by Mel Odom
“You’re bringing them to Rilormang?” Leghef stared at Tholak. “You know what that place means to our people.”
“Rilormang saved us once,” Tholak said. “It can save us again.”
“Turning them into slaves isn’t saving them.”
Tholak’s face grew red. “You think having them die fighting the Phrenorians for the Terrans is a better death?”
“You argued with me not so long ago against offworlder presence on our planet,” Leghef said.
“I argued against the Terrans because I knew they would embroil us in their war. And they have. Do you know how many of our people I have seen lying dead in the streets or their homes?”
Leghef’s voice was steel when she spoke. “Not nearly so many as I have. You were among the first to leave and hide out in the jungle.”
Tholak reached across the seat and backhanded Leghef so fast she couldn’t move in time to get away. Her head snapped back and her cheek felt like it had been infused with fire.
For a moment, Leghef was beyond thinking. Her hand flashed to the knife she’d secreted in the sleeve of her dress. She swept the blade toward Tholak’s neck, intending to sever the carotid—and stopped herself just short of that when she realized killing him would get Telilu killed.
If her granddaughter was even still alive.
Instead of slicing Tholak’s carotid, the blade scored his cheek to the bone. Blood gushed down his face and dripped through his beard.
Osler grabbed her wrist then, and she didn’t fight him. Fighting would only have made things go worse for Telilu and herself. She screamed quietly inside her own mind while Tholak clapped a big hand to the wound on his cheek.
“Didn’t you search her?” Tholak yelled.
Osler plucked the knife from Leghef’s hand and pocketed it. “We did.”
“Not well enough.”
“She’s an old woman.”
“She used to hunt!” Tholak roared. “You’re lucky to be alive.” He ordered the driver to pull over and for the guards to search her thoroughly.
They yanked Leghef from the crawler and pressed her against it. Tholak stood on the other side of the vehicle while one of the men attended his wound with a spray-on sealer that Leghef and her fellow hunters would have given almost anything for back when she was young.
The search was thorough and insulting, and when they turned up the comm, she cursed her weakness. She should have stayed her hand, should have waited for a better opportunity. Now, if Telilu were dead, Leghef would be unable to avenge her granddaughter.
Osler showed Tholak the comm unit. “She had this.”
Tholak glared at the man. His face was bloodstained around the spray-on patch. Leghef knew the wound hurt, and she hoped it got infected. Contagion was another thing that often came with the atceri. Of course, back in those days, the hunters hadn’t had the offworlder meds. Tholak would survive.
“Destroy it and tie her up.”
Osler dropped the comm to the ground and stomped on it with a military-grade boot that had come from an offworlder store. Then he took a plastic strap from a bag at his hip and bound Leghef’s wrists together.
“Is my granddaughter alive?” Leghef demanded. She tried to keep her voice from breaking, but it did anyway at the end.
“She is,” Tholak said. “She will be until I gut her in front of you if you don’t do what I say. You’re fortunate you still have a role to play in this.” He turned to Osler. “Put her back in the crawler.”
FIFTY-FOUR
Nyeth Street
Outside Fort York
313038 Akej (Phrenorian Prime)
Zhoh stood beside the damaged TAV and reviewed the vid Mato had captured from the war machine. It played on a loop inside his handheld viewer. Although the Terran military combat armor didn’t reveal faces out in the field, Zhoh felt certain one of the soldiers had been Sage. The big pistol sheathed on the soldier’s chest announced that.
Seething, Zhoh shifted his attention to Fort York. He triggered the magnification function of his ocular and switched his focus to that eye. Somehow, in spite of everything he’d thrown at it, the Terran fort still stood.
Under other circumstances, he might have felt gladdened by the tenacity of his opponents. Strong enemies made strong warriors. A battle could not be truly won unless at some point it came close to being lost.
Most of the assault vehicle’s crew was dead. Zhoh had dispatched one of the warriors himself because he would not recover from his wounds, and warriors were not going to be pulled from battle to ferry him back to the hospital in the embassy.
War brought about acceptable losses. He was still determined to take Makaum and seize the glory that came with that accomplishment.
He raked the fort with his gaze. The assault on the east had stalled out and was, in fact, now giving ground before the Terran soldiers.
Zhoh checked his battle strategies to see who was responsible for that assault. He opened his comm.
“Colonel Nalit, report.”
No answer was forthcoming.
“Colonel Nalit,” Zhoh called again. Then he flipped to the frequency he shared with Mato. “Is Nalit dead?”
“I don’t know, General.” Mato sounded harried. “I have tried to locate Nalit and Warar, but neither of them is responding to comm hails.”
“The east side attack is being beaten back.”
A group of jumpcopters streaked through the airspace and laid down a salvo of missiles that routed the Phrenorians there.
“I’ll check on that.”
Zhoh hailed both Nalit and Warar, but got no response. He searched for their armor transponders in the nearby neighborhoods, where they should have been, and was surprised when there was no sign of them. Then he realized that the two warriors weren’t on the battlefield.
As a jumpcopter fired rockets at his location, he took cover and opened his comm to Mato again. The warheads slammed against the TAV and unleashed firestorms that curled and twisted. Some of the slower-moving or less-aware warriors got caught in the blast.
A few of the warriors not caught in the blast attempted to use spray foam to extinguish their burning comrades even though the injured could have extinguished the flames by rolling in the surrounding mud and puddles. Other warriors fired their weapons at the jumpcopter as it screamed by overhead.
Zhoh watched as two of the warriors who were on fire succumbed to their injuries. Their would-be rescuers turned from them.
The jumpcopter came back around for another approach. Scrambling quickly, Zhoh lowered himself through an open hatch and slid behind the controls of one of the anti-aircraft guns. He readied the particle cannon and tracked the jumpcopter. When the aircraft was within range, he fired.
The rapid particle beam pulses tore the jumpcopter to pieces. Plasteel rained down and pelted the street and nearby structures. A large chunk of it struck the TAV hard enough to make the tracked assault vehicle shudder. Since he wasn’t securely belted in as he should have been, Zhoh banged against the seat and the control console.
With the skies clear, Zhoh heaved himself up from the gunner’s seat and crawled back out of the hatch till he stood on top of it. Patchy smoke crawled up from the wreckage and wrapped across the TAV.
“General,” Mato called, and only then did Zhoh realize his second had been calling for him.
“I’m here,” Zhoh answered. “Locate Nalit and Warar.”
“Searching through satellites,” Mato replied.
Zhoh climbed down the TAV till he reached the rubble-strewn, muddy street. He moved among his wounded warriors and gave two of them merciful deaths.
“I have them,” Mato said. Confusion crept through in his voice. “This doesn’t make sense.”
To Zhoh, wherever the two lieutenant colonels were made perfect sense. They were betraying him. Ignoring his leadership and following someone else’s orders. Neither of the two was strong enough to defy him. Not even working together.
“Where are
they?” Zhoh demanded.
“At a place called Rilormang.”
Zhoh searched through what he knew of Makaum, but the name failed to make a connection for him. “What’s the significance of that location?”
Mato paused for just a moment. “All I can find in our records of Makaum history is that Rilormang holds special cultural importance to the Makaum beings.”
“What’s out there?”
An image of an impenetrable jungle popped up on Zhoh’s handheld viewer. The area looked like so much of the jungle that he’d already seen on the planet.
“What about the terrain underneath the trees?” Zhoh asked.
“We have no records of it,” Mato answered. “There is some mention of caves in that area. Something called the Caves of the Glass Dead.”
“That isn’t in our records?”
“No, triarr. If it were, I would be able to find it.”
Zhoh pondered that and grew quickly frustrated. “Nalit and Warar would not go there for no reason.”
“A group of beings who serve Tholak, a Makaum government representative, took the woman leader there.”
“Tholak served General Rangha,” Zhoh said, remembering the being with acute disapproval.
“Yes. Tholak was a primary outlet for Rangha’s black market weapons business here on the planet, and he arranged for Rangha to get weapons on- and offplanet to trade with others.”
“Why would Tholak take the woman?” Zhoh asked.
“She is quite well-regarded among her people.”
“If Tholak has her, perhaps he believes he can persuade her, or coerce her, into standing with him.”
That made sense, and it was exactly what Tholak had promised he could do. Had the obnoxious being found a way to deliver on that promise? The likelihood was inconceivable, yet Tholak had taken Leghef.
“Can you locate Tholak?” Zhoh asked.
“I’m running a sweep for him now, but currently I’m turning up no signals anywhere.”
“The abduction of Quass Leghef and the disappearance of Nalit and Warar are not a coincidence.” The certainty of that grew inside Zhoh.
“One of our spies still inside the fort says that Colonel Halladay has tasked Master Sergeant Sage with finding Leghef.”
That got Zhoh’s attention immediately. “Do you know where Sage is?”
“No, but our spy told me he headed north.”
“Get me a transport ship,” Zhoh said. “I’m going to kill those traitors and Tholak, and Sage if he arrives there, and I’m going to take Leghef and back the Alliance down. I will bring this world to its knees and deliver it to the Empire.”
FIFTY-FIVE
The Nyslora Lowlands
10 Kilometers North of Makaum Sprawl
0821 Hours Zulu Time
Two hundred meters from where the comm protocol signal had remained stationary until eight minutes ago, Sage pulled the crawler to a halt and got out. He retrieved his Roley from between the seats and readied the weapon.
“Jahup,” Sage said, “you’re on point.”
The young man nodded, but Sage could read the nervous energy bouncing around inside him. His grandmother was in unfriendly hands and that couldn’t be ignored.
“We go slow,” Sage said, “and we go careful. If they don’t see us coming, we’ve got an advantage. We’ll be more in control of what we do, and we can take away whatever it is they think they want to do.” He swept his team with a glance. “Everybody ready?”
“Yes, Master Sergeant,” Jahup said, and the other soldiers echoed him.
“Then let’s move out.”
Jahup took the lead and Sage followed him. The rest of the soldiers followed in a staggered line about three meters apart. Culpepper ran slack.
The jungle became a maze of foliage and brush. Hardly forty meters into the approach, Sage was certain he wouldn’t have been able to make it back out on his own. Pins marked the crawler, the last known location of Leghef’s comm, and his team.
Twenty-three meters from the comm marker, Sage settled the team into a loose semicircle around the clearing. Other than the crawler tracks that had torn along the muddy ground and the several kifrik shifting restlessly in the canopy high above, there was no sign of life.
“She’s not here.” Anxious concern and confusion carried in Jahup’s voice. He broke cover and walked out into the clearing. “No one’s here.” He turned to Sage. “We’ve lost her!”
“Take it easy, soldier,” Sage said as he walked out into the clearing. “We’re going to find her.”
“How do you know that?” Jahup demanded.
“Because not finding her is unacceptable.” Sage ordered the others to fan out and search the area.
Jahup stood in the middle of the crawler tracks.
“Tell me what you see, Jahup.” Sage wanted to keep the young man thinking about logistics and not getting buried in fear. “You’re a hunter. You know this jungle. What happened here?”
Turning slowly, Jahup said, “There were two crawlers. One came the way we did, from the fort. The other came from the west.”
The soldiers spread out and scanned the terrain while staying alert for a possible attack.
“What’s to the west?” Sage prompted.
“Some of the bigger farms,” Jahup answered.
“Are any of them owned by Tholak?”
“Yes.”
“Then chances are that other crawler belonged to Tholak.” Sage followed Jahup over to that set of crawler ruts.
“Yes,” Jahup said. “But there are no signs of them traveling back that way. There’s just the one set of tracks.”
“Okay, so we know they didn’t take your grandmother that way.” Sage turned toward the north. “That means they went that way, because there are no tracks to the east, and we came from the south along the only set of tracks, so they didn’t go back in that direction either.”
“Hey, Master Sergeant,” Culpepper called. “I found something.”
Sage shifted over to the corporal’s point of view through his HUD and saw the comm fragment in Culpepper’s big hand.
“Somebody smashed that comm,” Culpepper said. He stared down at the ground and the boot prints stood out in the soft dirt. “It wasn’t an accident.”
“They found it on her,” Jahup said. “That must be what happened.”
“Yeah,” Sage said, “but they didn’t leave her here. They took her, and they headed north, Jahup. What’s out there?”
Jahup shook his head. “Sacred lands. We don’t go there anymore. We don’t even hunt there. It’s called Rilormang.”
“Why would they go there?”
Jahup turned to face Sage. “I don’t know.”
“Then let’s get the crawler and go find out,” Sage replied. “We can’t be far behind them.”
Rilormang
The Sulusku Highlands
28 Kilometers North of Makaum Sprawl
0832 Hours Zulu Time
A small army of Phrenorian warriors bivouacked beneath the towering trees in front of the Caves of the Glass Dead. They stood armored and carrying weapons around fast attack crawlers equipped with firmpoints for heavy weapons.
As she got out of the crawler, under Osler’s watchful and angry gaze, Leghef couldn’t believe how small the caves were. The last time she had seen them, the mother of her mother had brought her there to explain what the place meant to the Makaum people. The visit had been short, filled with reverence and awe.
Leghef remembered it most because the mother of her mother had wept and she had not because even after being given the explanation for why the place was kept, she still didn’t understand. The Caves of the Glass Dead were part of the Old Stories, the ones that were put away and only occasionally brought out to scare children who misbehaved.
Osler shoved her from behind, nudging her in Tholak’s direction. “Keep moving.”
Leghef raised her bound hands before her because she was afraid she was going to fall on the
uneven terrain. She managed to keep her footing and stumbled till she achieved a more natural stride.
Tholak joined two Phrenorians who stood apart from the rest of their kind. Leghef knew from that separation that these two were the ones who held the power in the group.
“Inside the caves,” Osler commanded.
Throzath stood a short distance away and leaned against the other crawler. He wore a sidearm belted around his waist now and glared cold threats at Leghef as she passed.
“You and me, old woman,” Throzath said, “we’re not finished.”
Leghef ignored him. The young man would never have as many fangs as a tasdyno, be as big as a jasulild, or be as quick as a kifrik. She had held her own against all those things. She didn’t fear Throzath.
She stepped inside the main cave and was on the verge of demanding to know where her granddaughter was when Telilu dashed from a back corner near the entrances to the other caves that led underneath the Sulusku Highlands.
“Mother of my father!” Telilu rushed toward Leghef with her arms spread wide.
Her green-tinted hair was pulled back and hung to the middle of her back. She wore a yellow jumper and trail boots, not enough protection for where they were. She carried her small doll under one of her arms.
“Daughter of my son!” Relief swept Leghef and brought tears to her eyes when Telilu wrapped her thin arms around her, but she refused to shed them. She wouldn’t let Telilu see her crying and become confused. For now she just enjoyed their brief respite together and didn’t think of what might come next.
Leghef managed to wrap her bound arms over the girl’s head and hugged her back.
Telilu released Leghef and stepped back. “I was so scared.”
“I know,” Leghef said, “but you must be brave.”
Telilu stared at the plastic straps that bound Leghef’s wrists. “Why are you tied up?”
Out of habit, Leghef smoothed her granddaughter’s hair. “We’re not among friends.”
Telilu frowned. “I knew that when they took me from Kalcero’s house. They hurt Pekoz and Kalcero’s mom and left them lying on the floor bleeding.”
