Sojourners: Farpointe Initiative Book Two

by Aaron Hubble

  Once again they were on the run.

  ****

  Calier now understood the times he had thought he had reached his physical limit, he had really just given up.

  With the soldiers at his back, nipping at his heels, he found more to give. A little more to drive his legs up and down like pistons propelling him forward. He barely felt the sting of branches as they whipped across his face, almost didn’t notice the briars snagging his clothes and scratching his skin.

  The man who had saved him pushed him forward and then turned and dropped to his knees. Calier hazarded a look back and saw the man taking several shots with a rifle. The soldiers scattered, affording the fleeing Am’Segid several precious seconds of space.

  Ahead of him he saw his friends plunging into the waters of the river. Here the Tefillia opened up and formed a meandering, swampy, marsh area. The river was calm, the water murky.

  Calier’s heart sank. They would be target practice for the soldiers.

  He began to slow as he approached the river. The man behind him shoved him hard and spoke for the first time in a gruff voice.

  “Move, if you value your skin.”

  Calier wanted to protest. He wanted to point out that in the water they would be picked off one by one, but instead he did what the man wanted. A small glimmer of hope still remained. Perhaps this man knew something he didn’t.

  He plunged into the frigid water and began wading out to the middle with the rest of his friends. The group had stopped dead in the middle of the slough, making no attempt to flee any farther. His mind was clouded with exhaustion and confusion. Why would these people go to so much effort to rescue them and then give up in this bog?

  Gloved hands roughly pulled him into the water and pushed his head under the surface. Calier thrashed and tried to fight his way to air. The hands pulled him up and unceremoniously dumped handfuls of mud on his head. The man’s two dark eyes peered out from a mud-caked face and he silently pressed a finger over his lips urging Calier to remain silent. Against every instinct, Calier regained control over himself and nodded his understanding.

  The man turned, and Calier looked in the direction they had come. Eight soldiers burst out of the tree line and skidded to a stop at the edge of the swamp. At first the soldiers didn’t see the submerged heads, but rifles were raised a moment later as they located their targets.

  Calier squeezed his eyes shut.

  A second later he heard screaming and several rifle shots coming from the far bank. Daring to open his eyes, he saw the soldiers in disarray. They were firing their rifles into the trees.

  Silently, dark shapes swooped low from the treetops with their leathery wings bent in an attack dive and their talons seeking prey. The night stalkers swarmed the helmeted soldiers. There were so many. Screams of panic and shouted curses erupted as two grown men were snatched from the riverbank and carried into the trees by a flock of night stalkers.

  One man lay on his back, desperately reaching for the rifle on the ground while fending off the nightmarish creature. The rifle proved too far away as razor-sharp talons slashed open his midsection. Frozen in terror, Calier couldn’t look away as the night stalker sank its hideous beak into the man’s body and emerged with entrails clamped within its jaws.

  Two soldiers sprinted back into the forest trying to find safety among the trees. Calier watched two dark shapes separate themselves from the group and pursue the fleeing men. There was but one fate waiting for them in the trees and Calier’s stomach turned thinking about it.

  Revulsion welled up inside Calier. He hated these men, but this seemed a cruel way to die no matter who you were. Three men remained, and they had formed a small circle; pressing their backs together, they brandished their weapons in front of them. Only one had a rifle. The other two held fixed-blade knives in gloved hands. To their credit, they remained resolute and showed no signs of giving in.

  For that matter, neither did the night stalkers.

  Several of the creatures circled overhead, weaving in and out of the trees like vapory demons. Two dove from the sky at the same time, coming from different directions. A soldier was able to get a shot off, and one of the night stalkers pinwheeled out of the sky and landed on the ground, moving no more. A second stalker attacked one of the other men. The stalker smashed into the black-fatigued soldier, knocking him to the ground, and then hopped on top of him, its leathery wings splayed. A third soldier slashed at the stalker with his knife. The beast lashed out with a wing and sent the soldier slamming into a tree. He slumped to the ground, unmoving.

  The soldier recovered enough to aim his rifle at the stalker on top of his comrade. He pulled the trigger. Calier heard a click, but nothing else. The man, out of ammunition, dropped his rifle and jumped upon the back of the stalker and slashed at the throat of the beast. Knives flashed in the new moonlight and grunts of pain echoed across the water as the two remaining men fought desperately for life. The stalker screamed in pain while raking its talons across the chest of the man on the ground. The beast leapt into the air, desperately flapping its wings, while a soldier hung onto its back. The stalker spiraled into the air, and the man lost his grip on the animal and plummeted at least thirty feet to the ground.

  Seeing the meal would not come easily or cheaply, the stalker screamed once and disappeared into the canopy. Both men lay as if dead on the ground.

  All was silent. In the quiet Calier understood that no one was chasing them any longer. The tables had been turned. The hunters had become the hunted. Advanced weaponry had met its match in the depths of Sho’el Forest.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  The man beside Calier began moving away from him toward the bank. He emerged from the river, slowly scanning the canopy. Satisfied, he moved farther up the bank and began to check on the men lying on the ground. Calier watched him press his finger to the necks of the two men, looking for vital signs. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out several lengths of cord and began to bind the hands of one man. The other two were left conspicuously undisturbed. Calier’s guardian looked up, whistled, and motioned for the group to come out of the river.

  The hooded figures moved first, followed hesitantly by Calier and his group. Their rescuers moved about the gruesome scene. Several bodies lay torn on the ground. Calier watched as the man who had pulled him through the forest approach another saying, “All are dead except this one. He’s unconscious and shouldn’t give us any trouble. I’ve bound his hands just to be safe.”

  A distinctly feminine voice came from behind the hood of the second person. “Thank you, Bacca. Collect the weapons and equipment. Hopefully we can secure valuable information about these men from what they carried with them.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” The man moved off and began to direct the other hooded figures.

  The smaller individual turned to the group of sojourners huddled close together, dripping and cold from the river. The hooded person seemed to be sizing them up and considering who they were before speaking. Two hands in fingerless gloves rested lightly on hips, rifle now slung over one shoulder.

  The person removed the green hood and Calier found himself looking at the face of a young woman. Her long brown hair was plaited down her back, black streaks extended from her temples and her face was covered with dark green and black camouflage paint.

  She raised a hand, touched her painted forehead and brought it back down in an arc to her outstretched opposite hand. “Peace and greetings, my friends. I’m Ammaya, sentinel captain of Alam, home of the Ma’Ha’Nae.”

  Calier stared at what surely was an apparition.

  Had this woman just said she was of the Ma’Ha’Nae? The shock must have warped his hearing.

  The young woman slowly lowered her hand when none of the survivors made a move. She nervously looked at her companions for guidance. They all shrugged their shoulders. Calier felt something brush past him. The slight jostle brought him out of his stupor as Maltoki moved past him, stepping in to save the moment.r />
  Maltoki raised his hand in greeting, mimicking the woman. “I’m Maltoki. We are…well, the ger’ana, sojourners looking for a safe place to stay.” The young man looked at his friends and back at the woman. “Our thanks for rescuing us. I’m not sure we would have made it out alive.”

  “You wouldn’t have. Those were trained soldiers chasing you. If we hadn’t known of the stalkers roosting in this area, I fear our rescue effort would have failed.”

  Maltoki wiped a glob of mud from his face. “Again, our thanks to you.”

  “Where do you come from?” she asked.

  “Some of us are from Gadol City. The others are from a village just outside of the city on the grasslands.”

  Ammaya regarded the group with her dark eyes. “What’s the situation in Gadol City?”

  Maltoki’s face became a mask of pain and anger. “The worst situation you can imagine, multiplied by fifty, and you have the situation in the city. It was overrun by invaders. They bombed out the city and then sent in soldiers. Myself, the professor and one other barely made it out alive.”

  “The Lord favored you. We’re…”

  “Excuse me.” Calier stepped forward, cradling his wounded arm. “Did I hear you correctly? You’re Ma’Ha’Nae, the famous lost tribe of the Am’Segid?”

  Ammaya and her group smiled together and chuckled softly. “Yes, the rumors are true.”

  “And you’ve been…what, hiding out in the forest for five hundred years?”

  “Well, not in the forest, technically, but you’ll see soon enough,” Ammaya said.

  “How?” Calier asked. His curiosity made him forget the pain in his arm.

  “I’m afraid your questions will need to wait. Right now we must get away from this area and you need your shoulder attended to. The stalkers will be back. While they were a help to us this time, they will not hesitate to do the same to us as they did to our adversaries.” She looked to the sky. “Evening is upon us, Zonatu is rising and our light is almost gone. This is the time of day Sho’el shows her true colors. We’ll make camp north of here.”

  The woman turned to leave the area. Calier reached out and grasped her shoulder.

  “Please, we lost several friends to the soldiers. Several women were captured and men were killed. We need to go back and look for them. Will you help us?” he asked.

  The woman shook her head and said resolutely, “I would like nothing more than to find your friends, but we cannot roam Sho’el at night. It is tantamount to suicide. The wolves and night stalkers would have us for dinner. We will take you to our city and if there is a way we can get your friends back, I promise you I will lead a search party.”

  “That’s not good enough,” Maltoki said. “Those who were taken were our family. We don’t abandon family.”

  “We don’t either, but we also don’t wander blindly into certain death for them. That’s what you would be doing by going back into the forest.” A dangerous edge had crept into Ammaya’s voice. Clearly, she was a woman used to having her orders obeyed without question.

  Maltoki pressed her. “So you’re saying you wouldn’t go looking for your sister or your mother if they had been captured?”

  “My mother is safe in Alam. What I am saying is I will not risk the life of my men or your group in a suicidal attempt to find those who are most likely dead. You may not want to hear that, you may choose to ignore it, but it does not change the likelihood your friends are gone forever.”

  Calier watched Maltoki’s jaw tighten and his hands clench into fists. “I wouldn’t expect cowards who have hidden in the forest for hundreds of years to care about anything other than themselves,” he spat. “If you aren’t willing to help, then I’ll do it myself.” He poked a finger at Ammaya’s chest. “I don’t leave my family behind.”

  Maltoki turned suddenly and began moving into the forest.

  “Maltoki!” Calier called after him. “You can’t go out there.”

  “Nena, Bacca, restrain him. No one wanders away from the group tonight,” Ammaya said, gesturing at two of her cohorts. They moved wordlessly and arrested Maltoki’s movement with strong grips. Maltoki cursed at Ammaya, and struggled briefly, but was unable to put up much of a fight. His energy was gone, sapped by the flight through the forest.

  Calier felt Maltoki’s frustration. He needed to find Berit, but his arm was going to prevent him from helping in any significant way. He stepped in front of Ammaya. “Please, won’t you reconsider? If we have enough people and enough light, won’t that keep the animals away? We’ve gone through so much with those who are missing. We can’t just abandon them.” He looked into the captain’s eyes. “Please. I consider one of them my daughter and I promised to keep her safe. I beg you. We need them back here with us.”

  Ammaya looked at Calier and then at Maltoki. He had quit struggling. She gestured to her men and they released Maltoki’s arms, but remained at his side. She placed a hand on Calier’s shoulder. Her eyes softened and her voice lost its steely edge, replaced with a softness indicating she understood Calier’s plight.

  “Trust me. You wouldn’t see tomorrow’s light if I let you go into the trees. The love you have for your friends touches me. I feel the same about my squad and would want to do the same if any of them were missing. However, as a captain, I must also do what is best for the whole group and not just for one person. Wandering around Sho’el in the darkness will result in the loss of more life. From what you have said, you’ve seen quite a bit of that already.”

  “More than our share,” he said.

  She removed her hand from his shoulder. “Then trust me. Trust I’m doing what is best for us all. When I say we will look for your friends, I mean we will look for your friends when dawn breaks. You have my promise. Come with us to our camp tonight. Stay alive. Tomorrow we’ll take you to our city and I assure you my people will aid you.”

  Calier clenched his jaw in frustration, but saw the logic in what the woman was saying. “Promise?”

  “Promise.”

  Calier nodded. Maltoki moved back to Calier’s side, still glaring at Ammaya. The young man was passionate, and he would probably hold a grudge against Ammaya for what he considered an act of cowardice. Part of Calier felt the same way. Every minute Berit was separated from them increased the likelihood she would never be found alive. He gritted his teeth and considered pushing the subject once again. The words were on his lips when his vision blurred and his knees buckled.

  “Professor!” Maltoki grabbed his arm and took his weight.

  “I’m…I’m okay.” Calier tried to push himself back upright, but his legs rebelled. Darkness was creeping into his vision and sweat was breaking out on his forehead.

  He heard Rohab’s voice. “Lay him flat on the ground. Elevate his feet.” Why was she talking from the end of a long tunnel? Her voice was so far away. Calier felt himself being lowered, then his head was laid on the riverbank. The faint smell of water and damp soil pierced through the fog of his mind.

  After several minutes, his mind began to clear. His heart continued to race, but he was coherent once again.

  “Welcome back, Professor,” Maltoki said.

  “You’ve lost a lot blood from the wound,” Rohab said. She felt around the wound and the back side of his shoulder causing Calier to wince. “I can’t find an exit wound, so the bullet is probably still in your shoulder. You’re going to need a real doctor, I’m afraid.”

  One of the other Ma’Ha’Nae knelt beside her. The man began washing Calier’s wound. Calier groaned; the pain was intense. The man ripped open a packet.

  “This is going to sting. I’m going to put a coagulant in your wound to stop the bleeding. It’s also an antiseptic to rid the wound of any bacteria,” the man said.

  Calier gritted his teeth and nodded. The man poured the powder into the wound and Calier squeezed his eyes shut against the pain. Compared to what he had experienced with the initial wound, this was less intense, but it still throbbed like someone
had inserted a red-hot coal into his shoulder. He moaned and squeezed Rohab’s hand.

  “Loosen the grip, loosen the grip, Professor. You’re breaking my fingers,” she said.

  He nodded his apology and released Rohab’s hand. The pain began to abate and a blessed numbness began to spread from the wound into his arm.

  “Your shoulders should begin to feel numb as well. The powder has an analgesic effect. I’ll get a sling, we’ll bind the wound and then let the doctors patch you up when we get back to Alam,” the sentinel said.

  “Thank you,” said Calier. “What’s your name?”

  “Mentoi, sir.”

  “Thank you, Mentoi. I’m in your debt,” Calier said.

  “It’s part of my job, sir.”

  Ammaya’s face appeared next to Mentoi. “Can he be moved?”

  “Yes, he should be fine,” Mentoi said.

  The man named Nena moved beside Ammaya. “What about the ship we shot down?”

  “At first light I want you, Bacca and Mentoi to locate the ship and bring any survivors back with you.” She looked in Maltoki’s direction. “These people are anxious to know the whereabouts of their friends. Note the location of the ship and then report back to Alam.”

  Nena nodded while Maltoki remained impassive.

  Ammaya stood and addressed the group. “Mentoi and Bacca, grab the soldier and bring him. I’m sure there are some people in Alam who would like to talk to him.” She quickly surveyed her group. “Quickly, we need to move away from here. This is a known stalker roost and I have seen enough of them tonight. Form up around our new friends. Cover both sides, and I want two men bringing up the rear. We didn’t save our brothers and sisters to risk one of them getting lost tonight.”

  The sentries nodded and with practiced discipline created a defensive formation around the survivors.

  Surveying the group, Ammaya smiled and said, “If you will kindly follow me, our camp is a half-hour walk from here. You’ll be safe there.” She turned and followed some unseen path and was quickly swallowed by the growing darkness.