by Alma Boykin
The True-dragon hurried back to Rada’s vehicle. «Something is happening at Sweethill. There’s a, well, see,» and he opened his mind to Rada, showing her what he’d sensed.
“Tyree, we need to get to Sweethill as fast as we can,” she ordered. “Can you fight?” Rada asked the True-dragon.
He gestured affirmatively. «I’m a militia leader and scout for House Garrlow. Got weapons on my transport. Name’s Unag.»
“Good. Come with us if you want, after you alert the closest Houses. Stay clear of Edgehill and KarsTown.”
The large reptile’s eyes grew dark and his tail swept the ground. «No worries there, my lord. Didn’t you get our message? KarsTown’s gone. They burned themselves to the ground.»
Rada’s troopers saw the transports first: low-slung, square vehicles with matte-black armor and no visible armaments. Then they heard the sounds. Rada, shields down again, almost lost her sanity when the emotions struck her, crashing into her mind like a rogue wave smashing a ship. Fear and physical pain came through the strongest, underlain with despair and an element of sexual arousal that made Rada stagger. She fought to regain control of her emotions and hormones. The Wanderer managed to raise her shields enough to protect herself, then separated her own feelings from those imposed from outside. The mental battle took only a few seconds but left her shaking and as tired as if she’d been in hand-to-hand combat.
The Defenders missed the bulk of the enemy. They found only six of the creatures still in the village, along with four living Azdhagi. “Fire at will!” Sergeant Leeks ordered. The Defenders wasted no time, shooting the two wide, flat-looking, bipedal creatures that had taken up positions away from the Azdhagi prisoners. Unag nailed one of the others with a blast from the side. As Rada watched, the black creatures slaughtered the remaining male Azdhag and started doing something to one of the females. Rada sighted and fired, her weapon set to stun on the off chance of capturing one of the attackers. Although she caught the thing in the “chest,” the shot had no effect. The creature continued whatever it was doing and Rada shifted the power setting, killing the thing. Rada lowered her shields just a fraction, trying to read the enemy. As she did, the two remaining monsters drew back, and one fired a canister toward the Defenders. They scattered as the grenade exploded, giving the two enemy soldiers time to flee, dragging a junior with them.
Rada fired again, then closed her eyes. Forgive me, little one. Better a clean death than whatever the monsters intended to inflict on the small male.
The two surviving female Azdhagi screamed, their cries drawing the attention of every Defender within earshot to the scene. Rada felt the men’s bloodlust rising as they saw what had been done to one of the females and to the remains of her not-born. Rada tried to reach the dam’s mind and found nothing left. “Medic,” Rada called quietly, under the shrieks.
The corporal held up a spray injector and Rada nodded her order. The screams fell silent.
Unag came up and joined the other reptiles. He started to touch one of the two living females and drew back as if scalded. Instead he rested his tail tip on Rada’s shoulder. «Lord Mammal,» he warned, «there’s something besides Azdhag in her mind.»
“Thank you. I’d wondered if that might be the case.” Which left Rada with a terrible dilemma, since she did not have a mind healer on staff. She knelt down beside the younger of the two females and very tentatively extended her Healing touch, just to see if she could find anything.
Rada saw gray sky and treetops that swayed in time with her throbbing head and pounding heart. “Lord Mammal?” someone whispered. “Ah, Lord Mammal, can you hear me?”
“Yes,” Rada grated.
An angry tenor voice informed her, and everyone in earshot, “You are a fool, my lord. Keep your damn shields up.” Rada rolled onto her side and worked herself into a sitting position as Unag glared at her. “I warned you that they’d put a tap into the females’ minds.” The True-dragon had switched on his helmet’s teleconverter, letting everyone hear the conversation.
“Did not think could back-work through Healer,” the mammal explained, or tried to. The Defenders exchanged confused glances and several rumpled their tails in shrugs. It wasn’t their business.
A turquoise eye stared at Rada and she felt as much as heard Unag’s snort. “Well, apparently it can, my lord,” he informed her quietly. “I had to yank you out of the contact. How do you feel?”
Worse than that time that I had three glasses of keritang on an empty stomach, the mammal thought. Mindful of the soldiers around them, she only said, “I’ve felt better.”
Unag gave her a forefoot and she staggered to her feet. Once the world stopped spinning, she limped over to where several of the Azdhagi had clustered around one of the fallen enemy soldiers. The reptiles parted and Rada got a good look at their foe.
The mammal studied the remains, using her walking cane to move part of the thing’s black uniform to expose blue-gray skin and almost black bones. She’d never seen anything like it and she crouched down for a better look. The creature reminded her vaguely of a bat from Earth, with membranes connecting the upper limbs with the torso. Also like a bat, or a bird, the thing’s bones appeared light for its size. Originally from a low-gravity world? Or descended from something that glided, or possibly swam in some way? Rada shook her head but made a mental note to record her speculations. The thing’s strange strength for its size bothered her, but it could be using augmenters and skill to make up for its lack of mass. The enemy’s head lacked defined sense organs, aside from three dark orbs in recessed pits in the center of the front of the skull, where a humanoid’s face would be. “Visual sensors, my lord?”
“Possibly, but we are not equipped for an autopsy,” Rada told the speaker. She looked around at the gathered reptiles. “Did any get away?”
“Yes, and we are tracking them, Lord Mammal,” Lt. Tyree said. “Unag had a spy-flier and we’re following it now. We think their camp is near Edgehill, in the barrens there.”
“Good work, gentlemen.” Rada stood up from her crouch. The planet did not spin as much this time. “The survivors?”
“There were none, Lord Defender,” the medic explained, barely containing his fury. Rada’s eyebrows rose with an unspoken question but Cpl. Deerk’s muzzle remained shut, his neck spines trembling as he struggled to remain in control of himself.
“Understood.” Rada looked around. “Move the bodies of the civilians into a house. Then we’re leaving.” She felt as much as heard the wave of anger and protest gathering and she held up one forefoot. “They are already dead. There are other villages within the enemy’s striking range. Tyree,” she pointed to the officer. “Send four scouts to the closest villages and order them to evacuate. Leek,” she looked around until she spotted the brown sergeant’s waving tail. “Get a datapacket together for an emergency send to both the Palace and to bounce up to the Imperials. This may be a scout ahead of a larger force and they need to know what we’ve found. Unag, have you warned Garrlow?”
The True-dragon swept his strong-side forefoot in affirmation. “Yes, Lord Defender, and Habsrau as well. They are next closest.”
“Thank you. As soon as the datapacket goes out, we start moving. Be ready.” Rada left the details to her squad leaders and Lt. Tyree. She noticed Unag vibrating with something, probably impatience, and she made a snap decision. “Unag, come with me, please. You,” she pointed to the two Azdhagi who had been acting as her guards, “stay with the other Defenders. Unag can keep me out of trouble between here and the parking area.”
She took the long way back to her transport, Unag paced along beside her. He turned a switch on his helmet. «Can you hear me?»
The sending felt like a mild UV burn on her brain, uncomfortable but not life threatening. «Affirmative. How long was I unconscious?»
Unag bent his head around and stared at her. «You were never unconscious. You began ordering the troops to mount up and to follow the tracks of the enemy. Except you we
re speaking something other than Azdhag. That’s when I forced my way into the contact, saw the taps, and broke them.»
“Oh shit,” Rada stopped, looking down at the late-summer grass and her boot toes. She took a deep breath and centered herself. “Right. Thanks. I’m going to go back into my memories, to when we first dismounted from the vehicles. Link and watch and tell me what you sense,” she ordered, adding, “please” as an afterthought.
The sensations hurt just as strongly the second time and Rada had to divide her concentration between playing the memories back and on feeling her body, on the ache in her leg and the twig under her left boot, in order to stay centered and present. She shouldn’t have had so much trouble, but she assumed that exhaustion caused the problem.
«They are feeding,» Unag said at last, after Rada stopped the memories.
“Damn.” Rada kicked the stick out from under her boot and started walking again, the True-dragon beside her. She began running through attack scenarios, trying to plan through the lingering pain and fog in her mind.
«Send for reinforcements.»
“Tyree tried while we were en route, after you told us about KarsTown.” Rada stopped again. “Our request was denied quote ‘at the highest levels’ end quote. I cannot order you to leave, but I strongly recommend that you continue your patrol away from the Defenders.”
Unag reared back at her words, his eyes churning with anger. «What do you mean at the highest levels? I heard nothing from Lord Naldori.»
Rada shifted to a private sending. «King-Emperor Schleer ordered the Defenders to remain in place and they will not disobey him. He wants me dead. If that means not responding to this invasion until after the invaders kill me, and the soldiers with me, then he will hold the Defenders back. I recommend that you leave,» she repeated, reminding him, «You do not come under my command structure unless the militia is activated.»
Unag looked away, tapping his tail tip with irritation. «I see.» With that cryptic statement he stalked off. As Rada watched he got onto his transport, ran through the starting sequence, and drove off.
Unag had left the spy-flyer with the Defenders, and Rada, Tyree, and Leek studied the broadcast. The mammal rubbed under her chin, considering the terrain and how best to approach the enemy encampment. They seemed to have only one main transport ship, roughly the size of an Azdhag scout carrier, and five ground vehicles. Rada had to assume that the enemy knew of their approach and surveillance. “Tyree, to your knowledge are there any transport-safe routes leading from the encampment north?”
The green-striped reptile swirled his forefoot in a negation. “Not that I know of, my lord.” He held up a map display, highlighting the ridge of dark rock that cut the valley off from the next watershed. “There is supposed to be a road and tunnel, but the tunnel was never built and the ‘road’ is only passable on foot. No one lives here yet, so no reason to improve things.”
“So if we come through here,” and Rada circled the area between two rock outcrops, “we control vehicle access at least.” Damn but she wished she had air support and a way to jam whatever the beasts used! Rada pointed to a gash in the land south of the creatures’ camp. “And this is a canyon?”
“Yes, Lord Mammal. Unless they can climb, their only exits are here,” and he pointed with a talon to the small pass, “or here, through the forest, without their vehicles. Lord Karrsee has a tanglefoot plantation in this area, or so rumor has it.”
Sergeant Leek made a snorting sound and Rada shook her head. Tanglefoot couldn’t grow east of the Wildlands, something for which Rada gave thanks every time she encountered the noxious plants. “Very well. We attack at first light, from here, and here, with the initial starting point here. I want to get as close as possible with vehicles, then turn off here,” she tapped the projection. “As if we were going to Edgehill first.”
“Shouldn’t we attack now, Lord Mammal?” Sergeant Leek shifted his weight back and forth, unhappy with any delay.
Tyree made a negation. “No, Leek. There’s a storm coming, and if it has much lightning our night-vision gear will be useless. And there’s probably going to be a few more falling trees, ones loosened in the last storm. And this is slime-clay.” He pointed to the trail between the rocks.
Leek groaned. Rada sighed, so much for having one transport as an armored reserve. If it rained even two drops, the vehicle would never make it up the road without bogging or sliming, stuck fast until the slime-clay dried completely.
“Lord Mammal, could you use your transport for air support?” Tyree ventured.
Rada folded her arms. “I could if it had been armed for ground support instead of air-to-air combat.” Which she’d told the armorers to do before she’d left on her trading run. Rada had snarled when she saw the package loaded on the Night’s Claw but it had been too late to change it out. And she did not have the skills to rewire the missiles in the field, bypassing their safety systems so that she could use them as dumb bombs or air-to-ground missiles. Somewhere Sergeant Grasso’s ghost is saying ‘I told you so,’ and ‘you must know everything about your weapons,’ and ‘how can you get the most use out of anything if you do not know how to repair or bypass?’ Rada could hear the sergeant’s grating voice in her memory and she suppressed a wince.
Late that night, Rada stood her watch and flinched every time lightning licked down. Nighttime storms in the woods bothered her for some reason. She tried to remember if there had been any during her kitling years. Maybe that was where her fear came from. Well, whatever her own feelings were, the rain made attacking the enemy, the “Death Lovers” as her men had started calling them, harder. Their transports could cross high water but the mud defeated even the Defenders’ treaded vehicles. Rada allowed herself to imagine King-Emperor Schleer trying to walk up a ramp of slime-clay and she smiled.
Her smile twisted into a snarl. She’d get her men home and defeat the Death Lovers no matter what Schleer wanted to happen to her. I’ve outlasted meaner reptiles than you, she thought toward the distant Palace. And outsmarted more intelligent ones, too. It really was too bad that Schleer had been the only male in his generation of the Imperial family to live to adulthood, Rada mused for the thousandth time. She hoped his offspring would prove better rulers and leaders.
«Lord Ni Drako, raise your shields!» The force of Unag’s sending made Rada’s head pound. He stalked up to her position. «My lord, you are too used to being around Azdhagi.»
“Yes, I am.” Neither telepath could bluff the other and the True-dragon and Wanderer glared at each other, then ducked as a tree disintegrated not far from the Defenders’ camp. “This is one of the few times I am glad to stand close to the ground.”
«The Houses are set to evacuate once the storm clears.»
“Good. The Azdhag villages in this area have also been evacuated.”
Unag wiped rain off his helmet’s visor. «If you were planning on using the Two Butte Trail, it’s impassible.»
Rada nodded, then made the Azdhag gesture of agreement. “I’d assumed that it would be. Slime-clay is the only thing more tenacious than—duck!”
Unag dropped to the ground as Rada fired over him. They felt a mental screech and heard something drop into the thick layer of evergreen needles. «They feel unclean,» Unag observed, slithering over to confirm that the Death Lover was dead. «Did you see it?»
“Affirmative,” Rada puffed out her breath as she secured her sidearm. “And yes, they feel corrupt, like a wound left too-long untreated or a warped and poisoned soul.”
Four hours later, Unag watched the Lord Defender shaking her head, as if trying to clear water from her ear holes, while the battle ebbed and surged around them. The True-dragon had sent a message through House Garrlow to House Moytu, warning them of the King-Emperor’s failure to assist the Lord Defender. Then Unag returned to the Azdhagi, tracking the Defenders through the night. Lord Ni Drako had sent him away, but Unag needed to watch so he could warn the Houses if the battle turned against t
he Azdhagi.
Unag was not a professional soldier but even he knew that the Defenders should not have tried to corner the Death Lovers. Especially once the Lord Defender knew that the enemy could target her, that they had the taste of her mind and could locate it precisely. Now Unag shot with care from his half-hidden position among the rocks, picking off another of the black creatures trying to swarm the encircled Defenders. Lord Ni Drako had badly underestimated the number of enemy in the big transport. Very badly underestimated. And why hadn’t her troopers questioned her? Unag felt the vibration that warned of a low gas can charge and he switched ammunition cans and fired again.
Unag’s shot seemed to deter the Death Lovers for a moment at least, giving Rada and her troops time to reposition and reorganize. She cursed herself. She should have known that the Death Lovers could turn emotions against the Azdhagi just as easily as they fed off the reptiles. If Rada blocked the sending, she exposed her own mind to the Death Lovers’ attack. So she compromised, half-deflecting the Death Lovers from the troopers while keeping as much of her own shielding up as she could. The effort and distraction exhausted her, leaving no energy for managing the battle.
She panted, leaning against the rock beside her as she counted muzzles and tails. Of the thirty-six Defenders that had been part of the initial attack, only twenty-one remained alive, and two of those, including Lt. Tyree, had been badly wounded and were unconscious. They’d used up most of their grenades already, leaving them with rifles and determination.
Private Deel put a fresh gas canister in his blast rifle. He gave Rada a curious look, as if he wanted to ask something but did not quite dare. “Yes, Private?”
“Um, Lord Mammal, what will happen when we die?”
Rada kept her eyes up, watching for movement. “If the priests are correct, you will go to the Hall of Judgment. Since you and the other Azdhagi have fought so well, I’m sure the Judges of Hell will reward you with a very good afterlife, and your descendants will remember you for the duration of your lineage.” She started to engage one of the Death Lovers but it dodged and she held her fire.
