Chapter Seven - Revenge
At first, no one could spot Ekk. He had disappeared from sight. It was Unta who finally spotted him, inside the new hut. Ekk had taken everything out of his old hut and had moved them into the new hut. He was inside now, arranging things and humming happily.
‘Perfect,’ Dec decided. ‘He’s on his own. That’s what we want.’
They gathered round the back of the new hut. Dec whispered instructions to the children and allocated tasks. Hohn, Ban, Kelc and Lint were to go inside first.
‘Don’t talk to him. Don’t make any noise at all. Just jump on him then drive him outside. We’ll be waiting. We’ll do the rest,’ Dec explained.
They all nodded.
Lint pushed forward to the front of the group.
‘I want to go in first,’ he said.
‘You deserve to,’ Dec agreed. ‘Let Lint go first,' he told the others.
The boys took Ekk completely by surprise. One moment he was alone in his hut, the next he was under attack. The four boys surrounded him and began attacking him with everything they had: feet, fists, sticks, teeth, anything.
At first Ekk did nothing. He was simply too stunned. He couldn’t believe his eyes. It took him a long time to understand that these boys, who he normally got to hit, were now hitting him. But after a flurry of blows from Lint, Ekk finally got the idea. Then he decided to fight back. He roared, got up, shook his fists and made a grab for the nearest boy, Kelc.
He hurled Kelc across the room, just as Hohn and Ban tried to jump on him. Kelc landed and crumpled into a heap against the wall of the hut, next to Ekk’s club. Ekk and Lint both stared at the club and the same thought occurred to both of them.
Luckily for Lint, he could think a lot quicker that Ekk could. He lunged across towards the club while Ekk was still thinking about lunging. Lint grabbed the club with two hands and tried to lift it. It was incredibly heavy. He staggered a couple of steps forward and then dropped it by his feet. Ekk was wading towards him; Hohn attached to one leg, Ban to the other. Kelc was still struggling to get up off the ground.
Lint hefted the club up into his arms and tried to wobble forwards, but the club was simply too heavy for him. He dropped it again, narrowly missing his foot. Ekk was almost right behind him. He had to do something fast. So, instead of carrying it, he began to drag it to the door. It was only a couple of paces away.
Suddenly he felt a hand round his neck. It tightened and twisted him round until he was face to face with a very angry Ekk. Despite Hohn and Ban still hammering with their fists against his back, Ekk raised his own fist and looked right into Lint's eyes.
Just at that moment, Kelc threw himself at Ekk. Ekk had to let go of Lint to stop Kelc. This was all the help Lint needed. He wriggled free and dragged the club a few last steps to the door.
He emerged, gasping, tugging the club behind him, and found no-one in sight. Where were the others? They were supposed to be here.
Meanwhile, inside, Ekk had freed himself from the other three boys and was running after his club. Once he was through the door, he stopped short and looked around. His club was on the ground in front of him, but Lint had disappeared. He bent forwards to pick it up, and heard the horrible swishing sound of a spear flying through the air. He forgot the club and dived to the ground. The spear landed next to his club.
Ekk didn’t have time to catch his breath before the bushes round the hut came alive as five big children came pounding towards Ekk, sharpened sticks in hand, screaming and yelling.
Ekk didn’t even try to stand up to them. He just fled. Dec paused long enough to pick up his spear and then led the others after Ekk. They ran through the village, shouting and roaring all the way.
They never caught up with Ekk. Once he was in the forest, he found a hole to hide in. Nobody really cared. The hunt was just for the fun of it. They had achieved what they wanted. Ekk had been beaten. His loss of face was complete. He could never stand in front of the children and try to bully them again. He was their teacher no longer.
It was left to Clan Chief Ghun to get the children to line up at the end of the day and hear the results of the hunt. Olgan was the only one who had managed to catch anything other than their teacher, and she, wisely, decided to give her fox to Ma. That way they were all empty handed together.
‘We hunted Ekk instead,’ Dec explained, as they all stood in silence before Clan Chief Ghun. ‘He was a bad teacher so we got rid of him. We want a new teacher.’
Clan Chief Ghun had to think fast, which was very difficult for him. Never before had this happened in the history of the village. It meant that these kids were both clever and brave. That was worrying. He was going to have to punish them, to keep them in their place and make sure they knew who was Chief. But it was tricky. Unta was part of the school. Unta had been part of the hunt too. Clan Chief Ghun did not want to punish his own son. He wanted his son to succeed him as Chief.
Olgan was staring very closely at Clan Chief Ghun’s narrowed eyes. She read his thoughts as if he had spoken them out loud.
‘Clan Chief Ghun,’ she asked, and waited for him to look at her. ‘As a sign of our respect and obedience, the school would like to give you the new hut we have made. It is the biggest and best hut in the village, and we think it should be yours.’
This changed everything. Clan Chief Ghun beamed at her.
‘Clan Chief Ghun old hut bad, Clan Chief Ghun new hut good,’ he said. ‘Ekk teacher bad, new teacher good.’
And then everyone smiled. It was the perfect solution; a new teacher for the school and a new hut for Clan Chief Ghun.
From now on, Lint thought, school might be all right.