The Amulet of Power - Mike Resnick [89]
“What do we do?” asked Lara.
“Get out of his way.”
“Have you got any more useful advice?” she said irritably.
“That’s not a joke,” said Oliver. “This is a lot better than having an elephant mad at you. Remember you told me how you dodged a truck back in Khartoum? Trust me—if you can dodge a truck, you can dodge a rhino.”
“Our Arab friend didn’t have much luck,” she noted.
“He was a fool.”
“I’m not a fool, I’m just ignorant,” said Lara as the rhino trotted in a little semicircle to observe them from a new angle. “Tell me what the Arab didn’t know.”
“It just takes nerve, and you’ve always had an abundance of that,” said Oliver. “If you try to get away when he starts running toward you, the same thing that happened to the Arab will happen to you. But if you can stand your ground until he’s ten yards away and lowers his head to impale you on his horn, you can evade him. A rhino is blind once he lowers his head to charge; all he can see is a few inches of grass. If you can sidestep a truck, you can sidestep a rhino.”
“You’d better be right,” she said tensely as the rhino began snorting again. “I think he’s about to start.”
The rhino raced toward her. She stood motionless, waiting for him to lower his head—but he didn’t. Instead he veered off to the left at the last instant and ran another fifty yards before he stopped and turned back to her.
“What was that all about?” she asked.
“He knows he’s blind when he charges,” said Oliver, “so he was trying to scare you into running. Watch yourself. Here he comes again!”
Lara watched as the huge beast moved from a trot to a gallop to a dead run. Now he was forty yards away, now twenty, now ten, and finally he lowered his head and she saw the huge horn reach out for her. She took two quick steps to her left—and the rhino continued his charge, not slowing down until he was another forty yards past her.
“I’ll be damned!” she exclaimed. “You were right!”
The rhino continued running in a straight direction. He stopped about one hundred yards away and began browsing on some bushes as if nothing had happened.
“He thinks he tossed you,” said Oliver. “Otherwise he’d come back and try again.” He paused. “They’re not very bright animals; that’s why they’re so easy to poach. Before we get on the plane I’ll tell the game department that he’s walking around with a slug in his chest. I don’t think it did him any damage, but he’s going to be in a bad mood for the next few days.”
“He’s not the only one,” said Lara. “I’m getting sick and tired of people trying to kill me.”
“Uh . . . it’s not just people,” said Oliver suddenly.
“What do you mean?”
“The wind was changing when the rhino interrupted us,” he said.
She turned toward the glade and saw three lionesses starting to approach them.
“I thought the Mahdist said there were four of them,” said Lara.
“There are.”
Oliver pointed to the roof of the car, where the fourth lioness perched, observing them like a housecat observing a mouse that she was about to have a little fun with.
30
“Don’t run,” said Oliver softly. “Lions are pretty conservative animals. These have never attacked men before. They may think twice about it.”
“How do you know they’ve never attacked anyone?”
“As I told you, the Nairobi Park is within the city limits,” he said. “If they’d killed anyone, the game department would have shot them.”
Suddenly an idea occurred to Lara. “What will happen if I walk very slowly?”
“To the car?” he asked. “The old girl on the roof will probably pounce on you if you get too close and she feels threatened.”
“No,” said Lara. “To the Arab’s body.”
“Probably nothing,” said Oliver. “But if I’m wrong, you’ll have less than three seconds before the closest of them is on top of you.”
“It’s worth a try,” she said. “Don’t forget: They’re hungry and we’re covered with topi blood. They’re not going to stand back and just watch us all day.”
She took a step, then a second and a third. The lead lioness stopped and stared at her curiously.
Two more steps and she was next to the Arab’s corpse. She knelt down very slowly,