Warriors of Risnar 4

by Tracy St. John

  Instead, he gently pushed her back so they could look each other in the eye. If he’d been moved to tears, they were gone. “We could.”

  She drew a deep breath. Blowing the tunnel and machines was a crazy mission for two people, but it would pin the drones down, make them easy targets for the coming counterattack. Maybe save Risnarish lives. “Too late. My guilty conscience and what honor I possess has kicked in. We’d better do this before I tell my honor to kiss my ass.”

  “Kissing that part of you is my job. But I’ll take these lips instead, for luck.” He kissed her, hard. His silver eyes were shiny when he broke away. “You’re sure?”

  “Let’s go.”

  They gathered their supplies and headed for the door at the rear of the dome.

  A quick glance outside revealed no drones in the immediate vicinity. Arga nodded at the path that came up to the door. He took off.

  Selena followed him, darting from dome to dome, slipping behind shelter whenever they heard the distinctive tapping of drones’ feet. For a little while, perhaps a quarter of a mile beyond the temple complex, their progress slowed as they skirted detection.

  “They started gathering supplies from the center of town and are moving outward,” she whispered when they paused to wait out half a dozen groups of drones escorting heavily laden carts. “That’s why the traffic to the temple appears to have quieted down.”

  “Seems that way.”

  Tension filled her until at last they left behind the subtle noises of pillaging. Selena shook her head. Who knew looting could take place so quietly?

  “We may have moved too far out, but they’ll catch up to us,” Arga noted as they paused in a shop facing a square of the outermost markets.

  Selena noted a couple things about the area opposite of where they hid. “Those domes on that side are clustered pretty tight.”

  “That’s actually a series of domes, connected to each other. They make up an inn, which is usually frequented by outside village council members who visit the seat of Risnarish government. Sleeping space, food, gardens, meeting rooms—it’s perfect for those who prefer not to be stuck in the middle of Yitrow’s noisier center. The village I hail from, Hahz, is quite small. Our elders aren’t used to the hubbub, so they stay at that inn when they come here.”

  “There are continuous walled balconies along the edges of its domes. We’d have good cover there, as well as a perfect view of what the nearby drones are up to.”

  “You’re right.”

  They snuck around the square, dashing from the concealment of one dome to the next. When they reached the inn, it was a simple matter of stepping inside. The drones had smashed through the doors in their search for Risnarish. Selena stopped short to spy several striped forms scattered across the ground floor of what appeared to be a larger version of the Mating Center’s lobby. One victim, a gray-maned Risnarish man, was half submerged in the large fountain in the middle of the area.

  “First instance I’ve seen casualties left lying.” Selena wondered where the majority of the dead had been stored. And why. The idea of dissections and experiments made her shudder.

  “These must have run in here to hide and been caught. Left for later collection. Or maybe the drones collected enough cadavers to take home without these.” Anger and grief filled her companion’s tone.

  “I’m sorry, Arga.”

  He drew a deep breath. “Keep moving. We’ve got a job to do.”

  The dome was two levels high, with the second floor hugging the walls and open in the middle to show the clear sky. There were a series of large, open platforms along the wall that floated up as elevators would, allowing them to access the second floor of the dome. Selena followed Arga through what appeared to have been a dining area, stepping carefully over the dead to reach the door to an outside balcony.

  No corpses awaited them there, which was a relief. Better still, they had a birds-eye view of the center of town. Squatting behind the safety barrier that provided protection, they peered over the upper rail that circled the balcony. Sporadic groups of drones with their floating carts drifted toward the temple.

  “We’ll check the other side,” Arga said, leading her around the dome.

  They found their targets almost immediately. Three platforms, each loaded with power modules and accompanied by a couple dozen drones, were floating down the widest meandering lane from the outskirts.

  “Exactly what we needed,” Selena exulted, a plan forming in her mind. “From here, you or I can give them all sorts of hell while the other hides the explosives on those energy containments.”

  “You stay here. If you’re heading into those tunnels, then I’ll plant these.”

  “Aye, aye, Captain.” Selena could tell the argument that rose to her lips wouldn’t sway him, and they didn’t have time for it. The drones were close to being in the perfect position, and they might not score a better chance to enact the mission.

  Arga waited while she transferred the explosives from her pack to his. “Make sure you stay behind the safety wall. Is your containment belt on?”

  “Yes, Mom. Hey, when you get below, send up all the elevating platforms. It’ll slow the drones down if they come after me.”

  “Good idea.” He gazed at her. “Be careful.”

  “You too.”

  Arga started away, moving toward a door that would access the inner dome. He paused, turned, and returned to her. He caressed Selena’s face.

  Somehow, with him staring into her eyes, the touch was more intimate than a kiss. Then he left her alone on the balcony.

  Selena stroked the spot where his fingers had brushed her cheek. She drew a deep breath. Steadied herself. Peeked over the chest-high wall she crouched behind and waited.

  About a minute later, Arga skulked out of the dome. He wasn’t a moment too soon, because the line of drones with their carts was drawing within firing range. Selena gave him another thirty seconds to clear the immediate area.

  Then she stood up, aimed, and sent a wide spread of plasma bullets into the line of drones. Exactly as Arga had supposed they would, they didn’t attempt to find cover. Most raced from their stolen goods, running straight for the dome she fired from. They returned fire, most of it deflected by the safety barrier. Three flashes from her containment showed those shots that would have taken off her skull had her belt not been activated.

  None of which mattered. She’d drawn the majority that hadn’t fallen from her first salvo from the floating carts, and the others were beginning to follow them into the fray. Selena grinned and kept shooting.

  “That’s right, you little bastards. Come to Mama.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Arga had the rear of the drones’ line in sight when Selena fired on them. The drones up front and most in the middle immediately sprayed scattershot and ran in her direction. The rest of the drones paused, peering around in case it was a multiple-front ambush. When they failed to notice Arga flattened to the ground behind a large bench and a table that had been toppled during the invasion, they followed the rest of the drones into battle. They went slowly, continuing to check their surroundings, still clearly anticipating more of an attack than from a lone Earthling.

  Come on, go already.

  At last they hurried away, apparently satisfied no one else was involved. The moment he saw his chance, Arga raced to the hindermost floating platform.

  As Selena had coached him, it was no trouble attaching the explosive to a depression beneath the energy containment module. In fact, it went so smoothly that Arga doublechecked, certain he must have screwed up somehow.

  You did it. Move on, stupid! She can’t hold them off forever.

  As he sprinted to the second cart, he checked on what the drones were up to. His hearts lurched as he spied the devices fanning out, attempting to surround the dome from which Selena fired on them. He’d volunteered to place the explosives because he’d thought it would be the more dangerous of the two tasks. It appeared he’d been wr
ong, and he cursed himself for the miscalculation.

  Fortunately, Selena was a decent shot now that she had some experience with Risnarish weaponry. With her shooter set on wide spray, she was holding the drones at bay for the moment, taking several out.

  An instant later, the second explosive was in place. Arga had to creep carefully toward the final cart, since it had been brought almost level with the inn. It would be easy for the drones to spot him fiddling with their ill-gotten gains. Selena had knocked half of the little monsters out, but that left a good dozen to contend with. All the nearest drones had to do was glance to the side, and they’d see him fumbling with his pack, trying to free the small explosive.

  What is this thing hung up on? Damn it, come on!

  After several attempts to jerk the bomb loose, it finally emerged. Arga had never felt so clumsy as he did when he attached it to the module. Every second crawled past. No matter how many fingers he sprouted to do the job, none of them hurried to answer his brain’s commands.

  When the explosive slipped into the socket used to attach it to the containment unit, Arga could hardly believe it. He lost another moment staring in shock at the exposed sliver of metal, exactly where it should be, the rest hidden from view.

  He suddenly realized the sounds of fighting had gone distant. Arga checked the dome where Selena fought from, and his jaw dropped. There was no sign of the drones. A check of the balcony above showed Selena was gone as well.

  They got in. They’re fighting her from within the building.

  He’d no sooner thought it when the sounds of battle ceased. Silence descended and stretched out. One way or the other, Selena’s fight had come to an end.

  Dreading the worst, Arga burst from cover.

  * * * *

  Staring down at the final drone to fall in the lobby, Selena stifled a victory whoop. It would have been disrespectful to celebrate when Risnarish victims from the initial invasion were scattered over the floor. Besides, she’d spied another contingent of drones hurrying in the inn’s direction before ducking inside to deal with the group she’d ambushed.

  She ran out to the balcony again to check the positions of those drones heading toward her. From the looks of the two squads of robots scuttling down the lanes, she had just enough time to reach ground level and locate a hiding place.

  There was no sign of Arga.

  With a curse, she went back in. Arga was just racing to the closest elevator-platform, calling her name.

  “Here! Hold on, I’m coming to you. Then we need to hightail it out of here, because company is en route.” She jabbered as she reached the platform and set it to descend.

  The instant she was on the floor, he grabbed her in a hug. “You are an incredible woman.”

  “Yeah, that’s me.” She laughed and pecked a quick kiss on his cheek. “Come on, we need to get out of here. I wasn’t kidding when I said the bad guys are on the move.”

  They left through the end of the dome opposite where Selena had spotted the enemy approaching. Moving carefully but swiftly, Arga led her to a building some distance off, within which they could melt into the shadows while still watching the carts holding the power modules—and the hidden explosives.

  A couple of minutes ticked by, and Selena fought not to fidget. After the firefight, her blood was up and the adrenaline continued to pump. It was hard to hunker down and stay motionless following the action-filled moments of destruction.

  “You could probably destroy the entire invasion party alone. I knew Anneliese was an amazing fighter, but you are incredible.” Arga’s voice rang with undisguised awe.

  Selena flushed with pleasure, but she insisted on being honest. “The stupid bastards didn’t use cover. The way they came at me made it as easy as shooting fish in a barrel.”

  He grinned at her, his teeth flashing in the dim late afternoon light from the dome overhead. “That doesn’t change the fact that you are a hell of a warrior, as well as a brilliant and sexy woman.”

  “You big charmer. Oh shit, the drones have arrived at the carts. It took them long enough.”

  “They probably searched the immediate area to ensure you were no longer nearby to give them trouble. Uh oh. They’re having a look at the carts and energy containment modules.”

  Selena and Arga had little to be concerned with. After a quick check on their stolen supplies, the drones lined up alongside the carts as their predecessors had. They resumed their fallen comrades’ journey toward the temple, the carts floating steady and sure between them, with no sign their deadly new components had been discovered.

  “Looks like it worked, knock on wood.” Selena tapped her knuckles against her skull.

  “Keep down and follow them.”

  They lurked in the shadows and moved carefully, keeping the line of drones and power modules in sight as they drew near the main temple.

  * * * *

  They managed to slip into the temple complex area again without detection, once more ending up at the rear of the Mating Center. Arga sent his CPP aloft using the capture field and recorded what was happening in the temple. When he showed the footage, proving the three explosives had been diverted to different lines, verifying each would end up in a separate bore machine, Selena hugged him in victory.

  “Let’s keep the momentum going.”

  She handed him the detonator for the bombs heading for the bore machines. He tried to refuse it. “You’ll be back to set them off.”

  “I plan to be. But just in case, it’s better if you keep it handy. Arga—” Her voice rose as he readied to argue the matter.

  There was no time for debate. He scowled and took the detonator, listening carefully to her instructions on how to use it.

  Arga sent up the CPP again and set the capture field device down. He drew a steadying breath. It had been bad enough letting Selena distract the drones from the carts so he could place the bombs. This part would be worse, though it was his turn to draw attention. The drones might chase him, but she was going straight into the real danger.

  They shouldn’t be doing this. He ought to take her to the hive, where they could wait for reinforcements from Hahz and Cas. Why had this seemed a plausible idea an hour before?

  Selena winked, her kind’s version of tipping an ear, and grinned. As if she didn’t have a worry in the world, the crazy human. “Your turn to be the distraction, now. Be careful.”

  She acted confident. Resolved, despite her fears of heading into the tunnels. Arga took strength from that. “You too. Do whatever you need to, then get out. By the All-Spirit, don’t let them catch you.”

  “Ya think?” She bounced on tiptoes to plant a smooch. Then she was moving off, hurrying around the opposite side of the dome to await her chance to access the temple.

  Arga counted off the seconds when he lost sight of her, giving her the opportunity to get into position. His hearts thundered. Not for himself, but for Selena. He hesitated to show himself to the drones.

  I hate letting her go in there alone. It should be me.

  Unfortunately, she was the explosives expert. He couldn’t do the job for her. If they were to cut off the drones from their hive, leaving it susceptible to the Risnarish invasion, he had no choice but to let Selena do the work she knew better than anyone.

  She can handle it. I know she can.

  With that belief to buttress him, Arga burst out from behind cover, in full view of the drones guarding the entrance nearest the Mating Center. He opened fire.

  They went down, but several others streamed out of the temple, returning his blasts. Arga continued the fight, letting his containment belt deflect the scatter-shot flying his direction.

  The drones were advancing, trying to move into range to either kill him or freeze him in a capture field. Perfect.

  Arga retreated, making sure to stay within view but out of capture field range. He fired and dodged, drawing the drones farther and farther from the temple entrance, now left unguarded. A moment later, he saw Selena’s
blue-white head streak into the temple.

  He continued to bob and weave, holding the drones’ attention, pulling them farther from the temple, so Selena could gain concealment and hurry to the tunnels.

  However, it wasn’t long before the ruse ended. Several drones fell back, returning to the temple. Arga needed to locate a vantage point to watch Selena, to race in to help if she found trouble. He turned and rushed around a dome.

  Arga found himself face to face with a group of the enemy coming in with yet another cart of stolen Risnarish technology.

  Chapter Sixteen

  The main temple of Yitrow was massive, easily larger than a sports arena on Earth. Selena had entered fairly close to where the bore machines had erupted from the temple floor—leaving heaps of crumbled marbled tile—but she still had a distance to traverse to reach the closest access. Fortunately, she could see the machines had entered at an angle. She wouldn’t have to drop down into an impossibly deep hole. At this point, she’d grab luck where she could find it.

  She huddled behind a massive column that kept her hidden, gauging the space between it and the next. She kept an eye on the drones gathered at the nearest exit to her position. The two dozen drones there peered outside, keeping their unblinking teardrop black eyes pointed in the direction they were supposed to watch. None paid attention to the access she’d used to get inside.

  She was fascinated that their programming was so meticulous as to keep them at their posts, without evincing any interest whatsoever in what was going on at the other entrance. Perhaps if she’d come in, shooter blazing, they’d have swung around and fought. Had they not considered someone might try to infiltrate for a sneak attack? Had the Risnarish proven themselves so inept, or were the Monsuda that dismissive of them?