The Soldier: The X-Ship

by Vaughn Heppner

“Will we meet the scum of the hills tomorrow?”

  “I cannot foresee the future. It will be as it will be. But if the rune stones say it is safe, warriors will approach and blow the horns. If the speaker for the witch woman comes, she will learn of you.”

  “Fair enough,” Cade said. “I hope I don’t have to kill many of your warriors tomorrow. One thing I will promise. No matter what happens, I will not kill you.”

  “I think you are good. The others refer to you as the scum of the sky. But in your own strange way, I believe you are a warrior.”

  “I’m a soldier.”

  The old one’s brow furrowed. “A soldier is a type of warrior?”

  “I suppose so.”

  “You…you have a task to perform.”

  Cade sat up, trying to conceal his eagerness. “What task?”

  The old one shook his head. “I do not know, but I sense it in you. A burden lies upon your soul.”

  “Do you—”

  “Please, Two Minds, I am weary. I cannot see your thoughts any more this night. Tomorrow, your destiny awaits you and you may find it while we regain our great priestess.

  Cade grinned. “Let it be so.”

  “Yes,” the old one said. “Let it be so.”

  ***

  Cade had a restless night, as he was eager to find the woman who had escaped the tech company. That rarely happened to him. He was a soldier. A soldier gained what shut-eye he could when he could. What was it about the woman? Why was she connected to his destiny? The thought went round and round like a dog chasing its tail.

  It surprised the soldier when he woke up the next morning. He wasn’t sure when he’d fallen asleep.

  He noticed more warriors than usual circling him. None of the females brought him haunches of kill or pans of water. That would indicate—

  Horns sounded in the hills.

  Cade looked up, putting on his sunglasses, using the zoom function.

  Warriors stood on the hilly tops, blowing one blast after another upon their curled horns.

  Standing, Cade studied the mighty throng around him. He couldn’t spy any females, shamans or the old one. There was just a great milling throng of warriors. He counted seven different clans or tribes.

  Since it didn’t look as if the warriors were going to let him out of the circle, he did stretches and a few calisthenics. That warmed him up. He had fully recovered from the bear bruises. That was another of his physical advantages: he healed fast, always had.

  The horn blowing ceased.

  Adjusting his hat, Cade looked up there again. He tapped the edge of his sunglasses, causing the horn blowers to become more visible. Agitated wolf aliens peered down the other side of the hill. Were Avalon IV humans trudging up to them?

  As he waited, Cade drank from his canteen and nibbled on his last protein bar. He was getting nervous but tried not to show it. If he thought there would be no talks, he was going to draw the WAK and try blasting a corridor to freedom. It would likely fail—

  “Belay that,” he whispered. He would take the fight to the enemy and attempt to win free. Whatever else happened, he would not allow the nomads to stop him from reaching his destiny. He climbed to his feet, wondering when he should start the attack.

  The warriors on the hilltop turned and began blowing in earnest. They blew as if they thought they would never get another chance.

  Cade grew tense until he saw two Red warriors helping the old one through the throng. That had to be a good sign, right?

  “Two Minds,” the old one called. “Two Minds, come here.”

  The soldier studied the warriors around him, trying to sense if they were going to attempt an ambush while he walked among them. He knew what the old one had said yesterday about warrior pride and honor in fighting face-to-face and toe-to-toe, but surely, that didn’t hold for warriors dealing with a soldier armed with sorcerous weapons. Sorcery changed the equation; he was sure.

  Still, it did not seem the warriors were secretly readying to stab him with their spears.

  Inhaling, deciding to get on with it, Cade put a hand around the revolver grip as it rested in his shoulder rig. Then, he began walking toward his destiny. It felt weird and surreal. In that moment, Cade knew the wolf aliens couldn’t hurt him. That was an illusion of his mind, of course. He wanted his destiny so badly that he was willing to believe it would happen no matter what. That was a dangerous policy. He wasn’t immortal or immune to spears.

  He might win through their captivity, but he had to remain alert. If he had an opportunity to escape, he would take it.

  At that point, Cade began plowing past the towering wolf warriors. Each of them had a greater breadth of shoulders than he did. He inhaled, expanding his chest, disliking feeling smaller and thereby weaker than them. He’d bested them before. He could—

  A warrior glared at him. The warrior had black streamers around his spear. The warrior raised his lips, baring his fangs, and he lifted his spear high, the flint tip aimed down at Cade.

  Cade almost drew his gun and fired. Instead, he released the pistol grip and lunged forward, bringing his hands up. The warrior howled, shouldered a red-streamer warrior aside, stepped at Cade and tried to bring his spear down. Cade reached the warrior’s wrists before that happened, checking the strike. With a cunning move and twist to the side, Cade threw the warrior to the left, causing him to flip in the air and hit the ground with his back.

  Cade might have heard the old one speak. He wasn’t sure. The thrown warrior snarled, began getting up—

  Three Red warriors struck, their flint tips taking the Black warrior in the chest, killing him. The Black warrior on the bloody ground strained before he collapsed, going limp in death.

  The other warriors around Cade parted, and the old one hobbled near. He peered at Cade and at the slain warrior on the ground, blood seeping from three strikes.

  “Are you hurt, Two Minds?” the old one asked.

  “No.” If anything, the attack proved that Cade was individually stronger than the wolf aliens. They might be taller—

  “That was evilly done,” the old one said.

  “He attacked me.”

  “Yes. That is what I meant.”

  “Oh,” Cade said. “I thought you meant—why did he attack me?”

  “Those of the Black believe we should exterminate the scum of the hills. The Black Tribe does not believe it is wise or right to bargain for the great priestess. Her divine power was too weak to protect her. Her capture through alien sorcery proved it, they argue.”

  “You don’t believe that?”

  “I do not know about her lack of divine power. Now, come, Two Minds. We are to take you to the Pillar of Exchange. The scum of the hills will dicker there. It may be that we will regain our priestess and the hunting in the hills can resume. That is good and right, do you not agree?”

  “My mind hurts. I do not know.”

  The old one stared at the soldier. “That is the first time you spoke a lie. I am disappointed in you, Two Minds.”

  “I am a soldier.”

  “I do not understand what that has to do with lying.”

  “I used tactics.”

  “You mean lies?”

  “Deception during battle,” the soldier said.

  “I begin to perceive. Yes. You are scum of the skies indeed. One of our warriors would never speak so. Alas, you are an alien creature. It is best that you leave the host as soon as possible.”

  “Let’s go. I’m ready.”

  Without another word, the old one turned toward the hills, with two warriors helping him walk as he led the way.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  The soldier noted that only Red warriors guarded the parley party. He counted thirty warriors, three shamans and the old one. Like before, the warriors circled him. This time, however, they walked uphill.

  Cade looked back, seeing the spread-out throng at the base of the hills. That was a lot of wolf warriors. He noted that horn blowers waited every q
uarter kilometer along the slopes. If the talks failed or there was treachery on the part of the scum of the hills, the horns would surely blow, and wolf warriors might well boil up and attack en masse.

  The parley party climbed a hill, went down on the other side into a small grassy valley and climbed a larger hill. This slope had more vegetation, bigger rocks and a few stunted trees. The lead warriors constantly paused to sniff the air. Did they expect treachery? The shamans rattled their batons and nervously chanted protection spells.

  In time, the party crested the next hilltop. At the bottom of this set of hills was an ivory pillar with alien script written along its length.

  Cade looked around and spied a different party on an even larger hill across from theirs, on the opposite side of the pillar. He used the zoom on his sunglasses, his head swaying in shock at what he saw.

  The scum of the hills, about twenty of them, were human after a fashion. They seemed stretched, elongated, with long, narrow arms and legs, long and narrow hands, feet and faces. When they moved, there was something spiderlike or insectile about them. They wore a combination of fur and leather garments, had brown and black hair that sprouted at the very tops of their heads and were several shades darker than Cade. Most held bows, rather short bows compared to their long torsos. A few grimaced, allowing Cade to spy their teeth, which were uniformly brown. Had their teeth turned brown over time or did they eat some sort of nut, perhaps, that stained their teeth?

  He had other questions, too. How many generations had they lived on Avalon IV to mutate them into their present form? Did their stretched bodies indicate a similar change to their minds or the way they perceived reality?

  The Avalon IV natives troubled Cade. Rohan Mars had long-ago told Brune they killed all others. How would they treat him? He hoped it was better than the wolf aliens treated him.

  “Where’s the priestess?” Cade asked the old one.

  The old one did not answer, ignoring Cade. Instead, he spoke to the shamans as if giving last-minute instructions. Then, the old one beckoned his two chosen helpers and they started down the slope, leaving everyone else on the hilltop.

  A shrill horn blew.

  With his sunglasses, Cade spied a brass horn blown by one of the elongated humans. Three from their party started down their slope, heading for the Pillar of Exchange.

  Cade tried to relax, but that wasn’t happening with the itchy, nervous wolf warriors watching the enemy and him, back and forth. Despite their low growls of warning and the tension in their forearms as they gripped their spears more tightly, Cade realized he was in a better position than before. Less than an hour ago, he would have had to fight through the entire host of wolf warriors. Now, a mere three handfuls guarded him. There was only one problem with the idea. He’d come to appreciate the wolf warriors. He simply did not want to gun down thirty of them, but he would do it as a last resort.

  Once again, Cade studied the Avalon IV mutated humans on the opposite hill. They appeared nervous, plucking at their bowstrings, twitching or climbing to the very top of their hill and peering down the other side. Was that where they kept the priestess?

  Cade studied the old one and then the three humans approaching the pillar—the Pillar of Exchange. Something about it caught Cade’s attention…especially the strange script along the sides. He tried to read the script as if he could decipher the meaning, but could not. His hackles rose and stomach twisted. The writing made him uneasy for reasons he didn’t understand. It was more than just nerves, too. He hated the script.

  A point deep within his head began throbbing as a memory struggled to surface to his consciousness. He could actually feel the memory fighting and something resisting. What would resist—realization struck. The tiny cyborg device in his brain could resist his memories. As he thought about that, blackness swept over his vision and it felt as if he were falling…

  Abruptly, Cade opened his eyes in shock. Despite his disorientation, he found himself lying on the ground. A wolf alien knelt at his side, touching his ribs with his fingers.

  With a shout, Cade sat up. Had the warrior been trying to grab the gun?

  The warrior jerked back and then leapt to his feet, growling. He snatched his spear from the ground.

  Fighting dizziness and disorientation, Cade looked around. All the warriors were studying him, except for the two helping the old one down the hill. Sensing the revolver in the shoulder holster, Cade refrained from touching it. What had happened to him? Had he fainted? The idea was absurd. He’d never fainted in his life. It had come about because… Feeling tendrils of darkness sprouting once again in his mind, Cade quit thinking about it. On a deeper level, he believed he knew what had happened. He could not verbalize the idea in his mind, however, or the device in his brain might detect it.

  The tendrils of darkness retreated. He climbed to his feet, using sign language to indicate that he was fine.

  The affronted warrior lowered his spear, nodding, turning and muttering to those near him.

  They, too, relaxed.

  Cade sighed. This could all go well…or all go terribly. The Pillar of Exchange—Cade shook his head. He would not consider the implications now. He needed all his wits about him.

  Cade picked up his sunglasses from where they had fallen. Putting them back on, he watched the two parties meet at the ivory pillar that had to be at least five meters tall. The elongated humans were as tall as the wolf aliens, but seemed decidedly thinner and must have been weaker. The old one did the talking. The leader of the—humans, yes, humans, listened. That one wore a fur hood and had hard black eyes. The chief of the humans nodded from time to time. The old one spoke more, beginning to gesture.

  The chief shook his hooded head emphatically. The old one paused before speaking and gesturing again. As before, the chief of the humans emphatically shook his head. The old one glanced at his two helping warriors. Did the old geezer seem disturbed? The old one barked orders. The two warriors helped him walk backward away from the humans. The humans also backed away.

  That didn’t seem good.

  The two groups watched each other warily. Once the two parties reached the beginning of their respective slopes, only then did they turn their backs on the other and move faster.

  Cade found that his mouth was dry. He suspected that had something to do with the blackout. He never wanted to faint again. It was such an odd and helpless feeling. The dryness might have come from fear, too. The parley had not seemed to go well.

  He drank from a canteen, swishing the warm water in his mouth before gulping. He did a few arm and finger stretches to limber up in case he needed to fast-draw and start firing. He hoped the old one returned with good news, but the bad feeling in his gut said otherwise.

  The warriors around him must have believed similarly, as they turned toward him, their spears ready.

  There was a boulder on the hill. Cade shifted, moving closer toward it. He wanted it at his back. Several wolf warriors must have divined his plan, as they moved between him and the stone protection.

  That wasn’t going to work. If he drew the gun, the warriors would attack. The mesh shirt of tiny plastic rings would offer him some protection. Would the mesh hold against hard-thrust stabs?

  Cade looked down the slope. The old one was about a quarter way up.

  Something else caught his notice—something small, round, disk-shaped and flying. His head jerked up. Many warriors around him saw the black saucer object as well. It was small, perhaps a meter or two across. It was definitely a technological item, and it had flown up from behind the humans’ hill.

  What did it—?

  A sonic whine made several warriors howl in pain. They dropped their spears and covered their ears.

  Cade didn’t like the whine either. It made his teeth ache.

  The black object flew toward them, the whine increasing in pitch until it went too high for Cade to hear. His teeth still ached but—

  Warriors began dropping and writhing on the ground
. The black object must have been like a dog whistle. Dogs—and wolves—could hear sounds humans could not.

  A sign, Cade realized. He bolted, racing past fallen warriors as they writhed on the ground.

  Two of the shamans had fallen, but not the last one. That alien pointed a finger at the black object, barking as if casting a spell while madly shaking his baton. It was such a strange sight.

  Cade shook his head. The poor fool—

  The black object shattered, obviously destroying the dog whistle as well.

  Warriors stopped writhing. A few started climbing to their feet.

  Cade had passed the last one and started down the hill as fast as he could go. The incline was steep, however, forcing him to be cautious. He moved diagonally away from the old one and his chosen two. Those three lay on the slope. He was glad the old one stirred, but didn’t want to have to kill him in order to escape.

  Loud yelps from behind alerted Cade. Warriors shouted down at him.

  Cade drew the revolver, twisted back and fired a warning shot. It might have been better to kill the warrior. More appeared, and they heaved their spears. Cade tried to dodge, and he did manage to avoid some of them. Others struck his torso, the mesh shirt, and caused him to stumble, trip and fall.

  Damn. He hadn’t wanted to do this.

  Warriors charged recklessly down the slope after him.

  Cade aimed, firing from his back, taking one of the warriors in the chest, knocking him to the side.

  A slew of spears rained down at him. One pierced the mesh suit, slamming into his gut, making him go cold. Another spear grazed the side of his head. He fired again, taking out two more warriors. But there were too many of them. He shot a knife-armed warrior, who slumped dead on top of him. With a grunt, he shoved the warrior aside just in time for two others standing over him. They drove their spears into his chest.

  Cade groaned. He was losing blood. Sharp flint had sliced into vital organs. His vision became blurry, and he must have started hallucinating. He thought he saw a stabbing gold beam cutting down the warriors around him. Maybe the humans had more high technology.