She looked to her left. The two men were running now. Evidently they hoped to put on a burst of speed and make her run until she dropped.
She stepped up her pace but she did not sprint. She could maintain this pace for quite a while. Seldom in her many thousands of years of life had she gotten out of shape. She had developed a wind and an endurance that would have surprised an Olympic marathoner. Whatever her physical potential was, she had realized it to the full. Now she’d find out what its limits were.
One mile. Two miles. She was sweating, but while she wasn’t exactly breathing easy, she knew she had a lot of reserve wind. Her legs weren’t leaden yet. She felt that she could reach the mountain and still have plenty of strength left. Her uncle was a strong man, but he was heavier, and he’d probably indulged himself on Earth. Any fat he’d had had been melted by their ordeal here, where food hadn’t been plentiful. But she doubted that he’d kept himself in tiptop condition on Earth.
The black man was powerfully built, but he wasn’t the long-distance runner type. In fact, sparing a look back, she could see that he’d dropped behind Urthona. Not that her uncle had gained any on her.
The case and its contents, however, did weigh about four pounds. Needing every advantage she could get, she decided to get rid of some of it. She slowed down while she undid the clasps, removed the Horn, and dropped the case. Now, carrying the instrument in one hand, she increased her speed. In ten minutes, Urthona had lost fifty yards. McKay was even further behind his boss now.
Another mile. Now she was wishing she could abandon the throwing axe and the knife. But that was out. She’d need both weapons when it came to a showdown. Not to mention that even if she got away from them, she had to consider the predators. A knife and an axe weren’t much against a lion, but they could wound, perhaps discourage it.
Another half a mile. She looked back. Urthona was half a mile away. McKay was behind Urthona by a quarter of a mile. Both had slowed considerably. They were trotting steadily, but they didn’t have a chance of catching her. However, as long as they kept her in sight, they wouldn’t stop.
The lions had disappeared around the other side of the trees. These were moving slowly along, headed for the channel. The wind was blowing toward them, carrying molecules of water to their sensors. When they got to the channel they would draw up along it in a row and extend their tentacles into the water to suck it up.
The antelopes and gazelles stopped eating as she approached, watched her for a moment, their heads up, black eyes bright, then bounded away as one. But they only moved to what they considered a safe distance and resumed grazing.
Anana was in the center of antelopes, with tall straight horns which abruptly curved at the tips, when they stampeded. She stopped and then crouched as big black-and-brown-checkered bodies leaped over her or thundered by. She was sure that she hadn’t caused the panic. The antelopes had regarded her as not dangerous but something it was better not to let get too close.
Then she heard a roar, and she saw a flash of brownish-yellow after a half-grown antelope.
One lion had shot out of the trees after the young beast. The other was racing along parallel with its mate. It was somewhat smaller and faster. As the male cut off to one side, the female bent its path slightly inward. The prey had turned to its left to get away from the big male, then saw the other cat angling toward it. It turned away from the new peril and so lost some ground.
The male roared and frightened the antelope into changing its direction of flight again. The female cut in toward it; the poor beast turned toward the male. Anana expected that the chase would not last long. Either the cats would get their kill in the next few seconds or their endurance would peter out and the antelope would race away. If the quarry had enough sense just to run in a straight line, it would elude its pursuers. But it didn’t. It kept zigzagging, losing ground each time, and then the female was on it. There was a flurry of kicking legs, and the creature was dead, its neck broken.