by Dan Oakley
When she finished drinking, she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and said, “Whatever startled that animal, there’s no sign of it now.” She checked her wrist device. “They’re closer now, moving quite quickly. It looks like they’re almost on top of us.”
I nodded and switched on the laser knife, ready to venture deeper into the jungle. I hacked through the vines that seemed to be getting thicker when I heard a piercing scream.
A jolt of adrenaline flooded my system, causing my heart to skip a beat.
Trella and I exchanged a frantic look and then we pushed on, moving as quickly as we could through the dark green, twisted plants.
Was the scream from Kira? It didn’t sound like her, but then noise tended to get distorted inside the jungle.
We’d barely taken ten steps forward when there was another scream. It sounded like a man in agony. The noise was bloodcurdling, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
“Lizard attack,” Trella said.
She had to be right. I couldn’t think of what else could cause a man to unleash a sound like that. The thought of Kira facing another lizard attack made me feel sick. I told her she’d be okay. I’d lied and now she was in danger.
I pushed on again, slashing through the thick, sappy stems. The cut vines shot back, slashing at my body, dripping sticky sap into my face, making my eyes sting. It was like the jungle was alive and fighting back.
It was the longest ten minutes of my life.
The horrific screams continued for another minute before fading away to silence.
Finally we broke through into what looked like a clearing. It was a scene of carnage. As we stepped onto the mossy ground, we froze, taking in the scene. There were three bodies.
I kept my plasma weapon trained on the edge of the jungle surrounding the clearing. I’d seen enough lizard attacks to know they were responsible.
The figures on the ground had been mauled. I could hardly bring myself to look at their faces, terrified that one might be Kira. As before, the lizards had preferred the soft bellies of their prey, and each of the victims had been disembowelled.
I fought back the urge to vomit.
The coppery scent of blood was thick in the air.
“No sign of any lizards now,” I managed to croak out and then edged my way to the closest victim.
I got close enough to see it wasn’t Kira. It was a man with red hair. Not bright red like Trella’s, but dark auburn. His face had been splattered with blood and a lizard’s claws had slashed his cheek.
Taking a relieved breath I walked to the second victim. Again this victim had the same shade of auburn hair, though his face was mutilated.
I glanced to the third victim where Trella had crouched down and was studying the figure intently. That victim also had auburn hair.
I let out a shaky breath of relief. Wherever Kira was she hadn’t been part of this carnage.
“She’s not here,” I said to Trella.
But Trella was distracted.
She pointed down at the victim sprawled on the ground in front of her. “This man was Marrachi. Can you see how dark his skin is?”
I leaned over to get a better look at the pirate. Half of his face had been torn away and his neck had been ripped out, but I could still make out his dark skin, a strange contrast to his auburn hair.
“It’s very characteristic of the Marrachi people. They have dark skin but red hair and light blue eyes.”
Trella reached out and tugged up the dead man’s eyelid, so I could see the blue iris surrounding his pupil.
I shuddered. “So the pirates are from Marrachi.”
Marrachi was one of the seven main Kingdoms and a powerful influencer. “Is Marrachi known for its pirates?”
Trella shrugged. “Not particularly. Every planet has pirates. Mages are allowed to work on commercial vessels, so it’s easy for pirates to exploit mages, pressuring them to jump around the system, stealing and pillaging. It’s one of the reasons the governments say they want mages to work for the Kingdoms and not in private enterprise.”
I rubbed a hand over my face and took another look around the perimeter. There was no movement, and as we were approaching midday, I hoped most of the lizards would be settling down for their normal afternoon rest. They were normally less active during the hottest part of the day.
“So where do we look for Kira now?”
Trella stood up and tapped her wrist device. “The other two sets of pirates are still moving. It’s possible she is with one of them.”
But while Trella was looking at her wrist device, I had seen something far more worrying. I quickly walked over to the other side of the clearing and looked down at the object on the ground, partially covered by the fronds of a pale green plant. I stared in silence, my stomach churning.
Then I turned back to Trella. “I’ve found Kira’s plasma weapon.”
Chapter 8
Blood rushed in my ears as I bent down to pick up the plasma gun. I brushed it free of the debris it had picked up from lying on the rotting leaves on the jungle floor.
My stomach clenched when I saw the strap had been snapped. The weapon had been forcibly removed.
I turned the weapon over in my hands pleased to see there was no sign of any blood.
“They must have taken her,” I said, not wanting to contemplate the possibility one of the lizards could have dragged her away from the clearing and deeper into the jungle.
Trella nodded thoughtfully as she looked around the clearing. “She’s bright and resourceful. She may have escaped.”
I looked up at the canopy above us, hoping to see Kira sheltering amongst the branches.
I called her name and Trella joined in. We called until we were hoarse, but she didn’t respond.
I raked a hand through my sweat-soaked hair and tried to think logically. Had this team of pirates captured Kira and then been set upon by lizards? Perhaps Kira had managed to escape, but it worried me she was now without her weapon.
Trella performed another scan using her wrist device but shook her head sadly.
I exhaled a long breath. This wasn’t good.
I felt Trella’s hand on my elbow. “We haven’t found her body, Tomas. She could still be alive.”
Trella was trying to make both of us feel better, but she knew as well as I did that this jungle was so dense that Kira’s body could be just a few feet away and it would still take us ages to hack through the plants to find her. I swallowed back the bitter taste in my mouth.
I’d let her down. She’d been managing here alone until we turned up. Maybe if we’d let her go with her instincts and barricade herself in her room back at the complex, she would have been safe now.
I crouched down and put my head in my hands, cursing loudly, not knowing whether I was cursing out the lizards or the pirates, or myself.
“Feeling sorry for yourself isn’t helping,” Trella said.
I was surprised by her cold tone of voice and shot her an angry look. “We let her down.”
A flash of guilt passed over Trella’s face, but she pushed it away. “Neither of us wanted this outcome. But we can’t change it. We have to do something.”
I stood up, clenching my fists at my sides. I could feel the energy buzzing through my veins. It was stronger than any other energy I’d experienced. If there had been a bunch of pirates in front of me now, I was pretty sure I’d be able to annihilate them all with one energy bolt. But there were no pirates. Only Trella.
“Then what do we do?” I asked through gritted teeth.
She gazed up at me with clear eyes. “I don’t know, Tomas. I don’t have all the answers. I’m as lost as you.”
It surprised me to hear her admit that. Trella always seemed to be in control. She always had a plan.
The smell of the blood, and the flies buzzing around the dead bodies was making me feel ill.
I held up Kira’s plasma gun. “Then let’s keep looking.”
I could
n’t stand the idea of trying to reach the lake and escape the pirates if there was a possibility Kira was still alive.
So that left us with only one option. We had to keep searching.
I tied the broken strap in a crude knot and then slung the weapon over my shoulder alongside my own.
Then I brought up the tracking software on my wrist device and held out my arm, so Trella could see the protected positions of the two groups of pirates.
“She could still be with them,” I said, though deep down I knew it was a long shot.
Trella paused briefly before replying. “You know the pirates will kill us given the opportunity.”
I nodded. “Then we approach stealthily and ambush them.”
Trella raised an eyebrow. “There are only two of us, Tomas,” she said slowly. “And at least ten of them left.”
I nodded as though the thought of the two of us against ten pirates didn’t scare me in the slightest. Even though my mouth went dry and my skin prickled with goose flesh.
We were outnumbered, but if Kira had been captured, we couldn’t run the other way.
My magic may not be fully developed, but I could be useful in a fight and I’d seen Trella in action. I thought we had a chance of taking them down, especially if we were smart about it, using the dark jungle to stay hidden until the last moment.
We began to walk again. It was easier than before as the dead pirates had already cleared the way. Trella kept her wrist device on as I hacked away at the remaining branches in our way. And we got closer and closer to the next group of pirates.
“I wonder why they separated,” I said.
“Common tactic,” Trella replied. “They can cover more ground that way, and clearly they weren’t expecting the lizards to be quite so ferocious.”
I shuddered as I remembered the bloody scene we’d just witnessed then tried to push it out of my mind.
We kept our wits about us as we pushed on, alert for any unusual signs. But the only sound was the constant chirping of insects. Rain started to fall in a fine mist, but it soon saturated us. The quick dry material of our uniforms didn’t work when it was constantly raining. Water dripped from the hair falling across my forehead and the end of my nose.
A shout of alarm rang out to my right. I froze.
Trella paused beside me, listening.
I pointed in the direction of the noise and she nodded.
Suddenly panic was unleashed. There was a loud crashing noise that sounded like something violent and big was only metres away. Then the screams followed.
Trella gestured to a nearby tree. It had a large girth but low branches, which meant we could easily scramble up. Trella went first, and I followed.
The shouting and screaming continued, and every muscle in my body was tense as I heaved myself onto a broad branch next to Trella. The bark was wet and slippery, and more than once, I nearly lost my footing and tumbled to the ground, only saving myself just in time.
Trella pointed to a spot through the dark leaves. Just ahead of us, two lizards were making mincemeat of a group of men. Only two of the men were still standing. They fired at the lizard, whose jaws were clamped around the torso of one of their comrades.
But they hadn’t seen the lizard coming up behind them.
Despite the fact they were my enemy, I couldn’t help calling out a warning.
“Behind you!” I yelled in the common language of the Kingdoms.
But my warning came too late. As the men turned they were overwhelmed by two more lizards.
Reeling, I hugged the branch tightly as the lizards began to feast on the remains. I scanned the immediate vicinity but saw no sign of Kira.
I flung an energy bolt straight at one of the lizards, but it was slightly off target and slammed into a tree trunk instead. The tree, tall, narrow and probably decades old, let out a terrible creaking sound as it toppled to the right.
It fell on the lizard’s tail pinning it in position. It let out a howl of frustration, but it didn’t help the pirates as the other lizard was still free and slashed and ripped its way through their bodies as though they were made of butter.
The energy bolt had sent me off-balance. I would have fallen to the ground if Trella hadn’t reached out to grab my arm at the last moment.
She sent me a sharp look and I knew she thought I was a fool for trying to save the lives of two pirates, but it was impossible to watch two men be slaughtered and do nothing.
I kept scanning the area for Kira, but there was no sign of her.
Trella’s face was expressionless as she looked down. “One more group of pirates to go.”
She didn’t say anything more as we sat there watching the disgusting lizards with their snouts covered with blood, chewing and gulping down the organs of the pirates.
I felt a flash of pure hatred for the beasts that had made our lives such a misery. Keeping one hand firmly on the branch, I sent another energy bolt. It shot from the tips of my fingers and hit the trapped lizard in the neck. The creature made a satisfactory popping sound as it exploded.
The other lizard whose snout was currently buried in the torso of one of the pirates didn’t even bother to look up.
“Your turn next, dirtwipe!” I leaned forward, aiming carefully, and this time my aim was true.
The energy bolt flew like a blue asteroid from my fingers, snapping the lizards head back before it burst it open like a water balloon.
Trella turned to look at me, wiped the blood from her face and said, “Let’s move.”
I half climbed and half slid down the trunk of the tree. My body was buzzing with adrenaline and some other feeling I couldn’t name. Maybe it was satisfaction that I’d managed to dispatch two of the creatures with my magic.
The other group of pirates had been heading away from us, according to the tracking software, but now it seemed they’d changed direction and were heading back towards us. Maybe they’d heard the commotion, or perhaps the pirates had managed to communicate before the lizard attack.
This was our last chance. If Kira wasn’t with this final group of pirates, we’d have to accept she’d probably been killed.
Our original plan of heading to the lake and waiting for the lizards to dispatch the pirates probably would have worked. They’d already dealt with two-thirds of the Marrachi pirates.
We walked in silence, only stopping occasionally to drink from our water bottles and check the tracking screen.
We both knew the chances of finding Kira with the last group of pirates were slim to none, but neither of us wanted to voice that fear so we kept walking.
Ten minutes had passed when we heard the sound of male voices. We both stopped in our tracks and paused to listen, but the voices were too far away to make out properly, so we crept forward pushing the vines and branches out of our way as quietly as possible.
“Who would want to live in a place like this?” A gruff voice snarled.
“The other crew are not responding, Captain,” another male voice replied. “I think we should get back to the ship. There can’t be anything else worth having on this forsaken rock.”
“There must be more. I’m not leaving empty-handed. Besides, this little one’s been living somewhere, and I doubt she was living alone. Isn’t that right, cutie pie?”
“I’m not your cutie pie, and I’ve already told you, I am here alone!” That was Kira’s voice. I would recognise it anywhere.
Despite the desperate situation, a smile spread across my face. I turned to Trella, and she returned my smile but worry made her face tight.
She pointed up, and I knew she meant we should climb the trees. It was all right for her. She was lighter than me, flexible, nimble and quick. Most of all, she was quiet.
I took a deep breath rearranged the weapons on my back, so they wouldn’t fall across my shoulder as I climbed, and then as quietly as I could, I reached for the first branch.
It was hard work. The bark was slippery with lichen, and the mist-like rain had
n’t yet let up.
The pirates carried on talking as we climbed. One voice complained about the heat, while another insisted they were walking into a trap. The deep, booming voice I thought belonged to the captain called them all whining babies.
Kira didn’t talk again.
It seemed to take ages before I was high enough to get a clear view, but when I saw Kira, rather than feeling relieved, I felt a stab of anger.
They’d tied her up.
She stood beside the largest of the pirates, constantly looking around and on her guard. She knew that lizards could creep up on them at any moment.
“We should get out of the jungle,” Kira said. “I told you there are predators. They’ll rip you to shreds. It’s probably why you can’t contact your other men. They are most likely dead by now.”
The man beside her was at least two feet taller than Kira, with massive shoulders and a bulging stomach. He turned and smiled at her. “Keep quiet unless you’re spoken to.” He jerked the rope he held, making Kira stumble to her knees.
“Dirtwipe,” I growled through gritted teeth.
“Let’s head to the compound we saw on the map,” the huge pirate said, raking his fingers through his long, auburn hair. All the men had darker skin than mine, in varying shades of brown, a startling contrast to their red hair.
The pirate closest to us pulled out a portable computing unit from his bag, but after a few seconds of tapping away on it, he shook his head in frustration. “It’s no good. I can’t get a signal.”
I glanced across to where Trella crouched on a branch opposite mine.
She smiled at me, and I guessed she was using her energy blocker again.
Another voice spoke, much softer than the pirates, and I was surprised to see a slightly-built young man step forward. He had pale skin and hair the colour of wheat.
“They are here,” he said simply, turning in a slow circle and gazing impassively at the jungle around him.
I clutched the dark bark beneath my fingers. What was he talking about? Did he know we were here or was he talking about lizards?
I glanced at the jungle below me but could see nothing moving in the dark greenery.
