by Jacinta Jade
‘Stay still, or I’ll make this really unpleasant for you,’ growled a deep male voice in her ear.
Alarmed, Siray’s gaze flicked towards the tree where the Faction soldier had been tied up.
The quick glance was enough to confirm her attacker’s identity.
The Faction male yanked hard on her arms, pulling them tightly behind her back.
Siray realised he meant to bind her, as he had been, and drawing in as deep a breath as she could manage, she rocked forwards, then quickly snapped her head backwards, the hard back of her skull making contact with something softer that yielded under the blow with a sickening crack.
The enemy soldier yelled out in agony, releasing his painful grip on Siray’s arms, and she used the opportunity to whip her hands around and push up off the ground with force.
This bucked the groaning male off her back, causing him to fall to the ground, and Siray whipped her legs away from him, scrabbling to get to her feet.
But the soldier moved just as fast and, with his experience, was ready for her. As Siray gained her feet, the male used his greater reach to stretch across the space between them and viciously backhand her across the face.
Siray reeled from the force of the blow, her face both numb and on fire at the same time. Dizzy, she stumbled and fell back to the ground, her vision in one eye blurring as she rolled onto her back, trying to make sense of the spinning night sky above.
Then a blurred silhouette came to stand over her, and Siray tilted her head slightly to see it better with her good eye.
The Faction soldier stood over her. ‘So glad you could help me do my job,’ he cooed. ‘I’ll definitely get a reward for being the one to bring you back. And now,’ he added with a feral grin, ‘say good night.’ His words were a parody of Kovi’s earlier statement.
Siray watched in a daze as the sentry drew a foot back, the toes of his boots in line with her head.
But then, another shape launched itself over Siray in a blur and tackled the sentry, a savage snarl ripping from the mouth of this new arrival.
Rolling onto her side, Siray saw the familiar rangy four-legged shape of a cripwof struggling over the soldier’s battling figure for a moment, it jaws snapping, before the Faction male’s body finally stilled and went limp. Then the predator wheeled its large body around, looking towards her.
Had Kovi returned before the others for some reason? Siray blinked repeatedly, willing her vision to clear as the shape twisted and Changed.
The sound of running feet, then someone leaned over her.
‘Siray! Are you hurt?’
A familiar voice. She tried to talk, but it took a few attempts before she actually managed to get any words out.
‘No. I’m okay,’ she mumbled.
Gingerly pushing herself to a seated position, with warm hands assisting, she turned her head so she could use her good eye to bring her rescuer’s face into clarity.
It wasn’t Kovi, as she had first thought.
And it wasn’t any of the others.
Siray blinked again, and her vision finally cleared enough in both eyes that she could be sure of whom it was she was seeing.
‘Baindan?’ Siray’s aching jaw dropped in disbelief. ‘How did you find us?’
‘I tracked you. Have been tracking you for the last two days.’
Siray shook her head in disbelief, and carefully scrutinised the edge of the forest, the nearby hill, and the one or two still-glowing coals in the fire.
Then she grabbed her left arm with her right and dug her nails in. Ouch. Definitely awake. Definitely not hallucinating.
She turned back to Baindan. ‘How did you know the training camp had been attacked?’
‘One of the junior trainers—a guy named Darl—’
‘Dirl,’ she automatically corrected him.
‘Yeah, Dirl,’ Baindan amended, ‘flew into Commander Dacelin’s camp and alerted us. I set off straightaway to come find you. See if … if you had been captured.’ He swallowed and Siray knew what other memories were playing through his mind. ‘While snooping around the edges of the area—and avoiding the patrols in my cripwof form—I caught your scent. And I’ve been tracking you since then.’
He shook his head. ‘But I almost lost your scent completely earlier. Could only smell a foul—’
‘Never mind that,’ Siray interrupted him. ‘I’ll explain later.’ She moved to stand, letting Baindan continue to assist her as she wobbled slightly. She carefully touched the side of her face where the Faction soldier had hit her. Her cheek felt warm and swollen.
Then she looked down at where the Faction male lay, and recoiled a bit.
‘You killed him,’ she said, shocked.
‘Yes.’ Baindan’s voice was cold and hard.
‘But we needed him—needed the information he could provide.’ Siray continued to stare at the soldier’s body. And the grisly remains of his throat, which had been ripped open by Baindan’s teeth.
‘No, you didn’t. He would have misled you, or proven a liability.’ Baindan looked around a bit. ‘But where are the others? I’m sure there was the scent of at least three or four more.’
‘Five,’ a hard voice ground out from behind them.
Baindan turned around in surprise, moving enough so that Siray could see past him.
Beyond, Deson, Kovi, Tamot, Jorgi, and Loce stood. They were spreading out so that they could block any possible escape by Baindan from beneath the overhang.
As Siray watched, Kovi Changed into his cripwof form beside Deson, and growled menacingly.
Baindan held out his hands in a placating gesture to the other males. ‘Easy—I’m not going to hurt anybody.’
‘That’s right,’ Deson said, still in a hard voice, ‘you’re not.’ His voice trailed off into a snarl as he Changed into his sevonix form, his muscles coiling as he prepared to leap at Baindan.
Alarmed, Siray coiled her aching body and leapt into the air between them, Changing into her own sevonix form.
As she landed in the space between the two males, she gave a deep warning growl, low in her throat.
Stop, Deson, she thought at him through their connection.
To his credit, Deson did halt where he was.
Siray stood there, gleaming more silver than black as the clouds unveiled the three moons floating high above in the sky.
He’s a friend, she insisted.
Deson gave a low growl that would have been barely audible to anyone in their normal form.
Siray saw Kovi circling around to one side, now in his cripwof form, and she turned and faced him too, lifting her lip a little to bare her fangs.
Kovi stopped where he was.
Deson’s voice was doubtful in her head. That mark on your face doesn’t look friendly.
Siray huffed but didn’t take her eyes off him. In his sevonix form, Deson might be less reasonable than if he had stayed in his normal form.
Baindan didn’t cause my injuries—the Faction soldier did. He’s dead, behind me. Baindan killed him.
Deson’s large predator eyes looked past Baindan, then returned to Siray. If you’re sure …
I’m sure, she thought at him firmly.
With a final glance over her shoulder, Deson Changed back.
Siray did too, but Kovi stayed stubbornly in his cripwof form. Looking around at the others and Baindan, she noted that they were all still tense, having heard none of the exchange that had just passed between herself and Deson. She explained for their benefit.
‘It’s okay. This is Baindan. A friend.’ She turned and gestured to Baindan, who was looking at her a little stunned.
She would have to catch him up later on everything that had happened.
‘The soldier broke free and attacked me,’ she continued, motioning the blossoming bruises on her forehead and arms. ‘He would have either killed me, or taken me hostage, if Baindan hadn’t shown up when he did.’
Siray looked at each of the other members of her unit to
ensure they wouldn’t do anything reckless. They had, after all, been living with a high level of tension for the last two days.
She stared particularly hard at Kovi, who held her gaze for a moment longer before he, too, Changed back.
Loce was looking over her shoulder. ‘So, the prisoner is dead?’
She nodded.
Kovi snorted. ‘Great. There goes our chance to learn anything else.’ He glared at Baindan, who shrugged.
‘I saw him attacking Siray and acted. Anything he would have told you wouldn’t have done you any good anyway.’
Now Siray turned to Baindan, eyes narrowed. That was the second time he had said something like that. ‘Why?’
‘The Faction guards had been instructed to draw you in,’ he said simply.
‘What?’ Tamot sounded almost insulted.
Baindan nodded. ‘When I was scouting the camp, I took my own prisoner. It took a couple of spans to break him, but when I did, he told me that they had been instructed to provide you with false information, if they were captured.’
‘What false information?’ demanded Deson.
Baindan sighed, as if resigning himself to be the bearer of bad news. ‘That they weren’t moving any prisoners until tomorrow.’ He paused, noting the stillness that consumed them all. ‘The soldier lied to you. All the Resistance members who got captured were moved the same night.’
‘But,’ Tamot protested, ‘we saw a line of Resistance hostages being marched through the camp today.’
Baindan shook his head, his eyes hard. ‘No. You saw Faction soldiers playing the part of hostages. They hoped to draw you in. They hoped you would risk a rescue.’
‘So they could capture us,’ Deson said flatly.
Baindan nodded, and they were all silent.
Siray eyed the ground. She had hoped that there was a chance of saving Rowp.
Kovi wasn’t yet convinced. ‘How do you know that your prisoner wasn’t the one who was lying?’
Baindan levelled his gaze at Kovi. ‘Because he fed me the same line he fed you, but when he couldn’t supply any more details, I continued to press him, and he eventually told me about their trap. My … methods, are thorough.’
This made Kovi fall silent.
Baindan seemed to sense the dismay. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said.
Deson shook his head, his eyes still on the ground thoughtfully. ‘No, you’ve obviously done us a service. Thank you.’
Siray peeked across at Kovi to see how he was taking the news. His face was hard and grim, and Siray knew he was thinking of all the friends they had lost.
And maybe of one person in particular.
It appeared to Siray as if their group were on the edge of despair, so she tried to get them to focus on something else.
‘So, what do we do now?’
She looked to Deson, then glanced at Baindan, also inviting his input.
Deson spoke first.
‘I think we need to locate another branch of the Resistance. We won’t survive long on our own.’
‘I agree,’ Baindan said. ‘But it’s going to be more difficult than you think to find another Resistance site. Before I left the commander’s camp, she issued orders that all Resistance facilities were to break up and move to their site B locations.’
‘Site B?’ Loce queried, looking confused.
‘Yes. All camps and facilities have emergency backup locations they can retreat to in case something like this ever happened. Now, all Resistance sites will relocate to the secondary locations, so no matter what intelligence the Faction currently have on us, they won’t know where the secondary camps will be.’ Baindan sounded confident in this knowledge.
Kovi asked, ‘If others did manage to escape like us, will they know about these new locations?’
Baindan shook his head. ‘Only lieutenants and above know—or people in special positions, like myself. It’s their job to inform others they trust at the correct time.’
‘Sounds like a great system,’ muttered Kovi.
Baindan didn’t acknowledge the comment, and Deson quickly jumped in.
‘So, where do we go, then?’
Baindan’s brows narrowed in thought. ‘There are three site B locations I know of. One of them would mean going back towards the training camp and circling around it.’
Deson jumped in. ‘Too risky.’
‘I agree,’ said Baindan, frowning at him. ‘The second location I know of would not require us to go near the remains of the training camp, but I think the enemy might expect us to head in that direction.’
‘And that leaves …?’ Tamot prompted.
‘Straight onwards. To the Great Kuminati.’
Jorgi’s mouth fell open in an almost comical way. ‘The desert?’
Baindan nodded. ‘There’s a facility there that is a about a day’s march into the sands.’
Siray considered the distance from their current location. ‘That’s days and days of travelling,’ she said, ‘at least a turn.’
Baindan nodded. ‘Travelling, hiding, and possibly fighting, if we are pursued.’
‘Hang on a moment,’ Loce said. ‘When did you become a we? We’—and Loce pointed to himself and the other males—‘don’t even know you. How can we trust you?’
Baindan considered Loce for a long moment, taking his measure, then at the others.
Siray looked at them too. She felt like leaping in to defend Baindan, given all that he had done for her in the past, but then realised that might not actually help in this case.
Instead, she waited quietly to see what he would say.
‘Well,’ Baindan said, ‘you won’t know if you can trust me until I safely bring you to one of the camps. But I would ask you to consider this—you are on your own, can expect no support, and if you do not move from this area soon, the enemy will find you. I’m going to find one of our camps. You can either follow, or choose to go your own way.’ He shrugged. ‘I’m not going to force you to come.’
Siray scanned her friends’ faces. ‘I trust Baindan,’ she told them. ‘I’ve travelled with and fought alongside him before.’
Siray focused on Deson and held his eye. You can trust him, she repeated with a thought.
Deson’s gaze returned to Baindan, apparently sizing the other male up for a moment. And he nodded. ‘Alright—I’ll go.’
A pause while the others considered a moment more, then they all slowly muttered their agreement, one after the other, Kovi chiming in last.
Siray noted this, and thought she would try to catch Kovi later.
Loce yawned, and asked, ‘So, we leave first thing in the morning?’
‘No.’ Baindan shook his head. ‘We leave now.’
They all stared at Baindan, Siray included.
‘Baindan, they’ve been to the training camp twice today—do we really need to leave straightaway?’
‘We do,’ he said firmly. ‘Our enemy has divisions of soldiers that have been widening their search area since they secured the training camp.’ He turned to look at the corpse behind him before turning back to the others. ‘Did you stop to think about what they will do, what they are probably already doing, when he doesn’t report in?’
They were all silent. Siray had thought about it, briefly, but they hadn’t actually discussed it. Now that she really thought about it, she considered that it had been a very stupid idea to let anyone go return to the area so soon afterwards.
‘I was able to track you quickly because I know Siray’s scent,’ Baindan said.
From the corner of her eye, Siray saw Deson stiffen slightly.
‘But,’ Baindan continued, ‘the Faction has a lot of soldiers covering a lot of ground, and they have been busy tracking down anyone who escaped since the night they attacked. We need to leave.’
The others were silent, but it was a heavy, accepting silence.
Deson, too, was quiet, and he was also looking between Siray and Baindan.
Siray was opening her mouth to suppo
rt Baindan’s suggestion when she heard something. Something that wasn’t the wind, or the rustling of the trees.
She regarded Kovi, who was still positioned at the edge of the group, and who had also turned slightly in the direction of the sound Siray thought she had heard.
‘Kovi,’ she said, jerking her head.
Kovi looked at her and nodded once to show he understood, then Changed. Turning and pointing his keen eyes and ears towards the dark trees, he moved a few steps into the forest.
A moment later, he Changed back.
‘Something is moving out there. It's heading this way.’
‘Let’s go.’ Baindan was firm as he took charge. ‘Siray—bury the last of the fire. And someone give me a hand with this body. Everyone else, watch the perimeter.’
Siray moved briskly to the small fire pit, quickly bending down and scooping dirt onto the last of the dying coals. Standing, she stomped on the ground a couple of times to pack it down. If anyone tracked them here, they would have a hard time spotting the buried fire pit in the dark.
Meanwhile, Tamot had moved forwards to help Baindan lift the Faction soldier’s corpse and dump it in some thick bushes to one side of the hill’s overhang.
Finished with her task, Siray joined the others on the perimeter, Baindan and Tamot approaching soon after.
Baindan turned to the group. ‘I’m going to run at the front in one of my forms—someone else who has a stealthy form should run at the back to listen for anyone coming up behind.’
He scanned the group rapidly before his eyes came to rest on Deson.
‘You able to do that?’
Deson’s mouth pressed into a line, but he just said, ‘Sure.’
Baindan nodded, and they both Changed. Baindan into his cripwof form, and Deson into his sevonix.
Baindan’s cripwof turned and, after listening for a moment, moved forwards to lead the group out from under the overhang at a run.
Siray fell in immediately behind Baindan, keeping an eye on his thick tail as it bounded along smoothly in front of her. Looking behind her, she saw Tamot, Jorgi, Loce, and Kovi all following, with Deson a dark, prowling shape at the back. Siray wished they could all Change, as she knew she could move much faster and quieter in her own sevonix form, but that, however, wasn’t an option for Tamot, Jorgi, or Loce, whose forms were either too slow or would cause too much noise running through a forest.
