97
THE BLUE FEATHER
arrows into the snarling heads of two of the leading Borza. She
dismounted quickly and knelt down, notching another arrow as
the twenty remaining Borza approached. Bardala shot an arrow
just before the leading Borza was about to leap on little Lentito.
The poor burro was terrified, panting and running as hard as it
could. Bardala could only imagine what Lentito would say if he
could talk. Dust billowed up, as Tital came to a hard stop and
dismounted. Tital notched not one, but two arrows at one time,
and let them fly as soon as his feet hit the ground. Bardala saw
what he was doing, and followed his lead. Even at the rapid rate
of kills the two young hunters were making, the sheer number of
Borza pushed within sixty meters of them when Tital stopped his
bow work, and pointed his finger at the attacking pack. He
concentrated his special powers, flipping the Borza backwards,
while Bardala continued to kill them two at a time. The
narrowness of the canyon’s mouth pushed the Borza together, so
the spread of Bardala’s arrows were most effective, even though
two arrows were not as accurate as one. The numbers of the
Borza were quickly cut back until the few that remained realized
they were rushing into certain death from the deadly archer
ahead of them. The last two remaining turned and ran off into
the bushes, totally defeated.
“I am glad that we have some special power to be able to
fight these beasts. Look at the size of these teeth!” said Tital, as
he pushed back the lips of the dead Borza with the end of his
bow.
“Uh…Tital, if you think that is big, look down. We are
standing next to the footprint of some huge man. How big are
those prints?” Bardala asked.