Hunters moon

23: Nyathi

Koos came forward and saluted the older man "Good day sir, my name is..." Koos recognized him "Fucksakes is that you Corporal Croné!?"

"De La Rey!? De fok they made you a general for!?" He looked at Frits "Loots! You too? What you two married or what? To be together all this fokkin time!?" Bertus yelled making the men laugh.

"You know each other?" Piet asked.

"He was our corporal for 1 SAI" Koos said turning back to Bertus "We might have awoled slightly sir, but we have a good reason, were on a Recce mission" Koos said.

"Recce? So you three made it hey?"

"Sorry dad, not me, they said I was too I'll minded" Piet said and Bertus laughed looking at Koos "He got that from me! He just uses the landmine to better his excuse, Piet was a crazy fokker even before that mine nearly killed him"

"That true Piet?" Koos asked.

"I passed everything the Recce training had to offer, but when the mentality tests came up, I failed, that was before the mine yes" Piet said and Koos gave him a slap.

"And you kept this quiet!? You technically passed the Recce test physical, that makes you one in my eyes!" Koos bellowed.

"You must excuse him Koos, he wasn't the one who bragged about his accomplishments, his younger brother Phillip also passed Recce training full colours, the asshole couldn't keep his wad shut for days, come in boys, I have some cold beers in the fridge" Bertus said leading them in.

"So what you been up to pops?" Piet asked as the gathered in the kitchen.

"Well, I might be going on a little expedition to Alaska to study the wolves and mountain lions there, just as I studied the lions and hyenas here" Bertus explained, giving the three men shrills.

"Just be careful ok pa?" Piet said.

"Of course, I always am, so? Whats this mission your on?" Bertus asked

"Confidential sir" Koos said, making Bertus laugh.

"I know asshole! Just testing. I'm going to bed, Piet you know where the rooms are, help your comrades out" Bertus said and left, almost instantly Koos opened his bag and took out the plans for the Ratel.

"Ok, tomorrow morning me and Frits will be heading to Angola, Piet, I want you to start working on the upgrades for the Ratel"

"Copy"

"Watch closely Piet, take our old Ratel and start grinding a hole for that second turret, thanks to the schematics I was able to mark here where and how you must cut"

"Understood"

"Good, well take off as early as possible, right after preflight checks, so lets go to bed early"

***

"Wake up Quintin, were here" The pilot called as they approached the rural airfield far east of the SANDF hotzone. Quintin took his backpack and hopped out, waving at the pilot, who lifted off and headed west.

"Not so much as a goodbye... Sheesh" Quintin stood watching him disappear in the distance, he took the gps out and started it up, went to history and reset it to follow Naledi's coordinates "Thirty kilometers!?" He yelled looking in the direction the pilot went "You could have chosen a closer spot asshole!"

Without noticing he had gotten angry at such a trifle matter, he was starting to become a stranger to himself, slowly he blew out and scanned his surroundings, there was no one and nothing there, only a dirt runway, not even a shack to serve as an airport terminal.

Reluctantly he started walking, thinking of getting transport, but there was nothing out here, so instead he started jogging. It took him hours through the bush, he stopped frequently for a drink of water and a bite to eat, and eventually just past noon, he saw movement.

His eyesight was twice as good as it was before, his hearing, smell, nothing got by him now, he saw the brown face peeking quickly then hid again.

"Nina!?" He called, but got no response, Quintin knew he saw her, or, at least a brown hyena, but maybe it wasn't her. He shrugged and continued walking, he heard another rustle of grass, then the face of the hyena again, it was like a ghost, first to his left, now almost behind him to his right, or, unless they were surrounding him "Listen Nyathi, I come in peace, I'm looking for Nina, Naledi sent me!" This got a response.

"Did you say Naledi?" A voice asked out of the grass, it was a toned whisper.

"Yes, she told me to find Nina, I'm here to help against the Anubis tonight"

Slowly she came out of the grass, approaching him cautiously.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Quintin, and I'm... Well I'm a saber"

"A saber? More like a monster, I sense evil in you"

"I'm sorry for that, I myself don't know what I really am, please allow me to explain?" Quintin twitched when he suddenly realised he was indeed surrounded.

"I can't trust you, you're more evil than Cleopatra"

Quintin could slap his face, now what does he do?

"But, your Aura is indeed powerful, an ally like you could tip the war in our favour, explain how you know Naledi?"

"I was there the day her pack got wiped out, I'm partially responsible, but thanks to that, I became what I am now"

"Heathen!" Her loud whisper sent a chill up his spine, she retracted her lips, exposing her fangs.

"I'm sorry please, just show me where the clash between your clans will be tonight, and then tell the other werewolves to stay back, let me fight first"

Quintin, even though he had this tickle of rage in him, a new found courage, he felt a little scared at the hyenas surrounding him, even Nina, small as she was, and her fangs exposed, gave him shivers.

"Very well, I'll show you" She said and walked north.

The whole way Quintin was escorted by Nina's pack, until just before sundown they reached a clearing.

"This is it" She said stopping "I do not see you as an ally Heathen, but if you can help us stop Cleopatra's pack, we are together only because of a common cause, farewell" She harshly said and left.

"Remember to hide first!" He yelled feeling pissed at her lack of manners, she stopped and turned to him "What?"

"I said, remember to hide, don't come here whilst I'm on the battlefield, hide and watch from a distance, what ever I'm going to unleash here, will have red in it's eyes, and won't choose a side, or at least I think, so for safety reasons, hide whilst I test my strength, I don't want to kill innocence"

Nina gave a light grunt "Fine by me, maybe if you can take down a few then be killed, you'd be hitting two birds with one stone... Heathen" She flashed her fangs again and left.