Shoo-wup! The deep-throated cry of a blaster echoed in the cabin. The light jerked once before swinging wide, then disappearing. Cries and shouts erupted. The dark figures flew out of Maryam’s sight, as if they’d been jerked away all at once. Yells split the air, then all was deafening weapons fire. Whether it came from Dergan or the attacking squad, Maryam had no idea.
“Pana, Maryam, come on!” Kels’s shout rose above the bedlam.
Pana yanked Maryam upright. Despite the small amount of illumination coming from the open hatch, she couldn’t see to navigate the aisle between the seats. She was utterly dependent on Pana as she ran in his wake.
The barrage of percussion blasts had moved outside the shuttle, and she instinctively ducked when they rushed out. The view was confusing as she ran, her legs pumping for all they were worth to keep Pana from jerking her off her feet.
A kaleidoscope of dim images strobed across her sight. The featureless silhouette of Pana’s head, shoulders, and back were a black wall before her. The star-lit sky and a distant planet hanging high overhead. Shadows dashing here and there in her peripheral vision. Strange waves disrupting the little she could see, the telltale power of the firing blasters.
Looming beyond Pana, the blackest of it all: the canopy of the forest. Another shadow dropping back, an immense shape that Maryam somehow identified as belonging to Kels. He grabbed her other hand while earsplitting reports erupted from his blaster.
A rush of speed between the two men lifted her off her feet. The pools of dark swept past her in a blur. Then an enveloping void, a pit of such blackness that Maryam had a terrifying second’s belief she’d gone blind. An instant later, she understood. They’d entered the woods.
Maryam’s toes touched the ground for a mere moment before she whirled in the air, yanked from Pana’s grip. She landed on Kels’s shoulder and hung there like a sack.
He bellowed, “Go, my Imdiko! Run until I tell you to stop!”
Under the trees, the darkness was total. Kels’s boots pounded the ground beneath them, but Maryam couldn’t discern even the slightest trace of movement. Terrified they’d run straight in to a tree, she yelled, “How can you see?”
There was no answer, but Kels never faltered as he sprinted on. Maryam said nothing more, trusting that he wasn’t blinded as she was. What else could she do?
She estimated their flight lasted five minutes before Kels slowed. “All right, Pana. Hold for a moment.”
They stopped. From the breeze that had blown Maryam’s hair, she’d thought they’d raced at a full gallop for the entire journey. Pana’s breathing was louder than Kels’s, but neither sounded terribly winded—only as if they’d jogged a short stretch, at most.
Kels let Maryam stand. “Stay quiet. Listen for pursuit,” he whispered.
All that greeted her ears were animals calling in the distance and a slight rustle of breeze in the trees. No percussion blasters. No shouts. No noise of a chase. It was as silent as one would expect for late night in a forest.
“Dergan.” Maryam strained for any hint of the Nobek.
“He’s been in worse situations. Come on; he’ll track us down when he’s sure we’re not being followed.” Kels sounded sure of himself.
They resumed their trip through the woods, Maryam walking this time. Kels and Pana warned her of tripping hazards and guided her steps as they traveled. There was still no more than a black curtain before her gaze. Apparently, Kalquorians could see in the dark.
She peered upward, hoping to find the sky. Nothing. The canopy of leaves must have been too thick.
It was unnerving, that endless void they walked through. If not for the steady tread of her companions’ boots, the warmth of their hands holding hers, the whispered instructions and assurances they offered, she’d have been insane with terror. How could there be darkness so absolute? As the minutes stretched into eternity, Maryam realized she wasn’t growing accustomed to it. If anything, it grew more oppressive.
She wondered if she’d ever see light again. Of course you will, her better sense chided, but it was becoming harder and harder to imagine she would.
Kels abruptly stopped. Maryam was grateful when he did. Her calves ached. It felt as if they’d been walking forever.
“What’s wrong?”
Pana’s tense question erased Maryam’s relief. She froze and listened hard.
The forest was silent. Not the quiet of before, but absolutely silent. The creatures she’d relegated to the background of her consciousness no longer called out.
There was something else; a smell that wrinkled her nose. It reminded her of wet dog, but ranker. She bumped against Kels, crowding close to him as instinct alerted.
The Dramok’s whisper barely reached her ears. “We’re being stalked. Something’s moving in the trees. Smell that?”
“Yes.”
“They’re staying downwind as much as they can, but they’re closing in.”
“They?” Maryam’s bladder abruptly felt overfull.
Kels shifted. She sensed him bending down. An object scraped against the ground as he stood up straight again. He’d picked up an object. A similar noise on her right told her Pana did the same.
“What are you doing?” Panic nipped at her, fed by the inability to see.
“Branches to beat off whatever’s out there.”
“What about your blaster?”
“As I said, this is a protected preserve and the Dumai take it badly if the animals are killed. I’ll protect you at any cost, but I’d rather not have to sacrifice a hand if I don’t have to.”
“A hand?” Maryam’s mouth went dry.
“The fine for killing an animal here.”
While she attempted to absorb that nugget, Pana spoke up. “There’s a brighter area ahead, between those trees. It could be a clearing.”
“Make for it. If we can get in the open, it’ll be harder to be ambushed. Maryam, hold onto my belt so I can keep my arms free for swinging.”
They crept forward. To Maryam, it was as if they moved barely an inch with each step. Her skin crawled, imagining some invisible menace tiptoeing on her heels, ready to take a bite out of her. When dim light filtered through the trees at last, she should have been relieved. Instead, she feared catching a glimpse of dripping fangs and stiletto claws an instant before they sliced into her. She didn’t dare peek over her shoulder, convinced she’d see a monster straight out of a nightmare.
They stepped into a circular clearing, lit by the blue Earth-like planet that ruled the sky. Sticks and foliage underfoot gave way to softer ground cover. Maryam dared to look behind when they neared the center of the small space.
The surrounding woods were like a corral, fencing her and her companions in. Within the shadows, large shapes shifted and moved.
“There.” Maryam pointed.
“All around us,” Kels corrected.
Chapter Sixteen
Kels passed his blaster to Pana. “Be ready, but shoot them only as a last resort.”
“Is there anything besides a last resort at this point?” Maryam demanded. She itched to take the blaster from Pana. She’d gladly give up a hand in exchange for not getting eaten by the horrors her imagination had conjured.
Kels managed a short laugh. “If the animals will cooperate, I might convince them we’re more trouble than we’re worth. Here they come.”
Big shapes, taller than Kels and Pana and long to boot, stole out from between the trees. Marya
m couldn’t make much sense out of them. Hulking figures slunk, as if on four legs, toward the trio. There were glimmers here and there, what Maryam took to be the beasts’ eyes, reflecting the watching planet. The smell grew sharper, a reek that made it hard to breathe. They closed in from all sides in a silent tide.
Kels and Pana pushed Maryam between them and faced away from each other to confront the threat, their bodies brushing hers.
“Be ready to pick up Maryam and run, Pana.” Kels’s voice was calm, as if he weren’t watching encroaching death.
Pana cast a quick glance at him over his shoulder. He looked frightened but not panicked. Was he that confident in his leader? Maryam hoped she could trust Kels as much as the Imdiko apparently did.
She returned her attention to the enemy. The beasts were only yards away, still creeping toward them. Cautious, though they had the overwhelming numbers. Perhaps they’d never encountered humanoids before and weren’t sure how much danger humans and Kalquorians posed.
Not enough to survive a full-on attack, Maryam was sure.
She had an impression of long, thick fur on the creatures. Perhaps that was why she couldn’t discern specific details on their appearance. No overt sign of teeth or claws, but who knew what those shaggy pelts hid?
Kels disappeared.
He was there, then all at once, he was gone, as if he’d winked out of existence. Before Maryam could react, the beast in front of her yipped, a startled and surprisingly high-pitched sound. Another blatted the same noise. And another.
In an instant, the creatures were twisting in all directions, snarling and snapping at the air. The noise of their teeth, now flashing white, and yes, very long and sharp, cracked like whips. Maryam stared as they reacted to something she couldn’t see, beast after beast wheeling about and searching for something to fight until they were all yipping and bellowing at once.
What had gotten into them? Not Kels—she’d seen enough to know he could move fast, but surely not that fast.
Pana yelled and lashed out with his stick, a branch equal in length and thickness to his arm. A monumental figure squalled and leapt aside, terrible fangs exposed as a curtain of fur shifted from its mouth. Maryam yelped at the close call, turning to face a dark beast looming over her.
She was swung up, slung over Pana’s shoulder. A burst of sudden movement and they were within the trees again, obscuring her vision. Pana panted as he ran full out, setting wind in her hair.
Kels’s voice came out of nowhere. “This way, Pana. There’s a ledge—maybe somewhere to hide.”
A jerk as Pana changed direction. Maryam braced herself against his back to relieve the bouncing he gave her. She listened as best she could for pursuit, but her hammering heart and Pana’s gasps drowned out any evidence that the beasts might be chasing them.
Then Pana halted. Heaving for breath, he set Maryam on her feet and supported her as her balance wobbled. The ground was uneven. Rocks shifted beneath her.
Someone else grasped her arm. Kels’s voice was winded too. “Down here, Maryam. This crevice might hide us if it goes deep enough.”
He guided her to a rock face and a wide fissure splitting it. Maryam slid in, feeling her way into what she imagined to be a sizeable crack in a mountain or hillside. It widened out as she crept along. The walls disappeared entirely within a few steps. Maryam stumbled forward and stopped, listening to the sounds of the men following her.
A light blazed bright, blinding her for several seconds. When she could see again, she saw they had entered a small cave. Pana stood next to her, blinking at the environs. His back to the crack in the rock through which they’d entered, Kels shone the light around, displaying walls, floor, and ceiling made of yellow-brown stone.
The Dramok abruptly jerked, exclaiming as something entered behind him. Dergan emerged, grinning at his startled clanmate.
Maryam ran to the Nobek and jumped up to wrap her arms around his neck. “You’re alive! Where did you come from?”
Dergan’s eyes were wide as she hugged him. A grin ate up his face as he squeezed her to himself. “I showed up just in time to help Kels disorient those adorable pups who wanted to eat you.”
Kalquorian quickness multiplied by a factor of two. No wonder all the beasts had freaked out at once.
“Adorable pups, huh? If massive beasts with eight-foot teeth are your idea of adorable.”
“Oh, their teeth were only three feet long, at the most.” He waved negligently.
“That makes all the difference.” She forced herself to step back, though it was hard to do so. She had definite attachment issues.
“Don’t be so quick to dislike them. They might be our ticket to lure that squad from our shuttle.”
“The Earthers aren’t searching for us?” Kels appeared surprised.
“After you were clear and I got away, I spied to watch if they’d pick up your trail. They seem to be of the opinion we’ll return to the shuttle. They have it surrounded, patrolling the perimeter.”
Pana snarled. “They found Briel.”
“They opened the hatch, took a look in her pod, and closed it again. They haven’t done anything to the body. Lucky for them,” Dergan added under his breath.
“They’re waiting for us to try to reclaim her. You have a plan?” Kels pressed.
Pana smirked, easier now that he knew Briel’s body hadn’t been desecrated. “Doesn’t he always?”
* * * *
Maryam managed a little sleep before it was time to leave. When she stepped out of the cave with the clan, dawn was just breaking. It lit the sky in a weak yellow-orange mist that did nothing to dispel the morning’s chill.
Without a word, Dergan peeled off and disappeared in the dense trees of the nearby woods. Kels took the lead for the remainder of the group, walking some distance ahead of Pana and Maryam. The men hefted big sticks once again, and she gripped the largest rock she’d found that she was reasonably certain she could throw—for all the good it would do her against the massive beasts, should they encounter them again.
She and Pana proceeded slowly, barely keeping Kels in view as he navigated through the tangled growth. Dergan had scouted their route to ensure no predators were about before they’d set off, but they were cautious anyhow.
In the early hours, the scent of vegetation was heavier than the night before. Or perhaps Maryam noticed it better because they weren’t running for their lives. Dry brown pods crunched and rustled underfoot, a sound she’d not acknowledged during their flight, though they carpeted the ground.
Maryam judged they’d walked over an hour before brighter light entered the shadowed domain of the woods. The forest was finally thinning, letting them know they were near their goal. Kels halted behind a large white-trunked tree, and he signaled them to freeze. Maryam and Pana immediately went into a crouch and waited.
Seconds crawled by. Kels’s back was to the hiding pair. He peered beyond the edge of the forest, motionless as he watched. At the distance she huddled from him, Maryam couldn’t detect him breathing, twitching—nothing. If not for the slight movement of stray hairs, he might have been a statue.
He turned his head their way. Kels waved them forward with two abrupt jerks of his arm, then dashed through the trees on his left, disappearing into the shadows.
Maryam and Pana crept to the shelter of the same tree. Peeking beyond the sweet-smelling trunk, Maryam caught sight of their shuttle in the clearing beyond the woods.
Human men wande
red around a campfire, the low hum of conversation like the buzzing of insects. Bedrolls were being cleared from the fire’s perimeter. A few ate from metal plates, their utensils scraping. A couple were splashing their faces in the stream. Others strolled at the edge of the clearing, watching the forest with blasters at the ready.
Except for the patrolling sentries, the boys looked as if they’d made themselves comfortable. Low on sleep and irritable to spy at least two dozen between her and the shuttle, Maryam scowled. The odds were worse than Dergan had led her to believe. Surely Kels would return and call the scheme off.
Instead, Kels broke from the opposite end of the clearing, firing his blaster over the Earther’s heads. They scrambled for cover, yelling to each other, some returning shots. Kels faded into the forest, disappearing from sight.
As the surprised squad congregated by the side of the shuttle, using it for shelter against his previous position, Kels dashed out from a different section of the woods, firing at the ground in front of their feet. They scattered, dashing in two different directions, to either end of the triangular-shaped craft. They blasted once more, but Kels was already gone.
Had they noticed he wasn’t trying to kill them? He’d had clear shots at them both times but allowed them to escape injury.
Perhaps they had, because when he emerged a third time, attacking those sheltering at the bow of the shuttle, they returned fire immediately. Better yet, they raced forward, chasing him as he darted into the forest once again.
The shuttle was unattended. Maryam jumped on Pana’s back, wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms around his chest. He took off, racing for the shuttle.
When the Kalquorians had run while carrying her, it had been too dark for her to appreciate their astounding speed. Pana’s pounding footfalls were a rapid battery of sound, bleeding together so that she couldn’t tell where one began and another ended. The landscape blurred past her, not clearing until Pana dashed into the open hatch of the shuttle and halted.
Maryam Page 18
