Shouts sounded behind them as the IMPs emerged into the large room near the creek.
“Ewww! It smells like something died and rotted,” a nasal tenor voice protested. It had the singsong pattern of one of the Hindu cultures.
“Sensor’s scrambled,” a female voice reported. Cool and precise. “Magnetics disrupted. This chamber is hotter than body heat. Can’t get a definitive read.”
More mumbles and grunts.
“Footprints, this way,” yet a third voice cried excitedly.
The dragongate hummed louder.
“St. Bridget and all the angels, please let it be the portal I need,” Konner prayed as he entered the short tunnel. He kept a wary eye on any signs of activity behind him.
Close. They came ever closer.
He couldn’t let them find out about the wormhole.
The harsh yellow-and-orange glow from the lava below cooled to a soothing green. Bright sunshine on a circular clearing, ringed by Tambootie trees.
Konner grabbed Dalleena’s face with both hands. Without thinking, he kissed her hard. He didn’t want to let her go.
“That place is across the river from the village. Go!” Konner pushed her. “I’ll find you. No matter what, I’ll find you.”
Dalleena stumbled over the ledge of the pit and into . . . the greens and browns swirled and shifted back to the normal colors of a volcano thinking about exploding. The insistent hum in the back of his mind died.
He dove back out the tunnel, running fast. He shoved uniformed men and women aside, heedless of where they landed. All he wanted was up and out of this cave system; away from the dragongate.
“I must advise you that resisting arrest will not endear you to the judge.” That had to be one of the lawyers. A judicial cruiser had followed them—a ship full of judges, lawyers, investigators, and police enforcement. That meant a minimum ship’s personnel of three hundred.
Shite. They’d carry word of this planet back to civilization. The stories of its fertility would exaggerate into legend. Civilization would ruin and pollute the land as it had every planet the GTE had settled.
“Are we certain this man is our quarry?” asked the singsong voice. “Are we certain he understands our language?”
“I’ll lead you all a merry chase right back to the beginning,” Konner muttered to himself as he scooped up one more handful of water and braced himself for the uphill trek.
This time he set a moderate pace, needing the IMPs to follow him. Anything to keep them away from the dragongate. Halfway to the throne room he had to slow even more, dragging in deep gulps of air. His hands shook when he dashed sweat out of his eyes. The back of his throat tasted sour and gritty. He couldn’t keep going.
He had no choice.
From the sounds behind him, the IMPs fared no better. Konner at least had spent the past five months working hard outdoors, plowing, planting, building a smithy and forging parts for Sirius as well as tools for the locals. Single-handedly he had dragged the Coros up from dependence upon bronze to a full embrace of iron. And in the course of that achievement, he had built muscle and stamina. The IMPs had been in space for months with no physical activity outside a gym in the heaviest gravity portion of their ship.
If he stayed this far ahead of the main party, he just might be able to gain access to Rover and take off.
They’d leave a few guards at his shuttle.
They’d shoot first and ask questions later.
He had to come up with a better plan.
Hard to think in this heat; working this hard. If only he had a drink of cool water. A swallow would help. He trudged on.
Visions of the cold waters of the Great Bay wavered before his eyes. A mirage. Surely a hallucination born of heat and dehydration.
Or a plan.
All he needed was a distraction.
“St. Bridget, send me an idea.”
He burst into bright daylight, blinking and cursing. Two uniformed men lounged at the hatch of Rover. They’d slung their stun rifles loosely on their backs. A third figure showed in the cockpit window. She worked furiously and with frustrated gestures trying to start the shuttle. She would not succeed. Ignition, communication, and navigation were keyed to O’Hara DNA.
Where the hell had they parked their lander? Surely not in the crater.
Clearly the IMPS had not expected their quarry to come running out of the caves alone.
Konner dove behind the nearest boulder. It was as big as a hut and shielded him admirably. Finally he had the time to breathe and think.
Not for long. IMPs had their limitations on bush planets. But they were not stupid. He heard two sets of footsteps approaching from two directions. Where was the third?
He darted to the next outcropping, a nest of smaller rocks.
Two weapons burped stunning bolts of energy. Both missed.
Konner ducked and rolled into his new position. The IMPs kept coming.
A quick glance between the rocks of his new shelter showed him three of his pursuers. They came at him cautiously, with silent but firm steps. Slowly. Each was balanced and held a stun rifle easily, comfortable with the weight.
If he crawled, he might make the next obstacle before they spotted him. Another quick look canceled that idea.
Then he heard the bulk of the party emerging from the caves. A full squad of Marines plus the lawyer, an anthropologist, and assorted forensic technicians.
“S’murghit,” he cursed. Three he might have handled. Twenty steepened the odds far above his budget of options.
He looked up at the sheer walls of the caldera. Aeons ago, the volcano had blown out its interior. The walls had been left so thin they collapsed back into the heart to form the crater. How stable were they?
He had one chance and one only. “Let’s just hope this works.” He’d worked a couple of miracles with his mind when he did not know what he was doing. Could he perform similar feats consciously?
He took a deep breath.
“I surrender!” Slowly he rose to his feet with both hands above his head.
The three IMPs closest to him looked skeptical. They swung back and forth, making certain the muzzles of their weapons covered a wide area.
“Where’re your brothers?” the lieutenant called from the mouth of the cave.
A tech corporal beside him looked anxiously from Konner to her instruments. “I read only one civilian,” she said. No emotion colored her voice.
“Where are your brothers, O’Hara?” The lieutenant approached with a confident swagger. Mid-thirties, unremarkable brown hair and eyes, politically correct stature. The top of his head might reach Konner’s chin. And he had the muscle bulk of an efficient metabolism.
Kind of old to still be only a lieutenant.
“I’m alone,” Konner called.
“Not likely. You three never go anywhere without at least one sibling. Where are they?”
Konner shrugged, keeping his hands up and non-threatening. But he fixed his gaze high, about the middle of the slope above one of the smaller cave entrances. While the IMPs muttered among themselves, he concentrated on a rock teetering precariously on nothing but packed dirt. In his mind he pictured the rock rolling, gaining speed, collecting more rocks and debris in its path. Over and over, he willed the rock loose from its perch.
He breathed deeply. The picture of the rockfall became clearer in his mind.
And then he heard it happen.
Twenty IMPs looked up. Fifteen weapons swung up in the same direction.
Konner wasted no time. He dove for the next outcropping. Three meters closer to the exit. All the while he kept picturing the rock rolling down the steep cliff.
He heard the soft chunk of one stone bouncing off another. Then a sharper sound as the first hunk of rock slammed into a larger one. He spared a glance at the slope. Sure enough, a minor landslide had begun. The first rock had a long way to go and a lot of hillside to collect from before it reached ground. It gained momentum as it tumbled
and gathered more of its kind in its wake. If the IMPs did not move soon, they’d be caught in a major cliff slippage.
All twenty of the GTE’s finest law enforcement personnel stared at the cliff, dumbstruck.
“How did O’Hara know it was going to fall,” one noncom whispered. Her words sounded loud in the hush that had fallen among them.
“Take cover!” The lieutenant recovered from astonishment first.
Konner launched himself toward the exit tunnel before anyone had a chance to think about him.
A mighty roar punctuated the sound of a rockfall. Konner risked a glance at the source of the sound. The vague form of a dragon outlined in red swooped into the crater belching flame.
“Thank you, Irythros.”
(They would hurt you,) the dragon replied indignantly.
Then the dragon flew upward, the squirming, screaming body of the lieutenant clutched in one set of talons.
“They only wished to capture me and my brothers, not kill me! Put him down, Irythros.”
(Would capture not hurt you?) The word “capture” appeared in Konner’s head as himself imprisoned in a small room behind a glowing force field. Electronic force bracelets confining both hands and feet.
“Very much so.”
(Is that why you created the landslide?)
“Yes, but you must not hurt the lieutenant. Isn’t that part of dragon honor? You value life in the same way I and my people do. Put him down. Gently.”
(Very well,) the dragon sighed. He almost sounded disappointed.
At the top edge of the crater walls, the dragon hovered and set his quarry down.
The lieutenant yelped. “Razor wire! What the frig . . .”
The dragon flew off.
Konner chuckled. Irythros had set the IMP lieutenant atop the rusting fence line erected by the original colonists.
Nineteen IMPs scrambled to find a path up the steep slope.
“That should keep them occupied while I get out of here.” Konner took off again, forgotten by the law enforcement officials.
(You may ride on my back.) Irythros flew past the outside of the exit tunnel.
“I thought you could not come to this place.”
(You needed my help. Sometimes aiding brethren is more important than rules.)
“Thank you.” Konner allowed a moment of silence to emphasize his appreciation. “I do not wish you to get into more trouble with the nimbus. I have a better idea for getting out of here.”
(Be careful.)
“Aren’t I always?”
(No.)
CHAPTER 16
DALLEENA TUMBLED into nothing. Thoughts of a horrible death in the heat of the lava struck her dumb. She could not even scream.
Cool air drifted past her face. Cool?
She opened her eyes. Time and space twisted and distorted around her. She had no sense of up or down, right or left. Her head spun and her joints ached. Her stomach threatened to turn inside out.
A groan erupted from her throat. But she could not hear it. She decided to keep her mouth and her eyes clamped closed.
Contained within herself once more, her senses found orientation. She shifted to face up.
One heartbeat later, a firm surface pressed against her butt. With her fingers she explored the surface. Grass. Bracken. Stone.
Her eyes flew open. A near perfect ring of trees surrounded a grassy glade. She caught a whiff of the pungent Tambootie tree. Off to her right she heard the rippling of the river. Farther in the distance she picked out rhythmic voices chanting a harvest song.
Dalleena rolled quickly to her knees and then to her feet. She sought the protective shadows of the trees, all the while holding out her questing hand.
“Konner?” she whispered. The memory of his kiss lingered on her mouth.
The breeze in the treetops seemed to pick up her words and whisper them into the far distance.
Dalleena circled with her hand out. She had no sense of Konner, near or far. “Konner!” she called louder.
Her hand remained empty of directional tingles.
“That place is across the river from the village.” She remembered his words. Did he mean here? “I’ll find you. No matter what, I’ll find you.”
“I’m supposed to do the finding, Stargod Konner. So where are you?” Until she figured that out, she needed to find the village. He’d come looking for her there first.
She set her mind to picturing the village. Her questing hand came up and pointed directly in front of her. She followed her hand and the sound of the river. One pace for each of her heartbeats. Very shortly the expanse of the river came into view, shallow and narrow this late in the year. Once the winter rains began, it would swell. For now, she could probably swim to the other side with ease.
Before she plunged down the bank and into the water, she shaded her eyes and scanned the opposite bank. Two adolescent boys approached with fishing poles. She recognized the youths from the village.
“Wonder what tale they spun to avoid helping with the harvest,” she muttered to herself.
One of the boys looked up at her words, as if he had heard her. He shouted and waved in greeting.
Konner was correct. She was just across the river from the village.
She pulled off her boots and tested the water with her toes. Cool. Refreshing after the intense heat of the volcano crater and caves. With a lace from the front of her shirt, she bound her soft leather boots together and slung them around her neck. Six steps brought the water up to mid-calf. Another five steps and it was deep enough to strike out with long strokes. Barely a dozen body lengths and the gravelly riverbed scraped against her toes.
One of the boys scrambled down the embankment. He offered her a hand out of the water. She accepted it, though she did not need assistance.
“You the Tracker?” he asked.
Dalleena nodded, wringing water out of her hair and shirttail.
“Stargod Loki has been looking for you and Stargod Konner.” He looked beyond her shoulder as if expecting the errant brother to appear. Something in the urgency behind his words sent a frisson of warning up Dalleena’s spine.
“He’s not there,” she said, trying to keep the worry out of her voice.
“Dalleena, where is he!” Stargod Loki called from the top of the embankment. His usually neat hair looked as if he’d combed it with repeated hand gestures, and bits of chaff clung to his beard.
“I do not know,” she replied, more irritated than she intended. A knot of worry grew in her belly. She looked at the boys, all eyes and eager grins. And ears atuned to the slightest nuance of her voice.
She climbed the bank rather than voice her concerns in front of them.
Loki extended his hand to help her up the last steep incline.
She took it gratefully, hoping his strength would calm the shaking she could feel beginning in her hand and extending up her arm and shoulder and into her jaw. If she weren’t careful, her teeth would chatter in a moment.
She should not care this deeply about someone she needed to find; only about the finding.
“Where did you last see my brother?” Loki pressed her in a quieter voice.
She drew him away from the edge of the bank and the listening adolescents. “We destroyed a bee-kan in the volcano,” she said quietly.
“You found it! Where was it? Were you in time?” He grabbed both of her shoulders in a tight grip.
“We found it in a . . . sug.” She fought for the word Konner had used.
“Souk. A marketplace,” Loki confirmed. “Where?”
The top of a tousled head appeared at the edge of the embankment. Dalleena disengaged herself from Loki’s hands and walked another ten paces closer to the village before speaking again.
“Far across the sea. A place where many boats gather and many numbers of people live in a very small space.”
“A city on a harbor. Fine. Did you destroy it in time?”
Dalleena shrugged. “Intruders came.”
Loki paled. He looked as if his knees would collapse. “No,” he mouthed. “No,” he said louder. “Not after all we’ve worked for. They can’t come now!”
“They have come. About twenty men in a . . . a lander.” She remembered the word Konner had taught her. “They chased us. Stargod Konner pushed me into an opening into the lava pit, but I landed there.” She pointed across the river to the clearing.
“What about my brother? Didn’t he follow you?” Loki’s hands shook. He stared at them for a long moment, then stuffed them into his pockets. The face he turned to her was calm, but his eyes blazed with anger and fear and a number of other emotions she could not read.
“I do not know. He said he would find me.”
“If he’s still there, then the IMPs have him. He might be dead by now. We have to go into hiding. We have to . . .”
“We have to wait for Konner to return. He promised he would return. I believe him.” This time she grabbed his shoulders and shook him.
He gulped and seemed to gather himself. “If you could track the beacon across an ocean, why can’t you track my brother in the volcano?”
“I do not know. I have never failed to find someone before. But he does not answer to my call.” She held up her hand again and slowly turned in a circle.
Nothing.
“I must also tell you that a second bee-kan exists.” She dropped her hand in defeat. That artifact did not tingle on her palm either. Her heart and belly began to feel as empty as her palm.
Loki’s blood ran cold. Another beacon to find and destroy. Another trip into the volcanic craters. And IMPs beginning to crawl all over the planet.
He watched Dalleena’s face and shoulders sag. She must know how dire their situation was. Moisture gathered in her eyes. He draped an arm about her shoulders ready to comfort her. He spent a lot of time comforting women on this planet. They seemed to enjoy the process of their weakness drawing his affections.
Dalleena surprised him. At his first touch she mastered the defeat in her posture and stepped out from under his embrace.
He raised his eyebrows. Not his kind of woman at all. His Cyndi could exhibit a spine of titanium when crossed, but she at least put on a show of needing a strong man to help her. She was the daughter of a planetary governor and knew when a woman should be soft and when she had to be strong.
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