Halt noted the co-ordination of the throw, with right arm and shoulder, body and legs all combining to put maximum force behind the spear.
'Very good,' he said. 'Will, would you replace the target please?'
Will moved forward to replace the damaged breastplate on the pole, jerking the spear free as he did so. When he turned back, Halt had led Mikeru back to a point fifty metres from the target. Will rejoined them quickly and Halt took the spear from him, offering it to Mikeru.
'Let's see you do it from here,' he said. But Mikeru shook his head apologetically.
'It's too far. The spear is too heavy for me to throw so far.'
'Thought so,' Halt said. He now opened a rolled piece of canvas he had been carrying and produced a strange weapon, which he handed to Mikeru.
It was a giant dart, over a metre long and made from light bamboo, but with a heavy iron tip at one end. At the other end were three leather fins, laced and glued to the shaft like the fletching on an arrow. Just ahead of these fins, a shallow groove had been carved all the way around the shaft.
'Try it with this,' he said.
But again, Mikeru, after testing the weight of the projectile, shook his head.
'This one is too light, Halto-san. I can't put any force behind it.'
'Exactly,' Halt agreed. Then he produced a leather thong, knotted at one end and with a loop at the other. He wound the knotted end once around the groove at the rear of the shaft, then, holding it firmly in place, crossed the thong over itself, close to the knot, to hold it in place. Then, keeping tension on the thong, he extended it down the shaft to where Will noticed there was a section bound with thin cord, forming a hand grip. He took Mikeru's right hand and slipped the looped end of the thong over it, then placed the boy's hand on the cord-bound grip on the dart, making sure he kept the thong tight as he did so.
Understanding dawned in the Kikori youth's eyes as he held the dart, with the tensioned leather thong extending back over half its length, retained in place by the cord passing over the knot.
'Now try it,' Halt said.
Mikeru grinned at him, sighted on the breastplate, leaned back, then hurled his body and arm into the throw. The leather cord acted as a lever extension for his arm, adding enormous extra thrust to the throw. As the missile hissed away on a murderous, arcing flight, the knotted end of the thong simply came free and fell clear, swinging from Mikeru's wrist.
The dart just missed the breastplate, then thudded point first into the ground some eight metres past it. Mikeru shook his head in wonder.
'This is good,' he said. 'Very good.' He started out to retrieve the dart but Halt stopped him, pointing to the roll of canvas. There were three more darts lying there.
Mikeru was a natural athlete, with excellent hand-eye co-ordination. And he was already an expert spear thrower. It didn't take him long to become accustomed to this new technique. His fourth cast smashed into the leather armour, the heavy iron point tearing a jagged hole.
Halt slapped his back in encouragement.
'Show this to your friends,' he said. 'Make more of them and practise with them till you can all do it. We've got another seven or eight weeks until spring and I want thirty of you trained and ready with these weapons when we face Arisaka again.'
Mikeru nodded enthusiastically. He had been chafing at the fact that so far he had taken no active part in the battle against the usurper. And he knew his friends felt the same way. This would be their chance.
'We'll be ready, Halto-san,' he said, drawing himself up to his full height and bowing formally.
Halt nodded in acknowledgement. Then he and Will turned away, leaving Mikeru to retrieve the darts and continue perfecting his new skill.
'Now let's see what happens if they try to outflank us,' Halt said.
'Are you sure this is a good idea?' Evanlyn asked anxiously.
Alyss glanced up from where she was checking her equipment.
'No. I'm not. But it's an idea, and it's the only one we've got. I just hope you're as good as you say you are with that sling of yours.'
'I never said I'm all that good. Other people might have said it, not me,' Evanlyn protested.
Alyss regarded her cynically. 'Maybe. But I never heard you contradict them.'
The discussion was interrupted by a light tap on the door frame of the room they shared.
'Come in,' Alyss called and the screen door slid open to admit Lord Nimatsu. The Nihon-Jan nobleman wore a worried look on his face. He glanced at the bed and saw Alyss's equipment laid out ready.
'Ariss-san,' he said, bowing to her, 'I see you are determined to go ahead with this.'
'I'm afraid I have to, Lord Nimatsu. Your people won't go through that forest unless we show them that we have killed the Terror. And this is the best way I can think of to do that.'
'But couldn't you try with another pig – or a goat, perhaps – as bait?' Nimatsu asked.
Alyss shook her head. 'The Terror has shown it's not interested in animals. It only killed the pig to silence it, so that we'd get no warning that it was there. But once that was done, it didn't touch the carcass. It sat under our tree for hours, waiting to see if we'd come down. It wants people. It's a man-eater. So this time, I'm the pig.' She waited a second and glanced at Evanlyn. 'You could always object to the way I phrased that,' she suggested.
Evanlyn made a disclaiming gesture. 'This is too serious to joke about, Alyss. You're putting yourself in terrible danger. And you're putting a lot of trust in my skill with the sling. Why don't we draw lots to see who's the bait?'
Nimatsu's gaze switched quickly between the two girls during this exchange. He nodded several times.
'You are risking a great deal, Ariss-san. Is Ev-an-in-san as skilled as you say?'
'She's a lot better than I am with the javelin,' Alyss told him. 'So it's logical that I'm the bait and she's the hunter. A friend of ours says she can knock out a gnat's eye with a shot from her sling.'
'I'm not sure I'm that good,' Evanlyn said doubtfully.
Alyss raised an eyebrow. 'Well, this isn't the best time to tell me that.'
Evanlyn let the comment pass. She knew Alyss's sarcasm stemmed from nerves. The tall girl was putting herself into a position of appalling danger. She might try to pass it off lightly, but it was only natural that she should be fearful of what was to come.
'In any event,' Alyss continued, 'once it all starts, I'll be safely tucked up under my shield. You'll be the one out in the open, having to deal with the big kitty cat.'
She indicated the big wooden shield that had been made to her instructions. Almost two metres high, it was rectangular in shape and formed into a shallow curve. It was, in fact, identical to those being used by the Kikori and she planned to use it to protect herself from the Kyofu's attack.
Nimatsu sighed deeply. He admired this tall, courteous girl and he feared that she wouldn't survive the coming night.
'I still say, I don't like this idea,' he said, with a note of finality in his voice. He sensed he would not dissuade her. Alyss grinned at him, but there was little real humour in the grin.
'I'm not mad about it either. But currently, it's the only idea going round.'
Somewhere close to hand, an owl hooted at regular intervals. When she had first heard the sound, Alyss's hair had stood on end. Now she had become accustomed to it and it had become part of the overall tableau of the night, along with the occasional rustle of small, nocturnal animals moving under the trees and the soft breath of the wind through the branches.
She stood with her back to the largest tree she could find, the heavy shield planted in front of her, her arm through the support strap, ready to lift it into position. Only her head showed above the rim of the shield. In a scabbard on her right hip, she wore Evanlyn's saxe knife. The shorter weapon would be more useful and easier to wield than her long sabre – assuming everything went to plan. Her two javelins were rammed point down into the ground beside her. She doubted they'd be any use, but she'd brought them anyway. Her head, face and right arm were wound with tough leather for protection against the Terror's claws. By now she was convinced that it was some form of giant predatory cat. She had heard tales of tigers and their almost supernatural ability to take prey silently and unobserved. She couldn't imagine a bulky, clumsy animal like a bear doing that.
She leaned back against the tree. Her legs were aching. She'd been standing here for several hours and the unrelenting cold was creeping up her legs, stiffening the muscles. She longed to sit down for a few minutes but knew that would place her at a disadvantage if the monster appeared. Standing, she could move instantly, bringing the shield up to face an attack from the front or either side. The tree protected her rear.