Authors: Ronan Frost
"That's one hell of a welcoming committee," grumbled
Shaun, grimly determined not to let his grasp slip upon the wet
smooth branches.
"I can face the dangers of my own planet," said
Capac. "I'd sooner face the pyrons than the Sunlords."
Shaun cast a look downwards; they were high in the
tree and the ground could not be seen through the lattice of
laterals. "I don't know," he said. "I think I'd rather the
Sunlords. Besides, you haven't thought about how we're going to get
out of here."
Capac shrugged, as if not concerned, but within he
knew it was a problem they would have to solve.
"What did happen back there?" Ashian asked suddenly.
"Before the pyrons, I mean. The crash. I have no recollection of
what happened in those last few seconds before we the ground."
Shaun paused, suddenly finding that his memories of
the event were faded. "I think we lost air speed," he said
tentatively. "The engines had totally died, and the navigational
computer was a total blank. I remember bringing it over the forest,
looking for a clearing, but that's all. All I recall after that is
a thump and splash and then suddenly the world spun around as if
we're inside a tin can."
"The movement must have attracted the pyrons," put in
Capac. "I have travelled this area once before in my youth - I
think I know where we are. If I am correct," Capac motioned with a
slight nod of his head towards Ashian, "this place is more than two
seasons trek from your city."
"Two seasons...that's more than a standard year's
journey," muttered Shaun. "Where is the closest settlement?"
The hunter shook his head. "Apart from small bands
that have probably been exterminated by the Sunlords, our only hope
is to make for the coast. As for food, this swamp is the worst
country on the planet."
A movement overhead suddenly made the nervous band
look up. It was with relieve they saw it was Myshia descending
through the branches.
"I've had a look from the top," she said, dropping
onto a nearby branch. "This swamp extends in all directions as far
as I could see."
"As I feared," mused Capac. "Food is going to be
difficult."
"I've got some tablets here," Shaun said, fumbling
into the inside of his mud soaked helicasuit. "It's a gamble to use
it on an alien species, but it's a risk we'll have to take - this
swamp looks like it is crawling with diseases."
Ashian examined the pills suspiciously. "What do they
do?"
"Vitamins, protein, energy, you name it. An emergency
drug to keep an exhausted heart pumping."
Capac picked the two pills from Shaun's dirty hand
and turned them over in his fingers. After a moment he threw one of
the pills into the back of his throat and swallowed it in an easy
motion. They all waited for a moment, but when no ill-effects were
forthcoming, Ashian took a tablet; finding it difficult since his
throat was dry and parched. When Shaun offered Myshia the two
remaining tablets she refused, and it was with reluctance that
Shaun put the life sustaining medicine back into his helicasuit.
Shaun made a mental note to himself to watch out for Myshia, for
although she did not show any outward signs of exhaustion she had
not eaten or rested for days, and the stress involving the
telepathy ordeal must have taken something from within.
Capac broke the silence. "I'll climb down and see
what I can snare," he said without much enthusiasm. "Myshia, Ashian
- see if you can fix some sort of sleeping arrangement."
"I'll come with you," said Shaun, checking the
remaining rounds on the minigun.
Capac looked up, a sparkle in his eye. "I can look
after myself."
"Let me come."
"No. I can move faster alone."
"Well, okay then," conceded Shaun. "Just don't get
eaten. I'd hate to lose you now."
"So would I." The forester smiled and dropped down
out of sight. Shaun turned his attention to helping Ashian sit a
little more comfortably upon the slippery surface of a branch.
"Is it good to be back?" he asked.
Ashian was strangely subdued and withdrawn. "All I
want is to get back to my life," he replied. "Now that we have
tramped the length of the Sunlord's ship and destroyed it's heart
my city should be left in peace. The battle is over for me." He
bowed his head and exhaled heavily with frustration and bottled
self-disgust.
Drawing back, Shaun looked upon the currach and saw a
bedraggled and tired man, the quick eyes of the innocent given way
to the hardened gaze of the experienced. He knew that Ashian's once
stainless steel beliefs and religion had been sorely tested.
"What troubles you, my friend?"
Ashian smiled without mirth and seemed determined to
remain silent, but then his resolve weakened. "I killed a Sunlord.
I am an outcast in the eyes of Abas - I am a murderer."
Shaun could only shake his head. "The battle is just
beginning, my friend." His voice took on a quiet, reflective note.
"Yes, the battle has just begun..."
It was an uncomfortably long time before Capac
returned. Shaun found himself wishing for his watch, which he had
been without ever since he had been recaptured. He guessed ten
minutes had passed, but in the uneasy stillness of the swamps his
perception of time was distorted. Birdlike creatures whirled and
dived past erratically, their strangely mournful cries acting as a
radar to guide them through the dense foul mists.
Shaun moved his weight constantly to allow blood to
flow through sore limbs. He turned the minigun over in his hands in
restless agitation, examining the compact weapon and counting
cartridges remaining in the twenty-centimetre long magazine.
There was a flicker of moment from below and finally
Capac's mud encrusted visage poked through the crisscross of
branches. The eloprin moved with supple strength and agility as if
his natural environment filled a pool of limitless inner energy,
enabling the insectile native to pull himself hand over hand
without a pause for breath. It was only when Capac got closer did
Shaun see the haste in his motions. Shaun knew immediately
something was wrong.
"Capac - what is it?"
Panting with exertion, the forester paused for a
moment before plunging into his tale. "This tree is crawling with
K'lockri."
"K'lockri?" Instinctively Myshia's hand moved to her
belt, grasping thin air where her knife had been.
"What are you talking about?" Shaun half-raised
himself upon the branch, his imagination suddenly finding a new
enemy hidden in the mists.
"The k'lockri are tree dwellers." Myshia drew in a
breath, her voice deep and smooth. "They are fur covered beasts
with single claws on each hand capable of disembowelling a swamp
drusk with a single sweep."
Capac drew a hand across his brow to clear it of mud
but only succeeded in evenly spreading what was already there. "I
underestimated this swamp. The pyrons and the k'lockri sometimes
co-operate to pull in their prey."
Incredulity spread over Shaun's features. "You mean
two different species work together?"
"That's what I said," muttered Capac impatiently. His
head perked upright, scanning their surrounds and listening for any
approaching sounds. Detecting nothing he exhaled heavily. "On close
inspection I saw the base of this tree is littered with the bones
of animals. The pyrons chase the prey up a tree, and keep it there,
while the k'lockri take advantage in an environment to which they
are best suited."
"And the pyrons?"
"There is always a portion of the carcass that
falls."
"I've never heard of such an ecosystem." Shaun's
brows raised. "A formidable deathtrap."
"That's right. I suggest we get moving." Without any
further words Capac dismissed the matter. Brushing filthy hands
free of excess grit he took a leap from the branch and caught
another higher up. Myshia followed in a similar manner, leaving
Ashian and Shaun looking at each in confusion.
Ashian bowed his head submissively. "You go. I shall
wait here and delay the creatures while you make your escape."
The sincerity of Ashian's tone shocked Shaun. It took
the human a moment to bring his mind back into motion. "What are
you talking about? Look, the others are already halfway up, and if
we keep yabbing away-"
"Only death awaits me now." Ashian kept his eyes
lowered.
Shaun opened his mouth to protest but clamped his jaw
shut suddenly. He paused, and the noise came again, a distant
howling noise deeper than that of the birds. His heart leaping,
Shaun grasped Ashian forearm in the grasp of his right hand and
pushed the small currach forward.
"Move!" he bawled. Ashian fell half a metre before
catching a branch. A blur of motion came barely before Shaun had
recovered. Warned by the flicker of movement from the corner of his
eye Shaun ducked aside instinctively. A split second later a blur
sped past from the side wailing a wild cry and slashing the air
above Shaun's head. Almost losing his grip upon the branch Shaun
managed to righten himself using one hand, while the other held the
minigun in a iron grasp. The first trickles of blood began to seep
from the shallow gash running from shoulder to hip, a line of torn
fabric in the helicasuit stained red. It wasn't until long seconds
later did Shaun begin to feel the ragged edges of pain creep into
his mind. Still in a state of shock he couldn't even remember
seeing the beast inflict the wound.
He shook his head savagely to clear away the pain and
pushed away from the branch, aware the air had filled with the
throaty screams of incoming k'lockri. As he fell there was no time
to train the minigun on swift moving targets that flashed and
disappeared before his eyes.
Then something hard hit him and he fell, suddenly
immersed in a chaos of branches smashing his form as he passed,
snapping smaller twigs with flailing limbs as he sought for a
handhold.
Then his palm slapped firmly onto a beam and he
grabbed it. Still one handed, it took Shaun every ounce of his
remaining strength to arrest his fall. It felt as if his arm was
being wrenched from his shoulder. His vision was blurred and
indistinct, and barely saw the k'lockri swing down beside. The
monkey-like beast's right hand swung wide, a single deadly claw
blurred with motion, as it plummeted closer.
"Eat lead Tarzan!" bawled Shaun. The minigun was
firing wildly, bucking uncontrolled in one hand. The k'lockri was a
bare instant away from disembowelling Shaun when the curved line of
bullets smacked into it's head. Green blood exploded as the beast's
head snapped backwards, the shower momentarily cloaking the bright
line of tracers lancing through the mist.
A crack like a bullwhip split the air and a savage
lurch as the bough snapped beneath Shaun's weight. Individual
fibres snapped in rapid succession as the water-soaked wood
splintered.
Something sharp caught Shaun across the side as he
tumbled, ploughing through foliage and gouging exposed flesh. His
slide drew to a slow halt as his clenched fist clung to passing
branches. A flash of brown matted fur dropped directly downwards, a
single claw flashing as the shriek grew to a crescendo. Shaun spun
and snapped the minigun up in a single motion.
His sudden movement propelled him from his precarious
perch and he spun backwards, tumbling through free space now,
leaving only disturbed mist in his wake.
Headfirst he hit the swamp - coming scant centimetres
from cleaving his skull upon the writhing aboveground roots. Foul
infested water shot up his nose and invaded his lungs. Caring
little for these afflictions Shaun stumbled upright, expecting the
pyron that was sure to come.
Ashian watched in mute awe as Shaun dropped from
sight. He winced a second later as the harsh rattling of machine
gun fire smote the air. From below the currach saw flashes of
yellow muzzle fire before another series of diminishing crashes
ended with a distant splash.
"Abas help me," preyed Ashian, panic welling
desperation to his voice. Now due to his own stupidity he had
delayed Shaun and caused him to fall. Ashian considered dropping
after his human companion, despite the knowledge that the minute he
became the object of the k'lockri's attention he would be dead. But
something stopped him mid stride, pulling at him from the inside,
urging him to refrain from jumping to what would almost certainly
be an ugly death. Instead this inner voice took hold of his
tormented mind and forced action into his limbs.
Shaun will be alright. Climb while the creatures are
distracted.
The voice echoed through the bowl of his brain, words
indistinct like dyes running into a blurred smudge of colour.
Nodding to himself Ashian scrambled to his feet and
cast about, looking for a near handhold. Putting aside the turmoil
of fears and thoughts he started up the smooth-barked tree. He knew
Myshia was right.
Frustrated at the lack of strength in his thinly
muscled currach arms Ashian strove on upwards, finding it
increasingly difficult to endure through pain barriers. An abrupt
rustle in the leaves to his left caused Ashian's pupil-less eyes to
snap around. The furred creature dropped before he could
distinguish clear features, leaving him only with a rising
sensation of panic.
Forcing his movements to remain steady and efficient
Ashian tried to ignore the gathering band of k'lockri he had
attracted. His broad forehead glistened sweat, and for the first
time since joining the company of the eloprin felt truly alone.
The k'lockri, growing tired of toying with their
prey, finally moved in for the kill. A silent cry caught in his
throat. He numbly reached up, knowing he could not vault himself
upon the higher branch in time to avoid the predator.
Another hand snapped closed upon his wrist and
Ashian's hand responded reflexively to tighten the grip. Startled,
Ashian was yanked up just as the k'lockri sped past below.