There it was, the stone bridge he’d been expecting and Boroc sniffed the air, checking for the tell-tale odour of the Squalvolvans. It was safe to say that he was the first to use this bridge in quite some time and he made his way across it.
Now on the other side, logic suggested he made sure that he wasn’t going to be followed. So he blasted the stone bridge with a couple of plasma bolts and then watched it tumble into the river. Satisfied, he turned and immediately recognised the work of his fellow Shamozolts, a hole in the side of the cavern. He remembered the day they blasted it because it had led them to an unexpected discovery. The tunnel of glass.
What they stumbled upon was a tunnel that had been excavated by some unknown means. The passage appeared to be lined with glass, its surfaces smooth, as if the rock here had been melted.
Boroc stepped into a roughly excavated tunnel and since the Zolt-Arc was fully charged again, it seemed a waste not to shot off a few more bolts, so he aimed at the ceiling and fired.
There was a satisfying rumble of rock as the tunnel’s ceiling split and shattered and a cloud of choking dust and debris rushed towards him. He retreated to a safe distance, mindful of his own mortality and that of the fragile life form resting on his shoulder.
From what Boroc could tell, David’s vital signs were healthy, if that pathetic heartbeat was considered normal.
The dust cleared and happy with his handiwork, Boroc continued and it wasn’t long before he stepped through into the tunnel of glass. It was just as he remembered and no less a mystery than it had been the first time he saw it. Eager to plunder these treasures, the Shamozolts didn’t waste time asking themselves who or why, they just helped themselves.
At the end of the tunnel, Boroc came upon a deep shaft and he stood there looking into its depths.
This shaft turned out to be another lucky find. A gift someone had said and Boroc was pleased to see that the old path was still in good order, precarious though it was, as it had been excavated in haste. It had still taken months to complete and Boroc now had the option to either ascend or descend. The obvious choice would have been to ascend, but Boroc’s instincts were telling him otherwise, so without further hesitation, he started down the shaft.
He knew he would soon come across access tunnels, carved into the rich seams and after only a few minutes, he was standing beside the first of these. One thing he had forgotten was just how dark it was down here. He seemed to remember it being a lot brighter, but that was before they started mining.
After following the access tunnel a short distance, Boroc ended up turning around, due to a cave-in and was now back in the shaft.
Descending a further fifty feet or so, he came across another tunnel where an old battered mine car was parked up. This tunnel looked more promising and he headed into it. He half wondered about dropping David into the mine car and pushing it, but the human was such a lightweight that he had to keep looking to make sure it was still on his shoulder.
This tunnel was dark enough to force Boroc to light up a crystal and he hadn’t gone far when he found that this tunnel had also suffered a cave-in. Once again he retreated back to the shaft and out of the silence he heard something that stopped him in his tracks. He felt a sudden displacement of air and something went hurtling past him, down the shaft. His nose told him it had been Squalvolvans, but how was that possible? For them to have reached him in such a short space of time, just didn’t seem possible, considering the obstacles he had placed in their path.
He wanted to race back up the shaft, but something was telling him to hold his ground. He then heard the roar of a Squalvolvan, followed by a human scream and Boroc knew he couldn’t ignore this now.
Carefully, he lowered David to the ground, leaving the light crystal beside him and returned his attention to the shaft. There was another scream, closely followed by a displacement of air, which meant only one thing. Something else had fallen into the shaft and this time Boroc readied himself because somehow he knew it wasn’t a Squalvolvan.
There was barely enough time to prepare, let alone think about what he was about to attempt. He backed up and then charged forward, leaping into the void just before a human came into view. It was a leap of faith and their two bodies came together harder than Boroc would have liked because he knew how fragile these things were. The human was in his grasp and together they dropped and he braced himself for impact. His speed and bulk had pushed them across the void and Boroc was coming in fast, but there was no way to slow their descent. In all this time the human hadn’t stopped screaming and then came the impact and Boroc shielded it as best he could.
Boroc hit the wall of the shaft with so much force that parts of it shattered and lumps of rock scattered across the path. Having hit the wall so hard, he was momentarily dazed and slumped to the ground. It was then that he thought he saw a light falling down the shaft, but in his current state, he couldn’t be sure of anything.
The human, a female, wasn’t screaming now, she was unconscious but alive and Boroc eased himself upright. He was bleeding. It had been a while since he’d seen his own blood and his vision was messed up so bad that he was seeing double. Boroc used the wall to steady himself and with the human in his arms, he began staggering back up the shaft.
He hadn’t gone very far when something else passed him on its way down the shaft. What the hell was going on up there? It was his kind of party and someone had forgotten to invite him.
Boroc had his hands full, his human collection had doubled and his head was buzzing from the impact, so he was probably not a lot of good to anyone at the moment. He continued up the path and could now see the faint glow of the light crystal up ahead and this guided him back to where he had left David, only he wasn’t there.
The impact with the wall had messed him up more than he realised. His head was all over the place and he was struggling to remember. No, there was no doubt about it, this was the spot he’d left David, so had he woken up and wandered off?
He picked up the light crystal and shook his head in an attempt to clear it, but this only made it worse. Boroc leaned against the wall and whilst resting there, he thought he heard a couple of clicks and a whistle or was it the buzzing in his head?
He lifted the female onto his shoulder and had a good look around the area just in case the human had crawled a few metres, but there was no sign of him. Using the wall to guide him, Boroc continued his search for a way out of the shaft and at last he came across an access tunnel that hadn’t caved in.
He was beginning to feel marginally better and it was now that he picked up their scent. As he suspected, he wasn’t going mad, the Squalvolvans had somehow slipped in and taken David right from under his nose.
Boroc was in no fit state to go chasing after them and the conditions down here were also working against him. It wasn’t all bad news. The lingering odour of the Squalvolvans would help guide him and he knew David would slow them down, he’d certainly slowed him down.
Boroc had some baggage of his own and from what he could tell, the female was okay and certainly in better shape than he was. He changed shoulders and checked on his Zolt-Arc and knew he could quite easily fire off some bolts if the opportunity arose. He was angry with himself for having lost David and if he could shake off the dizziness, he’d stand a better chance of catching the culprits.
There were miles of tunnels down here and it was a good place to get lost, not that this was an issue for the Squalvolvans because they seemed to have good instincts for these kinds of places. Boroc trusted his instincts too and was sure this tunnel would take him to the surface.
Despite his handicaps, Boroc was confident he would catch up with the Squalvolvans before they reached the exit and it was this kind of thinking that kept him pushing.
As expected, the tunnel began a punishing climb, which didn’t help his disposition one little bit. His pain fuelled his determination and after a long climb, the tunnel levelled off and up ahead was a mine car. It was empty of ore a
nd since the female was still unconscious and Boroc wasn’t feeling great, he eased her into it and started pushing. It was hard going at first and the mine car squealed noisily, but Boroc put his back into it and it was soon running fine, with enough momentum for him to hitch a ride. Maybe the idea of catching up with the Squalvolvans wasn’t so crazy after all.
It wasn’t long before he felt a steady breeze and a short while later he saw a distant spot of light, which could mean only one thing, the end of the tunnel.
There was movement in the mine car, then a moment later a scream, which was intensified by the empty metal container.
The female was awake, disorientated and reliving her experience back in the shaft. What she needed was for someone to say everything was all right, but instead, Boroc thumped on the side of the mine car. The result was the same, the screaming stopped.
“Who is that?” she asked.
“Just stop with the damn screaming.”
“Where am I? How did I get here?”
“You fell remember?”
“No, not really. Why am I in this thing?”
“I’m trying to get you out of here.”
“I don’t seem to be able to remember much, only there is something familiar about your voice.”
“Can you walk?”
“I don’t know, my head hurts.”
“Okay. Looks like I’m pushing you the rest of the way. We’re nearly there in any case.”
“Nearly where?”
“Nearly out of the mine. Never mind, just shut up and leave it to me.”
The human settled back down after this and he was soon pushing the mine car along the last stretch. Boroc wanted the human to stay put no matter what and Sie didn’t think she could do much else. Her head was pounding and like Boroc, her vision was blurred.
Boroc finally pushed the mine car out into the sunlight and he shut his eyes tight against the glare, which sent shooting pains into his head.
It was right about now that he felt something tighten around his legs and then they were torn from under him. In the confusion, Boroc banged is head on the side of the mine car and this was like ringing a dinner bell.
Boroc had stumbled into a trap and from his inverted position there was nothing he could do to stop the mine car travelling along the last bit of track and toppling over, trapping the human inside. His head hurt like hell after smacking it again and it hadn’t done a lot for his vision either, but he was able to make out a small group of Squalvolvans and he could see that David was with them.
Boroc needed to distract them away from the mine car, just in case they figured out there was another human inside. “Come and get it you scrawny inbreds.”
With his dagger in one hand and the Zolt-Arc in the other, he was ready for them, only they didn’t intimidate too easy, because they just stood there looking at him. Boroc may have been immobilised, but could still blast away with the Zolt-Arc equally well from this position and he wasted no time in giving a demonstration. He put a hole in the chest of one of the Squalvolvans. Boroc had been aiming for the head, but his vision was still on the blink, so he took aim again and this time he hit the mark and took its head off.
Now they were dancing. “Remember me?” shouted Boroc.
David struggled in the grip of two Squalvolvans and after managing to break free from one of them, Boroc saw an opportunity and fired. It was a perfect shot and the Squalvolvan’s head exploded like a watermelon, covering David in brain matter. The second Squalvolvan was in his sights and without hesitating, Boroc fired again. Not his best shot of the day, as the bolt hit its left shoulder. The force was enough to knock the Squalvolvan off its feet and this resulted in David going down as well.
Boroc shouted at David to get up, but he was too slow and now the Squalvolvan had hold of his leg. Boroc took aim and fired and David was free of it, but he was still struggling to stand up and Boroc wondered if he’d clipped him.
The last bolt had taken the Squalvolvan’s arm off and with a life of its own; it still had hold of David’s leg. Boroc continued shouting instructions, but David was all over the place and yet somehow he broke free.
David was back on his feet and Boroc started yelling at him again. “That’s it, keep coming.”
The human looked in worse shape than he did, but he finally made it. “What are you doing up there?”
“Saving your life, you idiot. Take this and cut me down” Boroc dropped his dagger and it stuck in the ground a few feet from where David was standing. David swayed and it looked like he was going to topple over, but he managed to steady himself.
Boroc knew there were other Squalvolvans out there and trying to get David to do what he wanted was painful and he looked back down to see him wandering off with his dagger.
“Where the hell are you going?! Come back here and cut me down.”
David turned, swayed a little and then fell over and Boroc was fuming. “Can’t you follow a simple instruction!”
David was trying to stand up, but Boroc knew that if he wanted something done, he was going to have to do it himself and wondered if he could hit the bindings with the Zolt-Arc, without blowing his legs off. He was about to try, when he spotted more Squalvolvans and he managed to hit three of them, before something caught him in the side of the neck. A dart of some kind. Boroc had no idea where it had come from and wasted no time in removing it, but in a matter of seconds the dart’s poison had started to take effect and he was fighting to stay conscious.
He couldn’t see David and in his last moments, he spotted a lone Squalvolvan staggering towards him with its head missing, well almost, it was hanging down its back on a slither of flesh. Boroc fired at it, but missed. It was no good, he was fading fast and there was nothing he could do about it.
When he came round, it was dark and he couldn’t see a thing.
Apart from the injuries he’d sustained in the shaft, his head had taken quite a blow when he’d smacked it on the side of the mine car. He was still finding it hard to think straight, let alone make sense of what had happened to him and the situation turned out to be pretty dire, because his dagger and Zolt-Arc were missing. He might as well have been naked and whoever had done this had overlooked one thing, they hadn’t killed him and boy was he itching for some payback.
Boroc got up and paced the dark room, its size, thirty feet, which was kind of generous for a cell, completely circular and lacking any windows or doors.
Thankfully, he was beginning to feel a bit more like himself again, apart from a splitting headache.
His mind was emerging from its rather confused state and when he touched the puncture wound on the side of his neck, it all started to come back to him. He’d been hit by a projectile of some kind, a projectile with a sting in its tail. Poison, the only way they could have taken him alive. He was pissed, really pissed and he hadn’t felt like this, since, well, yesterday.
A sound above him quietened his anger and kind of pointlessly he looked up. He couldn’t see a damn thing, but wait, there was something, a light. The light was descending and he was able to see the room in which he’d been imprisoned. He’d never seen a room like it, for it resembled the inside of a stone bottle and just like a bottle, its sides tampered to a slender neck, a hundred feet or so above him. There would be no easy way out of this, unless he went straight through the wall.
Below the descending light was a waterskin. For me, they shouldn’t have and he reached up and took it. He was thirsty, but not thirsty enough to fall into another trap. He uncorked the skin and sniffed it suspiciously. The light stayed suspended above him and happy with the condition of the water, Boroc took several mouthfuls.
They could be watching him from above, the humans. He knew that now from the smell on the skin. They all smelt like cheese, every one of them. So he’d been caught off guard by the humans of the north, now what?
Something else was descending, a circular platform and there was a human looking over at him. The platform stopped well out o
f reach and the human spoke.
It was a female. “Welcome, enemy of ours. How does it feel to be a captive?”
“I have light and water, what more could I ask for?”
“A witty Shamozolt, how novel.”
“Come down here and I show you how grateful I am.”
“Oh, I’m sure you would. Let’s cut to the chase, shall we. What is your business here?”
“I’m here with a human and I was trying to offload him onto you lot.”
“You’re working with this man?”
“I think that’s stretching the truth. I’m only interested in killing those monstrosities, the Squalvolvans. The human is just baggage.”
“Those things! You fell into a trap we set to catch one and look what we got. So what use are you to us?”
“I would think that was obvious.”
“It might be obvious to you, but we don’t care too much for you being here.”
The conversation was going nowhere. “Speak with the human, he’s the reason I’m here.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“You didn’t see him?”
“For all I know, you’re spinning me a yarn and you’re with these Squalvolvans.”
“While I was hanging upside down in your trap, I was busy defending myself and I’d managed to lay most of them to rest before you shot me.”
“If you’re telling the truth about there being a man with you, then I’m surprised we weren’t scraping his body off the sand with you shooting off that damn weapon of yours.”
“I had everything under control.”
“If that was control, I wouldn’t want to see you out of control.”
“Come down here off your perch and I’ll show you out of control. I suppose I’ve got you to thank for this puncture wound on my neck?”
“Not me personally. If I’d have shot you, you’d be dead. At the time we weren’t sure what side you were on and to be honest, I’m still not.”
Alliance Page 29