did, Knowing the fucking sleen had the advantage in those four extra legs. Tug broke then too and started yelling for the sleen, cheering him on, jumping and waving and yelling like the women at the love wars egging on their favored warrior. I yelled to Rook.. I have no idea if he heard me but, thank the sky, he did not send that quiva flying.. Tesla hit Tug back on his ass in the stream.. bouncing and splashing so that I could not see how the boy was handling the situation. When I got there damned if the sleen didn't opt for the "retrieve" command and was busily trying to drag Tug back out of the stream by the tunic on his back.
I had to laugh in spite of myself.
