by Mark Robson
Callum heard the shout behind him and another rattle of gunfire. He tried to look round, but it proved impossible. It was all he could do now to try to keep the flying machine accelerating in a straight line. Ahead, David’s machine was picking up speed, fast. It bounced once, twice into the air only to drop back to earth. Then with a final skip, it pulled free of the ground more smoothly and eased skyward in a smooth, shallow climb.
A movement in the corner of Callum’s eye caught his attention and he realised what the shouting had been about. Two raptors were racing towards him from the right. There was another distant rattle of gunfire, but if the shots were aimed at the incoming raptors, they did not find their targets. The airspeed indicator needle had fluttered into life and was climbing in unsteady leaps towards the green zone. He looked across at the closing raptors. Could he get airborne before they intercepted him? It was going to be close.
Come on! Come on! he urged, willing his machine onward. Applying a gentle back pressure to the control bar, he attempted to ease it into the air. The whirr of the fan and the thrum of energy from the magnetic converters were reaching fever pitch. He was out of time. The nearest raptor was closing fast. The other was losing ground and no longer a threat.
The needle on the airspeed indicator surged up into the bottom of the green zone and Callum hauled back on the bar even as he saw the raptor launch into a flying leap towards him. The machine lurched about two metres into the air and the airspeed needle dipped back below the green. At the same time, the diving raptor caught hold of an undercarriage strut. The combination of the sudden impact from the right, the substantial increase in weight and drag, and the lack of speed caused the right wing to dip and the aircraft to drop back to the ground.
Wrenching the control bar to the left, Callum managed to prevent a crash, instead touching back down on to the meadow with the wings level. But despite being dragged along the ground, bouncing and flipping under the aircraft, the raptor clung on, stubbornly refusing to let go of its prey.
With a roar that sounded distinctly like a challenge the raptor twisted its body so that it could kick upward at Callum with its feet. Its first blow erupted through the silver fabric of the lower wing and caught Callum in the stomach, but fortunately, its power was severely limited by its awkward position, and the thick leather of the harness protected him from the creature’s sharp claws.
‘Let go you ugly son of a. . .’
Callum could do nothing to protect himself, nor reach to fight back in any way. All he could do was to concentrate on trying to get into the air. Again, the raptor kicked upward, tearing the hole still wider. This time the blow struck Callum in the groin. He groaned and writhed in pain. Snarling at the raptor, he spat at it, though his wad of spittle was whipped away by the wind.
In defiance of the extra drag of the raptor and the tattered hole in the lower wing, somehow the fan produced enough thrust to notch the aircraft’s airspeed up into the green again. Callum pulled back on the control bar, lifting first the aircraft and then the determined raptor into the air. Gaining height was a problem. Having lifted the dangling raptor about three metres from the ground, the aircraft seemed to reach a barrier. It could no longer accelerate and it could no longer climb.
‘Let go, damn you!’ Callum yelled again. ‘You’re going to kill us both.’
It was unclear if the raptor understood him. However, the open meadow space was fast running out. Scattered trees loomed ahead. Without some very fancy flying, or a significant altitude gain, they were going to hit one of them very soon and there was no chance of climbing so long as the raptor remained clinging to the underside of the aircraft. Ahead, David was already safely above the treetops and soaring away in a turn to the east.
Callum turned left towards the biggest gap he could see between the trees, but he could not sustain a turn for long because the pendulum effect of the raptor dragged the wings back level.
He tried again, rolling the aircraft harder this time in an effort to throw the raptor clear. To no avail; the raptor clung on with the determination of a limpet and the pendulum effect simply became more violent. It was at this moment that Callum realised what he had to do.
He had no choice.
He would have to deliberately fly into a tree.
CHAPTER TWENTY
At the Voice of the Imperium’s starting order, Scar immediately took the offensive. His leaping attack was fast and vicious, forcing Nipper to evade. What surprised Nipper was not the power or the speed of Scar’s attack. It was his ability to move without telegraphing his intention through his body. There was no coiling preparation for the leap. Scar’s muscles barely seemed to bunch at all before he was flying in at Nipper, claws poised to slash.
There was no time to prepare a counter-strategy. All Nipper could do was attempt to sidestep and deflect Scar’s attack. He dodged left, swinging his right arm out in a defensive block that impacted the side of his attacker’s upper body with a satisfying thud. Scar’s momentum carried him clear, but Nipper felt the burn of a raking cut open across his side as Scar slashed at him in passing.
Nipper spun, hoping to take advantage of any momentary imbalance Scar might have on landing, but the big raptor rolled and twisted to his feet with effortless ease. The crowd roared around them, excited by the first lightning-fast exchange.
‘I hope you’re ready to die, youngling,’ Scar snarled, baring his teeth in a vicious grin. ‘I’ve killed many who were stronger, more experienced fighters than you. You cannot hope to win here.’
Nipper knew better than to rise to the taunt. He kept his focus on trying to read his opponent’s body movements.
‘What is it that you like about the humans?’ Scar asked, beginning to circle again. ‘They are soft and weak. They care nothing for raptor traditions.’
There was little warning of Scar’s second attack, but Nipper read it better this time. Instead of shying away, he leapt to intercept and the two raptors clashed in mid-air. The change of tactic surprised the bigger raptor. He had been expecting Nipper to evade again, because his greater mass was always going to give him the advantage in any head-on collision. As it was, the clash came more quickly than he anticipated.
Nipper felt another slashing cut open across his back as one of Scar’s claws raked him again, but in the moment of brutal collision, he gained the satisfaction of sinking his teeth into Scar’s right shoulder, biting deep into the flesh. Blood spurted into his mouth and as his momentum spun him clear, he raked the hooked central claw on his left hand across Scar’s chest, while the claw on his right tore a hole in Scar’s back. The bigger raptor roared in a mixture of pain and anger.
With the element of surprise gone, Nipper knew better than to try to repeat this tactic. Scar was unlikely to be caught off guard twice in the same way. All Nipper could do was to keep him guessing and hope that by being unpredictable, his opponent would leave openings he could exploit.
He leapt clear again, and the two protagonists resumed their stalking circles. What Nipper had to avoid at all costs was grappling. Scar was too big and strong for him to wrestle effectively. He’d need to use speed and cunning if he was going to survive. His best chance for a clean kill would be to open one of Scar’s major arteries or to crush his windpipe. A raptor’s vital organs were too well protected by bone and muscle to be easily damaged without some sort of heavy weapon. And Scar was clearly no stranger to injury. Nipper judged that the big raptor would not succumb to the pain of any number of minor injuries. It was going to take something much more substantial to take him down permanently.
Baring his bloodied teeth at Scar in a silent grin, Nipper tried a subtle taunt of his own. The bigger raptor snarled in reply. All around them the crowd was roaring and chanting for their favourite, but as far as the two fighters were concerned, they were alone. Everything else was blanked out as irrelevant.
The femoral artery in Scar’s thigh was another possible target, Nipper realised. But the only point where it was close e
nough to the surface to present a realistic chance of severing it was at the groin. Neither the groin nor the throat were an easy target. Of the two, the throat was more open, but that’s where Scar would be expecting him to focus his attacks. He would protect his throat at all costs, so what other options were there?
Scar attacked again. Not leaping this time, but charging. Nipper tried to dodge, but Scar was too fast. The big raptor cannoned into him and they both went down in a rolling frenzy of claws and teeth. Somehow, Nipper managed to scrabble clear before Scar gained enough purchase on him to bring his greater bulk to bear, but the exchange was costly. As he regained his distance, it became clear that the bigger raptor had inflicted more nasty cuts to Nipper’s body and arms. Blood was running freely from multiple wounds now, but more telling was the wave of fatigue that suddenly enveloped him. The initial pulsating energy that he had felt before the fight had passed and his body was now feeling the effects of his exertions earlier in the day.
All of Nipper’s pre-fight confidence left him. The realisation that he was facing a superior foe who had the measure of him sent a cold shockwave through his chest. Was this the fear of which the humans spoke? It was not something he had ever felt before. At the Reserve he had always been the strongest, the fastest and most audacious of hunters. But fighting between raptors there was uncommon, and for all his experience at hunting other prey, this was not the Reserve and Scar was unlike any foe that Nipper had fought before.
Scar was back on his feet, his wide grin confident. Nipper looked the bigger raptor in the eye and could see the expectation of imminent victory in his expression. For an instant, he allowed his focus to shift on to the three prisoners nearby. The desperate hope in their eyes shot a bolt of renewed strength through him, but even such a brief glance away from his opponent was a mistake. Scar saw the opening and seized it. Before Nipper knew what had hit him, he was down and rolling. He lashed out wildly, but ineffectually, as Scar tore at him with teeth and claws. Pain erupted in Nipper’s chest, his arms, across his back and the side of his head. For a moment, there seemed nothing he could do. The dark raptor was slicing him to pieces and it seemed only a matter of time before he struck a mortal blow.
With a surge of strength born of desperation, Nipper twisted free again and regained his feet, but Scar did not give him a chance to recover. The big raptor knew he was close to victory and he pressed home his advantage, charging after Nipper in another headlong attack. In the split second before Scar struck, Nipper had a moment of revelation and he suddenly realised what he had to do.
The image of Sam taking down Nathan three times in quick succession in the rebel HQ lounge flashed through Nipper’s mind. His opponent was used to fighting raptor-style. It was unlikely he would know anything of human fighting tactics. As Scar’s right hand whipped towards him in a slashing attack, he adopted the boy’s most memorable first counterattack. Swaying to the left, he swept the arm aside with a hooking grab. His claws found the purchase he wanted and, gripping Scar’s wrist tightly, he twisted it over to the right. His execution of the move was not as slick as Sam’s, but to his delight, the big raptor went down face first to the ground just as Nathan had, with his arm locked out straight. However, where Sam had stopped short of driving his weight down on Nathan’s arm, Nipper showed no such mercy. His full weight dropped hard on to Scar’s locked elbow and the resounding crack as the arm snapped at the joint was profoundly satisfying.
Scar roared with agony at the explosion of pain, but the roar was cut short. Before he had a chance to recover, Nipper had leapt on to his back, reached round his throat and torn it open with a single vicious slice from his central claw. Scar bucked and writhed beneath him, but Nipper rode out the frenzy with renewed calm. A large pool of blood spread rapidly beneath them and the mortally wounded raptor’s efforts to escape faded fast.
Nipper could not resist giving Scar a parting comment. Keeping his weight firmly bearing down on his opponent, he put his mouth close to Scar’s ear.
‘That’s one of the reasons I like humans,’ he growled softly. ‘If you take the time to observe them, you can learn many things: even new ways of fighting. You dishonoured raptor tradition with your kill on the train, Captain. The manner of your death today is fitting reward.’
Scar surged upward in one final futile effort to throw Nipper from his back, and then dropped limp to the ground. Nipper waited until he saw the life fade from his enemy’s eyes before climbing slowly to his feet. Suddenly, the world spun and the pain of his wounds threatened to overwhelm him. His body felt slick with blood, most of it his own.
Then the noise of the crowd struck him. The roar of appreciation for his victory was unlike anything he’d ever imagined. It was as if the air was alive, hammering at him from every side. Beaten and bleeding as he was, the sensation was almost too much.
He could feel, rather than see, the titanic image of himself being projected into the air above the square. Would the technology pick out his voice from the tumultuous roars of the crowd? He drew in a deep breath.
‘Blood for blood,’ he growled, forcing out the ritual words. ‘Life for life. Release the prisoners to me and I shall see justice served upon them.’
The High Council of the Imperium gathered at the top of the stairs and it appeared that a heated debate was taking place. What could they be arguing about? He had challenged and beaten their champion in fair combat. Thousands of city raptors had witnessed the fight. They could not deny him his right. It was a tradition that had been upheld for over a millennium.
The crowd began to chant in support of his victory. ‘Re . . . lease. Re . . . lease. Re . . . lease.’
The chant grew in strength until it echoed from every quarter. Still the Council remained in their circle, ignoring the crowd and continuing their debate. After what seemed an age they broke and reformed their line at the top of the steps. Some of the Council did not look happy. The Voice stepped forward and raised his hands for silence. He got it. The chants died rapidly and all eyes focused on him or his projection.
‘Blood for blood. . .’ he repeated. A great roar of approval went up from the crowd, but the Voice held up his hands once more for silence. ‘A life for a life,’ he continued, emphasising the subtle change. ‘The Council acknowledges your victory and releases your blood brother to you. However, we deem your adoption of the humans invalid. There is no precedent for a raptor championing humans under the old traditions. Therefore, it has been decided that in the greater interest of raptor-kind and the Imperium, we will not release them. They will meet Imperium justice for their traitorous acts as scheduled.’
‘No!’ Nipper roared. ‘This is not justice! They are my family. They are mine by right of challenge. Every raptor here heard my challenge and your acceptance of it. You cannot change the rules because you lost.’
‘Youngling, we are the High Council of the Imperium. We are the law. You do not dictate to us what we can and cannot do. We have decided.’ He turned his head to address the leader of the guards. ‘Do it,’ he ordered.
‘Blood for blood!’ Nipper roared again. ‘A life for a life. I challenge again for the lives of the humans. If I must fight for each of them in turn, I will. I refuse to leave them. They are my family.’
Even the act of issuing the new challenge made his head spin. Although he knew he had no real chance of winning, his gut burned with anger at the Council’s decision. He would rather die than give up the humans without a fight now.
The Voice looked down at him, snarling with derision. ‘Even if I wanted to assist your certain death by granting another challenge, I could not. The Council has decided, youngling. Your challenge is denied. Go. Take your blood brother and do not enter this city again. His acts of treason against the Imperium will not be forgotten. Neither he, nor you by association, are welcome here. Guards – get rid of them and execute the humans.’
Before he could respond further, Nipper was surrounded by raptor guards who led him firmly from the centre of
the square to the barrier that held the crowd line. Einstein appeared next to him, also shepherded by several guards. He said nothing. Thanks would not have been appropriate at this point.
‘No! No! Don’t do this. Please. Let me go! Arrrggghhh!’
Alex’s pleading voice, followed by the unmistakable sound of him being impaled sent a lance of white-hot fury through Nipper, but he did not look back. He could not bring himself to do it. The Council’s decision was wrong. He felt the injustice of it through every fibre of his being, but he was powerless to stop them.
* * *
‘NO!’ Sam shouted, sinking to his knees as he stared at the holographic projection at the back of the hangar. ‘NO! Nipper won. They can’t do this. It’s wrong. MUM! They can’t! They can’t!’
The sight of Alex being lifted and forced onto the gigantic spike made him retch. The impaling post drove into Alex’s back and out through his chest as the raptors pulled his body down until he was almost on the ground. To Sam’s horror, the man’s scream did not cut off instantly and his arms and legs continued to move. Sam could see the look of shock and pain on Alex’s face as he clutched in vain at the post. It looked as though he was torn between wanting to somehow attempt to remove it and yet not wanting to move, as every movement intensified the pain.
The guards removed Claire Cutler’s chains and prepared to lift her. Unlike Alex, she did not beg for release. The holo-imager zoomed in on her, looking to capture her fear for those in the crowd too far from the centre to see. However, if Claire was scared, she had buried the emotion deep. Instead, sensing her chance, she calmly began to speak in the raptor language.
Sam turned to Sherri.
‘Please,’ he begged her. ‘What’s she saying?’
Sherri frowned with concentration and began to translate.
‘We have tried to help you – perhaps now some of you will see the truth. Your High Council deceive you. Today they ignored one of your longest-held traditions, but that is far from their worst crime. Behind your backs they are destroying your world and blaming it on us humans. Remember my words. Test them. And would someone please send word to my family that I love them . . . and tell my son he should try to go home.’
