Two Moons by J. Raymond Ractliffe - Chapter 23

Two Moons is a new novel by J. Raymond Ractliffe that explores the inner spirit life of Africa, her people and their powerful faith in the world of the Unseen.

The Mark of the Two Moons
Chapter 23

      The hyena had not moved since Jeremy had leapt back up into the tree. The eyes remained fixed up into the dark sky where the tree limbs lived, listening to the tell tale noise of a slithering body as the tree freed Jeremy from its grasp. The gentle dripping of blood pooled into the soft sand beneath Jeremy where scurrying insects found the offerings more than a welcome.

Stiff ears had heard the stirrings as Jeremy had fought back his urge to faint, gripping the trunk with his torn fingers until the spasms had past. The laboured breath above had become controlled, spaced and moulded to shield the mind from falling.

The hyena had heard the twig snapping as Jeremy bound the torn cloth around the bleeding leg.

Her own survival now lay with this last hunt that lay above her in the tree. She could not endure more days without food. Panting from loss of blood from her fight with the new alpha female of her pack that drove her out into the , she would finally lay in the sand, the life slowly draining out of her in the noon-day sun.

This was a hunt not to be shared. The blood dripping from above would attract other night time predators. She was no match for a hungry lion, or leopard. Her own pack that had driven her off, would kill her to reach this new opportunity.

Her ears pointed out into the night, listening for any signs of what the nighttime blood scent would attract. From one side to another her nose and ears scanned the darkened horizon.

She lowered her massive head again to rest on her paws, her deep bite wounds still trickling blood, the pulse within beating a steady reminder of her lost battle. Two of her grown pups had died before she fled alone into the bush.

Gently, the nighttime winds shifted to the west, carrying the wet blood scent over the trees and tall grasses. The scent found a shallow hollow underneath a withered broken tree by the edge of a dried out riverbed.

Yellow eyes opened to peer out into the night sky. A falcon high above marked the time of his awakening and with a gentle lowering of its wing and an eye fixed to a lone star above, it rode the dark skies home.