Neverwylde (The Rim of the World Book 4)

by Linda Mooney

  Kelen bent to pick up one of the containers, when Kyber hunched over, placing a hand on her shoulder and giving it a squeeze. She glanced up to see him staring behind her. The ruff on the crest of his head rose with his alarm, and he silently snarled. She froze, waiting for him to make the next move.

  She heard a noise, like the shuffling of feet. It sounded like it was coming from the other side of the cavern, not from the opening where she and Kyber had emerged. Pulling her blaster from her pocket, she moved away from him to give herself an unobstructed shot. They waited, their muscles tensed with expectation, when they heard a whisper.

  “Holy shit! Will you look at all this stuff?”

  Kelen started. “Jules?”

  “Kelen? Hey, Kelen!”

  The navigator came running around a tall pyramid of materials. Behind him were Fullgrath, Mellori, Sandow, and Dox, as well as Massapa, Gaveer, and Kleesod. The group merged with hugs and pats on the back.

  “Are you two all right?” Sandow quickly scanned her and Kyber, checking for injuries.

  “We are fine,” Kyber assured the man. “We managed to flee Hoov’s people and find refuge for the night. We were following the tunnel when we came across this trove of artifacts.”

  “Sounds pretty much like what happened to us. Which way did you come from?” Fullgrath questioned.

  Kelen pointed in the direction of the other opening. “Back there. And you won’t believe what we discovered.”

  “This looks like Devtoki.”

  They turned to find Massapa holding up an oddly-shaped container. The Seneecian pointed to the emblems on the side.

  Kyber lifted the partially empty box he was holding. “This is Krinollian.”

  “Krinollian?” Mellori wrinkled his nose in puzzlement. “What in hell is this stuff doing here? What is this place? A trading post?”

  “I believe Hoov and its people scavenge the ships that crash here, and this is one of the caverns where they store all the confiscated supplies and materials,” Kyber told them. He gestured to the piles surrounding them. “If we investigate further, there is no telling what goods from other worlds that we may find.”

  Kelen gave Jules another quick hug. “I’m so glad we managed to reconnect. Did everyone make it out of that ambush okay?”

  “We think so.”

  “Where is Tojun?” Kyber interrupted.

  “We do not know,” Gaveer admitted. “Massapa and I fled down one of the tunnels during the assault and got separated from everyone else. He wasn’t with Jules and the rest when they found us.”

  “You were lucky you managed to reconnect,” Kelen remarked.

  “It wasn’t luck that got us back together,” Jules hurried to explain, tossing Dox a grin. “I tracked you here.”

  “Tracked us how?” Kyber asked with a perplexed frown.

  “Actually, I tracked Kelen because Dox couldn’t plant a device on you,” the ex-navigator explained, eyeing the Seneecian’s partial nudity. Other than the genital cup covering his parts, Kyber was unclothed, having lost his uniform back at the other temple. Although he’d been offered a clean Terran uniform, he’d chosen not to wear it, claiming that it would inhibit him from having full use of his arms and legs in the event he needed to defend himself.

  Jules pointed to Kelen’s hip. “Check your pocket.”

  Shoving a hand into one, she encountered nothing, when she remembered Dox brushing up against her before the fight erupted. The device was in her other pocket. She withdrew the button-shaped object and recognized it. “This is one of the communications devices Dox was working on.”

  Mellori nodded with a grin. “He wasn’t able to finish them in time, but he had the forethought to put one on each of us. When hell broke loose back there, he and I followed Jules into the corridors. When we finally had the chance to stop and take a breather, Dox explained how Jules could use his tablet to detect and track each of us. Since there was no place on Kyber where he could put one, we hoped the two of you would remain together.”

  Kelen gave Dox’s arm a squeeze. “That was brilliant thinking, Dox.” The young man returned her praise with beatific smile, then detached himself to poke through the piles of dumped materials.

  “So who else are we short? Where’s Cooter?” Kelen inquired.

  “Haven’t seen him since the ambush,” Fullgrath acknowledged.

  “Kyber.” Kleesod motioned at them from another pile several meters away. “You have to see this.”

  “What?”

  Kelen followed her husband, who quickly strode over to where a smaller load had been dumped. Kyber gasped, dropped to one knee, and began pawing through the debris. It took her a few seconds to recognize what they’d found.

  “Is that Seneecian?”

  “Not just Seneecian,” Kleesod informed them. “It is from the Ist Umberu.”

  “Your ship? How is that possible?”

  “Hoov’s people must have a way to detect ships that crash on this world. Then they go and scrounge for everything they can, and bring it back here,” Mellori guessed.

  “We crashed near the other temple. I could see them using the transportation panel to get from there to here, but how did they get from here to there when the panel on this side is frozen?” Jules asked.

  “Maybe they can reach it on foot,” Gaveer remarked. “Maybe these temples are closer together than we originally believed.”

  “No.” Mellori shook his head. “There is no way that big a difference in temperature and climate can exist side-by-side. I’m willing to bet we’re on the opposite side of the planet.”

  “Even if we are, what purpose would they have for taking this stuff? Or for storing it here, for that matter?” Kelen included.

  Sandow scratched his chin. “Does there have to be a reason, Kel? I mean, why couldn’t they do it simply because they like to hoard stuff? Remember, there are creatures on our world, like magpies, who like to collect shiny objects and take them back to their nests simply as keepsakes. Maybe these things are doing it for a similar reason.”

  “It is all here,” Kyber suddenly announced.

  Kelen turned to him. “What?”

  “Our gear. Our food and water we had originally brought with us when we arrived at the first temple. Our survival material that mysteriously disappeared.” He pulled out a packet, ripped it open, and drank thirstily of the contents, as did the other Seneecians. He handed the remainder to Kelen, who finished it off.

  “I bet if we keep looking, we’ll find our sled and all the stuff we’d brought with us, too,” Fullgrath predicted.

  “Well, whatever we plan to do, it better be quick.” Jules’ tone of voice held a warning.

  Kelen glanced up to see the navigator staring at his tablet. “Why?”

  “He can track that Hoov thing,” Fullgrath said.

  “How?”

  The big guy pointed to his chest and made a circular motion. “That rock we got off Hoov to make the translation device? It puts out a kind of vibe.”

  “A uniquely patterned wavelength,” Mellori corrected. “The tablet can pick up on those wavelengths. Although we can’t track the other creatures’ whereabouts, at least we can pinpoint Hoov’s location.”

  “And chances are good that wherever that stick thing is, those that follow it aren’t far behind,” Fullgrath muttered. “How long do you think we got, Jules?”

  “At the pace they’re moving, I’d estimate no more than an hour.” He pointed to the opening where Kelen and Kyber had emerged. “From that direction.”

  “Then we had best grab what we can and leave immediately,” Kyber suggested. He paused for a second, then added, “Dox, you said you put a device on Tojun? Dox?”

  A head popped up from behind a pile nearly halfway across the cavern. “Dox here!”

  Sandow stepped forward. “We’ve been tracking all the devices, and that’s how we’ve been able to regroup with each other. Once we met up with Massapa and Gaveer, we took roll. That’s how we deter
mined that Kelen and Tojun had to be the remaining two blips.”

  “So there is one blip left to meet up with?” Kyber clarified.

  Jules nodded and pointed to a side of the cavern none of them were familiar with. “That-a-way.”

  Fullgrath grumped. “I’ll take door number three. Dox? Come on, or we’re leaving you behind. We gotta get our butts away from this place.”

  Kelen glanced over to see the head had disappeared from the top of the pile. “Geez, and here we were hoping this cavern would have a panel in it.”

  Jules gave her an apologetic smile. “Sorry, Kel. It seems only the colored caverns have the transportation panels.”

  “Then point us to the nearest colored cavern,” Gaveer growled.

  Kyber quickly countered him. “Not until we first find Tojun.”

  “And hopefully we’ll meet up again with Cooter before then,” Sandow remarked.

  They quickly filled their bundles with Seneecian equipment and foodstuffs. As usual, Dox showed up with another armload of strange-looking equipment, but no one dared tell him to leave some of it behind. The probability was too high that somewhere along the way, their lives might depend on some gizmo he created from it.

  Hoisting her bundle over her shoulder, Kelen took one final look around the cavern before following Kyber and the rest of the group down the mouth of the third tunnel.

  Chapter 22

  Tojun

  They hadn’t traveled far through the third tunnel when they came to a slight widening. At that time, Jules double-checked their position in relation to the remaining blip which signified Tojun’s location, and the blue dot which told them where Hoov was. For several minutes they tracked both pinpoints of light, until Fullgrath pointed out a fact that was becoming clearer.

  “Appears to me both of those dots are heading for that bigger red one.”

  Jules agreed. “They’re heading for the red cavern.”

  “Whatever a red cavern means,” Mellori remarked.

  “There were no red caverns, or purple ones at the other temple,” Kelen reminded them.

  “Just as there are no green or blue ones here, like the other temple had,” Massapa added.

  Kelen continued to study the two moving lights that slowly but inexorably were growing closer to each other. “Guys, we’d better hurry, or else Tojun’s going to find himself in the thick of another battle. Jules, how far are we from the red cavern?”

  The navigator shrugged. “Judging by our movement, it could be another kilometer from here, maybe more.”

  Kelen felt Kyber leaning over her shoulder to study the tablet’s view screen. He turned his face toward her. “That red cavern is north of us, correct?”

  “Yes.”

  “Yet we appear to be moving parallel to it.”

  The implication hit her. “We have to find an east-west corridor so we can connect to that other tunnel!”

  “What are you talking about?” Sandow asked.

  Kelen hastened to explain. “I have this theory that all these tunnels aren’t just randomly connected. I believe the colored caverns, the ones with transportation panels, are all connected via north-to-south tunnels. Those are the tunnels which are completely dark. But the tunnels which contain the glowing glyphs run east to west, intersecting them.”

  “Like a grid?” Mellori queried.

  “Uh-huh. And I think it’s the north-south tunnels that ascend and descend, while the east-west ones are relatively level.”

  “Makes sense to me,” Fullgrath muttered.

  Kyber continued. “If we can find one of those intersecting tunnels, we can cut through it to reach the tunnel that goes straight to that red cavern.”

  “It would explain why these dots appear to be floating in somewhat straight lines.” Jules adjusted his readouts. “So we need to find, what? Another air vent that will lead us to one of those holographic doorways?”

  “That, or one of the little secret tunnels,” the Seneecian replied.

  In the glow from their tube lights, Kelen saw their looks of surprise. “I know this is going to sound odd, but we discovered a set of smaller tunnels, about yea high and yea wide. They’re too small for any of Hoov’s people to go through, even if they crawled on their abdomens.” She held out her arms to show size.

  Kyber continued. “We have seen too much evidence of other cultures down here. We have spotted markings identical to the ones at the other temple. We believe it is possible that, at one time, all three major intelligent species lived together all over the planet. But at some point they had to split up.”

  “Why?” Gaveer asked.

  Kyber shrugged. “We do not know, but we have an idea. Those little tunnels we discovered, we think they were how the smaller creatures like the remains we found at the other temple got around.”

  “That, or they used them for escape or safety from Hoov’s people,” Kelen interjected. “Of course, it’s all conjecture, but I don’t think the three species got along with each other, which is why they eventually split up and each took a different part of the planet to inhabit.”

  “You’re saying there are three intelligent species on this world,” Fullgrath clarified. “One being the little guys who are most likely extinct, another being the insect-like creatures like Hoov, and one we’ve yet to discover.”

  Kelen winced at the thought of what that third species might be. “That’s right.”

  Jules spoke up. “Hey, guys, if we’re going to intercept Tojun to prevent him from running headlong into Hoov’s people, we better find that east-west tunnel and quick!”

  “Jules, does your tablet have a north-south calibration?” Mellori asked.

  The navigator shook his head. “The magnetic fields around this place are skewed. I can’t pinpoint any definite north or south heading. Sorry.”

  “Then we keep moving and keep our noses open for any sign of fresh air,” Kyber suggested and pushed ahead.

  For the next quarter hour, they continued heading northward as they searched for a ventilation duct. From the ache in her leg muscles, Kelen could tell they were steadily climbing, although not at a steep grade. The throbbing in her abdomen thankfully remained distant. Whether it was because of Kyber’s lovemaking or the exercise she was getting didn’t matter. Without the cramping pain gnawing at her, she felt confident and hopeful they would eventually find Tojun and a transportation panel that would get them away from this place. Additionally on the plus side, the energy they were expending was enough to keep them warm, as the screen on Jules’s tablet confirmed that the temperature was gradually dropping the further they climbed.

  She glanced behind at where Gaveer and Kleesod followed. When they all had met up at the cavern, she’d noticed how the Seneecians nostrils widened. Kyber’s men smelled blood on him and her. She couldn’t tell if they were aware of where the blood had come from. Even if they did, there was nothing she or Kyber could do about it.

  “Here! I think I found one!” Fullgrath motioned for them to check out what he believed was a draft. Kleesod confirmed it.

  “Here. The doorway is here.” The Seneecian shoved an arm into what appeared to be solid rock, only to have his limb vanish up to the elbow.

  They hurried into the corridor where a row of softly glowing symbols ran parallel to the floor, as they’d expected. Jules checked their location.

  “Straight ahead another fifty or so meters. If we find another north-west tunnel, it should cut off a good fifteen to twenty minutes.”

  “How are we on those converging lights?” Gaveer asked tersely.

  “Not good,” Jules answered.

  With the pale glyphs lighting their way, they picked up their pace. At one point Kyber held back, letting Kelen pass him. She noticed him drop into step between Massapa and Kleesod.

  “We may face another group of Hoov’s people,” Massapa observed.

  “If we do, we fight. We must do all we can to find Tojun and help him if he needs us,” Kyber responded.

&n
bsp; “It is possible we may be too late,” Kleesod remarked.

  “True, but we must take the chance he can be saved. You would want us to do the same if it was you in his place.”

  Kelen resisted the impulse to glance behind her to see Kleesod’s face. Instead, she smiled to herself, proud of her husband’s stance even though everyone knew they were risking their lives for the sake of one man’s. When they all could be heading up to the next cavern, putting as much distance between themselves and Hoov’s people, they were running right back into those things’ nest.

  She glanced over at Sandow as he wiped the sweat from his face with his sleeve. They were no longer Terran and Seneecian. They were brothers-in-arms, fighting against a common foe. If it had been Fullgrath or Mellori, or any other Terran, she knew the Seneecians would rally to help rescue him the same way she and her crew members were determined to save Tojun.

  They’d discovered more than neutrality. They’d found common ground.

  Humanity.

  Fullgrath halted, throwing up a fist to signal. “I think we’ve reached the end of this tunnel,” he whispered. Ahead, the corridor curved slightly to the right, but Kelen could smell a difference in the air.

  “Take a quick break,” Kyber ordered. “Get some water. We must ready ourselves for when we step out into that tunnel.”

  “What is our plan?” Sandow whispered.

  Kyber motioned to Jules. “What do you see?”

  Kelen peeked over Jules’ shoulder where the two lights were almost on top of one another. Both were very close to the red light. A fourth light was now present on the screen, and she mentioned it.

  “What’s that one?”

  “Us,” Jules told her. “More specifically, me.”

  The fourth light was almost touching the red one.

  “We’re on the opposite side of the red cavern,” she noted.

  “Looks that way,” the ex-navigator agreed. “It appears Tojun is coming from the other side, and Hoov isn’t far behind him.”

  “Then we need to be in that cavern when he arrives,” Gaveer suggested. “We need to get his attention before Hoov shows up.”

  “I agree,” Kyber said. “We must hurry.”