“Ready?” I asked as I looked over my shoulder at the three women. Both Uma and Waidola were grabbing short stack rifle magazines from the men, but Hegeia’s eyes were on me. The redhead nodded, and I gestured for her to run.
She sprinted out the door, and I leaned out afterward. My thumb flipped off the safety, and I swept the sight across the walls of the buildings while she ran. She made it to the middle van, jumped in, and I heard a chime sound as the hydrogen engine cycled on.
There was a movement at my two o’clock, and I leaned out of the door so I could bend around the side of the entry. There was a figure in a second story window, and I saw the outline of his silhouette against the sunlight. I couldn’t make out his exact details, but he was in a crouched firing position, and it seemed as if he was pointing a rifle in my direction. My reflexes kicked in, and the sight of my rifle swung to his position. My finger squeezed before I even realized I had the shot lined up, but I knew my aim was true a split second after the bullet left the barrel of my rifle. It punched through the window across the street, and the silhouette went down before he could get his own shot off.
Hegeia’s rear tires spun for a second before they grabbed onto the snow, and then the van lurched back into the street. I swung my rifle over the buildings and saw a flash of light come from the far left part of the settlement.
A gunshot echoed out across the street, and I saw the man’s head explode. I glanced down and saw Waiola crouched next to me in the doorway. She made the shot, and it had been a damn fine one.
“Good job,” I said as I turned my rifle back to the right side of the street. “You cover that side.”
“No talk Hegeia,” Waiola whispered as her sister backed the van up to the stairs of the tavern. I figured she didn’t want her sister to know she’d killed someone, and that was fine with me. She’d probably just saved my life.
“Got it. Uma, go!” I ordered as I scanned the right side of the street.
The blonde woman ran between Waiola and me, jumped down the bloody stairs, and then sprinted toward the van. I heard Waiola fire and saw another man fall out of the corner of my eye.
“Go, Waiola!” I shouted as soon as Uma had jumped into the van.
“I go!” The redhead sprang up from next to me and dashed down the stairs.
As Hegeia’s sister made the short sprint, I saw a pair of men lean around the farthest building on my right. They popped back around the corner quickly, and I figured they guessed I didn’t see them.
Their position left me in a bit of a bind. The direction was south, and that was the direction we needed to drive to get out of the city. The men knew I was positioned at the door of the tavern, and I guessed they were either trying to flank me, or they were holding their position at the south side of the structure. If we drove past the two men, they would be able to get shots off at Hegeia. The van didn’t look armored, and I believed the bullets would have no problem hitting her, or maybe taking out a tire.
I scanned the left side of the street and didn’t see any other movement. These two men could be the last in the village, but I had no way to be sure. All I knew was that I was going to have to take them out before we got away, and they weren’t going to make it easy on me.
I jumped down the stairs and sprinted past the van. I heard the women cry out, but I didn’t have time to explain what I was doing. They were going to have to figure it out from my actions.
I sprinted across the street, dove beside a thick stone wall, and brought my rifle up to aim at the end of the alley. I didn’t hear anything but my heart hammering in my chest. So, I got back on my knees and sneaked to the end of the wall. I hated that I was leaving the women alone, but I had a suspicion that Waiola would have no problem using her rifle again.
I reached the end of the walled structure and listened for any sound of movement. At first, I didn’t hear anything, and I almost stepped around the corner, but then my sensitive ears picked up the sound of a footstep crunch on the snow. I waited another moment and heard the step again. It seemed maybe fifteen meters off to my right. There was a third step, and I knew someone was approaching me.
The bolt-action of my rifle operated with my right hand, so I’d only get one shot if I switched it to my left. I’d probably be able to swing out and get a single shot off before the fucker could retaliate, but I didn’t like the strategy, so I moved my rifle to my right hand and pulled out a revolver for my left.
I popped around the side of the wall with my handgun out. My target was trying to sneak around the wall, and had his rifle aimed toward me, but my movement still caught him off guard. I squeezed the trigger of my revolver a second before he pulled his rifle trigger, and my bullet hit him in the left shoulder. He spun, missed me with his shot, and then died when my second bullet opened a crater in the back of his skull.
The second shooter was at the corner of the wall twenty meters behind the man I had just killed, and I ducked behind my wall as his rifle sang out. The bullet hit the bricks where I stood a moment ago, and I popped out to take a shot at him. He ducked back when I pulled the trigger of my revolver, and my bullet pierced the air where he had just stood.
I held my position and aimed at the spot where I expected him to lean out from. My opponent surprised me a bit by sprinting out from behind cover. He probably reasoned that the sudden movement would catch me off guard, and then he’d be able to shoot me after I missed. I’d been in hundreds of gun fights, so I easily tracked his sprint from behind the corner and put a bullet through his chest while he was in midstep. He fell to the ground with a shriek of bloody agony, and my next bullet ended him.
I holstered my revolver and then dashed back to the street. Hegeia had backed the van up, and Uma yanked open the side door so I could dive in. As soon as I hit the chair beside her, she shouted to Hegeia, and the van accelerated. The movement was a bit too sudden, and the rear tires drifted across the snowy road, but then the woman gained control of the vehicle, and we raced away from the buildings.
“Looks clear,” I said as I watched the structures fade into the distance. “Are you three okay?”
“Ya,” Hegeia said. “I was worried when you ran past van.”
“Had to take those two fuckers out, or they would have shot at us when we tried to go past them on the way out of town.”
“I understand,” she said. “But, how are you moving with shoulder hurt?”
“I’m fine. Don’t worry.”
“You might get infection. Should we stop for supplies?” she asked, and I turned to see Uma studying me with her dark eyes.
“How close is the next town? Or city? I’d like to get some new clothes. Definitely need new boots.”
“Maybe ten-hour drive,” Hegeia said after she spoke to the other two women.
“Ten hours? Damn. There aren’t any other cities or towns closer?” I pulled my left revolver out of my holster and reloaded the cylinders with fresh bullets.
“There are, but they are looking for you. Might be too hard to buy clothes. We can stop if you want, but my sister and Uma think we should get more distance.”
“Alright. I agree,” I said. Exhaustion suddenly hit me, and I glanced behind us to keep myself occupied. No one was chasing us, and I felt relief flood my tired muscles.
“Shit. I forgot about the observation drone!” I groaned.
“It follow us. They move fast,” Hegeia said.
“Really?”
“You can roll down window and look,” Hegeia said, “but I see it in my mirrors. It won’t lose you easily.”
“I guess that’s good, except King Vaish wants me dead, and I’m sure he is using the drone to see my location. You three are probably in a lot of danger.”
Uma asked a question, and then the three women talked for a few minutes. Then I saw Hegeia’s light-blue eyes study me in the rearview mirror.
“Why does King Vaish want to kill you? You do Odin’s rite of passage, ya?”
“Because he’s an asshole,” I sai
d.
Hegeia translated, and the three women surprised me by laughing.
“I guess you three agree,” I said as I mirrored their smiles.
“We help you,” Hegeia said as she took her eyes off the snowy road to glance back at me. Her sister sat in the passenger seat, and she nodded as she smiled at me.
“This next city, are you familiar with it?” I asked after we rode in silence for half an hour.
“No. We drive through before.” Hegeia frowned, and I presumed that her pimp wanted to reach the frontier area before others.
“Do they have starships there?” I asked.
“Hmmm,” she replied, then she spoke to Uma and Waiola for a few moments.
“There was an airport, might not have starships, but might have atmosphere shuttles and planes.”
“Better than nothing,” I said as I glanced down at the tracking device on my wrist. Even a simple plane would cut down my travel time significantly. “One of you wouldn’t happen to know how to fly would you?”
“We are Nordar,” Hegeia said with a shrug.
“Yeah, you all keep saying that as an answer to my question. Be a bit more specific.”
“Ya, Adam, we can fly planes or starships. Do you want to steal a starship?” she turned her eyes to the rearview mirror so she could look at me.
“Yeah. I need to get off this planet, and onto my starship. It is on King Vaish’s fortress.”
“You no complete Odin rite?”
“I don’t really like the idea of hanging from a tree for nine days,” I said.
“Ya, most don’t. That is why powerful.”
“You don’t have to come with me. I can leave you in the city. I’ll just take the ship up to his fortress and--”
“How you dock shuttle?” she cut me off.
“I don’t know. I just thought I’d fucking fly right in and--”
“We help you, Adam. You are nice to us. We are thralls, and--”
“You don’t have to explain it,” I said, but then I got an idea, and leaned forward in my seat. “Hey, do the three of you know how to use a starship navigation systems?”
“Ya, we were rowers. We can operate systems. My sister especially.” Hegeia turned to Waiola, and the women spoke for a few moments. Waiola smiled at me when she was done talking to her sister and nodded her head enthusiastically.
“Okay. So, my starship has a navigation system, and a warpdrive.”
“Inside Vaish fortress?” Hegeia clarified.
“Yeah, so we’ve got some challenges. We need to get a starship so we can leave this planet, then we need to get inside the fortress, then we need to get to my ship and escape.”
“This will make King Vaish very angry,” Hegeia said as she raised her eyebrow.
“Fuck him. Asshole wants to hang me.”
Hegeia laughed and then she spoke to the other two women, they both echoed her mirth, and Uma rested her hand on mine as she wiped away a tear from her eye. The women spoke rapidly to each other, but the language still wasn’t making a lot of sense.
“We might be able to get transport ship and lie to docking authority,” Hegeia was choosing her words carefully, and I guessed she was stretching her English language skills to their maximum.
“Do all Nordar speak the same language?” I asked.
“Ya. Different accent. I can sound like Vaish.” She nodded to me, and her smile grew larger. “It will work. We help you.”
“Great,” I said as a bit of relief flowed through my tired muscles.
“You tired. Sleep. We drive.”
“Naw, I’m good,” I said, but as soon as Hegeia had said the word ‘sleep’ my eyelids felt impossibly heavy.
“We take turns with the sleeping. Part of spear unit. We will serve you, Adam.”
“Alright,” I said, and then I realized that Uma still had her hand on mine. She rested her head against my right shoulder and let out a sigh. I saw Waiola lean against the side of her seat, and the woman gave me a half smile before she closed her eyes.
“Sleep. I good,” Hegeia said, so I leaned to my left and rested my head against the door of the van.
Then I was asleep.
Chapter 9
“Adam!” I heard a voice hiss to me, and I startled awake. For half a moment, I had no idea where I was, but then I saw the three Nordar women, and I recalled the events that put me in their company.
“What’s wrong?” As soon as I said the words, I knew the answer. It was obviously nighttime, and I could make out flashing lights in the far distance.
“Police,” Hegeia said, and I felt my stomach drop. It was hard to tell how many there were ahead of us, but there were a lot of flashing blue and purple lights.
“It’s a roadblock,” I said. “They must be checking everyone who comes through. Do you think they are looking for me?” I noticed the front sleds of the car had been exchanged for tires. I must have been too tired to wake when they stopped the vehicle and made the switch.
“Ya,” Hegeia said.
“Can you turn around and take another route?” I asked. It looked like highland scrubs around us, there were a few clumps of trees on the side of the road, but the area was mostly open. I noticed our van’s headlights were off, and I felt reassured that these women really did want to help me.
“This is main road out of Uminheim,” she said.
“Uminheim?”
“It is the south most country in Niflheim. There are other roads, but we took this one up here. We would have drive north and find other way. I don’t know other way.”
“Fuck,” I growled. “Slow the van down a bit.” Hegeia was already driving pretty slow to buy us some time, but she slowed down to a crawl.
“They might be watching us slow and be worried,” she said, but I doubted they could see us in the darkness without the headlights on.
“I’m going to have to fight them,” I said.
“Police?” Hegeia asked.
“Yeah.”
“Dangerous. There will be many with guns.” Uma asked a question, and Hegeia spoke with them for a few moments.
While they talked, I double checked my pistols and grabbed the double barrel shotgun.
“My sister think you hide in back of van,” Hegeia suggested.
“Until they search the van, and I’m a sitting duck.” I checked the shotgun to confirm it was loaded, and then I double checked my jacket pocket for the two boxes of shells. If they were police, they might have body armor and semi-automatic weapons. They would probably be better trained than the men I had killed in the tavern.
They might also be waiting for me.
“Pull over,” I ordered. “I’m going to get out and try to flank them.
“Adam, we go back. Find new road.”
“Nope. Just wait here. I’ll try and take them out. Stop the van.”
Hegeia nodded and then she pushed her foot down on the brake. I reached to pull the door on my left open, and I felt Uma’s hand on my arm.
“Safe,” she said as her brows knitted together.
“I’ll be fine,” I said to the three of them, and then I exited the van.
I ran around the back of our vehicle and then plunged into the dark field at the side of the road. I estimated that the lights were about two kilometers away, and I tried to make my way through the scattering of bushes, clusters of trees, and rough terrain as quickly as I could. There wasn’t any snow on the ground, but it was still really cold, and the thick jacket I wore wasn’t nearly as protective as the uiun-bair mantel I fashioned.
I was soon close enough to count six cars and ten uniformed men. They wore padded jackets, thick hats, cold weather boots, and they all stood around in a circle chatting. I was a bit too far away to hear them, but I doubted I’d be able to understand them, anyway.
Their cars had large wheels and a raised outline. It did look like the doors had a bit of armor on them, but I doubted it did any more than stopping small firearm rounds. The men laughed, and I notice
d a few of them held mugs of steaming drink in their hands. The sight caused the tension in my shoulder to relax a bit, but then I noticed the guns that hung from their shoulders. They were assault rifles, with laser pointer sights. Two of them carried auto shotguns with long magazines. I thought about the sniper rifle back on Persephone. It would have made short work of these fuckers, but all I had now was three revolvers and a double barrel shotgun. Best case, I’d get through five or six of them before the other men got their rifles up.
I sneaked forward while I continued to watch the group. Half of them were drinking from the hot mugs so it might be a bit better to target those men last. They would have to drop their cups and then reach for their guns. It would only take them an extra half second, but that might make all the difference.
I reached the side of the cars and watched the men for a few minutes. They had no idea I was hiding in the darkness next to them, and I reviewed my killing order a few times before I reached down to unlace my boots.
I didn’t like the idea of killing police, but I doubted these men felt the same way about killing me. They wanted the reward the king offered them.
They wanted to stop me from saving the women I loved.
I picked up my shotgun and let the monster in my DNA take control of my body.
The power filled my muscles. The roar of anger filled my mind. I felt my vision spin as my spine destroyed itself elongating. The shift was more painful than I was used to, but that could have been because I tried to keep myself from groaning.
My old teeth started to fall out, and I kneeled on the ground so they wouldn’t make too much noise when I spit them out. The fur pushed out of my skin, and the chill of the night disappeared with the beast’s anger.
My eyes were the last to change, and my new vision cut through the dark night like lasers. My human sight was already improved because of the experiments, but I could now make out all the details of the road and the dark sides of the field where I hid.
The men were gathered on the other side of the street, and I almost considered running around the cars so I could approach them from the better angle, but then I reconsidered. What mattered was how quickly I could kill all of them once I’d fired my first shot.
Prime Valkyrie: A Paranormal Space Opera Adventure (Star Justice Book 6) Page 12
