Taig and Reina opened their ranks to join the newcomers, and together they rounded up the last remaining Outliers. They exchanged parting shots with their enemies, but the tide of battle turned in their favor. The Outliers sensed it, too, and their conviction flagged. They no longer rushed forward to retake their prisoners, and even seemed to submit to becoming prisoners themselves. Taig scanned the surroundings for the best way to make their retreat and gain their freedom while they still held the advantage.
He didn’t have time to congratulate himself, though, before a fresh cadre of Outliers swarmed over the hill behind Taman and Aeifa. A thousand ants blackened the grass, and the smile vanished from his lips. At the head of the swarm, his eyes glowing yellow in the aurora’s light, was Old Ponchy.
Chapter 4
Their leader’s appearance infused the Outliers with new enthusiasm, and they surged to the attack. Taig fought with everything he had to drive them off. Old Ponchy signaled the Outliers to surround the little group from all sides, and the remnant travelers’ prisoners burst free to help their comrades.
Taig turned one way and then the other. He blasted every Outlier he saw with both his reciprocators, but iron hands closed around his arms from behind. He threw an elbow over his shoulder and smashed someone in the face. For a blessed instant, the hands fell away and he turned just long enough to fire over his shoulder. The man who held him vanished, but three more took his place.
In seconds, disembodied hands stripped the reciprocators from his grasp and left him defenseless. He fought as well as he could with his bare hands. But he couldn’t resist two or three Outliers holding each arm. One glance around the circle showed his friends in the same predicament. Two women caught hold of Aimee and wrestled her arms to her sides. Sarai still clung to her, and when he saw his mother captured, he flew into action. He pulled the hunting knife from Aimee’s belt and stabbed it under one woman’s rib cage. The woman staggered back with a shriek, but Sarai moved faster than the other woman could react. He slashed her across the hamstring, and when she doubled over in pain, he grabbed a fistful of her hair and slit her throat.
He whirled around in search of another enemy to attack, but the other Outliers converged on him and held him powerless. All hope of escape dwindled and vanished. Old Ponchy watched from a distance with a grim smile on his face.
Taig stopped struggling. What was the use? Old Ponchy strolled forward. “That was nice try, and for that, you’ve lost your chance to come back to Rolling Ridges. I thought you would make the sacrifice willingly to give your boy a chance at life, but I can see now you’re just as degenerate at Lilith. Never mind. We can move faster without you.” He nodded to his people. “Kill them all.”
He turned his back to walk away, but before anyone could move, a blast of reciprocator fire swept the camp. Instead of hitting individual Outliers, it cut down wide swaths of bodies. Dozens of Outliers fell with every blast. Taig craned his neck, but he couldn’t see where it was coming from. Old Ponchy spun around to face the new enemy, but the screams of his people and the explosions of power splitting flesh and bone drowned out his voice. He shouted orders, but his people disintegrated into a chaotic mass of rushing, colliding, flailing bodies.
Blast after blast cut through their ranks. The hands holding the friends disappeared, and they found themselves free once more. Tara recovered first. She ran to the nearest Outlier and snatched the reciprocator from the woman’s hand with no resistance whatever. Tara danced from one foot to the other, shooting Outliers left, right, and center. She shot a man’s head clean off, but before she stopped to congratulate herself, she darted forward and plucked the two reciprocators from his belt even before his body hit the ground.
She tossed one of the weapons to Allen. He was already moving in behind her. He threw fists and kicked Outliers’ legs out from under them. None of them did anywhere near as much damage as their unseen ally. Blasts of energy cut to and fro through the Outlier ranks. The Ursidrean army must have found them somehow and come to their rescue.
The others burst into action. They fought their way out of the circle. Taman waved them all back the way they’d come. “To the stream! Hurry!”
Taig held his arm out straight in front of Reina, Aimee, and Sarai to keep them behind him, but those Outliers still capable of fighting all faced the other way to confront the new threat. The friends walked backwards over the hummocks to the stream. Freedom was in sight. Then Taig saw something that made him stand still and stare.
The Outliers raced down the verge. The front ranks toppled and fell with every slash of reciprocator fire. No matter how many rushed to fill their places, they couldn’t gain an inch on their unknown adversary. Out of the confusion, a single bald head emerged. Black and blue splotches mottled its smooth pate, but Taig would recognize that head, that face, and that lanky figure anywhere.
Tara paused in her fight and stared, too. “Lilith.”
Lilith didn’t dance from foot to foot, and she didn’t rush here and there in desperate battle. She walked with deliberate care and steady determination into the Outlier camp. She held a reciprocator in each hand, extended from her outstretched arms, and mowed the Outliers down in blanket swathes. Even Taman stopped to stare at her. Only a few ranks of Outliers remained between Lilith and her friends, and they either ran toward her to attack or in every other direction to get away from her. None of the Outliers gave the prisoners a second thought. They were free once again.
At that moment, a reciprocator went off somewhere behind them, but it wasn’t aimed at Lilith. Taig jumped around in time to see the blast slam Tara in the back. She pitched forward. Her head snapped back, and the reciprocator flew out of her hand. She collapsed at Taig’s feet, and they all saw Old Ponchy standing behind her with his smoking weapon still pointed at her.
Allen leapt at the old man with his teeth bared, but Old Ponchy didn’t bother to fire again. With a practiced sweet of his arm, he brought his reciprocator down with a crack across Allen’s nose. The snarl on his lips changed to a yelp of pain, and he folded into a motionless lump next to Tara.
Across the verge, Lilith saw Tara and Allen fall. She brought her reciprocator around and fired with expert precision. The blast whistled past Taig’s head, between him and Aimee, and glanced off Old Ponchy’s shoulder. He let out a spine-chilling growl and shoved Taman and Aeifa aside in his rush to charge at Lilith.
She set her jaw to meet him. Taman saw the way clear, and motioned his friends back. “Let’s get out of here. Fall back to the stream. Come on!”
Reina dropped to one knee next to Tara. “We can’t leave them here.”
Taman hauled Allen up to a sitting position by one wrist. “I’ll carry him out of here, but we have to fall back now. This is our last chance. Move out, all of you.”
Reina tried to pick up Tara, but she couldn’t budge her. Taig came to her side. “I’ll take her. You go. Get Aimee and Sarai down to the stream.”
Aeifa and Reina stay behind to help them and fight
Taman hoisted his brother onto his shoulder. Aeifa tried to help him, but he gasped under his breath. “Run ahead and follow the stream south. Don’t wait for us, and don’t stop until you get to Harbeiz. Save yourselves, and tell Donen what’s going on. The sooner one of us gets there, the better chance the rest of us will have.”
Aeifa hesitated to leave him behind, but Aimee didn’t. She took Sarai by the hand and the two set off running up the hummock to the stream bed. Reina followed them, and at last Aeifa gave in and retreated, too. Taig picked up Tara in his arms. He and Taman could only walk with their precious cargo and hope against hope they made it before the Outliers had a chance to regroup.
At the top of the hummock, Taig glanced back over the bloody field. Among the scattered bodies and burned grass, Lilith grappled with Old Ponchy in a battle to the death. He grabbed her by the back of the neck and slammed his fist into her face. She lunged at him and hooked him around the head with he
r elbow. She brought her knee up hard against his ribs and kicked his knees out from under him. He rallied and gouged at her eyes. Their growls and cries drifted over the verge to Taig’s ears.
Taman touched his arm. “Come on. She’s buying us time to get away. We can’t waste the chance she’s given us.”
As he spoke, a hundred or more Outliers tore up the verge toward the combatants. Lilith spotted them over Old Ponchy’s shoulder. She fought a losing battle. Even if she beat Old Ponchy, the other Outliers would drive her to the ground, and they wouldn’t let her get away again. She would be dead before the run rose.
Taig’s heart flipped in his chest, but Taman tugged at his arm. Tara’s weight reminded him he had a greater responsibility. He swallowed hard and turned his back on Lilith. No one would see her make her last stand. No one would honor the sacrifice she made so the rest of them could live.
He stumbled down the hummock toward the stream. He wouldn’t be able to carry Tara very far. Taman struggled, too, under Allen’s weight. He tripped over tangled roots and dropped his brother. He panted on his knees before he found the strength to pick Allen up again and go on.
Shouts and crashes sounded behind them. His ears picked up the crunch of feet in the brittle grass. The Outliers had topped the hummock behind them and gained fast. They could never escape carrying Allen and Tara. Taig stole a glance at Taman. He knew it, too, but he kept pushing, stumbling, falling and rising again. Taman’s face fell. It was hopeless, and the two people they cared for most would die with them.
Sweat broke out under Taig’s clothes. That’s when he notice the wind gusting up from the stream bed. The grass laid down flat, and he closed his eyes against the onrushing air. His own despair blinded him to the cause until two large birds blocked the rays of the rising sun and cast him into shadow. He looked up and almost burst into tears of relief.
Roshin and Talya landed in front of him, but before Taig could say anything, Taman staggered forward. He slumped Allen off his shoulder and shoved him into Roshin’s arms. “Take them, Roshin. You’re our only hope. Take them and fly back to Harbeiz.”
Roshin’s eyes widened for a fleeting instant. The he nodded and hoisted Allen in his arms. Talya held out her hands to Taig. “I’ll take her. Now run! Run and don’t look back.”
Taig covered his eyes with his hand against the wind washing off their feathers. When he looked up again, the two Avitras soared high overhead and disappeared into the rising sun. Taig swallowed the lump in his throat. Tara and Allen were safe with the others.
Taman grabbed his sleeve. “Come on. If you want to live, let’s see you run.”
Oh, how he wanted to live! The Outliers flooded the stream bed bristling with every weapon imaginable. Taig and Taman didn’t bother drawing their own weapons. Never had Taig run like he ran then, not even when Lilith freed him from the Outliers the first time. Roshin and Talya soared over their heads, and true to Talya’s command, he never looked back.
They raced down the stream bed for hours without stopping. Instead of tiring him out, the run gave Taig new energy. He could run for days. He could become the water running over stones and traverse hundreds of miles without feeling a moment’s fatigue. He didn’t stop until he met Aimee and the others at the top of the pass. Ursidrean territory stretched away to the south. Nothing stirred to the north.
Roshin set down next to them and laid Allen on the ground. Talya alighted at his side and transferred Tara back to her brother’s arms. “She’ll be all right with you now. You can take her the rest of the way.”
“Carrying them will slow us down,” Taig remarked.
“You have nothing to fear,” Roshin told him. “The Outliers gave up the chase. You outran them easily.”
“Are you sure they didn’t follow us?” Aeifa asked.
“I would have seen them from up there,” Roshin replied. “We were high enough to keep them in sight. They broke off not far down the stream, and now they’ve gone back to their camp to rendezvous with their leader.”
“And Lilith,” Taig murmured.
Roshin looked up. “What?”
“Lilith is there,” Taig replied. “If she’s still alive, they’ll kill her for certain.”
Reina touched his hand. “There’s nothing we can do about that now. She knew the risks of helping us.”
Taig shook her hand off. “That’s the second time she’s saved our lives. I can’t leave her there to die without doing something to help her.”
“What can you do?” Aeifa asked. “She’s probably dead already. Old Ponchy wouldn’t have spared her in their last fight together.”
Taig turned away. “I’m going back for her. I won’t ask any of you to come with me, but I can’t run to safety when I know she’s out there somewhere.”
“And if she’s dead?” Taman asked. “What will you do then?”
“I’ll come find you at Harbeiz,” Taig replied. “I’m counting on you, Taman. Get everyone to safety and don’t worry about me. I’ll take care of myself.”
“Don’t do this, Taig,” Aimee exclaimed. “No one grieves for Lilith more than I do, but we have these other helpless people to take care of. I have Sarai to think about, or I would go back with you. Don’t sacrifice yourself needlessly. We need you with us now.”
“Don’t ask me to stay,” Taig replied. “I care more about Tara than anyone, but I can’t stop thinking about Lilith. She saved my life twice. Now it’s my turn to return the favor. I have to go.”
Taman stepped in. “I understand, and you can trust Tara with me. I’ll make sure she gets to safety.”
Taig clasped his hand. “I know you will.”
Chapter 5
Old Ponchy kicked Lilith in the face. “I’m going to enjoy watching you die.”
She writhed on the ground with her hands tied to a rock behind her head. Blood welled up between her teeth, and when she coughed, blood and mucous and saliva smeared her face. Old Ponchy straddled her prostrate body and laughed under his breath.
Lilith spat out a tooth. “When are you going to learn, Ponchy? You can’t kill me. I’m too cussed tough to be killed by a sewer rat like you.”
Old Ponchy smiled. “You always were tough. That’s why I chose you to help me plan our incursion into Avitras territory. That’s why I have to kill you now. The rest of the band has to see what happens to someone who betrays me.”
Lilith stifled a groan. “If you’re going to kill me, get it over with. I can handle dying.”
He shook his head. “You have to suffer. Killing is too good for you, after what you’ve done. You made yourself our enemy, and you’ll be treated like one.”
“What about the Avitras?” Lilith asked. “She ran away, and you haven’t gone after her.”
“She wasn’t my trusted lieutenant.” He waved his hand. “She was nothing. You were everything, but now you’ll be nothing, too.” His hand shifted to his belt, where his reciprocator hung.
“You tried that before,” a voice told him. “It didn’t work out very well.”
Old Ponchy whirled around. His hand closed on his weapon, but he didn’t draw it. “You! What are you doing here?”
Taig nodded down at Lilith. “I thought I’d come and join the festivities. What do you plan to do with her? You’ve done about as much damage as you can do with your fists and your feet. What other tricks have you got up your sleeve? How are you going to torture her enough to make up for everything she’s done to you?”
Old Ponchy bared his rotten teeth. “You should have gotten away while you had the chance. Now you’ll die with her.”
Taig nodded. “I’m sure I will.”
Still Old Ponchy made no move to take Taig captive. He glared at the young Lycaon. “How did you get here without my people spotting you?”
Taig swept the landscape with his eyes. “It wasn’t hard. I guess your people weren’t looking for me. I got all the way up the stream bed without anybody seeing me, so
I came up here to see what you were doing with Lilith. I heard what you said before about making her suffer. How are you going to do it?” He waved toward the camp. “You’re here alone. Your people don’t seem very interested in watching you torture her to death. It seems to me they’ve lost the taste for blood you worked so hard to instill in them.”
Old Ponchy tried to laugh in his face, but he wound up snarling instead. “They’ll watch. I’ll make sure of that.”
“You’ll threaten them and coerce them and make them afraid not to watch,” Taig told him. “You’ll do all the things you’ve always done to make them follow you and obey you, but you can’t force them to lust after blood and living flesh the way you do. They’ll never follow you willingly. Just look at Lilith there. She was your trusted lieutenant, but the first time outsiders came into your camp, she remembered who she was before she joined the Outliers, and she turned against you. Talya did the same thing. What makes you think the others won’t do the same?”
Old Ponchy howled through his teeth, but he didn’t answer. Instead, he spun around and kicked Lilith in the head with all his might. Then he stormed away. His bellows resounded through the camp, and armed men rushed to the spot. They laid hold of Taig and bound him hand and foot to the same rock with Lilith. Then they left him there in the gathering gloom.
Lilith cast a quick glance at him. Then she turned her eyes away. “You shouldn’t have come.”
He studied her battered face. “Yes, I should have. Whatever he plans to do to you, you won’t have to face it alone.”
She clamped her eyes shut. “I can handle it alone. Watching you suffer the same way would be too much for me. I wish you weren’t here.”
The New Angondra Complete Series Page 27
