Tassin groaned as Shan approached with an armload of flowers, which, considering how few grew amongst the grass, must have taken him all day to collect. The tall man knelt before her and laid the blossoms at her feet.
"For you, Tassin."
She glowered at him. "Go away, Shan, and take your flowers with you."
He looked pained. "I merely wish to show you how much I admire you, Tassin. You're the most beautiful woman in the tribe."
She snorted. "I'm only visiting."
"You have a snail with your mark on it, so you're one of the tribe."
She glanced at Sabre, who suppressed a smile, then turned back to her unwanted suitor. "Leave me alone."
He rose, looking hurt, and walked away.
Clon frowned at her. "He could cause trouble for you, young lady."
Sabre's amusement evaporated. "What sort of trouble?"
"Well, he's right. You're officially part of the tribe now, and women don't stay single here. Shan is the only unwed man, and he can only find a wife if he challenges one of the other men, or if we meet another herd. Since you two aren't married, he has every right to pay court to Tassin. He's been quite patient, but I fear that his patience will run out soon, and then he may resort to more forceful tactics."
"Then Sabre will kill him, or I will," Tassin retorted.
Sabre's brows rose, and he shot her a dubious glance.
Clon shook his head. "You have no right, since you've declared that you're not wed. Why should Sabre protect you from a suitor?"
"Because I don't want him."
The chief smiled. "Women never know what they want. They always say no, but once they've been persuaded, they're happy. They just enjoy the chase."
Sabre chuckled, and Tassin shot him a killing glare. "We're leaving," she said, jumping up.
He squinted up at her. "What, now? It's getting late, you know."
"In the morning." She marched off towards their snail.
Clon gazed after her. "She has a lot of spirit."
Sabre snorted. "You could call it that, I suppose."
"I'm surprised you haven't claimed her." Clon turned to him, raising a brow. "She's young and beautiful. If I wasn't already married..."
"She's a queen, and I'm just a commoner. Besides, you don't know her like I do. She's cute, but boy, is she a pain sometimes."
Clon laughed, his eyes sparkling. "But all women are like that, Sabre. My wife Rishal is a lovely girl, sweet and beautiful, and I love her dearly, but sometimes I wish someone would challenge me for her. I wouldn't fight very hard."
Sabre grinned. "Nags, does she?"
"When she gets going, I run!"
"How is it that men and women, who are so different, can get along?"
"You don't understand love, my friend. They say it's blind, and they're right. But that warm feeling you get in your chest when everything's going well, like bubbles bursting, nothing can beat it. When I first saw Rishal, the world moved. Her father didn't like me. He said I was too small, and he beat me good, gave me two black eyes and almost broke my arm, but I wouldn't give up. Eventually the judges gave her to me. Then I had to win her heart, and that was an even tougher battle." He leant closer. "But I think you've already won little Tassin's heart, my friend. You should marry her."
Sabre stared across the plains. "What makes you say that?"
"The way she looks at you, of course. And when one of the other women looks at you, she glares."
Sabre touched the brow band in an involuntary gesture of despair. If Tassin had developed feelings for him, she would only get hurt. The feelings he had, which so confused him, were pointless and forbidden. The voice in his head taunted him from the dark corner where his despair dwelt. Cyborg! He glanced at Clon, who looked concerned, but as the chief opened his mouth, shouts came from the direction in which Tassin had vanished into the herd.
Clon looked around. "Oh dear, Shan has lost patience."
Sabre leapt up and sprinted towards the herd before Clon had finished the sentence. Skidding around a snail, he found Shan dragging Tassin, who punched and kicked him, shouting insults. A chuckling crowd gathered, and Shan looked like he was already regretting his move, hopping as the Queen landed a good kick on his shin. He persevered, however, warding off her blows. Sabre grinned.
Tassin spotted him, and her wrathful expression boded ill for him too. "Sabre! Get this lout off me!"
He strolled closer, and Shan paused as Sabre blocked the path and said, "Shan, you really don't want to do this."
Tassin shouted, "Just kill him!"
Shan gaped at her.
"See what I mean?" Sabre enquired. "She's a real cow."
Tassin spluttered, glaring at him. "How dare you? I'm a queen, above all you riffraff! Let me go!" She landed another kick on Shan's shin, and he hopped, cursing.
"Is this why she's not your wife?"
Sabre folded his arms. "I wouldn't touch her with a bargepole. Imagine having to put up with that for the rest of your life? She'd drive any man to drink, take my word for it. The window dressing's nice, but the language?" He shook his head. "You'd be a brave man to tackle her, and you'd get no joy from it. She'll make your life a misery."
Shan eyed the panting, dishevelled Queen, who glowered at each of them in turn. "Perhaps you're right." He released her, and she rubbed her wrist.
"The pair of you can go to hell!" she shouted, and marched off.
Sabre put a hand on Shan's shoulder. "My friend, you have no idea what a narrow escape you just had."
The tall man looked bemused but disappointed. Sabre grimaced and followed the Queen. He found her in the snail, stuffing her bedding into a bag. Leaning against the shell, he watched her until she turned on him, then raised his hands at her thunderous expression.
"Hey! Whoa! Peace!"
"You!" she snarled. "How dare you insult me like that? You should be flogged!"
He groaned. She was back on her high horse again. "It worked, didn't it?"
She hurled a wooden bowl, which he ducked. "Knocking him out would have too! Without embarrassing me!"
"Oh, right, I should have just put his lights out. At least you've mellowed from killing." A rolled up blanket flew at his head, and he ducked again.
"You have no class! A prince, or even a knight, would have shown me more respect!"
"Well I'm sorry, Your Highness, I'm just one of the riffraff."
"That's right!" Tassin yelled, and hurled a stream of missiles at him; three pottery jugs, two wooden bowls, a half full water skin and a metal pot with a dent in it that bounced off the shell with a clatter. He caught the pottery jugs to save them from destruction and dodged the rest, wondering what the snail thought of the ruckus going on in its shell. He hoped Shan was listening.
Tassin ran out of ammunition and stood panting, arms akimbo. "I suppose you thought it was funny?"
He put the jugs down. "Well... sort of." He grinned.
She flew at him and smacked his face before he caught her wrists. "Take your dirty hands off me!"
"I will if you stop trying to hit me. I don't enjoy it, you know. I feel pain just as much as anyone else."
Tassin growled and wrenched away. He released her, and she retreated to the far side of the snail and glowered at him.
"So, you still think I'm a cow?"
He shrugged. "Only when you act like one."
"Oh!" She gestured wildly. "So I should have just let him drag me into his snail?"
"No, you could have simply called me, instead of cursing a blue streak and pulverising his shins."
Tassin glared at him, still fuming, but stumped. "Sometimes I wish you were still a cyber, then I wouldn't have to listen to your pontificating self-righteousness!"
He sighed. "Well, technically I am still a cyber, but I'm not self-righteous, just trying to keep the peace."
Tassin swung away. "We're leaving! I need to live amongst people of my own class, who have manners, not a bunch of savages with the morals of cavem
en."
"Oh? And Torrian wasn't about to drag you, kicking and screaming, to the altar before we left?"
Tassin spun back. "You always have to be right, don't you? At least Torrian's a king!"
"He's still a man. Under all the pomp and a silly title is just another hairy male."
"Silly title?"
Sabre cursed under his breath. He was only digging a bigger hole for himself, it seemed. He waited for the next outburst, then tensed when shouts and screams came from outside, and he wondered what was going on. As he raised his hands to clap, the floor heaved. Tassin yelped as she lost her balance and fell against the shell. The floor bulged, rising at a remarkable speed, carrying them and all the brick-a-brack up with it. The shell slid downwards, filled by the rising body. The snail was withdrawing.
Sabre crossed to Tassin's side, and as soon as he was in range she threw her arms around his neck and clung to him. He held her while the snail continued to withdraw, the shell sliding past his back. He was forced to walk forward as the floor moved under his feet, yet stayed against the wall. The snail's foot soon filled the lower part of the shell, reaching the curved section, where the floor tilted, forcing them to make their way down onto the top of the curved spiral.
The only sound was a soft slithering as the snail's silky skin rubbed against the smooth inside of the shell. They were flung across the shell, and Sabre thrust himself between Tassin and the wall to cushion her from the impact. Deprived of its massive foot, the tall shell had fallen over. Sabre tried to untangle himself from Tassin, but she hung on, trembling, and he was unwilling to pry her away. The snail had almost completely withdrawn now, but, as Clon had said, there was still enough room to sit comfortably. A squeaking sound told him that the snail was pulling its door into place, then silence reigned.
For the next few minutes, only their breathing broke the quiet. Sabre assumed that everyone had reached their snails and were safely inside. He had not asked Clon whether a snail would let a person in after it had withdrawn, but he doubted it, for once the massive chitin door was in place, the snail could not open the passage without opening the door. Questions plagued him. What had caused the snails to withdraw, and could it harm them? He did not relish the possibility of being trapped inside a decomposing snail.
Straining his sensitive ears, he detected the faint padding of paws moving through the grass, and the sound of panting, like a dog's. A flashing red light deep in his brain caught his attention, and, remembering the cyber, he consulted the scanners. Thirty-two life signs moved amongst the herd. The bright lights indicated large creatures, and the colour identified them as terrestrial wolves. Why would a pack of wolves attack the alien snails, he wondered, and why were the snails afraid of them? Clon had mentioned wolves, but not that they were dangerous to the snails. Surely wolves could not kill one of the multi-tonne beasts, whose leathery hide was immensely strong?
Teeth grated on the shell close to his head, making Tassin gasp and clutch him tighter. Claws scratched the shell, then the beast outside moved away, going around to the bottom of the snail to test the door's strength. There too, it seemed to have no luck, and silence fell once more as the wolf moved off. Sabre was sure the pack would soon lose interest and leave, but the snail remained closed. He became aware of Tassin's face buried far too intimately in the side of his neck, and her arms locked around him with the tenacity of a lamprey. He patted her shoulder.
"Tassin, there's no need to try to climb into my skin. It's just a pack of wolves, and they can't get in, okay?"
An unintelligible mumble, muffled by his neck, answered him.
"What?"
She turned her head. "Is it too much to expect a little comfort from you in a dangerous situation?"
"Just a few minutes ago, you were throwing pots at my head."
"Things change."
"Don't they just? Come on, ease up, you're giving me a cramp."
Tassin looked up, her face centimetres from his, and Sabre turned his head away. Tension filled the shell's cramped confines.
"Are you so heartless?"
"No."
Tassin pulled back to study him, and Sabre extricated himself, moving away to lean against the curving wall.
"You find intimate situations strange, don't you?" she asked.
He scowled, irritated by her astute deduction. Was he so transparent? "Of course I do. I haven't exactly had a lot of experience with that sort of thing."
"And how will you ever gain any, if you avoid it?"
He shrugged. "Perhaps I don't want any. What good would it do me?"
"You may learn what it is to be human."
"My being human has only ever led to disaster."
"That's no reason to shun it. Do you think I want you to be like the cyber?"
"I don't have to... just leave it, okay?" He met her eyes, and she looked away. Sabre leant his head against the shell and tried to relax.
If only Sabre was not a commoner, or, at least, not so handsome, Tassin mused. A thought struck her, and she asked, "Sabre, the man you were... cloned from, what do you know about him?"
A bitter smile twisted his lips. "Not much, but he was only a dirty commoner, so you can forget that little idea too."
"I'm just trying to make conversation to distract myself from the situation, that's all."
"Yeah, right. Why don't you accept that you're no longer a queen? You can never return to Arlin, and even if we find a country populated by a monarchy, you have no proof of who you are. We're just a couple of wanderers now. Wouldn't you be happier if you accepted that and lived a normal life?"
"You mean become a commoner."
He sighed. "You've lived as a commoner since we left Arlin. Has it been so bad?"
"I was raised to be a queen. How can I forget that?"
"But you can't be a queen here. What will you do, spend the rest of your life searching for a prince to marry?"
She bit her lip, her heart heavy. "I'll not be happy until I rule Arlin again. That's what I was born to do. How can I live as a commoner, knowing that I'm a queen?"
"How can you go back, knowing that Torrian's waiting for you?"
"I don't know." She frowned and turned away.
Sabre listened to the silence outside, wondering why the snail remained closed. A glance at the scanners showed him that all of the wolves were gathered around one snail, and the realisation hit him like a slap.
"Shit! They've found a way in."
"What?" Tassin looked up in surprise.
"The wolves. They must have found a way into one of the snails."
"What makes you say that? Maybe they've left?"
Sabre shook his head. "No, I can see them on the scanners. They're all around one snail." He paused, frowning. "And there are four people inside it."
"Do you think they will survive?"
"Perhaps." He nodded at the wall of flesh that filled the shell behind him. "These are very big creatures. I doubt even thirty-two wolves could eat their way through all that. Maybe we'll just have to dig them out when the wolves have gorged themselves and left. But how can wolves eat an alien creature like this? It's poisonous to them."
"They're just animals. Maybe they don't realise."
"That's possible, I suppose."
"Maybe it's the mage!" she said.
"I don't think he has the power to do this. Those animals aren't illusions. Besides, I don't see him on the scanners; all the people are inside snails."
As they waited, the light within the snail faded from the dull illumination of the sunlight permeating the shell to the dim light of the algae. The snail was not going to open until the wolves had feasted and left, Sabre surmised. Tassin fell asleep, and he dozed against the wall.
The cyber’s chronometer told Sabre it was noon, local time, when a soft slithering sound alerted him to the fact that the snail was re-emerging. The wall of flesh receded, moving around the curve of the shell. He woke Tassin, and they followed it. The snail extended its foot far out
of its home, allowing sunlight to flood in through the gap. Once its foot had a firm grip on the earth, it pulled the shell upright, and they jumped onto its back. Sabre clapped his hands, and the beast drew aside its flesh to open the passage.
Outside, a balmy breeze ruffled the tranquil, rolling grasslands. He stretched, glad to be out in the fresh air. All the snails were either re-emerging or already out, waving their feelers in an agitated manner. Clon trotted past, and Sabre and Tassin followed him to the edge of the herd, where a crowd gathered around a terrible sight.
A snail shell lay on its side, a huge area of blood-stained grass surrounding it. Long strings of sinew hung from it, and chunks of gristle clung to the inside, where the snail's body had been attached to its home. All sign of its inhabitants was gone, save for the shreds of inedible flesh. Clon stood amongst the gathering crowd, tears in his eyes, and many people sobbed and wailed.
Sabre approached him. "Who was it?"
Clon wiped his eyes. "Milla and Derk, and their two children, Sten and Clia."
Sabre stared at the empty shell. "I thought you said it was safe in the snails?"
"It is. This happens rarely. Mostly the wolves don't find a weak snail. I warned Derk. Their snail was very old. They should have moved into a younger one, then they would have been all right. This snail also had a chunk taken out of his door at the last breeding season. They liked him because he was so big, and they needed space for the children. They should have moved!" Clon's face twisted with grief.
Sabre vaguely remembered a blond man and a brown-haired woman, their children about twelve and eight years old. "I'm surprised terrestrial wolves eat these animals."
The chief looked bitter. "Those were no ordinary wolves. Some say that they come from some sort of Zone, far to the south. They're as big as ponies, and they eat anything."
Sabre thought about the weeks he and Tassin had camped in the grasslands, oblivious to the danger. No wonder Clon had insisted they stay in a snail. Now Tassin wanted to move on, which meant camping again. He wondered if the magician had fallen foul of the wolves, which would account for his absence.
The Cyber Chronicles 02: Death Zone Page 23
