AVP Hunters Planet 15

The yautja danced. Lar'nix'va danced the dance of Death. Not just a Path dance, but The Path dance. His opponent hissed and clacked before his spear, seeming aware of the importance of this battle. Beyond life, above Death. It smelled of its acid, though it had not bled yet. It had just been detected with a sensor and then beaten
from the bush where it had been hiding.
The pack had challenged Lar'nix'va's assumption of the role of Leader. The kainde amedha chiva, the Hard Meat Trial, would prove his worthiness.

To Lar'nix'va, though, it was just one more step on his personal path, a path that had engraved itself upon his soul at a very early age. The Hard Meat lunged. Lar'nix'va dodged backward and performed a graceful flip. A showy maneuver, certainly, but then this kill wasn't touch of pride and swagger.
step up the ladder, for the other packs that Hunted on this planet would surely have to take note. The situation merited extreme scrutiny, and by his careful and panache-filled Leadership, Lar'nix'va knew that he would attract the attention of the elders. Thus he hoped to command many yautja, not just a pack. Thus he hoped to attract many females, breed many children, and make such a name in the genetic pool as had not been heard in many Passings.

To think that the elders had once considered him unsuitable for breeding, had even considered severing his gonads. It was not just ambition that drove this warrior, but outrage. Soon there would be many yautja a few noks shorter than
the norm. But they would be superior warriors and good solid breeders, without question. His name would not just be in history books, but written in the annals of the genome. With this fire of intention that burned in him, he took a couple of fancy steps, confusing the Hard Meat and impressing his fellows with his nimbleness. Then, before the kainde amedha had the opportunity even to consider the possibility of fleeing, he raced forward and with stunning speed lopped off one of its forward limbs. Even as the sword-sharp length of special steel sliced through the last bit of chitin, Lar'nix'va yanked it back and stepped away from the spray of acid blood, not merely in the prescribed training fashion, but with a glorious flourish and a deep bellow of victory.

The Hard Meat shrieked, but it bore forward, its long head darting out, drooling and snapping. The good thing about the kainde amedha was that, while they could be wily and hard to deal with in the closed space of tunnels and darkness, out in the open they were highly predictable. They sought to attack and kill, and that was it. A warrior merely had to time his attack and defense in cadence to the instinctual performance of his prey.

Now Lar'nix'va played with that. This was his Dance. The Hard Meat struck, its limb dangling horribly. Fortunately, the limb had ceased spurting acid, merely dribbling now, so that Lar'nix'va dared to dart in and attack once more. He saw a perfect opportunity to slash open the creature's thorax. However, the fight would have been over too soon then, cheapening his glory.

He signaled with a whistle his decision to attenuate the battle, and then instead of making it a quick kill, he whacked down with the blade upon the thing's leg. The limb was tough. The blade bit into it but did not sever it. The spear was stuck. Acid streamed out. Rather than pull on the spear and risk a slash from the jaws or remaining limbs, Lar'nix'va abandoned it, leaping back with fancy footwork.

Then, rather than receive another spear from his fellows, he did the glorious thing.
Lar'nix'va pulled out his short blade. He heard the mandibles of the pack behind him chatter with disbelieving approval. This was an insane thing to do, but a little insanity in the Leader was always respected. Lar'nix'va capered around the Hard Meat speedily, and then, before it could do anything in defense, he jumped. His leg muscles drove him up onto its back, and with a powerful blow the new Leader brought the blade down upon the back of the cranium. The sharp steel pierced the armor, driving perfectly into a node that controlled the
creature's reflexes. Before he could be grabbed, Lar'nix'va bounded away. The Hard Meat screamed. It rolled and convulsed. Maddened and in terrible pain, it tried to leap toward the warrior responsible, but its limbs would not respond. With a clatter and clunking it fell into a hellish heap. Lar'nix'va darted in, grabbed his spear, which had fallen away, and with a fluid motion rammed the weapon down and through the thorax with such force that the Hard Meat was pinned to the ground.

Then Lar'nix'va leaped away. With the life of the thing leaking into the dirt, he turned to his fellows.

"Can you doubt now that I am a Leader?" he said.

"No," said a tall warrior named Bakuub, sullenly. "We cannot. However, there is more to a Leader than an individual feat. You well deserve your skull here, and the honor that this kill heaps upon you, a milestone on your Path. However, we must see how the pack works under you. Times are serious, and we cannot hazard a bad choice."

Lar'nix'va could feel the blood rush to his head. However, he controlled his temper. By rights all he had to do was call this a challenge from the troublesome fool and defeat him in a duel. However, Bakuub was correct.-Chpt.5 pgs.242-343-344-345