"Tani, we're rock, all of us!" Storm's tone was sharp as Logan scooped her up.
The link was wearing thin. The girl's strength running like water through the crevices in—rock, yes, they were rock still. She held grimly, despairingly as Logan carried her pace by pace toward safety. The clickers closed in. At the entrance Dumaroy moved up to the center of the opening. He knelt and began to fire like a machine. Clicker after clicker died. He'd been the best. At the back of his mind he'd known he'd never been this good. Now and again he'd missed. Here he couldn't afford that. If he missed one of the clickers he'd have to shoot the girl.
The laser rifle pulsed silently, each pulse another hit, more dead enemies. Storm and Logan moved on. Ten steps to go, then five. The laser rifle's charge was running down, too. The pulses had that first touch of raggedness. Dumaroy swore and kept shooting. By him Kelson was hissing orders. Logan swung Tani clear and two Nitra seized her, running her to safety away from the tunnel. Storm staggered another five paces and collapsed on the warm rock.
As he cleared the opening Kelson and his rangers moved in. Lasers swept the tunnel again and again. If only they could have done it that way to begin with, Storm thought. But they dared not take the risk. Too much laser fire could have triggered other warning systems. Now they held the tunnel, and hatching tanks held only dead bodies. Clickers died until at last there were no more to be seen.
Kelson signaled some of his people forward. "Rater, take a look at the small room halfway down the tunnel, on the left before the room with the breeding vats. Storm thinks the bomb controls are there." A small, wiry man, with graying hair, nodded and trotted briskly down the tunnel to investigate. Rater had been a UXB-tech in the Xik war before he returned to Arzor to ranch frawns.
A Thunder-Drummer joined Kelson, his hands moving in interested question.
"There have been no enemy people, only Death-Which-Comes-in-the-Night. Where are the enemy? Are they in hiding?"
"Maybeso. Wait." Kelson was studying one of the screens Logan had set up. Put came up behind them to peer over their shoulders. It was he who spoke first.
"There, see. Two or maybe three of them. The heat signatures overlap, it could be three. Move the angle." Logan obeyed. "No one anywhere else. I'd say those two or three are the afternoon shift and that's all."
The medicine man, who had been watching, might not have understood most of the discussion, but he understood the moving heat shapes. He turned to Dumaroy.
"Gun die?"
The big rancher was snapping in a second charge. Now that there was a lull, he could do that without fearing Tani would die if he paused.
Dumaroy grinned, his hands flicking through fast signs. "No, Gun lives again, why?"
"My warriors. We tempt out Death-Which-Comes-in-the-Night. We bring any left from hiding. You kill them."
Before there could be any objections, he twittered. A warrior trotted deep into the tunnel opening, past the door to the bomb room, and posed. From near the vats, a clicker leapt and died, its imperative to guard the vats still alive. Bit by bit the warriors teased—as they said—the enemy from hiding. Dumaroy continued to shoot. Finally no clicker came to the gun. Kelson straightened.
"Bring the flashlights. We have to check the vats, I want the inside broken open and the contents re-lasered just to make certain. While some of us are doing that, I want a squad to shake out those Xik scientists, or whatever they are, the ones the heat screen shows in the lower rooms.
A mixed group of human and Nitra answered his demands. The vats were lasered over and over until the contents were ash. At the same time a second group had padded their way silently down the tunnels. The three Xiks below might have been scientists, but they fought like mad beasts, reported Dumaroy, who'd led that attack. They couldn't be taken alive, and his men were bringing the bodies out now. He'd had two men injured, but both should survive.
Kelson returned an hour later to where Storm and Tani lay on blankets. Storm was awake again but Tani slept, curled peacefully into herself, holding Storm's hand. Speaker of Dreams nodded to the liaison man.
"They are only tired. Let them rest a little, drink water, eat something. They'll be strong enough to ride back to our camp soon."
Kelson dropped to a squat and nodded to Storm. "Looks as if you did it. Everything in the vats is ash, and we can't persuade another guard to show its feelers. If the Ark scientists are right, any guard clicker left will die without breeding in a few weeks, anyway. There were three scientists in the lower levels of the laboratory. They fought to the death but we have the bodies. High Command is likely to lean hard on the Xik home world over this business. They have more than enough proof to make further sanctions stick. We'll start for the copter in an hour. I'm sharing out the loot as we promised, then the Nitra will head back to their own tribes."
Storm nodded wearily, looking at Tani. "Leave us until last, Kelson. Let her rest as long as she can." He summoned up a tired smile. "The clan will want to celebrate when we get to camp. She'll need to be awake for that."
The clan did, and Tani was. One of the Nitra warriors was already leading Storm's and Tani's mounts back toward the Quade ranch by the time the celebration was slowing down. With dawn the copter carried Storm and Tani to the ranch, where, once Tani had slept herself out, Kady entered her bedroom to talk.
"You're staying here, aren't you?"
Tani took her hands. "It's where I belong now," she said gently. "I'll miss the Ark and you two. You will stop off at Arzor sometimes on business. I'll see you then. But I can't leave Storm." She giggled suddenly. "I'm a landowner too. The Government voted me fifty squares alongside Storm's land. He said Destiny will like that. He gets five years free of tax, so we'll both manage very well."
"What about the others?"
"The humans all get five squares of land or something equivalent. The Nitra left really loaded down with loot. They'll all be big warriors when they get back to their tribes. Kelson's men have a list of stuff. I don't think anyone feels they weren't well treated."
Kady looked at her niece. "So how long do Brion and I have to hold the Ark?"
"Why? Oh!" Tani flushed, then laughed. "Not long. Storm says we'll have the most mixed lot of wedding guests Arzor has ever seen. Brad says it's okay. It isn't every day a Cheyenne-Irish clan-friend marries a Navaho Beast Master. He's looking forward to it. I just hope the weather's okay for the ceremony. There's far too many guests coming for us to have it inside, and it's so close to the start of the Big Wet."
Epilogue
The day was clouded but not wet. The guests crowded the area near the ranch house where Tani stood with Storm. Through their feet played Hing, her mate, and a positive meerkat clan. On perches Mandy and a male paraowl eyed each other thoughtfully. They were still undecided. Baku and Surra were nowhere to be seen. They'd already decided and were off celebrating those decisions.
Those gathered to hear the oath were as mixed as Brad had said. They had one thing in common, however: approving smiles as they listened. After oaths were given and taken, Logan amused those who spoke one-speech by teasing Mandy into replying to trick questions. Such as "What do you think Xiks should do on such a lovely morning?" The guests found the answers amusing . . . until an indignant Tani put a stop to it. Later they watched as two riders cantered away across the mauve and green landscape toward the Basin rim.
A day later the shuttle rose toward the Ark. Below, Tani opened an eye to watch, then shut it again and snuggled closer. That felt odd. She groaned and opened her eyes to look properly. Between her and Storm, Minou and Ferarre were finding it pleasantly warm. Two humans were a lot warmer than one on a chilly early morning. Storm watched her eviction of the coyotes and laughed.
"You'll have to get used to that. It comes with being a Beast Master."
Tani pounced and he rolled as she tickled mercilessly. Above, unnoticed, the Ark swung out of orbit, heading away for the next world. Below, Storm and Tani were otherwise occupied. Their world was enoug
h—for now.
About the Authors
One of the best-loved and most famous science fiction and fantasy authors of all time, Andre Norton was named Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and was awarded an H. P. Lovecraft Life Achievement Award by the World Fantasy Convention. She has written over a hundred novels, which have sold millions of copies worldwide, including her Witch World, Beast Master, Solar Queen, and Time Traders series, among others. She lives in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, where she presides over High Hallack, a writer's resource and retreat. More can be learned at www.andre-norton.org.
Lyn McConchie has written many novels, including collaborations with Andre Norton, Key to the Keplian, a Witch World novel, and the forthcoming Beast Master's Circus. She lives in New Zealand, where she writes—and runs a farm.
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Epilogue
About the Authors
Beast Master's Ark Page 25
