Irwin stood over her, everything about his posture screaming intimidation.
“Problem?” Ben asked.
“No.” Irwin stepped back, turned his back to them both to pull on his pack.
Ben exchanged a glance with Tally, trying to work out what had happened, but her face was tight and blank.
Irwin turned to face them again. “Let's go. This stop has already slowed us down a lot.”
“Yes, all of fifteen minutes.” Ben kept his tone light. “We need to shift direction, though. I think we're heading too far north. We'll miss Rainerville if we keep on this route.”
Irwin shook his head. “You don't know the lay of the land like I do.”
Ben forced down a surge of fury, and then breathed out, lifted his shoulders. “You want to go your own way, that's fine.”
Beside him, he sensed Tally relax a little.
“You saying you're going to go against the route I suggest, even though I've worked as a guide on this planet for three years?”
“That's what I'm saying,” Ben agreed.
“You're wrong.”
“No. I've been tracking the sky every night, and taking an image of it, and my wrist unit data tells me we're going to miss Rainerville if we keep on this route.”
Irwin looked down, fists clenched. “Except we're not traveling in a straight line. You're going to hit another gorge if you adjust further south east now. Sure, maybe we'll overshoot a little, but we'll take a sharp southerly turn after the gorge. I know what I'm talking about.”
He sounded so sincere. So disappointed.
Ben knew he was lying.
“I must have missed that when I studied the Trail from the space imagery before I got here.” He kept his voice soft.
Something crossed Irwin's face. Chagrin. Temper.
Before he could speak, though, Tally's hand shot out, gripped Ben's arm, and then she threw herself forward, pulling him with her.
Laz fire lit the late morning air, and Irwin gave a cry of pain.
Ben flipped himself onto his stomach and fired back, and he almost heard the shocked surprise as the Caruso came under fire with their own weapon. They did not return fire.
Whatever this was, he could see from Irwin's expression that he was as surprised by the attack as they were. He hadn't had a chance to let the Caruso know where they were and that Ben was carrying a Caruson laz.
He used the lull, jumping up into a crouch, and gesturing to Tally to run back to the river.
She hesitated, waiting for him, and in that moment, when she put him ahead of her own safety, he stumbled into love, and had to force his feet to move.
“Tally.” He hissed the words, and she flashed him an annoyed look and ran, bending low, and he followed close on her heels.
He just had time to glance back, to see Irwin lying down, hand to his shoulder, groaning, and then the bushes closed behind him and he concentrated on catching up to Tally through the burning pain in his side.
Chapter 25
“This is a bad idea.” Tally knew it was the third time she'd voiced this opinion, but damn it, it was a bad idea.
Ben shot her a look that said everything without saying a word.
She sighed, nodded, and stopped talking, following him through the thick ferns that grew in the narrow channel that must in wetter seasons be a shallow tributary of the river. She stopped under the tree they'd been making their way toward, and Ben boosted her up to the lowest branch.
Irwin was still shouting.
Not in pain, not even in fear. In anger.
As soon as they'd heard him, Ben had changed course from running away from where they'd been shot, to moving back toward it, and while Tally admitted it would be good to know what the deal with Irwin and the Caruso was, it would be better, in her opinion, to take the opportunity to head toward Rainerville while the Caruso and Irwin were busy shouting at each other.
She pulled herself higher, and then stilled when she caught a glimpse of a Caruson soldier walking, laz up, in the direction they'd run.
He disappeared.
Irwin was still shouting, and Ben joined her and then walked on silent feet as far along as he could get on the branch.
There was a low grumble of sound, a Caruson talking, and Irwin's diatribe came to a sudden end.
“I'll shout if I want to. You fucking shot me.” Irwin's voice rose in tenor.
The Caruson rumbled something in response.
“I had her. Right here. And then you destroyed over a day's worth of earning their trust.” He sounded like he was getting to his feet, and she heard him swear in a steady stream.
The Caruson's voice rose a little, too. She could hear him for the first time, and she realized he was speaking the common Verdant String vernacular.
It sounded like the Caruson didn't care much for Irwin and his outrage. And they were very unhappy Ben had acquired a Caruson laz. One of the soldiers had been injured.
Tally smiled.
“Fine. I thought you wanted the woman from the ghost ship. I put myself on the line to find her, bring her to you, and this is my thanks? Fuck you. The deal is off.”
Whatever was said after that was impossible to hear.
The three remaining Caruson started moving, she could hear the whip of branches as they pushed through to the river, following the path left by the first soldier. One was hunched over, some kind of dressing on his chest. He wasn't carrying a laz.
Ben turned to look at her, signaled that she get moving.
She started down, swinging on the lowest branch and landing with a skitter of leaves.
Her skin prickled, and she turned her head. Saw Irwin standing staring at her, mouth open, his pack on the ground at his feet, and a medkit in his hands.
He was as surprised to see her as she was to see him.
She thought, just for a moment, he would let them go.
The Caruso had shot him, and he was obviously unhappy with them.
“They're here!” He picked up his open pack and ran backward, away from her, his gaze on Ben, hanging by one hand from the branch, the big laz in his other. “Here!”
He disappeared into the bushes, and Ben dropped down beside her.
He didn't need to say it, she ran the moment his feet touched the ground, heading deeper into the forest.
She could hear Ben's steady stride behind her, but she could also hear the crash of bodies slamming into low branches, and the thump of heavy boots.
The sound of water, strangely loud, made her veer left, and when she was faced with what looked like impenetrable bush, she shrugged off her pack and went down on her stomach, crawling under the low branches to come out the other side into a shallow pool, murky and slick with moss. The loud sound of splashing came from where water fell over the low rock embedded in the slope above.
She shoved her pack against the bush on the other side of the tiny pool, and grabbed Ben's as he pushed it ahead of himself, stacking it beside hers.
When he pulled himself through, he shook his head. “There's not enough room.”
She ignored him, pulling him to the waterfall. The water was icy and brackish; it smelled of the earth, and she guessed it had bubbled up from an underground spring.
The pool was deeper in the middle, just enough to cover one of them, and she shoved Ben toward it.
“We won't both fit.” He breathed it into her ear.
“It's okay.”
He had gone down on his knees, and she made a motion for him to lie down. He did it, reluctantly, and she wedged herself in with him. “Trust me. And get your head under the waterfall.”
He shot her a look, but complied, wriggling back until the water fell onto his chest and his head and neck were behind the curtain of water. She lay against his side, putting as much of her body under the water as she could.
Her arms tightened around his waist. Her lips were already trembling with the cold, the icy water leeching all the warmth from her, but enough of her body was above the
waterline to be dangerous.
If they used their heat sensor, they'd see her.
Except, if things went the same way they had the night before, in the tree, they wouldn't.
She couldn't hear the soldiers, now she was right beside the waterfall, until one of them gave a shout that rose above the sound of the water.
She was expecting the sensation this time but knowing it was coming didn't help. The fire started up in her belly, and she had to bite back a gasp of pain.
Her fingers were blue, she noticed, with her head resting on Ben's chest. She didn't feel like she was attached to her body anymore. Ben's arm tightened around her waist, tight and hard as a band. Her feet and legs felt as if they couldn't move. As if every muscle had seized.
She lay, sick and nauseous, until Ben sat up. He held her against him.
“They're gone.” Ben tipped her back, an arm supporting her, his eyes wide with worry.
The little helpers were already spreading the heat back through her, and she twisted to the side and heaved up whatever she'd eaten that day.
Ben pulled back the thick rope of her hair, which had fallen forward, and eased his hold a little.
“What the hell was that?” His words were low and quiet, but she could hear the fear and anger in them.
“Little . . .” She retched again. Blew out a breath. “Little helpers.”
“What did they do?”
He had seemed to be okay with her little helpers up until now. But he suddenly didn't seem so calm about them.
“Redistributed my heat.” She swallowed down a cough, trying to keep as quiet as she could. “Changed my heat profile.”
Ben was absolutely silent, his hands gentle as he stroked back her hair, and then he gave a shiver.
He must be as cold as she was. She fell forward on her hands and knees, awkwardly, because the rocks beneath the water weren't even, and then she pushed herself to her feet.
She was lightheaded for a moment, and suddenly Ben was there, arms around her, holding her tight against him.
She burrowed her hands under his shirt and pressed them against his back.
“Close call, but they've cleared this area now. They'll move on.” He murmured the words, stroking down her back, and she realized they were taking heat from each other. She sighed, and put her head against his shoulder.
“One good thing in all this mess,” she whispered.
“What?” His lips touched her ear.
“I met you.”
“That's true.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “You lucky thing.”
She flashed him a grin.
His legs were longer than hers, and he could brace a foot on the other side of the tiny pond and reach her pack. He handed it to her, took up his own, and then pointed to a way out that didn't require squirming under a bush.
They were both soaked through, but it was only midday, so they'd dry off.
She heard the sound of shots fired, and froze, her gaze leaping to Ben's.
He shrugged. “Maybe kuyer?”
Maybe.
“Sounded like they wanted me alive before. Because Irwin told them I was the one in the ghost ship.”
That's what the little traitor had been up to. Sticking close so he could hand her over.
Ben nodded, and she could see the cold, hard edge in his eyes when she mentioned it.
“If they're shooting indiscriminately, then maybe they're done with that.” Or maybe they didn't care, either way.
They were most likely tired of running around after her and Ben in the forest.
That suited her fine. She didn't think she'd like being taken for questioning about the ghost ship.
The thought set her little helpers buzzing beneath her skin.
They didn't like the sound of it, either.
Chapter 26
The Caruso had pulled back from actively hunting them over a day ago.
Ben had noticed the difference in the way they moved. They'd finally realized there was no sense wasting their time and energy when everyone knew which way they were going.
The soldiers kept to the Trail, killing a kuyer or two each afternoon and settling in for a rowdy time around the fire.
They were enjoying themselves.
He could hear it in their tone.
They obviously loved the meat and the fires and were making the most of it.
He and Tally, on the other hand, still had Irwin to worry about.
Their former guide was injured, but Ben didn't think he'd have turned around and gone back to the supply station.
There was nothing for him there.
He was limping along behind them, and that forced them to be constantly alert. They couldn't have the same warm fires and comforts at night as the Caruso.
They'd slept in the trees two nights in a row.
Even if Irwin had called off his deal with the Caruson, he was spiteful enough to let them know where Ben and Tally were if he happened to find them.
And the Caruson would most certainly stir themselves to go after them if they had a specific direction.
The only positive was their pace was good. They had managed to cover a lot of ground, and in the last half day he had the feeling they had left the Caruson soldiers behind them.
He heard the river long before they came to it.
He'd never seen it himself, but had read the reports. It was wide and swift, and rimmed with rocks, which explained the sound of pounding water.
Tally picked up the pace as they wove through the trees toward it and he put out a hand, touching her shoulder to stop her for a moment.
“What?” She breathed the word.
“Careful when we reach the river. It's deep and fast, and unlike the forest, there are predators in it that will attack us.”
Her eyes widened. “What predators?”
“A long lizard, but with sharp teeth. The biologists at Rainerville have called it a legava. It grows about as long as a person, and its jaws are massive. There's venom on its teeth. It puts its prey into some kind of coma.”
She shivered. “Should we even head there, then?”
He'd already weighed it up. “If there's a way to use the river to get to Rainerville faster, it's worth having a quick look.” He couldn't help running a finger along her cheekbone.
It was sharper than it had been when they started the Trail. She was ruthless with their supplies, making sure they had enough to keep going for another week. And they had been in constant motion, keeping up a pace even his special forces team would have found taxing.
She smiled at him, sliding a hand around to grip his neck and going up on her toes to kiss him lightly.
There hadn't been much time for shows of affection these last two days, and he closed his eyes to savor the brush of her lips on his.
The snap of a branch behind them had him going absolutely still.
He eased back, and saw Tally was staring behind him, eyes scanning the woods.
She shook her head. “Can't see anything.” She mouthed it without speaking.
Carefully, she slid behind the closest tree, and he followed her, moving in fluid, easy increments.
Jerky or too-fast movements always attracted attention.
He slid his pack off and eased it to the ground, then peered around the trunk.
A Caruso soldier walked through the trees to his left, laz held in front of him, two handed, at an angle, from shoulder to waist.
He looked less ragged than the four who'd been following them. Ben realized with surprise he'd come to recognize those four, and this soldier was new.
He waited until the Caruson had disappeared among the trees.
“They found us?” Tally asked. “I thought we'd pulled ahead.”
He shook his head. “It was a guard. We're closer to Rainerville than I thought. Either that, or their patrol radius is much bigger than I estimated.”
That gave him pause.
“What are they protecting?” Tally asked.
* * *
They had cut out a large loop of the Trail when they'd made for the crash site, and then headed north east, but Tally was still amazed they were already so close to Rainerville that they'd encountered Caruson patrols.
She moved through the trees silently, and felt the tingle of her little helpers under her skin. She felt every touch of the light breeze blowing through the forest, heard every rustle of the leaves.
It was muted enough that she could concentrate, but every now and then the feeling spiked, so intense she imagined the top of her head blowing off.
She stepped out onto the river bank.
She'd never seen a river so wide with her own eyes.
The part of Raxia she came from was cool and dry, and it would be almost impossible to live there without the technology that created water enough for their needs.
Standing beside the roaring, tumbling beast as it snaked through the landscape, she understood the need some Verdant String citizens had for travel; for exploring the planets of the String and visiting each one. She had traversed the whole Coalition airspace, but she had seldom had the chance to go on-planet, and now she knew she would insist on it in the future.
She wanted to see more wonders.
Her body sang with energy, and a strange memory--an unfamiliar excitement.
Whoever the little helpers had once been a part of, before her, they had stood beside a river like this, and felt at home.
“What is it?” Ben was suddenly at her shoulder.
“I've never seen something like this,” she said.
He looked at her, a hard, quick search of her face, then nodded down the river. “This isn't a good place to stay. We need to go back into the protection of the forest.”
She knew he was right. The noise of the water overrode everything else, and anyone watching from the forest would easily see them but keep hidden themselves. She wished it wasn't so, even as she turned and made her way back to the treeline, annoyed at feeling someone else's nostalgia.
This has to stop. She thought it forcefully, and sensed the little helpers' resistance, almost sadness, and then it was gone.
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