Brown skin beneath its brown fur, the beast on Seb’s tail snapped its large jaws and started to climb up behind him. Its powerful forearms made light work of the tough vine.
Gurt had nearly made it to the top by the time the monster on his tail twigged. It grabbed the vine Gurt was climbing and shook it, screaming as it did so. But Seb couldn’t stay around to help him. Without any more delay, he ran off into the forest.
The trees were so dense it took for Seb to burst free of them to see the view. He stopped for a second and looked over the green canopy below. He currently stood on top of a mountain. The sound of bird songs called louder than ever, and he watched several multicoloured creatures fly above the trees. In front of him stood what could only be described as a natural water slide. Made from algae-coated rock, it seemed to be the only way down, or at least the quickest. The piercing call from the monsters on his tail got louder. The beasts would be on him soon. He sat down, the cool water soaking through his trousers and boxer shorts, and he pushed off.
As Seb hurtled down the chute—his stomach in his throat—his world slowed down. Good job, really, because every few seconds he had to either duck or dodge a protruding root or rock. The splash of the water made it trickier, the spray nearly blinding him. He had to shield his eyes as he tried to avoid the natural hazards.
The chute straightened out, so Seb looked behind him to see first Gurt and then both monsters sliding down after him.
A large rush of water smothered Seb when he turned back around again, forcing a lungful of it down his throat. As he choked, a loud thoom ran through his skull, his ears rang, and stars sparkled in his vision. Dizzy and out of control, the root hadn’t quite knocked him out, but it had come close. Before he could manage his recovery, the chute disappeared from beneath him.
Weightless, Seb flew through the air. His arms and legs windmilled as he looked down at the turquoise pool below him and prepared for the impact with the water. With everything slowed down, he braced himself in anticipation of the inevitable pain.
When he hit the warm pool, the water stung, each agonising second of it dragged out longer because of his ability.
A second later Gurt flew from the bottom of the chute. Seb’s world had returned to normal speed again and he winced to see the brute bellyflop into the body of water with a loud slap. Gurt fell instantly limp as he sank beneath the surface.
Seb dived under and swam down to the Mandulu. He grabbed the dumb—and now limp—creature by his collar and pulled him to safety.
The pool got shallow enough near the edge for Seb to stand up. The cool water offered some relief to his cut hands, and with a tight grip still on Gurt’s collar, he managed to drag him to the water’s edge before letting go.
Instead of gratitude, malice twisted Gurt’s features. “Why did you just save me? I was doing all right on my own.”
Although what did Seb expect? The human race had an ego that often got them into trouble, but the Mandulus’ ego eclipsed anything he’d seen from even his own species. Not only had Gurt been rescued, but he’d been rescued by someone who had no damn right rescuing him.
Even in his exhausted state, Seb smiled at the large creature. He then winked, blew him a kiss, and looked up to see the two huge monsters fly through the air as they exited the water chute one after the other. For the briefest moment they blocked out the sun. “I’d worry more about them than me if I were you.”
Before Gurt could reply, Seb sprinted off into the thick undergrowth of the jungle.
Chapter 11
Seb ran through the thick jungle, jumping moss-covered rocks and ducking low-lying branches. Now he’d gotten more into the heart of the lush landscape, the sound of tropical birds set the air alight with their chorus. The brief spell of coolness from the water chute had now turned into a gushing sweat, his skin as moist as it had been when he stepped out of the pool.
The humidity beneath the thick jungle canopy hung twice as heavy in the air, making it hard to breathe, but Seb fought against his body’s inability to cope with his surroundings and forced himself forwards. Although he heard the splashing of water behind him from either Gurt or the monsters, he’d got far enough away that he couldn’t see the azure pool anymore.
Seb might have managed to avoid the bulky parts of nature that stood in his way, but smaller branches, vines, and leaves smacked into him as he ran. Each one seemed to cause their own light scratch and open up fresh wounds for his salty sweat to run into.
When one particularly large leaf slapped Seb in the face and caught his eye, his vision blurred. Although tempted to stop, he pushed on. He had a lead over the predators behind him that he didn’t want to concede.
Seb’s sight cleared and he stopped dead, halting himself just before he reached the edge of a cliff. To look down made his stomach lurch; the rocky ground below would make light work of a fragile human body. When he looked above him, he saw two metal tracks spanned the gap like an inverted monorail. A deep breath to try to still his furious heartbeat and he reached up.
The ground shook as the creatures pursuing him got closer, the snap and crack of twigs and trees responding to their heavy charge. The pair sounded like a demolition crew moving through the jungle, but Seb still couldn’t see them or Gurt when he looked behind.
A small device hung down from the track. Seb currently had a loose grip on the handles. It looked like a bike for his hands. Without any further pause, he tightened his stinging and sweaty grip, pulled his legs up so he hung in mid-air, and pedaled with everything he had.
“Don’t look down,” Seb said to himself as he turned the device forward, the smell of grease coming from the inverted bike’s movement. Racked with tiredness and his hands greasy, if he looked down now, it would only guarantee that he’d slip.
Seb’s upper body screamed at him as if the muscles tore with every rotation. Scaling the vine had already taken the strength from him, and now this weird bike thing seemed like it could finish him off.
With clenched teeth and pain tearing through his muscles, Seb screamed as he willed himself through every turn. Each full cycle moved slower and more stuttered than the last.
When the entire track shifted, Seb looked behind to see the brown beast had the metal track in its grip and it looked determined to rip it down. Gurt had traveled about halfway across the track next to him and his beast also seemed more concerned with encouraging Gurt to fall than with catching up to him. It banged its heavy fists against the rail and roared thunder.
Just a few metres to go and Seb dug deep as he continued to turn the handles of the device. Every muscle ached and bile burned in his throat.
At the other side, Seb jumped from the upside-down bike, fell to his knees, and vomited into the lush green undergrowth. Were it not for the creature behind him, he would have stayed there. But the beast followed him over, swinging like an ape as it moved hand over hand to get across the crevice.
A few seconds passed where Seb watched the brute, its stubby black legs swaying as it came after him. It snapped its sharp teeth as if it could taste the air between them.
Seb clambered to his feet again and stumbled off in the direction of the pit.
When Seb saw a ladder, he looked up to see the top of it and shook his head. Nothing had been this easy so far; this ladder surely had more to it than he could currently see. Although the fact that there was only one, and two people needed to escape …
Seb stretched his mouth wide while he ran to pull as much air into his tight lungs as he could. He’d easily get there before Gurt.
Having lost sight of the beast chasing him again, Seb still heard it as it closed the distance between them. With arms of jelly, he used his legs to climb the rungs.
At the top of the ladder, Seb stumbled and fell forward. Finally out of the undergrowth, he found himself on a hot black rock. The ledge stood about as high as the mountain he’d climbed previously and felt hot enough against his sweating face to fry an egg on.
Seb got t
o his feet and paused to recover. The treetops spread away from him as a carpet of green and he saw the birds he’d heard as they circled above the jungle. Were it not for the roars behind him, he would have stayed longer. A glance behind to where he’d come from and the back of his knees tingled. He’d been so occupied with his escape, he didn’t appreciate just how high he’d climbed. He then saw Gurt reach the ladder and scale it. A few seconds later, the two beasts burst from the dense jungle. Thick saliva fell from their gnashing teeth, and when they looked up, a single-minded intent glowed in their green eyes.
Seb turned his back on the trio again to see the pit jutting from the canopy like a jagged tooth. They’d nearly made it. Although, how he’d fight when he got there … “One thing at a time, Seb,” he muttered to himself.
Two zip wires had been set up side by side. They led back into the deep green lushness of the jungle ahead. Not that Seb wanted to return to the claustrophobic tightness of the overgrown space, but what other choice did he have?
If Gurt had gotten to the zip wires first, would he have sent them both down at the same time? Would he have left Seb stranded with the beasts on the rock plateau? Whatever Gurt would do didn’t matter. As much as he hated the creature, they would meet in the pits. Seb would finish him off without having to cheat.
The hanging bike had killed Seb’s upper body, but he’d managed to get some of his strength back. He wrapped as tight a grip as he could around the zip wire’s handlebars and, with one final breath, he fell forward. The metal cable whooshed as he hurtled back down into the dense forest, the wind billowing in his ears and tossing his hair.
Seb expected a soft landing, maybe even water. So when he broke the canopy and saw the rocky ground, panic ran ice through his veins. The crash sent him flying and ran a jarring pain through both of his knees. It felt like shards of glass had been wedged beneath his patellas.
Sprawled on the ground, Seb thought about staying there. Maybe he should just let the beasts win.
But he couldn’t. Seb got to his feet again.
As Seb burst through into another clearing, he saw what he hoped to be the final obstacle: two long escalators instead of steps to the pit. One must have been for him and one for Gurt. They crossed a deep ravine. Although he hadn’t looked around, it didn’t take a genius to know the escalator would be the only path across to the other side.
Two heavy thuds shook the ground beneath Seb’s feet. The creatures must have made it to the bottom of the zip wire.
The escalators ran quickly and in the wrong direction. Of course they did! One final deep breath into his weary body and Seb ran up the metal stairs.
The tok tok tok of Seb’s feet against the steps seemed like a ticking bomb. The explosion would be the complete collapse of his body.
Seb heard what he assumed to be Gurt jump onto the escalator next to him; a second later he heard the heavy thuds of the creatures join them.
The hanging bike had drained him, but Seb found an extra gear and screamed as he pounded against the escalator. Just a few metres until the top, he jumped for it and grabbed a large rock as the metal stairs raked against his legs, threatening to drag him back down again.
Seb pulled himself to the top of the escalator, snatching his legs free from the moving stairs. Exhausted from the obstacle course, he looked up to see a large red button just a few metres from him.
On his feet again, wobbling from where his body threatened to give out beneath him, Seb stumbled to the button and slammed his hand down on top of it.
A loud foghorn sounded. The escalator Seb had just climbed broke apart and fell into the crevice below it, beast and all. He rested on the plinth the button sat on top of and looked at the second red button in front of Gurt’s escalator. One press and he’d win. Moses hadn’t given them any rules to follow.
Seb waited instead.
A few seconds later Seb saw Gurt. Red-faced and sweating, the huge Mandulu looked close to beaten.
“Come on, Gurt, you can do it. Just a few more steps.”
Wincing, Gurt somehow managed to find the extra strength to get up the escalator. The beast that followed him ran just metres behind.
When Seb watched Gurt fall to the ground at the top, he looked at his red button. “If you don’t get up soon, Gurt … You know what, never mind.” He slapped Gurt’s button and a second foghorn sounded.
Gurt’s escalator broke apart, and just as the beast on Gurt’s tail looked ready to leap forward, it fell back down with it.
Gurt first looked behind him and then back at Seb. The grimace of exhaustion turned into one of malice and Gurt raised one side of his mouth in a snarl, exposing his thick teeth. “I didn’t ask you for your help.” He got to his feet, breathing hard, but seemingly able to find more strength.
Gurt pointed behind Seb at the fighting pit. “Let’s finish this,” he said, his entire body moving with his laboured breaths.
Seb filled his lungs with a deep inhale of the humid air around them, wiped some of the sweat from his brow and nodded. “Okay.”
Chapter 12
From a distance, the fighting pit seemed to stand tall and resolute. Although when Seb got closer to it, he saw how nature had attacked the vast stone structure. Vines and branches grew along and through it. What should have been the smooth surface of a finely constructed pit had lumps and bumps from where nature’s inevitable growth had forced some of the huge stones out from the wall.
In spite of entropy, the pit remained an imposing sight. It still stood tall enough to block out the sun when the pair got close. Its shadow lay as a vast pool on the lush ground and offered enough shade to grant a welcome relief from the sweltering jungle.
The pair stared straight ahead as they strode side by side. Seb had never walked into an arena this way before. Usually his opponent either entered the ring from the opposite side or would be there waiting for him already.
The sun hid behind the pit, which allowed Seb to look up at the top of its walls without being dazzled. They had a jagged finish to them from the large rocks of the structure having crumbled away and fallen to the ground. They’d dropped so long ago, most of them now existed as moss-covered lumps. The rough top of the structure made him look across at the broken horns of his opponent. Both had the same craggy finish to them.
The only sound the pair made came from the crunch of the brush beneath their feet.
A large tunnel—big enough to ride a horse and cart through—gave them access to the ancient arena. Maybe in the old days they’d done chariot racing inside it too; it certainly had the space for it.
The pair’s footsteps echoed in the tight tunnel and Seb noticed the slight irregularity of Gurt’s stride. Since he’d become aware of the Mandulu’s limp, he couldn’t ignore it. Not that he would mention it to him, regardless of how tempted he felt to do so.
The lush greenery gave way to a sandy floor, which the strong wind picked up and threw at the pair. It stuck to Seb’s sweating skin and burned his eyes. It clogged his nostrils—dampening his sense of smell—and dried his mouth. Every time he clenched his jaw, the pop of grit snapped through his skull.
When Seb stepped into the arena, he gasped and his mouth fell wide. The sun hung high in the sky, beaming down through the open roof like a spotlight. The ancients on many planets had treated their suns like gods. Most buildings of importance incorporated them into their designs.
With the heat soaking into his already sweating skin—the humidity slightly eased because of the dust surrounding him—Seb spun on the spot and looked up at the seats that would have once been packed with spectators. They currently sat empty, but he could almost hear the raucous crowd calling and jeering in anticipation of the fight. In its day, the pit must have been a sight to behold. He’d never been in one as large.
Four huge towers stood around the edge of the arena. Although the pit had been circular in its design, they gave the space corners. At least, they used to. Now just two remained fully erected while the other two
stood half-formed, snapped off like broken and craggy twigs.
A deep inhale caused Seb’s nostrils to clog with even more sand. Another heavy gust of wind ran through the place, tossing his hair back, cooling the sweat on his body, and throwing another wave of grit at him. He covered his eyes with his forearm and felt the sandblast against his skin.
The pair’s near-silent journey culminated with them arriving in the middle of the arena, and Seb turned to the Mandulu beside him. For a moment he looked at the brute and his dark scowl. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
The response came back as a phlegmy growl. “Don’t flatter yourself, human. You won’t last two seconds.”
Hard to suppress his smile, Seb shrugged. In some way, the grandeur of the place had given him a boost. It felt almost as if the spirits of warriors from a bygone age walked into the arena with him. Where he’d been drained from the assault course, he now felt ready to go again. “I’ll see if I can break a bit more off those damaged horns, shall I? Leave something to remember me by long after I knock you out.”
The right side of Gurt’s leathered lip lifted.
Seb dropped into his fighting stance, stepped a few paces away, and raised his fists.
“Three,” Seb said and Gurt tensed up as he too readied himself for the fight.
“Two.” The pair stared at one another, Gurt’s red eyes on fire with rage and resentment. He knew Seb had saved him on the obstacle course and, knowing Gurt, he’d want to reclaim his pride.
“One.” As always, Seb’s world slipped into slow motion and he watched the large Mandulu rush him. The limp he’d heard in the tunnel now stood out as a weak spot on Gurt’s thick frame. His right knee and his chin; both would drop him to the dusty ground if hit hard enough. Not that he would go for the knee. He only needed to beat him, not cripple him. Maybe if Gurt had been a fighter, his bad knee would be a problem for future missions, but he’d been put on the team because of his aim. So deadly with a blaster, Gurt’s knee wouldn’t come into question when he got deployed in the field.
The Shadow Order - Books 1 - 8 + 120 Seconds (The complete series): A Space Opera Page 22
