Ammonite Stars (Omnibus): Ammonite Galaxy #4-5 (25 page)

They managed a bumpy landing on the planet, well away from both the other shuttle and the pothole where the amorphs usually could be found. The extra weight made the shuttle sluggish and unresponsive, and Diva needed all of her skill to bring them down safely. Nobody made any comments about the rough landing, but Diva could feel a sort of hostile aura coming from the two young Coriolans.

“What?
You
should try landing with twice the recommended weight!”

They said nothing directly to her, but she picked up the whispered comment which Petra hissed to her brother. “
Meritocrats!”

Diva’s eyes narrowed, and she frowned. Cimma leant forward, and asked her some question about the planet’s atmosphere, managing to divert her attention away from the two youngsters. There would be trouble there, Cimma thought to herself, but not just yet.

They piled out of the hatch with some relief, and pulled what few supplies they had been able to squeeze in with them out onto the red particulate sand underfoot.

The newcomers gazed around them with awe.

“Are we really on the other side of the galaxy?” asked Bennel.

“I suppose so. Seen from the binary system, Pictoria would be further away than the central supermassive black hole, and a bit more to one side.”

“And the Dessites come from the same side as us?”

“Yes. They are about half way between Sacras and the central black hole.” Diva took out her dagger and traced a picture on the sand. “See? On Pictoria, we are
here
, slightly over to the left from the black hole, and the binary system is way out along one of the arms of the galaxy – somewhere around
here
. Dessia is almost in the middle, but on a straight line between the binary system and the black hole, more or less here.”

“The sky has green streaks!” said Petra, pointing.

“And the ridges have smooth steps up them!” said her brother.

“I feel a lot lighter,” said Cimma.

Diva only replied to the last comment. “Yes. The gravity is much less on Pictoria.”

“And look! You can see the gas giant through the atmosphere! See? Where the clouds are thinner. Over there!” Petra was excited.

“Yes. I know. Now, can we begin to get organized? I explained about the winds, didn’t I? We only have so long before we will have to be back here, or in some fairly effective cover.”

They sobered up instantly. “Of course. What is the plan?”

Diva looked taken aback. “Err …”

“Because you will have some sort of plan, won’t you?” Tallen challenged.

Diva restrained a sharp impulse to throttle the youngster. “Of course I have a plan!” she snapped back. “We are going to make our way—”

“Because I can’t see how the five of us are going to be able to do very much against 552 billion minds in a mind-merge, but then I’m only a Namuri, right? A meritocrat like you wouldn’t want to listen to the opinion of a Namuri.”

Diva felt her hackles rising, and, with some difficulty, bit back a hasty retort. “I didn’t say it would be easy,” she replied, striving for some dignity.

A welcome interruption came from Cimma. “It is not so much a question of what we
are
going to do,” she told the boy severely, “as what we
aren’t
.”

“Oh?” Tallen dragged the monosyballic word out so far it almost extruded into his disbelieving eyebrows.

Cimma stepped forwards. “We aren’t going to leave our friends behind to meet an uncertain fate. We are going to find them, and help them to escape. Any other questions?”

Tallen, who rather admired Cimma, shook his head, looking away. “Let the die be cast!” he said. “We are only here to watch your back. And
Valhai
Six’s.”

“Good. I have a feeling both you and your sister may be crucial to this whole plan.”

Tallen looked slightly mollified. “Have you?”

Cimma turned to Diva. “Will they be in the butte or the cavern, do you think?”

Diva raised one eyebrow. “When I left, Six and Ledin were in the cavern, and Grace was at the shuttle site. I think that if she is not there now they would have taken her to the butte, but it is all speculation. We can’t even be sure that they are still alive. All I can say is that – in the end – I didn’t kill any of them.” She looked down, in case anybody should see the bolt of guilt that ran through her just thinking about what she had nearly done.

“Then we should head in that direction, check out the shuttle site, and then the cavern and the butte, not necessarily in that order.”

Diva nodded. “Agreed. What we really need is to locate the visitor and the twins, and find out what has been going on in my absence.”

“And how do we do that?”

“We can’t. They will have to find us.”

“How will they do that?” asked Bennel, who was calmly sharpening his Coriolan sword with a blue namura stone he kept about his person. Both Tallen and his sister made a motion in the air in front of them as they spotted the namura stone. Their clan obviously held the prized stones they were named after in great esteem.

“No idea. I think we just keep going until they do.”

“Or until they don’t,” muttered Tallen to his sister. She nodded.

“Are you always so positive?” said Diva.

Tallen glared. “With a plan like this, what do you expect?”

“You are the one who wanted to come, remember!”

“I didn’t say I wanted to come; I said we had no choice. But we had naturally expected a bit better organization.”

“Oh, excuse ME!”

Tallen opened his eyes wide. “My, my! A meritocrat actually apologizing!”

Diva could hardly believe her ears. “That wasn’t an apology!” she managed to get out, with some difficulty.

“Wasn’t it? It sounded like one to me.”

Diva stared.

DIVA LED THE way along and across the ridges, shadowed closely by Bennel, who was determined not to lose sight of her a second time. Then came Tallen and Petra, sandwiching Cimma between them to fulfill their duty as bodyguards too. The day was bright and sunny. It was morning on Pictoria, and an almost cloudless day.

They made fast time across the ridges, although Cimma found her legs tiring quickly at the strain of the steep steps up and down. Even though she was in great shape, there was no substitute for youth, she realized. She couldn’t stop thinking about her daughter. She felt so proud of Grace that her heart was almost bursting. It had been a great thing to sacrifice herself so that Diva could escape. Her father would have been proud of her too.

But so much had changed in the years since Xenon 48’s death, she thought. During his lifetime, Valhai had been a safe haven for the Sellites, who had ruled the binary system and, as far as they knew, the galaxy. Now – the Sellites had been forced to recognize that Valhai belonged to the orthogel entity, there had been a war on Kwaide, and they had lost their technological advantage in the binary system. As if that weren’t enough, here they were 30,000 light years from home. Xenon 48 might have found all that hard to accept. But he would still have been proud of Grace, thought Cimma, ignoring the tiny serpent of doubt that crept into her subconscious, pointing out that he might well blame his daughter for the downfall of the 256th skyrise, and the premature death of the son who had taken over as head of house.

Cimma was so preoccupied with her own thoughts that she stumbled on one of the ledges, and might have fallen had Petra not been instantly at her side to stop her. The young Coriolan girl quickly caught at Cimma’s arm, pulling her back upright with some difficulty. Cimma smiled her thanks. She knew she, of all people, shouldn’t have allowed her thoughts to wander. She taught combat, for goodness’ sake! She pulled her head up, forced her eyes down and told herself to concentrate on where she was putting her feet. A broken limb was exactly what they didn’t need just now. In a more subdued frame of mind, she watched her step carefully as she followed Diva’s lead.

It must have taken them about an hour, but they finally arrived at the shuttle. There was no sign of Grace, or anything else. The armament they had brought was still strewn around the area, and the shuttle hatch was open.

Diva went over to check out the shuttle. She could see signs of wind damage, since the hatch had been left open, but she thought it would still fly. Luckily, the hatch had been facing downwind. She asked the others to collect the weapons and those supports which were still in working order, and take them back inside the shuttle. This took some time, for the avifauna had been unable to inflict much permanent damage on the weapons. They drudged back and forth to the shuttle, a task none of them found very interesting.

They were so concentrated on what they were doing that nobody noticed that they were no longer alone. Three small shapes were now hovering in their midst.

LEDIN AND SIX crept through the dark passageway which led up to the top of the butte, to the domed chamber at the summit. As soon as the winds had dropped that morning, they had struggled up the last metres of the climb out of the cavern, and made their way to the base of the butte. They were not feeling at their best; neither of them had eaten anything since the day before, and they knew that their bodies would be affected by that. Not that it was a new sensation to either of them; they had both grown up more often hungry than not, and there were no complaints. That was something that disappeared after the first score or so of nights trying to sleep with an empty stomach.

They had been planning to go to the shuttle, but they went past the tunnel leading to the top of the butte first, and there was a message waiting for them there. Before dragging herself into the tunnel, Grace had had time to scratch something on the rock beside the entrance. In the early morning sunlight they could see the straggly lines clearly. A capital G wended its way across the surface in teetering lines.

Ledin stopped Six, putting a warning hand on his arm. “She is up there,” he said.

“She could have left that last time.”

“No. She has left it for us as a sign. We have to go up there now. Please, Six!”

“Fine. After you.” Six stood aside, and made a generous gesture. Ledin grinned. “Hoping I’ll get stuck on that spike are you?”

“Just want to be sure I’m in the right place to pull you out of trouble again.”

“In that case …” Ledin threaded himself into the hole in the rock, not without a twinge of misgiving. He hadn’t exactly enjoyed the experience in the underwater tunnel, and he had the nasty feeling that it would be with him in his nightmares for quite some time. However, on this occasion there was no difficulty, and he slid successfully out of the tunnel on the other side, into the pitch blackness of the inner pathway. Seconds later, Six pulled himself out of the end of the tunnel behind him.

“I’m getting better at that,” he said cheerfully. “Now, let’s see how long it takes us to get up to the top. I wouldn’t like Grace to have eaten all the breakfast by the time we get there.”

“I hope the avifauna haven’t had
her
for breakfast!”

“I wouldn’t put it past her to be giving the Dessites a lecture about the morality of taking over somebody’s mind processes!”

“She might,” admitted Ledin. “Though I don’t think they would take it very well, do you?”

“Grace could convert a sabre-toothed tiger to vegetarianism. They haven’t got a chance. What are 552 billion against one Sellite?”

Ledin’s face lightened a little and the deep crease of worry between his eyebrows diminished slightly. “You’re right,” he said. “She will be fine.”

“Fine? It’s the Dessites I pity. You wait and see. It’ll be them we have to rescue. They are probably flinging their avifauna bodies off the top of the butte as we speak, gliding away from her as far as their four wings can take them.”

“Well, let’s go and see.”

“After you.”

TWO HOURS LATER they were at the opening to the chamber at the top of the butte. They could hear a buzz of noise as they got nearer.

“Told you so!” whispered Six. “She has already won them over!”

They edged around the corner of the chamber, making as little noise as they could.

Grace was sitting on the floor, her back to them, and her legs were crossed over in front of her in a tangle of limbs. She was evidently trying to talk to the Dessites, who were amply represented both by amorphs and avians. Most of them were chattering to themselves, and the noise in the chamber reverberated around the rock, and traveled into the opening of the corridor which led down to the base of the butte.

They stared, unsure of their next move. Then there was a moment’s silence, and the largest of the avifauna drew closer to Grace, who stood up nervously and regarded it with resignation.

Six put a firm hand over Ledin’s forearm. Ledin had seen the deep scratches along Grace’s back, where her clothes hung off her in torn shreds, and had almost taken a hasty step forwards. Six’s iron grasp stopped him.

The avifauna snaked its enormous head up to Grace’s face, where it examined her intently, first through the eye on the left hand side, and then, turning its head, through the right hand eye. There must have been only about 10 inches between Grace’s face and the imposing beak, and Grace was rigid with fear as she tried not to cringe backwards.

Both Ledin and Six held their breath. Their hands moved surreptitiously down to their scabbards in unison. There was absolute silence in the great chamber.

The huge avian withdrew slightly, but before Grace could breathe out a sigh of relief, it suddenly raised its enormous neck up and back, into a strike position. A rustle ran through the rest of the avifauna, and there was a moment of electric anticipation. The avifauna paused before the attack. Grace gave a small whimper, but appeared to be transfixed to the spot.

Then Ledin was on the avian, Kwaidian sword at the ready, and a battle cry on his lips. Six was not far behind him; they had both leaped for the avifauna at the same time.

There was a brief moment of chaos, because the Dessites who had overtaken the avifauna were not expecting any sort of attack. The lead bird whipped its neck back and gave an involuntary leap out of the way to save its own neck, temporarily dislodging the Dessite usurper inside its mind with its primordial need to escape. The smaller birds began to swarm up the rock walls, placing themselves out of danger. There was just that brief moment. Then the Dessite authority began to overwhelm the animals again, and the innate response of flight was replaced by that of fight.

The Dessites were almost too late. Ledin had grabbed one of Grace’s wrists, and Six the other, and they were already hurtling down the corridor in the dark, their feet barely touching the stone floor.

Back in the chamber order was being imposed. The birds were slowly calming, and some of the smaller ones – those who could fit into the corridor – were throwing themselves after the three fugitives. All the amorphs had transported into the pathway, and were appearing in front of the runaways, trying to slow them down.

The two men batted at the amorphs, trying to clear a path. The amorphs couldn’t stop them physically, but they were a huge distraction in this dark dive for safety, spinning rapidly and trying to burn all of them. Unfortunately for the three fugitives, their chances of escape had always been zero. There was nowhere for them to go. Unless they could get to the shuttle, there was no escape from the Dessites. Whilst the largest avifauna were unable to follow them through the corridor, the smallest could. And the biggest of the species would undoubtedly be waiting for them at the bottom of the butte, having glided effortlessly down from the windows of the main chamber.

Six nodded towards Ledin. “We have to get to the entry tunnel,” he shouted. “Then we will turn and stand. There is no point in going through; they will be waiting for us on the other side. We will defend that position.”

Ledin nodded. “All right!” His hand tightened momentarily on Grace’s arm to let her know how he felt.

They fled, helter-skelter, as best they could, along the uneven stone path. There was stumbling, and sliding, and many curses. It was only thanks to them holding so tightly to each other that they were able to save themselves from falling continually. As it was, they ended up sprawling on the rock more often than they would have liked.

The small avians who were behind them were gaining, and Six doubted that they would reach the entrance tunnel before they were overtaken. He couldn’t see how many of them there were, but he was fairly certain that they would be outnumbered by at least twenty to one.

The amorphs had now developed the charming habit of matching their own speed to one of the fugitives, and then spinning against their skin. The heat generated in this way gave them ugly red burns, which were very painful. Even batting the creatures away was becoming difficult; they were now in the passageway in their scores, and it was becoming a mammoth task just to deal with them.

They raced on, doing their best in an impossible situation. Sooner or later they would be stopped by the sheer numbers of the pursuers; it was an attempt that was bound to fail.

BUT THEY DID reach the tunnel, at the bottom of the butte. Gasping, they rounded the last corner, and skidded to a halt just before the narrow opening in the rock. To their astonishment, they saw lights as they did. There were five figures lined up in front of the tunnel, and all had their daggers or swords drawn.

“Six,” came Diva’s voice, “—about time you put in an appearance.”

Six didn’t have time to think. He had applied his own brakes as soon as he had spotted the lights. Now he came to a halt in front of Diva, and enfolded her in a huge hug.

“No need to suffocate me, nomus!” she said crossly.

“Miss me?”

Diva opened her mouth, closed it again, paused, and then opened it again. “If you must know, yes.”

He grinned and let her go. That was enough, for the time being. “We might need a bit of help,” he said.

“We can see that, no-brain! As usual you have managed to get yourself into a whole lot of trouble.”

“I like that! It was all Grace’s fault, wasn’t it Grace?” He turned to the Sellite girl, but Ledin had enfolded her into his arms, and neither of them was paying any attention at all to anybody else. Six gave a virtuous shrug. “Honestly, Diva, there is no pleasing you at all.” He looked around at the assorted crew. “Why on earth have you brought all these people back?”

It was Diva’s turn to look a bit sheepish. “I … it just worked out like this,” she said, “It’s all your fault. You keep appointing bodyguards to people, and then they refuse to go away.”

Six exchanged a hug with Cimma, and beamed his pleasure to the others. “Quite right,” he said. “That is what bodyguards should do.” The three he was referring to seemed to grow in stature, and did their best to look fierce. Six gave Bennel a slap on the back, and touched knuckles with the two young thieves. “Though I’m afraid we don’t stand much chance of getting out of here,” he admitted in an apologetic tone.

“We are here to fight,” Tallen’s head came up, proudly. Diva picked up the change in tone, and stared at him. He didn’t seem to care much about Six’s lack of plans, then.

Six looked down at the two Coriolans. “Your job is to keep Cimma safe,” he told them.

“And you, now you are here.”

“No. We agreed that your current job is to protect Magestra Cimma. Do your job.”

Tallen and Petra glanced at each other, and didn’t seem best pleased, but they bowed their heads to indicate that they would obey, and made no protest. Six looked around to Bennel.

“I have not forgotten my orders,
Valhai
Six,” he said quietly. “You need not worry about me.”

Six nodded to him, and was about to say something when Ledin finally released Grace, who had spotted Diva and her mother. She ran over to them both and flung her arms around them, wincing as their hands touched the injuries on her back.

Then the subjugated amorphs closed in, and there was no time for more. The air around them all was thick with small shapes, distracting them from the approach of the avifauna.

After that they were in the middle of a battle for survival, and things became very confused. The avifauna, under the mental control of the Dessites, threw themselves into the fray, slashing left and right with their lethal beaks, and grabbing at delicate skin with talons so sharp that they tore right through material and flesh alike.

The group of eight defended themselves as best they could, but they were hampered severely by the amorphs, who clustered so efficiently around their faces and necks that nearly all retaliation was impeded. The burns that the amorphs could inflict were incapacitating; it was impossible not to turn and twist to try to escape the searing localized heat they were able to generate.

Ledin had tried to place himself in front of Grace, but one look from the girl he loved had told him that this was a mistake. Hastily, he stepped to one side, until he was fighting on a level with her. She smiled happily, and took hold of a dagger which Diva passed her, using both hands. Ledin positioned himself as close beside her as he could, and raised his sword. He was determined that nothing else should hurt Grace. But within seconds his intentions were in shreds. He was battling with dozens of amorphs that were surrounding them both.